Through two real games (and whatever that was versus Mississippi Valley State), I have to say we look pretty good. Depth like we haven't seen in a long time, three point shooters seemingly everywhere, and length on defense that will give whoever we play a hard time.
Our offensive chemistry still has a long ways to go, but that was to be expected with so many new pieces. These last two games can be even more encouraging considering we probably ought to have scored around 20 more points in each, but we still won each game by double digits anyway.
Vanover has to be your MVP so far. He is a liability on defense when opposing teams choose to go straight at him, but he's just a weapon on offense and a great rim protector. As Muss said, if they can continue to fine tune the defense when he's out there and neutralize his weaknesses, then we have a dude that no one in the country can match up with on offense.
Surprisingly, not far behind Vanover, in my eyes, is Jalen Tate. He still seems to be figuring out offense with some great moments and some not so great moments, but his defense is a game changer. He consistently takes away his man from the play and forces the opposing team to play 4 on 5. Last night in particular, it felt like every time Tate came out of the game it was only moments later that Muss was sending him back in. He's very valuable.
"Moses Moody might average the quietest 15 ppg we've ever seen" (Williams, 2020)[1]. He had a sweet dunk yesterday, but aside from that, there's nothing about his game that's very flashy. He gets to the foul line and knocks down his free throws, he rebounds well, and his length serves him very well on defense. As of right now, I'm not convinced he's a one and done, but as we improve our offensive chemistry, and he gets better looks from three specifically, his averages and percentages might become too good for the NBA to ignore. Physically, he looks like a NBA guy.
I could go down the entire roster...I'm very excited about this team and the rest of the season...but I already know I'm going to get some "did not read" posts. lol
All in all, I'm excited to see where we end up in March as our chemistry improves and Muss and staff learn how to best utilize what he has in this team. We've won 2 games convincingly, both of which we arguably played poorly overall, and I'm just excited to see what we do when we hit our potential.
[1] Andrew Williams. Hawgbert Financial Experts. 2020.
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