Freshmen Showing Improvement as Scrimmages Conclude

While the Minnesota summer isn’t over yet, the summer scrimmages at Williams Arena have come to an end. The players will now get several weeks off in between the end of summer school and the start of fall semester. The most positive sign from the final day was the noticeable improvement several of the incoming freshmen have made from beginning to end.

The player who has made the biggest strides in just the past two weeks has been Miles Webb. Miles had been struggling with his jumper a little earlier in the summer and appeared to still be searching for his role. The outside shots started falling last week though, and this weekend Miles turned in a very good all-around performance. Rather than just being a spot-up shooter, Miles scored on a pull-up off the dribble, had a nice fake and drive from the corner, and buried a turnaround after grabbing an offensive rebound. He also had a couple of steals, which he turned into assists in transition.

The freshman who looked like he was really coming into his own today was Rico Tucker. Rico took a little while to adjust to the scenery after arriving in Minnesota back in June. In July, his outside shot (which had always been looking good) started to fall pretty consistently. Last week, he used his defense to shut down Wisconsin guard Kammron Taylor. And on this day, he had everything working. Rico buried a number of 3-pointers and was really penetrating and creating like I saw him do in high school. He dished down low, patiently hit the post man, and also kicked the ball out to shooters. And of course he put on another amazing dunking display afterwards (going between his legs with his left hand was one of many that words can’t do justice to).

Walk-on Alex Popp is another freshman who’s made good progress. He’s gone from just showing a good shooting touch in warm-ups to actually being a pretty legitimate scoring threat in scrimmages now. In this weekend’s games, he made several 3-pointers, hit a couple of 17-footers, and had one Jason Kidd-like turnaround in the lane that drew oohs and aahs from his teammates. A redshirt would be good for Alex this year, but it might not be too long before he’s able to establish a role for himself.

Spencer Tollackson is another guy who took a little while to get comfortable with the change of pace from high school, but he’s now starting to look like the player who impressed so many at Chaska over the years. Outplaying Oklahoma senior Johnnie Gilbert last weekend was the highlight of his summer, but he was also impressive in this final scrimmage. Spencer held his own against J’son Stamper and Dan Coleman both offensively and defensively, and he also did a solid job on the boards and really passed the ball well. His passing ability is what really sets him apart from other big man, and this was the first time it’s really been consistently on display this summer.

Dan Coleman doesn’t warrant mention as having made great strides over the past two months, but that’s only because he’s the one freshman who’s really been impressing since day one. After a few struggles early in the day, Dan caught fire from the 3-point line and ended the summer on a high note. He also had a couple of nice jumphooks inside and finished well in transition. When Dan returns from his Big Ten tour of Europe, that’s when we might really see a step change in his game.

While he’s not a freshman, J’son Stamper is a newcomer, and he’s also showed a lot of progress in recent weeks. Much of that is due to having began the summer with a couple of minor injuries, but it’s also a result of getting comfortable with his new teammates. J’son impressed in the paint last weekend, and this week he impressed from all over. His jumper was really falling, as he knocked down a couple of 3-pointers along with multiple mid-range jumpers (several of which used the glass). He also scored some points in the paint (including an impressive jumphook over Coleman) and had a big one-handed follow dunk.

Vincent Grier falls into the same boat as Coleman. He looked so good from day one that it’s hard for him to show improvement. But he did have another very solid day. His ability to finish in transition and in traffic is challenged only by that of Moe Hargrow, and his court vision still looks like the best on the team. Vincent made countless impressive scores in the paint, set up numerous teammates with sweet passes, and also hit a couple of smooth pull-up jumpers. And he also completed his own left-handed through-the-legs dunk (that’s what prompted Rico to try), but he’ll have to be content with the silver medal for that.

Here are a few other notes from the final scrimmage of the summer:

• Aaron Robinson shot the ball well from 3-point range and had a good day overall.
• Moe Hargrow continued to look very good. He shot the ball well from the perimeter and had some very impressive drives and finishes at the basket.
• Ben Johnson participated in the scrimmages for the first time that I’ve been in attendance.
• Hopkins grad and future Furman freshman Jadee Jones scrimmaged and looked good.
• The team of Grier, Hargrow, Robinson, Stamper, and Webb was the dominant team of the day.

Talk about the team and the newcomers on our Gopher Basketball message board.