oxfordreb
11-03-2007, 01:33 AM
I was lucky enough to get to attend the exhibition matchup tonight at Tad Smith Coliseum to see the Rebels take on Delta St. A nice crowd was on hand, at the most I'd say there were 2000 people, and there was even a mini student section (kinda strange for a Friday night, huh). Here are a few observances that I made:
1) They played with LOTS of intensity. More so in the first half, but it was amazing to see those guys get after it like they did for an exhibition. I mean there were guys spilling on the floor, going HARD to the rim, fighting for rebounds, it was just really great to see that kind of effort.
2) The second half they came out really flat. It wasn't until about 10 min. to go in the second half that they acted like they woke up. I guess this should somewhat be expected coming from a team that has so much youth.
3) I don't know the official stats, but there were a couple of guys that knocked the lights out with 3 pointers. The point guards Warren and Smith both had good shooting nights from behind the arc and the other guy I can't remember his name, maybe Gaskins or Graham?, knocked down three 3's in a row. It's nice to see that we still have a 3 point threat after losing Clay.
4) The youth showed some real dominance. I was really impressed by the play, although limited, of Malcolm White, a Rivals 4 star that Kennedy picked up last year. He is built like an NBA player and really has a nose for rebounds. He has so much strength, yet he settled a lot of the times for the fade away shot instead of putting it on the floor and going to the hoop. The Mott CC transfer Watson really impressed me with his rebounding and defense. He was not nearly as tall as many of the guys on the floor but he always seemed to get his hands on a loose ball. The point guard Warren looked really good for the most part, but he seemed to get himself in some binds every now and then b/c he's so quick, he would get ahead of his thought process it seemed. He's like greased lightening and man, y'all should have seen it when he slammed it tonight, the place went nuts. I thought he was like 5-8, but they have him listed as 5-11 on omsports.com. It doesn't really matter, to see someone so undersized go up and dunk the ball, it was awesome. David Heuertas played a really good game and did a little bit of everything on defense and offense. He would probably be the MVP if they gave one.
5) The veterans also showed up. D. Curtis had a solid game for the amount of minutes that he got. And more than anything, I was astounded at the intensity of J. Parnell. That boy came to play. Last season, he always appeared sluggish to me and not a great ball player. He really played well tonight, mostly on defense and rebounding, but he also contributed some in the points category. Polinice showed that he has matured alot from last season, he made a lot of good decisions with the ball and made some really nice steals. Kenny Williams did not dress out for some reason. He was walking around like he was healthy enough to play, but who knows, maybe we'll find out in the papers tomorrow.
I'm sure there are things that I'm leaving out, but all in all, this was a great game to go and watch and gives me alot of hope for the rest of the season. I know that Delta St. isn't a good measurement of what kind of talent we will be facing through the regular season, but to play with the drive that they had tonight was something special. If they can carry it out the rest of the season and into SEC play, we'll be contending for the West again, I guarantee it.
1) They played with LOTS of intensity. More so in the first half, but it was amazing to see those guys get after it like they did for an exhibition. I mean there were guys spilling on the floor, going HARD to the rim, fighting for rebounds, it was just really great to see that kind of effort.
2) The second half they came out really flat. It wasn't until about 10 min. to go in the second half that they acted like they woke up. I guess this should somewhat be expected coming from a team that has so much youth.
3) I don't know the official stats, but there were a couple of guys that knocked the lights out with 3 pointers. The point guards Warren and Smith both had good shooting nights from behind the arc and the other guy I can't remember his name, maybe Gaskins or Graham?, knocked down three 3's in a row. It's nice to see that we still have a 3 point threat after losing Clay.
4) The youth showed some real dominance. I was really impressed by the play, although limited, of Malcolm White, a Rivals 4 star that Kennedy picked up last year. He is built like an NBA player and really has a nose for rebounds. He has so much strength, yet he settled a lot of the times for the fade away shot instead of putting it on the floor and going to the hoop. The Mott CC transfer Watson really impressed me with his rebounding and defense. He was not nearly as tall as many of the guys on the floor but he always seemed to get his hands on a loose ball. The point guard Warren looked really good for the most part, but he seemed to get himself in some binds every now and then b/c he's so quick, he would get ahead of his thought process it seemed. He's like greased lightening and man, y'all should have seen it when he slammed it tonight, the place went nuts. I thought he was like 5-8, but they have him listed as 5-11 on omsports.com. It doesn't really matter, to see someone so undersized go up and dunk the ball, it was awesome. David Heuertas played a really good game and did a little bit of everything on defense and offense. He would probably be the MVP if they gave one.
5) The veterans also showed up. D. Curtis had a solid game for the amount of minutes that he got. And more than anything, I was astounded at the intensity of J. Parnell. That boy came to play. Last season, he always appeared sluggish to me and not a great ball player. He really played well tonight, mostly on defense and rebounding, but he also contributed some in the points category. Polinice showed that he has matured alot from last season, he made a lot of good decisions with the ball and made some really nice steals. Kenny Williams did not dress out for some reason. He was walking around like he was healthy enough to play, but who knows, maybe we'll find out in the papers tomorrow.
I'm sure there are things that I'm leaving out, but all in all, this was a great game to go and watch and gives me alot of hope for the rest of the season. I know that Delta St. isn't a good measurement of what kind of talent we will be facing through the regular season, but to play with the drive that they had tonight was something special. If they can carry it out the rest of the season and into SEC play, we'll be contending for the West again, I guarantee it.