I didn't get to see everything, because our dog was with us and he wasn't welcome, but here's what I noticed:

--David Cohn struck me as the best player the floor. I expect him to be a very good leader of this team.

--Connor Burchfield also impressed, and not just as a shooter. He was aggressive going to the hole, and I thought he played hard defensively. Even rebounded pretty well.

--Justin Pierce is super-athletic, and contrary to Big Tribe's observation, I thought he shot well. I expect to see some very big games for him this year. Probably needs a year to sharpen his judgment a little.

--Jihar Williams showed me more than I expected to see. At one point, he was left open and a drained a three. Shaver chided the defense, saying, "You just left open the best shooter on the team." (I'll assume that he was talking about Jihar's scrimmage squad, but still.)

--Oliver Tot will play a lot, but I'm not sure that he will be playing PG very often. Still a master of the no-look pass.

--Paul Rowley is still everything you've always loved about Paul Rowley. He has fun. He encourages his teammates. He tries to do everything he is asked to do. He's a guy I can't help but root for. They did a lot of man-defense drills yesterday, and Paul had his hands full with Pierce. So again, Paul is Paul.

--Likewise Nathan Knight is Nathan Knight. So long as fouls don't hold him back, he can accomplish whatever he sets his mind to. It's worth remembering, though, that he's only a sophomore. I expect him to play like a sophomore occasionally. It was good to see Paul showing leadership by keeping him focused.

--I really like the lumbering Cole Harrison. Not the most talented guy out there, but super tough and not above the occasional surreptitious grab of an opponent's jersey.

--No surprise, but defense will be a major struggle. I think we can be an average defensive team if we give superior effort. That will be a major challenge for Shaver. It wasn't a challenge he was able to master last year, but I expect this team to be more receptive to coaching.

--Defensive rebounding will also be a big challenge. I expect (and hope) that we'll be playing a lot of zone, and that makes boxing out more difficult. And outside of the two big guys, our guys aren't that physical. Man would I like to see Pierce with about 20 more pounds and a bad attitude!

Overall, I'm optimistic. I think this team is capable of beating anyone in the league, and it's also capable of competing over the course of a season, if the defensive effort is there.

Got Ribe!

Quote of the Year nominee:

"I think we can be an average defensive team if we give superior effort."

Damn

Sent from my SM-G955U using Tapatalk

Not to belabor the point but if W&M were average defensively they probably would have won at least one CAA tourney in the last 5 years.

If we score 3 on offense, and we give up 2 on defense, I like that math!

:-)

(11-02-2017 06:02 PM)mrjoolius Wrote:  

(11-02-2017 05:06 PM)LeadBolt Wrote:  

(11-02-2017 11:04 AM)WMTRIBE75 Wrote:  I had the pleasure of chatting with Jihar Williams. What an engaging young man with a smile that will light up a room. The kids that we recruit always make me so proud. Tony did mention during his talk that Jihar has not met a shot that he was not willing to take, which made us all laugh. He does indeed have a beautiful stroke from the outside. He also suggested that games with final scores like 100-95 might not be all that surprising since he suggested that some of the guys might struggle guarding a "tree in the Kaplan Arena parking lot" at this point.

I asked Tony about the four recruits. He said that he is ecstatic about the group and that every one of the kids were players that the staff had been recruiting for a very long time. He did say that they were still working hard on the big guy front.

Did he have any comments on who he thought might or might not be leaning in our direction?

Coaches aren't able to discuss specifics on recruits- even after they are committed. Once they sign the coaches can discuss them.

Thanks. I wasn't aware of this.

(11-02-2017 06:22 PM)WMTRIBE75 Wrote:  

(11-02-2017 06:02 PM)mrjoolius Wrote:  

(11-02-2017 05:06 PM)LeadBolt Wrote:  

(11-02-2017 11:04 AM)WMTRIBE75 Wrote:  I had the pleasure of chatting with Jihar Williams. What an engaging young man with a smile that will light up a room. The kids that we recruit always make me so proud. Tony did mention during his talk that Jihar has not met a shot that he was not willing to take, which made us all laugh. He does indeed have a beautiful stroke from the outside. He also suggested that games with final scores like 100-95 might not be all that surprising since he suggested that some of the guys might struggle guarding a "tree in the Kaplan Arena parking lot" at this point.

I asked Tony about the four recruits. He said that he is ecstatic about the group and that every one of the kids were players that the staff had been recruiting for a very long time. He did say that they were still working hard on the big guy front.

Did he have any comments on who he thought might or might not be leaning in our direction?

Coaches aren't able to discuss specifics on recruits- even after they are committed. Once they sign the coaches can discuss them.

I was about to respond to your question Leadbolt when I saw Mr. J's comment, which provides a perfect lead in to what my answer was going to be. Even when I asked about our 4 recruits, I jokingly referred to them as the "guys that you cannot talk about yet". I named no players so that he could respond to my generic question. I then said, "Now we need to get some big guys"!. I did not ask about any of the players named on the boards here because I knew that he really could not comment. He did make one comment about our recruiting efforts concerning the big guys that shed some light on how difficult the process has been. Lots of competition.

Thanks !