Game Thread [2022-23] Fayetteville State (Exhibition)

[Devilsforlife]

Man, it just feels nice to have a new coach, with the possibility of recurring weak spots such as ball screen defense and rebounding being improved, which you knew damn well was not happening under K.

 

[bdotling]

I just watched the first half so far. I thought Roach did a good job facilitating though his own offense wasn’t so good.
Our d was pretty solid, Proctor has good length and stayed in front well. Flip had some nice help side rotations over for blocks. Our defensive rebounding sucked though, they had way too many offensive rebounds.
Mitchell does a bit of everything and has a soft touch around the rim. Overall I thought we looked pretty good.

 

[Slap the Floor]

Man, it just feels nice to have a new coach, with the possibility of recurring weak spots such as ball screen defense and rebounding being improved, which you knew damn well was not happening under K.

i thought K had some good teams in recent years that were good in ball screen d.

generally speaking, i think every fanbase probably hates their ball screen defense, because it's like a player striking out in baseball, it looks really bad. Even if a team has good ball screen defense, when you do give it up, it's a guard getting in for a lay-up, hitting the roll man for a lay-up/dunk, etc. All stuff that looks bad even to the boomer watching that can only point out pick & rolls and a give & go.

 

[StopThePumpFakesShav]

Scheyer said Whitehead was a couple weeks off. This is the same thing he said 12 days ago at CTC.

I haven't watch yet, but I heard the pick and roll defense was a revelation.

Second paragraph made me erect. First didn’t.

 

[bdotling]

Watched the second half. We basically let them score only 2 points for the first 9.5 minutes of the second half. The other nice takeaway is prior to shithead minutes I think we only had 2-3 turnovers. FSU is awful but nice to see we didn’t have any dumb unforced TOs. I really like Proctor, he’s good both ways. Blakes also looked good as long as he’s not the primary scorer/facilitator. He looked awful with the shitheads.
I don’t think Schutt is going to be playable and it looks right that Reeves will redshirt - he’s just kinda plodding.

 

[rome8180]

I'm really impressed with Proctor's defense. @aiw mentioned staying in front of his man, but what's really jumping out to me is how easily and quickly he gets over screens. He looks like someone who will be an elite defender on the NBA level too. I'm not sure Lively will be better than our third best defender (after Proctor and Mitchell).

 

[rome8180]

Mitchell is great at digging down on the ball for the steal on drives. Super long arms and quick hands. He was also the first guy up and down the court on multiple occasions. My crush continues to grow.

 

[bdotling]

Oh that was another thing. We were quick to the floor to go after loose balls, I think Mitchell was the first to do so. Nice to see the effort

 

[childress22]

He looks like someone who will be an elite defender on the NBA level too. I'm not sure Lively will be better than our third best defender (after Proctor and Mitchell).

Don't write off Blakes on defense either. He gambles more than, say Thornton, but he also recovers pretty quickly. His on-ball D is really good.

 

[rome8180]

True, but I think Blakes' impact may be more limited due to playing time. I see him as the 9th guy in the rotation. Maybe 8th if Flip or Young really fall out of favor.

 

[SeanMayTriedToEatMe]

 

[deepdarkblue]

Scheyer said Whitehead was a couple weeks off. This is the same thing he said 12 days ago at CTC.

I haven't watch yet, but I heard the pick and roll defense was a revelation.

 

[deepdarkblue]

Did we break Schutt's shot somehow? Based on scrimmages, I hadn't seen a prettier shot since Andre.

He looked very lost and panicky on defense, too.

 

[deepdarkblue]

Probably premature to say this after seeing one game against a terrible team, but Jaylen Blakes looks like a legitimate college ball player this year.
I like everything about Mitchell except for his jump shot. It will be just enough to keep him from being an ideal offensive player, but not enough to keep him from being an OAD.
Ryan Young is what Todd Zafirovski would have been if he'd spent four years on a college team where he played significant minutes.

 

[Pantone287]

 

[Pantone287]

Encouraging from Grandison. I just don't know how he doesn't get starter minutes one way or another, given his shooting and experience. His defense did admittedly look not amazing for a 30 year-old.

8-19 from 3 is also encouraging, as is 7-15 from actual rotation players. 14-14 FTs is awesome.

This could be a decent shooting team, assuming Grandison, Proctor and Whitehead are all in the top 6. I'm reasonaby confident in the first two being true 37-40% guys, and then who the hell knows with Whitehead.

 

[deepdarkblue]

Grandison is Gary Trent, Jr.

 

[rome8180]

Did we break Schutt's shot somehow? Based on scrimmages, I hadn't seen a prettier shot since Andre.

He looked very lost and panicky on defense, too.

His defense was hilariously bad. He checked into the game and was immediately guarding Grandison's man for no reason while also trying to guard the corner. He seemed to be calling for the switch with Grandison, who ignored him multiple times.

I think he was trying to play off his man so he could help on the drive while also being ready to close out to the corner. But his positioning was so wrong. He was basically right on top of Grandison and 15 feet from his own man. I have no idea what he was trying to communicate to Grandison.

 

[rome8180]

Probably premature to say this after seeing one game against a terrible team, but Jaylen Blakes looks like a legitimate college ball player this year.
I like everything about Mitchell except for his jump shot. It will be just enough to keep him from being an ideal offensive player, but not enough to keep him from being an OAD.
Ryan Young is what Todd Zafirovski would have been if he'd spent four years on a college team where he played significant minutes.

To me Young is what Vrank could have been if K didn't refuse to play him for some reason

 

[rome8180]

I just watched the first half so far. I thought Roach did a good job facilitating though his own offense wasn’t so good.
Our d was pretty solid, Proctor has good length and stayed in front well. Flip had some nice help side rotations over for blocks. Our defensive rebounding sucked though, they had way too many offensive rebounds.
Mitchell does a bit of everything and has a soft touch around the rim. Overall I thought we looked pretty good.

I was actually pleasantly surprised by Flip's defense. He was great on rotations, seemed to know when to switch, and did a good job of making himself wide when he was switched onto a guard.

Now I'm sure faster ACC guards may blow by him, but the fundamentals and IQ seemed like they were there.

Proctor in particular was guilty of not securing rebounds. He must have batted at the ball five times. It always ended up with Fayetteville State getting the ball back. Are his hands really small?