Thoughts on this year's team entering the conference season?
1-Overall, it's hard not to be pleased with the team as a whole at this point. 10-1 is nothing to sneeze about, even though a substantial portion of this might as well have been against the Little Sisters of the Poor. Still, in recent years we would have found ways to snatch defeat from the jaws of victory against at least one of those teams, and I really don't think we would have had the mental toughness to come back against Xavier or weather the storm when the momentum shifted towards Dayton, so I am going into the new year feeling more cautiously optimistic than I have in a while. Will we lose some games that we could have otherwise won when our shots don't fall and we refuse to consider a plan B? Probably-but as has been noted by others defense travels and this team seems to care more about that end than some recent editions.
2-While I wish i shared others optimism over the value and importance of CJ Frederick for this team, I just don't see it happening. It's sad, but I think his legs just keep betraying him and keeping him from getting into the flow. I hope I'm wrong for his sake, but hard for me to believe he makes it back to be a consistent contributor. Would be awesome if he has a game where he catches fire and shoots us to a victory late, though.
3-Conversely, while I appreciate the value of the advanced stats to try to better assess the totality of the game, I still think Connor Hickman may be doing more things that don't show up well enough on the stat sheet, including knowing when to slow things down and when it is important to take a shot in the flow of the offense without forcing things. He also provides sneaky bounce on defense and rebounding from the guard spot.
4-I can similarly appreciate that Dan Skillings Jr can sometimes play out of control and frustrate the **** out of the viewer-I still think he brings something unique to the table and this team has an extra gear when he is in. When he is playing hard, he brings the rest of the team along with him. As an example, in the Xavier game, yes he probably committed a lane violation on that free throw rebound-but he was the only one going for it full blast at that point and put the rest of the team on his back when they were looking shell shocked-we went from losing every 50:50 ball all game to grabbing every loose ball and rebound down the stretch when it mattered, and I really think he had a major role in that. He also provides length and athleticism that is hard to replace. In the Dayton game, there was a play where he was late rotating to one of their guards setting up in the corner, then went airborne on the shot fake, had the guard blow by him as he went sailing past into the bench, but still managed to get back into the play and block the shot from behind-athleticism and long arms made all the difference, and I don't think anyone on team other than him or Dillon Mitchell could have made that play. When Skillings is fired up and playing hard, the team goes with him.
5-Dillon Mitchell-speaking of athleticism and long arms, he is a ton of fun to watch, especially since he seems to always go at max effort and with a smile on his face. The free throws and jump shot are....sometimes cause to avert one's eyes, but I'll take the ability and willingness to switch to defend all 5 positions, the ability to jump out of the gym, and an apparent genuine love for his team and this place any day. Would actually love to see him drive to finish a bit more in the new year though.
6-The lobs-yes, i know the misfires are painful. I'll honestly take them though-this team has shown that they are not a gimmick but rather a legitimate tool for this offense. 98% of Aziz's offensive game is as an elite rim-runner and the lobs play into that, as well as for Mitchell, Page, Skillings, etc. The threat of the lob keeps defenses honest and helps get them away from the "throw it around the perimeter and chuck a 3" bearcat "offense". I'll take the misfires in return for the change in mindset to trying to aggressively get to the rim.
7-Speaking of Aziz-I'd like to do a tracker on the number of opposing guards he has absolutely obliterated on screens this year. TBH, i think he has been moving a bit on a couple, but he has absolutely laid out a bunch-reminiscent of team's past.
8-Simas gives, and then sometimes he takes (and takes and takes and takes 3s). Good player, good size, needs to do more to help the team when the shot isn't falling (and when it is frankly). He needs to occasionally drive the ball rather than hunting 3s exclusively. Right now, he is dong nothing to keep defenses honest-the smartest thing to do is to sag off him and dare him to shoot logo 3s-yes, he will hit a few, but the law of averages catches up and many of them are totally disruptive to our offense.
9 i kind of feel the same way about Jizzle and the midrange shot-there is a reason teams let him take that elbow jumper over and over. Drive to the rim and finish through contact a few times and force them to defend you all over the floor.
Apparently have been storing up a lot of thoughts for a while. Sorry for the novella. Fired up to see what they get done the next few months!
LL