--Record: 3-2. Given that four of these games were on the road against two Power Five schools and two good programs, Oral Roberts and UCSB, I'm okay. I would have taken this record. Consolation prize: We've been in every game.
--Defense. Excellent--the obvious strength of this team. Our defense will keep us in a lot of games. Flip side is, this aggressive trapping defense will earn our opponents a lot of foul shots, and our bigs will pick up fouls well beyond the arc. Still: I'll take it.
--Offense: Ouch! We've been outshot on a percentage basis I think by every opponent, in all three categories of shooting: Field, treys, foul line. There were three guys I thought would change this dynamic: Dorsey, Bevins and Falls. But Dorsey got hurt; Bevins has curiously not played, and Falls seems tentative and hesitant to shoot. Will our shooting improve? Hope so. But five games in, this is a worrisome trend.
--DeCuire: Remember, DeCuire built this team in his own image, and he was a point guard, one of the best in the history of our program. Little surprise then our guard line is so good, with Falls and Espe waiting in the wings. (I think Falls will be a big star for us.) At the same time, this is DeCuire's fourth year, and the first that we have a big man not recruited by Wayne Tinkle. Yes, we've finally got some bigs in the pipeline, but Nicholas is young, and we won't see Kramer or Mack Anderson for another year. Given that bigs take more time to develop, it's a big question as to how much production we'll get from our front line this year. Still, way better than last year.
--Future: Still looking good. I see Falls and Nicholas gaining maturity and experience as the season wears on. By tournament time, they'll likely be more like sophomores. Hopefully we work Bevins into the mix; we need his stroke. But expect periods of extreme frustration, when we clank shots for stretches as we did the first ten minutes of the UCSB game. This team will arrive at a nice place, but it will be a bumpy ride.
--Defense. Excellent--the obvious strength of this team. Our defense will keep us in a lot of games. Flip side is, this aggressive trapping defense will earn our opponents a lot of foul shots, and our bigs will pick up fouls well beyond the arc. Still: I'll take it.
--Offense: Ouch! We've been outshot on a percentage basis I think by every opponent, in all three categories of shooting: Field, treys, foul line. There were three guys I thought would change this dynamic: Dorsey, Bevins and Falls. But Dorsey got hurt; Bevins has curiously not played, and Falls seems tentative and hesitant to shoot. Will our shooting improve? Hope so. But five games in, this is a worrisome trend.
--DeCuire: Remember, DeCuire built this team in his own image, and he was a point guard, one of the best in the history of our program. Little surprise then our guard line is so good, with Falls and Espe waiting in the wings. (I think Falls will be a big star for us.) At the same time, this is DeCuire's fourth year, and the first that we have a big man not recruited by Wayne Tinkle. Yes, we've finally got some bigs in the pipeline, but Nicholas is young, and we won't see Kramer or Mack Anderson for another year. Given that bigs take more time to develop, it's a big question as to how much production we'll get from our front line this year. Still, way better than last year.
--Future: Still looking good. I see Falls and Nicholas gaining maturity and experience as the season wears on. By tournament time, they'll likely be more like sophomores. Hopefully we work Bevins into the mix; we need his stroke. But expect periods of extreme frustration, when we clank shots for stretches as we did the first ten minutes of the UCSB game. This team will arrive at a nice place, but it will be a bumpy ride.
