The Rockets play their second exhibition game Sunday at Findlay beginning at 4. I like that TK does this annually to expose the players to a road game routine so they know what to expect once the regular season begins. This is especially important this season with 5 Freshmen newcomers who have never experienced a road trip on the college level. TK talks a lot about their success on the road over the past several years is not only due to having great players, but also settling into a regular routine that the players know and are comfortable with. Hopefully this year's team gets acclimated to the road routine and experiences similar success as their predecessors!
"We played a lot of guys against Ferris State and saw some of the things that we need to work on," Head Coach Tod Kowalczyk said. "We're still trying to figure out our rotations and see what are the best combinations we can put on the floor."
https://utrockets.com/news/2023/10/26/me...ntest.aspx
Breaking in a new point guard may be the biggest challenge this season. As good as Sonny Wilson looked in High School he is still a slender, raw freshman yet to face Div 1 strength, speed and talent. I expect that opponents will try to exploit his size and inexperience, especially on defense. Fortunately the Rockets have a cadre of tough defensive guards in Moss, Maddox and Cochran. And, as exciting as Raheim Moss is to watch, he is a poor to spotty shooter who has a tendency to play out of control and doesn't impress me as a dependably steadying factor running the offense.
(10-27-2023 12:46 AM)Sleepy Wrote: [ -> ]"We played a lot of guys against Ferris State and saw some of the things that we need to work on," Head Coach Tod Kowalczyk said. "We're still trying to figure out our rotations and see what are the best combinations we can put on the floor."
https://utrockets.com/news/2023/10/26/me...ntest.aspx
Breaking in a new point guard may be the biggest challenge this season. As good as Sonny Wilson looked in High School he is still a slender, raw freshman yet to face Div 1 strength, speed and talent. I expect that opponents will try to exploit his size and inexperience, especially on defense. Fortunately the Rockets have a cadre of tough defensive guards in Moss, Maddox and Cochran. And, as exciting as Raheim Moss is to watch, he is a poor to spotty shooter who has a tendency to play out of control and doesn't impress me as a dependably steadying factor running the offense.
I think Moss if not is, I am convinced he can be a better shooter than you with Milner Shumate and Dennis gone he will have to have more emphasis on his shooting than their has been.
(10-27-2023 09:09 AM)rocketpaul Wrote: [ -> ] (10-27-2023 12:46 AM)Sleepy Wrote: [ -> ]"We played a lot of guys against Ferris State and saw some of the things that we need to work on," Head Coach Tod Kowalczyk said. "We're still trying to figure out our rotations and see what are the best combinations we can put on the floor."
https://utrockets.com/news/2023/10/26/me...ntest.aspx
Breaking in a new point guard may be the biggest challenge this season. As good as Sonny Wilson looked in High School he is still a slender, raw freshman yet to face Div 1 strength, speed and talent. I expect that opponents will try to exploit his size and inexperience, especially on defense. Fortunately the Rockets have a cadre of tough defensive guards in Moss, Maddox and Cochran. And, as exciting as Raheim Moss is to watch, he is a poor to spotty shooter who has a tendency to play out of control and doesn't impress me as a dependably steadying factor running the offense.
I think Moss if not is, I am convinced he can be a better shooter than you with Milner Shumate and Dennis gone he will have to have more emphasis on his shooting than their has been.
If he could make a lay-up, his percentages would be fine, lol.
Is Malitic going to be any value this season?
Unfortunately I've missed the open and Ferris State scrimmages.
Please comment.
(10-27-2023 09:33 AM)eastisbest Wrote: [ -> ] (10-27-2023 09:09 AM)rocketpaul Wrote: [ -> ] (10-27-2023 12:46 AM)Sleepy Wrote: [ -> ]"We played a lot of guys against Ferris State and saw some of the things that we need to work on," Head Coach Tod Kowalczyk said. "We're still trying to figure out our rotations and see what are the best combinations we can put on the floor."
https://utrockets.com/news/2023/10/26/me...ntest.aspx
Breaking in a new point guard may be the biggest challenge this season. As good as Sonny Wilson looked in High School he is still a slender, raw freshman yet to face Div 1 strength, speed and talent. I expect that opponents will try to exploit his size and inexperience, especially on defense. Fortunately the Rockets have a cadre of tough defensive guards in Moss, Maddox and Cochran. And, as exciting as Raheim Moss is to watch, he is a poor to spotty shooter who has a tendency to play out of control and doesn't impress me as a dependably steadying factor running the offense.
I think Moss if not is, I am convinced he can be a better shooter than you with Milner Shumate and Dennis gone he will have to have more emphasis on his shooting than their has been.
If he could make a lay-up, his percentages would be fine, lol.
Ain't that the truth.
(10-27-2023 12:46 AM)Sleepy Wrote: [ -> ]"We played a lot of guys against Ferris State and saw some of the things that we need to work on," Head Coach Tod Kowalczyk said. "We're still trying to figure out our rotations and see what are the best combinations we can put on the floor."
https://utrockets.com/news/2023/10/26/me...ntest.aspx
Breaking in a new point guard may be the biggest challenge this season. As good as Sonny Wilson looked in High School he is still a slender, raw freshman yet to face Div 1 strength, speed and talent. I expect that opponents will try to exploit his size and inexperience, especially on defense. Fortunately the Rockets have a cadre of tough defensive guards in Moss, Maddox and Cochran. And, as exciting as Raheim Moss is to watch, he is a poor to spotty shooter who has a tendency to play out of control and doesn't impress me as a dependably steadying factor running the offense.
I agree, its always a "crapshoot" with a Starting Freshman Point Guard. However, TK has said several times that Wilson is his most ready Freshman Point Guard going into a season. That doesn't guarantee anything but he must feel confident that Wilson can handle everything that comes with being the "quarterback" on the court!
Locking at the Oilers roster and I see they have 3 big kids, 6-7 or bigger, at around 235 lbs, what I call lane eaters. Bruns, 6-7, 230 is their returning starter and top scorer from last season, 15.1 a game. It will interesting how UT's talented big men will play against theirs. I also see they have 2 Rossford kids on their team.
(10-28-2023 04:38 PM)Springboromark Wrote: [ -> ]Locking at the Oilers roster and I see they have 3 big kids, 6-7 or bigger, at around 235 lbs, what I call lane eaters. Bruns, 6-7, 230 is their returning starter and top scorer from last season, 15.1 a game. It will interesting how UT's talented big men will play against theirs. I also see they have 2 Rossford kids on their team.
Bruns? I may have to root for Findlay!
Bruns led their 15-10 team in everything last yr pts, reg, assists, blk, stl, fg%, plus shot 41% from three on heavy usage and 83% from the line. their other 6-7 230 guy is a good outside shooter as well. expect older 6-7 guys who can shoot, bang and know how to play but aren't that athletic. they got a 6-6 vet forward who can shoot a bit too. guards will be small and none appear to be special.
for growth we want Findley to play well, make some runs and get their crowd involved. realistically, if we don't win by double digits there should be a little concern, but I wouldn't trip. we squeezed out an 87-83 win the Rollins, Dennis, Shu, Milner, Moss MAC champ year which turned out pretty good.
I don't see any box scores, but Toledo beat Findlay today 95-70. That's all I can find.
I did find an in game Tweet from the team;
Rockets cruising with a 22-point lead. @MossRaheim
remains the leading scorer with 17 pts.
TOLEDO 80
FINDLAY 58
7:20 2H
Leading scorers Moss, Cochran, Maddox, Lewis
>
(10-29-2023 06:14 PM)northcoastRocket Wrote: [ -> ]Leading scorers Moss, Cochran, Maddox, Lewis
>
Cochran adding 10 boards as well.
Much of the Rockets' success came in close as they scored 56 points in the paint. Toledo also took advantage of Findlay's 21 turnovers, scoring 25 points off of those miscues, many of which contributed to the Rockets' 22 fast break points.
https://findlayoilers.com/news/2023/10/2...aised.aspx
That all sounds encouraging. Glad to see Cochran with a double double. I'm curious to see what he can do once he gets the rust off. Sounds like Lewis had some game too. I wonder how many layups Moss missed/made? Good to see him score too.
We are 8 days away ladies and gentlemen. I guess it's time to renew my ESPN stuff.
I saw orange trim in the UT's uni's today.
Frustrating that there's no box scores for these games, but a couple comments.
- Cochran opening the game with a dunk is pretty good news. he's a below the rim player coming off a foot injury. so the fact that he's dunking says a lot about his health and conditioning. I don't think i've ever seen him dunk even in warmups.
- Lewis has a second straight good performance. Making a case for a spot in the wing rotation as a guy who can make threes and also be a versatile defender.
- Moss was 8-10 shooting so I don't think he missed many layups.
- TK was upbeat about the defense even though Findlay hit 10-21 from 3, granted that's their focus and they shoot a great % from 3 last year too. 21 forced turnovers is good.
Seen a few other MAC reports and CMU looks to be gelling pretty well early, BG took an L in a scrimmage vs a D2 team. Can't overthink exhibition games/scrimmages-St Johns just lost to Pace University who is like D4.
Good to know we played well, we've let Findlay jump out to leads on us before and looks like we dictated the game today. 9 of our 10 guys scoring in the first half is inspiring as well we could use some scoring diversity considering how much scoring we lost. Sam Lewis looking as good as he has so far is surprising in a good way. I thought we were just offering the third best player on a really good prep team again, but he really seems able to play and give us good minutes. Also looks like we have a rough idea of the first and second units to start the season. I'd bet those will change, but interesting nonetheless. First game of the season is a week from Monday, looking forward to our development throughout this year and beyond.