Now that I've had time to process after being a lil bitch last night:
Gary Trent Jr is sneaky good and is close to being really good. He drives well and finishes well due to his strength and above average ball handling. He's shooting at 33% from 3pt. If he can get a little bit more consistent there and start shooting at say 36%, along with finishing A.) Stop shooting so many mid-range jump-shots and B.) Finishing better in the paint. A frustrating thing about Trent, and it's probably just freshman learning curve, but often when he drives he takes that floater/runner in the paint which isn't necessary at all. He can and should just get to the rim and take contact. Most times he'll miss that floater. If he can find an uptick in 3pt % and find understand a good shot (3's and drives to the rim) he'll really become quite the player. He's also a clutch FT shooter, having (I believe) made 5/5 from the FT line in clutch moments. The and 1 against Texas, the two FT's to take the lead against Florida, and the two FT's to go up by 3. It was also note worthy how he wanted the final 2 FT's and didn't pass to Grayson in the back court when he easily could have before being fouled.
I think one of the more underappreciated things of last nights game was that K allowed Carter Jr to play with 4 fouls for what felt like the final 10-11 minutes of the game. After playing like absolute dog shit for the first 30 minutes, with 4 fouls, Carter Jr played very well down the stretch. This is becoming a theme with Carter Jr now, as he beasted his ass off in the final 10 or so minutes against Michigan State and Texas as well. I would imagine that his motor is just so high that he is outlasting the bigs on other teams. Quite a few times against MSU, Texas, and Florida in the final few minutes of the game Carter Jr will miss a shot inside, grab his own rebound, and then finish. He's simply out working people and it's extremely impressive.
I thought Javin and Marques both played well off of the bench last night, and now that we are out of the tournament setting, I hope/expect to see more playing time for both of them as they deserve more playing time, and Bagley and Carter could use a reduction on minutes until we get to ACC play. They are both completely different big men, but I actually think Bolden is competent as a low block scorer. He should never shoot anywhere else, but he's comfortable down there and his confidence in his abilities are growing on the post.
I don't really have much to say about anyone else. I have much to say about Duval but I don't know how to express myself feelings regarding him correctly. It's not a good or bad, it's just I don't know.
