After a couple of days off they got back together for a spirited and energetic practice Sunday at 4:00. Basketball practices can become repetitive and boring pretty quickly. One has to enjoy the process of coaches teaching and players learning to stay interested.
The starters today were Woodard, Buddy, Cousins, Bennett, and Spangler. Coach pretty much stuck with that group all afternoon. While Hornbeak and Cam stayed with the 2's most of the day, I wouldn't want to suggest that either of them were destined to be anything less than major definers of our chances for a good season. Hornbeak is still the best 3 pt. shooter and Cam still looks the most likely to be the teams leading scorer.
I think that the implication is that it might be a different starting 5 of the 7 depending on the opponent and matchup ups. And a different 5 might finish a game in crunch time than the 5 that started.
The white shirts were Hornbeak, Booker, Cam, Tyler, and Hamilton. They made a very good account of themselves and offered up stiff opposition all day. Hamilton is making progress daily. I'm not raising the flag and tooting the horn declaring him as the ingredient that takes us to a new level. But, we need a big off the bench to come in and deliver solid spot minutes. He is starting to look more and more like that kind of a guy every day.
Booker, on a day to day basis, is making progress. I'm not just talking about his shooting. He seems to be trending toward being an acceptable shooter. He is running the floor, defending, and fitting into the offensive schemes some better every day.
Woodard, by far, is the most improved player since the summer practices started.
They will break into guard and big drills a couple of times a day. Cam alternates back and forth. Tyler has been with the bigs for the last couple of practices.
Yesterday revealed an example of how much further along this team is than previous ones. On the practice schedule handout at about the 5:15 segment was written "Intro to off. vs. zone." Two seasons ago Kruger didn't get to that level of instruction until after the 1st regular season game. That group, when they started practice, literally, didn't know which foot to put in front of the other when playing defense. Last season that course of instruction made it in during the last week before the 1st game. That kind of stuff doesn't mean that this group of players are better or worse than previous groups. But, it does mean that this group will enter the season better prepared to play than either of the first two groups.
As far as the players that stood out yesterday. Cam, Hornbeak, and Cousins probably were the most frequent scorers. Cam went thru a couple of stretches where he was just scoring at will. Hornbeak made good play after good play. Buddy seems to be able to make that baseline move and get to the rim whenever he wants to.
The starters today were Woodard, Buddy, Cousins, Bennett, and Spangler. Coach pretty much stuck with that group all afternoon. While Hornbeak and Cam stayed with the 2's most of the day, I wouldn't want to suggest that either of them were destined to be anything less than major definers of our chances for a good season. Hornbeak is still the best 3 pt. shooter and Cam still looks the most likely to be the teams leading scorer.
I think that the implication is that it might be a different starting 5 of the 7 depending on the opponent and matchup ups. And a different 5 might finish a game in crunch time than the 5 that started.
The white shirts were Hornbeak, Booker, Cam, Tyler, and Hamilton. They made a very good account of themselves and offered up stiff opposition all day. Hamilton is making progress daily. I'm not raising the flag and tooting the horn declaring him as the ingredient that takes us to a new level. But, we need a big off the bench to come in and deliver solid spot minutes. He is starting to look more and more like that kind of a guy every day.
Booker, on a day to day basis, is making progress. I'm not just talking about his shooting. He seems to be trending toward being an acceptable shooter. He is running the floor, defending, and fitting into the offensive schemes some better every day.
Woodard, by far, is the most improved player since the summer practices started.
They will break into guard and big drills a couple of times a day. Cam alternates back and forth. Tyler has been with the bigs for the last couple of practices.
Yesterday revealed an example of how much further along this team is than previous ones. On the practice schedule handout at about the 5:15 segment was written "Intro to off. vs. zone." Two seasons ago Kruger didn't get to that level of instruction until after the 1st regular season game. That group, when they started practice, literally, didn't know which foot to put in front of the other when playing defense. Last season that course of instruction made it in during the last week before the 1st game. That kind of stuff doesn't mean that this group of players are better or worse than previous groups. But, it does mean that this group will enter the season better prepared to play than either of the first two groups.
As far as the players that stood out yesterday. Cam, Hornbeak, and Cousins probably were the most frequent scorers. Cam went thru a couple of stretches where he was just scoring at will. Hornbeak made good play after good play. Buddy seems to be able to make that baseline move and get to the rim whenever he wants to.
