In my experience/estimation the lower level European pro teams are usually the level of your average D1 college team, not anywhere close to elite competition however.
I'll say I was surprised by some of the stat lines.
(08-18-2014 08:03 PM)FNblazer Wrote: Listening to Haase in his postgame interview, he knows we have a LOOONNNNG road ahead of us this year.
We should all be expecting that. Next year is the first year we can have any sort of expectations for UAB basketball. Short of losing the entire team, we are going to have a ton of experience returning. I just hope we can settle on a pg, and find some 3 point shooters on the squad this year.
Seeing how this team is largely unproven and has minimal chemistry to date, the overseas opportunity couldn't happen in a better year. Maybe we can ride the momentum and win it all in our home city.
(08-18-2014 08:41 PM)FNblazer Wrote: Seeing how this team is largely unproven and has minimal chemistry to date, the overseas opportunity couldn't happen in a better year. Maybe we can ride the momentum and win it all in our home city.
+1. These guys barely know each other's names. This trip can be the perfect solution for the team's lack of cohesion.
I still have faith that this team could be pretty good and at least better than last years team. With all the variables going against our team, that faith is probably misguided, truth be told.
We need brown and Washington to be at least 15 PPG scorers for us. We need a leader to step up in the absence of Frazier, who dominated the team (on the court at least). We need some shooting and we need a good PG to emerge (I don't think norton will be our full time starter in year one).
There's a lot of question marks about this team, but we definitely have talent.
I was skeptical about norton, but watching that clip and seeing his stat line has swayed my opinion a bit. It helps to have another more experienced pg coming in, and watts is serviceable there as well. If Madison can play anywhere near the way he did in this game on a consistent basis, that is huge. Also, Cokley scoring that much is a good sign. I've been saying for months he is the forgotten guy in this class, and hopefully he continues being a threat to score. Also, our star freshman didn't even play. We at least have a lot of options this year, so if something isn't working we can go to something else quickly.(we are still thin down low, hopefully nobody gets hurt)
(08-19-2014 08:33 AM)blazers9911 Wrote: I was skeptical about norton, but watching that clip and seeing his stat line has swayed my opinion a bit. It helps to have another more experienced pg coming in, and watts is serviceable there as well. If Madison can play anywhere near the way he did in this game on a consistent basis, that is huge. Also, Cokley scoring that much is a good sign. I've been saying for months he is the forgotten guy in this class, and hopefully he continues being a threat to score. Also, our star freshman didn't even play. We at least have a lot of options this year, so if something isn't working we can go to something else quickly.(we are still thin down low, hopefully nobody gets hurt)
Unless Madison improved his jump shot significantly, I don't think we want him taking 17 shots in a game. I'm speculating here, but since Madison had six offensive rebounds, I'm guessing he got down in the trees and threw up some contested shots a la Rod Rucker.
I'm hoping Rob Brown can slide into Frazier's role from last year, but I'm also assuming he's a more polished player than his time at VT.
Anyways, it's only one game, and an exhibition at that.
I'm sure we don't want Madison shooting 17 times a game, but based off of who we had for that game I'm okay with it. He was 1-2 from 3 and 4-5 from the line as well, so maybe he hit some jumpers. All I know is he puts up numbers when he plays, and I'll take that any day.
I'm also assuming brown will be our go to guy this year. I don't think we need him to average 20, but something around 15 would be nice. Bottom line is going to be we need guys to make 3s. We can't shoot as poorly as we did last year again.
All in all I'm pleased with the numbers our guys put up in the game. A lot of the young guys contributed, and that is a good thing. The good thing about this year is we should get better as the season goes on.