early season basketball/'the well' thoughts....

Nov 16, 2015, 11:24 AM

obviously we are all wrapped up in the goings on of football and that is certainly merited, but the bball team has quietly got off to a hot start. They are 2-0. Was able to go friday night and went for the first half yesterday. These wins came against 2 mid majors but the NC Central team is picked to win their conference and they certainly didnt look like your 'small' mid major team. We overwhelmed them with our defense, knocked down some shots, and the game was over before the midway mark of the first half. Same was true yesterday.

First off, lets talk about the product on the floor...

Avery Holmes was a big pick up last year and he looks to be a big upgrade at PG. He has a great floor vision and, even though is touted as a shooting threat, seems to look for the pass first. He is able to push the ball more than Rod Hall. I loved Rod Hall and appreciated all he did for our program over the last 4 years, but its obvious to me that Holmes is a quick upgrade over Rod.

Roper is off to a good start as well knocking down a few 3 balls yesterday. He can also step into the PG roll if needed. I think he will benefit from knowing he is a starter this year and not splitting time starting with harrison.

Grantham and Blossomgame have the potential to be All ACC players this year. They look stronger and more dialed in this year. If they can average 25 pts between the 2 of them, we will be able to compete for a top 5-6 spots in the ACC.

Nnoko seems to be a little more confident thru the first 2 games but it will be absolutely vital for him to stay out of foul trouble and for Brownell to find spots to give him some rest as the season progresses. He is our 1 true big man threat down low.

As far as the bench goes, I look for Gabe Devoe to continue gaining confidence knocking down shots and his role will continue to grow. He looked lost at times last year but definitely looks like hes grown up some over the offseason. Sidy Djitte will be very important filling in at the 5 spot and even the 4 spot when needed. He looks stronger this season. Ty Hudson looks like a little bit smaller Rod Hall and i believe will be important on the defensive in as his role progresses during his freshman year. And Josh Smith has played sparingly and is a little bit of a liability out on the floor right now. He will be forced to play some minutes this year and he just needs to know his role and grab some rebounds and trash buckets.

Now, on to my thoughts on 'the well'...
This can be a fun atmosphere IF we find a way to bring all the fans together. The seating is so spread out that it makes the arena feel like its empty and 'hollow'. There were 5500 people there friday night and maybe about 4500-5000 there yesterday but it felt more like 2000. I wish there was a way to slide everybody on the sides and make for a little better atmosphere. I do think, especially for the first 2 games, the crowd was pretty good. It'd be nice to see more students there but its obvious the travel 30 miles is difficult especially during the week.

Anyways, i know this is long winded but I wanted to share my thoughts on the first few games of bball season.

Go Tigers!

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early season basketball/'the well' thoughts....

is the university going to bus in students for games?

i think they do bus the students...

Re: is the university going to bus in students for games?

i agree. definitely more people there than i thought there

Re: early season basketball/'the well' thoughts....

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