Exhibition vs Wilmington College

[wsuairstrike]

My take aways:
Team looks more athletic and has potential to be deeper. I thought Bruskotter and Davis looked good.

Norris had some great moments. He made a great shot inside the paint and then came back down the court to hit a Trey Calvin like 3. But he also looked like he was fighting to just cross half court against their whatever division guard - so that doesn't seem great.

They ran zone a few times which was nice to see. Sargeant was vocal and helpful in zone, same with Noel.
With that same thought, Andrew was lost a few times and better opponents will take advantage of that.

The new video monitor looks awesome.

[refrigeratorraider]

- Brandon Noel didn't look like a preseason player of the year candidate and I thought our bigs didn't look good with 2 exceptions: 1) Michael Imariagbe dominated the boards in the 1st half and 2) Ayden Davis looked good in the post and even knocked down a 3-pointer during his time in the 2nd half.

- Lots of substitutions to see a lot of different lineups in the 1st half. I saw a couple of preseason projections that included Norris-Huibregtse-Welage in the starting lineup. I don't expect to see this combination on the court at the same time much as the defense could be bad. Tonight all three were in the game together at one point and Wilmington got a quick, easy basket.

- I was very surprised to see that Andrea Holden was the first freshman in the game (and the only one in the first half). There's a lot of raw potential with his size and athleticism. Hopefully it comes to fruition.

- I'm still not sure what to expect this season, but looking ahead to future seasons, I think Solomon Callaghan and Alex Bruskotter could be stars.

[guyinstandswithbeer]

My main takeaway from the exhibition is that everyone saying we needed to sign an experienced point guard in the spring was right and this team is going to struggle against D1 competition since our staff failed to do that.

[nomeara]

Heard Logan Woods looked like a new confident player. I could see us going 10 deep and playing as a very scrappy team. I’m oddly optimistic.

[Admin]

Wright State basketball: Norris leads way as Raiders romp in exhibition

www.daytondailynews.com/sports/wright-state-basketball-norris-leads-way-as-raiders-romp-in-exhibition/TBV62DX7E5DXPB767BHLDWBRBM/

[hokieraider]

My thoughts/observations (Caveat: Could not get any clue about how they will be defensively because of the level of the opponent (we'll get that from the UK game), so what follows is almost all based on offensive or play style):

- We know what we're getting with Brandon, Alex H, Andrew, Logan, and Drey, so not much to discuss there. All are going to play a lot
- Of the newcomers, Jack Doumbia is the one who really stood out. He is going to get lots of minutes and will really help us.
- Michael I showed toughness and a passion for rebounding. Should make us more stout inside, and free up Brandon Noel to do his thing. Hopefully the toughness we saw last night also translates to defense against D-1 bigs. He will stay in the starting 5.
- Keaton Norris actually has a shot, and most surprisingly, was willing to use it! Perhaps this is just no longer having Nagy in ear to never take bad shots, but I was very surprised that when he was open, he uncorked it without hesitation. (Buyer beware, The caveat above about defense still applies)
- Played a little zone to start the second half, and to be kind, its still a work in progress. Looked bad even against this level competition -- Oakland or NKU who practice against zone every day would kill it. Somewhere Nagy was watching and muttering "see, I told you so". Hopefully this will get better, and we'll continue to use it for a few possessions per game as a change of pace just to throw the other team off guard. We'll also still need to occasionally play zone to cover bad one on one matchups against athletic guards.
- Solomon Callaghan is going to be really good. I expect some freshman growing pains, but he will likely get significant playing time. This team may have an ability to go very athletic (or match up when Oakland goes very athletic) by pairing him with Logan Woods, and Drey Carter. Add in Jack Doumbia, Michael I or Brandon/Alex to cover the offensive end, and we'll have a lot more options to match up with teams that are just too quick.
- May have been the opposition and a blowout, but I detected that Clint is more likely to play 9 guys regularly and possibly 10.
- The true freshman Brosketter and Davis have clear offensive talents, its obvious why we recruited them. I'm not sure how long it will take to adjust to the college game and the defensive end, so will be interesting to see if they are red shirtted. I almost expect Davis to play some simply because we need bigs. Both didn't get in until the second half, and at times looked liked true freshmen, so I dont think they will be in the regular rotations to start the year. But the offensive ability is clearly there to harness

Now on to atmosphere:
- The tarps across all sections was just weird and creepy, but ironically, if they are going to do it to increase the look on TV, they should bring the tarps down even a few more rows based on last years crowds and where the cameras can see. And based on the attendance last night (maybe 1200-1300?), we could come down 6 or 8 more rows for the pre Christmas games!
- The signs they provide the student section to hold up seemed to have multiplied by three. Was odd seeing all those signs sitting on empty seats... Seemed to also be more banners in front of the student section, but hard to really tell because...
- We have cheerleaders! Not just 6 or 7 as in the past, but they've tripled in number to more than 20. Don't know how this came about, but there clearly is an increased emphasis, and were more on the court doing their thing during timeouts. Still had the usual dance team and promotional 3 point shots, etc, but the cheer section was much more present. Too bad they were about the only students in attendance.
- To the previous poster who lamented about no promotion of the game, I was on campus Thursday and Friday and the promotion was everywhere. I don't use social media, so can't comment on that, but the signage and tabletop flyers seemed really high, especially for an exhibition game. Still were very few students actually in the seats.
- The hideous music played too loud continues (I know, get off my lawn boomer...). This isn't the NBA, let the pep band play more and cut back on the piped in crap

[hokieraider]

Yesterday was a great day to be a Raider fan. Went from volleyball to the baseball intersquad game to basketball exhibition. We need more days like this!

[paulkris]

To me it was as much fun as a blow out can be. It usually takes me 2-3 games to get into the flow and see what's really happening so I appreciated the exhibition.
Michael I. reminds me a lot of Thad Burton. He rebounds strong and can make free throws when he gets fouled doing it.
Norris showed confidence and really ran things on both ends. In think Gentry will be a big help for him.
Keeping in mind the competition was about the same as a really good high school team I thought our freshmen played well. League play may show their weaknesses but if they can get some minutes early and adapt to the pace they can help us. I was surprised by Ayden. He was a lot smoother under the basket than I expected him to be. Some nice moves.
Finally, I sit about 15 feet from the bench and have a good view of the coaches. Clint is not Nagy. Right or wrong he doesn't yell or stamp his feet. We'll see how that works out but my impression is that the players will respond to correction without being hammered by verbal abuse.

[vikingdog]

[raidergrad98]