Great summary. Vander was definitely the most impressive player out there, and did a nice job of silencing critics. One guy was heckling him after he missed a pair of early FTs, and I pointed out that Vander was our best FT shooter from the Villanova game on last year. Van proceeded to make his next four from the line. The guy then looked over and said "well, I could still take him in a 3-point shooting contest. He can't hit water from out there." Van swished in a pair of 3-pointers right after that. The heckler didn't have much to say about Van's game after that.
Agreed that Gardner also looked great. His defense still needs work (whistled for 3 fouls that I remember) but on offense, even against a solid defender like Otule, he was un-freaking-stoppable. He displayed some of what he's done in the past, that off-balance stuff where he just seems to throw it up and it goes in, but he also had a very, very nice spin move off a pass from Cadougan that he never could have done with his frame the past couple years. I was amazed how slender he looks, but that butt is still there, so I'm confident he can still get it done in the low post.
Lockett and Jamil were the most disappointing for me. Lockett just didn't seem to have it on offense, while Jamil had little to offer other than his points. I'm still confident both will be very good come season time.
Bring on the Buckeyes!
