Louisiana vs Delaware State

[zephyr]

Interesting stat on the 3 freshman gaurds, Hardy, Evans, and Brown. They are shooting a combined 44% from 3 and have totaled 12 assists in a combined 152 minutes. Last year 3 point "specialist" Hayward Register shot 29% and had a total of 9 assists in 448 minutes played all season.

I was very impressed with these guys. All played well last night and showed that we have some promise in the backcourt moving forward. My big concern is keeping everybody on board. It will be hard to get minutes to everybody, especially next year with so many transfers coming in who will play, we have to make sure we are actually able to keep them here which has been Marlin's big issue.

[zephyr]

We have allot to be excited about next year.

I think Bartley has proven he is the real deal for us
Bryce is back and better than ever
Stove is solid, and will have some ups and downs, but is a solid contributor and should be better next year
Hardy is going to be very good
I like Miller inside
Stalcup gives us some size, needs to shoot better and get more physical, that will come
Gant and Stroman will be good and produce allot next year.
Plus the true freshman coming in, will help

The only question I see is how can we develop Evans, Davis and Brown. I expected one or more of these guys to step up and between them they are averaging around 10 points per game total. They are not giving us the minutes I thought they would. Hopefully they will grow and improve.

Agree with most except:

Was not impressed, at all, with Miller. Guy looks like Long did when he first got here, like he just ate 3 whoppers and could barely walk because his feet were swollen. He needs to drop a few lb's and get better conditioning. He's also another under the rim player which I guess is not always bad but was hoping for more athleticism from the front line.

I liked what I saw from Brown. He's really athletic and has a decent outside shot. He could play a couple different positions and was pretty good defensively.

Davis looks to have the body of a good player but I just didn't see much of him as he played less than most of these guys. I know we had to hold on to keep him here so transferring is always a concern, especially when a guy is not playing much.

I thought Stalcup should have played more. Showed he had some offensive prowess on the block with his basket and didn't play bad at all.

[zephyr]

I always thought [and still do] that Miller is the best of the freshmen. He really reminds me of Bryce. He has a very solid all around game, and once he slims down a bit and adapts to the speed of the college game, he will really [with Bryce] help us to dominate the paint in conference. He won't be exciting to watch, but he will quietly score his 10-15 points with solid D, 6-10 boards and a few assists thrown in.

Bryce will be a double-double machine for the next two years.

As to where will the minutes go; if I coached this group, I would go up tempo and play them all. Full court pressure defense and a fast and aggressive offense, even in the half court. More or less the Nolan Richardson "40 minutes of Hell" game plan. Every time the clock stops, run a fresh set of legs in the game. We are not great, but we are 10 deep in good or better.

We did this a lot last night to get the ball out of the guards' hands and it worked. We got quite a few turnovers and got in transition. I disagree on Miller. He probably will be a decent player for us and maybe even as good as Washington one day but the other freshmen have been more impressive in my eyes.

You are right though, I think we should go much more up tempo and run these guys in and out more.

[Hark Mudspeth]

Agree with most except:

Was not impressed, at all, with Miller. Guy looks like Long did when he first got here, like he just ate 3 whoppers and could barely walk because his feet were swollen. He needs to drop a few lb's and get better conditioning. He's also another under the rim player which I guess is not always bad but was hoping for more athleticism from the front line.

I liked what I saw from Brown. He's really athletic and has a decent outside shot. He could play a couple different positions and was pretty good defensively.

Davis looks to have the body of a good player but I just didn't see much of him as he played less than most of these guys. I know we had to hold on to keep him here so transferring is always a concern, especially when a guy is not playing much.

I thought Stalcup should have played more. Showed he had some offensive prowess on the block with his basket and didn't play bad at all.

Miller has already lost 50lbs

[zephyr]

Miller has already lost 50lbs

Needs to lose another 20-30. Ouch.

[Hark Mudspeth]

Needs to lose another 20-30. Ouch.

As a large man who has battled weight loss..those next 20 won't be easy. I think he moves well for a big guy and knows how to use his body...he doesn't look any different than Bryce did when he was a freshman IMO.

[VObserver]

We did this a lot last night to get the ball out of the guards' hands and it worked. We got quite a few turnovers and got in transition. I disagree on Miller. He probably will be a decent player for us and maybe even as good as Washington one day but the other freshmen have been more impressive in my eyes.

You are right though, I think we should go much more up tempo and run these guys in and out more.

Zephyr, don't confuse being athletic with being a basketball player. If Miller becomes as good as Washington, then he will be MUCH more than a decent player for us. Washington is the best player we have, with the possible exception of Bartley, and is IMO the best inside player in the conference. There is a reason why Washington touches the ball on every possession, and has for the last two years.

[VObserver]

Needs to lose another 20-30. Ouch.

Miller was the MVP of the Kentucky state tournament as a senior in high school, then started at the 4 for a prep school team that won the national prep school title last year. He is better than you think he is.

[zephyr]

Zephyr, don't confuse being athletic with being a basketball player. If Miller becomes as good as Washington, then he will be MUCH more than a decent player for us. Washington is the best player we have, with the possible exception of Bartley, and is IMO the best inside player in the conference. There is a reason why Washington touches the ball on every possession, and has for the last two years.

VOB, I know the difference very well. I was mentioning that his conditioning does not look very good along with the body type to handle the grind of a long season. These comments were made when Bryce entered the program as well so its nothing new. However, Bryce has matured and changed his body completely to be the player he is. That is no accident. For Miller to be that type of player, he will have to do the same and I'd be very surprised if this isn't part of his progression plan already.

"Impressive" is a very subjective term. We were all talking about who is most impressive to each of us and I like Brown and Hardy more as to the impact they could give us.

[VObserver]

We are picking at nits; both of us. Like arguing over whether you would rather Larry Bird or Magic Johnson. I am a Bird guy, you are obviously in the Magic court. Both of us would take both of them in a heartbeat.