A lot to like again. Smack down an inferior opponent and run away early in the 2nd half, then clear the bench to get young guys game reps and time on the court.
King had 5 early points. Maybe rushed a shot but overall knew other guys were cooking and didn't force his own shot just to try and get numbers.
Hunt - all over the court again on defense and fearless on offense. He seems good at drawing contact on drives, a quality skill.
Bigelow - good Bigs showed up and he utilized his ability to get to the rim and to the FT line. He should try to live there.
Quinn - under control again. Had some nice moves but also some issues against a more athletic defender at times. With his footwork, he just doesn't explode vertically at all. But gave the team what it needed. Keep doing that. Will need him to overperform at some point, but he may just be the steady 6-10 points guy and not a 14+ points guy.
Noyes - quiet game but other guys were playing well so it wasn't like he was playing badly, just didn't make much of an impact.
Bailey - really great game, his best that I've seen. Love his confidence so far this year. Hit 2 threes which is huge if that is now part of his game. Elbow seems to be aiming very wide on his FTs.
Roche - thought he also had an excellent game. In constant motion and to me looked quicker than last year. It could just be VMI and Siena were slow, but he did what we need. He's a real weapon playing with these guards.
Tyne - I already love Tyne. Plays like a junior with the ball in his hands. I have about 95% confidence when he has it that it's not going to get stolen or a bad pass isn't coming, which is like 45% more than anyone last year. Bright future for him IMO, haven't seen him drill the 3s so much just yet, but otherwise, a great start for him.
Walz - tonight was the most offense I've seen from him, which is good! But he still turns it over, and got outhustled to the ball a couple times, which is bad! Needs more reps and to have one solid no mistakes type game. Hitting the 3 was both unexpected and nice. Gonna be like that a lot I think. Seems to be too in his own head at times.
Harris - glad he's getting run here these games bc we may need him at some point. Looks like he could get some buckets inside.
Smith - also glad he's getting on the court. His handle looks good. He's skinny.
Tanner - Nice little mid-range hoop tonight, touch looked very soft. He looks more like the height in the picture where he's shorter than Moon, than the 6'6" from his recruiting profile.
Graham - has some zip on his passes. Couldn't tell much else.
Southall / Weaver - in the games, getting stats! That's a win.
My quick hitter thoughts:
Passing was terrific, one of the best passing games I've seen in many years from the Spiders. Ball movement was nonstop and it set up the offense perfectly. I'm a critic of Moonball sometimes (mostly against aggressive athletic defenses), but when it works, it does look nice.
10-18 from 3. A lot of it set up by the passing and cutting.
At one point the lineup was two guards, Roche and Dji, along with Quinn. My head exploded, but it worked well. Moving Dji to forward has unlocked him.
Speed kills. King, Hunt and Tyne are ball hawks. Opposing guards who are slow or whose handles are mediocre will have it tough this year.
There was some full court pressing! My already-exploded head dissolved.
Switching and resulting traps were pretty effective, especially when it was guys like Dji and Bigs on the trap, guys with height and long arms.
I like Dji off the bench for that energy burst and knowing he's coming in with confidence and being expected to look for his offense. If he started, this probably wouldn't be the case as much as we try to get Quinn and King going early in games. I expect we'll see him finishing more games, which is the key thing.
Crowd looked lifeless on tv, and looked like maybe 5k ppl. Lots of visible empty seats on the broadcast in most shots.
I heard the Wawa 3 stupidity tonight. I like Wawa fine but maybe they can send that one back to the drawing board.
Altogether a great game. Never in doubt.
