After seeing one regular season game against Texas on a neutral site… here are a few VERY EARLY observations. I know it’s early, but just one person’s thoughts:
1) Young, but talented- yes, we all knew this would be the case. We have some real athletes with real potential.
2) Decent Basketball IQ- It does appear from a maturity standpoint that a few of these freshmen / young players are embracing the reality that they will need to be immediate contributors. Isaiah Joe seems to be ready NOW, but others also seem to be ahead of the curve in terms of bball IQ.
3) Could be lacking a ‘go-to’ scorer- again, another thing most people were expecting.
5) Intangibles are there- this looks like it could be a mentally tough team. Defensive and rebounding intensity are hard to teach, but this team seemed to bring it the other night. We look to have guys who are real winners on this team. Hopefully this is maintained throughout the long season, because this is what should help win some of the closer games down the stretch.
6) This team needs to be coached- we lost a lot of production from last year’s team. We also lost a lot of veteran experience. Coach MA has never been known for trying to out-strategize the opponent (as evidenced by ending games with 2 or 3 timeouts left), but this team will need more hand-holding (especially early in the year). Friday’s loss to UT, the lack of a foul at the end of regulation, ending OT with a sub-par offensive possession and an unused timeout are all things that can (and hopefully will) be corrected.
Not claiming this year’s team to be a sweet-16 contender yet, and after one game it’s definitely a mixed bag of takeaways. With the inexperience on this team, we are in for an up-and-down type ride, but there are clearly some encouraging signs early.
1) Young, but talented- yes, we all knew this would be the case. We have some real athletes with real potential.
2) Decent Basketball IQ- It does appear from a maturity standpoint that a few of these freshmen / young players are embracing the reality that they will need to be immediate contributors. Isaiah Joe seems to be ready NOW, but others also seem to be ahead of the curve in terms of bball IQ.
3) Could be lacking a ‘go-to’ scorer- again, another thing most people were expecting.
- While Big Dan is going to get his fair share of points on alley-oops, transition buckets, put backs, etc., he is not a back-to-the-basket scorer and does not look like he’s made much progress in this area from last year. I’d expect 14-17 points a game from Gafford, but he’s not going to be our go-to-guy when a bucket is needed late in the game. It was pretty apparent down the stretch vs UT that this team lacks an identity in crunch time.
- Isaiah Joe appears to be a guy who could average double-digit points, but I’m not sure he’s really a ‘creator’ either – more of a jump shooter who will get his shots in the flow of the game.
- Jalen Harris and Mason Jones bring some type of edge to our game, but they probably aren’t going to fill the shoes of Macon and Barford.
5) Intangibles are there- this looks like it could be a mentally tough team. Defensive and rebounding intensity are hard to teach, but this team seemed to bring it the other night. We look to have guys who are real winners on this team. Hopefully this is maintained throughout the long season, because this is what should help win some of the closer games down the stretch.
6) This team needs to be coached- we lost a lot of production from last year’s team. We also lost a lot of veteran experience. Coach MA has never been known for trying to out-strategize the opponent (as evidenced by ending games with 2 or 3 timeouts left), but this team will need more hand-holding (especially early in the year). Friday’s loss to UT, the lack of a foul at the end of regulation, ending OT with a sub-par offensive possession and an unused timeout are all things that can (and hopefully will) be corrected.
Not claiming this year’s team to be a sweet-16 contender yet, and after one game it’s definitely a mixed bag of takeaways. With the inexperience on this team, we are in for an up-and-down type ride, but there are clearly some encouraging signs early.
