11-13-2003, 11:52 PM
I saw the future of our basketball program and I think Dave is in serious trouble (whether Mike McGee will pull the trigger this year I dunno - but the press is right - we will stink up the SEC this year)
I only saw the first half but you could tell what we have in store already:
Our stellar freshman: Paulius Joneliunas, Renaldo Balkman, Tre Kelly and Brandon Wallace are the only glimmer of hope this program has, and I don't think they will really help our program this year (immediately). Renaldo will be the impact freshman since he looked the best of the three with an excellent presence on the court and he hit a three along with other creative shots at the basket (played well without the ball). Tre looks like a speed demon, but didn't look like he was comfortable out there shooting the ball. Brandon Wallace is the worst looking of the freshman - he is very stringy (6' 9" and only 185 pounds) :eek:
He didn't have significant minutes and missed the only shot I think he took in the first half.
Paulius didn't look great, he passed well, ran the floor well - but reminded me of a poor man's Petravicius he did score in the paint but did not have any defense in him (a Lithuanian 3 inches shorter looked better than him almost every time they matched up under the basket)
The worst news was that John Chappel picked up 3 fouls early in a blink of an eye and was a non-factor (as he will be all year IMO) -other bad news was that Kinsey, Boynton and Gerald were old news that didn't do much in the little time they spent on the court in the first half.
The bright spots are: Josh Gonner (6'2" 181) that was a spark early in the game and looked better than most experienced players out there. Kerbrell Brown should contribute more this season, he had a nasty dunk before halftime - he was the starting center (6'8" - 220) Carlos Powell had his usual intensity play (2 amazing layups were all highlights of the evening).
Keep in mind - these are just a fragment of a complete game and this will be a long season - but there was no real leader that I saw, no go-to guy and virtually several lapses in defense that cannot continue. I still will watch and cheer on my beloved Gamecocks, but Dave is really in for it this year (or if not this year - the long run).
This link I found for more info on what Dave had to say before the game:
<a href='http://www.gamecockcentral.com/cgi-bin/article/read.pl?dir=bkb&id=3252' target='_blank'>http://www.gamecockcentral.com/cgi-bin/art...dir=bkb&id=3252</a>
BTW, I finally met my favorite bball player (Jamel Bradley) at this game and he was just as nice as I have heard - excellent shooter that could have been the best pure shooter in USC history IMO.
I only saw the first half but you could tell what we have in store already:
Our stellar freshman: Paulius Joneliunas, Renaldo Balkman, Tre Kelly and Brandon Wallace are the only glimmer of hope this program has, and I don't think they will really help our program this year (immediately). Renaldo will be the impact freshman since he looked the best of the three with an excellent presence on the court and he hit a three along with other creative shots at the basket (played well without the ball). Tre looks like a speed demon, but didn't look like he was comfortable out there shooting the ball. Brandon Wallace is the worst looking of the freshman - he is very stringy (6' 9" and only 185 pounds) :eek:
He didn't have significant minutes and missed the only shot I think he took in the first half.
Paulius didn't look great, he passed well, ran the floor well - but reminded me of a poor man's Petravicius he did score in the paint but did not have any defense in him (a Lithuanian 3 inches shorter looked better than him almost every time they matched up under the basket)
The worst news was that John Chappel picked up 3 fouls early in a blink of an eye and was a non-factor (as he will be all year IMO) -other bad news was that Kinsey, Boynton and Gerald were old news that didn't do much in the little time they spent on the court in the first half.
The bright spots are: Josh Gonner (6'2" 181) that was a spark early in the game and looked better than most experienced players out there. Kerbrell Brown should contribute more this season, he had a nasty dunk before halftime - he was the starting center (6'8" - 220) Carlos Powell had his usual intensity play (2 amazing layups were all highlights of the evening).
Keep in mind - these are just a fragment of a complete game and this will be a long season - but there was no real leader that I saw, no go-to guy and virtually several lapses in defense that cannot continue. I still will watch and cheer on my beloved Gamecocks, but Dave is really in for it this year (or if not this year - the long run).
This link I found for more info on what Dave had to say before the game:
<a href='http://www.gamecockcentral.com/cgi-bin/article/read.pl?dir=bkb&id=3252' target='_blank'>http://www.gamecockcentral.com/cgi-bin/art...dir=bkb&id=3252</a>
BTW, I finally met my favorite bball player (Jamel Bradley) at this game and he was just as nice as I have heard - excellent shooter that could have been the best pure shooter in USC history IMO.