Positives...
* Great to see Wendell break out and lead.
* Bags picked up where he left off.
* They both had double-doubles.
* I've been a little concerned w/ how heavily Gary tends toward 3s. I've been wanting to see him mix it up more. Having 10 rebounds from his position qualifies for me, and for a freshman hose shot is off to find other ways to contribute is pretty awesome.
* Win, duh. That's the biggest. For a young team to find a way to win ugly when they couldn't win pretty is pretty significant. It'll be way, way harder to do that at Miami, but learning it vs Southern is a start.
K's radio postgame helped me w/ perspective about the negatives. NCAA rules meant they'd had to take 2 days in a row off between MSU and last night. They got in a practice early yesterday morning, and K talked about being able to predict quality of play from quality of practice. He wasn't happy about how we played by any means, but he seemed more animated about the "stupid" NCAA rule. He was really pretty chill. Not your Grant-gets-his-nose-broke K at all. This is a really different team, but it's also a really different K. This is a young team, and he's patient and understanding w/o compromising high standards. He's always been a master of motivation and adjustment, but it's amazing how he seems to keep getting better at that.
Negatives...
* So clearly it was just an ugly game where we were out of sync.
* Grayson, Grayson, and Grayson. As our senior, as our captain, as our leader on the court, he has to be consistent. He has to be the one who is more immune to external conditions. In the grand scheme of things, perhaps it's sort of harsh to say that about someone who is still just 22, but he deals with far worse pressure that's far less warranted or welcome. He wants the pressure of being our senior captain, and more often than not, he'll rise to it. He didn't last night, which has to be an anomaly if we're aspiring to winning championships this season (and oh, are we ever).
* Great to see Wendell break out and lead.
* Bags picked up where he left off.
* They both had double-doubles.
* I've been a little concerned w/ how heavily Gary tends toward 3s. I've been wanting to see him mix it up more. Having 10 rebounds from his position qualifies for me, and for a freshman hose shot is off to find other ways to contribute is pretty awesome.
* Win, duh. That's the biggest. For a young team to find a way to win ugly when they couldn't win pretty is pretty significant. It'll be way, way harder to do that at Miami, but learning it vs Southern is a start.
K's radio postgame helped me w/ perspective about the negatives. NCAA rules meant they'd had to take 2 days in a row off between MSU and last night. They got in a practice early yesterday morning, and K talked about being able to predict quality of play from quality of practice. He wasn't happy about how we played by any means, but he seemed more animated about the "stupid" NCAA rule. He was really pretty chill. Not your Grant-gets-his-nose-broke K at all. This is a really different team, but it's also a really different K. This is a young team, and he's patient and understanding w/o compromising high standards. He's always been a master of motivation and adjustment, but it's amazing how he seems to keep getting better at that.
Negatives...
* So clearly it was just an ugly game where we were out of sync.
* Grayson, Grayson, and Grayson. As our senior, as our captain, as our leader on the court, he has to be consistent. He has to be the one who is more immune to external conditions. In the grand scheme of things, perhaps it's sort of harsh to say that about someone who is still just 22, but he deals with far worse pressure that's far less warranted or welcome. He wants the pressure of being our senior captain, and more often than not, he'll rise to it. He didn't last night, which has to be an anomaly if we're aspiring to winning championships this season (and oh, are we ever).