Final Thoughts from Last Night:
1. Scotty is poised to have a big year. I loved the game he played, very much in control and more confident than last year. His stroke is nice and he can take guys off the dribble to finish in the midrange or the basket. His defense was.......well, he has a really nice jumper.
2. Tyler did about the same as last year. He finished the half well, but I didn't see the outside shot that we have been hearing about. He still does the same pump fake and drive into the middle. He needs to have the jumper to be respected in order to open up for his driving ability.
3. Chism was in autopilot for this game, but I can see where he will be All-SEC this year. Limited minutes for the big man.
4. Williams was a big surprise for me. He looks svelte, actually, and moves much better than last year, displaying some very nice post moves. I think he will provide decent minutes for us, as long as he can stop fouling out in a half of play.
5. Hall is raw, but shows that "it" intensity factor that the other two posts lack. He and Negedu together would have been a display in hustle I saw from Pearl's teams at UWM. Once he fills out, he'll be solid for us. This year, he'll be up and down, but a good guy off the bench.
6. I was liking McBee early and he shoots very, very well, but he needs to stop gambling so much on defense. I think he's compensating for the lack of foot speed by trying to get the pass, but he just needs to work on his positioning. Still, he can get us some quality minutes if he can simply stretch the defense and open lanes.
7. Woolridge is slowly transitioning from a primarily outside player to and inside-out guy. I still think he's a year away, but I completely disagree with the guys here who rag on the kid and say he's worthless.
8. Goins and Maze were solid, but unspectacular, which is fine. I thought the PG play looks much more promising. Maze is better offensively and Goins better defensively. I liked the defensive aggressiveness of Goins and expect him to play a lot against the tough PGs we'll face like Wall, Downey, etc. Maze was much more composed than last year, although he'll never be a great defensive stopper. He was adequate on defense, though.
9. Little Pearl better average about 2 minutes a game this year.
10. I'm not sure what to make of Tatum. He looked his best early in the season last year. I can see the potential, but he's having trouble putting it together. I also didn't like his body language on a couple of plays when there was miscommunication on passes.
11. I was not impressed with the defense or the press, for the most part. I'm hoping the intensity lascked because of the opponent, but there were wayyyyyy too many open shots. However, I always note this when Pearl's teams play and then realize that there's a tempo Pearl wants the game played where a lot of possessions are created. I know it's designed to create that avalanche of points at some point, but I get nervous until that happens.
12. My favorite, favorite aspect of the game last night was offensive execution and ball movement. That's, by far, the best ball distribution I've seen in a Pearl team in his time here. There was no wasted time. They had ball reversal, penetration, off the ball movement, great passing, very few one on one displays, just an overall unselfishness that shows the team is on the same page.
Overrall, to me, the team looks improved over last year. They are clearly very confortable with one another and the offensive play is much more cohesive. We have better shooters and execution, thus far, on that end. Defensively, what I saw last night was negligible, pretty much the same as last year, although I think Goins brings something we didn't have last year. Hopefully, the intensity will improve as the competition does as well.
