🏀 KuBuckets Archive

Like many of you said... Jalen is competing with Och and CB for being a player skilled on the drive. But he is the potential "Magic 4" we need and has great potential at that slot because of the one area where he outperforms CB and Och... playing through contact! That's why he is our best rebounder.

I hope he takes a good hard look at Och's progress. Och has completely lifted his NBA stock this year. Jalen may not have the athleticism of Och... but players like Timme show how successful you can be with technique more than athleticism.

Jalen needs some work on his handles and midrange/rim game. Probably polishing on his trey shot, too.

There is a reason why Self hyped him so much a few weeks ago. I trust what he sees in his potential more than any of us. Jalen runs the floor as good or better than the rest of the team. He goes after rebounds, and he just doesn't have his scoring swagger back yet.

I suspect we will see him come on after Christmas. Extending practice time should help and Self can draw up more offense to include Jalen's abilities. He looks a bit lost out there right now.

I'm curious how Jalen's minutes will go moving forward. Self said he tried out how to run minutes in the Miz game. Preseason the guy most mentioned by Self was Jalen. I don't think he can find his game playing under a half of ball in games. Even though he hasn't stepped up yet I wonder if Self will show he has confidence in him by giving him more minutes. I expected him to be around 25+ by now.

I see a FF team if we see the following: Remy continue to meld in and give us positive play time... leadership figured out between him and Dajuan. Dave settle down in the paint (which he seems to be on his way to doing). And last, Jalen become a high minute player and hit his stride. Then we have really 5 guys who are all capable of putting up big game totals. Never reliant on just one or two guys carrying the load.

It should always be an eye-opener when Nova gets thrashed.

I bet the Zags are cr@pping bricks about now... hoping they don't do a repeat from last year in the FF. I haven't even seen Baylor yet... didn't see this game with Nova... but I bet they can smack down the Zags again.

It really pays off to have players stick around. So happy to see these guys performing well!

How many times now has Pearl been spanked? Surely that has something to do with it.

@wissox

I'm ready to deal with the Antlers on Saturday...

!antlers.jpg ↗

@stoptheflop Spot on! I know many people like to discredit the importance of this game because they don't want to give any acknowledgement to Mizzou... but we would all feel the pain on a loss, and more than a typical loss.

I miss the rivalry. So many of our games are milktoast.

How important is this game?

If we lose... we not only lose to Mizzou... we give backdoor bragging rights to Wichita State since they already beat Mizzou this year.

Double smackdown!

!mizzoujoke.jpeg ↗

Here it comes... the long-awaited showdown is back! So if you are a Lawrence resident, better keep your trash inside this weekend because there will be lowlife Tig fans in town, digging in trash cans looking for food scraps.

Happy? Sad? Indifferent?

Many fans may need a refresher course on what this game means to other fans.

It didn't take long for me to get revved up for this one... I'm jacked to have the opportunity to spank the lowly Tigs again!

I recall my student days in Lawrence... all I can say is... it was a bad idea to have Missouri tags from Boone County in Lawrence before the big rival games!

Feel free to share your rivalry stories here. I'm still keeping some of my stories close to the vest because I'm not sure the statute of limitations has passed!

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Border_War_(Kansas%E2%80%93Missouri_rivalry) ↗

http://www.muckfizzou.com/jokes/ ↗

For the sake of preventing a jinx... I will not predict a smashdown tonight.

You do the math and read between the lines! lol

@BShark said in Non-KU Games:

This KU team can get up by or down by double digits against just about anyone I think lol.

Absolutely correct and can do it in lightning speed... especially as we start pushing up the tempo!

I am soooo ready for Self to push these guys to up the tempo! I know it takes practice to become efficient... but I think by conference time we will be pushing the pace more than now!

@BShark

Proof the very nature of the game allows a hot team to beat a better team.

Self has the right term here... "margin for error." Also means "margin for opposition hotness." You just won't hear Self use that term because he wants his fellas taking total responsibility on the floor.

@wissox

Love the post, man! The "Run-n-Gun Hawks!" Would love to see the tshirt... I'd buy one!

I love the high octane offense, too... I just don't see why we can't bring force to both sides of the ball. Enjoy watching slams but also enjoy watching rejections at the rim!

At some point we might play the Zags this year... guess it would have to be in the FF (most likely). I'd like to push them around like Alabama did today! Would love to see us play all gutsy like 'Bama played when thumpin' the Zags!

@BShark

Dave put up some good numbers and looked better. I am hopeful we keep developing the style we showed last night. If we do, Dave will put up some great numbers this year and also have a very, very fun season!

Maybe he came out flat this year because everyone put pressure on him! All the talk was about our offense going through Dave. That wasn't healthy for Dave. Let Dave's game come organically, without force.

@BShark said in Pastries for Thought:

🐦 View Tweet

Ha.. I heard what he's saying... but I think we are starting to look a bit more fluid on offense so it looks a little less like we are basically flipping to slo mo to feed the post now.

I think St. John's defense was not impressive and that helped us look good... but we will take it! Let's build some confidence and develop a style of play.

The big change in our offense is CB's light going off in his head on how he can be effective. I feel 100% that he watches Zag's game footage. This is what all our guys need to do. Look for an angle to the basket WITHOUT the ball and then the right timing and you'll score an easy hoop! This is the type of offense we have never really focused on before. It's just smart basketball, and my hat goes off to the Zags for exposing college basketball to basically playing undeveloped offense!

Jalen.... he needs his swagger back. He's a guy with huge swagger that will help all our guys when he gets it back... and will make the biggest difference in our offense picking up speed... which should be our biggest goal now... increasing tempo! Just listen to Self. Jalen speeds this team up (when he's on his game). I think, right now, he needs more minutes. Self is playing this drama out for what it is worth... giving Jalen a little lesson in manhood. Give him time. Eventually Jalen will earn his keep and more. Let's not forget this... Jalen had an off-night but he snagged 9 rebounds in only 16 minutes of play! This was a game we won because we had more possessions... primarily because of our 18 rebound margin!

Zach - I agree with Texas Hawk... Too many minutes will show his weakness. Let's just slightly increase his minutes over time, as he continues to do well on the floor. We are liking what we see so play him just a bit more, not only as a boost for the team, but gives him needed experience. Man... I really loved how he glided out around the arc and presented a very smooth concept of high ball screen. He moved so quick off his feet from that screen, making him a total threat for a quick cut to the rim. As I said before... if I could improve one thing with Dave it would be to get him more capable on the high ball screen.

I'm hoping we come out with something to prove. Still think the Dayton loss is stinging. One can hope anyways!

Dave will have better days. Part of this is just mechanical. Getting him the ball with the right spacing and at the right time. But he needs to stop shying away from contact. He needs to know how to go towards the basket without fouling. I just don't think we should be always going hi/lo. It's too slow and rigid. We need to play at a faster pace because we have depth and speed. Running a faster offense also makes it easier to speed up our opposition, which is what we want to do. Having more possessions in a game should favor us. Relatively low TOs and a decent conversion rate on offense.

I do like how Self is throwing our guards out there in a mostly 3/4s press.

@Marco

I thought putting Chai dog jumping was a brilliant HOF move. Not only does it put a spur under Dave's shorts it also gives us a shot at winning jump! And it makes a statement that we need to value every single possession!

@KirkIsMyHinrich

I don't see a Top 10 team after the tourney... though I expect to see a much better team after Christmas. We usually make a leap after the holidays and as league play gets under way.

Curious... will this be a typical Self team that gets out of the blocks early in league play this year? We have a lot of talent but haven't always showed it because so many new guys adjusting.

I see so much potential in this team, but also this group is perhaps the hardest to predict from past teams because who knows how some of these guys will play in a few months. I said early on, watch out for someone springing off the bench and becoming a major contributor by the end of the season. For that to happen, it might also mean one of our projected successes falls... or worse... suffers an injury.

This is definitely a "time will tell" team!

FOLLOW-UP:

Few days have passed and we escaped embarrassment from Iona. More random thoughts...

CB is crazy important to our success this year... both on offense and the boards. Opposition has to put their best defender on Chai and focus help defense on him, too. CB has to just keep developing like he's doing. He's becoming the Timme version in a guard! Playing smart. Seeing the game. Seeing driving lanes, timing, scoring space. CB is starting to get it. He has improved his athleticism enough to do about anything he wants. Definitely strong on the drive. I hope he weathers good through a few rough games and stays positive. He should become a very consistent scorer for us this year!

Jalen... not quite on stride yet. Not so sure he likes coming off the bench. He has to come to terms with himself. We are seeing HALF Jalen right now. He should become the catalyst for a much different, better team, on both sides of the floor. Self is grooming him into maturity... I feel certain of that... and it will pay off later this season.

Remy/Dajuan... which guy is going to run this team? I know both can... but who will? From a practical perspective.. it seems when they are both out there that DJ needs to be the main controller. He's less of a scorer and Remy needs to go get his points. We can definitely use his scoring threat. DJ needs to become still more aggressive. He is much improved this year, but he needs to attack harder, on both sides of the ball. He should be getting in some foul trouble because that is a symptom of aggressive defense. To me... our success depends on us ironing out the PG leadership. I've never bought into the concept of strictly "leading by consensus." Someone has to stand up and take control.

Dave... Dave Dave Dave... where we see Chai and CB enter this season with more confidence... Dave starts out with less. Why? Maybe he can't hurdle over the expectations? We definitely expect a lot from our bigs at Kansas. When you look up in the rafters and see the word "Manning" and "Chamberlain" you know you better bring game. I can't recall now, if it was in the Dayton or the Iona game... Dave took a small shove and he tipped onto his back heels. He almost went over exactly like what happens when cows are tipped in those prank rural videos. I've never seen a big struggle so hard with his feet. Makes me think he should have a medical exam looking for some level of neuropathy. Not trying to be funny here.

KJ... I wish these guys showed up with a USB link directly into their brain. Wouldn't it be great to just plug KJ into Self? And then network all the players so they know how to play with each other. His athleticism is nuts and we could sure use it around the basket!

Joseph... I like this guy! He has that lateral "X-axis" ability.

Self mentioned how hard it is to sub in so many players. His comments there were spot on. How do you do it without mass subs at the same time? When you do that, you impact rhythm. I remember some of Calipari's old teams... where he had 5 go in at a time. It does seem to make sense using an approach like that. You have to have these guys practice together on the same side of the ball so they can build some chemistry. At a certain point, depth becomes a curse! I think a little of this will go away later on in the season as this group spends more time practicing.

+/- minutes stat... This tool is probably overused and very misleading. Just look at Jalen's +/- in the Iona game. -4 in 12 minutes. I don't recall how he was subbed. Was he put in for very short gaps... say.. 2 minutes at a time? And if he was put in with other bench players... how do you assess his contribution in that -4 result? I think this stat may be more accurate later in the season if computed collectively over all games. This reminds me of my days playing high school football. We needed a third-string quarterback. No one stepped forward, so I did. I was a defensive back. I had speed and minimal quarterback skills. I thought it would be fun handling the ball every down. So... eventually I made it out there in a real game. My offensive line was atrocious! Every play the defensive line was in my backfield about the same time I was! Even though I sucked at QB it wasn't fair to judge me based on what I had to work with. Boo hoo! lol

Ooops... definitely left out that Ochai drives the paint! My bad. Would like to see more of it. Why don't we have several play sets that clear out a side for him to do his thing? He can drive to the rim or give us that silky-smooth, NBA pull-up finish!

I used to always scream at the TV. Not this time. I wasn't expecting to lose, but I knew how often we lose these early season games. Dayton deserved that win! They won the 50/50 balls. We were completely outplayed... even with their TOs. After we blew our lead, they owned the court mojo!

I had several takeaways from this game, many weren't bad!

1. Christian is very capable on the drive! I thought he had his best game ever as a Jayhawk! Too bad it ended in a loss!

2. Remy is yet to take the helm and run this team. He hasn't learned that his role is to lead this team. We need a leader at PG. I do think he is capable. He just has to change his mindset and know... though he is a newbie with veteran players, he's the boss! Would have meant a W tonight.

3. Dave is in a tough place. I think it's crystal clear now... 4 guys on this team have to bend their natural instincts to slow down the game to keep Dave involved. Dave has probably the worst footwork we've had in the post for a long long time. But he lays his heart out there. Our current concept of hi/lo isn't going to cut it this year. Instead of benching Dave or loading him up with the burden of carrying this team with the old hi/lo, why don't we use Dave differently? Maybe stop forcing the feed into the post and just let it be... take what the defense gives and when it's there, feed it. Otherwise... have Dave also clear out and allow more guys to finish at the rim.

4. Right now, only Christian looks to drive the paint. What about Remy, Jalen, even Dajuan? Our offense doesn't attack in the half court. So many quality pieces but very little initiative. Probably because we have this idea of running hi/lo. Spread out the perimeter and feed Dave in the low post. It is definitely not the way we are going to be successful this year.

5. Watch Gonzaga and take notes. When you don't have the ball, don't sit on the trey line. Look for the right time and angle and dart through the post. What the Zags do is not rocket science. It's a very simple attack on the rim! Also... drive the paint more!

6. We lacked emotion! Once Dayton started coming on they owned the mojo in this game. If we stay like this, we will lose a lot more games than we should!

7. Zach had the highest positive point impact based on his PT. Granted it was 3 minutes. But it is what it is and we tend to have positive play while he is on the court.

We have a talented group of guys and I still look forward to a very entertaining year! Just hope we figure it out soon and start playing better ball. Maybe we are playing soft just trying not to have turnovers!

Come on, guys! Attack the rim! You are dangerously close to having me lecture a lack of chip! lol

Looked like two Final Four teams out there. I feel like the Zags were the big winners tonight because they will feed off of this lesson even though Duke will carry momentum forward. Fun game to watch.

@BShark

Timme is refreshing to watch in the post. Why aren't more D1 post players this capable? Is it really some kind of magical knowledge? He makes almost all D1 post players look incapable.

@wissox

I'm thinking Duke gets spanked... like everyone else the Zags play. Might get some attention from those who think K is the God coach. Few deserves plenty of credit for building a program to national prominence from a non-basketball world.

@RockChalkinTexas said in UNT Turkey Day Game Thread:

As @drgnslayr would say…
Jalen playing with a chip on his shoulder

Thank you for remembering! ❤!cfded6a6-78a6-4f56-a508-89fba3c140ca-image.png ↗

I can't recall Bill stressing speed this much before... started last year when he spoke about getting this year's team more athletic.

I've always raised heck over our teams playing too slow. Getting beat on fast break defense and not taking advantage of fast break offense. Always relying on slow, set offenses. Secondary break strategy? Unheard of in Lawrence!

I watched the MSU game a couple of times. They were considerably larger than us yet often beat us on speed. Should be no excuse for that, especially with the depth of our bench.

I'm not sure how teams practice for speed, but think we need practice changes to instill pushing tempo. More defensive pressure should help. Perhaps a 3/4 court press? What if we start games with all-out pressure and then, as needed, we can pull it back some if we can't keep it up. It should get our guys zipped up for game starts. We've so typically had problems coming out of the blocks slow on games anyways. That has always been a peeve of mine! Having to fight back in games we shouldn't even be contested on but we let the other team get out first and build lots of momentum that we have to knock down later!

Very informative interview. Always great to hear Bill's perspective. Clear he sees issues with Dave. Not sure if he can motivate his motor up to the needed level of play. We shall see.

@benshawks08

"Do you really think we will run with Jalen at the 5? I’ll believe it when I see it."

“The other thing that we haven’t done yet is I think that we can play Jalen at the 5 and get really quick,” Self said.

I don't see how we can deny the obvious. Doesn't mean we run real small all year, but WOW! Jalen is going to have to get his minutes somewhere... and Self thinks he is a 30+ minute player.

Remember... Jalen isn't the same guy you saw last year. He's a guy that went to work on his lower body strength. He totally listened to coaching... That is going to help him considerably as a rebounder. I can see him lead this team in rebs. Low post defense? In the X-axis world it is about not giving up good position in the low post. Lower body strength is important, but also hustle, fight, and footwork.

@BeddieKU23

You see what I see.... this kid is a future superstar! I see plays in him already that Frank or Devonte couldn't make (and that says a lot!).

Bob is a freak athlete like we haven't experienced before. Much like how Frank was a different kind of freak athlete. Frank was a freak athlete bulldog. Bob is a freak athlete with last second moves. Sharp cuts... nuance fakes... scoring/passing distance... seeing the game through his gifted tool set.

Bob is the protégé example of my future concept of basketball in the X-axis! For those who don't know... the game is best played side-to-side instead of up-and-down. Horizontal capability is more important than vertical capability. It's the main reason for the high ball screen... creating mismatches. People used to think it was most important to create offense with a small player guarding a big. Ha.... it's the other way around. Small ball handlers school the bigs because of footwork and ease of creating scoring distance. Now imagine a team built on creating the mismatch at all 5 positions and running schemes to take advantage of it from a team perspective! Now you understand "X-axis" basketball theory!

I know many will question this strategy because they think it limits defense capabilities. How do you guard the bigs? This is where you have to understand... stop letting offenses setup with ease and running on their pace. It really isn't hard to do. If you have lateral speed you should be pressuring in the backcourt... or at least half court. Stop them from running sets. Pressure passing lanes at the ball first. Speed up the game so they speed up their offense. Run their bigs into exhaustion!

We could SHRED a team like Gonzaga if we went to an X-axis strategy. The problem is Big Dave. I love that guy... but he slows us down. Look at Zach's numbers. He matched Dave's output when considering PT. I'm not sure if Zach is the answer yet because I don't know about his speed. I bet bringing back JALEN could do it! I love how Self talks about how much faster this team is with Jalen. Isn't that a clue that Jalen replaces Big D for minutes?

Let's compare the media this year.... which coach will get blasted most for having guys with DUI troubles? Self or K? ha

Here's the way Duke handles DUIs... talk a mean game and then handle it "internally" -

"RALEIGH, N.C. — Mike Krzyzewski called the DWI charges against two of his players over the weekend, including his grandson Michael Savarino and freshman phenom Paolo Banchero, a "violation of our standards."

"We'll handle that internally," Coach K said after Tuesday's 92-52 win over Gardner-Webb University. "We're already handling it.""

https://www.usatoday.com/story/sports/ncaab/2021/11/16/dukes-coach-k-responds-dwi-charges-we-had-violation-standards/8646007002/ ↗

I was expecting low numbers from Dave... it's early in the year and also we have a new PG situation and we are not tweaked for in-post feeds yet.

Jalen coming back might influence his #s, too... in either direction... depending on how Jalen plays his game.

If this was last year, I'd state how I think Dave's numbers will climb later on. Not so sure this year. Really matters how this team plays. Self will go for whatever works to add more points (or defend more points).

Have to say I am a bit disappointed... thought Dave would come back with more foot speed... both in lateral movement and full court speed. His lack of foot speed is a definite Achilles' heel with this team!

@Kcmatt7

Few tends to have his teams ready early in the year and so they thrash opponents. Since this team has many pieces back...

Yes... Timme doesn't have much vertical or speed but he plays smart. He has a different kind of athleticism. He's great at backing people up in the low block and has some pretty quick pivot moves. He's a guy who has maximized his potential. Just goes to show... I'd rather have a skilled player with brains than with athleticism (if having to choose between the two).

The Zags are a handful this year... especially because they carry a huge chip (thank you, Baylor!).

KU vs Zags... this year? Ha.. we'd need the play the defensive game of a lifetime! Big Dave would have more than his hands full. Our only hope would be to apply enough pressure up top that they had a hard time of setting their offense.

@benshawks08 said in Takeaways from Game #1:

We’ve had transfers, we’ve had stars, we’ve had 1 and dones, but never a senior transfer one and done PROVEN star player.

All the better reason for these two to figure out their relationship and execute a winning strategy on the court.

I don't think it will be the last time we see an arrangement like this. Self can sell "finishing school" to star players, a chance to win a title, and a resume builder for the NBA.

Maybe someone can clarify... but I'm thinking MSU had something like a cumulative height advantage of like 12-inches on us. The game sure didn't look like we were outsized. And I was surprised at the speed of MSU. They often pushed the ball in transition faster than us. Our transition basically came from steals only. Self should gear our guys to transition off of makes, too!

The one very good way to share more minutes with the bench is to move the ball and exhaust your players. They'll be happy to come out for a breather.

I still don't know exactly what to think of Dave and how he fits in. I'd love to see a quicker pace with 5 guys. He got beat several times on MSU's transition. I'm not saying Dave shouldn't play... but I'd like to see us focus on speed, and he makes that possibility tough. With our quick guards, we really need our 5 out high setting ball screens, creating mismatches. If I could ask just one realistic improvement from Dave in this season it would be for him to work his arse off on setting better screens. It's a talent he hasn't conquered yet and he can learn to do much better. It would really help our guards score off the dribble.

Question for all:

So is this the team that can take it to Villanova? Do we finally have the guards who can stay composed while being nailed with perimeter defense?

@Texas-Hawk-10

I see the potential for Texas. Must have been quite a carrot offered to Beard.

I can see Texas giving a big challenge to UK. And the luster has worn down with Calipari.

So how will this play out in the SEC? One conference game between UK and Texas during the season and a possibility in their conference tournament?

Will a winning UT bring in the crowds in Austin?

Wow! Have to admit I was impressed with our opener. I'm trying to think back when I was last impressed this early.

9 turnovers! 9! Since when do we play with that much care for the ball? And it didn't really seem like we were trying to protect the ball. We made quick passes from all over.

Ochai was a monster! Let's hope he produces like that all year! He should. He's come back stronger, bigger, and quicker and he seems to show more of that "Type A" personality he'll need to make it at the next level.

Remy showed brilliance at times. I think he will show more consistent brilliance as the season progresses. He just needs to get used to this team and what Self wants.

Dave... I'm not sure about. I'm certain he will produce and put up some numbers this year. I just think he doesn't totally mesh with this team. He's clearly the slow guy. 2 rebounds? But I'm sure he will make the most out of his potential with this team, and that should be good enough.

Christian looks a bit stronger. He is going to have to figure out his shot. Loved his effort on the glass. Rebounding this year will definitely be a "team effort." Will be great to have Jalen back to help there.

Dajuan is an important link to this team. I hope he asserts more offense. He was on the floor almost the entire game, and I do get it. You want to know why we only had 9 TOs? He's a big part of keeping the ball from sticking.

Really enjoyed our bench performance. KJ brought energy. Zach showed a huge skill set. JaCole gave us a taste of his potential. Bobby is going to be a baller. Would have like to have seen more PT for Joseph. I'm sure we'll get a good look from him soon enough.

What did you all see in this game?

@FarmerJayhawk said in Well are we what Coach Self wanted?:

I think he’s at least 6’7 now

6'9" in KU inches! lol

I also miss having a tougher battle with the kitties. Bruce just simply can not recruit!

I'm already looking ahead to having new blood in the league... like Houston, Cinc and BYU. Curious how this plays out. Glad Texas will be gone. Always hated going to Austin to empty arena. Will miss OU.

Ochai is more athletic and bigger... so is Christian. Yet to see Jalen but heard he is, too. Even David is quicker.

The quote is accurate... then add in the newbies. He never said it had to be recruited in!

After this... I'm expecting a wild season! I can see the potential one of our new guys busts loose halfway into the year and comes on big in production. If so, just hope he doesn't get cold feet in March. KJ comes to mind. He finds the ball on every play!

So much quality on this team. Wow!

Wow! They are considerably taller than us! We better get out and run! Better hit the defensive boards hard because I'm sure Izzo will be targeting the offensive glass with this size difference!

@Marco

Never thought I would pull for Texas... especially now... but when you put it this way.. heck yes! I'll be thrilled if the blue nation turns burnt orange! lol

I never like to guess score... but for the heck of it... KU 74 MSU 68

Made closer with a late MSU run... Let's see if my consistent jinxing is in effect! lol

Once again... I'm going off my fantasy on this matchup since I haven't seen either team in action.

I'm guessing we will go out ahead and just sort of stay out ahead... surviving a few of their run. I think our speed will be the clear advantage. Remy should be shooting a lot of FTs... probably Dave, too.

I agree with Marco... Izzo seems to be fading out. It's a shame because I always enjoyed a fired up Izzo... red face.. screaming... sweating. He's taken quite a bit of heat over the past years for being too aggressive with his fellas.

This should be a game for Och to show his athletic prowess. Let's hope he does. Let's see if he is ready to transform into more of a Type A player this year!

I caught the highlights... UK looks not so good. I think this is another year for us to add many wins against them in the totals race!

Okay.... My impression of the game I didn't see. I only have the stat sheet to go off of. I thought it would be fun to throw out an assessment, sight unseen and see if it is anything near reality. All of you who watched the game, please feel free to challenge my guesses here!

*I did not read any posts in this thread so I am not influenced by anything except the stat sheet!

Christian - Solid performance but didn't stick out. Consistent involvement on both sides of the ball.

Dajuan - Showing sparkling moments but not always involved. Perhaps a bit nervous starting the new season and figuring out new players and lineups.

Ochai - Excellent shooting form. Disciplined decision-making, solid energy on both sides of the ball. Fought to get his shot while also hustling for rebounds. Plugged in!

David - Brought energy and consistent threat in the paint, both scoring and rebounding.

Bobby - Showed promise. Impressive for being a newbie.

Joseph - One of our best defensive players with high energy. Also showed quick energy on offense. Definite team player.

Kyle - Short time on the floor. Nervous play.

Remy - Big time aggressive offense, both as scorer and with assists. Definite playmaker. Still needing improvements on defense. Has foot speed but out of position on defense creating fouls.

Zach - Freshman nervousness. Fouling issues but very aggressive on the boards.

KJ - Showing definite promise but not connected well with teammates yet.

Cam - Nervous but showing offensive potential. Definite help on rebounds.

Mitch - Shows his experience. Effective play, especially on rebounds and defense.

@Marco

I hear what you are saying and have lost more than one person to someone driving under influence. I just don't think holding a player from games teaches them enough about what they did. What I suggested is they be forced into a situation where they learn what can happen from drinking under influence. That isn't part of the discipline of just holding them out of games. They need to know how tragic results are possible. I think we all agree he shouldn't escape this without consequences...

Upon further thought... I would also include a mandatory acceptance of blood alcohol testing. Let's make sure he doesn't have an alcohol problem. And if he does, we can mandate treatment. Actually... my resolution is stricter on players than just letting them out of basketball commitments.