Practice 10/3

garyeb2

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For those that didn't have an opportunity to catch today's practice on TV, I'll pass on a few observations. They were on the main floor for the 1st time. There was a pretty good crowd. Mayby 35+. Bennett's old JC team was there in mass. I don't know what the occasion was. Tubbs and Longer Longer were the notables in attendance. Buddy and Bennett were at full speed. The cameras created a little buzz and it was a fun practice to watch.

It had been all defense up until now. Today Kruger started putting in offense. There was a lot of full court 5 on 5. Not a full blown scrimmage. But, controlled to some degree. Kruger would liberally stop action for teaching.

Booker, Tyler, and Hamilton rotated in once for a very short period of time. But, there was a clear separation of red shirts and white shirts for the 1st time. There wasn't a starting 5 per say. There were 7 red shirts getting the offensive coaching and work. Cam, Spangler, Bennett, Woodard, Cousins, Hornbeak, and Buddy were the reds. Everyone else were whites. Every couple of possessions or so Kruger would rotate one or two in and one or two out. That resulted in several different 5 man lineups. Cam wasn't in more or less than anyone else. When he was in with only Spangler or Bennett he was like a #4. When he was in with both Spangler and Bennett he was a #3.

In my opinion and just for today. The combination of Hornbeak, Buddy, Cousins, Bennett, and Spangler looked the best. They were better in transition and defended better as a group. With that said, Cam had a really good practice. He was into creases, getting open and making shots. Bennett, coming off a rolled ankle, also had a really good performance on both ends of the court. At least four times Hamilton received the ball down low, made a little juke and got a soft shot to the rim. But, Bennett was all over him and altered the shots just enough that all four rolled off. If they had fallen, Hamilton would get the notice. But, it was Bennett that won today.

Hamilton was fine today. He is being challenged in new ways that will take him some time to adjust to. At this point in time, Both Spangler and Bennett are probably better than anything he had to contend with in JC. He can't go for a rebound without either Buddy or Cam climbing up his back like he was a step ladder. I still think he will get there.

I don't have any kind of relationship with Tubbs. But, he will talk to anyone that engages him. He was sitting there and I asked him what he thought. The 1st comment that he had was that he really liked Woodard. If Billy likes Woodard, so do I. Then he went into this narrative about how this was Kruger's first year to have mostly his own guys and his first chance to play like he really wanted to. And on to how Kruger was doing it the right way and how this was the year that would lay the foundation for all the good things to come. And then went on to say that Kruger was only the signing of two top 10 recruits away from being really good. I just laughed and said " Coach, isn't everyone two top 10 recruits away from being really good." He laughed too and said we were on the right track.
 
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Gary, probably too early to tell on this, and practice is always different than actual games, but how do you think our 3 point shooting will be this year? Any improvement out of Hield, Hornbeak, and Cousins? How do Woodard and Booker look shooting it?
 
Gary, probably too early to tell on this, and practice is always different than actual games, but how do you think our 3 point shooting will be this year? Any improvement out of Hield, Hornbeak, and Cousins? How do Woodard and Booker look shooting it?

I don't think it is too early to tell at all. A 3 pt. shooter is easy to spot. We don't have any.

Buddy and Hornbeak are better 3 pt. shooters than they showed last year. Hornbeak is the better of the two. They will probably both hit at a high enough pct. that defenses will have to defend them. Cousins is still jacking them up, but, that isn't so good. He is evolving into a dead eye shooter from 12-16'. I may be off a bit on Hornbeak. He has a good looking stroke and could be a go to guy from long range.

Woodard isn't a shooter from 3. He isn't looking for that shot and probably won't take them unless they leave him alone out there. Booker just isn't making shots. He kind of lays the ball over on his right shoulder and launches from there. It doesn't look very good.

Cam and Spangler are taking 3's. That isn't the best range for either of them.

I'm not saying that they are going to be a bad 3 pt. shooting team. Just average. There has yet to be a go to dependable 3 pt. shooter emerge. They will all take open 3's in transition and are being encouraged to do so. And they will probably make an acceptable pct. of them.

But, in the half court, like the last two seasons for example when they ran offense for the specific purpose of getting Pledger an open 3. We will probably see them running offense for the specific purpose of getting Cousins or Cam or Buddy an open jumper from 12- 16'. That is the strength of this years team.
 
If you watch Booker in drills he rarely misses a shot. But in action although he gets open pretty well (good news), he gets freshmanitis and misses a lot of shots he should hit (bad news).
 
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