CUIndepent Pre-season series "Dance, Ralphie, Dance"

[Shldr2Shldr]

Apparently they are doing a week by week chronicle of practice. Interesting perspective, and finally at least more press coverage.

http://cuindependent.com/2014/10/13/dance-ralphie-dance/56083

A few observations from the first two weeks of practice:What do you think?

• Askia Booker’s game doesn’t look any different. His shooting stroke is pure but inconsistent, and his decision-making is as questionable as ever. In a full scrimmage, he ignored an open man in both corners on a fast break and shot a floater in front of three defenders. Still, Booker, Colorado’s only scholarship senior, has been a teacher to the younger players; after Boyle taught some offensive sets, Booker broke them down in greater detail. But nothing would help his teammates more than dropping out of the J.R. Smith school of shot selection.What do you think?
  
• Tory Miller is a freshman…and the biggest guy on the team. He might be the biggest human being I’ve seen in person. With college weight rooms, he could be the next Patrick Young. Every time Miller dunks, I think he’s going to tear the rim down. I will bet real cash money that he will break a backboard during his Colorado career. Miller isn’t just a bruiser. He’s a natural on the glass. Offensive rebounds just find their way into his hands. He is relentless in the paint and his baseline jumper has potential. Don’t be surprised if Miller gets heavier minutes than fellow freshman Dom Collier.What do you think?
  
• Eli Stalzer finally, mercifully, shaved his mustache. That thing was an abomination.What do you think?
  
• Xavier Johnson has reworked his shooting stroke, and it looks fantastic. His freshman and sophomore years he had a jerky, low release that looked a little too much like Shawn Marion’s. It didn’t hurt his three-point shooting — he shoots 39 percent from deep— but it showed at the free-throw line. Johnson is a 58 percent free-throw shooter and he always seems to miss at the worst times. Now he has a higher, smoother, quicker release. It will only help him as a shooter. Johnson is also a noticeably better ball-handler. With these improvements, his game is looking more and more like NBA Finals MVP Kawhi Leonard’s. He might be Colorado’s best pro prospect.

If he is even partly right about XJ and Tory... oh my goodness this year could be fun.

 

[Buffnik]

I'm confident in our front court. It's elite. I worry that our back court is average at best.

 

[wyobuff]

I'm confident in our front court. It's elite. I worry that our back court is average at best.

Agree - I'm not even so much worried about booker - he was great to watch last year after spencer went down. I think he'll still make the one off mistake, but by and large, I'm hoping he plays smart all year.

 

[FLounder]

I'm confident in our front court. It's elite. I worry that our back court is average at best.

The good thing is teams with a really solid front court are consistent. Great big men can cover up the deficiencies in the backcourt IMO.

 

[absinthe]

The good thing is teams with a really solid front court are consistent. Great big men can cover up the deficiencies in the backcourt IMO.

You hear all the time about how great front-court play really drives college teams, you never hear about guard play as a driver in the NCAA ranks.

 

[Buffnik]

Guard play wins in the Dance. We need to see a lot of progress & growing up from the back court over the course of the season.

 

[absinthe]

Guard play wins in the Dance. We need to see a lot of progress & growing up from the back court over the course of the season.

It'll come back to this a lot of the course of this season. We are going to need to get some decent guard play to have a chance to get the ball to our front court. If you look at how bad we got handled in the last 2 games it all started at the guard position with pressure and ineffective play. we could have had Shaq and Malone in the front court and it wouldn't have mattered.

 

[Goose]

The good thing is teams with a really solid front court are consistent. Great big men can cover up the deficiencies in the backcourt IMO.

 

[rolandftw]

I worry a lot about Askia if he is the point guard

Still think Fletcher breaks out big time this year. Need another of our guards to do so, too (Dom, Jaron, XT)

Love to hear the good talk on XJ

 

[BuffG]

I'm confident in our front court. It's elite. I worry that our back court is average at best.

Scott, sure, but we haven't seen Wes play with consistent confidence yet & Tory is a wildcard until he proves otherwise.

"How much have Jaron Hopkins, Tre’Shaun Fletcher and Wes Gordon, who played big minutes as freshmen, improved?"

Everybody, including the beat writer is sleeping on Dustin Thomas.

 

[Goose]

I don't think anyone knows what to expect with DT. I know people were nervous when he decided to go home for the summer, but relieved when he came back in good shape. He's kind of a wild card for the team this year.

 

[tante]

Has anyone heard a thing about any of the sophomore players improving?

 

[sackman]

JHop, Dom, Ski And XT make a solid backcourt. While the frontcourt will be a strength, I don't think the backcourt will be a glaring weakness.

 

[BehindEnemyLines]

I think the back court will be very solid defensively.

 

[Buffnik]

Has anyone heard a thing about any of the sophomore players improving?

The regular stuff about how everyone had a good summer and the greatest improvement is usually made between freshman and sophomore year. Yada, yada, yada. I'm eager to see the Drexel and Auburn games.

 

[BuffG]

I don't think anyone knows what to expect with DT. I know people were nervous when he decided to go home for the summer, but relieved when he came back in good shape. He's kind of a wild card for the team this year.

So many wild cards... Thing about that writer's statement was that he mentioned Tre as playing significant minutes but DT played far more minutes even when Tre was healthy.

Lots of people are calling a Tre breakout but, not only did the coaching staff play DT more, he also made a statement during the Seals training. Of course, their breakouts aren't mutually exclusive.

 

[rolandftw]

So many wild cards... Thing about that writer's statement was that he mentioned Tre as playing significant minutes but DT played far more minutes even when Tre was healthy.

Their minutes were very similar from the Harvard game up to his injury. DT is going to have to shoot better, as his defense is not as good as Tres

 

[tante]

Their minutes were very similar from the Harvard game up to his injury. DT is going to have to shoot better, as his defense WAS not as good as Tres

wishful thinking FIFY

 

[BuffG]

Their minutes were very similar from the Harvard game up to his injury. DT is going to have to shoot better, as his defense is not as good as Tres

That's a really small & selective sample size, but even then your argument is that their minutes were even. DT's FG% was 41.4 on 111 shots & Tre's was 40% on only 50 shots. Tre only played 10 games of 10+ minutes at 100% health so it's quite the leap to make any definitive statements about his game.

Again, their 2nd yr jumps are not mutually exclusive, but DT is being overlooked while Tre gets hyped even though DT played 273% more minutes than Tre.

 

[rolandftw]

That's a really small & selective sample size, but even then your argument is that their minutes were even. DT's FG% was 41.4 on 111 shots & Tre's was 40% on only 50 shots. Tre only played 10 games of 10+ minutes at 100% health so it's quite the leap to make any definitive statements about his game.

Again, their 2nd yr jumps are not mutually exclusive, but DT is being overlooked while Tre gets hyped even though DT played 273% more minutes than Tre.

I think it's more about Tre staying on-campus, and more players being able to say they think he has improved his game, while Dustin did not stay on campus. He could have improved as much or even more, but he's not going to be the first name out of players mouths when they didn't watch him as extensively as Fletch

I just feel defensively, Fletcher is a more versatile player. Ideally, Dustin Thomas can be instant offense off the bench.

 

[BuffG]

I think it's more about Tre staying on-campus, and more players being able to say they think he has improved his game, while Dustin did not stay on campus. He could have improved as much or even more, but he's not going to be the first name out of players mouths when they didn't watch him as extensively as Fletch

I just feel defensively, Fletcher is a more versatile player. Ideally, Dustin Thomas can be instant offense off the bench.

Yes, recency bias would imply Tre would get more hype bc of staying on campus, but that has nothing on game experience. My issue was the writer made a mistake leaving out DT. I don't see either of them starting from the onset, but that could change quickly.

Not really on Team DT or Team Tre. Just think it's funny how the hype train works. DT was the 1 getting hyped at this time last year.