BigBird09

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.

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Latrell Wrightsell Jr. is the best shooter on this team and one of the best defenders. He will play big minutes if he's ready.

The man had BAD injury luck the past few seasons. Concussions and an Achilles injury while at Alabama.

Hopefully that changes this year!

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My thinking that we should save heavier minutes for tournament time has nothing to do with his ability. Concussions and Achilles injuries are perhaps the 2 most problematic common injuries to have in sports, because they don't tend to go away. The smart approach for me would be to ease him in as a rotation guy and ramp him up later in the season as a prevention to losing him for the important part of the season.

We need to restrict Wrightsell's minutes regardless of him being physically/mentally ready until tournament time. He has a very significant injury history and we need to not rely on him playing big minutes early. This protects him for the season, but also makes us less reliant on him in the case he does go down again.

My prediction based on what we've heard...

G - Philon
G - Aden
F - Allen
F - TBB
C - Sherrell

6 - Mallette
7 - Wrightsell
8 - Bristow
9 - Jemison

I don't think it's outlandish for people to think Bethea wouldn't start, because in all likelihood one of Aden/Bethea would likely need to come off the bench regardless. I think the part that hurts most is Aden and Bethea were kind of the de facto ball-handlers for when Philon wasn't on the floor. Philon already slated for major minutes and now Aden for better or worse is almost guaranteed to be top 2 in minutes played until Bethea gets back. Sick of losing key pieces early in the season/pre-season.

Shabazz Napier and Kemba Walker immediately comes to mind because of how good they were, but high-minute guys like Remy Martin, Quinn Cook, Tyus Jones, Ryan Boatright, Kyle Guy and Joel Berry all are on rosters of the last 10 National Champions. To your point, it's hard to overcome playing smaller guys if they aren't great on the other end. If Aden is average offensively next season, then he probably doesn't need to be playing much. But elite offensive players at this level are still very valuable regardless of defensive limitations.

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We aren’t three deep at center types but there could be a lot of length. We may have enough length that starting Holloway could work.

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Don't really need to be three deep at center. I think Holloway starting is definitely possible, but I really like him in a high-minutes bench role.