Meet-and-Greet and Practice

[joe_davola]

This was the hardest and most physical I have seen Ellis especially on the defensive end. He didn't do much offensively but he played Evans pretty tough all practice.

For sure. Worked his ass off and was really playing tough d.

[GOSLU68]

For sure. Worked his ass off and was really playing tough d.

Our players have never had this quality to practice against and we are not even seeing GG and ET they are going to be very behind.

Someone said Tselentakis hasn't cleared yet anyone know if we have another CE type deal brewing?

[jbizzle09]

Our players have never had this quality to practice against and we are not even seeing GG and ET they are going to be very behind.

Someone said Tselentakis hasn't cleared yet anyone know if we have another CE type deal brewing?

Highly doubt it. Jensen mentioned that we might see both ET and GG tonight but that they had to deal with class issues. ET is in St. Louis now. If he had a Cody situation going on, I don't think he would be here right now.

Also, most freshmen don't get to practice officially with the team until October. Right now, whatever GG and ET get practice-wise prior to Canada (as well as during the trip) is a major plus. You feel they will be very behind, I would disagree. ALL freshmen are behind. However, they will be ahead of most freshmen on other teams just by getting to practice with the team and coaches this early (and they both will). I don't think we should have any worries on that end.

[thetorch]

I missed some opening remarks from the coaches on Jett & Majerus.

Mostly tonight's practice was scrimmaging. Ran some offensive set drills for awhile. Manning was lost on a few of those. He looked better when they revisited them later on. Played a controlled half court scrimmage at first. Then worked on sets coming off free throws going fullcourt back and forth. Broke for free throws several times during practice, then went full court scrimmage with multiple teaching breaks for the remainder of the practice.

Defense dominated. There weren't many made baskets.

Teams were composed of Blue squad - Conklin, Loe, Mitchell, Barnett, & Evans; White squad - Ellis, McCall, Remuken, Manning, & Tony Young with Daly subbing in a couple times. Halfway through Evans & Ellis switched squads, they guarded each other the whole time.

Mitchell was great, had some unbelievable no look passes for easy buckets, mostly looked to distribute, wasn't shooting much.

Barnett led the team in floor burns. Always working, always hustling, was very active on the boards as well. His handle needs a lot of work. Only got a couple shots off, but Young was guarding him the whole time.

McCall had a hard time keeping up with Mitchell. Only broke free for a couple good offensive plays towards the end of practice.

Conklin continues to impress. Led the scrimmage in points. He's added vertical and quickness, this will turn some of his misses close to the basket into makes this year.

Loe finished several nice plays from Mitchell. Ran the floor real well and not shying away from contact at all.

Manning made a bit of splash I thought. Still learning but had one nice turnaround left handed hook over Conklin and blocked several shots in the lane. Was fighting for boards underneath. He outplayed Remuken tonight and made a difference on defense. He won't be redshirting if he keeps up this type of improvement.

Remuken didn't do anything of note.

Nice watching Evans vs Ellis. Evans killed Barnett in the last practice I saw, Ellis was more of a match for him. Evans was dominating the ball, he took the most shots of anyone but none of them were very good. He missed some open looks near 3, still think it is a bit out of his range. Ellis did a nice job manning up on him defensively, Evans was frustrated to not be able to get to the basket. Ellis still not focusing on offense. Only took maybe 2 shots. Posted up Evans once, put up a underhand scoop shot ala Ian or Izik and missed.

Nice turnout, easily over a hundred maybe 2.

[cheeseman]

Coaches said he was just a little banged up but will be fine. In all honesty he doesn't really need them. His left leg is wrapped up but he walked around a bit without the crutch. I saw it when he first came out but coach addressed it right away and said it wasn't serious.

I talked with JJ and he said he twisted his knee but that it was no big deal. He said he is planning on playing in Canada and did not seem to be at all concerned.

[cheeseman]

I missed some opening remarks from the coaches on Jett & Majerus.

Mostly tonight's practice was scrimmaging. Ran some offensive set drills for awhile. Manning was lost on a few of those. He looked better when they revisited them later on. Played a controlled half court scrimmage at first. Then worked on sets coming off free throws going fullcourt back and forth. Broke for free throws several times during practice, then went full court scrimmage with multiple teaching breaks for the remainder of the practice.

Defense dominated. There weren't many made baskets.

Teams were composed of Blue squad - Conklin, Loe, Mitchell, Barnett, & Evans; White squad - Ellis, McCall, Remuken, Manning, & Tony Young with Daly subbing in a couple times. Halfway through Evans & Ellis switched squads, they guarded each other the whole time.

Mitchell was great, had some unbelievable no look passes for easy buckets, mostly looked to distribute, wasn't shooting much.

Barnett led the team in floor burns. Always working, always hustling, was very active on the boards as well. His handle needs a lot of work. Only got a couple shots off, but Young was guarding him the whole time.

McCall had a hard time keeping up with Mitchell. Only broke free for a couple good offensive plays towards the end of practice.

Conklin continues to impress. Led the scrimmage in points. He's added vertical and quickness, this will turn some of his misses close to the basket into makes this year.

Loe finished several nice plays from Mitchell. Ran the floor real well and not shying away from contact at all.

Manning made a bit of splash I thought. Still learning but had one nice turnaround left handed hook over Conklin and blocked several shots in the lane. Was fighting for boards underneath. He outplayed Remuken tonight and made a difference on defense. He won't be redshirting if he keeps up this type of improvement.

Remuken didn't do anything of note.

Nice watching Evans vs Ellis. Evans killed Barnett in the last practice I saw, Ellis was more of a match for him. Evans was dominating the ball, he took the most shots of anyone but none of them were very good. He missed some open looks near 3, still think it is a bit out of his range. Ellis did a nice job manning up on him defensively, Evans was frustrated to not be able to get to the basket. Ellis still not focusing on offense. Only took maybe 2 shots. Posted up Evans once, put up a underhand scoop shot ala Ian or Izik and missed.

Nice turnout, easily over a hundred maybe 2.

I disagree, for the little over an hour that I was there I thought CR played just fine. He was working hard and getting rebounds. Will he start - no but he did have a decent practice from what I saw.

[Westy03]

I thought Remekun looked pretty good. One of the things that worries me is that we have Mitchell, McCall, and Jett breaking down defenses and dishing to our bigs and they are having a tough time finishing especially in traffic. We need the bigs to step up and finish strong in traffic, this could be a big problem.

[Cowboy]

-all based on part of one practice, so caveat from the start

-i guess the defense, whichever team was on it, won the night as not many baskets were being made and that included shooting drills

-i thought lots of ft time, miss you run, CE ran a lot, only player i don't recall seeing run was KM

-KM looked pretty darn good, MM should get better just playing against KM and they were matched up the entire time i was there

-RL looked stronger and his and MM's shot looked flat

-it was a physical session, play was very rough (i don't care for that element of the game) and they were all going at it with intensity

-see line 1, JM seemed to have very good instincts on defense that if he can meld with Rick's system could get him a some minutes, but he will have to know where he is supposed to be, his left hand hook shot caused my jaw to drop but that was one play, he likes to dunk (i like that) and he can get up and down the floor

-wish i could have stayed to the end to ask why in the big man drills they were shooting with the right hand from the left side of the basket and the coaches did not say anything, i guess they are thinking we will have beat our guy and the defender is behind us

-was good to be able to catch the action and just makes the time until november whenever seem like a long time as i am anxious for the season to start, esp since imo baseball season ended last night

-thanks to Rick for allowing the practices to be open and to the ADept for the event, would have been enough just to watch

-STAY OR GET HEALTHY BILLS!!!!

[Cowboy]

-nm - not sure why was posted twice

[Adman]

Thanks to everyone for these practice reports. Been on vacation the last week and haven't been able to join the fun.

Back late Friday night...are there any additional open practices this weekend?

[SShoe]

-i guess the defense, whichever team was on it, won the night as not many baskets were being made and that included shooting drills

Something to remember with these practices is that the players on defense know what the players on offense are doing, so they should always have a leg up on the offense. Backdoor cuts don't work nearly as well when the defender knows what play you're running.

[Scoop]

I missed some opening remarks from the coaches on Jett & Majerus.

Mostly tonight's practice was scrimmaging. Ran some offensive set drills for awhile. Manning was lost on a few of those. He looked better when they revisited them later on. Played a controlled half court scrimmage at first. Then worked on sets coming off free throws going fullcourt back and forth. Broke for free throws several times during practice, then went full court scrimmage with multiple teaching breaks for the remainder of the practice.

Defense dominated. There weren't many made baskets.

Teams were composed of Blue squad - Conklin, Loe, Mitchell, Barnett, & Evans; White squad - Ellis, McCall, Remuken, Manning, & Tony Young with Daly subbing in a couple times. Halfway through Evans & Ellis switched squads, they guarded each other the whole time.

Mitchell was great, had some unbelievable no look passes for easy buckets, mostly looked to distribute, wasn't shooting much.

Barnett led the team in floor burns. Always working, always hustling, was very active on the boards as well. His handle needs a lot of work. Only got a couple shots off, but Young was guarding him the whole time.

McCall had a hard time keeping up with Mitchell. Only broke free for a couple good offensive plays towards the end of practice.

Conklin continues to impress. Led the scrimmage in points. He's added vertical and quickness, this will turn some of his misses close to the basket into makes this year.

Loe finished several nice plays from Mitchell. Ran the floor real well and not shying away from contact at all.

Manning made a bit of splash I thought. Still learning but had one nice turnaround left handed hook over Conklin and blocked several shots in the lane. Was fighting for boards underneath. He outplayed Remuken tonight and made a difference on defense. He won't be redshirting if he keeps up this type of improvement.

Remuken didn't do anything of note.

Nice watching Evans vs Ellis. Evans killed Barnett in the last practice I saw, Ellis was more of a match for him. Evans was dominating the ball, he took the most shots of anyone but none of them were very good. He missed some open looks near 3, still think it is a bit out of his range. Ellis did a nice job manning up on him defensively, Evans was frustrated to not be able to get to the basket. Ellis still not focusing on offense. Only took maybe 2 shots. Posted up Evans once, put up a underhand scoop shot ala Ian or Izik and missed.

Nice turnout, easily over a hundred maybe 2.

$5 beers deserve a mention. It's sad when 5 bucks for a 16oz beer is a deal.

[Westy03]

Another thing Whitesell mentioned was that the games in Canada are going to be 48 minutes long. So I would imagine they will play 4 12 minute quarters with a 24 second shot clock just like they do in the NBA.

[SpencerFilibuster]

Another thing Whitesell mentioned was that the games in Canada are going to be 48 minutes long. So I would imagine they will play 4 12 minute quarters with a 24 second shot clock just like they do in the NBA.

That would be pretty interesting. It wouldn't mean much, but it would be nice to see our Billikens race against the clock, maybe run more transition than we are used to, etc. Also with 48 minutes, get the young guys some extra minutes

[Westy03]

That would be pretty interesting. It wouldn't mean much, but it would be nice to see our Billikens race against the clock, maybe run more transition than we are used to, etc. Also with 48 minutes, get the young guys some extra minutes

Yeah he didnt mention anything about the shot clock but he did say the games would be 48 minutes long playing 4 quarters. So you will probably see some higher rebounding and point totals

[Cowboy]

Something to remember with these practices is that the players on defense know what the players on offense are doing, so they should always have a leg up on the offense. Backdoor cuts don't work nearly as well when the defender knows what play you're running.

-i agree, but no one was defending last night in shooting drills and many shots were still being missed, but it is august and we have time to improve

[Cowboy]

Another thing Whitesell mentioned was that the games in Canada are going to be 48 minutes long. So I would imagine they will play 4 12 minute quarters with a 24 second shot clock just like they do in the NBA.

-gives our players the equivalent of another game to shine and boost their confidence!!!!

[Westy03]

-i agree, but no one was defending last night in shooting drills and many shots were still being missed, but it is august and we have time to improve

Keep in mind the kids are probably dead tired as well. Between lifting, class, cardio, and 5-6 hours of practice every other day the kids are probably wore down a bit. Mitchell, Barnett, McCall, Ellis, and Loe will have no problem making buckets(at least thats what im hoping)

[Clock_Tower]

Yeah he didnt mention anything about the shot clock but he did say the games would be 48 minutes long playing 4 quarters. So you will probably see some bigger rebounding and point totals

That will be much better to work many more players into the the game. 8 minutes is HUGE -- especially for the non-starters eyeing the clock.

Frankly, I would love to see all games extended like this. Why not? More action for the fans and more bench players getting quality minutes. The only downside appears to be tradition and tired legs. Has the duration of college games come up for discussion by the rules committee?

[NH]

That will be much better to work many more players into the the game. 8 minutes is HUGE -- especially for the non-starters eyeing the clock.

Frankly, I would love to see all games extended like this. Why not? More action for the fans and more bench players getting quality minutes. The only downside appears to be tradition and tired legs. Has the duration of college games come up for discussion by the rules committee?

I say no way Jose. One of the best parts about college basketball is the succinctness of games. Furthermore, I want to see the players going as hard as the can for two halves. Lengthening the game also increases the chances players will ration their energy and hold back for the game's final minutes, like the NBA.

[jbizzle09]

That will be much better to work many more players into the the game. 8 minutes is HUGE -- especially for the non-starters eyeing the clock.

Frankly, I would love to see all games extended like this. Why not? More action for the fans and more bench players getting quality minutes. The only downside appears to be tradition and tired legs. Has the duration of college games come up for discussion by the rules committee?

I think that would be a terrible idea to extend the college game 8 minutes. You would have to add another foul in there. Also, even if you keep the shot clock at 35 seconds, you will still have bone tired players throughout, meaning that you rely more on less talented players off of the bench to play longer and more meaningful minutes, leading to a less desirable product overall.

You would basically be changing the college game completely by adding 8 more minutes and dividing it into 4 quarters. Maybe you think tradition is driving the game length. I say it is because the college game works perfectly as is. You don't always have to tweek something just because it has been around a while.

[Billikenbooster]

Yeah he didnt mention anything about the shot clock but he did say the games would be 48 minutes long playing 4 quarters. So you will probably see some higher rebounding and point totals

Has there been any mention of any media for the Canada trip, whether TV, radio or smoke signals?

mhg

[billikenfan05]

I say no way Jose. One of the best parts about college basketball is the succinctness of games. Furthermore, I want to see the players going as hard as the can for two halves. Lengthening the game also increases the chances players will ration their energy and hold back for the game's final minutes, like the NBA.

You expect us all to believe you didn't use a thesaurus to come up with succinctness?

[NH]

You expect us all to believe you didn't use a thesaurus to come up with succinctness?

Succinctness is a pretty basic word. Someone as clever as yourself would surely not be surprised to see it.

[eastsidejoe]

Succinctness is a pretty basic word. Someone as clever as yourself would surely not be surprised to see it.

+100