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David Joseph is the first point guard we've had in BG since Brandon Pardon. Under control, good decision maker, reads defenses, strong ballhandler, sound in every way. He keep this team in every game we play. An obvious winner.

Zach Denny also looked very, very good.

Dickerson will slide to PF and Parker will be the 3 after all. Parker has greatly improved his outside shot and is very mobile.

Two concerns:
1. Holmes looked nothing like the player from last year. Although he obviously put on a lot of muscle, he seemed to be out of condition and seemed to have lost a foot off his vertical.
2. Tisdale barely got off the bench. Is he coming off an injury?

I noticed Tisdale sitting a surprising amount as well. I thought he would be a strong player for us this year...not sure what that's about.
Holmes just looked tired. Maybe just frustrated from an off day. He's been the main man on the team...hope tonight was just a bump in the road.
Really excited about the depth of this team as well...players coming off the bench look solid. Jovan Austin made some plays that I'm sure raised a few eyebrows to say the least.
Overall very excited to see where this team can go this year!
Eight days until tip off!
Roll Along!!

They didn't play the lineup you are talking about with Parker and Dickerson once. Why are you so certain that will be the case.

Parker even played as the only big man at the end of the game.

Joseph is just what this team needed. Plays with incredible pace and I'm surprised at how good his jump shot looked. Jans was all over him early as I'm sure he knows how key his play is for this team. Not sure where Clarke fits into this team as Denny is gonna get starter minutes. Thought Holmes got into no flow due to 3 horrendous fouls called on him. Overall, I enjoyed it. BG bench actually looked competent for the first time in the Stroh. Going to be a fun year.

Globetrotter wrote:They didn't play the lineup you are talking about with Parker and Dickerson once. Why are you so certain that will be the case.

Globe, you might have noticed that Jans was subbing players in and out VERY frequently. It's mathematically impossible that that particular permutation did not occur at least once.

Seriously, I make this statement solely on the basis of their respective styles of play. Dickerson is a power player, strong with great hands.

David Joseph looked sharp in all aspects of his game. Jovan Austin looked good slashing and shooting as well. Outside these two everyone else looked rough or as a work in progress. When Denny gets up to speed he looks like he could be a nice outside threat with hustle on the boards but needs work on the rest of his game along with the rest of the team. I like Denny's play but he's not the got-to guy yet. In time I'm sure he could be.

Defensive rotation, offensive spacing and handling pressure on ball while pressed and in half-court offense were the most obvious weaknesses tonight. Hopefully this will be fixed as everyone falls into their roles in the rotations and combinations used during games. Lots of promise but a work in progress for sure. I look forward to seeing how they develop. This will be an exciting

BleedOrange wrote:

Globetrotter wrote:They didn't play the lineup you are talking about with Parker and Dickerson once. Why are you so certain that will be the case.

Globe, you might have noticed that Jans was subbing players in and out VERY frequently. It's mathematically impossible that that particular permutation did not occur at least once.

Seriously, I make this statement solely on the basis of their respective styles of play. Dickerson is a power player, strong with great hands.

Yeah lots of subs, but Parker never played with 2 other bigs. I do agree that Dickerson as much more girth. I think he will be in at the end. It might play out like you said.

Tisdale has been battling some injuries per some earlier article I read so its good that he played at all

Very excited that I got to go to the game. Some interesting things with what I saw from the rotation. Obviously it can change a lot but it gives us a good snapshot about how the season will start. I missed the first five minutes as the student worker couldn't figure out how to print my ticket. LOL

1. Pepe Joseph 6-0 187 JR: As noted above he looked great. He is as advertised and what I think we could see in his highlight video. He has great control of the game. He is strong so he can absorb and give contact. He also has a nice stroke off the dribble. I didn't see an exceptional facilitator but it didn't look like weakness either, I mean he didn't look like a shoot first guy at all, although he clearly can score. The main thing is that he will be a steadying force at PG. Which is great.

2. Anthony Henderson 6-1 175 SR: Henderson started at the 2 which makes tons of sense. He is a ridiculous athlete and looked like he has added some strength. Someone described him as a great defender which I have not seen either way, before but I think he has the athleticism and strength to do it. He played the most in the game by far.

3. Zach Denny 6-2 184 SO: Denny was probably the one I was most pleasantly surprised by. He looked a lot stronger and more athletic than I expected. He was always aggressive on both sides of the ball for sure and actually led the team in rebounds. It won't be hard to like him at all. The only negative is I just hope he's quick enough on defense. He got blown by a couple times. Can anyone tell me if he was denied his medical redshirt?

4. Spencer Parker 6-7 210 JR: Parker played just 13 minutes likely due to foul trouble. While watching I can see the frustration with having him at four. He's not a pure four as some have said. When he has to bang for rebounds, that's not his strength. I think he can battle and score in the paint and stretch the floor a bit from his spot. We will be ok with him there but he will have to rebound better.

5. Richaun Holmes 6-8 245 SR: Holmes didn't have a great game. As others have mentioned he didn't look as explosive as last year. Let's hope it' a short term situation and not due to either him adding mass or having to play the five spot.

I missed the first five minutes but from what I could tell these were the first four in.

• DeMarkeo Lyshe 5-11 160 SR: After the first half Lyshe looked like the primary backup at the one. Another big surprised from the walk-on. He looked average in that half, a little sloppy and he got blown by on defense more than you would want. He was not out of control on offense and ended up with 10 points. He didn't play much second half if I recall.

• Garrett Mayleben 6-9 245 FR: Mayleben was in much earlier than I had expected. I think he can get real minutes at the five and where that can help us the most is allowing Holmes to play the can play Holmes at four. I think Flipper pointed to this in the offseason. He was more athletic then expected and seemed really smart. However he seemed limited when it came to his coordination and quickness. I hope that progresses. I am not sure that he will fill up the statsheet at all but I think he will end up getting 10-15 minutes a game.

• Delvin Dickerson 6-5 232 JR: Delvin seemed like a leader for the team already, which makes sense because we have not really had a vocal leader in recent years and I don't think that fits Holmes mentality. He was really big and has the body of a four if not the height. I think he and Parker could play together as was already mentioned. He will be a lock to stay in the rotation along with the 5 starters, a fan favorite and I think one of the guys that we want in at the end of games.

• Jehvon Clarke 6-1 183 SR: Clarke looked really sharp to me. I think that he will play the two or three at times. He will have games where he scores the most on the team and games where he scores very little. Not having to play the point will be huge for him. He won't have to think as much and he can just play. While I am a bit worried about Holmes fit in his new role, I think Clarke will finally be able to play where he fits best.

Fifth in Chauncey Orr 6-4 195 JR: Orr was the fifth backup in. He was active immediately from the start. He is so smart and such a good overall basketball player that he truly is the ideal utility guy. He won't make mistakes, might get a rebound, assist, basket etc. I feel like he is one of the players still finding his niche in the rotation. He came in with starters in second half. I bet there are games where he is in at the end with a majority of the starters and games where he doesn't get a ton of PT.

Sixth in Josh Gomez 6-10 226 JR: Gomez looks thinner but about the same player. He isn't as athletic as Mayleben but likely fills a similar role when he plays.

Seventh in Rasheed Worrell 6-7 205 FR: Rasheed played 7 minutes and had 7 points with the 2 best offensive low post moves I saw in the entire game. He had 2 take notice offensive plays and one take notice defensive play where he didn't step up at all on a fast break and gave up an easy layup. I think he will slowly make his way into the rotation this year and in future years end up the rock of our offensive post game. He looked very talented with some rough edges.

Eighth in Jovan Austin 6-1 174 JR: It was surprising that Austin didn't come in until the second half. That seems to indicate he is behind Lyshe on the depth chart. He didn't play like he would be there for long. Austin was very quick and had two great scoring drives and a great pass to Parker for a dunk. He will be a fan favorite as he has the best handles on team.

Ninth in JD Tisdale 6-4 185 SO: Tisdale came in very late and only played six minutes. I think he has a long term future on this team with his size and athleticism but it doesn't look like he will play much this year. I wouldn't be surprised if he is redshirted if you can you play in exhibition game and then redshirt. Also has had some recent injuries.

Overall notes:
1. The team looks much bigger and athletic. Loved the depth.
2. Oddly, we didn't look tremendously better than ND but didn't look bad either.
3. Loved watching Jans on the sideline. He seemed so much more active and in control.
4. Our defense and press break both looked rough.
5. When they switched to zone we struggled to score. I think that Denny saves that.
6. Played an interesting 4 guard lineup at the end with Holmes as the only big.
7. It was awesome to see the team cheering on the walk-ons on the end when they were getting their points. really great team thing to see.
8. I think we go nine deep each game with the Starters, Clarke and Dickerson. One of Lyshe and Austin, One of Mayleben and Worrell.
9. Rotation looked like
Pepe-Lyshe-Austin
Hendo-Clarke
Denny-Clarke-Orr
Parker-Dickerson
Holmes-Mayleben-Worrell

10. 2014-2015
1. Pepe JR-Lyshe SR-Austin JR
2. Hendo SR-Clarke SR-Tisdale SO
3. Denny SO-Orr JR
4. Parker JR-Dickerson JR
5. Holmes SR-Mayleben FR-Worrell FR-Gomez JR

11. 2015-2016
1. Pepe SR-Austin SR-Hluchoweckyj FR
2. Denny JR/SO-Tisdale JR/SO-Andrews JR
3. Parker SR-Orr SR
4. Dickerson SR-Worrell SO
5. Mayleben SO-Gomez SR-Friday FR

Jalone Friday 6-8 220 Class of 2015 HS
Jamir Andrews SG 6-3 195 Sheridan College Juco
Malik Hluchoweckyj PG 5-11 169 Nebraska

Globe your assessment is good as usual but I see a couple of areas of concern. A couple of the bench guys and one of the starters need to up their game in the areas of ballhandling and defense.

My questions about the team would be:
Can Lysche physically play at this level? Rooting for him but he got pushed and punished at times.
What is the best line up if they are under heavy pressure or being pressed? Saw some that did not handle it well and face it ND isn't at the level of MAC schools.

Complete speculation but was discussing this morning about the pgs and we were wondering if perhaps Austin skipped a class or something and was sitting the first half for disciplinary reasons? Dunno but from what I saw of their skills there is no way Lyshe should be taking his minutes.

hammb wrote:Complete speculation but was discussing this morning about the pgs and we were wondering if perhaps Austin skipped a class or something and was sitting the first half for disciplinary reasons? Dunno but from what I saw of their skills there is no way Lyshe should be taking his minutes.

Wouldnt surprise me. Another thought is i wonder if it has something to do with playing in control. Worrell and Austin seem like two of the top athletes on the team. Jans seems to really be focused on playing under control and I could see both of them going too fast at times. Just playing and not playing within the system enough. That's something I think Lyshe can do. It's not like Lyshe played poorly, but I agree that I don't think he is as good as Austin.

I'd love more input from those who came. Especially on the first five minutes.

FalconTurf wrote:Globe your assessment is good as usual but I see a couple of areas of concern. A couple of the bench guys and one of the starters need to up their game in the areas of ballhandling and defense.

My questions about the team would be:
Can Lysche physically play at this level? Rooting for him but he got pushed and punished at times.
What is the best line up if they are under heavy pressure or being pressed? Saw some that did not handle it well and face it ND isn't at the level of MAC schools.

Agree with all of your comments. They struggled in breaking the press. It was a simple one too. Who did you think struggled in ballhandling?