Here's what he had to say:
This is Paul, aka drive2fast, aka irish cowboy.... yeah, so anyway, I attended the exhibition game tonight and was very, very impressed with several things:
1. There were more people there than I remember from last year's exhibition opener, but I guess being #7 in the country does that.
2. When the starters were on the floor they just made it look too easy.
3. Keaton Grant definitely seems to have his touch back.
4. Patrick Bade certainly looks like he's got a B10 body, but he did struggle through most of the game. He may take a while to get adjusted. I'd consider him the most likely of Bade, Byrd, and Barlow to get a redshirt, but maybe not if he proves he can rebound.
5. We should have rebounded better. (Hopefully this isn't repeated after
every game this season)
6. The freshmen all made freshmen mistakes, but that's ok, they're freshmen. I personally thought they looked more comfortable than I remember JJ, Hummel, and Smooge looking in their first game. Physically they all looked pretty strong.
7. DJ Byrd is ready to go. He was ready to go the second he subbed in. The paint crew flaps their arms for him and I think that's going to become something signature and frequent in the next 4 years.
8. Kelsey Barlow can defend pretty well and looks like he has a lot of potential offensively as well.
9. John Hart is a solid 6th/7th man with really good speed and defense.
10. Sandi Marcius, at least from far away, looks like he might even be a hair taller than JJ, but maybe that's just the boot he's wearing.
Those are my thoughts, figured I'd share them in case none of you guys made it in person.
Boiler Up!
-Paul
And while I don't know if I agree with the idea that Bade will be redshirted...simply because of frontcourt need, differences in opinion make the world go round and really are the main reason we all meet here at BS. Thanks, Paul!
5 comments:
There is no way in hell that Bade redshirts. His size is way to important to our thin front line, especially with Marcius getting injured.
Watched the game via bigtennetwork.com's live video feed. I'll do a recap of how I feel the newcomers and lesser experienced guys played. In general, the freshmen need to learn to play defense. That will come in time.
Byrd -- this guy is going to be an offensive spark plug for our team off the bench. He's very assertive on the offensive end, but needs to work on his passing and how he takes care of the ball. Defensively, he's not moving his feet enough. At this point, I don't get the Kramer comparisons. He's just not at the same level defensively as Kramer (and I doubt he ever will be), but I think he'll be a much better offensive weapon than Kramer.
Bade -- he's not really ready to be a solid post in the Big Ten, but he's going to be forced into that role because of our frontcourt depth. He, like Byrd, needs to move his feet more and not play defense with his hands. Under the basket, he needs to establish his position, block out, and time his jump for rebounding. His value will increase big time if he can improve his rebounding. He actually surprised me with some athleticism when he made that steal and sprinted down the court to tomahawk slam the ball home.
Barlow -- he seemed to be the best decision-maker out of all of the freshmen last night. He doesn't seem to force anything on the offensive end, but he looked smooth with his shot when he had the chance to shoot. Defensively, he needs to learn to move his feet more. He has a LOT of potential to be a great defender during his career at Purdue. I dunno if he should redshirt -- I can see arguments on both sides. We'll see how that shakes out.
Sandi -- he looked huge on the bench. Bummer that he can't use these 4-6 weeks to get his feet wet.
Smith -- he looked better than I expected on the defensive end. The charges he took were great. However, this was against a D-II team. I still think that his playing time will be limited unless he starts hitting those threes during the game.
Hart -- he's got quickness and looked comfortable defensively. I think he tried to do a little too much on the offensive side and needs to let the game come to him. I think it is unlikely that he is able to really work into the rotation just because we have such a deep backcourt right now.
Coleman -- he doesn't seem to play like a Freshman (let alone a walk-on freshman). He looked confident and even had a little bit of an attitude. Sank his first three. I think he can be a valuable walk-on.
Wohlford -- this is no new scouting report, but the guy plays with a lot of energy. He seems to make smart decisions with the ball and may get some minutes in certain situations early on in the season while the newcomers learn.
Didn't see enough of Anthrop, Loveless, or Day to be able to comment.
The starting 5 looked great with one exception -- I was hoping for Johnson to get better position under the rim and grab some more rebounds. I hope he doesn't take too many shots on the perimeter to show he can be a 4 in the NBA. I just don't see the skills for that yet and it comes at the expense of our rebounding.
thanks for the info, guys. i wasn't able to watch the stream last night. i haven't been able to find a single word about Hummel. what gives? keep up the good work at bs. love it!!
I liked what I saw from the starters. They were very fluid on offense, tough on defense, solid in transition, the whole nine yards. The bench was a bit rough on offense. I would attribute it to first game jitters, since they seemed to click on defense in the second half. I might just be spoiled, since we were very deep last year. Wohlford passed on several open shots, there were a lot of turnovers trying to force the ball through closed passing lanes, and we weren't as tough on the boards as I thought we would be. They just seemed to be confused out there when the starters were sitting.
I agree that Bade is the most likely to redshirt of the freshman. He has a lot of talent, that much was evident, but he seemed to struggle with mentally staying in the flow of the game. I'm sure he will come around, but he was definitely the least impressive bench player. Even when playing with the starters, he seemed out of place pretty often. Of course, he could have a monster game against Kentucky Wesleyan and make up for it.
I just got back from IU's exhibition opener (my cousin plays for Grace, their opponent). What a bunch of clowns down there in Btown... Grace had it tied until about 1min to go in the first half and was in it through the start of the 2nd half.
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