The Bengals and their new, fast-paced style got a little bit of a reality check last night, when they took on a team that was willing to run with them. With only 9 players available, including walk-on Clint Thomas, the Bengals were starting to get gassed about mid-way through the second half of their game with Evergreen State. The result was turnovers (17) and poor defense. The Bengals still won handily, but Coach
Bill Evans was not a happy man on our post-game show.
The next dose of reality comes this weekend, with games at nationally-ranked Arizona State and San Francisco. I really like this group of kids the Bengals have assembled, and if they could have kept Magot healthy and Bradley, Slovic and Wilson eligible, I think this would have really been an intriguing season. It still is fun to watch the young players like Solarin (23 points and 10 rebounds) and Justin Smith (11 points) perform, and Hansen, Sanchez and Hatchett are steady veterans. But it's going to be hard to keep up this pace of play with such limited manpower.
Bill Evans was not a happy man on our post-game show.
The next dose of reality comes this weekend, with games at nationally-ranked Arizona State and San Francisco. I really like this group of kids the Bengals have assembled, and if they could have kept Magot healthy and Bradley, Slovic and Wilson eligible, I think this would have really been an intriguing season. It still is fun to watch the young players like Solarin (23 points and 10 rebounds) and Justin Smith (11 points) perform, and Hansen, Sanchez and Hatchett are steady veterans. But it's going to be hard to keep up this pace of play with such limited manpower.