** Full disclosure. Although I’m a Pure Pitt fan through and through (and through), I’ve almost always been a much bigger Pitt Hoops fan than a Pitt Football fan.
** In fact, it’s been maybe 40 years since I’ve anticipated “the next football game” as much as I’ve anticipated an upcoming Hoops season.
** Yet, at the moment the combination of lackluster expectations for Capel’s crew this year, combined with the 52 point per game production of Pickett’s parade has placed hardwood worries a notch behind.
** Therefore my hope today was that a few minutes watching the orange orb would rev up my usual excitement for the basketballers. The bottom line is that I don’t think that mission was quite accomplished.
** That’s not to say that today’s exhibition wasn’t enjoyable enough. It most certainly was worth the trip to the top of Cardiac Hill. But I left unconvinced that our Roundballers can promise an improvement over last year’s disappointing campaign.
** Of course, I’ll offer the requisite disclaimer, saying that neither complete judgements nor conclusions should be made from watching 24 minutes of glorified practice at the Pete. But impressions are allowed, and these, player by player, are mine.
** I’ll start with the horses, and going into the season, I’d expect Femi to be at the front of the harass. I think Femi can be a star, but today he surely wasn’t. Other than one nifty drive, his afternoon was defined more by turnovers than positive plays. I tend to believe that the better explanation is that Femi was in no hurry to dominate and was instead looking to defer. But if we didn’t already know how good Femi could be, one might not have known the difference today between Ezeakudo and Odukale.
** In fact, overall Ezeky looked pretty solid, if not better.
** Next in backcourt line are Nike and Ithiel. Both played well enough this day, but neither gave me any indication they are different players than the ones who ended last year. Nike’s disposition on the court looks a little more like he’s willing to take the role as this team’s lead dog. He appeared more aggressive with the ball, working to score on the drive or create for others. Ithiel filled the role of spot up shooter in a somewhat spotty kind of a way. In both cases, we probably already know what we will get this year.
** William is still my favorite among this year’s players to root for. He’ll likely always play with high energy, and he did that today. He busted his tail defensively, and tried to be more aggressive with the ball than we saw last year. But he simply needs to be a consistent shooter for his game to work and at least based on today’s output, he not quite there yet.
** Almost without a doubt, the return of Big John was likely the most important “addition” to this year’s squad. Allow me to suggest that I might be offering a more positive review of Mr. Hugley than other might offer. His highlight was a nifty baseline spin move and a nice face up jumper, while otherwise battling in the paint. I believe that Big John might be the kind of player who rumbles his way this year to 7 or 8 points a game and 6 or 7 seven rebounds in about 22-23 minutes. Those could be the numbers of a decent enough ACC center. The key could be making sure he can avoid foul trouble enough to stay on the court that long, and he showed nothing today that foreshadowed foul trouble or conditioning issues.
** I might have something of a different take on Noah than others. I heard a few folks around me saying they were impressed, but I may have been less so. That’s not to say Noah struggled in any remarkable way, but I saw the same player I watched last year. To me, he an athlete, but I’d like to see more of a basketball player.
** The remaining returner was Big Max, who contributed a sweet jump hook and a greater level of court awareness but no real indicator he's ready to join the rotation.
** Still, the reason most folks events like this is to get a look at newcomers, and we’ve got a few of those.
** I can’t say I came to the Pete this day to watch Mo Gueye more than any other, but a surely walked out singing his praises the most. Much like Noah, I expected a fine athlete who might not be the best basketball player. But on this afternoon at least, he might have been the best basketball player on the court. He’s got a deft touch from his jumper, and can even put the ball on the floor more than I expected. Although, allow me to add that after he drilled his first two threes, and shot an air ball from three to open the second half.
** We already knew we’d get a shot blocker and Mo didn’t disappoint in this way either. Nor did it look like he was getting pushed around by the burlier Hugley, Max or Oladipo. His sweetest moment was using his dribble to crossover his defender to create space for a deft pull up jumper.
** But before we get too excited about Mr. Gueye, let’s not forget that he didn’t even average double figures in the America East Conference. With that, could it even be bad news that he was the Panthers best offensive player on the court today?
** It’s also noteworthy that Big John and Mo started out on the court together on the same team. We will have to see in that’s a way Coach Capel wishes play as the year goes on.
** Meanwhile Dan Oladapo started (along with Noah) opposite John and Mo. Count me among those who like what Dan can bring to the Panthers this year. He seems to bring the wisdom of the game one might expect from a fifth year player. One might even say that he’s got a bit of an "Old Man’s game," and I mean this as a compliment.
** Dan is strong too, he and doesn’t shy from the battle in the paint. But from the looks of things today, the Panthers would be better off if he’d shy away from shooting the three point jumper.
** Despite not being a highly ranked recruit, Nate Santos did not look overmatched, hitting two open threes, and even a nice crossover to get by Femi on the break.
** Whether Nate can make an impact this year might depend on Chris Payton. While nothing in Chris' game this day was problematic, he also didn’t necessarily distinguish himself either.
** Maybe this comment about Mr. Payton would sum up my overall take on this scrimmage. I watched some pretty decent parts, but no one jumped out as a difference maker player.
** Some good news in this regard is that there seemed to be a greater emphasis on offensive execution and sharing the basketball, rather than the pounding of the basketball into the floor with the dribble that has plagued the teams of the last few years. This could even get better when Burton returns from injury.
** And perhaps there could be an overall dedication to team defense. But it’s almost impossible to tell the difference in an intrasquad scrimmage between bad offense and good defense. And perhaps as a minus in both columns, maybe one thing I did see a little too much of was badly missed wide open jumpers.
** And so, I’ll leave tonight saying I’m looking forward to this Hoops season a little bit more than I was six hours ago. But I’m looking forward to Kenny and Company take on the Hokies a little bit more than that.
** Hail to Pitt!
