Tuesday's Practice

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Watching college basketball practices, especially at the college level, is getting more and more fun for me. Watching the type and scheduling of certain drills and then watching how those drills are incorporated into more scrimmage-type drills is kinda fascinating to me. The really good coaches have a really good time-table & plan for the particular day, that they are somehow able to stick to, even when practice isn't going well. It's really hard to truly get a sense of what's actually happening with just a quick 3 minute snippit (though appreciate those that get posted).

I remember watching a coach, who's teams played zone maybe every 3rd or 4th game for 2-3 minutes, spend a 30 minute chunk of practice working on Zone rotations like I'd never seen one pre-season afternoon. Never saw him use it in a game until late December. He brought it out in the 2nd half for about 10-12 minutes and it made a huge difference in that game. Very rarely used it, but when he did, it was in very specific situations or circumstances to turn momentum against certain teams that featured really talented guards. Ironically, his zone really seemed to mess up 3-point shooters.

In any case, I love watching multiple practices to get a sense of what a team is really trying to do. The shoot-arounds before games is actually even more fun, because then you get a sense of scouting reports and individual game plans.
 

So, can I assume starting 5 is leaning towards
G-Cooper
G-Samuels
F-Battle
F-Garcia
C-Payne or Thompson depending on the matchup?

Or am I getting ahead of myself?

I said it last year and I'll say it again, Battle is an nba player on the offensive end, will be interesting how his career goes. He very well could be gone after this season.
 

Spottedmuskie said:
So, can I assume starting 5 is leaning towards
G-Cooper
G-Samuels
F-Battle
F-Garcia
C-Payne or Thompson depending on the matchup?

Or am I getting ahead of myself?

I said it last year and I'll say it again, Battle is an nba player on the offensive end, will be interesting how his career goes. He very well could be gone after this season.
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I’ll be shocked if Samuels starts. I think it’s one of the freshman. Payne is almost a for sure starter too. I think he was better than Thompson last year. Physically he’s a monster and can hang.
 

Gopherfan84 said:
I’ll be shocked if Samuels starts. I think it’s one of the freshman. Payne is almost a for sure starter too. I think he was better than Thompson last year. Physically he’s a monster and can hang.
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Yes I'm leaning towards Payne too and I would think we want more size starting then Samuels. Fun to talk about, our bench will be a lot more deep then just Sutherlin last season!
 


Gopherfan84 said:
I’ll be shocked if Samuels starts. I think it’s one of the freshman. Payne is almost a for sure starter too. I think he was better than Thompson last year. Physically he’s a monster and can hang.
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100%, Payne will be starting at center.

I'd assuming Carrington had the inside track at the 2, but now more people are talking about Henley having a good shot...either way, I expect Samuels to be the first guard off the bench.
 

bga1 said:
Thanks! Cooper?
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Cooper was there and a full participant. From what I watched, he looked good. Not to knock the transfers we had last year, but he definitely looked the part more than those guys. He spent more time on the opposite end of the court from where I was sitting, so I didn't watch him nearly as closely as some of the other players, so that's why I didn't comment on him.
 

Zeppelin Gopher said:
100%, Payne will be starting at center.

I'd assuming Carrington had the inside track at the 2, but now more people are talking about Henley having a good shot...either way, I expect Samuels to be the first guard off the bench.
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During the Q&A, that specific question was asked (who is starting at the 2). Ben had a bit of a coach-speak answer (not surprising). What he did say was that we have a ton of young guys (and he specifically mentioned Treyton as a "young guy" synonymous as the freshman), and that his challenge will be making sure you don't have too many of the young guys out on the floor at one time. So don't expect Tubby hockey-style line changes. Being there is so much youth, it wouldn't surprise me if somebody else started, but Samuels still got more minutes than the starter, just to rotate where we're playing the more experienced guys.

And most certainly, it will look different in November than it will in Feb/March.
 





forever a gopher said:
I was there as well. Good recap, Lou.

I’ll add- Treyton looks way more natural and confident than he did last season. Could just be practice, but he looked good.

Payne was impressive. Did not look like a kid that was just in HS. I have no idea what he’s like offensively, but even if he’s not a high offensive producer his freshman season, he’ll get minutes as an inside presence. Free throw stroke was very smooth and natural, but he did miss 2 of the 4 i saw him shoot. I came away very excited to see him play.

With 2 sets of 5 guys running the drills, Betts was the “odd man out” as the 11th guy who helped out with the practice squad guys during numerous drills. Ramberg was running more with the top 9 others than him. Take it for what it’s worth.
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Betts is a high school senior.
 






jovs said:
Age and actual chronological basketball experience, I hope they can red shirt him.
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He may not play this year but can be called upon if needed due to additional injuries. Unless, of course, it suddenly clicks for him and his play can help the team win now.
 

My observations from Tuesday's practice:

Joseph will likely primarly play as a big, he practiced with rest of the bigs (Thompson, Payne, Garcia). I was impressed with Joseph's thickness/strength and his athleticism. He looks smoother and more polished than I thought he might. He looks like he is ready to help and offers 3 things that no other player also has (strength and superb athleticism as well as a nice looking outside shot). Payne doesn't seem to have quite the same level of athleticism but I am excited about Paynes size and strength too.

Samuels and Battle seemed like the best verbal leaders on the floor. Samuels looked very strong as well as Joseph and Payne (especially Payne's legs). Betts & Henley looked awful thin, I would only expect to see Betts to get the max time he can play to use this season as a red-shirt unless there are multiple more injuries. He and Purcell were the only ones I observed spending time helping the managers in running drills against the team.

TT, as he walked to the locker room after practice, thanked the crowd for coming. Nice touch to the finish. He definitely looks stronger and more confident.
 

Spottedmuskie said:
Yes I'm leaning towards Payne too and I would think we want more size starting then Samuels. Fun to talk about, our bench will be a lot more deep then just Sutherlin last season!
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I have assumed Samuels highest value would be coming off the bench at both spots. But if he wins a starting job, so be it. That would only push Carrington and Henley to work harder.
 


on the new "Talk Gopher Buckets" podcast, Ryan James discussed the options for Betts. Said that red-shirting him is an option, unless the coaches think they really need him. James also said that one of the deciding factors may hinge on whether Ramberg is able to provide something off the bench. If the coaches are comfortable using Ramberg, that might give them the leeway they need to red-shirt Betts - at least that's how James sees it.

James also thought that they would have a deeper rotation this year - probably 7 or 8 players in a regular rotation, with a 9th player getting fill-in minutes.

(if not for the injuries, James said the starting lineup would have been Cooper, Ihnen, Battle, Garcia and Fox.)
 


Costa Rican Gopher said:
A poster at GI who was at the practice said Cooper is the PG we've needed for years, or something to that effect.
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Great, I am a firm believer in actually having a PG rather than a SG that's primary focus is a scorer playing PG.
 

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