RE: Bluenanza
As it turned out, I did make it there - although I mostly wish I hadn't. I thought it the worst Bluenanza I can ever remember. So much of it was the over-the-top, far-too-loud ©rap/hip-hop music that was blaring the whole time. We know I can do the get-off-my-lawn stuff on this board, but this wasn't that; if was just offensive and intrusive, and seemingly served no purpose. Just really turned me off. Added to that, was the emcee, who tried to amp up that vibe, and like prosec, that bored me further. It was terribly forced. Terribly. And Jay Sandos was partly responsible, willingly or not.
Not even sure why the women's team was in uniform, other than the 4(?) who participated in the 3-pt. shooting contest. Coach E. said "we're not gonna do much" because we have an open practice in the morning(?)" - but it was even less than "much". The rest of the women just sat down on the other end the whole time the men were on display.
The guys had about 10-12 minutes of scrimmaging, half-court, and then the dunkfest (Which in large part was a bust, though not completely. More dunks were missed than made.)
I'm SOO very glad I went to the scrimmage; that experience gave a 20-30X amount to go on compared to this. All that said, some sketchy impressions.
1a. Patrick Good will likely be our leading 3-pt. shooter next year, if he's still here. And I know, that's not news.
1b. Malloree Schurr can still fill it up. And no, that's not news, either.
2. As others mentioned, it was good to see Kendrick Gray there, and on the roster again. And he didn't get much, if any, action in the scrimmage, but he clearly moved well and seemed very athletic. Seemed legit, but so little there to go on. Very interesting theory put out there by bucfan81 about the possibility of Rodriguez's loss leaving a spot for him. I have no idea, but clearly an intriguing possibility. He seemed warm and friendly with his teammates, for what that's worth. Meaning it didn't seem like he'd been "gone".
3. Unless I'm mistaken, Overstreet played most of the scrimmage minutes against Jurkin, and Mladden didn't get on the court. I *could* be wrong about that. Certainly Overstreet got the time, though. And while he did nothing flashy or extraordinary, he looked competent. I suspect he'll get abused by top centers, but hold his own against many (assuming he gets PT, which I personally don't see how he won't).
4. And yes, Jurkin looked pretty good. But I've thought that *most* of the time, when he picks his spots, and doesn't get stripped, he can be "pretty good". I definitely think he starts, and reiterate what I've been saying, that he'll definitely get more minutes. But yes, he'll get abused, too, by the quick-footed centers.
5. Expectations mildly raised: Williams, Long, Edwards.
Mild disappointment: Hodges(??) (I really think this format didn't suit him well, and so I don't think this means he's less of the weapon that I've earlier asserted.)
About as expected: all the rest.
Edwards hit two smooth 3s in the scrimmage. I just can't get over how much he reminds me of Wilkes; he even moves like him. Looks nearly effortless at times. He may have significant upside.
Long, I think, has increased his hops. And...........he was one of the ones 'selected' (how, they didn't tell us) for the 3-pt. shooting contest, although he only did middling. Same with Obi, although slightly better. What a *high* arc he has on his shot.
(The fact that Bradford and Burrell didn't participate in the 3-shooting, despite their high percentages, indicated to me that the coaches picked the participants. And I'm sure part of that was due to them being in the dunkfest.)
Williams and Long continued to impress me, like last year, with their vision, tenacity, blinding speed, and creative playmaking (which we know can sometimes backfire). Williams seemed especially happy, almost giddy and joyous on the court. Sure didn't act like someone who was gonna get red-shirted.
6. Since I went on and on about the team chemistry after Bluenanza last year, I was trying to pay attention to that. If last year was an 11 on a scale of 10, this year seemed to be about a 7 or 8. But it was harder to tell because of the format. For example, during almost all of the whole event, Harrison, Mladden, and Reppart just sat down on the end of the bench. They weren't in the scrimmage; they weren't in the contests; and consequently, other than the brief drills, they just sat and watched. And although Gray I don't think got any action, either, he at least mingled with the others while the contests were going on.
7. Bradford was into it and almost full of himself (but in a good, happy way). He was enjoying it big-time. It's his team, and everybody knows it.
8. Expect to see a Sportscenter highlight of Bradford and/or Burrell throwing stuff down sometime(s) this season.
9. Great to see Justin Tubbs and BEN RHODA as judges for the dunkfest.
10. Again, as expected, and as I stated after the scrimmage, the D is definitely ahead of the O. Other than the middle (which is, of course, a big "other than"), we seem to have just tremendous defensive capabilities. And part of that is our simply extraordinary team speed. Williams, Obi, McCloud, and Long can just be blurs - and I think I'd give the ultimate edge to Williams. We may be a team with a high number of steals, which is just dandy.
All these comments are very sketchy, but stacked on top of all I observed from the real scrimmage. And I agree that Brooks Gym is where this needs to be, but I think it served a purpose for the new guys to experience Freedom Hall, albeit in an extremely limited manner. Don't hang no hats on my comments just based on this stuff tonight.
Overall impression of the event - boring, WAY overproduced, really almost smarmy and distasteful, even. But at this time of year, just getting tidbits of things to come is somewhat instructive.
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