The kid is really, really good. Our guard play is horrid. Where was Willis the second half? Did he play? I like Reynolds but his handle is ultra loose. Asuma seems not to do much for a lot of the game.
Michigan gets 1 million in additional NIL for winning the tournament. Gonzaga 500k for finishing second. The rich get richer in college buckets and the divide gets bigger. It looks like we are building towards 10-20 super teams with the best of the rest having occasional moments in the sun.
The Gophers have been on an incredibly cold shooting run. If they break out of it- we win this tourney. I think we have 5 guys shooting below 27% from 3pt range who have all shot it much better than that during their careers.
Henley is the classic example of a frosh coming in and playing a little wild and people think he will never be any good. Well here he is as a senior averaging 17 per game. Kids can develop. One thing that was easy to see about Henley was his athleticism. He just needed time. Also on the GCU...
Willis, Asuma and JCJ could all be top 8 or 9 on a good team. I would want them back + Shinholster and Durkin. Then you have the 3 frosh coming in. Now go out and land 4-5 good portal guys. We have enough funding to do that.
To be fair, I actually like what Niko brought in a little better than Ben's first year talent.
Ben had Battle and Willis and little else. Niko has Tyson who I prefer to Battle so far (Tyson's efficiency has been incredible). We have no one to compare to Willis but the rest of the roster is an...
Hard to believe that our FT% is again heading for the bottom with a whole new group of players. After today we are at 65% for the year- that's just incredibly bad for a major college team.
The only thing I have liked in this game is a little more action in the 2nd half posting JCJ up low. They have to have some sort of post up game to survive games in the Big Ten. Ugly game though.
This team is vertically challenged. Other than Reynolds (who should have went for the slam on that last possession) and Tyson, San Francisco plays over the top of us at the rim. SF has the better athletes it seems. Not good.
Confidence is an amazing thing. The more these guys learn the system and the coach and feel that "this is my shot and the coach believes I make these"- the more of them go in. This offense does yield open shots.