thoughts from the BC

[TVDirector]

granted it was exhibition.
and granted it was a far inferior Div III MSOE team vs. MU today.
but there were some things that one could take from this performance.

Lazar-  tough.  didn't rebound much at all, though.  don't think he played a ton of minutes.  but he looked composed and as smooth as ever.  great 3pt range.  nice alley oop slam.
Buycks-  gonna be a good one.  played very nicely, but seemed a bit tentative when he ran the O.  good stroke and confidence.
Cooby- surprise of all surprises.  played the point extremely well.  shot nicely.  passed crisply.  was intense and a good floor leader.
Maymon- strong, but kind of puzzling that he didn't dominate down low... was knocked off the block a few times by lesser players.  very odd looking FT shot.  first couple were nasty.  ran the floor very well and was in the mix quite a bit.  gonna be a nice addition.  didn't see much from the exterior yet.
Mo- fine, not spectacular.  moved well.  passing was ok.  looked like he was not the teams leader, but was fine.
Butler- showed a good shot and rebounded very well.  good hops.  was around the ball a lot when he was in there.
Fulce- very smooth.  a bit slow now and again, but may really surprise this year.  wanted to see more of him.
DJO- should NOT have played.  looked hobbled nearly every possession.  tentative, certainly.  has talent for sure... couple good moves.  surprised to read that he could run the point- didn't look that way today.  again, not 100% imo, and I was concerned about reinjury.  glad buzz got him out, but it was fortunate that it wasn't too late.
Otule- really has improved- granted, MSOE was small- but Chris didn't show this confidence at all last year.  hit the floor, o rebounding good- not much d rebounding.  could be smoother at the rim, but played very hard.
Mbao- would like to have seen buzz redshirt him, but obviously not much of an option.  first foul he laid a seriously obvious moving pick on an MSOE guy- to his credit, though, after 2 quick fouls he didn't pick up more.  not an offensive option, even though he was pretty active.  missed a couple of switches and lets guys breeze by.  incredibly tall.  looked like he dogged it a bit here and there.  not intense yet.
Williams- wanted to see much more of him.  the guy LOOKS like a player.  moves very smoothly.  slow on d and in the o sometimes.  odd release on his shot, but it was pure.  was not intense, but played ok when he was in.
frozone- scored!  could have been a good player for MSOE.

bench was active.  buzz pretty mellow, but called to's for teaching purposes.
fun romp in the BC... gorgeous day- no crowd. 

kids loved the game.... great to win by a zillion!

looking forward to stiffer competition.

[Thomas' Danish Delight]

great recap, TVDirector!

Cooby was a very pleasant surprise.  I think he scored more points today than he did in the last two seasons, and sadly, I'm not even trying to joke. 

The great part of this game was that we didn't struggle in the beginning or have to worry at all about pulling a Syracuse.  I know it was MSOE, a DIII school, but last year with our all-time leading scorer and current NBA player, we struggled against weak teams until like the final minutes.

I never felt we were ever in trouble in this game.

My favorite part of the game was when they put the "Kiss Cam" on the 2 MSOE players on the bench.  TOTALLY clowned them!  I'm surprised they never did that before, but the MSOE guys were sports and almost played along.  I'm sure they were happy just to be able to play in the Bradley Center at all.

[TVDirector]

they used to do opposing players for kiss cam.. few years ago.
MU had the TV crew stop that practice.

funny stuff, though.
usually the players singled out had fun with that as well.

[thanooj]

There was a kid in a "MILLION DOLLAR DREAM" shirt courtside.  Athletic.  Anyone know if we should know him?

[madtownwarrior]

There was a kid in a "MILLION DOLLAR DREAM" shirt courtside.  Athletic.  Anyone know if we should know him?

yep, that was Brandon Jennings...   amazing, that he would be a Sophomore in college right now...

[Big Papi]

Hard to take much from this game as MSOE was totally out their league.  TVDirector already mentioned a lot of the positives so no need to rehash them.  

My main concern is that not only are we not a big team but our lack of depth at the guard position and particularly the point guard position is going to kill us this year.  I am shocked that DJO played any minutes today.  He was hobbled for much of the game and I cringed everytime I watched him take a step.  He is no good to this team right now and if he doesnt get better real fast, we will have one of the shortest backcourts around.  

Cooby was real good today and I expect him to hit his shots when open this year but I can see him getting picked and throwing balls away regularly against bigger and quicker guards. The rest of the team showed me enough that if we had a healthy DJO and JC we would have been very competitive this year.  Without them, it will be a struggle every game but I do like the way this team is shaping up down the road.  Lots of talent on this team.

[ChicosBailBonds]

Has Abe recovered on the JS Online board yet?

[rugbydrummer]

great recap, TVDirector!

Cooby was a very pleasant surprise.  I think he scored more points today than he did in the last two seasons, and sadly, I'm not even trying to joke. 

The great part of this game was that we didn't struggle in the beginning or have to worry at all about pulling a Syracuse.  I know it was MSOE, a DIII school, but last year with our all-time leading scorer and current NBA player, we struggled against weak teams until like the final minutes.

I never felt we were ever in trouble in this game.

My favorite part of the game was when they put the "Kiss Cam" on the 2 MSOE players on the bench.  TOTALLY clowned them!  I'm surprised they never did that before, but the MSOE guys were sports and almost played along.  I'm sure they were happy just to be able to play in the Bradley Center at all.

@LL:  Mere seconds before the cameras showed the MSOE bench, I turned to my coworkers and reminisced about the time when the Kiss Cam was trained on the opposing team bench vs. DePaul I believe (probably 2-3 years ago).  They're bringing it back again!! :-D