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Report from the castle.

Posted: Wed Nov 22, 2017 4:08 pm
by oaktonhokie
Went to the game vs HBU last night. Paid scalper $5 for each of two tix.

The crowd seemed like me, more curious than committed. Rooting for our guys but not really knowing who the heck they were.

And the warmups had hoods. Yes, they were hoodies. Looked ridiculous in my opinion as some did layup drills wearing a hood. But i'm not 20 anymore so who knows?

We did not look very good in the beginning. A zone by houston and our guys were very mechanically going through the motions imo. No energy and at a very slow pace.
Things picked up as the game progressed and we started running more.

Individually, i think hill is good. He looked confident and capable, more so than most. The justins played pretty well with bibb getting about 25 and looking good doing it.

Bede didn't play in the first half, not sure why. He played in the second and looked ok. Seemed pretty comfortable and smooth.

Nik Alex-walker (i don't like hypens) looked lost, frankly. No natural flow or rhythm, especially against the zone. He only made one move to the rim as i recall, a nice drive that drew two defenders and resulted in a nice assist under the basket. Did not see much energy. Again, the boys did not play well against the zone and that i think is where most of his minutes came.

Blackshear moves like a glacier. A slow one. He was up against another behemoth who couldn't move either. The other guy seemed to handle him. When blackshear went out, he was replaced by a freshman, 6'5" PJ Horne. I liked blackshear's effort especially off the ball on defense. He worked hard on the boards but was not always in good position. Offensively he is um, not satin smooth. He handles the ball reasonably and can draw the defender to the elbow to open up lanes for others.

With his hustle and hard work he may develop into a competent back up quality center. My fear is that ACC level centers will abuse him. He and nick fullard are the only players over 6'6".

Tyree jackson looked pretty good. Devin wilson, not so much.

The coach was obviously still looking for the right combinations. Understandable, it very early. Initially against the zone, they looked like five guys who met for the first time in the parking lot before the game. They'll get better.

Keep in mind that this is a one time observation from row X. Maybe they were having a bad night. Maybe some weren't feeling well.

I hope so.

One man's opinion.