Thoughts/Notes on Exhibition

Oct 31, 2019, 9:34 AM

- Tevin Mack is an all-around, do everything type of guy for us. He's comfortable handling the ball, and confident on the offensive end. Good length to bother some people on defense, but he'll have to rebound like a mad man for us to be successful.
- I think we're 100% committed to playing the small ball we played in Italy. Simms and Jemison were never on the floor at the same time, and I don't anticipate they will be (can't have them picking up fouls simultaneously). Our biggest lineup was when Jemison was the 5, and Moore and Tyson were in at the 4 and 3 spots.
- The man defense we played almost looks like a zone at times because it's the pack-line D on steroids. When the ball goes to either wing, our entire defense rotates super hard. All 5 guys are on one half/side of the court. We're inviting a hard and quick swing of the ball for a 3 point shot, but I think we're OK with that due to the longer 3 point line and wanting to close up driving lanes. It's interesting to watch, and I would encourage anyone who watches on Tuesday night against VT to look for this when we're on defense. We even double-teamed in corners a lot, I think due to the fact that guys are used to standing in the corner on offense and having space behind the 3 point line. Now there's virtually none, and Brownell has us set up to take advantage of that.
- Tyson is our best shooter by a mile or more, and not just because he went 3-3. All of his shots looked great, and he is confident shooting it. Doesn't looked bothered or like he has had to adjust to the longer 3 point line at all.
- Dawes and Hunter will make plenty of mistakes, but it won't be from being timid. Both are good athletes with explosiveness too, which has helped on the defensive end. Hunter came on as our 2nd PG, meaning it would be really nice to have Nick Honor eligible.
- Newman had an awful night, but he'll be fine.
- Hemenway has a good-looking shot, even though none of them went in. May be our 2nd best shooter, but I don't know how much he'll play. He didn't look over-matched athletically, but he still has a ways to go to be able to handle the defensive end.
- We are going to have to be EXTREMELY patient with Khavon Moore. He still looks one or more steps slow, and I think is even still adjusting to playing the game again. He looks thin and like regaining his explosiveness will be an ongoing thing for a while. He won't hit many shots from the perimeter this year, but if he can defend multiple positions due to his length, he'll play.
- Curran Scott looked extremely steady, and may be due for more of those backup minutes at PG. He drove guys to the basket and finished strong literally all night long. He didn't look like much of a knockdown shooter, despite shooting at really high clips the last 3 years. I suspect/hope he'll make some 3's, and that I just misread his shooting a bit.
- Both Trapp and Baehre were walking around and you'd think they were 100% healthy if you didn't know any better. Hopefully we get both back sooner rather than later, because both at their respective positions, would be major helps. Especially rebounding.
- PJ Hall was in attendance on the front row.
- Overall I was very impressed with this team defensively and how far along we seemed with those concepts, especially that extreme rotating stuff that I mentioned above. You can thank Italy and that extra practice time for that, 100%. There's no way that all of these freshman and newcomers are moving as a unit like that if we hadn't played and practiced that much over the summer.

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