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BASKETBALL Practice intel and other scribbles

OliverLBaltz

Blue Raider
Staff
Mar 19, 2018
179
275
63
-Team has played two “secret” scrimmages: ETSU a couple weeks ago, UT Martin this past Saturday. Middle traveled for both.

-ETSU scrimmage was won by a lot. Leading scorer was Jestin Porter.

-Martin scrimmage was won by not much. Leading scoring was Elias King.

-The starting lineup I expect to see on opening night: Cam Weston, Jestin Porter, Justin Bufford, Elias King, Jared Coleman-Jones.

-Porter seems to be the guy who is thought to have improved the most this offseason. Averaged 19 ppg at Tyler JC (same school Jimmy Butler started at, so has volume-scoring capabilities. He went 10 ppg his first eight games last year but production fell off after that, scoring 4 points or less in 17 of his final 25 games. My thing with Porter is that he needs to play with another guard to be effective, and he rarely got that opportunity last year. Guard depth seems better this year, so hopefully a big leap is due.

-Tre Green has taken a major jump and will be a significant part of the rotation from game 1. Possible front runner for sixth man. Could be the best jump shooter on the team after King and maybe Jordan.

-Jalen Jordan looked better yesterday than the first practice i went to a few weeks ago. He played against Martin in small increments. Will be a special moment when he takes the court for the first time since 2021. Still probably best to be cautious with expectations but I think best case scenario is he could be a contributing rotation player by conference season.

-The coaches love Jacob Johnson, 6’5 wing out of LIU. He will not light up the box score but you feel his presence when he enters the game. A dirty work utility knife player. Good cutter, defender, makes the right plays. Good kid. Positive influence on the locker room. Think he could be top 5-7 in minutes this year.

-No major takeaways on the rest of the wings. Elias looks stronger and maybe even taller. Ty Mosley is a pretty good spot-up shooter.

-Center room is in a good spot, present and future. JCJ looks strong and athletic. Ogundele is a physical low-post force the program hasn’t had since Brandon Walters. Loofe looks like a freshman but you can see the glimpses, he might be a P6-level talent one day. Think the early rotation will be 20 mins for JCJ and the remainder split between Ogundele and Loofe. Ogundele’s conditioning and Loofe’s development will be the factors in how those splits change throughout the year.

-I expect this team to be very good defensively. They are tall, long, athletic, deep, embrace physicality, and show good instincts on where to be when. An open shot is tough to come by when they half-court scrimmage in practice.

-The jury is still out on offense. Dishman was so limited post-injury but he was a big part of the offensive identity with his ability to handle and orchestrate at the elbow as the 5. JCJ and Ogundele are much better physically but I wonder if they can how well they can fill that role. They really need their guard play to be as good as it was in 2022. Need one of Weston or Porter to be an all-conference player, and need one of Green or Jordan to be a starter-value guard off the bench the way Weston was in 2022.

-I do expect the 3PA:FGA ratio to be higher this year. Whether they can hit them at a higher rate is TBD, but they do have the personnel to emphasize shooting more than they did last year.
 
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