10-29-2022, 03:30 PM
Some good stuff above. Agree with much of it from the posters above.
Seniors - Belibi had her left thumb wrapped it looked like and did not play at all. No idea how serious it might be, hope just a slight sprain to her wrist or thumb. I thought Jones looked good at the point, tighter dribble, making her threes well, good passing, plenty of scoring off her spins and drives when needed. Jump did miss her threes more than usual but also did show some nice shorter stuff and I think will be an improved version of the gunner she has been. Prechtel looked fine also, similar to how she has played. Everyone who played looked good and we know what they can do.
Juniors - Brink looked good to me. She did travel a couple of times trying to drive from the perimeter, but she also did have a few good drives from outside and hit a few threes, etc. Emma-Nnopu looked improved, still a hard nosed defender and had some nice drives, and I think hit a three or two? Can't remember everything without the stats. Lots of made threes in this one.
Sophs - Agree with all who praised Iriafen. She did it all and looked very comfortable hitting some long twos. Gotta think she starts and/or gets a lot of playing time. Bosgana had some good moments and hit a few shots. I am still not sure given the small sample size how much she may have improved or if she will see more playing time than last year. Demetre looked much improved on offense. She had some very nice fadeaways and spinning shots. If her defense is good enough she should get a lot more playing time as someone who can make a well guarded shot because her offense can be that good if what we saw is something she can consistently do. Harriel was called a redshirt freshman but I will include her here. She ran the point some, did ok, but did not make a big impression, which may be my fault due to whom I happened to be watching.
Freshmen - Tara's praise of Lepolo seems right on the money. I was impressed with her handle and her three point shooting. She looked very good out there, passed well, had a few layups from smart drives, ran the team well and got a lot of playing time at the point, more than I think anyone else on either team. If Jones is the pg, she is probably the back up. Nivar also did well and ran the point. She looked very quick, had zipped to the basket a few times. I think she made a three also? Can't recall. But she seems also in line to maybe back up at the point and/or the 2 spots. Papadaki was relatively quiet. I don't recall any drives but I think she made a couple of baskets and worked hard on D. Betts scored a few inside and I think made a mid-range shot or two. She played early, sat on the bench looking like she maybe did not feel very well, played a little more, and then did not play much in the second half. She did not do anything super amazing but she also did not do anything to show that she can't be a force given time. I did see Green and did not notice her too much, which again, could be on me, not her. Not sure what her strengths are yet.
Overall it was a jumble of players moving between teams, tons of subbing, hard to keep sorted who did what. The bigs defended each other pretty well inside so there was a lot of passing out to shooters, thus a lot of threes made. I don't feel I got a great handle on what most of the "littles" can do except Lepolo and Nivar. Just too hard to really get to know anyone's game off one scrimmage, except for the players we already know. Compared to other open practices/scrimmages in other seasons, this one seemed to have much better offense. Not sure if that means the D is in trouble or we have a lot of players who can hit shots. I lean more toward the latter. Basically I feel good about where the team is. We seems to have plenty of capable shooters. We have good size. Looks like guard play will not be a big issue with Jones/Lepolo/Nivar at the 1. There were a few turnovers but given the pace of the game, not really that many for this time of the season. I don't recall our point guards turning the ball over all that much.
Seniors - Belibi had her left thumb wrapped it looked like and did not play at all. No idea how serious it might be, hope just a slight sprain to her wrist or thumb. I thought Jones looked good at the point, tighter dribble, making her threes well, good passing, plenty of scoring off her spins and drives when needed. Jump did miss her threes more than usual but also did show some nice shorter stuff and I think will be an improved version of the gunner she has been. Prechtel looked fine also, similar to how she has played. Everyone who played looked good and we know what they can do.
Juniors - Brink looked good to me. She did travel a couple of times trying to drive from the perimeter, but she also did have a few good drives from outside and hit a few threes, etc. Emma-Nnopu looked improved, still a hard nosed defender and had some nice drives, and I think hit a three or two? Can't remember everything without the stats. Lots of made threes in this one.
Sophs - Agree with all who praised Iriafen. She did it all and looked very comfortable hitting some long twos. Gotta think she starts and/or gets a lot of playing time. Bosgana had some good moments and hit a few shots. I am still not sure given the small sample size how much she may have improved or if she will see more playing time than last year. Demetre looked much improved on offense. She had some very nice fadeaways and spinning shots. If her defense is good enough she should get a lot more playing time as someone who can make a well guarded shot because her offense can be that good if what we saw is something she can consistently do. Harriel was called a redshirt freshman but I will include her here. She ran the point some, did ok, but did not make a big impression, which may be my fault due to whom I happened to be watching.
Freshmen - Tara's praise of Lepolo seems right on the money. I was impressed with her handle and her three point shooting. She looked very good out there, passed well, had a few layups from smart drives, ran the team well and got a lot of playing time at the point, more than I think anyone else on either team. If Jones is the pg, she is probably the back up. Nivar also did well and ran the point. She looked very quick, had zipped to the basket a few times. I think she made a three also? Can't recall. But she seems also in line to maybe back up at the point and/or the 2 spots. Papadaki was relatively quiet. I don't recall any drives but I think she made a couple of baskets and worked hard on D. Betts scored a few inside and I think made a mid-range shot or two. She played early, sat on the bench looking like she maybe did not feel very well, played a little more, and then did not play much in the second half. She did not do anything super amazing but she also did not do anything to show that she can't be a force given time. I did see Green and did not notice her too much, which again, could be on me, not her. Not sure what her strengths are yet.
Overall it was a jumble of players moving between teams, tons of subbing, hard to keep sorted who did what. The bigs defended each other pretty well inside so there was a lot of passing out to shooters, thus a lot of threes made. I don't feel I got a great handle on what most of the "littles" can do except Lepolo and Nivar. Just too hard to really get to know anyone's game off one scrimmage, except for the players we already know. Compared to other open practices/scrimmages in other seasons, this one seemed to have much better offense. Not sure if that means the D is in trouble or we have a lot of players who can hit shots. I lean more toward the latter. Basically I feel good about where the team is. We seems to have plenty of capable shooters. We have good size. Looks like guard play will not be a big issue with Jones/Lepolo/Nivar at the 1. There were a few turnovers but given the pace of the game, not really that many for this time of the season. I don't recall our point guards turning the ball over all that much.