the final was 75-46.

11/4/2005 9:57:43 PM

who won?

11/4/2005 10:23:48 PM

We did. And damn those Canadians were killing 3's. Good thing they didn't have an inside game or we would have been giving a run for our money.

11/4/2005 10:29:38 PM

sloppy as fuck...we should have contested every fucking 3 they took and let them take the inside shot...cause we were more than likely going to block that shit in the first place.

11/4/2005 10:33:30 PM

yea i know it was an exhibition game and they hardly mean crap, but still our offense scares me. in fact, i hate it.

11/4/2005 10:56:12 PM

Actually, I really liked the way the offense was run. My worst fear was that we'd be raining 3s, but even when Evtimov was at the top of the key calling plays we pushed the ball inside. Very nice performance by our frontcourt--even against a team like Guelph, you can tell a huge, huge improvement on the part of Brack and Simmons.

I liked the freshmen, too. They need some work, as expected, but I think they're picking up the system pretty well for it being so early. I get the feeling Fells is going to develop into an amazing player during his career here.

As for the defense--we did leave open too many 3s. However, we also did a much better job of rebounding than last year. And in a couple of cases, they took (and made) shots beyond the arc even while defended.

11/4/2005 11:41:43 PM

I think McCauley has better post moves than Simmons. Simmons may be better at defense / intimidation tho.

11/4/2005 11:47:38 PM

did brandon costner play?

11/4/2005 11:51:34 PM

Costner, McCauley, and Fells all played.

11/4/2005 11:54:53 PM

Costner hit a 3, I believe McCauley had 9 points and Fells had a nice break away dunk and a sweet assist for a dunk to Brackman.

11/4/2005 11:58:45 PM

Biggest problem I saw tonight was the passing--there were far too many ridiculously risky passes (cross-court, trying to go over multiple defenders, etc.)

I'm sure they were just taking advantage of the small size of the Guelph team, but those are still horrible habits to get into.

11/5/2005 12:00:44 AM

Gavin Grant didn't look any different. He still is trying to force it on offense. I still dont want him shooting 3s either. I think we actually looked pretty good. Simmons and Brackman starting and moving Evtimov out on the wing will do us wonders.

11/5/2005 12:07:47 AM

How about that angry dwarf from Guelph?

11/5/2005 12:17:25 AM

- Evtimov did pretty well. I like his speed, now. He should be dangerous off the ball. Probably will lead us in scoring this season.
- Brack was alright. He did well for himself, but he didn't really make his teammates better. He seemed hesitant to feed the post.
- Simmons was ok. He still has no *confident* post move. This was guelph -- he should have been pushing them around. They were fronting, so he should have been pushing them out and catching the lob pass.*
- Grant did well. He missed a bunch of close shots, but I like his aggressiveness and willingness to attack the basket. He's the only one who played today who can really be called a penetrator. This is our biggest need now that hodge is gone. His defense is also improved. I hope he continues to attack the rim so that he can find a groove.
- Atsur - very good on defense. Still doesn't have his shot back. Missed a layup after getting close to the basket.
- Fells - easily the best out of the freshman. Very good D for a noob, too. Had some nice dunks, steals, passes, blocks, etc. His only problem is that he doesn't demand the ball. I think he has the skills to take a bigger role, but he hasn't matured to know that yet.
- McCauley - He had the best post moves out of all our big men, which is sad. Maybe takes too long to make his move in the post, but when he does, it is solid. Too bad hes not all that athletic. He could teach Brack or Ced about using their body and throwing their weight around more. He also made a good inside pass after drawing a double team. Grant couldn't finish, though.
- Costner - He's just not very good. Kind of a tweener - not big enough to play center, not quick enough to be a forward. His skills and knowledge of the offense are also not far along. He seems like the slowest guy on the team (yes, evtimov is that much better!).
- Last and also least, bennerman. Probably the biggest disappointment of the night. Play that says is all was after grant had already made a couple of good moves to the basket. Bennerman apparently thought it was his turn, so he goes to make his move to the basket, then he loses control and turns it over. 4 years on the bench, and the guy hasn't learned how to dribble? That's sad.

He didn't seem to be a leader, and his body language was more of a whiner. One time he set up in the post, was calling for the ball, didn't get it, play fizzled, he got upset. It's obvious that the other guys neither trust nor respect what he can do. The problem may be two ways, but if there is anything that can make our season, it's the outstanding play of Bennerman. Bennerman was far from that tonight.

Really, maybe its too much to ask Bennerman to be a leader. In his big games, he always worked off the ball and was set up by hodge and others. Hopefully there is a lineup that will allow bennerman to do this.

*It doesn't help that we were making really poor lob passes to the inside. Furthermore, our guys should also know that when they front, they will have weakside help. Therefore, when our guy catches the lob, he should know who to dump it off to when their man comes over to help. Really poor post play, here.


[Edited on November 5, 2005 at 12:51 AM. Reason : 465]

11/5/2005 12:47:39 AM

Quote :

"- Costner - He's just not very good. Kind of a tweener - not big enough to play center, not quick enough to be a forward. "

I'm gonna go ahead and disagree with this. I think we didnt see much of him because...like you say...his knowledge of the offense arent that far along. He has a silky smooth shot and can pass the hell out of the ball. Once he gets his feet wet, he should be a really big asset to THIS team. Put him on any other team and I think you're right, and he would probably turn into a Shavlik Randolph.

11/5/2005 12:55:27 AM

^seconded

11/5/2005 12:58:48 AM

ah, the wishful thinking of the preseason wolfpack fan

Costner never demonstrated any of the shooting and skills that he purportedly has. As far as I am concerned, this is all hearsay.

[Edited on November 5, 2005 at 1:10 AM. Reason : sdfkj]

11/5/2005 1:08:53 AM

well, I'm not expecting much. He is a freshman afterall, and this was 1 game.

11/5/2005 1:21:53 AM

I would say of all the players Grant played the best in my opinion. He made 2 or 3 good drives to the basket and looked good handling the ball. Played great on defense as well. Atleast two times when everyone else had given up on the play he stayed and stole the ball. I think Grant is going to become our go to guy if he stays in the country. Bennerman just dosen't look like hes up to leading the team. 3 times tonight he was wide open and passed up the shot then other times he would catch and shoot before he even had a chance to set up.

Fells impressed me the most of all the freshman i can definitly see him getting alot of playing time this year. McCauley though I doubt will see any playing time if he dosen't learn to play defense. His man took it inside on him easily and was left open on the 3 pt line. The guy he was guarding pretty much only scored when he was in the game.

We looked kind of unsure of ourselves for about the first 10 mins but I expected that with hodge not there. Hopefully once the guys get used to playing together and bethel gets back things will flow a little better. We also need someone to penetrate and score or pass out to really get our offense clicking and from what I saw tonight Grant is the only one who showed he might be capable.

[Edited on November 5, 2005 at 1:27 AM. Reason : :]

11/5/2005 1:25:12 AM

Grant looked like shit except on D. What game were you watching?

11/5/2005 1:26:35 AM

Yeah like I said earlier, Grant makes too many bad mistakes by trying to force it. He is trying to be our next Hodge and just isn't there yet.

11/5/2005 1:28:52 AM

Ugh I was watching the game where he was the only one on our team who could actually drive to the basket and score or atleast get fouled.

11/5/2005 1:33:36 AM

He has the skills around the basket, but he REALLY needs to work on his ball handling outside. If he can get control of it enough to make use of that first step, he could be good.


I dont see Herb developing a players penetration skills though. Sad thing is, our offense works when we slash and kick out. It seems like we have gone away from that in the past 2 years in favor of the "pass it around outside 30 times and jack up a three so the defense never gets off balance" offense.

^I'll give him that...he did get to the line, but it was just sloppy. He missed a lot of layups too.



[Edited on November 5, 2005 at 1:37 AM. Reason : ]

11/5/2005 1:35:08 AM

Quote :

"He has the skills around the basket, but he REALLY needs to work on his ball handling outside. If he can get control of it enough to make use of that first step, he could be good."

Actually I would say just the opposite is true. He handled the ball good tonight made some good moves spinning and slashing to the basket, but once he got there he missed some lay ups. If anything he needs to work on finishing once he gets to the basket.

11/5/2005 1:37:55 AM

I'd say he didnt finish because he was off balance cause he was forcing it to get inside.

Its 6 of one, half dozen of the other...he needs to improve something...it just wasnt all there tonight. Maybe I was expecting more out of him though...but its still early.

11/5/2005 1:40:24 AM

Quote :

"He seemed hesitant to feed the post."

I noticed that, too--there were several times when Brack had the ball in the corner and wouldn't pass in to Cam when he was calling for the ball.

11/5/2005 2:14:19 AM

i hbardly read any of this and im posting so....

Fells did awesome, gonna be biddin for a startin spot....best Defense ive seen out of a rookie this year, had a NASTY block on a 3 and a NASTY dunk

Mcauley, ever how u spell it....good foot work needs to improve on D a little and speed up and down the court, good form

Costner, same as above except really needs to get quicker on Defense, slow to react to the ball

senior players(older non rookies)
evtimov, lost weight looks good, brackman gained weight looks great, bethel gettin better, atsur D is better, bennerman still needs work on Offense, gavin...good intentions still needs to work on raction to the 3...simmons, good but needs to box out more....all others...whatever

overall B-

need to really focus on hustle on D and reacting to the 3

overall player of the game----fells-----incredible talent and uprising star...gonna be way better than Jules

11/5/2005 3:24:34 AM

i dont know much about guelph but i was disapointed toniht. the lead was only in the teens until we ran the score up at the end. we shouldve dismatled this team. OUR OFFENSE STUNK. we had 7 points 9 minutes into the game and not until the spurt in the last 3 minutes did it look like we'd even eclipse 70. and this ison guelph? i wasexpectin at least 90 points. hopefully this was just first game execution problems. the d looked great though, not much you can do agaist all those 3s the way they were settin them up. they only scored 45 points

11/5/2005 3:57:45 AM

Guys, it was the 1st exhibition game of the season, they aren't going to be in midseason form coming out of the gates.

11/5/2005 7:49:35 AM

Quote :

""It's like someone who is first learning to drive, and they aren't sure how far to push down the accelerator," Sendek said. "You have that herky-jerky feeling. That's kind of what we did tonight. Everybody who caught the ball had to hold it, make sure it was round, make sure it was orange, then by the time they could pass it to the next guy, he was covered."

ahahhaa

11/5/2005 10:04:31 AM

Gavin Grant does not hodge the ball like Julius used to

it's not even comparable

11/5/2005 10:08:50 AM

^^^^I was disappointed that we only dropped 75 on U of Guelph as well, but you have to remember that it's an exhibition game (as everyone has mentioned) and we played all 3 freshmen for about half the game and all 3 walk-ons (Braxton for a significant portion of the game). Bethel, our starting PG, didn't dress because of injury.

All excuses aside though, I thought we were kind of shaky on offense, but overall I was pleased with the guys. And one thing no one has mentioned - Ced Simmons made all of his free throws.

Cam needs to work on being the go-to guy, though. I was under the impression that he was supposed to be our scorer this year.

11/5/2005 10:44:38 AM

is there a boxscore anywhere?

11/5/2005 11:00:27 AM

oh fuck I totally forgot about Ced making FOUR IN A ROW. I think thats more than he made all of last season Seriously...if he can score for us from the free throw line he will be a big threat on offense....even if he n00bs when posting up.

11/5/2005 12:07:38 PM

Quote :

"bethel gettin better"

???

When exactly did you see Bethel on the court last night?

11/5/2005 2:33:55 PM

i meant health wise but o well, didnt really type it to look that way

as for the game, you have to remember we had our rookies in practically THE WHOLE GAME, its hard to run up the score with 3 guys who barely know the system and 2 more that are so inexperienced they hardly know it as well. but we hardly ever had all our experienced players in at the same time, at the start of the game was the only time we had our gelled players together.

11/5/2005 2:49:32 PM