Game 1 - Loyola Md

Dixon is quick as hell. Somebody go ahead..

That was a nice move to the basket

Clark can’t guard like the rest of the guys. He shouldn’t try to, just leads to fouls.

Heron is good

Man I'm over the moon with Heron. I can't even remember the last big guy we had that with his skill and movement. He can do a little bit of everything.

And LJ with the rebounding. I'm a very happy camper right now.

Gonna take a few games before I stop seeing #14 spotting up for a lefty J  and thinking NOOOOO! Got Kassoum on the brain.

Only thing bad about this half is Simon and trimble’s haircuts

This is good

At halftime I went to get a beer from the fridge and Keita fouled me.

Incredible half. I couldn't be happier. Heron is so physical! Clark crashing offensive glass...LJ ripping boards...Dixon is lightning quick...Trimble looks solid as can be on both ends. Simon benched most of the half and will have to learn to fall in place with more perimeter talent.

Keita sucks though. Fouls every possession.

Heron posting up is a thing of beauty!

No more Abe keitas

Very early to make any proclamations but it certainly looks like LJ could be everything we thought Bashir would've been

Final thoughts on the opener:

Heron is awesome. Strong and skilled in all facets. I love him posting up...vicious drop step. I'm thrilled with him. He's exactly what we needed last year. He's a 98-99 type player.

Ponds is Ponds but looks a little faster and appeared to get after it more on defense. Pleased.

Figueroa is a favorite already. The kid follows every shot hard. He's going to be a terror on the offensive glass. Good passer, skilled, dribble is a little high for my liking but he can play for sure. It's been years since we had a wing do what he did tonight.

Clark had a solid showing. He followed a lot of shots on offense and he hit a few good looking treys. The dribble drives will be there later in the year. Good looking center for us.

Trimble looked good to me. He had a few uncharacteristic turnovers playing loose but he looked great on D and his pace matches well with a lot of the new guys.

Keita fouled every possession. I don't see what he offers over Simon or Clark.

Roberts...I don't know why but I like this kid. Moves exceptionally well and seems to embrace the big man role.

Simon had some glimpses. When he's near the offensive glass he's a monster. It's a shame it is only on fastbreaks, his own putbacks, or after he inbounds under the basket. This kid has double-digit rebounds written all over him. He's so dangerous around the basket. His pace of play doesn't really gel with Ponds, Heron, Clark, Trimble, and Figeuroa.

Dixon is QUICK. Wow. Him and Ponds could be trouble later in the year when we press.

I know this was a pre season game and they won by 30 but i was disappointed that they put the reserves in and didn't win by 50. But I wish they had murdered them all and their live stock as well and ravished their women and salted the earth so that nothing there would grow thereafter.

Still, 1-0 is a good start.

Man I'm over the moon with Heron. I can't even remember the last big guy we had that with his skill and movement. He can do a little bit of everything.

And LJ with the rebounding. I'm a very happy camper right now.

Heron a big guy? LOL You would think Peter Dinklage was a big.

The biggest takeaway tonight should be the offensive motion created by the sets the coaches have put in. Running off screens, perimeter movement, skip passing....and all of it with going towards the basket in mind. We threw up some shitty shots, but for the most part, there was an offensive game plan and I could not be happier with what I saw from it. No more weaving at the top of the key until 10 seconds left. Coaches put kids in positions to be successful. I also saw lots of talk from the bench tonight about cutting, screening, etc. Very, very encouraging.

Heron/Ponds/Dixon lineup will be fun.

Man. This team is stacked.

one of my takeaways is that the team has some exciting players that make it a fun year, but you can see that they are still learning to play together.  Give them a month and the t/o's will go down (hopefully).  liked the switching on defense. 

Also nice touch at the game, as AD introduced an alumnus "Legend"--tonight it was Tarik Turner and hopefully this will be done for all home games.

Sloppy play in the second half annoyed me; wish they put the foot on the throat and extended the 30 point lead to 40 instead allowing it to be in the low 20s.  But that will hopefully come with time and learning how to win, which this core still doesn't know how to do.  That said, I really liked the motion offense in the first half and the aggressive D.  These guys will get better offensively as they learn to play together and it seems we have a number of interchangeable parts so that we can switch on D, harass the ball and play passing lines.   

Best part of coming on here after being at the game tonight, is being able to
laugh at some of the posters posts instead of the usual crap on here lately.
Isn’t it great when you win and you just know you will be seeing many more wins this season than usual.

Quote from: Marillac on November 06, 2018, 07:16:09 PM

Man I'm over the moon with Heron. I can't even remember the last big guy we had that with his skill and movement. He can do a little bit of everything.

And LJ with the rebounding. I'm a very happy camper right now.

Heron a big guy? LOL You would think Peter Dinklage was a big.

He's 6'5 220 and he played like he's 250...throwing guys around. What would you call that? He has legit guard skills on both ends but can post up and rebound. Keita is three inches taller and can't even wipe his ass without falling.

I was prepared for him to be be disappointing but he was great and more importantly you can tell he's dialed in with Ponds and Figueroa.