** Good Evening my fellow Panther Hoop fans!
** Lots to like watching the Panthers this evening. And accordingly, the PantherLair message boards have been a much nicer place to hang out over the last week or so. That’s certainly a welcome, welcome change from the last several years or so.
** I’ve read plenty of positive postulations concerning our Panther's prospects for this season.
** And why not? Two nice wins can do that for you. And like I said, that’s a welcome change.
** There was nary a negative aspect one could notice this night. Our men played a very solid game on both ends of the court.
** In fact, the only downer one could truly offer was the quality of the opponent. VMI is pretty terrible. And beyond them being terrible, they shot terribly too.
** At least four of VMI’s 20 missed three attempts failed to catch iron. And it was nothing but air on a handful of short jumpers too.
** This isn’t to say that the Good Guys didn’t play hard on defense. They did. But I can’t say soundly that the Bad Guys offensive ineputitude was caused mostly from our defensive prowess.
** And while it was splendid seeing our men sink 13 of 25 from beyond the arc, also realize that the Keydets did a terrible job closing on shooters. Heck, more often than not, it didn’t even appear that the even tried to close on deep shooters.
** But that’s enough caution for the moment. I’ll counter by remembering how we often struggled against teams of this caliber last year, even a few team less than this caliber.
** Not for a second was this game a struggle. And this was mostly because of two men who weren’t around last year – Mr. Johnson and Mr. Toney.
** Xavier is making a case that he’s a little more ready to go than the average freshman. Beyond that, he looked more like a point guard than I saw from him previously. I’ll remember though that he is a freshman and he will have struggles against better teams with tougher defenders. Nonetheless, he’s ahead of schedule.
** As impressive as X was, I thought Au’Diese was even better. He looks to be a guy I underestimated coming into this season. Knowing that he reclassed to get here this year, I figured he might help during this campaign, but he would need to more time to be truly ready.
** Based on what he brought tonight, he’s surely ready now. Sure, he’s going to have some rough nights when he’ll need to go against some bigger and stronger threes and fours in the ACC. But before this season is done, I don’t think it’s hyperbole to suggest that both he and X will be in the mix for All-ACC freshman team honors. And in a couple of years, it could even be All-ACC honors for which they might contend.
** We’ll have to see if Trey can join their ranks this year. It’s too early to say one way or another, and games like this with lower production are to be expected for almost any freshman.
** The Panthers offense was fueled by JWF of course. His shot selection was not at all an issue, as he was taking and making wide open ones. But we already know Jared can do this. What he’ll need to prove is how he performs when he isn’t getting wide open ones.
** I hope that the few extra minutes Shamiel garnered down the stretch help his confidence. More that any other Panther player, it feels like he’s still thinking instead of playing.
** The only negative I can offer about Sidy N’Dir is that the Panther’s might have been much better served if he could have somehow magically been here as a 5th year transfer two years ago. I can’t help but to wonder what that team could have achieved with him running the point.
** A fellow poster suggested this evening that we could contend for the NIT if we had a serviceable big. I’ll agree with that half way, in that the combo of Peace, Kene and Terrell still have not demonstrated that they add up to one serviceable big.
** I have to say that I really do like how Kene plays, even if his results don’t match his on-court disposition. And Peace shoots fouls superbly for a big. But we still have quite a way to go in the post.
** And I believe that’s still the reality for this team at the moment. They too have quite a way to go. I wish I could agree that we are a serviceable big away from contending for the NIT, but I can’t. Not this year, anyway.
** Another poster earlier this week suggested that if this team still had Cam and Ryan that he believed we would be a borderline Top 25 team. Again, while I truly appreciate the positive vibe, that assessment seems at least 25 spots too high too me.
** But throwing caution to the optimism doesn’t mean for a moment that I don’t like what I’m seeing. This was a nice night of basketball, with a team and a program that now truly feels like it’s moving in the right direction.
** Allow me only to preach patience, because even though we are now moving in the right direction, we cannot forget that the starting point is quite a bit further back than we may want to remember.
** Good luck to the Panthers on the Gridiron tomorrow. #winthecoastal
** Lots to like watching the Panthers this evening. And accordingly, the PantherLair message boards have been a much nicer place to hang out over the last week or so. That’s certainly a welcome, welcome change from the last several years or so.
** I’ve read plenty of positive postulations concerning our Panther's prospects for this season.
** And why not? Two nice wins can do that for you. And like I said, that’s a welcome change.
** There was nary a negative aspect one could notice this night. Our men played a very solid game on both ends of the court.
** In fact, the only downer one could truly offer was the quality of the opponent. VMI is pretty terrible. And beyond them being terrible, they shot terribly too.
** At least four of VMI’s 20 missed three attempts failed to catch iron. And it was nothing but air on a handful of short jumpers too.
** This isn’t to say that the Good Guys didn’t play hard on defense. They did. But I can’t say soundly that the Bad Guys offensive ineputitude was caused mostly from our defensive prowess.
** And while it was splendid seeing our men sink 13 of 25 from beyond the arc, also realize that the Keydets did a terrible job closing on shooters. Heck, more often than not, it didn’t even appear that the even tried to close on deep shooters.
** But that’s enough caution for the moment. I’ll counter by remembering how we often struggled against teams of this caliber last year, even a few team less than this caliber.
** Not for a second was this game a struggle. And this was mostly because of two men who weren’t around last year – Mr. Johnson and Mr. Toney.
** Xavier is making a case that he’s a little more ready to go than the average freshman. Beyond that, he looked more like a point guard than I saw from him previously. I’ll remember though that he is a freshman and he will have struggles against better teams with tougher defenders. Nonetheless, he’s ahead of schedule.
** As impressive as X was, I thought Au’Diese was even better. He looks to be a guy I underestimated coming into this season. Knowing that he reclassed to get here this year, I figured he might help during this campaign, but he would need to more time to be truly ready.
** Based on what he brought tonight, he’s surely ready now. Sure, he’s going to have some rough nights when he’ll need to go against some bigger and stronger threes and fours in the ACC. But before this season is done, I don’t think it’s hyperbole to suggest that both he and X will be in the mix for All-ACC freshman team honors. And in a couple of years, it could even be All-ACC honors for which they might contend.
** We’ll have to see if Trey can join their ranks this year. It’s too early to say one way or another, and games like this with lower production are to be expected for almost any freshman.
** The Panthers offense was fueled by JWF of course. His shot selection was not at all an issue, as he was taking and making wide open ones. But we already know Jared can do this. What he’ll need to prove is how he performs when he isn’t getting wide open ones.
** I hope that the few extra minutes Shamiel garnered down the stretch help his confidence. More that any other Panther player, it feels like he’s still thinking instead of playing.
** The only negative I can offer about Sidy N’Dir is that the Panther’s might have been much better served if he could have somehow magically been here as a 5th year transfer two years ago. I can’t help but to wonder what that team could have achieved with him running the point.
** A fellow poster suggested this evening that we could contend for the NIT if we had a serviceable big. I’ll agree with that half way, in that the combo of Peace, Kene and Terrell still have not demonstrated that they add up to one serviceable big.
** I have to say that I really do like how Kene plays, even if his results don’t match his on-court disposition. And Peace shoots fouls superbly for a big. But we still have quite a way to go in the post.
** And I believe that’s still the reality for this team at the moment. They too have quite a way to go. I wish I could agree that we are a serviceable big away from contending for the NIT, but I can’t. Not this year, anyway.
** Another poster earlier this week suggested that if this team still had Cam and Ryan that he believed we would be a borderline Top 25 team. Again, while I truly appreciate the positive vibe, that assessment seems at least 25 spots too high too me.
** But throwing caution to the optimism doesn’t mean for a moment that I don’t like what I’m seeing. This was a nice night of basketball, with a team and a program that now truly feels like it’s moving in the right direction.
** Allow me only to preach patience, because even though we are now moving in the right direction, we cannot forget that the starting point is quite a bit further back than we may want to remember.
** Good luck to the Panthers on the Gridiron tomorrow. #winthecoastal
