early impressions of the team

haven't seen a thread like this so far so i thought we could all pool together our early impressions of our team this year, player by player here it goes by class...please excuse the ridiculously long post.

tomas: no disrespect to him, a great teammate but thankfully out of the rotation. simply not a big east player

mason: it's a shame what happened, it hurts us on a few levels. the obvious is mason is the one proven guy on this team that can score on big east competition (burrell on a smaller level). we'd all kill to have omari, hardy and obviously lance should a miracle occur and he falls in our lap. transfers happen yes but this puts us in a tighter spot. which two leave from this group?

rob thomas: whoever saw the game last night saw what he's capable of doing. i know it was against loyola, but he has what you can't teach which is a nose for the ball and the basket. with some players, the ball just gravitates towards them and rob is one of them. he's obviously in much better shape than last year. will he ever be what he was at at wadleigh and south kent? probably not which is a shame, but he's crafty, when he gets the ball down low, 80% of the time he will score or get fouled. 4 boards last night but about 5 other that he kept alive for us. in my opinion, he's our best back to the basket player right now (not saying much i know).

paris horne: probably my favorite player on the team right now.  i just see something in him, pound for pound the best athlete on the team. when norm signed him he said he could be one of the best defenders in the big east and while it might be a stretch, he works hard and already is a very good defender. when he gets the ball on the break it's almost an automatic 2 pts. 3 pt stroke looks pretty good. the question is will paris' and dj's improved 3 pt shooting be good enough to keep big east teams from playing zone and packing it in. while its not bad, probably not.

dj: has played great for us so far. same things as last year, nose for the ball. hasnt turned it over as much as last year so far. he has been thrusted into the role as one of our top 3 scorers. 42% from 3 pt land early, a sign of improvement or an abberation? the question is, is he now ready for big east level competition or will his numbers fade once he faces top flight teams like last year. last year he showed he plays better without mason, this year we need him to.

evans: obviously improved. the alley oop he grabbed from dj last night.. WOW. seems to be using his left hand to finish way more than last year. still hasnt made a jumper in 1+ years here but he's showed he can dribble a little bit and he's fearless. we need him to rebound. still misses too many layups (some ugly) but he's shown signs.

burrell: ironically, in my opinion he's shown the least improvement of all the sophs. doesnt mean i think he isnt the best of the bunch bc tools wise of course he is. where has his 15 ft jumper gone? this was money last year and he's taken about 2 the entire season (made both). still loses rebounds and entry passes on regular basis. seems like he isnt always focused. jumps higher than everyone, but mistimes them which is he hasn't put up the rebounding and shot blocking numbers we all expect of him. needless to say, if we want to be respectable this season, JB has to become an animal, we need at least 13 and 8 from him, at LEAST.

coker: big improvement. the stats havent showed it yet but if you watch the games you know that last year he was a half a step late on EVERYTHING. the weight loss has helped him so much. last night..15 minutes, 8 pts 5 boards 3 steals and 3 blocks. last year he wouldnt have had 1 block, he was close but was planted to the ground. he has a bounce that he showed on his offensive board and putback last night. wouldnt expect much more than a few pts a game a game this year but we need a couple blocks a night out of him, its been so long since someone on our team could intimidate down low.

malik: our MVP. he is lightning fast and wants to run and so far thats where we've done our damage. imperative he stays out of foul trouble bc early on, when he is out this team suffers immensely. great defender always but seems comfy running the show now. slightly more aggressive on offense and even averaging 4 boards a game. if he doesnt play 35 minutes a game in a given game, chalk it up as a loss.

quincy: smart player. not a bad athlete, but not as quick as i thought. has a good handle. twice on the 3-2 break, made a two foot jumpstop looked the defender off, bounce pass for a layup (exactly what Dick DeVenzio taught me and what PGs are supposed to do right Marillac?). More of 2 guard obviously, but in spots dont think he would kill us handling the ball.

ty: two nights ago my post would have been different. obviously is physically overmatched at this point. but his elevation and form is good, gets off the floor quickly.. seemed like more confident last night than against eastern mich. the numbers dont match, however he seems like he is a logical transfer for next year. if we dont get lance, who backs up at PG, and god forbid boothe gets hurt.

good analysis, sounds like you have attended most of the games this year is this true?  I have a couple questions for you... How do you think we stack up against last years team?  What about Phil Wait?

kjd, i went to the last two home games. I have listened and watched all others however they were available.

unfortunately wait hasnt played in the last two games so it wouldnt be fair to assess him (left him out by accident though). but from watching him in warmups and what i've read about, this kid is huge and he's not a stiff. he towers over everyone on the team and gets up there on some nice reverse dunks in the layup lines. he's no cujo, he can move for his size. surprised/disappointed to see norm fail to get him in the last two games despite the relatively easy wins

Excellent analysis.........very objective. My only disagreement is singling Ty out as a "logical transfer". Agree that he is physically over matched now but he has skills and speed. Give him some time to develop. Norm needs to find at least some time for Wait (10 minutes a game in the non-conference games). Surprised that Tomas got minutes over Phil in the E.Michigan game.     

I think it is a good anaylsis, QF.  You are right about the Roberts in transition as well.  I think both Ty and Q are very well schooled in the fundamentals.

I believe you may be overrating Coker a bit, but everything else seems right.


It looks like this year DJ will be 1A and Paris 1B with Burrell as our inside scoring option. I hope that it is enough to keep us close, but I fear it is not.  DJ is my favorite player on the team.  I really like Horne in transition and shooting open three's, but he needs to be a bigger part of the halfcourt offense.

You are spot on with Malik's minutes.  If we can't go 35, we are toast in the Big East. 

Good stuff Queens.

You're probably a little too optimistic on Rob but I hope you're right and he can give us a scoring option once he gets some of the rust off.

Agree on Coker.  There is potential...if he could only stop fouling!

Malik has to play perfect.  We can't afford him getting 4-5 TOs a game like Geno did.

thanks guys, not trying to go crazy, but overall im pretty happy with the improvement of the sophs.

marillac, didnt see you but wondering if you happened to be at the game last night? stats were pretty good, but there were a few plays where you could see he would have missed by a half step last year but last night he got them (both blocked shots and boards). i know it was against loyola but just watching him you could see he has bounce he didnt have last year. please dont give up on him yet 

sfgny, i didnt mean to imply i wanted ty to transfer, because he showed me a few things last night that i was impressed with. but when you look at the roster and the numbers for next year, assuming mase comes back, its hard to come up with a way to get both of our guys here (and what if lance comes???). in my opinion big guys leaving are out of the question...then who goes? cant say dj or paris or even quincy leaves ahead of ty. i never like to see any player pushed out the door but something has to give next year...

queensfinest.........see your point about Ty and we have a while to see if this becomes an issue (Lance both committing and qualifying). It has been suggested by some that Mase Sr. might pay for the Mase Jr.'s 5th year and that would take care of Lance's ship. Nice solution but probably not going to happen. Hoping that  everyone improves this year and we'll worry about the 14th player next spring. 

queensfinest.........see your point about Ty and we have a while to see if this becomes an issue (Lance both committing and qualifying). It has been suggested by some that Mase Sr. might pay for the Mase Jr.'s 5th year and that would take care of Lance's ship. Nice solution but probably not going to happen. Hoping that  everyone improves this year and we'll worry about the 14th player next spring. 

and this is how rumors start.

Disappointed that JB hasn't done more against weak competition.  I hope he is more motivated against better teams.  Physically, he looks incredible.  DJ is also my favorite player so far.  He is very aggressive on both ends of the floor, as well as crashing the boards.  He plays with terrific energy and his jumpshot looks great.  He squares up well, elevates and is perfectly balanced when he releases.  I predict that he will be our best outside threat this year. My biggest concern remains the backup PG slot.  I think Quincy can handle the ball well enough.  If he can create and find the open man, with his size, he will be a big contributor.

I think the team will look much better than last year.  I just hope that we can replace Mase's points and that it all translates into more victories.  I think we will definitely be more competitive against the better teams that blew us out last year.