Dunndone414

Happy with the effort today even if we don’t come back here. I think it’s clear that we are going to be very good in the frontcourt again, and there will be questions in the backcourt. I think the season may hinge on Westry’s development.

That’s some sweet ball movement.

I admit I didn’t expect him to be so good at the little things, he’s really skilled on both sides of the ball. Seems to play hard too. Really like him.

Like last season, we’ve had stretches where Green is the only guy capable of creating his own shot.

Broome seems to do everything right on the floor.

Deni Avdija suddenly looks like an NBA player.

Allen won’t forget that one. Lol.

Opposition has a lot to do with that, though.

Deni and Madar are a level above anyone else on the court. Need to take advantage of the other matchups.

Israel has about 3 guys that can give us serious problems. Otherwise we have some athletic advantages. They play much nicer halfcourt offense, though.

Need to be a bit more disciplined on defense.

Fwiw I think we are playing well so far. Madar is a tough matchup for our guards.

Generally speaking the passing in the international game is far better than anything taught in the US system. Will save my thoughts on AAU etc for another thread…ha.

No NCAA team will pass this well, on the bright side.

This is a much better team than we’ve played thus far.

Not sure how many minutes he’ll get but Deni is a tough matchup for us. Too big for Flan and maybe too skilled outside for Traore.

Playing a “we’re serious about winning” starting lineup today. Could be what we see for game 1 in November. Wendell, Zep, Allen, Traore and Cardwell.

I’m starting to think this is possible too. If he’s really 6’6 (or close) he’s a prototypical NBA wing. His offensive game is much smoother than I expected. (Caveat: sample is only two games vs questionable competition.) He absolutely has to start in my opinion. Or bring him off the bench immediately (think Wendell last season) if we are that concerned with potential chemistry issues from demoting a vet. Once again Bruce seems to have nailed recruiting/the portal.

We mostly know what we can expect from the veterans. It’s a fantastic sign for the newcomers to play well. We aren’t winning the league with our vets as our top contributors.

Holloway has been recruiting for us since before he committed - and not just with Yates. Love him already.

From what I gathered yesterday, Aden posted about a - teammate - committing on his Instagram, and Clemente misinterpreted it. He deleted the tweet. In his defense, the Instagram post was ambiguous.

Latest On3 article has Baye Fall at 90% to Arkansas. Interested to see where we go next for a big man in this class.

Speaking from experience, it’s such a strange feeling to be in water and be physically unable to sink.

It seems like Diop and Butler are backup plans to Baye Fall and maybe others. Fwiw I’ve heard Butler would commit if we gave him the green light. (What a position to be in, these guys are all top 100.) Arkansas seems to be the favorite for Fall but info is limited. Some Auburn accounts have routinely suggested we are the favorite for Wesley Yates but I haven’t seen anything to indicate that. The fact that he’s adding fall visits to a new slate of top programs doesn’t suggest to me he will be committing to Auburn anytime soon. My gut tells me we will end up second to someone here, but we are as in it as anyone at this point. Yates is an electric scorer - the kind of recruit I thought we’d routinely land (but haven’t) after Bryce Brown showed what a scoring guard could do in Bruce’s system.

Obviously this could be out the window soon since we haven’t seen either play a minute of college ball, but by HS/AAU production Aden is a tier or two above Tre as far as talent. On offense at least. I’m not down on Tre, by the way. I love the multi-sport athlete model. I’ve kinda imagined Tre may end up as a PG version of Jaylin or Cardwell, a solid multi year contributor (that we’ve mostly lacked at guard).