Midnight Madness
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Midnight Madness
by mustangnation » Sun Oct 07, 2007 10:07 am
does anyone know if practice is open to the public on Friday??? I am really looking forward to seeing these new freshmen
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by The XtC » Fri Oct 12, 2007 12:10 pm
As far as I know it's open. The women practice from 5-7 and the guys from 7-9. I'm going to the womens practice, which I know is open, and staying for the guys. If they dont want me there they can kick me out.
Try not to choke on the Kool-Aid.
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by SMUguy » Fri Oct 12, 2007 12:38 pm
Don't forget the home soccer game Friday at 7 (and again Sunday at 1 PM .... the game is on TV, so let's get a big crowd out there).
"It's 106 miles to Chicago, we've got a full tank of gas, half a pack of cigarettes, it's dark and we're wearing sunglasses."
...
"Hit it."
...
"Hit it."
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by ponydawg » Sun Oct 14, 2007 10:00 am
The XtC wrote:As far as I know it's open. The women practice from 5-7 and the guys from 7-9. I'm going to the womens practice, which I know is open, and staying for the guys. If they dont want me there they can kick me out.
How did it go? Anything or anyone surprise you?
Any update would be appreciated....thanks!
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by The XtC » Sun Oct 14, 2007 2:03 pm
No real surprises. The first half of practice was mostly fundamentals, shooting mechanics, footwork and defensive positioning. Then they worked on their motion offense, and the last 15 minutes was a controlled scrimmage. I dont know if this was intentional, but in the scrimmage the teams were the 5 upperclassmen (Ritter, Spencer, Fall, Roberts, Killen) and the 3 walkons, vs. the 7 freshmen. The upperclassmen won 10-7, and I would say Roberts and Killen were the leading scorers (if my memory serves).
We are going to be a very tall team, 2 7-footers at center, and 6'8-6'9" players at both forward spots. Nyakundi, Ritter and Malone all played at the small forward spot in practice, and just going by one practice I would start Nyakundi. Rhodes, Harp and Roberts all worked at the 2-guard position, but could play 3 if a smaller lineup was called for. Despite having more size, I dont think we will get the point production from our post players that Ike and Devon gave us last year. None of the low post players (Fall, Spencer, Dia, Kwiatkowski) look like a reliable offensive threat.
Some observations on individuals:
Nyakundi has gotten bigger, he's an inch or so taller than he was a year ago, and probably 10-15 pounds heavier. He has the size to play inside, but seems to prefer the outside game. Has a nice shot from the perimeter.
Ryan Harp didnt shoot well at all the first night. I'm mentioning this because it's kind of unexpected from Harp, he's usually pretty accurate. The whole team struggled with their jump shot the first night, they didnt hit much from more than a few feet away from the basket. Even though his shot wasnt falling, I was impressed with Harp's hustle. He played very scrappy and fought for rebounds against the bigger guys.
Papa got up and down the court alright early on, but still looked a little stiff, and he slowed down as practice wore on and he got tired. He's been out for awhile and it will take him a little while to get back in shape.
Mike Walker handled the ball well, and he shot well in the drills where no one was guarding him, but he struggled to get his shot off when he was covered by anyone taller than him, which includes almost everyone. Walker is 6'0" in the same way that Bryan Hopkins was, he's going to have trouble against taller guards.
Bamba Fall still doesnt have much of an offensive arsenal. Too often he seems to just fling the ball towards the hoop, rather than squaring up for a good shot.
Derek Roberts is the best player on the team right now, I would speculate that he will end the season as our leading scorer. If he stays healthy.
Thats about all. Practice ended with sprints, the winning teams from the drills (Red team seemed to have won everything the first night), players that made their free throws, and players who had made their mile time in the offseason had fewer sprints, and the losing team and players who had not made their mile had more sprints. Fairly standard stuff.
Fran Fraschilla dropped by and chatted for awhile, it was interesting to hear his thoughts.
That's all I can think of.
We are going to be a very tall team, 2 7-footers at center, and 6'8-6'9" players at both forward spots. Nyakundi, Ritter and Malone all played at the small forward spot in practice, and just going by one practice I would start Nyakundi. Rhodes, Harp and Roberts all worked at the 2-guard position, but could play 3 if a smaller lineup was called for. Despite having more size, I dont think we will get the point production from our post players that Ike and Devon gave us last year. None of the low post players (Fall, Spencer, Dia, Kwiatkowski) look like a reliable offensive threat.
Some observations on individuals:
Nyakundi has gotten bigger, he's an inch or so taller than he was a year ago, and probably 10-15 pounds heavier. He has the size to play inside, but seems to prefer the outside game. Has a nice shot from the perimeter.
Ryan Harp didnt shoot well at all the first night. I'm mentioning this because it's kind of unexpected from Harp, he's usually pretty accurate. The whole team struggled with their jump shot the first night, they didnt hit much from more than a few feet away from the basket. Even though his shot wasnt falling, I was impressed with Harp's hustle. He played very scrappy and fought for rebounds against the bigger guys.
Papa got up and down the court alright early on, but still looked a little stiff, and he slowed down as practice wore on and he got tired. He's been out for awhile and it will take him a little while to get back in shape.
Mike Walker handled the ball well, and he shot well in the drills where no one was guarding him, but he struggled to get his shot off when he was covered by anyone taller than him, which includes almost everyone. Walker is 6'0" in the same way that Bryan Hopkins was, he's going to have trouble against taller guards.
Bamba Fall still doesnt have much of an offensive arsenal. Too often he seems to just fling the ball towards the hoop, rather than squaring up for a good shot.
Derek Roberts is the best player on the team right now, I would speculate that he will end the season as our leading scorer. If he stays healthy.
Thats about all. Practice ended with sprints, the winning teams from the drills (Red team seemed to have won everything the first night), players that made their free throws, and players who had made their mile time in the offseason had fewer sprints, and the losing team and players who had not made their mile had more sprints. Fairly standard stuff.
Fran Fraschilla dropped by and chatted for awhile, it was interesting to hear his thoughts.
That's all I can think of.
Try not to choke on the Kool-Aid.
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by Hoop Fan » Sun Oct 14, 2007 2:33 pm
i also was most impressed by Nyakundi. Big mature body, soft touch. I like Mike Walker and Harp being coaches sons, that never hurts. Walker has a strong body and nice game, but he is smallish and does not have the blow by speed that you like to have in a point guard. Rhodes has nice athleticism but very raw i thought. remember Chris Boyd who was here briefly in the mid 90s, reminded me a bit of him, another Californian. this is gonna be a nice class, but i don't see any real impact guys this year, although it was just one practice and the first practice.
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by George S. Patton » Sun Oct 14, 2007 4:26 pm
Thanks for the updates. As for Walker, I really don't expect him to be nor do I want him to be a great scorer/shooter in his first year or two. I just want him to run the offense, get the spacing right and distribute the ball.
He'll probably have to get shots off on set screens or something like that. If he averages 5-7 points this year, that's fine by me. But once he gets the intangibles down, then he can more of a scoring threat.
The General's Floor General.
He'll probably have to get shots off on set screens or something like that. If he averages 5-7 points this year, that's fine by me. But once he gets the intangibles down, then he can more of a scoring threat.
The General's Floor General.
- George S. Patton
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