Managed to make it up to Winston this weekend to visit the folks and attend the game today...here are a few thoughts.
1) Deacs were -- newsflash! -- quite dominant on the glass and had nearly a 2 to 1 margin both on the defensive glass as well as the offensive glass. Of course, the Aggies weren't really attempting to fight for a lot of offensive boards, but they were quick and scrappy, and managed to out-hustle us for several loose balls when there were scrambles off the glass. The Deacs seemed to shore things up in the second half as I don't remember nearly as many instances of A&T winning 50/50 balls.
2) Brandon was in complete control and played about as efficiently as you could possible expect. Yes, the Aggies didn't pressure the ball much and fell into a lot of 2-3 and some extended 3-2 zone, but BC was decisive with the ball and kept the rock moving when past teams might get a bit stagnant trying to find soft spots in the zone to attack. I would have liked to have seen him drive a bit more, but he was judicious with the ball, picked his spots, hit his open looks -- only once was there any discernible hitch in a contested 3-ball release, which he missed -- and got his mates involved with only 1 turnover. And as usual, automatic from the line.
3) Hoard is the real deal Holyfield and will most certainly only need a year to get drafted. However, he didn't show off his outside shooting today -- he didn't really need to with Chill, Wright, CB & even Ike, hitting from deep pretty consistently -- but the one long ball he attempted looked pretty fugly to me. He might have not had the best grip on it I'm not sure cuz he was on the opposite side of the floor. So if he's not an obvious lottery pick, he might could end up coming back to polish his jumper next year. So hopefully for us, he has many games like today where he dominates on takes to the hoop, flashes to the lane and put backs off the offensive glass thanks to those long arms and gazelle like slashes into the paint. Oh, and he also took one defensive rebound coast to coast for a beautiful and mesmerizingly easy scoop-in, floating layup. The dude is almost so smooth that I think he himself forgets how athletic he can or needs to be to finish a take to the iron. And last, but not least, he has excellent vision and can make some lovely passes over the D when working the diagonal passes to a flashing cutter or the high-low with Sarr.
4) Now Mr. "O" the "French fry" as he is still quite the lanky string bean. Although it did seem apparent that he put some pounds on. His legs seemed stronger in a "sturdy" guard the post kind of way, but he seemed a bit heavy-footed to me on put backs and post-up flashes for turnaround hooks and pop outs along the baseline. Maybe it was an off day, or maybe it was the relative athleticism playing alongside Hoard and Mucius, but I'm not sure he's adjusted to the extra weight yet. He definitely lacks explosion and thus struggles getting clean lay-ins or put backs off the glass. Lucky for him he is long and draws lots of fouls for trips to the line so he can take advantage of that steady stroke of his. I mean, if he can "struggle" this much and still score 12 with 9 boards, we'll be quite happy. Question is, can he do it consistently against bigger and stronger players in the ACC?
5) I LIKE IKE...A LOT!! Instant energy off the bench and surprisingly polished offensive game. He was aggressive and confident, especially early in the 1st half when he spelled Hoard for a few minutes. Scored 7 points in what seemed like the blink of an eye and demonstrated a confident and quick release on the open corner jumper for 3 and super quick explosion on the "UCLA" cut where he uses his long arms to get right to the tin before the D can react. He may turn out to be the key to our season as he will help pick up the slack when Wright struggles and Chaundee has to play the 2 and Ike comes in to play the 3 or even some 4 against longer teams. I won't do a separate section for Chaundee, as he was steady Eddie out there with his typically sound on the ball defense, consistent hustle and clutch shooting. Obviously he will struggle to dominate against a team with quick, "jitterbug" type back courts like A&T, but he made few mistakes and knocked down a couple of back-breaking threes in the late 2nd half. Just wish Danny would run him off more screens and curls for mid-range jumpers between the elbow and the baseline 12-footer.
6) Other nuggets worth noting: Jamie Lewis is real, not a unicorn!! He spelled BC a couple of times playing 2 or 3 minute spurts, the longest of which was win Brandon had to go out to nurse a cramp. He's a sound ball-handler but seemed a bit reticent and uncertain of himself with the ball. He wasn't stiff or fumbling the ball away, but he just seemed to be feeling things out and just playing it safe. Thus he seemed a bit slow, even with his side to side dribble -- there weren't a lot of opportunities for drives or pressuring the lane anyway due to the zone -- and his one deep ball seemed very tentative, but the stroke was good. Didn't seem as bad on defense but they didn't have much trouble shooting over him. Caveat: A&T's guards were much more athletic and "springy" on the whole. I think Lewis will be fine as he works himself into his role assuming he stays healthy.
7) Coaching: overall the game plan was okay, and they seemed to attack the zone well in the 2nd half after being a bit tentative in the first half. They scored in a host of ways, but it felt as though they could have run more motion screens to free up Ike and Sharone for cuts and curls into the lane for either mid-range pull ups or takes to the cups. IOW, I would have liked to have seen them utilize their length and quickness on the wing a bit more rather than just rely on their obvious advantage on the offensive glass. We had a good bit of success getting second chance oppos, but we didn't convert enough of them easily. We were luckily good from the line when fouled, but to put a team like this away sooner, and by 20-24 points, you need to convert these O-glass bunnies. Sarr still needs to work on going up strong without losing the ball or having it slapped away. Or just keep the damn thing over your head and go up for the finger lay-in. Hoard and Sarr should ultimately have a communication advantage, but Danny needs to impress upon them to keep talking and get the chatter-francaise going. It was as quiet as a tomb in that building at times and I rarely heard any loud chatter among Deacs on either end of the floor. Although I wasn't ever closer than the last row of the lower level when I moved down to half court for the 2nd half. Defensively, still too many lapses and help defense \ rotation is either poor or tentative. They showed a desire to extend the match up zone D, but then never really showed any commitment to trapping when it was there for the taking. Also, too many times they relaxed after the initial stop or M2M pressure, only to have the A&T guy step back and drain a three. At the end of the game against a small team, Danny MUST impress upon them to push out and force a dribble drive and then rotate help if necc rather than sag back and let them jack a three. Surprisingly, A&T didn't hack and jack down the stretch to extend the game and I imagine their coach new he didn't have enough "bullets" in the fouling chamber to even do so.
Final thought: there IS ENOUGH talent, skill and shooting to exceed expectations this season. But without a better effort defensively with more communication and overall cohesion of concept, they will not realize that potential. And by potential, I mean the potential to win 17-18 games and go 10-2 / 7-9 in the ACC. They might even have the talent to win 8 or 9 if things break their way and they have more good luck than bad. HOWEVER, the big caveat to that is they need not only that same effort on the glass, but they MUST learn how to talk and play help defense without giving up so many open 3's. That's the rub almost every year in DeaconLandia but there IS enough raw talent, athleticism and IQ to make it happen. The flip side there is nary any depth -- Torry is pretty good for what he brings but he's not going to win many games for you if Chill goes down or Sharone hits the inevitable frosh slump -- and they play soft. But that is correctable with individual coaching instruction and leadership from Brandon. And I saw lots of "in the ear" chatter and admonishing after dead ball whistles and missed chances by another Deac. I think BC can help some of these young guys continue to find their comfort zone as their roles evolve or solidify. Assuming Danny does a good job of defining those roles and expectations. But BC was definitely doing just that and pointing out things a younger player could have done differently after even a good play when maybe they got fouled or when it should have been an easy put back or easier pass / play.
I know that's a lot and I apologize for the rambling wall of text, but I wanted to put these first impressions down "on paper" for posterity. I may tend to be the ultimate pragmatic pessimist, but I will concede that there is more there than I expected as far as potential and talent. They don't have a lot of margin for error, and there will be stumbles for sure, but this is a good small group of complimentary players who can exceed expectations if they continue to gel as a team and play ego-less basketball with the requisite hustle and intangibles needed to make noise in the "middle tier" of the ACC. IOW, they can avoid being basement dwelling fodder for struggling teams if they can stay healthy and they continue to generate open looks without a lot of hero ball (of which there was very little today). That is my raw and honest assessment based purely on what I saw today.
PS -- apologies to Sharone as I didn't really mention him specifically, but if he's been reading, he knows I'm high on him and I think he will be a very good player for us for years to come. He has a great "tool bag" of skills and athleticism to present match up problems for the other team. If that outside shot is falling against better competition, look the hell out. We might be the "diaper dandy" upstarts of the ACC. Time will tell.
