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it was a pretty ugly game tonight, I didnt think anybody played real well. Pearson scored, but he didnt have a good floor game. Morris did some good things for a freshman, showed some real good hands but his defense against a smaller quicker guy was pretty suspect tonight. He will be a good player for us, I just wish he was a little more in shape and advanced than he is now.

We looked best when we ran and really pushed the ball aggressively. Half court really bogged down. BHop should help on both fronts, we're looking real inexperienced and rusty right now with 2 sophs and 2 juniors in the lineup that played little or no basketball last year. When you think about it, Pearson is the only guy that played much ball at all last year. Dez sat out, Rack sat out and Ike never played. Roberts was hurt alot of the season as a freshman. Because of all that, i think we are missing BHop more than I thought we would on paper. Man is it showing right now.

Bright
1) Morris has hands and shoots well around the basket. Slowly
getting in playing shape. I think nhe will help us.
2) Dez - Roberts - Devon play best in up-tempo
3) This will be a quick team on Offense and Defense "if" B-hop returns.
4) Ike is improving and looks like he can help off bench.
5) My favorite drummer was back (alumni bandsman) Enjoyed him.
6) Dez is true point guard and makes others look better - very good
passer who will only get better.
7) Free throw shooting started out poor but got very good in 2nd half.
Killen plays very good defense and can give Dez periodic rests.
9) Roberts is a great athlete
10) Five Players in double figures.

Dull
1) Slow starting in both halves.
2) Rack will only help a little - still not in shape - in some pain-
tired noticeably in 2nd half.
3) Ritter has made no progress - only change is his hair piece.
4) Sloppy ball handling and weird fouls
5) Fan support is lousy - publicity is poor - TV news coverage is worse
6) Center position is our weakest link.

Unknown
1) can Matt Williams shoot in college. Tubbs not giving him minutes yet
He looks slow and may not be able to create his own shot - would like
to see some plays for him - (screens)
2) will Bamba return this year or get a Red Shirt?
3) Unless we press and use our speed with breaks - we will suffer because
we don't have 6' 10" - 7' - 0" centers who can play with the big boys.

My thoughts:

- Centenary is simply awful.
- After talking to a couple of people who actually made the trip to Monroe, I decided that we played infinitely better. Maybe the first game was just a debacle that drew more attention because it was against a weak opponent. Toledo should be a good test -- they have a really decent team.
- Pearson, thankfully, did not revert to standing out there flinging 3s all night. I don't know if he even had a shot from the line. He got inside, and many of his points were on put-backs.
- Did I mention that Centenary is awful?
- Inside-the-paint numbers are deceiving from last night (and I don't even know what they are). Centenary did not consider the idea of playing any kind of post defense, and showed no interest in even looking for a rebound, much less going after one.
- Paulius Ritter looks like he's in FAR better shape than he was last year, and while he'll never go 20-10 (points-rebounds) for us, he's an active guy who moves better this year and can get some boards and deliver some painful-looking fouls.
- Dez Willingham is a very smart point guard. He has a better knack for finding the open man than any SMU point guard I've seen -- ever (and I've been watching for 20-plus years).
- Derrick Roberts is a man. He's clearly more confident and MUCH stronger than last year, and seems like his knees don't bother him this year. He looked like he didn't even break a sweat last night, doing just enough to make sure we won. The guy defending him got up in his face at one point last night and said something (I couldn't hear what), and Roberts laughed in his face and blew right past him. He's a very talented player, and his confidence seems to be growing. He could be a very special player for us.
- Rack is not without value. Like Ritter, he's not going to go 20-10, but he did alter some shots. Also, having had a foot injury like he has, the mere fact that he's out there is extraordinary to me. When I had it, I limped for 8 months and on most days I wanted to saw my leg off. It's absolutely excruciating, and I commend him for giving it a go.
- This just in: we could use another scorer, especially one who likes to run. There's a guy waiting in the wings named Bryan Hopkins that I'm very eager to see on the floor with this team.
- Did I mention that Centenary is comically bad? They came into last night with a 1-0 record. Who the hell did they beat?

UT-Tyler, 84-73