Kellen McCormick has some serous range. Went 4-5 from deep in the second game. Has length. If he could defend the 3 he'd be a weapon.
Hutch can still get to the hole but struggles to finish. He's a bit too confident in his perimeter game, but has shown in the past that he can get it going.
Shane didn't see the ball much in game one, but got it regularly in game two. Did a nice job of backing his man down and showed a nice touch on his jump hook and at the free throw line. We're going to miss Stain.
Darius Paul lacks Tava's basketball IQ, but makes up for it with his length and athleticism. One of the two will start at the 4, and Paul will for sure back up Shane at the 5. I'd go with Paul as Tava will see plenty of time at both the 2,3,4 and possibly the 5. Paul has serious upside and will get better with each outting. He was soiid on the offensive glass and had several nice put backs.
I'd say that Klien is the likely starter at PG with Richie at the 2. Hordeman will likely spell both the PG and the 2. Klein looked very comfortable at PG as the day progressed showing a nack for getting the the hole and finishing. He has a nice stroke from deep and is athletic enough to get it off under pressure. While not your prototype PG his combo game may trump having just a pure PG.
I've never fully trusted Pokley as a game day player he certainly looked impressive in practice. Knocked down several threes, went strong to the hole, played solid defense, and looked like he was in charge. Could be a real surprise.
In a nutshell we have a lot of interchangable parts. A lot of players in the 6'4 range with a variety of skills and athletic abilties. What we clearly lack at this point is a take charge go to guy.
I suspect this team will lose a lot early, although they'll be in most of their games, but come February I think they may jell and make a run at the MAC West. The biggest positive that I see is depth at several positions which should help at both ends of the floor. My concern is at center where Shane and Paul are going to have to stay out of foul trouble.
Any new inbounds plays!!!
Pretty much saw the same thing Dip.
People are going to talk about Kellen's shooting, and he certainly can hit the 3. I worry about him being able to do anything else. He did have a nice assist to Paul, but other than that, I'm not sure he can rebound enough or play good enough defense to see significant playing time. If we can get him to do those things, he'll play.
I really think Klein is our starting PG. Hawk might go with Richie to start the season, but I expect Klein will be there by the time MAC play starts. Richie will be the first guard off the bench for Klein or Poke depending on who is in foul trouble or having a rough night.
Poke did look good today. More importantly he looked good and he wasn't shooting 3's. The biggest question with him has always been whether or not he can do everything else besides just shooting 3's. It really seems like he's found it.
There is no way Darius Paul sits the bench. He's gonna be playing 25-30 mins per game. I suspect we will have some growing pains with him, but his upside is worth it. Dude is long. He had a sick tip dunk in the first scrimmage.
Tava showed glimpses of being a stud. He certainly isn't afraid to rake the ball to the rack.
Perry and Avery were kind of quiet. Didn't stand out much. Steady players that didn't do anything to hurt us. I'm guessing they will continue to adjust and improve.
Hutch and Whitt did their normal things. I wouldn't gush over their offensive games, but they will score because of their length.
H2 had some real nice plays on the offensive end. Not sure he's gonna be a 20+ min per night player. But really, all he has to do is spell Poke and/or our PG if needed. He's really our 3rd PG, but may be needed if someone is playing bad or Richie plays better at SG.
I'm really really anxious to see what Harris can do. He is long and looks to be athletic in their drills. If he comes back at 100%, he could be a real important piece moving forward.
Loney is gonna be his normal self.
Watching Tucker Haymond drain 4 consecutive 3's after the scrimmage was impressive. He and svete were playing around and shooting. Oh, by the way, Tucker was shooting them left handed.
Svete might be the best looking shooter I can remember being recruited in the last 10 years. Even with a bad knee, it's impressive watching him spot up and knock down shots.
(10-20-2012 11:06 AM)Chipdip Wrote: [ -> ]......... What we clearly lack at this point is a take charge go to guy. ............
Connor Tava looks to have the basketball IQ, skills and drive to fill this role in the near future
Yeah, of the freshmen Conner Tava looks like he will be a load as he matures. I think Darius Paul will get a lot of minutes and may be a starter. Klein from Otsego did a lot of nice things.
Of the returnees, Austin Ritchie, and Shane W look as good as we hoped, and have the look of program veterans that we will need a lot of this year.
The teams shot well (minus the D-1 pressure they will face all year)
I'm looking forward to this year. Patience will be the key for me and the team.
(10-20-2012 12:09 PM)EA3 Wrote: [ -> ]Svete might be the best looking shooter I can remember being recruited in the last 10 years. Even with a bad knee, it's impressive watching him spot up and knock down shots.
Do you really think he looks better than Kellen?
(10-20-2012 08:49 PM)okgc Wrote: [ -> ] (10-20-2012 12:09 PM)EA3 Wrote: [ -> ]Svete might be the best looking shooter I can remember being recruited in the last 10 years. Even with a bad knee, it's impressive watching him spot up and knock down shots.
Do you really think he looks better than Kellen?
Yes. His release, form, follow through, and arch are unbelievable.
If I was teaching someone to shoot, I would use his form as an example.
Obviously Kellen can shoot though.
Quote:Do you really think he looks better than Kellen?
I do.
And it's not even close....IMHO.
KM does one thing quite well. Once scouted, teams will adjust for it.
I really think Klein is going to break Mikey's assist record before he leaves WMU.
Does anyone know if Svete has had knee surgery or what the treatment is for his knee? Kinda important he gets 100% healthy or it won't matter if he has a better stroke than KM.
(10-22-2012 09:48 AM)wmubasketballsupporter Wrote: [ -> ]Does anyone know if Svete has had knee surgery or what the treatment is for his knee? Kinda important he gets 100% healthy or it won't matter if he has a better stroke than KM.
http://www.wndu.com/sports/headlines/Pen...54196.html
Tore his ACL and MCL. Surgery went good.
Per a Persky tweet 3 weeks ago:
"recovery is going well and the leg brace is off! At about 60% speed right now."
He did make the decision that he wouldn't try to come back for his high school season.
Silver lining was that his injury happened in July rather than November. Which means he should be at full speed between May and June of 2013. Plenty of time to get up to speed for next year.
Best part about Svete and Haymond...they seem to be getting along really well.
According to Rivals (sorry if this was classified info for paying members only), Svete actually picked up Haymond at the Kazoo airport on friday.
You're fine... Yeah, they seem to get along great. I think Svete was a big reason Haymond committed. They just hit it off immediately, along with other teammates.
As for Svete's ACL injury, I think he very well could have played maybe the tail end of his senior season at Penn but chose not to because of the potential career-ending risk of injuring it further if rushed back too soon. He should be 100% ready to go by the time he arrives on campus next summer.
Thanks for the update on Svete's knee surgery and recovery. After having an ACL reconstruction myself, I know the benefit of waiting to get the knee 100% before returning to action. I am glad to hear he is not going to push his recovery timetable.
By no means trying to "pimp" articles, but hey it's free and everybody loves free stuff right? Plus we got some good quotes from some of the freshmen for those hoping to get to know them a bit:
http://westernmichigan.rivals.com/conten...ID=1425263
We'll have a fun series coming up on the freshmen here in the next couple of weeks so keep an eye out.