First, this team is in much better shape.
Kene looks long, and moves much better. And he wasn't fouling last night, which I think is helped by his better conditioning; he's able to stay very active without being out of control. Wilson-Frame also lost an astounding 35 lbs. from last season. Its too bad we didn't get to see him last night, but he should be quicker, and more athletic too. And the freshman played a ton of minutes, played all out, and didn't look to be even a little bit tired.
N'Dir looks steady, but just average. Its good to have an experienced player in the backcourt, but I think he'll get limited minutes as the season goes on.
McGowens is a very highly skilled offensive player. In fact, in trying to think of the last Pitt player that has his skills in driving to the basket, I'm at a loss to think of anyone.
Brown looks stronger, and even a little quicker; but its not enough. His bball instincts just aren't good, his reaction time is slow, and he doesn't have good hands. He'll play because of his size and lack of options, but assuming we get a few good bigs in our class next year, his PT will go down the next two years.
The freshman play defense. This team is already a better defensive team than what we ended with last season.
Toney was a surprise. I thought he would need a year to look as good as he did last night. While Johnson tried to do too much at times, Toney played within himself, and looked good in his role.
I like Johnson's aggressive style, and even liked how he stayed aggressive after getting stuffed a few times on his drives. That showed grit and confidence. But he is going to need to be more of a distributing PG for this team to be really effective.
Stevenson is in better shape, but despite that, he looks slower than his teammates this year, and as others have said, that wasn't the case last year. This is a real indication of how much quicker this year's team is overall.
Ellison looked pretty good, but I want to see him play against better competition to see if he shines or fades.
WF's shooting from the outside is needed, and could really open up passing lanes if he is a real threat this year. I want to see how he blends with the young guys, and see his impact on the offense overall.
As expected, rebounding looks to be an issue. The guards are going to have to rebound too. And we could've gotten more 50/50 balls last night. It was better than last year, but not good enough yet.
Kene looks long, and moves much better. And he wasn't fouling last night, which I think is helped by his better conditioning; he's able to stay very active without being out of control. Wilson-Frame also lost an astounding 35 lbs. from last season. Its too bad we didn't get to see him last night, but he should be quicker, and more athletic too. And the freshman played a ton of minutes, played all out, and didn't look to be even a little bit tired.
N'Dir looks steady, but just average. Its good to have an experienced player in the backcourt, but I think he'll get limited minutes as the season goes on.
McGowens is a very highly skilled offensive player. In fact, in trying to think of the last Pitt player that has his skills in driving to the basket, I'm at a loss to think of anyone.
Brown looks stronger, and even a little quicker; but its not enough. His bball instincts just aren't good, his reaction time is slow, and he doesn't have good hands. He'll play because of his size and lack of options, but assuming we get a few good bigs in our class next year, his PT will go down the next two years.
The freshman play defense. This team is already a better defensive team than what we ended with last season.
Toney was a surprise. I thought he would need a year to look as good as he did last night. While Johnson tried to do too much at times, Toney played within himself, and looked good in his role.
I like Johnson's aggressive style, and even liked how he stayed aggressive after getting stuffed a few times on his drives. That showed grit and confidence. But he is going to need to be more of a distributing PG for this team to be really effective.
Stevenson is in better shape, but despite that, he looks slower than his teammates this year, and as others have said, that wasn't the case last year. This is a real indication of how much quicker this year's team is overall.
Ellison looked pretty good, but I want to see him play against better competition to see if he shines or fades.
WF's shooting from the outside is needed, and could really open up passing lanes if he is a real threat this year. I want to see how he blends with the young guys, and see his impact on the offense overall.
As expected, rebounding looks to be an issue. The guards are going to have to rebound too. And we could've gotten more 50/50 balls last night. It was better than last year, but not good enough yet.
