Pilot Rocky Top Summer League Thread

#1
bleedingTNorange

bleedingTNorange

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#1
I figured one of these would be handy, have one thread where stats and articles from these games can be posted. Also observations from those who are at the games as well. I'm going to try and make as many as I can this year, and will try to take some good pictures/videos to post in this thread as well.

For those that don't know, it's a summer league consisting of current and former university of Tennessee basketball players. Also includes players from the area, who attend college/high school in the area. It's not an overly competitive league from a defensive standpoint, but nevertheless I find the games fun to watch.

Here's a link to the PRTL website which has rosters and schedules for the whole season, all games will be played at the air conditioned gym at CAK. Games start tonight and admission is free:


Pilot Rocky Top Basketball League
 
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#4
#4
I missed game 1 so can't comment there, but heard Selby tore it up.

Game 2 notes:

*Thompson definitely can shoot, has an effortless stroke and when he started getting a feel out here he really started shooting well. Also showed off a nice floater from the lane, and is much more athletic than I thought. Had a couple very nice dunks. His handling will need some work, but he's decent with both hands at least. I can see why the staff wants him at PG though, has great vision and is a superb passer.

* Richardson and McRae were as expected, look about the same. Armani didn't play, may have sprained something in a workout or something.

*Ndiaye is better offensively than Yemi, I could tell that within 5 minutes. He showed moves going to his right or left, and his ft shooting seemed decent. He appear bigger, taller and thicker than Yemi as well. Their styles are similar defensively, and both have that same kind of lack of understanding...but Ndiaye seems more advanced offensively than Yemi was.
 
#8
#8
Hubbs is gonna have to get a sense of aggressiveness about him, or a mean streak. In watching him in the state playoffs and then tonight, he waits for things to come to him instead of trying to make something happen with his abilities. Lester Wilson and another of his teammate had to keep telling him to be aggressive...it's a good thing he's gonna get to learn behind McRae and Richardson IMO and not have to shoulder much of the Laos offensively this year.

Jmo
 
#9
#9
bleedingTNorange said:
I missed game 1 so can't comment there, but heard Selby tore it up.

Game 2 notes:

*Thompson definitely can shoot, has an effortless stroke and when he started getting a feel out here he really started shooting well. Also showed off a nice floater from the lane, and is much more athletic than I thought. Had a couple very nice dunks. His handling will need some work, but he's decent with both hands at least. I can see why the staff wants him at PG though, has great vision and is a superb passer.

* Richardson and McRae were as expected, look about the same. Armani didn't play, may have sprained something in a workout or something.

*Ndiaye is better offensively than Yemi, I could tell that within 5 minutes. He showed moves going to his right or left, and his ft shooting seemed decent. He appear bigger, taller and thicker than Yemi as well. Their styles are similar defensively, and both have that same kind of lack of understanding...but Ndiaye seems more advanced offensively than Yemi was.
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Selby was ridiculous. I believe he ended up with 50+ points.

AJ Davis was solid I thought. I don't know how many points he ended up with but he definitely reminds me a lot of JP Prince as Rob Lewis described. His outside shot needs some work but he's capable from 3.

Ndiaye was a nice surprise. He's really going to help us. Within the first 30 seconds of the game you could already tell he's much better than Yemi. I was surprised with some of his post moves.

I watched the first half of Hubb's game then left. For the first half at least, he looked like he was trying too hard. Hopefully he played better in the 2nd half.

Agree with everything you said overall. I think we got a real steal with Thompson. He can definitely play.
 
#11
#11
Pops is going to be comical. He was the most vocal player all night. I see no more than 5-7 min a game max. I do expect a 4 guard line up. Pops is a fouling machine. If tonight was an NCAA game he would have fouled out in a couple min. But it was the RTL and it's a long way until Nov.

Selby was incredible. Oh what could have been.

Chism looks like he's lost 30 pounds. Unbelievable how thin he was.

Thompson was pass first all night. I thought he played the second best game of all the current UT players. Very fluid. Nice stroke. Decent ball handler. Decent passer. I can see him easily playing 10 min a game. I've seen every Freshman's first game since the RTL started and IMO he played the best 1st game ever. I was impressed.

Richardson was a turnover machine when having to be the primary ball handler when Thompson was on the bench. Could not guard McRae at all.

Dre was an unbelievable ball handler and passer.

McRae looked like a 1st round draft pick. He scored at will when he wanted to. Excellent passing. Drove the ball, hit the 3, hit the pull up jumper, unbelievable oops. Richardson guarded him most of the night and he made Richardson look silly.

Maze was the usually Maze. Leader and had a great game. It was good to see him go up against Selby the few times the guarded each other.

Davis looked decent. About like a Freshman. Had a decent shot. I don't expect him to play much this year from what I've seen. Just one game though. I just think he's at least a year away.

Hubbs looked exactly like a young Hopson with a slightly better stroke than Hopson had with his rainbow. He seemed to settle with a 3 instead of taking the ball to the hole against a lesser player. Stood around a lot waiting for the game to come to him instead of attacking. Not too aggressive on D. The good thing about this 5* is that he doesn't have to be the 1st, 2nd, or 3rd scoring option. He's about a year away also, IMO. He will get his minutes though.
 
#12
#12
johnnybravo said:
Pops is going to be comical. He was the most vocal player all night. I see no more than 5-7 min a game max. I do expect a 4 guard line up. Pops is a fouling machine. If tonight was an NCAA game he would have fouled out in a couple min. But it was the RTL and it's a long way until Nov.

Selby was incredible. Oh what could have been.

Chism looks like he's lost 30 pounds. Unbelievable how thin he was.

Thompson was pass first all night. I thought he played the second best game of all the current UT players. Very fluid. Nice stroke. Decent ball handler. Decent passer. I can see him easily playing 10 min a game. I've seen every Freshman's first game since the RTL started and IMO he played the best 1st game ever. I was impressed.

Richardson was a turnover machine when having to be the primary ball handler when Thompson was on the bench. Could not guard McRae at all.

Dre was an unbelievable ball handler and passer.

McRae looked like a 1st round draft pick. He scored at will when he wanted to. Excellent passing. Drove the ball, hit the 3, hit the pull up jumper, unbelievable oops. Richardson guarded him most of the night and he made Richardson look silly.

Maze was the usually Maze. Leader and had a great game. It was good to see him go up against Selby the few times the guarded each other.

Davis looked decent. About like a Freshman. Had a decent shot. I don't expect him to play much this year from what I've seen. Just one game though. I just think he's at least a year away.

Hubbs looked exactly like a young Hopson with a slightly better stroke than Hopson had with his rainbow. He seemed to settle with a 3 instead of taking the ball to the hole against a lesser player. Stood around a lot waiting for the game to come to him instead of attacking. Not too aggressive on D. The good thing about this 5* is that he doesn't have to be the 1st, 2nd, or 3rd scoring option. He's about a year away also, IMO. He will get his minutes though.
Click to expand...

Ndiaye will play more than 5-7 minutes IMO. I'd say maybe 9-12.

I wish Dre would have made that dunk over that dude. Even though he missed, it was absolutely sick how high off the ground he got.
 
#13
#13
UTVOLS107 said:
Ndiaye will play more than 5-7 minutes IMO. I'd say maybe 9-12.

I wish Dre would have made that dunk over that dude. Even though he missed, it was absolutely sick how high off the ground he got.
Click to expand...

IMO from what I saw Pops will average close to a foul a minute.

Dre made the same dude look absolutely ridiculous at the end of the game when he went one on one against him. The guy just shook his head and laughed.

Dre is fun to watch and can play in the SEC IMO, but I'm perfectly happy with Thompson and Barton from what I saw of Thompson tonight. He will be a very good player in a year or two. I don't see him being the reason we lose any games this year playing 10 minutes.
 
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#14
#14
johnnybravo said:
IMO from what I saw Pops will average close to a foul a minute.

Dre made the same dude look absolutely ridiculous at the end of the game when he went one on one against him. The guy just shook his head and laughed.

Dre is fun to watch and can play in the SEC IMO, but I'm perfectly happy with Thompson and Barton from what I saw of Thompson tonight. He will be a very good player in a year or two. I don't see him being the reason we lose any games this year playing 10 minutes.
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I guess I just wasn't expecting much from Pops and I was just a little surprised that with his skill offensively. Better than what I would've hoped for. Defensively I agree he probably would have fouled out quick. I think he'll be solid in that area though.

I saw that last play by Dre as well. I agree though, I'm very happy with Barton and Thompson. I thought Thompson looked very good tonight.
 
#15
#15
A lot of praise for Thompson going around.

So riddle me this: did Thompson look better than Hubbs last night?
 
#17
#17
Well you could tell that Hubbs was frustrated at the very beginning of the game. He's playing on the worst team. He again was one of the taller players on the team like in HS and started the game playing and guarding the post. He went up against Boo Jackson a few times and got schooled. Boo is just way too physical for Hubbs right now.

On offense, it was clear at the beginning that Ryan Westbrooks wanted to show that he was the star of the team. Hubbs would be open calling for the ball and on multiple times Westbrooks waved him off and continuously tried to take the ball himself. No passing from him what so ever. Jacking up bricks. Westbrooks tried saying something to Hubbs during a break in action and Hubbs just walked away from him. During the closing of the 1st half, fans were yelling out to "Pass the ball" and eventually I think he got the point. There were cheers when he finally passed to Hubbs.

Note to Westbrooks: There will be a couple thousand people watching the RTL games and they are all there to see one person. It's not you, so know your roll and pass Hubbs the ball.
 
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#18
#18
Good stuff, Mr. Bravo.

Selby is a summer league hero. He did the same thing in the NBA summer league last year. Was one of the top five performers, along with Tobias. I doubt he'll ever make a roster, but he's exciting to watch in these types of games.
 
#19
#19
One other player to watch was Daishawn Knight from Illinois State. He can hit the 3. Small guard that can handle the ball, but shoots lights out. Think he's on McRae's team.
 
#20
#20
I thought Hubbs did a nice job bodying up Boo Jackson in the post and played physical with him. Boo had him by a good 50-60 pounds though.
 
#21
#21
johnnybravo said:
Well you could tell that Hubbs was frustrated at the very beginning of the game. He's playing on the worst team. He again was one of the taller players on the team like in HS and started the game playing and guarding the post. He went up against Boo Jackson a few times and got schooled. Boo is just way too physical for Hubbs right now.

On offense, it was clear at the beginning that Ryan Westbrooks wanted to show that he was the star of the team. Hubbs would be open calling for the ball and on multiple times Westbrooks waved him off and continuously tried to take the ball himself. No passing from him what so ever. Jacking up bricks. Westbrooks tried saying something to Hubbs during a break in action and Hubbs just walked away from him. During the closing of the 1st half, fans were yelling out to "Pass the ball" and eventually I think he got the point. There were cheers when he finally passed to Hubbs.

Note to Westbrooks: There will be a couple thousand people watching the RTL games and they are all there to see one person. It's not you, so know your roll and pass Hubbs the ball.
Click to expand...

Good Post
Thanks for the info
 
#24
#24
johnnybravo said:
I left with about 15 min. to go in the second half, so I didn't see all of Hubb's game.
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I just watched the beginning, the highlighter shorts guy was making it unbearable to watch.

I just liked how Hubbs was staying on him. Boo was leaning in and trying to power him but Hubbs checked up on him and stood his ground fairly well given the weight/muscle difference.
 
#25
#25
UTFanForLife said:
I just watched the beginning, the highlighter shorts guy was making it unbearable to watch.

I just liked how Hubbs was staying on him. Boo was leaning in and trying to power him but Hubbs checked up on him and stood his ground fairly well given the weight/muscle difference.
Click to expand...

Yeah, the highlighter shorts guy was Westbrooks. Hubbs played much better when he went to the bench. Well, Hubbs was able to touch the ball at least.
 
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