Just got back from the game. This was the first time I had a chance to see this team in person and I have to say I was impressed. The depth on this team is something we haven't seen in a LONG time. Mac's toughest job this season will be getting the right combination of guys on the floor at the same time. He almost has too many options to choose from. I'm sure he'll take that problem any time compared to what he's had to deal with the past few seasons. Anyway, on to my thoughts...
PG: Loved the play of DG, Buckley, and Colvin. DG only shot once, and that's completely fine with me. I'll take 7 assists and no turnovers any day of the week. Colvin is going to be a special player. The game just appears to come so easy to him and he's extremely smooth out on the court. He tried to make a couple really tough passes that ended up being turnovers, but for the most part he played pretty well. I love his defensive intensity as a freshman too. Buckley played ok. He wasn't as intense on defense as DG or Colvin, and I could see that being a reason that we'll see more of Colvin as the season progresses.
SG: Lucca shot the ball ok and has improved on defense but he's still a liability on that side of the floor and he turned the ball over a little too much too. He had a sweet dish to Dendy on that dunk though. Christopherson played pretty well. I didn't get to see much of his ability to get to the lane, but Idaho St. was packed in a zone most of the game so that was part of the reason. He's got a pretty nice-looking shot too. You can tell he spends hours working on it. Boozer also played ok. He was a lot more under control than I've seen in the past and he still continues to make the hustle plays that this team needs.
SF: Gilstrap played ok but you could tell he was trying to do way too much early on. He was forcing a lot of things and making some poor decisions. He finally settled down late in the first half and hit a big 3 in our run to put the game out of reach in the first half. I think he's definitely the missing piece from last year's team. The guy can do it all on offense and will create some major matchup problems for opponents. He's also going to be a pretty solid defender for us too.
Bigs: Ham was ham. Nothing flashy with his game, but he was in decent defensive position most of the night and had some nice put backs off offensive rebounds. I don't really need to talk about Brackins, everyone knows he's the man on this team. I LOVED the play of Dendy. He hustles every play. It doesn't matter what he's doing, he's hustling doing it. Rebounding, defense, running the floor, working for post position. This guy is going to be a great asset off our bench. JVB is still recovering and I didn't see much of him tonight, but once he's healthy he'll add another dimension to our team.
This team could be very good as some of the newcomers get used to D1 basketball. We have a lot of reasons to be optimistic about this season.