God, recapping wins is so much more fun! This is my long recap, coming from a perspective of somebody who's only a BBall fan because we're so bad at football.
Keep that in mind:
Of the freshmen, I was most excited to see Wesley Gordon play. Hearing that he's redshirting disappointed me.
The Students were GREAT! They filled the place up, and were there EARLY! That was awesome, and I hope that continues. They were great. Way to go students. Us old folks showed up late, and didn't make the place look like a sell out. That said, it was a pretty good atmosphere in there. Especially, prior to the game. You could feel the excitement in the building. This is going to be a fun year.
As for the team, I was really excited about our defense. They probably attempted <10 shots in the paint, and we blocked 2 of them. It was nasty down low, and we weren't letting them in. I thought our defense was great. We gave up a few offensive rebounds, but for the most part, I thought we were working hard on defense. After hearing about how defense was our weakness, I wasn't expecting this kind of opening night either. Kudos to our Buffs.
The Mayor had the biggest impact of anybody on our team. He was outstanding. MVP of the game for me. Makes shots, without taking many. Terrific defense. I feel like he blocked 3 outside shot attempts in one game. Also just ripped a ball away from some guy from behind as he was going up for a shot. Finished with a dunk. What a mismatch on those small PGs. Also, great passing. He had a sick bounce pass on the break in the beginning of the game. No big mistakes I can think of, missed a few FTs. If he plays like that all year, I could see him thinking about the NBA draft. Not afraid to drive into contact. Not only is he talented, but he hustles. In the second half, the game was not in doubt, one of their guys took a shot that was an airball. May have been partially blocked by Chen (I think) or may have just been a terrible shot. Everybody's watching it bounce out of bounds and the Mayor comes out of nowhere and dives for it and tips it back to one of our guys. Gotta love that! Probably my most favorite play of the night. Leader! Thank God it was only a crap when he went down. I thought it was his knee or something....PHEW.
Askia is a pretty good starter. He's one of only 2 guys I think can get his own shot. He can make something happen, get around some guy and get a pretty good look. Still misses a lot of shots though. But I still feel confident when he puts it up, so I guess that's good. One thing I don't like about him is that he seems to get caught up in screens when he's playing defense. He seems to be a liability on defense still. I felt that way last year, and was hoping he would improve. Man can he jump. He looks like he can get up like 5 feet in the air.
The only other guy on our team that can make something for himself is Josh Scott. Firstly, he looks like he's 35 years old. Big guy. I thought he had a "quiet" highest scorer on the team night. Kind of like how I thought Andre would have quiet nights in the last couple years, then see that he had 14 rebounds. But it is sweet to see us just pitch the ball down there and let him work. It's AWESOME that he's a good free throw shooter because we're probably gonna see him on the line a lot. Felt that "Jelly" nickname on his "fast break." He got a pass from Askia after Andre made that sweet block, and it was the slowest attack of the basket I've seen in a while. But he got fouled and make some FTs. He also had a great pass to Chen for an easy lay-up in the second half. Nice to know he can pass from down low too.
Speaking of passing from down low, SHT looked pretty good all things considered. If he doesn't have to run, or move his feet quickly, he's got some...dare I say sneaky...plays. I actually like when he catches the ball with his back to the basket. He didn't do the SHT bounce pass to a cutter, which I always assumed was his only move. He's added moves to his game. It starts with the head nod, to clear out whoever's right in front of him. But seriously, he actually took some shots, had some step through plays. I chuckled every time he did something, but I thought he was surprisingly affective offensively. He was also present on defense. Just as long as he doesn't have to move. He still needs to work on defensive positioning for rebounds, but I thought he played well. Actually, I bet his play is why Tad's thinking he can RS Wesley Gordon.
The freshman I was most impressed with was Xavier Johnson (#2). Dude was EVERYWHERE! Hustled. Played good defense. Rebounding machine. Super springy. Got the easiest first college bucket ever when Wofford forgot to defend him. He reminded me of Andre Roberson a little bit. Good defense. Excited to watch him for a few years.
Eli Stalzer was pretty fun to watch. This probably isn't a compliment, but his picture makes me think of Dana Holgorsen. He looks like he's about 40 and a degenerate gambler. From what I heard about him, I was worried he would play Bball like I would. (Keep in mind, I'm 5-9 190, and white. I thought he'd be a passer 100% of the time, with all kinds of wacky passes. He had one play where he received the ball high for some reason and immediately did a cool bounce pass to somebody in the paint. I thought that was neat. But I was most excited that he can shoot. He's not gonna be taking 15 shots a game, but he'll make shots. Defenses are gonna have to remember that, and stay honest against him. Still getting used to defending at this level, but I'm glad he's on our team.
Super Ninchendo had a super Ninchendo game. Good defense, I think he blocked a shot or 2 as well. I don't mind him being a starter for now. As XJ improves, I bet we'll see him to finish games instead of Ninchendo. Had a steal and a 10 second violation to start the second half that was pretty awesome. Made a 3, and also had some other bad shots. Stuck his nose in there for rebounds. Hair looked great too.
Xavier Talton. He came in, and made a great defensive play breaking up an entry pass. Went screaming down the court with the ball. He made me say "Who is that guy?" and grab my program. He then skidded out. He reminded me of a puppy. Running all over the place, happy to be out there, but not really sure where to go or what to do. But he sure does go places quickly.
And then there's Andre Roberson. I wasn't really buying the "look out, he's improved his offensive game" because I bought it last year. He was a complete non-factor in the first half. If I had to guess his first half stats, it would be 2 ish rebounds. That's it. Maybe they were staying away from him on offense, and actively trying to prevent him from doing anything when we were on offense, but I felt he had no impact on the game in the first half. It's pretty cool that he was still out there to do the opening tip (but he missed the ball there too) instead of our massive all everything NBA bound center. The second half was better for him. I think we did some stuff to purposefully get him involved. He had a sweet Lebron-esque trailing block that led to a fast break the other way. Never saw his help defense block, which is unfortunate. I love those. Got some steals and rebounds in the second half. But he is not going to beat anybody off the dribble, he's not gonna be a spot up 3 point shooter, he's probably not a face up offensive player, and he's not a back to the basket offensive player. He's a offensive rebound, putback, easy dunk type of player for offense. BTW, I hate the way he drives. He dribbles the ball once, then tucks it under his arm like a football and takes 2 big steps, then tries to get it out from that tuck and transition it up for a shot. Looks ridiculous. But if things go as planned, we won't need him to score 15 points a game. But I think we will need him to be getting 15 rebounds a game. Keep working hard Andre. You're a physical freak! I'm only on you tonight because you're a hoss.
Tad Boyle is a God among men.
Lastly, I try to get out of the CEC pretty quick after games so I can hear Mark Johnson give me the postgame recap and interviews right between the eyes. Whoever was the radio host for the post game SUCKED! Hopefully Mark Johnson wasn't there because he's still doing football.
If you read this whole thing, you must have a slow day at work. Go Buffs!
