Musketeer Tip off insights

[muskieman]

Xavier fans the first time to see your team with all the new players tonight at Cintas starting at 6:30.

Both men and women teams will be introduced and have a three point contest and scrimmage.

Look to see the new guys and how they will fit into the Miller system. Sean has touted Des and McKight but with the international guys how will the team look? Quincy and Des should be the players to light it up. See how the center position looks

Trey Green the highest ranking freshman should get his time in the drivers seat

Remember the 10 tope players will be going at each other not just the starters against the walkons and the bench guys. Should be a lively scrimmage.

Will Kam Craft, Dailyn Swain, or Reid Ducharme be theman on the wing to back up the wing.

Cheer loudly and have a fun night.

[X-lucidity]

These days so many forms of social media and pay-sites to get details, but what the heck, I went to this scrimmage so a few observations. Now these random takes will be in no order of importance and more of a stream of thought. There is no need to state some of the obvious aspects, such as, Des looks fab, and like a grown ass man out there. So here goes some cliff notes:
1) Trey Green. Yes, he is every bit as diminutive as listed - but the young man can play. Jury is out on how he will be able to defend but he looks willing and confident. Biggest surprise was how quickly he can catch and shoot it from deep. Trey does not need much separation to get his shot off, and its a smooth looking stroke.
2) Starting center will be Abou. No doubt. He can score it a bit and has some nifty moves around the bucket. He is aggressive and confident. Only drawback is he was not as strong looking as I had imagined. But he can play D-1 Big East ball.
3) Reid D. Ok, saw enough to believe eventually he can contribute. Way more athletic than Kam. Raw, but upside and again, played confidently.
4) Kam - looked better and definitely will be better suited to provide offense off the bench. Jury is out on D and rebounding.
5) Kazi. the initial reports seem true. Raw, but willing. Will be a nice immediate back-up post. Fanatic rebounder.
6) Sasa. Well first of all, he constantly looks like he is having no fun most of the time. Plays with no expression, but maybe that's just his look when intensely focused. That bit of silliness aside, I was EXTREMELY encouraged. Sure he is raw. But a solid strong Freshman post. The best part is, he played with way more agility and speed than I had been led to believe. He's never going to blow you away or win any 100 yard dashes, but I see way more upside than I had hoped for. I see him really blossoming as contributor as a Sophomore and beyond.
7) Gytis, Yes please!! A Swiss army knife with attitude. Will be a fan fave and quite possibly the missing link we needed to give us a decent shot of making some big noise again this year once Sean has some time to mold this group. Tenacious competitor and believes every rebound should be his. Can shoot it and very savvy moving without ball and passing.
* The rest of our young men were basically as advertised, which is just fine: IMHO, here is our clear starting five: Dayvion, Quincy, Des, Gytis, Abou.
Going to be a work in progress, but we have some talent to develop.*

[muskieman]

Thanks for the analysis. What is your opinion of Lazar? He is the tallest guy on the team with good length. I know he will also be a work in progress, but he has more experience than Kazi(who has the dance moves along with Quincy) so can he be a force by the end of the season? I want Dailyn SwIn TO BE IN THE MIX BECAUSE HE IS BODY READY. To me all the freshmen could be outstanding in a few years

One thing good is Sean has so many options, and as a coach, he has an idea of how to use each of his pieces. It will be a tough year if they cannot mesh, although it will be very interesting. Reid is talented, but now he will be playing against very talented teams, so it will be interesting to watch his growth because he has a lot of potential.

Anyone else want to give your two cents

[X-lucidity]

No one else weighed in, so heck, I will finish my take:
- Lazar: Did not single him out 1st post because he was basically exactly what had been advertised. Long, lanky, skilled and versatile. Extremely athletic and very poised on the court. He did not look intimidated. He was very passive and unselfish 1st half then much more assertive in 2nd. I think he will definitely make top 8 and earn plenty of minutes and may crack starting line-up by late December. My main concern is he is just a true Freshman and has not filled out. face it, he is going to get pushed around vs the likes of Seton Hall, Prov, U-Conn etc. But, baptism by fire. So that is the concern, on the positive side, the sky is the limit. He reminded me of a very young Tony Kukoc, (for us old-timers) Maybe not that solid a ball handler, but he can move around comfortably with his dribble and can score from all three levels. I would venture to say, were he an American HS recruit subject to the national ratings, he would easily have been rated top 60. IMHO
- Dailyn Swain: again, as advertised, which is a good thing. I saw a post on another thread where the comment was already projecting a limited ceiling. I'm thinking, "good Lord, he is a true freshman still growing into his body..!" This kid has a bright future with X if he works hard, takes the strengthening program seriously, and yearns to be coached. Best early comp for his max ceiling would be James Posey. Not there yet with his outside shooting but again, looks like a great young man that will work hard and hone those outside shooting skills. He has the rest of that Posey package already.
- Des: obviously went to the Colby Jones school of off-season prep. Going to be a problem for other teams. much stronger and confident looking.
- Dayvion: Really like him. Quick, intense. An old school baller. Did not seem to force the action but can penetrate or hit a floater / pull-up. His 3-pt stroke looked relaxed and decent although not sure how many he will be encouraged to take. But I believe, unlike a few prior X PG's, he will be able to keep D's honest from the arc.
- Quincy: Rough night, but I will say he had good size and seemed every bit of his listed 6-3. Slender & athletic but also fairly solid. Everything you hear is that he is one of the top shooters in practice, so we can chalk the scrimmage results up to one of those nights. maybe butterflies. His stroke looked pure though.
* all in all, we may start out the season with some bumps as Sean develops his 9 man rotation. Because some of our better talent is so young with zero high-major experience. But this team should blossom and become a force in late December early Jan.
OK, that is my complete A-Z take now. Would love to hear from others who were there

[muskieman]

the two closed scrimmages should be very enlightening for the coaches and player

[Xavier2005]

Just IMHO only. The key to winning is "team chemistry" and the "ability to adjust TEAM play from game to game due to WHO you are playing" . Winning is not about always having the best players. Just a few examples and or comments to that. Kentucky has seemed to recruit the best new players each year for years and yet they have lost and only won one National Championship under Calipari. Overall it has not worked for Kentucky because they do not have team chemistry, etc. Purdue last year was ranked very high going in to March Maness, but their number ONE seed meant nothing and a 16 seed of smaller and quicker players beat Purdue badly. Purdue did not , could NOT adjust to quicker players. Briefly it takes good coaching, team chemistry, and adjusting to each opponent one plays in order to win consistently. X has tons of new players that I am sure coach Miller will train properly...but the trick is can they learn to play together and adjust before and during each game....only time will tell.