Very puzzling that the team could play this well in this game but look so bad in so many other games. Still multiple dumb turnovers, but also something that looked like actual offense besides the three man dribble weave.
This.
I ended up turning the game on with 10 minutes left and saw that it was 52-51, and went back and watched it in full (I said I wasn't going to watch). When I squinted, we looked like a mildly well coached team. I still don't see what Jalen Hoard has been working on with his game for the last 6 months. No dribble improvement or consistency on his passes, which is troubling because SOME of his passes are good (some are middle school bad).
Obviously, the biggest improvement is with Sarr. I may have to dust off my Danny big-man coach hat to at least have handy. And Danny has certainly put himself in contention for a bench job somewhere with 4star + big men. Sarr is playing to his strengths offensively, not committing stupid fouls - in short, he is STARTING to show the improvement and consistency that Doral showed last year from Game 1. Good for him. Considering how noticeably invisible Sarr has been through the first 20 games - and that he came to Wake as essentially a poor man's Dinos Mitoglu, it is impressive. And his improvement cannot be chalked up simply to strength and fitness the way Doral's kinda could. Yes, Sarr is stronger, but not remarkably so. He is turning into a ... yet to be determined - but a player who seems to be moving towards an offensive and defensive asset rather than liability.
That said, I found it remarkable that Sarr goes on the best 3 minute tear of his college career and Danny pulls him immediately.
I still cannot quite figure out why Tory Johnson gets anything more than spot minutes. Wright Jr is the future at the 2, but he's also the present. Johnson played better lateral defense than I've seen him play all year, and he can go two or three minutes without being a liability on offense, but he is really in over his head on the offensive end. I continue to stand by my declaration that the ONLY guy on our team that you can hand the ball to with 7 seconds left on the shot clock, and can get their own shot up and have it be a good one is Sharone Wright Jr. I honestly cannot understand why he's not on the court when we desperately need a basket and why our staff hasn't made him cut his fucking bangs. He's gonna get a haircut this summer and wonder what the fuck he was thinking for the last year.
Mucius has regressed as well. We are using him in exactly the spot he's not comfortable. Great job, Danny. We haven't figured out that when we replace Hoard with Mucius, we can't slot him into that spot at the top of the key. He has virtually no idea what to do there. We haven't tried Chaundee there when Hoard is out - I supposed because Brown is our best perimeter 3-point shooter with a hand in his face, but still, that is the guy you want there. Hell, maybe even Smart. Mucius is useless there and sort of miserable as well.
