BigBird09

I realize this game was a frustrating one, but the biggest takeaway from this game should be that Aiden Sherrell is finding his groove defensively. The biggest question mark for this team was rim protection, and Sherrell (seemingly out of nowhere) evolving into an excellent shot blocker is absolutely massive to this team's upside.

"When he wants to, he's a blue collar guy"

I think Bol Bowen cooks Nate's grits a bit :lol:

I kind of get it too. He's the player that has such a wild variance in defensive intensity from game-to-game.

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Golden owns Oats, that certainly isn’t going to change this year with their massive frontcourt advantage.

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We also have a massive backcourt advantage that we didn't have last year.

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And Arizona is going to do unspeakable things to our bigs

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Now this one is going to be tough. Purdue and Arizona are the clear #1 and #2 teams IMO and it has a lot to do with their Backcourt/Frontcourt combination.

Posted this in the game thread, but thought I'd move it here.

I don't have many complaints about last night, but anybody else lose it when Allen was sent to inbound the ball? It was right after him having to call a timeout because he was hesitant to pass the ball which allowed him to get trapped on the worst possible spot of the court.

I really like Allen and it worked out, but I was floored with that decision. He's already great and will continue to grow, but he's still a freshman and that's a terrible spot for him to be in. He just showed you his hesitancy to make an easy pass and you send him out there for a crucial inbounds play with no timeouts? It definitely shows the amount of trust Oats has in him (even if it's a bit much for myself at this point )

Bristow is the exact player we've been missing on this roster. Only big we have that both boxes out really well and attacks the rebound. I actually really like him at the 5. Bristow, Bol Bowen, and Allen on the floor gives us the kind of rangy defense and versatility that we haven't had since the Miller/Clowney/Bediako frontcourt.

Samuels may not be a top draft pick, but his game suggests an efficient 20 PPG scorer at the college level (even if it's not in year 1). Harden type game (slow, deliberate, uses bigger frame to get separation instead of relying on speed/quickness). Really interesting player.

Thought we could talk about the Non-Conference slate and the results of those games here....



Oct 16 (Thu) 7 p.m. CT Neutral Florida State Birmingham, Ala. W 109-105

Oct 26 (Sun) 2 p.m. CT Neutral Furman Greenville, S.C. W 96-71

Nov 3 (Mon) 7 p.m. CT Home North Dakota Tuscaloosa, Ala. W 91-62

Nov 8 (Sat) 11 a.m. CT Away St. John's Queens, NY

Nov 13 (Thu) 6 p.m. CT Home Purdue Tuscaloosa, Ala.

Nov 19 (Wed) 8 p.m. CT Neutral Illinois Chicago, Ill.

Nov 24 (Mon) 8:30 p.m. CT Neutral Gonzaga Las Vegas, Nev. Players Era Festival

Nov 25 (Tue) 11 p.m. CT Neutral UNLV Las Vegas, Nev. Players Era Festival

Nov 26 (Wed) TBA Neutral TBA Las Vegas, Nev. Players Era Festival

Dec 3 (Wed) 6 p.m. CT Home Clemson Tuscaloosa, Ala. ACC/SEC Challenge

Dec 7 (Sun) 1 p.m. CT Home UTSA Tuscaloosa, Ala.

Dec 13 (Sat) 8:30 p.m. CT Neutral Arizona Birmingham, Ala. C.M. Newton Classic

Dec 17 (Wed) 7 p.m. CT Home South Florida Tuscaloosa, Ala.

Dec 21 (Sun) 1 p.m. CT Neutral Kennesaw State Huntsville, Ala. Rocket City Classic

Dec 29 (Mon) 7 p.m. CT Home Yale Tuscaloosa, Ala.

My takeaways:

- Philon is a player of the year candidate. Looks at an entire different level (this is backed by both the behind the scenes noise and exhibitions as well).

- Freshmen look great. Not sure how much Jemison plays with Bristow available, but held his own and didn't look out of place (just needs to trust his shot). Allen looked exactly like what he was hyped up to be in pre-season practices. Looked a lot more comfortable out there, was at a different intensity defensively and played within himself on offense (avoided the drifting and off-the-dribble threes that caused some ugly misses in the exhibition games). And Hannah is an unreal defender whose 3-ball looks a lot better than advertised coming into the program. Didn't make one but they were both down and out and the form looked solid. Had a couple pretty finishes and an emphatic slam (I think we'll see a lot of those).

- Sherrell scared me a bit in the exhibitions. Moved slowly and looked out of sorts on offense. Looked a lot more mobile, active defensively, and had a very advanced moves on one of his finishes today that has me excited. Williamson also looked a lot more mobile than I expected and as advertised sets some great screens. I imagine Onyejiaka is going to have a high foul rate, but love his activity (5 rebounds in 6 min) and he seems to offer two things that are essential for this team (rim protection and rebounding).

- Mallette is so active. Not going to be a star player, but such a projectable glue guy for this team.

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It’ll have to be the freshman big man. Just don’t think Sherrell and Williamson will be very good low post defenders.

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I think you mean "rim protectors". Sherrell is a great low post defender, he just lacks the athleticism and even instincts of a quality rim-protecting big. To your point though, I thought Onyejiaka had good instincts the limited few minutes he was in. Likely a high foul-count guy (which is probably his barrier to getting minutes), but I would have liked to have seen more of him last night.

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If Sherrell/Williamson/Onyejiaka are more than adequate we should be very good. If they are soft on defense, we may get carved up with little to no rim protection.

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Yeah, based on the comments, this seems to be the staff concern as well. Love that they seem to think Onyejiaka could contribute, but I didn't like Oats saying "we might need his rim protection" which kind of suggests the other 2 are lacking in that area. Quite easily my biggest concern with this roster.