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Purple & Gold Scrimmage

MRSGDG

By MRSGDG
in Winter Sports-Danes Hoops, Track

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Dane Pound Great Dane

Dane Pound

Posted
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That reminds me. I liked the pre-scrimmage dunk contest.

 

When Mike Black came out I thought "I don't know if he can dunk." I was wrong, very wrong.

 

Blake Metcalf's assist of Jacob Iati's dunk was classic. One scrimmage and I like that kid already.

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Clickclack Great Dane

Clickclack

Posted
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First of all.....great scrimmage, the turnout was higher then I remember of the last few years.....I'd peg the number of people attending at around 1K+....who knows maybe I'm WAY OFF here but I thought the turnout was great.

 

- Defensively, this was a classic CB coached team...they got after it on D, as the scrimmage progressed the defense got tougher I thought. I thought McRae and Giff played particularly well on the defensive end cloging up the lane.....Scotty with those long arms did some good work defending the paint, Giff with his size takes up a bunch of space down there.

 

- Offense was good in stretches, especially to start the game, things got a little tough after the first 10 minutes, there was a bit of passing around the perimeter as both teams missed a good number of shots. The defensive intensity was noticeably high as both teams locked in on D. I was glad to see that a number of guys were knocking down outside shots, most noticeably Barazza who has a nice looking stroke, he hit a couple, Logan had one or two as well as a few others. I think it's fair to point out that the team practiced this morning for a few hours to there could have been some tired legs out there. All in all, a solid start, the O from what I saw is not yet a complete product but we are early in the practices let alone season. Ambrose, Tartt, Harris and Johnson showed strong ability to break the D down. I thought MJ played a tremendous game, he is a significant improvement over Anthony running the point. It appears that two of our biggest concerns....PG/Outside shooting seems significantly improved. Things should continue to get better as the season progresses and this team comes together.

 

- Mike Johnson - I was most impressed with Mike...he seems like an entirely different player then he was last season. Looked to me like he worked real hard at that outside and mid-range shot. He was working MB pretty good all game and the difference in experience was quite clear I thought. IMO this team is in good hands, I'm even more sorry to see him have to sit two games.....one of them against a strong Morgan State.

 

- Tim Ambrose - Came out and was absolutely unstoppable....started the game with a much larger Will on him and was absolutely schooling who ever they put on him. Can't wait to see this kid play this season, he is going to be a royal pain in the arse to defend.....when he's on, I don't think there is anyone in this conference who can stop him....that is except himself, I agree with IRock, he started forcing things in the second part of the first half....to his credit he appeared to recognize it and all second half settled in and started making much better decisions. Although there were a couple of head stretches....like driving into the lane with 3 guys there and not having anywhere to go with the ball. Still.....this kid will continue to get better with experience as he's only a junior and IMO will contend for the AE 1st team this season. He's that good!

 

- Will Harris - I know he just got over the flue and is probably fatigued, lost weight etc. I thought he played well in stretches but with his talent I thought he was a bit to passive in stretches, very strong driving inside and is a great finisher around the rim....get him more mid-range and around the rim, IMO he is most effective there.

 

- Derek Tartt - I thought he started out slow, a bit unsure of himself but as the game progressed he got better and better, handles the ball very well, IMO could be a viable PG option for us especially the first couple of games. I love his first step, he's wiry and appears to be a kid capable of making plays. Really thought he played a solid game, has nice elevations on his shots, decent looking stroke and strong going to the hole. Absolutely NEEDS to get stronger especially in the upper body which will help him finish inside.....a ton of potential with this one....keep an eye on him.

 

- Gavin Glanton - I came into this scrimmage now knowing what to expect from him....I was told that he was athletically very gifted but raw....I came away very very impressed. He wasn't as raw as I expected, showed some solid flashes, nice looking stroke, good D, seemed to work hard. I don't expect him to contribute a whole lot out of the gate but he has the tools to be a very good player for us.

 

- Mike Black - Kid was matches up against a much stronger and more experienced MJ....he battled all game long although you can see that he needs to get stronger. What impressed me most with Black is that he has great court awareness, and the ABILITY and WILLINGNESS to make a pass to set a team mate up. Even CB got up a couple of times to commend him on the right pass or the correct read. He is exactly what we will need down the road and in spots this season...someone to run the O and be the extension of the coach on the court. Very good speed in the open court and the ability to drive which will only improve as he gets stronger. Work in progress at this point, no different the all of the other freshmen but a very very good canvass for CB to mold.

 

- Fran Urli - Started the game very aggressive in the post, in fact showed flashes of something we haven't seen for some time now with his back to the basket. Didn't attempt anything from the outside as far as I remember but I hear he has a good stroke.

 

- Scotty McRae - Very glad that CB and Scotty made up.....I mean that as a compliment to both of them. He will help significantly this season. I think his D, specifically his help D is significantly under rated. He has the ability to alter a lot of shots at the rim and mid-range not as a primary defender but when he comes out of nowhere. Also did some nice work around the bucket. Should definitely be in the rotation IMO.

 

- Logan Aronhalt - Looked to me like he was completely comfortable out there.....before the game watching the dunk contest, he doesn't look like a kid who can do much other then maybe shoot.....but boy was I pleasantly surprised....nice jumper and strong driving the ball has the ability to throw it down.....probably helps that this kid has obviously spend countless hours in the gym lifting. Very excited to see him play for four years....he has the chance to be really good. Only fair to point out that he hasn't played ball in basically a year and is probably very rusty.

 

At this point based on what I've seen I'd peg the lineup like this...

 

- Giff

- McRae - Not sure about this pick...he needs to stay aggressive

- Harris

- Ambrose

- MJ

 

With the following coming off the bench....

 

- Black

- Tartt

- Logan

- Urli

- Barazza

 

A couple of other interesting tid-bits....

 

- Someone brought up Bing in the context of...thanking Will for running a clean program and building the program up the right way. He appreciated the fact that people notice that we try really hard to build a program with good kids and solid citizens....tweaked MJ slightly by saying with the exception of a little fireworks or something...don't remember the exact wording. People who knew what he was talking about chuckled and the players were prodding MJ on the sideline and laughing.

 

- Made the point that he sees the league as three tiers....BU alone at the top UVM and UA in the second group (seemed to imply that there might be others in the second group)...depending how things come together we could potentially contend for tier 1.

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DanesRGood Great Dane

DanesRGood

Posted
Posted

Timmy missed it though :( The dunk contest was an unofficial type deal...everyone did one when they got introduced...Someone did a windmill and hit it which was pretty nice (I think it was one of the freshmen...maybe Tartt?)

 

Looked pretty official with you sitting at a judges table. :lol:

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dslyank Great Dane

dslyank

Posted
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I had to leave early but saw all but two minutes. Thought I would add a couple thoughts. I was very impressed with Gavin Glanton; he seemed the most poised of the freshman with good range and a nice touch. Black and Tartt seemed less poised at the start, but both seemed to get more comfortable as the scrimmage progressed. Metcalf to me did not look smooth at all. but was always around the ball had a ton of rebounds and 10 points. He may be one of those classic players that do not look like much but GETS IT DONE. MJ looked like a completely different player and if the scrimmage was a true indication, he is going to be a difference maker in this league. Timmy and Will were both solid as the other posts' said. Logan looked rusty but comfortable and if Billy Allen ever finds his shot he is going to be an asset, because he is a complete player in every other way. All in all I was very impressed with the team and I am very optimistic about the season. I know it is early and it was only an in house scrimmage, but I saw a lot of really good things including the turn out.

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Patch Great Dane

Patch

Posted
Posted

Watts was almost invisible (a big disappointment). He seemed just to be going through the motions and never seemed to assert himself.

 

Some of these guys may have been exhausted especially the newbies as CB said they had practiced hard in the AM.

 

The problem for Watts is you don't want to dig yourself into a hole you can't climb out of. We know MJ, Timmy, Will, Billy Allen and Barrazza deserve minutes on the perimeter and just from the scrimmage Black, Aronhalt and Tartt looked ahead of Watts. If my observations are correct that puts Watts #9 on the perimeter.

 

Hopefully I'm wrong and maybe he has been doing things great in practice and just had a poor afternoon.

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