Tuesday MU men's hoop practice, etc.
Ok..let's take it from the top.
There was a "Phantom" sighting Tuesday. Yes Rickie Crews, his suspension lifted, returned to practice and "is available" for Thursday game with Wagner. He looked Ok. My guess is the 6-7 freshman may not see much action for a while because he has missed so much practice. The intricacies of the MU motion offense and match up zone are difficult enough for a freshman to assimilate not to mention a player who has been absent for so much time already. But, in my opinion, he also has enough athletic ability to compensate at times.
Dave wasn't really happy with practice Tuesday..seemed to be a lot of turnovers and lapses on defense. ""No team has ever started 0-2 (in the NEC) and won the league,'' he warned the Hawks after practice. MU hosts Wagner 7 p.m. Thursday.
The Blue (first team) vs. White (second team) intra squad 30-minute "game" went down to the final minute. A tough runner in the lane by NEC Rookie of the Week Jhamar Youngblood gave the Blues a 28-27 lead. Then walk-on red-shirt guard T.J. Tibbs swished 3 for a 30-28 White lead. Blue came down court and Alex Nunner zinged a 3 from the letft corner to make it 31-30 Blue. There was still about seven seconds left for the White but Mike Shipman's long 3 under pressure was short off the rim and the Blue hung on, 31-30.
Tibbs..I took a longer look today at him and fellow red shirts 6-9 Dutch Gaitley and 6-10 Adam Dobriansky.
Tibbs.. better than I guess your average walk on. Quick, can shoot. Question is..is he better than Brandon Owens 2001-2005? Also...probably has to work twice as hard and be twice as good as any of the other guards (the whole group plus incoming frosh James Hett) to eventually see meaningful time. Bottom line on T.J. - He will have four years beginning next year and may be able to help MU in a back up role at some juncture in his career..
Gaitley - has the potential to be a decent enough rebounder and "knows the game, " an intelligent passer, always a plus in the MU offense. But his own offensive game, frankly, needs A LOT of work.
Dobriansky - more polished on offense than "Dutch." Has some nice moves around the basket but has trouble finishing at times. Don't know how much he's been in the weight room, but needs to be there.. Looks like he could use more pounds and strength.
The MAAC - spoke for a while with MU president Gaffney who stopped by practice. Apparently there will be nothing forth coming from MU for a few weeks in response to WLB Zoning Board rejection but he said the school continues to look at "options." My gut feeling, without being aware of all the legalities, red tape involved, is that MU will have a MAAC (even if it has to go office campus though that is a last resort) within 3-5 years. I know that seems like a long time..but if they started building this spring it would still be about 18 month-two years. Taking current problems, further delays, into consideration is how I arrived at the time frame which is strictly my opinion.
And finally, after practice was over and almost all the players and coaches left, the walk ons and senior Dejan Delic were still on the floor. Delic was practicing his 3-point shooting (he was making some 3's from the Serbian border - wouldn't particularly want to see him launching some of them in a game) but the fact is he was practicing his shot and his free throw shooting, which as been, off with coach Chris Kenny. I was told Delic is about the only player who stays after practice for more shooting, etc.
Now, I know all the players practice diligently every day, BUT, in my view, there are a few Hawks (you can probably figure out who some are) who it wouldn't hurt if they also stayed after practice or worked on their own times (maybe some do other than after practice, I wouldn't know of that). But either way, I feel some could use extra work on their shooting and other aspects of their game beyond what's required. That's just my opinion.
e-mail tonygsports@aol.com
There was a "Phantom" sighting Tuesday. Yes Rickie Crews, his suspension lifted, returned to practice and "is available" for Thursday game with Wagner. He looked Ok. My guess is the 6-7 freshman may not see much action for a while because he has missed so much practice. The intricacies of the MU motion offense and match up zone are difficult enough for a freshman to assimilate not to mention a player who has been absent for so much time already. But, in my opinion, he also has enough athletic ability to compensate at times.
Dave wasn't really happy with practice Tuesday..seemed to be a lot of turnovers and lapses on defense. ""No team has ever started 0-2 (in the NEC) and won the league,'' he warned the Hawks after practice. MU hosts Wagner 7 p.m. Thursday.
The Blue (first team) vs. White (second team) intra squad 30-minute "game" went down to the final minute. A tough runner in the lane by NEC Rookie of the Week Jhamar Youngblood gave the Blues a 28-27 lead. Then walk-on red-shirt guard T.J. Tibbs swished 3 for a 30-28 White lead. Blue came down court and Alex Nunner zinged a 3 from the letft corner to make it 31-30 Blue. There was still about seven seconds left for the White but Mike Shipman's long 3 under pressure was short off the rim and the Blue hung on, 31-30.
Tibbs..I took a longer look today at him and fellow red shirts 6-9 Dutch Gaitley and 6-10 Adam Dobriansky.
Tibbs.. better than I guess your average walk on. Quick, can shoot. Question is..is he better than Brandon Owens 2001-2005? Also...probably has to work twice as hard and be twice as good as any of the other guards (the whole group plus incoming frosh James Hett) to eventually see meaningful time. Bottom line on T.J. - He will have four years beginning next year and may be able to help MU in a back up role at some juncture in his career..
Gaitley - has the potential to be a decent enough rebounder and "knows the game, " an intelligent passer, always a plus in the MU offense. But his own offensive game, frankly, needs A LOT of work.
Dobriansky - more polished on offense than "Dutch." Has some nice moves around the basket but has trouble finishing at times. Don't know how much he's been in the weight room, but needs to be there.. Looks like he could use more pounds and strength.
The MAAC - spoke for a while with MU president Gaffney who stopped by practice. Apparently there will be nothing forth coming from MU for a few weeks in response to WLB Zoning Board rejection but he said the school continues to look at "options." My gut feeling, without being aware of all the legalities, red tape involved, is that MU will have a MAAC (even if it has to go office campus though that is a last resort) within 3-5 years. I know that seems like a long time..but if they started building this spring it would still be about 18 month-two years. Taking current problems, further delays, into consideration is how I arrived at the time frame which is strictly my opinion.
And finally, after practice was over and almost all the players and coaches left, the walk ons and senior Dejan Delic were still on the floor. Delic was practicing his 3-point shooting (he was making some 3's from the Serbian border - wouldn't particularly want to see him launching some of them in a game) but the fact is he was practicing his shot and his free throw shooting, which as been, off with coach Chris Kenny. I was told Delic is about the only player who stays after practice for more shooting, etc.
Now, I know all the players practice diligently every day, BUT, in my view, there are a few Hawks (you can probably figure out who some are) who it wouldn't hurt if they also stayed after practice or worked on their own times (maybe some do other than after practice, I wouldn't know of that). But either way, I feel some could use extra work on their shooting and other aspects of their game beyond what's required. That's just my opinion.
e-mail tonygsports@aol.com
posted by Tony Graham at 8:06 PM
2 Comments:
It's very, very quiet around here. It's almost as if the Hawks won their last two games by a combined 60 points and people have no complaints!
Yes. I noticed that. See...when nothing bad happens people have less to complain about. I guess it's human nature. I will be posting some more blogs shortly, but, alas, nothing negative as we speak.
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