Arkansas Fort Smith game thoughts

[thetorch]

Kind of a rough first 30 minutes. AFS stayed in it for the most part. We went on a 15-3 run halfway through the second half and ran them out of Chaifetz for the rest of the game.

A few new wrinkles on defense. A lot of half court trapping. We ran a good trap, I love John up there but our spacing and help after the trap was awful and led to some easy baskets for AFS once they beat the initial pressure. Defense was the main sore spot. We didn't close out on shooters and didn't follow on switches fast enough. I think a couple of our guys have relied on their athleticism to close gaps and they need to realize that won't work at this level. Offensively I liked our game. We ran a little, only a few times did we get bogged down in the half court. Most of the mistakes were freshman running the wrong way on cuts and guys who just don't know the system yet. Free throw shooting was horrid.

Willie Reed - Star of the game shot 9-9 with 19 points with 7 boards. Still has stamina issues, hard to believe he is calling out for a sub in his second year playing. He has to get more endurance. Without him on the court our offense was stagnant, though Kwamain had a really bad night. Willie had at least 6 dunks and three alley oops. His first basket was a spinning drop step two hander over a 6'9 defender that was just sick. Not many Billikens could have pulled that off in the past. Expected more out of him on defense. I'll take his offense any night though.

Kwamain Mitchell - Really bad night for him, shot like 3 of 15 and 0 for 5 from 3 point range. Seemed distant from the rest of the team on offense. Maybe he needs to get himself going before his teammates.

Femi John - 2nd coming of John Redden. Still a work in progress. Some big holes in his game but he is a beast on D. Really really strong. In the first half he had some ballhandling issues got stripped at least 3 times but his hands were so strong he took the ball right back from the defender. Best defensive player on the floor by far. Decent all around on offense. Hit a 3, drove, mid range, and had a very good post up. I had high hopes for him coming into the game but he surpassed them. Will be a solid A-10 player for 4 years. Dismal on free throws. 1-7. A 6'3 guard has to do better than that.

Christian Salecich - Had some early jitters but settled down. Taller and longer than I thought. Good defender. Shooting range extends to Tasmania. They need to get him open for more 3s. He can be our sniper. Not flashy at all, just puts his head and down and manages to get to the basket. Played some point did a decent job. Connected with Reed for all his alley oops and threw one to Smith that he couldn't handle. Obviously has built some chemistry with Reed in the short time he has been here.

Kyle Cassity - He started but is the 4th best perimeter player on the team, maybe 5th. A little more comfortable shooting but made some passing errors. Didn't play any backup point. Still a step too slow on defense and pales in comparison to John and Salecich in that regard. I like his mid range game, but doesn't have the handle or speed to make many drives.

Jon Smith - Mildy surprised. Very similar to Reed last year just shorter. Extremely long and dunks with ease. Mixes it up inside but gets pushed around by D-2 kids. Like Willie will sneak up on players with his athleticism. Still a kid like him off the bench is a luxury that past SLU teams have never had. Didn't shoot any jumpers, but drove from outside a couple times. Not really sure if he is a 3 or even if he should be. He can definitely defend the 3 though. Doesn't call for subs like Willie that is a plus. Had 10 points, a lot of junk baskets but that is good to have.

Brian Conklin - Solid game nothing spectacular. Didn't injure any AFS players on picks. I expected at least 1 concussion for them from the Oregon Enforcer. He owes us 2 for next game. Best post player on the team but not a big scorer. Solid complementary player in the A-10.

Cory Remuken - Not as small as I thought he would be. Not as skinny as Smith. Tried to post up a couple times, still needs to get a feel for that but I like that he is working with his back to the basket. Not a pogo stick like Smith and Reed but decent athletically. If Ellis was here he would be redshirting but will be forced to play. Right now he is a serviceable backup but hope that Reed and Conklin don't get in foul trouble much.

Jeff Reid - Can obviously shoot but on a team full of slight builds he is the slightest. All of 6'4 or 6'5 but can't imagine he weighs much more than 170. His arms are 2 dimensional. Has a lot to learn. Threw the ball away several times, was out of position several times, was stripped several times. I owe that to not knowing the offensive system yet. Definitely a redshirt candidate.

Justin Jordan - About as tall as Polk with a little more bulk. Pretty fast and good ballhandler. Can shoot a little. Will be a serviceable backup.

Students showed up in droves. Great job. DB's delight was somewhat subdued. Can somebody tell him to say FROM DOWN UNDER when Salecich hits a 3? Overall was impressed with the talent level and athleticism of the kids. Much better than anything in the recent past. We won't be fantastic this year but I firmly believe this will be a strong A-10 squad next season.

[RUBillsFan]

One thing that was particularly concerning was the free throw shooting. The Bills were awful. Femi was the main culprit and Willie had his share of misses as well. The fact that we were playing a D-II team qualifies most of the other stats for the game, but should not have an effect on free throws. Its just one game, so hopefully the Bills can hit a few more from the charity stripe going forward.

After this game I'm even more excited to see how the season plays out. These kids look pretty good, but obviously have a lot of learning to do.

[slu101]

moments of terror during the first half... brief moments of brilliance in the second half... definitely the right trend... VERY interested to see what another week of practice does for this team... definitely hopeful...

[Archy McNally]

I agree with almost everything Torch said. The help defense off the traps were poor and weak-side rebounding on D was atrocious. But everybody played and some of the freshman were having the most problems with this.

Wille - best offensive ability on team, scoring was completely different when he was in the game. Just great hands and seemed like he could just slice/stretch to the basket anytime he was within 8 feet of it. The coaches were not pleased with his defense however - understandably so.

Mitchell - he tried to play shooting guard a little too much and I am not sure he has the shot to do it. Seems to me he is better with the ball in his hands and playing the PG role. I think he is improved on D

Chris - I think he is an impact player this year with the ability to do everything well for a guard. I am not sure how quick he can get his shot off, but if he can shoot it from 25 feet away then it probably does not need to be that quick.

Femi - I think Redden also, but with a body more like Danny Brown. Still a little TO prone but has good hands and dished out 5 assists. When he was at Hazelwood, he was a perimeter player, but he is now much more physical. Hit some nice jumpers but still can't hit a FT.

BC - Physical speciman. Quicker and stronger. Better passer also. Didn't shoot very much

Jordan - He will play a lot. Freshmen seemed to need to adjust to the speed of the game, but I don't think he will have a problem. 4 assist and only 1 turnover. Good passer, looked pretty good on 'D', hit a 3. I am kind of excited with KM and JJ at the point.

KM, CS, FJ, BC, and JJ were the most impressive defensively on a pretty weak night at it.

Jon - super athletic, great finisher around the basket, really gets pushed around inside, raw, the tallest 6-5 guy I have ever seen (everybody on the team would be an inch taller anywhere else).

This team looks highly athletic but has a number of players that need to get stronger and better at running the game-plan and taking care of the ball. Running the game-plan needs some work. Scoring will be a problem, because it will be much harder for Willie against D-1 clubs (but he did look great on O). I think we will see CS and FJ starting on the outside.

[isotope]

The game was enjoyable, Fort Smith was a good opponent for our new team's first game, and it was fun to watch the new players for the first time.

Christian Salecich is going to help this team quite a bit, though he is only able to drive and penetrate to his left. He goes right on the dribble in order to set up his left-hand drives. Future opponents will see this and overplay his left. Hopefully Christian will be able to develop his right-hand drive this year!

Femi John is also going to be a strong addition on the floor this year. I think he is muscular enough to overpower many of his defenders. Hopefully his knee remains healthy - it looked to me or perhaps it was my imagination that he had a slight limp sometimes.

The one interesting thing within the first 3 1/2 minutes of the game is that most (all) of our players were breathing hard and some were holding their sides or knees. Their level of conditioning did not appear great, which is somewhat surprising given that they did not need official practices to start in order to get conditioned. Oh well, hopefully in the coming weeks they get game-shape ready.

[AlumniFan]

The game was enjoyable, Fort Smith was a good opponent for our new team's first game, and it was fun to watch the new players for the first time.

Christian Salecich is going to help this team quite a bit, though he is only able to drive and penetrate to his left. He goes right on the dribble in order to set up his left-hand drives. Future opponents will see this and overplay his left. Hopefully Christian will be able to develop his right-hand drive this year!

Femi John is also going to be a strong addition on the floor this year. I think he is muscular enough to overpower many of his defenders. Hopefully his knee remains healthy - it looked to me or perhaps it was my imagination that he had a slight limp sometimes.

The one interesting thing within the first 3 1/2 minutes of the game is that most (all) of our players were breathing hard and some were holding their sides or knees. Their level of conditioning did not appear great, which is somewhat surprising given that they did not need official practices to start in order to get conditioned. Oh well, hopefully in the coming weeks they get game-shape ready.

I thought Salecich was getting beat on defense quite often. On offense, once he got over the jitters, he looked confident and had some great passes, but on defense, he seemed a little slow. Any thoughts?

I am REALLY excited to watch Willie this year and hope that Jon Smith uses Willie as a role model because if he develops like Willie...look out. On a related note, I find it hard to believe that Willie put on 25 pounds in the off season. He is still really skinny. Do people really think he bulked up?

Students were great, but will that level of attendance persist? I certainly hope so. The entire student section was filled. Great to see and they were very vocal. The rest of the crowd was very sparse at best, but it was a preseason game.

I think Femi and Justin Jordan will be great "college" players. Just very solid, focused. They are not going to being playing in the NBA, but they just seem very into executing their game.

Ellis would be a big help.

[Clock_Tower]

Kind of a rough first 30 minutes. AFS stayed in it for the most part. We went on a 15-3 run halfway through the second half and ran them out of Chaifetz for the rest of the game.

A few new wrinkles on defense. A lot of half court trapping. We ran a good trap, I love John up there but our spacing and help after the trap was awful and led to some easy baskets for AFS once they beat the initial pressure. Defense was the main sore spot. We didn't close out on shooters and didn't follow on switches fast enough. I think a couple of our guys have relied on their athleticism to close gaps and they need to realize that won't work at this level. Offensively I liked our game. We ran a little, only a few times did we get bogged down in the half court. Most of the mistakes were freshman running the wrong way on cuts and guys who just don't know the system yet. Free throw shooting was horrid.

Willie Reed - Star of the game shot 9-9 with 19 points with 7 boards. Still has stamina issues, hard to believe he is calling out for a sub in his second year playing. He has to get more endurance. Without him on the court our offense was stagnant, though Kwamain had a really bad night. Willie had at least 6 dunks and three alley oops. His first basket was a spinning drop step two hander over a 6'9 defender that was just sick. Not many Billikens could have pulled that off in the past. Expected more out of him on defense. I'll take his offense any night though.

Kwamain Mitchell - Really bad night for him, shot like 3 of 15 and 0 for 5 from 3 point range. Seemed distant from the rest of the team on offense. Maybe he needs to get himself going before his teammates.

Femi John - 2nd coming of John Redden. Still a work in progress. Some big holes in his game but he is a beast on D. Really really strong. In the first half he had some ballhandling issues got stripped at least 3 times but his hands were so strong he took the ball right back from the defender. Best defensive player on the floor by far. Decent all around on offense. Hit a 3, drove, mid range, and had a very good post up. I had high hopes for him coming into the game but he surpassed them. Will be a solid A-10 player for 4 years. Dismal on free throws. 1-7. A 6'3 guard has to do better than that.

Christian Salecich - Had some early jitters but settled down. Taller and longer than I thought. Good defender. Shooting range extends to Tasmania. They need to get him open for more 3s. He can be our sniper. Not flashy at all, just puts his head and down and manages to get to the basket. Played some point did a decent job. Connected with Reed for all his alley oops and threw one to Smith that he couldn't handle. Obviously has built some chemistry with Reed in the short time he has been here.

Kyle Cassity - He started but is the 4th best perimeter player on the team, maybe 5th. A little more comfortable shooting but made some passing errors. Didn't play any backup point. Still a step too slow on defense and pales in comparison to John and Salecich in that regard. I like his mid range game, but doesn't have the handle or speed to make many drives.

Jon Smith - Mildy surprised. Very similar to Reed last year just shorter. Extremely long and dunks with ease. Mixes it up inside but gets pushed around by D-2 kids. Like Willie will sneak up on players with his athleticism. Still a kid like him off the bench is a luxury that past SLU teams have never had. Didn't shoot any jumpers, but drove from outside a couple times. Not really sure if he is a 3 or even if he should be. He can definitely defend the 3 though. Doesn't call for subs like Willie that is a plus. Had 10 points, a lot of junk baskets but that is good to have.

Brian Conklin - Solid game nothing spectacular. Didn't injure any AFS players on picks. I expected at least 1 concussion for them from the Oregon Enforcer. He owes us 2 for next game. Best post player on the team but not a big scorer. Solid complementary player in the A-10.

Cory Remuken - Not as small as I thought he would be. Not as skinny as Smith. Tried to post up a couple times, still needs to get a feel for that but I like that he is working with his back to the basket. Not a pogo stick like Smith and Reed but decent athletically. If Ellis was here he would be redshirting but will be forced to play. Right now he is a serviceable backup but hope that Reed and Conklin don't get in foul trouble much.

Jeff Reid - Can obviously shoot but on a team full of slight builds he is the slightest. All of 6'4 or 6'5 but can't imagine he weighs much more than 170. His arms are 2 dimensional. Has a lot to learn. Threw the ball away several times, was out of position several times, was stripped several times. I owe that to not knowing the offensive system yet. Definitely a redshirt candidate.

Justin Jordan - About as tall as Polk with a little more bulk. Pretty fast and good ballhandler. Can shoot a little. Will be a serviceable backup.

Students showed up in droves. Great job. DB's delight was somewhat subdued. Can somebody tell him to say FROM DOWN UNDER when Salecich hits a 3? Overall was impressed with the talent level and athleticism of the kids. Much better than anything in the recent past. We won't be fantastic this year but I firmly believe this will be a strong A-10 squad next season.

Good thoughts. Jeff Reid did not have the best game for our Bills. With that said, he did not look 170 lbs to me at all. His arms did not look "2 dimensional" at all. Yes, he has alot to learn but he looked, at least to me, as yet another big freshman w/ real potential and obvious talent. Sure, he looked abit nervous. Yes, he was obviously "pressing" or simply trying too hard. At the same time, he is not all afraid to shoot . Recall him throwing up a 3 pt attempt in the second half and believe the Chaveitz crew should check the rim/lower left of the backboard for cracks. Only seconds later, he got the ball and launched another attempt - this time making it. Next time down the floor, he threw up another to follow up on his prior success - this time it was another brick. After that, not sure the other 4 wanted to pass the ball to his side. With that said, he is big, looks quite confident in his shot and might be used by RM to provide outside shooting especially when opposing teams use zone defenses. I could be wrong, but KC and FJ don't seem like they will be making teams pay for using zone defenses. Used a 3 pt specialist, Reid will get time and doesn't seem at all like a redshirt candidate.

Depending upon CE, I wouldn't redshirt anyone. Use them all and let's try to win some games this year.

[SShoe]

I am REALLY excited to watch Willie this year and hope that Jon Smith uses Willie as a role model because if he develops like Willie...look out. On a related note, I find it hard to believe that Willie put on 25 pounds in the off season. He is still really skinny. Do people really think he bulked up?

I asked the same question about Willie. Yes, he looked somewhat bigger and stronger, but 20-25 lbs? I know it's tough to tell with really tall guys because 20 lbs on a 6'10" frame is just not that much, but he's still no Ahmad Nivins. That said, he's fun to watch.

[slufanskip]

I thought Cassity played pretty well the 2nd half. I have not been a big fan and in fact have been down on him a bit. The 2nd half though, was the first time I can remember seeing him assert himself offensively and he did well. A couple of drives, a couple of outside shots. His shot looks very nice, I think if he will shoot it with confidence, and making a few certainly helps, he will contribute more. I'd bet he becomes a pretty good 3 point shooter. His feet seem slow to guard the quickest players, but he plays smart and can overcome some of that.

[SShoe]

I thought Cassity played pretty well the 2nd half. I have not been a big fan and in fact have been down on him a bit. The 2nd half though, was the first time I can remember seeing him assert himself offensively and he did well. A couple of drives, a couple of outside shots. His shot looks very nice, I think if he will shoot it with confidence, and making a few certainly helps, he will contribute more. I'd bet he becomes a pretty good 3 point shooter. His feet seem slow to guard the quickest players, but he plays smart and can overcome some of that.

Agreed. I would like to see him look for his shot more. His release looks good and he's got the height to get it off. Just needs to take it when it's there.

[slufanskip]

Agreed. I would like to see him look for his shot more. His release looks good and he's got the height to get it off. Just needs to take it when it's there.

He passed up a few early and I thought to myself, I don't get it, this kid needs to be a leader and he's passing up open looks, but he really asserted himself in the 2nd half and imo looked to be a different player than what I'd seen from him previously

[OC]

That was NOT a half-court trap. That was man-to-man defense.

They did hold their hedges far more than 'one-mississippi' and in some cases trapped until the ball was passed out.

I don't recall one AFS ballhndler turning the corner off a ballscreen all night.

Too early to call anyone a beast on defense because that was not even a middle of the pack A-10 caliber opponent.

That said, i did like Femi's aggression. He, Salecich, and Cassity played fast and with purpose. CS can really pass and has an idea of what he's wanting to do before he gets there.

Liked Jordan too. Fast in transition. He and KM are the only 2 Bills I'd call "fast".

Jon Smith and Willie Reed: Long and Longer.

Jeff Reid has a push shot. I was surprised, and not the good way.

Remekun is raw. Saw him airball a warm-up shot. Chalk it up to nerves for now. Regardless, we need his size in the worst way.

Conklin is hard not to like--but effort and climbing people's backs are not one in the same. I hope I'm wrong, but I'm afraid he'll struggle to score in conference out of half-court offense unless it's via creation of KM, etc. Relentless worker & rebounder, though.

Bring on St. Ambrose.

[NH]

That was NOT a half-court trap. That was man-to-man defense.

Moser said after the game that they did trap a little bit off of those hedges.

Also Reid's shot is not as nice as I expected but he does have good former and a quick release.

[slufanskip]

That was NOT a half-court trap. That was man-to-man defense.

They did hold their hedges far more than 'one-mississippi' and in some cases trapped until the ball was passed out.

I don't recall one AFS ballhndler turning the corner off a ballscreen all night.

Too early to call anyone a beast on defense because that was not even a middle of the pack A-10 caliber opponent.

That said, i did like Femi's aggression. He, Salecich, and Cassity played fast and with purpose. CS can really pass and has an idea of what he's wanting to do before he gets there.

Liked Jordan too. Fast in transition. He and KM are the only 2 Bills I'd call "fast".

Jon Smith and Willie Reed: Long and Longer.

Jeff Reid has a push shot. I was surprised, and not the good way.

Remekun is raw. Saw him airball a warm-up shot. Chalk it up to nerves for now. Regardless, we need his size in the worst way.

Conklin is hard not to like--but effort and climbing people's backs are not one in the same. I hope I'm wrong, but I'm afraid he'll struggle to score in conference out of half-court offense unless it's via creation of KM, etc. Relentless worker & rebounder, though.

Bring on St. Ambrose.

I thought the same thing on Reid's shot. No rotation on the ball, very flat, little arch. It looked to me though that he was rushing his shot, he played the least and looked as if he couldn't get rid of the ball quickly enough. The biggest thing that happens when you rush is you tend to push your hands at the basket. The result is just what we saw from Reid. I'd like to see him shoot it more comfortably before making a judgement. I didn't watch him warm up either.

[brianstl]

Moser said after the game that they did trap a little bit off of those hedges.

Also Reid's shot is not as nice as I expected but he does have good former and a quick release.

I didn't see him in the warm-ups, but I am not sure if Reid shot didn't look like that because he was rushing it. He had great form on his free throws and I thought when he took a split second to set himself on the three he made his shot looked much better. I thought it might be more trying to adjust to the pace you have to play at on this level. I think he could be an OK player, but he needs to hit the weight room hard and it will take him longer than some others to adjust to the speed at this level.

EDIT: I had not seen Skips post when I made this post. Didn't mean to repeat basically what he said.

[NH]

I thought the same thing on Reid's shot. No rotation on the ball, very flat, little arch. It looked to me though that he was rushing his shot, he played the least and looked as if he couldn't get rid of the ball quickly enough. The biggest thing that happens when you rush is you tend to push your hands at the basket. The result is just what we saw from Reid. I'd like to see him shoot it more comfortably before making a judgement. I didn't watch him warm up either.

speaking of rotation that is what makes me question KC's shot. Is has some funky rotation on it.

[slufanskip]

Moser said after the game that they did trap a little bit off of those hedges.

Also Reid's shot is not as nice as I expected but he does have good former and a quick release.

It's a m 2 m trap not a half court trap. What the Bills didn't do is rotate back out of it. They were slow and looked lost. Personally, I don't like it. However, they did it quite often last year with Willie and rarely got beat, on the other hand they rarely created turnovers out of it either, so imo it was a push.

[slufanskip]

speaking of rotation that is what makes me question KC's shot. Is has some funky rotation on it.

I completely disagree. Sometimes the seams in the ball make the rotation look off. If you watch the angle of his hands, his release, and his follow through, you'll see his rotation is actually very good. Kyle's shot is technically as good as any Billiken, probably better, which is why I think as he gains confidence and shoots the ball with more authority, we are going to see a very good shooter. The 2nd half last night is the first time I can remember seeing that from him.

[NH]

I completely disagree. Sometimes the seams in the ball make the rotation look off. If you watch the angle of his hands, his release, and his follow through, you'll see his rotation is actually very good. Kyle's shot is technically as good as any Billiken, probably better, which is why I think as he gains confidence and shoots the ball with more authority, we are going to see a very good shooter. The 2nd half last night is the first time I can remember seeing that from him.

I disagree, his shot has a little bit of a herky-jerky motion to it. It looks good but it is not as smooth as it should. He also looks like his left hand is involved in the shot which is not good. Hes a solid shooter, but salecich definitely has better form.

[jimbofive]

Kind of a rough first 30 minutes. AFS stayed in it for the most part. We went on a 15-3 run halfway through the second half and ran them out of Chaifetz for the rest of the game.

A few new wrinkles on defense. A lot of half court trapping. We ran a good trap, I love John up there but our spacing and help after the trap was awful and led to some easy baskets for AFS once they beat the initial pressure. Defense was the main sore spot. We didn't close out on shooters and didn't follow on switches fast enough. I think a couple of our guys have relied on their athleticism to close gaps and they need to realize that won't work at this level. Offensively I liked our game. We ran a little, only a few times did we get bogged down in the half court. Most of the mistakes were freshman running the wrong way on cuts and guys who just don't know the system yet. Free throw shooting was horrid.

Willie Reed - Star of the game shot 9-9 with 19 points with 7 boards. Still has stamina issues, hard to believe he is calling out for a sub in his second year playing. He has to get more endurance. Without him on the court our offense was stagnant, though Kwamain had a really bad night. Willie had at least 6 dunks and three alley oops. His first basket was a spinning drop step two hander over a 6'9 defender that was just sick. Not many Billikens could have pulled that off in the past. Expected more out of him on defense. I'll take his offense any night though.

Kwamain Mitchell - Really bad night for him, shot like 3 of 15 and 0 for 5 from 3 point range. Seemed distant from the rest of the team on offense. Maybe he needs to get himself going before his teammates.

Femi John - 2nd coming of John Redden. Still a work in progress. Some big holes in his game but he is a beast on D. Really really strong. In the first half he had some ballhandling issues got stripped at least 3 times but his hands were so strong he took the ball right back from the defender. Best defensive player on the floor by far. Decent all around on offense. Hit a 3, drove, mid range, and had a very good post up. I had high hopes for him coming into the game but he surpassed them. Will be a solid A-10 player for 4 years. Dismal on free throws. 1-7. A 6'3 guard has to do better than that.

Christian Salecich - Had some early jitters but settled down. Taller and longer than I thought. Good defender. Shooting range extends to Tasmania. They need to get him open for more 3s. He can be our sniper. Not flashy at all, just puts his head and down and manages to get to the basket. Played some point did a decent job. Connected with Reed for all his alley oops and threw one to Smith that he couldn't handle. Obviously has built some chemistry with Reed in the short time he has been here.

Kyle Cassity - He started but is the 4th best perimeter player on the team, maybe 5th. A little more comfortable shooting but made some passing errors. Didn't play any backup point. Still a step too slow on defense and pales in comparison to John and Salecich in that regard. I like his mid range game, but doesn't have the handle or speed to make many drives.

Jon Smith - Mildy surprised. Very similar to Reed last year just shorter. Extremely long and dunks with ease. Mixes it up inside but gets pushed around by D-2 kids. Like Willie will sneak up on players with his athleticism. Still a kid like him off the bench is a luxury that past SLU teams have never had. Didn't shoot any jumpers, but drove from outside a couple times. Not really sure if he is a 3 or even if he should be. He can definitely defend the 3 though. Doesn't call for subs like Willie that is a plus. Had 10 points, a lot of junk baskets but that is good to have.

Brian Conklin - Solid game nothing spectacular. Didn't injure any AFS players on picks. I expected at least 1 concussion for them from the Oregon Enforcer. He owes us 2 for next game. Best post player on the team but not a big scorer. Solid complementary player in the A-10.

Cory Remuken - Not as small as I thought he would be. Not as skinny as Smith. Tried to post up a couple times, still needs to get a feel for that but I like that he is working with his back to the basket. Not a pogo stick like Smith and Reed but decent athletically. If Ellis was here he would be redshirting but will be forced to play. Right now he is a serviceable backup but hope that Reed and Conklin don't get in foul trouble much.

Jeff Reid - Can obviously shoot but on a team full of slight builds he is the slightest. All of 6'4 or 6'5 but can't imagine he weighs much more than 170. His arms are 2 dimensional. Has a lot to learn. Threw the ball away several times, was out of position several times, was stripped several times. I owe that to not knowing the offensive system yet. Definitely a redshirt candidate.

Justin Jordan - About as tall as Polk with a little more bulk. Pretty fast and good ballhandler. Can shoot a little. Will be a serviceable backup.

Students showed up in droves. Great job. DB's delight was somewhat subdued. Can somebody tell him to say FROM DOWN UNDER when Salecich hits a 3? Overall was impressed with the talent level and athleticism of the kids. Much better than anything in the recent past. We won't be fantastic this year but I firmly believe this will be a strong A-10 squad next season.

MAD HATEFUL REVIEW, SIR. BILLIKEN BASKETBALL IS HERE. In other news, I didn't F$^% a stranger, only made out with an acquaintance. I am very excited about this team. Add Ellis and it gets really hateful.

[Box and Won]

Good stuff, Torch.

I will now be referring to Guy as DB's Delight from here on out.

[DeSmetBilliken]

I did watch Jeff Reid warm up for a little while. Hit 4 shots in a row from beyond the arc in the time I was watching. Not really sure about the form on his shot though.

A couple of other thoughts:

We had been told before the season that Jon Smith was in some ways like Willie, with their athleticism and thin frames. I think that is definitely the case, so much so that I declared Smith to be "Baby Willie" at about halftime.

We saw Cassity get that mid-range jumper a couple of times last night and make it. While it would definitely be nice for him to be a dangerous scorer, I think he can make a significant contribution to the offense just by getting that shot a few times a game, while adding some combo of that drive to the hoop he had and maybe a three pointer. Luke Meyer was great at getting that mid-range baseline jumper.

I really liked what Christian Salecich brings to the table. He seems to be pretty steady, plus I like it that he's willing to put up that shot from a few feet beyond the arc, provided he can make it at a decent percentage.

Justin Jordan can be a serviceable player for us. He isn't tall, but he did appear to well built for his height.

I felt bad for Cory Remuken last night. In the final minute of his first game he scores his first points, and Guy Phillips screws it up and says "Basket by Jon Smith." I don't know how much of an immediate impact he will have, but I think he does have a body that with added strength will make him a solid interior player for us in the future.

I think Femi John is what we were expecting. A taller version of John Redden might not be inaccurate, though I think Femi has the chance to be a lot better than Redden.

I know it was against a team transitioning to D-2, but I can't help but get excited about Willie Reed's performance last night. The only things missing were better free throw shooting and a couple of blocks.

Finally, the free throw shooting needs to be significantly better. Admittedly, playing basketball in grade school, my free throw shooting could go from great to not so great rather easily. I don't know how much free time they have, but if I was playing at the collegiate level and wasn't satisfied with by free throw shooting, I'd go and spend an hour or more a day just shooting free throws by myself. I've found that if I go into a gym and just focus on shooting for a hour or more, getting a rhythm and technique, within an hour or so I'm hitting any kind of shot frequently, be it free throws, mid-range jumpers, or three pointers, and the last time I played any kind of competitive basketball was my sophomore year in high school, and that was just CYC ball. I would think that somebody who has played as much basketball as a college basketball player has would be very capable of making such adjustments.

[milwaukeebill]

Christian - Played well. thought he was shooting when he gave the alley-oop to Willie which scared me for a second. Solid player. He dribbles with his head down too much when he gets in the lane. Hes not looking at the basket or anybody to kick it out too.

Justin - Thought he was going to be more of the backup PG but CS seemed to dominate the ball when the 2nd team was in. 2 really really nice passes to Jon when he drove that resulted in points. Didnt think he was gonna be able to make the 2nd one. And one just absolutely pure 3 point shot from beyond the arc. great to see.

everything else has been basically covered.

[milwaukeebill]

oh yeh. really disappointed with Willie's Stamina. I don't remember when he came in but i know after about 5 minutes i saw him lunging on defense and jogging behind kwamain on the offensive transition....then called for a sub. Really thought he was gonna be able to eat up more minutes. Femi looked like he could stay out there for 12 minutes at a time though which would be really nice.

[brianstl]

oh yeh. really disappointed with Willie's Stamina. I don't remember when he came in but i know after about 5 minutes i saw him lunging on defense and jogging behind kwamain on the offensive transition....then called for a sub. Really thought he was gonna be able to eat up more minutes. Femi looked like he could stay out there for 12 minutes at a time though which would be really nice.

Part of Willie's problem is he seems to have no clue how to pace himself. His motor is constantly going when he his out there on both ends of the court. It is one of the reason we see so many exciting plays from him, but it is a reason why he seems to get tired quicker than the other guys.