Chi State was not going to let Rupert or Ebube hurt them. All the way to the end they triple teamed every time they had the ball. With that athletic ability and triple teaming it doesn’t give a good picture of what the five position can give us. If we keep hitting 3’s and mid jumpers that should loosen up at some point.
Ebube tweaked his hip last night. Was in pain on the bench. I think he'll be fine, but something to keep an eye on. X was pre-season 3rd team MVC this year. I look for him to end up 2nd or 1st team. He is playing at a very high level and is still not 100% recovered from his knee injury. Ferguson and Davis are the athletic wings we have been in dire need of for a very long time. Armon Fletcher was the last talented athletic wing we had and Davis and Ferguson are even slightly taller than Armon. Rupert didn't score much last night because Chicago State packed it in defensively. However, he did other critical things to help us win. He is much improved in rebounding and defensively. Stulic got blown by early last night, but was solid defensively the rest of the game. At 6'6" I really like his game. Even with our injuries we have a solid 9 deep rotation. I hope Miller gets acclimated. We really need him to be a solid backup PG and give us some quality minutes at the 2 spot also. I'd like to see improvements in his game and more contribution from him. Mullins is high on his upside.My take-aways are: (1) This team is more up-tempo, crashes the boards more and applying more front-court pressure than previous Bryan Mullins' teams. (2) Why A.J. Ferguson didn't get more minutes last year that he did is a mystery. It was like his sophomore year was wasted. (3) Trent Brown has finally stepped up to become the 3 point shooter that was always his repuation but never much showed itself during actual games. His defense has always been there, and now it appears his 3 point shooting is there. (4) Scottie E seems slightly injured. Not a real outstanding performance last night. (4) Xavier is sneaky good. 21 free-throws without a miss, including 10-10 last night! (5) Love the effort on D last night. The guys played hard.
Agree with a lot of this. Regarding Ebube, I've noticed he's been crashing to the floor quite a bit these first three games. Love that he's playing hard and scrapping in traffic, but especially in light of his injury situation last year, that style does make you worry about his durability with such a big body. As for Johnson's free throw shooting, even more than his soft touch, I love the mental toughness that consistency from the line shows. Hopefully he's taking and making a lot of big free throws this season.
I understand the competition has been weak so far, BUT big surprises this year:
- XJ has been phenomenal. Averaging 19.7 pts, 5.7 ast, 1.7 stl, and only 1.7 turnovers. He's made such a big jump this year in terms of production and he's done it with limited practice in the offseason. He's been everything we could have asked for and more so far.
- Trent Brown: Always played solid defense, but his scoring/3pt percentage has been much better than I thought and has been a big contributor.
- AJ: Really good on D and great at getting in to the lane and scoring. He's also been a great rebounder which we've needed from the guard position. If he's able to start consistently knocking down shots from the outside look out!
- Scottie: Huge presence down low and can score with either hand. Looks a bit quicker this year with the ball and is a nice presence down low on D. Struggles with smaller/quicker big men on D, but can take advantage of them on the other end.
- Stulic: He's shot the ball really well from outside so far and does have the ability to drive and score when guys close out on him too hard. Still a bit slow on defense, but hasn't been a glaring issue yet.
Disappointments so far:
- Miller: Has shown a tendency to foul quite a bit when guarding on D despite being quick enough to stay with the guys he's guarding. Completely non-existent on offense (honestly looks scared to shoot the ball sometimes) and turnover prone. I know it's a big step up in competition, but I didn't expect him to look this bad. it's obviously still early, but we desperately need him to improve to get X some rest if we want to have a chance.
- McGee: I'm not sure he's really got much of a run so far this year (for whatever reason), but I expected him to be one of the first guys off the bench. Not sure if he's still making his way back from an injury or if others are just better in practice, but I've been surprised by his lack of minutes/contribution so far.
Others on the team have played well too (Rupert, D'Amico, and Davis), but have been about what I expected from them so far this year. Overall, really excited with how they've played so far and they get a big test on Tuesday with JMU. That will be a good measuring stick. Let's hope these guys are ready to go.
I understand the competition has been weak so far, BUT big surprises this year:
- XJ has been phenomenal. Averaging 19.7 pts, 5.7 ast, 1.7 stl, and only 1.7 turnovers. He's made such a big jump this year in terms of production and he's done it with limited practice in the offseason. He's been everything we could have asked for and more so far.
- Trent Brown: Always played solid defense, but his scoring/3pt percentage has been much better than I thought and has been a big contributor.
- AJ: Really good on D and great at getting in to the lane and scoring. He's also been a great rebounder which we've needed from the guard position. If he's able to start consistently knocking down shots from the outside look out!
- Scottie: Huge presence down low and can score with either hand. Looks a bit quicker this year with the ball and is a nice presence down low on D. Struggles with smaller/quicker big men on D, but can take advantage of them on the other end.
- Stulic: He's shot the ball really well from outside so far and does have the ability to drive and score when guys close out on him too hard. Still a bit slow on defense, but hasn't been a glaring issue yet.
Disappointments so far:
- Miller: Has shown a tendency to foul quite a bit when guarding on D despite being quick enough to stay with the guys he's guarding. Completely non-existent on offense (honestly looks scared to shoot the ball sometimes) and turnover prone. I know it's a big step up in competition, but I didn't expect him to look this bad. it's obviously still early, but we desperately need him to improve to get X some rest if we want to have a chance.
- McGee: I'm not sure he's really got much of a run so far this year (for whatever reason), but I expected him to be one of the first guys off the bench. Not sure if he's still making his way back from an injury or if others are just better in practice, but I've been surprised by his lack of minutes/contribution so far.
Others on the team have played well too (Rupert, D'Amico, and Davis), but have been about what I expected from them so far this year. Overall, really excited with how they've played so far and they get a big test on Tuesday with JMU. That will be a good measuring stick. Let's hope these guys are ready to go.
The thing about Miller is it actually hasn't been a step up in competition ... yet. They've played Kentucky State, Queens and Chicago State, so there should be nothing about the opposition that would cause him to struggle to this extent. Mullins did make a good point postgame about how XJ had a rocky non-conference after he transferred, so hopefully Miller follows a similar upward trajectory.
As for McGee, there are several wing-sized dudes on the roster, and while I'm not ruling him out as a contributor, I'm glad Mullins is giving Davis the chance to show what he can do and not just deferring to a veteran. As long as guys like Davis and Stulic are giving good minutes off the bench, and there aren't injuries, it might be hard for McGee to crack the rotation. A good problem.
Does anyone know the extent of Sharp’s injury? I believe he is expected to be the backup point guard.
Broke his foot on October 24. Timeline for recovery is 6-8 weeks. Look for him to be available around mid December. He will need practice time before competing in games if they don't redshirt him. If no redshirt we may see him in games around late December.Does anyone know the extent of Sharp’s injury? I believe he is expected to be the backup point guard.
Chicago State was very athletic but not only that. They fouled a LOT. If they had called the fouls rather than trying to keep the foul count fairly even, they would have had twice as many as the Salukis. They will win some games if the refs don't call the fouls but if the fouls are called they will run out of players.
Referee Barbie wasn’t hired because of her refereeing prowess.Chicago State was very athletic but not only that. They fouled a LOT. If they had called the fouls rather than trying to keep the foul count fairly even, they would have had twice as many as the Salukis. They will win some games if the refs don't call the fouls but if the fouls are called they will run out of players.
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the whole crew was terrible and inconsistent therefore no continuity to game actionReferee Barbie wasn’t hired because of her refereeing prowess.Chicago State was very athletic but not only that. They fouled a LOT. If they had called the fouls rather than trying to keep the foul count fairly even, they would have had twice as many as the Salukis. They will win some games if the refs don't call the fouls but if the fouls are called they will run out of players.
Referee Barbie wasn’t hired because of her refereeing prowess.Chicago State was very athletic but not only that. They fouled a LOT. If they had called the fouls rather than trying to keep the foul count fairly even, they would have had twice as many as the Salukis. They will win some games if the refs don't call the fouls but if the fouls are called they will run out of players.
What was she hired for then? Go ahead
Referee Barbie wasn’t hired because of her refereeing prowess.Chicago State was very athletic but not only that. They fouled a LOT. If they had called the fouls rather than trying to keep the foul count fairly even, they would have had twice as many as the Salukis. They will win some games if the refs don't call the fouls but if the fouls are called they will run out of players.
I've been watching MVC basketball for 40+ years. She's not the worst I've seen.
(Inflammatory political snark)
