The unofficial online home for fans of the UAB Blazers. Part of Collegiate Sports Nation (CSN).

(11-03-2013 05:30 PM)Blazer85 Wrote:  Folks. This is the first game of the year and an exhibition at that. Things will be messy. Haase is experimenting with lineups to see who gels well and to see how they respond. If we were simply trying to run up the score, it would have been a much larger margin of victory. Margin of victory means nothing in this type game. It's all about trying to learn some things about your players and have some film to look at to coach them up.

Just to clarify, you were at the game today right?

I think the team is going to be extremely competitive this year, but there's a lot I saw today that needs to be fixed in a short period of time if we want a shot a UNC a month from now...and it's not just lineup changes. I will attribute a lot of that to most of the players being fresh and in a new system, though.

Fahro has significantly improved his post-game, in my opinion. Point guard play is still weak. Need to get Swing more opportunities to score. Rob is still a hustler and could get C-USA 6th Man of the Year if he leaves it all on the court every game. Purifoy still feels lost in this roster. CJ has raw talent, but needs more control/restraint. Rebounding numbers are swayed a bit. We could have had more if we would stop volleying the ball, but we also should've had more 2nd chance points. Milligan came to play today and they brought some offense.

Many of the turnovers can be attributed to growing pains.

Rob Williams (10 points) picked up the majority of his points late in the game, but he is still Mr. Warrior. I had him with at least three assists.

UAB missed 10 free throws, with Frazier only going 2-6 from the line. (Drew's article shows UAB missing 12 free throws.)

I gave up counting Rucker's rebounds, it was so many. I believe he had 8 points.

C.J. Washington looks to be a great addition. He finished with 23 points. He didn't have to do much in the second half.

Freshmen Mehinti and Madison also looked good. Milligan's tallest player was McLeod (14 points) at 6-7. Mehinti had at least 3 blocks. He was 7-10 from the foul line, and has a beautiful arch to his free throws. Madison is very athletic and managed to get 9 points.

Purifoy did look a little lost, but he had a bunch of rebounds.

Alihodzic made more than two nice moves down near the bucket to free himself up for shots.

Swing hit two 3's and finished with 8 points and 3 blocked shots.

I thought Watts did a reasonable job backing up Frazier.

The only player not to play was Karl Moton. I don't believe he even dressed for the game. Thaddeus Rideau was last to get in the game.

After following UAB basketball for more than 15 years, I put ZERO stock in what happens at an exhibition game. ZERO. I've been burned in the past.

By the way, Milligan made eleven 3-pointers. However, they took a ton of 3-point shots. I've never seen a team shoot so many 3's, and work the ball so many times inside out for a 3-point attempt. With their lack of size, at least against UAB, that was their strategy - shoot the 3, and shoot it often.

I hate UAB has done away with general admission.

(11-03-2013 06:22 PM)mrchance33 Wrote:  I hate UAB has done away with general admission.

this

Expect UABs defense to tighten up when they are playing a real game and the crowd actually makes a little noise.

Good game for blazers. But didn't defend the three well. Washington, Frazier, mehinti, Madison, all look to be contributors with Rucker, swing, faz, Williams, and Purifoy. Not sure about watts. Go blazers!

(11-03-2013 06:49 PM)BlazeNBham Wrote:  Expect UABs defense to tighten up when they are playing a real game and the crowd actually makes a little noise.

It was quiet today

Got a feeling Washington will be the biggest contributor for this team.

I hope Chad steps up point guard. Been spoiled by years of squeaky and Aaron

You can't analyze this game to determine anything. As said above, it was exhibition with lots of subs. Some of those guys will see very few minutes when actual games start.

There were also no records set today, as it was exhibition.

Don't worry. Don't get too fired up.

It was first look At new team for me.

(11-03-2013 05:02 PM)The Answer UAB Wrote:  Fifteen isn't horrible, but we need to do better than that.

I believe UNC was right around 15 per game last year. I'm guessing that is the number Haase is going to want to try and stay under. When you play as fast as he wants to, you are naturally going to have more turnovers, just based on possessions.

I walked away feeling very positive. Rucker showed us a bit (late) of what he has to offer this season. I think we'll be really really hard to beat with the starting line up we put out there today. The only starter who played "bad" was Frazier. I expected that. He'll get his rhythm and will be a big contributor. I was very impressed by his size at the guard position. Tosin is all sorts of raw goodness. Can't wait until he turns the corner.

(11-03-2013 07:43 PM)BlazerGold09 Wrote:  I walked away feeling very positive.

I as well...but there were plenty of face-palm moments in the game. Early season issues that I am completely confident will be worked out before major competition arrives.

Enjoyed the game and was, as expected, impressed with Washington. Frazier was probably as good or better than point guard play last year, Watts was less effective but not surprising considering that he is a freshman. Fahro may be bigger and stronger, but he still looks pretty clumsy out there and isnt much of an offensive or defensive force. Mehnti could become quite a player due to his quickness and wingspan and general tenacity going for the ball. Madison came on in the second half as did Robert Williams, who got many junk/hustle baskets the last 10 minutes of the game. Overall defense against the 3 was very suspect.

As an aside, we talked to Ruth Bartow after the game and she said that Murray's ETSU team played Milligan earlier this week and put a major whipping on them, scoring over 100 pts.

We could have scored over a hundred too if we had left a starters in longer.

(11-03-2013 08:37 PM)Memphis Blazer Wrote:  We could have scored over a hundred too if we had left a starters in longer.

Very true. Many times we did 5 in 5 out.

East Tennessee State 118 - Milligan 83
East Tennessee State 119 - Mars 83

Both were exhibition games.

Frazier doesn't have to be great. He has enough talent around him that he only needs to be good. He needs to improve, but I'm not as concerned about the PG position now. Watts should be able to fill in.

Washington was huge, he had 19 points in the first half alone. The most impressive newcomer.

Mehinti was raw, but I like his size and potential. He should be able to give us solid minutes.

Madison had some nice plays late. Solid flashes for a freshman.

Riddeau barely played. Not much to say about him. Might end up being the odd man out.

The team has good depth and size. I wish we had a long range sniper though. Maybe one of the new guys will fill that role eventually.

(11-03-2013 08:20 PM)demiveeman Wrote:  

(11-03-2013 07:43 PM)BlazerGold09 Wrote:  I walked away feeling very positive.

I as well...but there were plenty of face-palm moments in the game. Early season issues that I am completely confident will be worked out before major competition arrives.

Rutgers in 8 days. Major competition isn't that far away.