Laval Exhibition

[Dane Pound]

New Uniforms were snazzy. In fact with some fresh paint on the floors and walls and the Sefcu signs the Cue looked pretty good. It just needs one thing to finish it off. Maybe a Championship Banner....

 

Coach Brown didn't seem pleased last night and his comments in the TU attest to that. They did try a lot of different player combinations which possibly made things even more disjointed.

 

In the two times I've seen Gifford I'm surprised at how comfortable he looks out on the court for a freshman. Granted last night it was againt Laval but he's got a nice touch and hit some shots away from the basket when they left him alone.

 

Iati didn't look like a guy who has missed the last few weeks of practice. He looked pretty sharp to me.

 

As far as I was concerned Knight didn't stand out in the scrimmage but I liked him much more last night. He seems like a good defender and a great-looking shot that also goes in half the time (at least last night).

 

Sitting down low in the stands last night I got a better look at Connelly. He's huge!! He looked good on the offense end. Maybe it was just me but he seemed to lose his man on defense several times.

 

I was a big Siggers fan last year and he looks to be a notch above that this year. I wasn't surprised to see he was the leading rebounder. He and Lillis are going to be tough to keep off the glass this year.

 

Maybe the only minor disappointment last night was Ross. I'm not sure what I was expecting but he didn't seem to be on the same page offensively. I'm sure missing a couple of weeks of practice with the injury didn't help. There were a couple of glimpses of what he can do when he figures it all out and when he does he looks like he'll be a big plus.

 

Brown said in the TU the possible line-up is Lillis, Jamar, Siggers, Brent and either Covington or Gifford. Danes flat, but still win by 20

[Clickclack]

I was at the exhibition game last night.

 

I was very surprised with Gifford, he looks very comfortable out there just as you said. He is very mobile, roams the paint hit a couple of free throws and can step out a bit and hit the outside shot. He had a nice spin to the bucket around a defender, it just showed me that he has the potential to develop some nice inside moves. I was very pleased with him.

 

Knight played very well last night, I think he is a great defender and has a very nice shot. Overall I was very impressed with the team defense they were smothering and always stay in front of the opposing players. Siggers and Lillis were all over the place as usual. The team did look a little flat on offense and during one timeout, coach really lit into them I saw him slapping his hand together and really giving it to them. I think it was difficult for guys to motivate themselves playing in an exhibition game when they were already up by 20. Both Ross and Anderson appeared to be lost a little bit on offense, Anderson has very long arms and appeared to be a very good defender and Ross just needs some practice time to integrate himself into the offense.

 

At this point I would start Giffor over Covington he really impressed me last night.

[Dane Pound]

Seemed to me Jamar understood the exhibition was about evaluation the other players and more or less blended in offensively when he could have taken over. Some of the passes he's thrown this fall have been amazing. He made a couple of great ones to Lillis last night. Seems like he has added something to his game every year of his career.

 

If the rotation shapes up the way it looked last night probably 7 of 10 players seeing time will be upperclassman. Great to have that kind of experience on the floor.

[nysteve661]

Thanks guys for the report for last nights game. Just looked at the boxscore, did Bauman really have 4 turnovers in 3 minutes and missed both foul shots? Not gonna get many minutes with those numbers even though he is not in the regular rotation anyway.

[Clickclack]

Yeh, thats how it went down for him. I'm glad I went to the game, it was probably my only chance to see him play. Nice guy I'm sure, just not much of a game to speak of.

[olddog71]

I haven't read too much here about Yokum.

 

How did he look last night?

[Clickclack]

Youcum....bigger then I thought he would be. Didn't do much on offense and dished out a couple of hard fouls. Seemed pretty active, again I was more impressed with him as a physical specimen. If his game comes along he could be very solid.

[alum73]

I spent more time at VB than BB but I saw Gifford make a couple nice passes as well as make a nice 14 ft. jump shot. I think he's going to be very good. We tried to force some passes to him. As was mentioned, Jamar really toned down his O to get the other players more involved.

[Dane Pound]

Yocum didn't get a lot of time so it seemed hard to get a read on him. He had the one sequence where he grabbed a couple of offensive rebounds and tried to feather them back in and missed them. Maybe I've watched to much college basketball but I could imagine CBS Bill Rafferty saying "take it strong to the tin!!!" Would have liked to see him tear the rim off in that spot. Tough to only play a few minutes and feel like your auditioning. I think some of the fun this year will be watching how our young frontcourt players improve from now until March.

 

I forgot about Giffords passing until 73 mentioned it. It's early yet but unlike some other big guys who come into our conference he really seems like a basketball player.

[danefan]

Wasn't able to get to the scrimmage.

Anyone know the estimated attendance?

[UAalum72]

Wasn't able to get to the scrimmage.

Anyone know the estimated attendance?

17314[/snapback]

Box score said 345, don't know how they could count it, with no tickets and people wandering in and out - another 210 estimated (seems low to me) at the volleyball match.