Haunted Hoops

[larrym]

Got my first chance to watch this year's team last night.  Some observations of the players in alphabetical order.

Acker - Very quick.  Made some nice moves to get into the lane and finish with layups or pull ups. Built like Cordell, but quicker laterally.  Some nice crossovers to get in the clear quickly, including one time in a 1 on 1 drill where he left McNeal in the dust.

Barro - Definitely looked the best of the posts.  Finished with some dunks in the scrimmage.  Still slow to get his shot off, but defensively was the most intimidating big.

Blackledge - Had a stretch in a rotating 1 on 1 drill where he was lighting it up, hit some incredible shots.  In that drill, you stayed on offense until you were stopped, while the defeners rotted in.  I think he had the longest stretch on offense.  For this drill there were two groups of smalls, and one group of bigs.  Trend was in one of the smalls groups, not with the bigs.

Brice - His family was in attendance, but he didn't get a chance to play in the scrimmage or the pre-scrimmage 10 possession drill.  Seems like he's been a walk on since I was in school.  Lots of work, no glory.

Burke - Very physical in the bigs one on one drill.  In fact they were all physical in that drill, and as a result not many scores.  Will definitely be counted on this year for some tough D and rebounding.  Didn't really show any of the flashes of post moves we saw a couple times last year.

Christopherson - Lit it up in shooting drills.  During a 3 pointer drill I think he hit 17 of 20, hitting the rim only 4 times.  All other makes were dead center.  He can jump, dunked in a drill.  Not a confident ball handler, and has a ways to go in live action.  Any action this year will probably be as a zone buster if Coobs, Fitz, Acker or McNeal aren't hitting 3s.

Cubillan - Was a leader on the court.  Hard to believe he's only a soph.  Three point shot was still there.  Had a shoulder pad/harness on.  Not sure when that's from, or how long he'll have it.

Fitzgerald - Same Fitz as last year.  Spotted up for 3s.  Good flexibility guy.

Hayward - Looked a little more confident from 3.  Didn't really stand out during the drills or scrimmage.

Hazel - Athletic.  Couple of plays that showed his hands aren't there yet.  Could see him this year in a role like Burke was last year.  Get in for some minutes, and stay in if he's playing well.

James - Still the best player on the team, although McNeal is closing the gap.   Shot is definitely changed.  The results weren't totally there yet, but no erratic misses like we've seen.  Had the highlight of the scrimmage with a follow up one handed jam from the baseline.  Some real nice moves to get into the lane and finish.

Matthews - Bulked up.  He may be looking more for the 3 this year.  Looked pretty good from there last night.  Nothing spectacular, but also got to the lane and drew fouls like he does well.

Mbakwe - Built bigger than expected.  Explosive, but didn't really finish on offense.  Had a little trouble with Ooze.  Probably still catching up from the missed practice time, but not as far behind as Lazar was last year.

McNeal - His 3 point shot might really be there this year.  Looked really good early in the drills and scrimmage.  Had second longest stretch in the rotating 1 on 1 drill, behind Trend.  Some nice finishes around the rim, including a lefty baby hook.  Late in the scrimmage was really forcing it.  It was almost like something/someone pissed him off.  First he just kept dribbling looking for an opportunity, and when none came he just threw one up.  Then the next few times he touched the ball he jacked up 3 pointers early in the possession.  Without question one of the 2 best players, along with James.  The addition of Acker lessens the impact of James having a bad game or being out.  Still nobody to do that for McNeal.

[Avenue Commons]

Thanks for the report. I'm getting more and more excited about this year's squad.

[ChicosBailBonds]

Thanks for the report. I'm getting more and more excited about this year's squad.

The deepest team we've had in decades in my opinion.  Should be a lot of fun.

[TallTitan34]

Some nice crossovers to get in the clear quickly, including one time in a 1 on 1 drill where he left McNeal in the dust.

That was the sickest cross I've seen at MU since DWade.  And of all people to pull it on the Big East Defender of the Year.  It wasn't even close!

[Nukem2]

Actually, this is probably the deepest team ever.  Al's teams were a short rotation of 6 to 7 guys with locals filling the roster.  The only problem is lack of depth in the middle ( ie, read height ).

[MarquetteBallin]

Yeah, but we're still coached by TC. Get out the golf clubs in early March, as usual.

[jmayer1]

Yeah, but we're still coached by TC. Get out the golf clubs in early March, as usual.

Nice response, dood to see you have confidence in our team.

GO MU