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Game 1—Cedarville Yellow Jackets


Dr Z

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It is difficult to judge anything about this team since we played a division 2 team.  HOwever, I did notice that we really had no post up game.  You would think that against a smaller team we would try to dominate inside but that did not happen.  Most of our inside points were off of drives or offensive rebounds.  Did not see a great deal of offense that generated easy shots.  Most of the shots were drives and kick outs for 3 pointers.   We missed a lot of open threes in first half and made more in second half.  Utomi was off tonight and  many of his shots were short.  He barely touched the rim on a foul shot.

 

I was most impressed with Jackson.  He was fearless driving to the basket and fought through the screens.  He played a great second half.  Looking for great things from him.  Was looking for improvement from Klac and Poke.  Poke looked rusty but glad to see him on the court after last year.   Klac was in for 2 minutes and drew 2 fouls and gave the ref the "who me" look.  I hope I am wrong but not sure how much he will contribute.  We seemed to want to push the ball up the court.  However, it did not lead to many easy points. 

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A couple additional notes...

 

- Scott Walter looked like he belonged, even as a walk-on. He's pretty heady, and didn't seem to try and do too much. I don't know how much he'll play come the regular season against DI opponents (I don't think it'll be much), but I won't be freaking out if he's in the game. 

 

- Khadim Gueye is huge. It'll be fun to see him and Riak on the floor next year. 

 

- Toles was out, but I heard pregame that he has been practicing very well. I wonder if he cracks the starting lineup when he comes back. 

 

- This team is WAY deeper than last year. Should be fun. 

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Looked to me like Groce was trying to give his small squad an extended look last night to see how they would respond.  Once we went bigger we played better.  I think that is what Groce likes about this team. He likes having the diversity to play big or small depending on the matchup.  I don’t read too much into the first half.  That was an experiment. 

 

This team needs to work on chemistry which is to be expected with so many new faces.  This team has a lot of athletes and good enough size to compete with anyone in the MAC and many power schools.  Groce is building this team with an eye toward the tournament.  Could be an explosive team and very dangerous in March.

 

I was eagerly anticipating Hester’s arrival this year.  I thought he would be the catalyst this season.  Hurts our backcourt depth as Jackson is the only clear point we have.  Roscoe may be an adequate backup eventually.  Walter won’t get an playing time against quality opponents unless we have severe foul trouble or injury.

 

Looking forward to an entertaining year.

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37 minutes ago, Let'sGoZips94 said:

A couple additional notes...

 

- Scott Walter looked like he belonged, even as a walk-on. He's pretty heady, and didn't seem to try and do too much. I don't know how much he'll play come the regular season against DI opponents (I don't think it'll be much), but I won't be freaking out if he's in the game. 

 

- Khadim Gueye is huge. It'll be fun to see him and Riak on the floor next year. 

 

- Toles was out, but I heard pregame that he has been practicing very well. I wonder if he cracks the starting lineup when he comes back. 

 

- This team is WAY deeper than last year. Should be fun. 

 

Pleasantly surprised by Scott Walter.  I had assumed he was going to be more of a practice player.

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It was great to see E-man back on the court blocking shots. He still needs to develop his offense, but he is healthy and playing at full speed. And that's awesome.

 

At times it looked like a "first game" with moving screens, lazy passes, the ball sticking on offense and break downs on defensive assignments. Then at other times they looked like a team with a full year in the system to the point where it was impressive to see the new comers looking so comfortable out there. I do see a lot of potential.

 

Jackson is going to be fun to watch. He is small and will be a defensive liability, but he sure isn't afraid to stick his nose in there for rebounds. (It's not the size of the dog in the fight, it's the size of the fight in the dog) And he can hit his threes. So without Hester, who is the likely backup at the point? Does Scott Walter have the athleticism for conference play? I thought it might be Channel Banks. That will be interesting to watch.

 

Riak not only moves well for his size, but he can drive the ball pretty well too. Also, he has been given the green light to shoot threes when left alone. That's a first for Akron big men. I was really surprised that Sayles didn't see the court until well into the second half. I was way off with that prediction. I had Sayles in the starting line-up.

 

Banks and Cheese are very similar players at first glance. Both can score at all levels, but more importantly they can get in the lane and score through contact.

 

Utomi wasn't hitting his shots, but he is the most consistent performer overall. He will benefit from having all of that big boys depth this year. I love his quiet strength.

 

Ivey still struggles with his handle. He had some nice fast breaks and drives to the hoop, but he is a total mess in traffic. What I liked most about Ivey Tuesday night is that he wasn't forcing matters, he is letting the game come to him.

 

There is one present left under the Christmas tree. Like many of you, I am excited to see what Toles brings to this team.

 

 

 

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6 minutes ago, Illini Zip said:

It was great to see E-man back on the court blocking shots. He still needs to develop his offense, but he is healthy and playing at full speed. And that's awesome.

 

At times it looked like a "first game" with moving screens, lazy passes, the ball sticking on offense and break downs on defensive assignments. Then at other times they looked like a team with a full year in the system to the point where it was impressive to see the new comers looking so comfortable out there. I do see a lot of potential.

 

Jackson is going to be fun to watch. He is small and will be a defensive liability, but he sure isn't afraid to stick his nose in there for rebounds. (It's not the size of dog in the fight, it's the size of the fight in the dog) And he can hit his threes. So without Hester, who is the likely backup at the point? Does Scott Walter have the athleticism for conference play? I thought it might be Channel Banks. That will be interesting to watch.

 

Riak not only moves well for his size, but he can drive the ball pretty well too. Also, he has been given the green light to shoot threes when left alone. That's a first for Akron big men. I was really surprised that Sayles didn't see the court until well into the second half. I was way off with that prediction. I had Sayles in the starting line-up.

 

Banks and Cheese are very similar players at first glance. Both can score at all levels, but more importantly they can get in the lane and score through contact.

 

Utomi wasn't hitting his shots, but he is the most consistent performer overall. He will benefit having all that big boys depth this year. I love his quiet strength.

 

Ivey still struggles with his handle. He had some nice fast breaks and drives to the hoop, but he is a total mess in traffic. What I liked most about Ivey Tuesday night is that he wasn't forcing matters, he is letting the game come to him.

 

There is one present left under the Christmas tree. Like many of you, I am exciting to see what Toles brings to this team.

 

 

 

 

In warmups, Riak was hitting more long range shots than Cheese.  Banks and Cheese are similar size, but Banks is more of a pure 2 guard with a decent shot while Cheese can play the point in a pinch and  is more aggressive off of the dribble as a penetrator, but doesn't have the outside shot of Banks.  I've seen them both for about 25 minutes, so I am pretty confident in my assessments!  LOL. 

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2 hours ago, clarkwgriswold said:

Cheese can play the point in a pinch 

In the post game show, "Champion of the Local Akron Kid" Joe Dunn expressed his excitement that Walter was the back up point guard. Groce subsequently stated Cheese was the back up and Walter would probably be 3rd on the PG depth chart.

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1 hour ago, Captain Kangaroo said:

In the post game show, "Champion of the Local Akron Kid" Joe Dunn expressed his excitement that Walter was the back up point guard. Groce subsequently stated Cheese was the back up and Walter would probably be 3rd on the PG depth chart.

 

That clearly seemed to be the pecking order Tuesday.   

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