This was the last practice before a several day break till Sunday. There was well over 100 people in attendance.
The practices are starting to get repetitive and it is getting harder to find things to talk about. The differences from day to day are in degrees, not monumental shifts in performance.
Booker continues to impress with his toughness. He likes to get in close and scrap for rebounds. Tyler's magic shooting streak ended as quickly as it started. He was missing badly from all over the gym. Buddy had his 1st really good practice. His shot was falling and he was all over the court doing everything well.
Hornbeak and Cousins are the two that have played at the most consistently high level over these first four practices. It would hard to find fault with either one of them. Right behind them are Woodard and Spangler. They have both played well everyday. But, they both have some getting better to do. They both look like players that can get better quickly.
Cam has also done a good job. He has been the consistent Cam. The big step forward that myself and others were hoping to see has yet to materialize.
Cole looked really lost over the first two days. But, over the last couple he has settled down and made a handful or really nice plays. He needs to get better too.
I mentioned this once before. There has been a major upgrade in the walkon talent. I don't have their names memorized yet. One guard is from Norman and another is from Gore. The forward sized kid is from the Dallas area.
They all step right into the rotation and do well. They sometimes excel. The forward might be the best and at times has looked better than one of the players on a free roll. The team will be better because of these kids contributions in practice.
I've been off track a little when talking about the Woodard - Cousins competition for the point guard spot. Cousins has been at the point very little. He might show up there from time to time depending on how Kruger split the squads up. But, the two point guards in camp are Woodard and Hornbeak. They are getting the vast majority of the minutes at the point. When they switch from offense to defense they are the ones defending each other. All of the good work Cousins has done to this point has been from the #2 guard spot.
From that perspective, for me, picking an early starting five gets more complicated. Hornbeak is easily the best right now. But, it is no big stretch to see how high of a ceiling Woodard has.
On a side note. Grooms is still hanging around the gym and working out. He has always been an easy guy to talk to. He said that both he and Pledger were going to get a look from a squad in Italy. M'Baye held on to his roster spot thru the Las Vegas summer league but was most likely going on to France where he would be almost a lock to get paid well.
Just out of curiosity I asked him how much time they spent watching film during the season. He said that depending on the position it would be an hour and a half more or less every day. That number surprised me some.
The practices are starting to get repetitive and it is getting harder to find things to talk about. The differences from day to day are in degrees, not monumental shifts in performance.
Booker continues to impress with his toughness. He likes to get in close and scrap for rebounds. Tyler's magic shooting streak ended as quickly as it started. He was missing badly from all over the gym. Buddy had his 1st really good practice. His shot was falling and he was all over the court doing everything well.
Hornbeak and Cousins are the two that have played at the most consistently high level over these first four practices. It would hard to find fault with either one of them. Right behind them are Woodard and Spangler. They have both played well everyday. But, they both have some getting better to do. They both look like players that can get better quickly.
Cam has also done a good job. He has been the consistent Cam. The big step forward that myself and others were hoping to see has yet to materialize.
Cole looked really lost over the first two days. But, over the last couple he has settled down and made a handful or really nice plays. He needs to get better too.
I mentioned this once before. There has been a major upgrade in the walkon talent. I don't have their names memorized yet. One guard is from Norman and another is from Gore. The forward sized kid is from the Dallas area.
They all step right into the rotation and do well. They sometimes excel. The forward might be the best and at times has looked better than one of the players on a free roll. The team will be better because of these kids contributions in practice.
I've been off track a little when talking about the Woodard - Cousins competition for the point guard spot. Cousins has been at the point very little. He might show up there from time to time depending on how Kruger split the squads up. But, the two point guards in camp are Woodard and Hornbeak. They are getting the vast majority of the minutes at the point. When they switch from offense to defense they are the ones defending each other. All of the good work Cousins has done to this point has been from the #2 guard spot.
From that perspective, for me, picking an early starting five gets more complicated. Hornbeak is easily the best right now. But, it is no big stretch to see how high of a ceiling Woodard has.
On a side note. Grooms is still hanging around the gym and working out. He has always been an easy guy to talk to. He said that both he and Pledger were going to get a look from a squad in Italy. M'Baye held on to his roster spot thru the Las Vegas summer league but was most likely going on to France where he would be almost a lock to get paid well.
Just out of curiosity I asked him how much time they spent watching film during the season. He said that depending on the position it would be an hour and a half more or less every day. That number surprised me some.
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