The Xavier scrimmage was not on TV last night so I figured I would post some thoughts for the XU faithful who read TSR. NKU wasn't bad, they have a couple DI transfers. They spread the floor and bombed up 3's. I'll post in the same format I used for muskie madness, "who looked good, who looked average and who looked bad"
Who looked good - Kenny Frease, Jamel McLean, Jay Canty. Frease's offseason conditioning is evident as he put up 17 points, 10 rebounds and 5 blocks. He is leaner and quicker on defense and is able to move around enough to get some offensive boards. Granted NKU was a small team but Frease dominated the paint like a 7 footer should against a smaller opponent. McLean finished in the paint twice for 'and 1" opportunities, he will be solid all year long and will probably increase his production slightly from last year. With Redford and Martin out Canty will need to step in. He looked capable last night especially in the rebounding category grabbing nine boards. He made two three pointers. His shot doesn't look pretty but if he can knock em down at ~35% that will be enough to make opponents respect him, creating space in the paint for Kenny, Jamel and Lyons.
Who looked average - Mark Lyons, Tu Holloway, Dante Jackson, Jeff Robinson, WBWOS. Lyons dropped 13 but on 6-14 shooting with 4 TOs. He takes it to the rack strong but sometimes he doesn't set himself up to make a pass out of his dribble drives. It is either score or throw up some shot that only Jordan Crawford can make consistently. Holloway looked like last year, good ball handler decent shooter. He didn't try to do too much, but he will be called on to save us some games this year. Dante Jackson is Dante Jackson. he made a few threes but his offensive game is limited. Hopefully he can step it up and play awesome defense. Jeff Robinson still doesn't know how to use his size and athleticism but shows flashes of decency. Hopefully he can mature as McLean's backup. WBWOS (white boy walk on squad) was solid in their timeout handshakes. I swear Feeney shakes every players hand every time there is a break in the action.
Who looked bad - Andy Taylor, Jordan Latham, Griffin McKenzie. A Tay either had four fouls or fouled out. He had some open mid range looks but only took one of them which didn't fall. If his offensive game is limited to lay ups and his only defense if hacking than I would rather see Robinson in their to get some experience. Jordan Latham still needs some time to catch up to the college game but he seems to have good size and strength for a frosh. Ditto for McKenzie, he didn't get in much and often looked confused.
Outlook -Right now I see Xavier going with an 8 man rotation, Holloway, Lyons, Jackson, Canty, Frease, McLean, Robinson/Taylor. They could be really good on defense/rebounding especially the starters Holloway, Lyons, Jackson, McLean and Frease. I'm a bit concerned with the scoring though. No dead eye three point shooters, Lyons taking it to the rack and sometimes making bad decisions might be Xavier's best offensive option. Anyways I'll do another write up after the next scrimmage on Saturday vs Bellarmine.
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