***OFFICIAL ORAL ROBERTS VS MINNESOTA IN-GAME THREAD!!!***













All Ben needs to do is play the guys who bring the defensive intensity, and this team will be all right!

The only problem with the game tonight was the old bugaboo ------ FREE THROWS!
 


Caleb Williams should be playing. Perhaps he has no D, but his offensive game is way beyond Femi. Ben's too chicken to play him. And no, I'm not his mom, dad, sibling or mom's best friend.
 








Fox- A
Garcia- A+
Odukale- B
Mitchell- B+
Patterson- B+
Rigsby- C-
Asuma- B+
Edmonds- B
Betts- B-

Just my opinion. Others thoughts?
I'd go higher on Edmonds and Asuma, lower on Rigsby and Odukale.

Odukale was good defensively, didn't score, had 6 assists, also 3 turnovers. I'd call that average.

Garbage time 3 for Rigsby, rebounded OK, too many turnovers.

Edmonds I thought looked competent around the basket and played pretty well on D (ORU didn't have any size). We know about his FT deficiency

I didn't really see much Asuma messed up, and he hit a couple 3s, a couple of assists, and a steal with no turnovers. Seems really good for a true frosh in their first real game action
 

I like that he's expanded his bench, even if it's against a team like ORU. Asuma looks NIIIICE
I don't want to jinx him, and I've mentioned this before, but he reminds me of Tamin Lipsey (who I coached against in HS and have seen a lot of his first couple years of college since I live in IA, so it's not a knee jerk comparison)
 

I only watched about half the game. A couple of way too early observations:

1. Asuma can and should play. He was deferring to the other players quite a bit, but he's a starter.
2. Mitchell looked like he was hunting shots.
3. Rigsby will probably get less playing time as the season goes on.
4. The team has some talent and depth but they are very unfamiliar with each other. Not at all surprising.
5. I have no regrets giving up my season tix after all these decades. I looked at the preseason schedule again last night and the U athletic dept and basketball program abused me long enough! It's really bad faith. They deserve all of those empty seats.
 

My early view is that our starting 5 from last year was better than what we have this year....but the depth on this squad is much better. It appears that everyone on the team is an able defender, which is better than last year where we had a few guys who were deficits on that end. Will the depth and defense overcome the loss of offensive fire power? I hope so.

A guess at the guys that will be on the court in crunch time by mid year:

Garcia (scoring)
F Mitchell (rebounding)
Cochran (Defense). (major guess as I haven't seen him)
M Mitchell (outside shooting)
Asuma (running the offense)

That puts only one bad FT shooter on the floor
 
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I only watched about half the game. A couple of way too early observations:

1. Asuma can and should play. He was deferring to the other players quite a bit, but he's a starter.
2. Mitchell looked like he was hunting shots.
3. Rigsby will probably get less playing time as the season goes on.
4. The team has some talent and depth but they are very unfamiliar with each other. Not at all surprising.
5. I have no regrets giving up my season tix after all these decades. I looked at the preseason schedule again last night and the U athletic dept and basketball program abused me long enough! It's really bad faith. They deserve all of those empty seats.
I think this team will look good in the non conference schedule. The big question will be how they compete in Big Ten. Garcia will be a star but not sure how the other pieces will do against the upper tier big ten teams.
 

I think Ben needs to get Betts more confidence. Really think he could be a solid players given the opportunities with his size and ability at the 3 position. Example if Betts was on Oral Roberts, he would have been a top target and possibly having a good night against the gophers. Similar to Edmonds and Caleb last year.

Ben really needs to work as deep as bench as he can while he can so when we face some injuries, sickness, FOUL Troubles, or just different matchups players are confident and ready to go at the big moments. Big 10 games will come sooner than you think.

My opinion
C- Frank Mitchell
PF- Garcia
SF - Betts
SG - Mitchell
PG - Patterson
6th MAN OF THE YEAR - Parker Fox - really think this is good roll for him
Veteran Bench for foul trouble - Odukale, Rigsby, Cochran, Edmonds
Asuma - Going to be really good and should see plenty of time.
Grove (POSSIBLE REDSHIRT?) Lot of people gone after this year

Just some thoughts.
 

I think Ben needs to get Betts more confidence. Really think he could be a solid players given the opportunities with his size and ability at the 3 position. Example if Betts was on Oral Roberts, he would have been a top target and possibly having a good night against the gophers. Similar to Edmonds and Caleb last year.

Ben really needs to work as deep as bench as he can while he can so when we face some injuries, sickness, FOUL Troubles, or just different matchups players are confident and ready to go at the big moments. Big 10 games will come sooner than you think.

My opinion
C- Frank Mitchell
PF- Garcia
SF - Betts
SG - Mitchell
PG - Patterson
6th MAN OF THE YEAR - Parker Fox - really think this is good roll for him
Veteran Bench for foul trouble - Odukale, Rigsby, Cochran, Edmonds
Asuma - Going to be really good and should see plenty of time.
Grove (POSSIBLE REDSHIRT?) Lot of people gone after this year

Just some thoughts.
Will be interesting to see how playing time shakes out when they finally get into a tough game but at least for last night they had 9 guys play and all got at least 10 minutes. When Frank Mitchell is back he will be a big minutes guy as well.

Would be nice to see Betts get a lot of minutes, especially in these early season games but for whatever reason he was the least used guy of the ones who played last night.

Would assume Groves is an almost certain redshirt on this team. It would take a number of injuries to get them to the point where he becomes part of the rotation on what looks to be a very deep/experienced squad.
 



M Mitchell, Patterson, Rigsby, Odukale, Asuma can handle the ball, which is a plus. Cochran will be able to also. F Mitchell will be a help on the boards, which is needed. They shot better from outside than I thought they would. Garcia appears as if he spent time on his outside shot. He is so good. Going to need him to stay healthy and out of foul trouble through out the year. Patterson uses that wide body to try and post now and again. He's a good, experienced player. Mitchell, Patterson and Asuma seemed capable of running things offensively. Think the team really has to make defense their identity to get to where they want to get, which is the tournament.
 

I only watched about half the game. A couple of way too early observations:

1. Asuma can and should play. He was deferring to the other players quite a bit, but he's a starter.
2. Mitchell looked like he was hunting shots.
3. Rigsby will probably get less playing time as the season goes on.
4. The team has some talent and depth but they are very unfamiliar with each other. Not at all surprising.
5. I have no regrets giving up my season tix after all these decades. I looked at the preseason schedule again last night and the U athletic dept and basketball program abused me long enough! It's really bad faith. They deserve all of those empty seats.
I still have mine. Last night, getting off the couch and making my way to the game seemed more like a chore than anything else. It was fun once I got there, but I agree the schedule is a joke, and the energy of the Ben Johnson era is completely non-existent.

This team needs Mitchell back in the worst way. Rebounding is terrible.
 

Solid opening night, though things clearly got stagnant when Garcia sat.

I like Odukale, though that FT form needs a lot of work. He defends. ... he'll get a lot of playing time because of that. He and Rigsby provide above average athleticism on the wing.

As others pointed out, it appears we have quite a few guys that can handle primary ballhandling duties at least in a pinch. That's a major positive. Minimal concerns about the PG position.

I'm on Team Isaac for eventally being the primary PG so that Mitchell can concentrate on stroking it from 3. Really like those 2 together. It's early, but I'm not sold on Patterson over the other options. ... a little out of shape?

We know what we're gonna' get out of Garcia, Fox, and Mitchell. That'as a good thing. Frank the Tank & Edmonds just have to be serviceable (grab boards, defend) in the post.
 

I think Ben needs to get Betts more confidence. Really think he could be a solid players given the opportunities with his size and ability at the 3 position. Example if Betts was on Oral Roberts, he would have been a top target and possibly having a good night against the gophers. Similar to Edmonds and Caleb last year.

Ben really needs to work as deep as bench as he can while he can so when we face some injuries, sickness, FOUL Troubles, or just different matchups players are confident and ready to go at the big moments. Big 10 games will come sooner than you think.

My opinion
C- Frank Mitchell
PF- Garcia
SF - Betts
SG - Mitchell
PG - Patterson
6th MAN OF THE YEAR - Parker Fox - really think this is good roll for him
Veteran Bench for foul trouble - Odukale, Rigsby, Cochran, Edmonds
Asuma - Going to be really good and should see plenty of time.Bett
Grove (POSSIBLE REDSHIRT?) Lot of people gone after this year

Just some thoughts.
Betts will not be in the 10 man rotation once we have everyone healthy.
 




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