Open Scrimmages

[WSUProf]

I was able to watch the warm up drills and the first two periods of the scrimmage. Here are my observations/thoughts.
1st, the coaching staff clearly wants to see them run, to get the ball up the court fast. It even looked like the guards were releasing rather than crashing the boards on defense.
2nd, the "first group" in the 5-man drills they were running was comprised of Braxton, Chapman, John, Nelson, and Harding. So that might be the starting 5, as this point in the pre-season.
3rd, Kozack looked solid when he was out there. If the above is the starting 5, he is clearly the first big off the bench. He did turn an ankle in the first period and sat out the rest of the time with his foot in an ice bucket. Hopefully it won't keep him out for long.
4th, Both Kupsas and Fuller look like they can contribute solid minutes. I thought Fuller was particularly strong on the defensive end of the floor. But both are strong and active.
5th, Barnes looked real good from beyond the arc. I would bet he's the first guard off the bench (assuming John, Nelson, and Harding all start). Not sure who is next between Johnson and Nero. At this point in the pre-season neither of them look as far along as Kupsas and Fuller do (from the little bit I saw of them).
6th, real good to see John back on the floor. And it looks like he's improved his outside shot quite a bit.
All in all I was impressed with what I saw. There is some solid depth among the bigs and of course there is Harding. He continues to be very impressive. As others have said on this forum - he is worth the price of admission all by himself.

 

[UtahPirate]

Love to hear something about yesterday's scrimmage. I'm out of town or I would have been there!

 

[DeeScott]

Love to hear something about yesterday's scrimmage. I'm out of town or I would have been there!

IMHO, they looked a little tired of going at each other. I know that they have been pushing it hard in practice and that they have been putting more emphasis on the defensive side since the offense seems to be running more smoothly.

In this go around, they were still pushing the pace, but they were making a huge effort to tighten up on the defensive side.

Kozak was still out with his sprained ankle. It may be another week or so for him to return. It seemed like everyone had their moments in this one. They can all play, and they may all play. There are no clear red shirt choices on the team this year. To me, the only clear starters are Braxton, Chapman, and Harding. After that, the competition for minutes will be intense.

With the change in style and tempo, I don't expect there will be many instances of guys getting 35+ minutes per game this year. I expect a regular rotation of 10 or 11 players. That is the only way you can run the way they are planning to run, and not burn out your players.

I agree with you on all points Olds. Guys are tired of playing each other and ready for outside competition. Don't know who would red-shirt from this group, if anyone, since they all bring different strengths. The main point I'd like to make is that we are a poor passing team, with a few exceptions. The emphasis seems to be on attacking the rim, and whoever has the ball gets to do that, with varying success. We have very good shooters, but those who attack the rim aren't finding the shooters very well once their drive is stopped. We've got great athletes, but not a lot of unselfishness to make the game easier for each other. The exceptions: Kupsas and Fuller and Johnson--all three set up teammates for easy shots throughout the day, Johnson especially so. I hope the coaches will figure out that poor passing is not a long-term recipe for success.

 

[n.ogdencat]

Agreed about the passing. But that was my biggest issue with Harding playing the PG last year too. I love Harding, but he looks to score 85% of the time and pass 15% of the time. There were times in the scrimmage that he could have made a pass to an open guy 5 or 6 times, but tried to score instead. The nice thing about Harding is that 4 out of the 5 or 6 times he is going to score and the other time he gets to the line. As for the other guys...Randy's past offense depended a lot on balance and assists. This offense seems far more selfish. But, I feel that as the season progresses, the guys will become more comfortable with each other and we will start seeing more and more assists. For a run and gun to work effectively you've got to have guys in excellent shape, who have great FG percentages, but most importantly, can see the floor and make the extra pass. Passing might be one of the most important aspects in a hurry up offense. Besides for this team to go far, they have to learn how to play with each other and pass the ball. Selfish play will equal 18 wins and an early exit from the Big Sky Tournament.

As for the scrimmage, I was impressed with the athleticism of the team. I really like all of the freshmen. None of them would back down and all can play. It is hard to see who could be a red shirt candidate. However, I would probably red shirt either Dima or Fuller or both, just because we haven't signed any bigs for next year and with Braxton, Chapman, and Kozak two of the three freshmen bigs probably won't see a lot of time. Keep the two that won't see a lot of time available for 4 good years of eligibility by red shirting them. Out of the three freshmen bigs, right now, Kupsas looks the most polished and ready to go (it is really close though). He would be the fourth guy and having Dallas and Morris available for the 5 and 6 guys gives the team great depth in the middle. All the guards will need to play, but we are soooo much deeper in the backcourt than last year and that will cause a lot of fits for teams going against us.