Some observations:

1) Was very encouraged by the lowpost play of both Chase Paar and Hunter Dean.  These guys will need to be able to finish when defenses attempt to take away our three point shooting, and each seems more than capable.

2) Chase ought to greatly benefit by playing with James Bishop.  Their AAU history certainly helps.

3) My biggest criticism of James was that he appeared to only be looking to score or pass the ball to Chase.  Understandable given that this was a pre-season scrimmage but I'd like to pay close attention to how well James gets all of his teammates involved as the season progresses.

4) Noel Brown may or may not be ready to regularly contribute but he certainly looks to be more than a first-year project.  When this team needs a key late game rebound, it looks like he should be on the court.  Was also the first player JC mentioned under the category of "pleasant surprises" so far.

5) Was Matt Moyer pressing?  Regardless, he will need to do a better job at converting high percentage shots.

6) None of the freshmen B's (Brelsford, Ball or Brown) appeared to wilt under any pressure.  (Not that this counted but the first organized scrimmage available for streaming should count as a potentially pressure situation.)  Hard to know how many minutes will be available but each seemed ready to make the most of them.

7) There is three point shooting and then there is very long three point shooting.  Sloan Seymour has range that we have not seen since Matt Hart and before that, Nemanja Mikic.

8) The ability to play JNJ and James Bishop effectively together might be this team's most important storyline.  They were on opposite squads yesterday but it's not crystal clear yet how this is going to work.

9) Am always concerned about players who feel the need to put the team on its shoulders as opposed to playing within a team concept.  Jack and Moyer are seniors who could potentially develop this tendency.  Bishop and JNJ will have the ball in their hands a lot and JC has expressed favoritism towards point guards who can score.  This is especially concerning when considering that the two most naturally gifted scorers on this team could turn out to be Battle and Paar if given the opportunity.

10) It will therefore be up to JC and staff to figure out how the components of this team best mesh.  An upgrade in talent and athleticism are apparent but the jury is still out on team cohesiveness (which would be the case no matter how yesterday's scrimmage unfolded). 

If I had to bet today ...

5 Paar/Brown/Stallings
4 Moyer/Dean (eventually)/Battle
3 Battle/Seymour/Moyer/Jack/Ball
2 Nelson/Jack/Battle/Ball/Brelsford
1 Bishop/Nelson/Brelsford/Leftwich

A lot of guys are interchangeable so lineups could vary based on opponents.

 

Last edited by GWRising (11/13/2020 11:46 am)

I think eventually the following 9 guys will see almost all of the minutes ...

Paar
Brown
Battle
Jack
Moyer
Nelson
Bishop
Seymour
Dean

How JC chooses to play them may depend on chemistry, opponents, injuries, offense skills versus defense skills, rebounding etc. With this team it may be more who finishes the game versus who starts it. 
 

While there were clearly times where the team was a bit rusty (notably free throw shooting - minus James, Tyler, and JNJ), I will say I came out pretty encouraged - certainly a whole lot more than I did at last year's event where it seemed like guys were having a tough time making shots even at shootaround. The team looks to be a lot further along than I expected. With the number of new faces, I thought the chemistry was pretty good. Yeah there were errant passes here and there but not too much of that overall.

Bishop definitely looks like he will be able to take on Armel's usage this year. He did try to force the issue a bit, but overall showcased his talents on the floor. While he does feel like more of a 2 than a pure point guard, it will be nice this year to have a distributor who can actually knock down some jump shots. James was consistently converting from the midrange, and having seen a few of his games at MSJ, he is definitely a guy capable of stepping up in crunch time, especially in games where we are playing from behind. That go-to guy is somebody that has been missing from the team. Nothing against JNJ, but I think James can be that guy for us. As others have mentioned, when he did pass he was looking for Chase, and their chemistry could be seen. Defensively, he was not as good but it's just a scrimmage. He had around 18 points or so in the game.

Chase looked like the most complete player on the floor. He appears to have shed some weight and is looking pretty mobile out there. I think conditioning was one of the main issues last year which forced JC to take him out, but I think he is capable of taking on a larger load should JC decide to give it to him. Chase was blocking shots throughout the game, and finishing in traffic with some really nice post moves. I also liked that he let it fly from the perimeter once or twice. The shot didn't fall, but defenses will have to respect that moving forward. JC also mentioned him as a guy who can push the ball in transition - for a big he has really good vision looking ahead which bodes well for our more uptempo style - he did a good job finding Tyler on one play. I had him for 14 points.

It was encouraging to see Sloan create his own shot on that pull-up midrange shot, but otherwise not really too much to report. He has a ton of range without a doubt, but his shots were pretty contested in the game and if it was an actual game, I wouldn't have considered those to be great shots. If he was splitting time with Maceo, I'd still give the edge to Jack based on seniority and defense. Sloan should definitely see a lot more time should we be playing from behind. He had 8 points in the game.

Matt from a scoring standpoint definitely seemed to rush his shots a bit although I do like his slashing ability. With guys who are more focused on shooting like Sloan on the team, playing Matt along with him adds a nice balance to the offense. One thing that won't get mentioned is Moyer's passing - he consistently made the extra pass to Chase underneath and those two seemed to be on the same page throughout the game. The offseason work between the two seems to have paid off. JC wants to play him at the 3 and I'm not sure he has the shooting for that, but he definitely could handle the 4. His drives to the hoop actually reminded me a bit of Bo Zeigler, and I think Matt might have that kind of season. He will have maybe a quarter of the games this season where he booms and finishes in double figures, while others might be more modest in term of stats. It's awesome that we have more depth where it could be a different guy on any given night. He had 3 points.

Tyler showed some promise on both ends. He turned Jamison over once along the baseline and had some bright moments in transition, which I think was one of the bright spots of the team as a whole yesterday. Per Synergy, we scored 1.121 points per possession on offensive plays in transition last year which actually ranked 29th in the country in efficiency, however we only played 10.7% of our possessions there, which was 330th. Hopefully our going more uptempo will lead to more opportunities for us in transition as well instead of slowing things to the halfcourt. I hope he can play for about 5-10 minutes a game as he gives us another potential shooter. Tyler had 6 points in the game.

Hunter as others have said was a pleasant surprise during the game. There have been reports that he could step out and shoot the three, and it was nice to see that on display with that late shot in the first period. That gives the team a unique look with a 6-10 guy who can shoot it like that - maybe somewhat similar to a Baylee Steele at Duquesne last year. JNJ definitely looked his way many times when he was in the game, and that alley-oop play in transition was awesome. We didn't have a threat like that last year who could finish like that - JNJ might have been the closest to that as a guard! The most impressive play to me though was his post-up. Matt did nothing wrong on defense, but Hunter muscled his way and finished nicely over him which was a pretty narrow window. I could see a way where he plays his way into the starting lineup, but I think Chase has solidified his position there with his play yesterday even when Hunter becomes eligible midseason - it could also remain based on matchup. Hunter finished with 11 points.

JNJ definitely looks like he put on a ton of muscle. Part of the reason I thought James wasn't great defensively was that Jameer was consistently blowing by him on drives to the hoop. JNJ has the speed to beat his man off the bounce, but I wonder how things will look against teams that zone more where those lanes might not be there for him to drive. I will say his form on his free throws looked a lot better, and he rolled in a midrange shot as well even though his threes all fell short. Still, I think the most promising aspects of his game were his passing and defense. He made good decisions for the most part, including some nice feeds to Hunter as mentioned as well as Jamison in the second period. He stole the ball from Bishop at least 3-4 times in the game, and I think he can make a play for all defensive team this year - he also has the ability to block shots with his vertical hops. After Gilyard, I honestly think he could finish second in the league in steals. I had him for about 18 points or so.

There's not much to report on Maceo. He was his solid self making a three, finishing in transition with a dunk, and had a couple defensive plays where he used his length to cause some disruption. He had 8 points in the game.

Jamison was very quiet in the first period, and he had a peculiar moment where it looked like he was rising for a dunk but didn't get all the way up and was denied by the rim (he did recover and put the ball back in though). The second period was a completely different story, and his teammates finally started getting him the ball. His stroke is just so pure from deep. Like Chase, he has shed some weight and looks a lot more mobile. As JC mentioned in the game, it has helped his mobility and create more separation on his shots. Jamison also made a more concerted effort to get to the hoop as well. The only thing I will mention that was a bit loose was his ball handling, as both Tyler and Lincoln knocked the ball out of his hands. Still, his five straight threes was very encouraging and I think his lost weight will put him in great position to have a stellar sophomore season and perhaps be the best shooter in the conference. Battle had 18 points in the game.

Noel showed a lot of promise offensively but like Tyler and Lincoln, needs to do a better job of closing out on shots defensively. He has a really nice touch around the rim and converted on some tough shots. While he didn't necessarily show a rim protecting prowess, I think his ability to hold down the paint will be really big for our defense moving forward. We were great at running guys off the line (especially earlier in the year when we were healthier) but the lack of a rim protector down low didn't really make opponent lives harder near the rim as AT and Javier weren't vertically explosive. While Noel will be playing behind Chase and Hunter (midseason), I hope we do get him in for some run this season. Noel had 4 points.

I liked Lincoln's defensive presence. He did a pretty good job of staying with his man although Jamison did cross him up a bit on his three point hot streak. During his time at Williamsport from what I've seen he tends to defer to his teammates a bit on offense - not a bad thing by any means, but I think he is capable of getting a bucket for us a game should he see action if he hunts for his shot a bit more. I believe he was the only player in yesterday's game who didn't attempt a shot. Still, he did show promise and I think he will be a nice piece down the line.

Brandon had a nice floater attempt in the lane, but it rimmed out, and Ace had an aggressive drive to the hoop as well and drew a foul. Neither will probably see too much action, but having familiarity with the offense and defense is a good thing, and in the unfortunate scenario that there are any injuries, I think both could handle some spot minutes here and there.
 

Paar reminds me of a young Yegor.