Open Practice

[wadesworld]

Did anybody attend the open practice tonight? Any observations worth sharing?

I sure hope Wojo has them working on defense between Madness and tonight!

[DJO's Jaw]

Defense was definitely the focus. Mixed results there.

There was a bit of a scare when Markus rolled his ankle. Walked into the tunnel for a bit, but came back and practiced again after 5-10 minutes.

Sacar is going to be a solid contributor this year.

GE can definitely hit open 3's.

The PG's were trying to do to much, especially early. They had a lot of TO's.

[wadesworld]

Defense was definitely the focus. Mixed results there.

There was a bit of a scare when Markus rolled his ankle. Walked into the tunnel for a bit, but came back and practiced again after 5-10 minutes.

Sacar is going to be a solid contributor this year.

GE can definitely hit open 3's.

The PG's were trying to do to much, especially early. They had a lot of TO's.

What type of contributions will Sacar bring to the table? From the very limited highlights of workouts and such I’ve seen and from the very few minutes he played as a freshman it looks like a slasher that is fairly comfortable dribbling through traffic down the lane and a well built athlete which makes me think he has the potential to be a solid on ball defender.

[DJO's Jaw]

His offense was mostly from slashing. He also had a few quality steals on defense.

[Smokin' Jae]

Sacar looked like the best player on the court tonight imo

[moomoo]

Did anybody attend the open practice tonight? Any observations worth sharing?

I sure hope Wojo has them working on defense between Madness and tonight!

Moomoo's mumblings:

Sacar. Worth the wait. Super aggressive. Slashing all night. Finishes through contact. A starter at the 3.

Elliot. Pretty confident for a freshman. Long arms. Nice defender. Gonna see some time.

Theo. Lots of goaltending calls against him. People will think twice when going to basket.

Heldt. No one works harder.

Sam. Even smoother than last year. Looks like a PF now, size wise.

Ike. Rebound, and foul. He can do both. Well done this year.

Rowsey. Wojo ripped him for some untimely shots. Seemed more aggressive attacking the rim.

Howard. Big scare when he went down with foot injury. Came back and played fine. Seemed a little out of sorts. Couldn't find a shot to take.

Frohling. Big. Relatively athletic for someone his size. Some bad passes out of the post. Not afraid to foul hard.

Cain. A freshman. Needs some time. The hops are legit.

I'll end with this:

When Morrow and Theo play together next year and the year after, it's gonna be fun out muscling and intimidating every team.

[LoudMouth]

Heldt. No one works harder.

Matt Heldt...Excellent trier

[Nukem2]

Yes, Sacar was the man tonight.  Froling was a non-factor. Frosh looked good, though Eke is very raw.

[Mr. Nielsen]

With the event pushed to tonight because of the Bucks game on Friday, still had a nice crowd.

[wadesworld]

Thanks for the insights. Excited about Sacar. I liked the flashes of potential he showed in very limited opportunities as a freshman, moreso on the (I know, meaningless) international trip. Sounds like he put in a lot of work while redshirting.

I assume Cheatham was still not participating fully.

[Nukem2]

Thanks for the insights. Excited about Sacar. I liked the flashes of potential he showed in very limited opportunities as a freshman, moreso on the (I know, meaningless) international trip. Sounds like he put in a lot of work while redshirting.

I assume Cheatham was still not participating fully.

Cheatham did do some of the warmups, but did not play in the scrimmages as I saw.  If he did, it was very limited.   Morrow did not play either.

[cheebs09]

Ike really impressed me. I was expecting a guy pretty thin and overmatched, but he looks strong and really mixed it up.

[4everwarriors]

How did Grimes look, hey?

[Mr. Sand-Knit]

Is Grimes there yet? 

[We R Final Four]

Moomoo's mumblings:

Sacar. Worth the wait. Super aggressive. Slashing all night. Finishes through contact. A starter at the 3.

Elliot. Pretty confident for a freshman. Long arms. Nice defender. Gonna see some time.

Theo. Lots of goaltending calls against him. People will think twice when going to basket.

Heldt. No one works harder.

Sam. Even smoother than last year. Looks like a PF now, size wise.

Ike. Rebound, and foul. He can do both. Well done this year.

Rowsey. Wojo ripped him for some untimely shots. Seemed more aggressive attacking the rim.

Howard. Big scare when he went down with foot injury. Came back and played fine. Seemed a little out of sorts. Couldn't find a shot to take.

Frohling. Big. Relatively athletic for someone his size. Some bad passes out of the post. Not afraid to foul hard.

Cain. A freshman. Needs some time. The hops are legit.

I'll end with this:

When Morrow and Theo play together next year and the year after, it's gonna be fun out muscling and intimidating every team.

Thanks for the update Moomoo! Now I’m even more excited to get this thing underway! Can’t wait to see the boys on Sunday!

[MuMark]

Is Grimes there yet?

I think he is expected to arrive tonight but he wasn't at the practice.

[warriorchick]

Foxconn showed up and gave everyone in the crowd a 100-inch 4K TV and a six-figure job.

They also presented Scott Walker with a giant check made out to the Great Citizens of Wisconsin for 110% of the amount of total state incentives they were originally given.

[Mr. Sand-Knit]

Foxconn showed up and gave everyone in the crowd a 100-inch 4K TV and a six-figure job.

They also presented Scott Walker with a giant check made out to the Great Citizens of Wisconsin for 110% of the amount of total state incentives they were originally given.

Ur attempt at political satire is embarrassingly poor.
 U should probably move to Illinois where they are much better at running state finances.

[94Warrior]

The biggest takeaways for me.
Anim - Nobody will be asking "Where is Sacar?"  - He is a physical defender and rebounding wing.  He attacks the rim with the ball.  I don't see how he doesn't log heavy minutes.
Heldt - Every time the team ran, Heldt was first!  He demands a lot from himself and his teammates.  His hard work is paying dividends.  He will also log heavy minutes, even after Froling is eligible.
Froling, John, Morrow, Heldt, Anim and even Eke are physically solid. Nobody will push us around in 2018.
Cain and Elliott are long, thin, can both shoot and are talented.  I don't expect either to log a ton of minutes this season.
Hauser is bigger, rebounded, defended, didn't shoot much.
Rowsey and Howard weren't great, but we know what we have there.
Cheatham is still recovering, from what I can tell.  Once healthy, he'll have to really compete to close the gap on Anim.

Starting 5:  Howard, Rowsey, Anim, Hauser, Heldt.
Next 5:  Cheatham, John, Eke, Cain, Elliott.
Froling in the mix with Heldt starting in December.
 

[MUMountin]

For those that have seen him play recently, who does Sacar compare to?  JJJ?  JFB?  Wes?

[94Warrior]

Also, if you are a basketball fan the Open Practice format is way more entertaining than Marquette Madness.

I'm far more interested in hearing Wojo explain their emphasis on defensive fundamentals/sing the praises of Sacar's hard work/tearing into the team for not communicating vs. attending a dance/light/fog/dunk/ATV/karate/stunt show.

[MUfan12]

For those that have seen him play recently, who does Sacar compare to?  JJJ?  JFB?  Wes?

Built like Wes, but will play a similar role to Jimmy at the end of his sophomore year. They won't ask him to create, but he'll end up guarding his fair share of 4s.

Sacar was the best player on the floor tonight, by some distance. Made great decisions, was quick and assertive, and shot it pretty well.

[Lennys Tap]

For those that have seen him play recently, who does Sacar compare to?  JJJ?  JFB?  Wes?

If he compares to JFB or Wes I'll be beyond happy.

[We R Final Four]

Also, if you are a basketball fan the Open Practice format is way more entertaining than Marquette Madness.

I'm far more interested in hearing Wojo explain their emphasis on defensive fundamentals/sing the praises of Sacar's hard work/tearing into the team for not communicating vs. attending a dance/light/fog/dunk/ATV/karate/stunt show.

I was with you until karate. Now I’m not sure if know what you are talking about.

[moomoo]

For those that have seen him play recently, who does Sacar compare to?  JJJ?  JFB?  Wes?

A poor man's Marcus Foster would be the closest comparison.

Fearless slasher, aggressive finisher, strong perimeter defender, high motor.

I know it's one scrimmage against teammates, so I know, settle down.

But I'm looking forward to Sunday much more now.