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GAME WEEK: Wake Forest vs. Belmont Abbey (exhibition)

Johnson vs Woods: we traded a one dimensional shooter for a pretty good all around player. Much quicker and much better defender than Woods. Decent shooter. Good stroke on the line in second half. Mucius showed much more than was expecting from the “what I have heard” post. Compliments Hoard on the floor. Wright has good frame, size, athleticism and handles the ball well. Pretty good mid range shooter.
 
Credit where it is due. The statcast provided by WF was better than has been provided in the past. The least they could do given no video or audio.

I'd appreciate comments/impressions from anyone who attended the game. Thanks.
 
On the very first play of the game, a BA player basically punched Sarr in the nose. Sarr got a bloody nose and had to leave the game. The guy got a tech. As far as beginnings to seasons, It wasn’t quite as bad as when Richard Joyce got a flagrant foul in the Black and Gold game, but it may have been worse than when Madison Jones got a T for dunking before the first game even began.
 
Mh take from bring at the game:
We have a high motor team with length and athleticism. Of course, gave up some easy buckets especially on inbounds plays and open threes on ball reversals. Very aggressive on offense with wright, Hoard, and Mucius driving to the hole. Hoard is legit but forced alot early. Sarr looks stronger and played well around the rim. Wright has a ton of talent but out of control at times. Smart plays sounds defense. Brandon played well - stroke looked great but too many TOs when trapped. Brown still needs to get more involved in the offense. Mucious has a nice game with a sweet stroke from 15ft in, but is really thin, needs to spend time with Horn in the weight room. Overall, fun team to watch against an athletically inferior opponent. Anticipate difficulty scoring against better opponents
 
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Long season ahead, but did like T.Johnson a lot better than I was expecting. Not a good shooter but did some good things.
 
My impressions:

Sarr looked very good, though he was a head taller than everyone else on BA. He rebounded well, is stronger, has nice touch on his shots, and he blocked a few shots.

Hoard looked very good. BA played a half court trap D into a 2-3 zone, and Hoard played the free throw line on offense against the zone and he played it well. Mucius also played this role, and though not quite as good as Hoard he too played it well.

Mucius is a little weak, but he’s long and his midrange game was good tonight.

Brown played hard and hit some nice shots. He’s not quite as athletic as he needs to be to effectively attack the basket.

Wright plays hard and is athletic. He’s very aggressive on offense. Shot looks good though he missed some.

Childress shot really well but his ability to control and dictate the game plan was poor. He turned the ball over against their trap way too many times.

Johnson is not very super athletic but he’s a good defensive player and played within himself on offense.

Smart is thick and grabbed some good rebounds. He’s limited offensively. Okeke is very similar to Smart.

Wynn is pretty big and has a nice looking shot. He had some bad turnovers and fouls.

Big surprise, but our defense is still not good. We don’t pressure the ball handler, we gave up 2 wide open layups on OOB plays (the exact same play, twice), and we consistently give up open threes.
 
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Overall the positive I took most from this is that the guys we needed to produce did just that. The biggest negative is we still don't rotate on defense and did not seem to communicate all that well. We should go 7-8 deep and I think we need to get Okeke more minutes because of his physicality.
 
Based solely on the game stats (hopefully someone in person can fill in some color)-

-Looks like Hoard, Sarr, and Johnson were aggressive with at least eight free throws each

-Were Childress’ five TOs the result of sloppy play or trying to do too much?

-Only four 3s is a concern

-Mucius appears to have been very productive

-Brown has a productive line, but he was only tied-4th for field goal attempts. Will likely need him to be more assertive once we face real opponents

-Defense seemed to go through some solid stretches followed by giving up some big runs. Giving up 74 tonight probably isn’t a great sign.
 
From just looking at the box score:

Like that Hoard and Saar combined for one foul. Foul trouble for those guys really scares me.

Don't like that Childress had 5 TOs vs 2 assists. We really, really need him to be consistent - not mercurial like he has been as a bench player.
 
Bubble Boy said:
From just looking at the box score:

Like that Hoard and Saar combined for one foul. Foul trouble for those guys really scares me.

Don't like that Childress had 5 TOs vs 2 assists. We really, really need him to be consistent - not mercurial like he has been as a bench player.
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Childress shot was really good, but he struggled in most other aspects of the game. His turnovers all occurred when he was trapped and didn’t make good passes.
 
T. Johnson and S.Wright played pretty well together. Brandon did not seem to be with it tonight.
 
BlackjackMc said:
Credit where it is due. The statcast provided by WF was better than has been provided in the past. The least they could do given no video or audio.

I'd appreciate comments/impressions from anyone who attended the game. Thanks.
Click to expand...

Sat a couple of rows behind the bench to try and get a sense of DM's interaction with the kids. I have been very down on his bench work but felt he was really teaching the little effort and positioning aspects tonight. Pulled Hoard after 90 secs or so when he got beat down the floor for a bunny and he was in and out 4 times in first 10 mins or so to be coached then right back in. He is the real deal, sharing, smooth, then assertive hustling himself into late game cramps. Saar a bit tentative early against the little guys and getting bloodied but really attacked the glass and made aggressive moves to the basket earning those FTs that he knocked down. Wright seemed very comfortable running the show never forcing it and BC shot well from deep. Chaundee seemed to allow the kids to show some game but was very active defensively and seemed more comfortable away from the basket. Mucous wasn't dialed in early but just started playing instead of thinking in the second half and showed good decisions and midrange skills and hustle. Agree that Johnson was steady with defensive energy. Yes, it was an EXHIBITION but looked good hustling and sharing. More fun to watch than some departed names.
 
Agree with much of what Rafi said. Brandon still picks up his dribble too much against the trap but is our best 3 pt shooter. Mucius is not strong but seemed to settle in as the game went on and has a good mid range game. Sharone was much more impressive than I thought and I feel better about the PG position with he and Torry backing up BC than I thought I would. Hoard was a very good all around player and looks a lot like those 6'8"wings that Duke typically gets - nice to have one of our own. Wynn has the body of a junior but we did not see the great shooting that they apparently have witnessed at practice. Chaundee played well but we need him to be much more aggressive on the offensive end. Olivier looked good and did very well but against their zone we passed the ball in to the free throw line and Hoard/Mucius made a lot of jumpers which limited Sarr's opportunities. Smart is a big body much like Sunday limited offensively but will be needed to get Olivier a break. Also surprised that Sunday did not get much time as I think we will need minutes from him. Sarr's conditioning is much improved which is going to be very important.

Thought is was interesting how much the marketing of this team is all about New Beginnings - seems very disingenuous in year 5. Clearly looking for a reboot on the Manning era.
 
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I thought Wright looked better than I was expecting. Hoard is gonna be good. It's crazy to have to learn so many damn names again but it is what it is. As stated above, Isiah looked good from the mid range. Not sure what to think yet but the team seemed to play hard and they are definitely athletic and long on the wing this year. Btw, the drunk kids behind the bench were something else for those that were close by.
 
We don’t have the three point shooters and PG depth we had last year so we will probably face some zones and full and half court presses like we did tonight. But instead of only having 6’2” Woods to flash to the foul line against the zone, we have Hoard or Mucius, who can both hit that shot with ease. It’s nice to not have 4 guards under 6’3” on the floor at one time. Other than Chill and Johnson, our guards and small forwards are at least 6’5” and athletic. Smart appears capable of backing up Sarr for short periods of time (10 mins per game). He defends and plays hard. Wynn has good size and athleticism and his stroke looks good (although he wasn’t hitting tonight). Wright handles the ball better than expected and can play some PG and both wing positions. Other than lack of depth at PG and PF, this team has some nice pieces.
 
Watched most of the first half. It was my first trip to the Joel in 11 years.

Hoard is the real deal. At one half, he seems like a smoother version of AFA with a shot and handles. Put him on any of our best teams, he's a valuable 3rd or 4th option capable of shouldering the load. On this team, he'll have some "quiet" 20 and 10 games because he's just that good. But we'll be begging Childress to get him the ball more. Manning needs to be creative with him. I wasn't too impressed with Manning putting him in the high post working a two man game with Sarr. Hoard has the talent to be the primary playmaker in an offense. I think it will be too easy for teams to play Childress hard and deny Hoard the ball.

Sarr is definitely bigger and stronger. He looks more capable and more willing to bang than last year. I'm optimistic he can improve to being an ACC-level contributor. He will play 30+ minutes every night barring foul trouble.

Johnson seemed like a serviceable backup. Wright seemed like he could be a good player down the road.

Chaundee. Not sure what to say about him. My friend had a good point. What position does Chaundee play? He doesn't seem like a SG. He doesn't play like a SF. He isn't even a hybrid wing. He's not a classic small forward in terms of being a smaller PF and he's not an undersized banger PF. I just don't know. But he's definitely one of our best players and he needs to see the court for 30 min a game.

Wynn has nice size. Don't remember his shot. Mucius was in foul trouble. Didn't see him play much.

My overall pessimism for this season hasn't changed. But if we fire Manning and keep Hoard, a new coach could maybe get these guys to .500 next year. I definitely think Hoard will be a fine NBA player whenever he gets there.
 
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