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10-29-2022, 01:26 PM
(This post was last modified: 10-29-2022, 03:28 PM by
81alum.)
I attended the scrimmage today and will offer my impressions. I am deliberately not reading other write-ups until I have posted, so we will soon see if several of us can each independently confirm that we saw the same things. So here are my observations in order of importance.
1. Iriafen was stupendous. If a hypothetical observer watched this practice who knew nothing about our players and was told in advance that we had two returning All-Americans on the team, the observer would have identified Iriafen as one of them. Iriafen has extended her range and made multiple jump shots from outside. She also showed she could aggressively drive to the basket. Her inside moves were as strong as ever--perhaps stronger. This is only one practice, of course, but if this is typical of Iriafen then she has to be a starter. She seemed more consistent, more athletic, stronger, and more accurate than Brink. But put both of them on the floor at the same time and wowsers.
2. Lepolo is the point guard of the future, and she might be the point guard of right now. She moved the ball up the floor with skill against the defense of Emma-Nnopu. She will have few problems with the press. She also went 3/3 from three point range before her first miss, and also drove and dished, and drove and floated two pointers successfully. She was not perfect but in one practice it is clear she has the ball handling and the perimeter shooting that we so desperately needed. Her passes were sometimes rockets like Sniezek's. She no doubt needs practice and refinement to be able to assist within our offense, but I can see her starting at some point this year. It will take more than one practice to form an impression of her defense, but she seemed competent from what I could glean.
3. Nivar is skilled and played a little point and a little shooting guard. She had one spectacular slash to the basket with an over the shoulder make, and created a couple of other highlight plays. Fabulous potential, although I get the impression she will need to work into our system for a while.
4. Emma-Nnopu showed some real offensive improvement today, making treys, layups, and slashing to the basket. Given her terrific defense I think she is showing the potential to play her way into the rotation.
5. Demetre played well, I thought, making some difficult step back jumpers in traffic. I did not see enough, however, to know for sure if she has significantly improved and earned starter's minutes or not.
6. Prechtel played well. She was probably our best three point shooter on the floor and converted a couple around the basket that she might not have in previous years.
7. Brink did not seem to be at her best today. Perhaps she was trying too hard to facilitate others, but she certainly did not take over the game. She did fine--just was not as amazing as she often is. She did try more perimeter shots with partial success.
8. Jones was Jones. She did make at least one trey and her jumper seemed accurate in the midrange. Again she may have backed off a bit to give the youngsters more of a chance. She had one spill and somersaulted out of bounds and came up limping, but she returned no worse for the wear, fortunately. What a terrible thing that could have been.
9. Belibi did not play. I did not hear the reason why. In fact Tara had to use two male practice players to round out the teams, something I would not have expected with 15 on the roster.
10. Betts did not get that many minutes. Her height was obvious, but she may not be as fluid and as athletic as the shorter Iriafan was at the same point last year. I see her as being inserted for defensive matchups and rebounding but probably not as a starter until she gets faster, quicker, and develops a few more moves around the basket.
11. Jump had an odd day. She missed (I think) all of her trey attempts, and she seemed a bit frustrated. But she also revealed what she has clearly been working on--slashing to the basket. She had several successful cuts to the basket and I think she has clearly diversified her offensive potential. Once her trey starts dropping this will be a major asset for her (and us!)
12. Bosgana, Harriel, and Papadaki all played--I did not see Green play. Bosgana made a nice trey and Papadaki had one or two good offensive moments. Harriel looked athletic and competent on defense. The truth is, though, that I could not really concentrate on watching any of them since my eye was so firmly affixed to Iriafan, Lepolo, and others. All these three might be able to help us this year, but I need to watch them for longer before I can say much more.
OK, now I have read the earlier comments and I think there is a fair amount of agreement. Perhaps I underestimated Brink and Jones's performances today. Sometimes it is possible for star players to play very well and make it look unexceptional, and fans can take them for granted. Nevertheless, I will stand by my observation that Iriafen today was the best player on the floor.
Interesting to hear about Belibi's thumb. I hope it is something minor and that it heals in time for the pre season.
As for whether anyone played defense--yes, there was some real defensive effort, but I also think they were probably cautioned not to be too physical. The worst possible outcome would be an injury during a scrimmage, as Jones nearly went down. Even so, our players were playing against the most talented team they are likely to face until South Carolina, so this really does feel significant.
