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uneblinstu's Post Game Chatter: Vol 9, Ed 1 - Sacramento State


uneblinstu

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Our bench looked shaky last night but our starters have been solid both times out so far (including the exhibition.)  If memory serves, our starters opened up each half of the Chadron exhibition with runs of 21-1 and 22-1, respectively.  Second half of last night's game, they were similarly productive when Miles left them in the game for extended minutes (didn't sub for 8 minutes at least.)  I don't recall how much they expanded the lead in that timeframe but it was fairly significant.

 

Against Mary, I expect we'll see the subs playing extended minutes.  They need to get their feet wet a little bit and opportunities to see the floor will become fewer and further between for some of them as the season progresses.  In any event, I would say the starters have shown they can play tough and it starts with a superb point guard in Glynn Watson.

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The team needs to mesh and that will take a while.

They have talent but there were times when they were just running around and not playing team basketball.

While I think Watson can be "the guy", i am also looking forward to seeing more of a team compared to the one man show that Pettway and White became.

Jordy- he looked nervous and his finish down low was not good... that will get better. He is strong and seems to have a good idea of what he needs to do and from the video I have seen, the touch is there.

Gill- we were spoiled with past stud transfers so I think most assumed Gill would fit that role... from one game, seems like he will be more of a role player than a star.

Webster- as said by others, can't begin to describe how proud I am of him. I thought he would leave after his sophomore year but he stuck it out and I just love what he has become.

This team will lose some games this year but I am excited to see who they become come February. The talent and want to win is there... just need the experience.

If we can keep the core fresh/song together, they should be a tournament team when those guys are junior/seniors.


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At last years "pre-season" scrimmage, Anton Gill stole the show.   He was pretty explosive and was taking any shot he wanted and nailing them.  Roby will be fine, starting now.  Jordy will be fine, very soon.  I'm hunching the ISU scrimmage is a better teller than the game last night of what these guys can do.

 

I was impressed with Jack's improved fluidity/athleticism.   

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Obviously, the defensive effort was lacking in the first half, and the team endured a large number of wasted offensive possessions by the freshmen (Jordy and Isaiah went a combined 0-for-9), but the starting five played extremely well and looked like a really cohesive group. I especially loved how much back-door cutting I saw, and how effective it was.

The problem I have with this team is that it’s strongest when Morrow is at the five. With Ed in the game, along with Tai and the three other sophomores, the offense generally had a nice flow, and Ed really added a dynamic interior presence to the line-up. His expanded offensive game has made him a formidable threat. That line-up, however, is going to be challenged when the team faces the bigger, more talented centers it’s going to see frequently this year.

Can we expect Ed, as good as he is, to be able to go head-to-head against guys like Isaac Haas, Thomas Bryant, etc.? Can we expect him to be able to succeed when he’s consistently giving up 3-6 inches to almost everyone he’s matched up against? I feel that Ed can cause problems for larger opponents off the dribble, but I worry about him matching up in the paint, both offensively and defensively.

I suppose they could put Jacobson at the five and let Ed play the 4, given that he now has a short-to-mid-range jumper. My concern is how long it could take Jordy to be a productive player for this team on both ends of the court. The sooner that happens, the better off they’ll be, and the greater the flexibility in matching up they’ll have.

The starting line-up, though undersized at the five, features five legitimate scoring threats. Though MJ didn’t score much Saturday night, he’s proven that he can be a double-digit scorer. Ed, all of a sudden, looks like he’s ready to pick up a substantial amount of the scoring burden as well. Tai has continued his trend of annual improvement and looks explosive and confident.

I honestly believe we have one of the best PGs in the country in Glynn. He’s the foundation of everything this team does, and he’s doing everything well right now. It’s hard to find enough superlatives to describe his play Saturday.

Jack is obviously a major piece of the puzzle. The three-point shot is such a huge part of the game these days, and when an opponent is draining threes and we don’t have an answer for it, games can get out of hand quickly, as they occasionally did last year. A guy like Jack can allow the team to hang in and keep fighting when an opponent is hitting threes, and likewise bury opponents who aren’t. I believe Jack’s ready to take on the AWIII role from last year, and his basketball IQ is far higher than Andrew’s was.

The wild card, to me, is Isaiah Roby. He looked phenomenal against Chadron, but played poorly overall against Sacramento St. I honestly have zero concerns about Isaiah though, and I believe he’s going to shake the rust off pretty quickly and really become a huge asset to this team, both offensively and defensively. I couldn’t be more excited about him and love how comfortable he looks with the ball in either hand.

Everyone seems to have this team pegged at anywhere from #11 to #13 in the B1G this year. Maybe they’re right, but I suspect they’re not. This group has very solid guard play. On nights when McVeigh, and perhaps Horne, are hitting threes at a high rate, they’re capable of causing major problems for some very good basketball teams. The front court situation still concerns me quite a bit, but I see a lot of reasons to be optimistic about this team and the future of the program.

The positives:

  • Ball movement on offense looks to be improved.
  • Glynn Watson is playing out of his mind right now.
  • Ed Morrow v2.0 rolled out some major upgrades that have made him a real force on the court, and, as Miles said, he now looks like the impact player we all thought we were getting out of high school.
  • Jeriah Horne’s shot looks fantastic, and he’s likely to become a big part of the rotation this year as the season progresses in my opinion. He can stroke it. I had no idea we were getting a shooter of that caliber when we recruited him.
  • Tai looks to be improved once again.
  • Evan Taylor is a huge upgrade over Bakari Evelyn.
  • Jack looks a bit bigger, appears more mobile and is shooting the ball great.

The negatives:

  • Jordy has a long way to go. Let’s hope he gets there quickly.
  • Isaiah is still shaking off the rust. His play Saturday was lacking, but I don’t expect that slump to last very long. It could just be a combination of nerves in his first real college game and the fact that he missed so much time.
  • Anton Gill may not be quite what we thought just yet. It’s still too early to form any strong conclusions, but I’m not sure he’ll be as big a key to this season as I had expected. He’s not a very disciplined or willing defender, and he appears to be shaking the rust off his offensive game after sitting out after his surgery.

 

Edited by Hooper
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