I must say that I had high expectations last year of Hayward. He played well but he came up a bit short of my expectations. My expectations were that he would be an outside threat first and use his quickness and driving ability to make opponents pay when they guard him outside the arc.
Now I can say honestly he is exceeding my expectations. I never expected him to develop the inside game that he has and now. Also, he has reinvigorated his outside shooting prowess. He is more of an "inside-out" offensive threat now which I never expected him to be. He is absolutely deadly (driving, posting up and now from beyond the arc) and must be a headache for opponents who have to guard him. He also seems to only player on MU that is able to break down a zone almost singehandedly.
I give him a lot of the credit for our success this year. He is really fun to watch.
Last year he was a freshman....with eligibility issues....who missed a bunch of preseason practice and working out with his teammates. I think this is the Lazar that TC recruited. A year older, knows the system, got to work out extensively. If only he was 6'8". He is a stud, however.
My only concern is that he gets to comfortable taking the ball in on the smaller forwards we are facing in non conference play. Interested to see how he performs once we start conference play and start seeing bigger front lines.
But yeah, he's a great player.
Hayward, Culliban and Acker are turning out to be a very good recruiting class.
Hayward was awesome - when they recruited him, he was touted as havign a great 3 point shot - last nite he showed he is truly an inside -out scorer - we need him to keep playing like that and continue to improve defenseivly.
Acker - he's not afraid of anyone - no matter how big they are! He can draw a lot of fouls I think if he drives, and his 3 point shot is not bad.
Cubillan is jsut outstadning - he shoots well, and his defensive energy is tops. Wow what a great player.
Once Scott C. is back to full strength, and if he can really shoot from beyond the arc - look out! Our guards will bew able to drive and dish, like we did with Novak. Looking forward to some of that!
just keep giving lazar the ball.
You gotta love those "tweener" wings who are 6-6, 6-7, or 6-8 and can play on the perimeter or post up wings. Lazar is becoming a solid one in that regards and I think Fulce and Erik Williams will continue in that role after Lazar graduates.