Up Next, the Edgewood College Eagles

[Deleted]

MUCH BETTER! Now, dont expect the freshman to continually play like this. Next week we may take a few steps back, or jump forward again. Like Jeter said, its a process. I expect many more ugly games, as well as a few surprises.

"RYAN THORTON FOR 3!" I liked the sound of that. He is definitely not shy to shoot. 4 years of this, and he will only get more accurate and more confident on D. The sky is the limit.

Gentry sounded better in the second half, yet still very shy. I expect him to have a break out performance sometime this season. After that, the Iowa POY will shine. He may have the most athleticism out of the entire bunch. Its just a matter of getting some confidence.

The Franklin era has begun. He scored all his points in the first half of the first half. Clay and Dylan, watch your records. Ricky will have four years, and he is proving already that he can score (yes, I know the media guide says 3 years, but we all know that's not true).

Great time to be a Panther... rebuilding for a new dynasty.
-UWMfreak

[Kroener3535]

Freak he does actually only have 3 years remaining..following his 4th year here he comes under review...if he graduates in 4 years he regains that year of eligibility remember he was a partial qualifier. But Franklin did impress. He is a heady player and didnt force things when they started rolling for him. I was also impressed with Thornton even though he was 2-6, you can tell the coaches are giving this kid the green light. The first ten minutes of the second half we looked like a good team. I hope thats the team that comes out on Friday against Radford. Lastly, although it is a sour note. Is it just me or does it seem like Myles McKay is out there representing the name on the back of his jersey as opposed to his front. I hope to high hell that kid never sees the floor. He bugs me as a player with his me first approach to the game. Also man do we need a low post presence. Paulsen looked ok at best but let me tell you this getting another solid big man like AT would be nice but those only come around to UWM once in a while.

[Pantherholic]

this weekend is going to be painful, we're by far way too streaky on offense to be a consistent threat. Ricky was awesome to start the game and then pretty much did nothing the rest of his time and Paige scored all his points in a short time and nothing else. If we can somehow eek 2 wins this weekend, we deserve a trophy. otherwise i see us 1-2 at best.

[milwsport]

It's not the first time we've had an offense that operates in streaks.

Overall I was impressed with Franklin and Thorton and somewhat impressed with Gentry. Thorton will be a scoring machine. That first three was sweet. He wasn't even defended. The looks on the Eagle's faces when he got the ball and immediately launched for a three was priceless :-)

Franklin looked like a leader out there. Gentry less so but that can come with time. Madlin wasn't limping so that was good and Paulsen looked much better, especially in the second half.

Avo made some nice shots too.

After the game I thought about last year's Platteville game. Close in the first half (as the team struggled with the swing) and then we pulled away. Here's hoping we saw the same kind of big step forward tonight

[bball30]

For you to say Ricky did nothing after his initial scoring outburst just proves to me you know nothing about basketball, and simply enjoy reading your own posts.

Ricky stepped up again, yes again, as the vocal and mental leader of this team. For a "Freshman" to show that composure on the court is something special. Someone needs to let Paige get warmed up like 40 minutes before the game starts, because he is most certainly a second half player.

[Pantherholic]

sorry, i was referring to Ricky's scoring. i should've been more specific in my first post.

[bball30]

No problem, I just think he's gonna be something very special, so to hear "ignorance" I guess we'll call it, I get frustrated.

[aknowsense]

Good to hear/see this game had a better result, continuous improvement is all one can ask for.

[ArtVandelay]

Obviously much better game tonight.

Some thoughts-

I really don't expect Myles to get much playing time during the year. Though winning these exhibition games matters a lot to us, from watching Jeter I can tell he cares more about the guys being fundamentally sound and finding out who can play and who can't.

I'm not going to rag on Myles. He isn't a scholarship player, and he is donating his time to play on the team. I'd like to see him be more of a team player on offense, but hopefully with some time and practice he can learn to control himself more on the court. If he can't do that then don't worry about him getting playing time.

Al, Avo, and Ricky give us our best chance to win when they are all in the game together. I'm looking forward to seeing what they can do when they get more consistent minutes together. Each one has great ball control skills, and Ricky and Al are proving to have great mid-range and 3pt shooting ability. Avo may not be a pure shooter, but his ability to drive, use his tear drop shot, or bank a runner of the glass make him very hard to defend. These three building a solid chemistry over this season is going to make us extremely tough next season.

Ryan Thornton showed exactly what I saw in him from his days in Chillicothe, IL. Incredibly fast release with consistent accuracy and the ability to shoot on the move with no need to set himself to the basket. The kid is only a freshman, but I think teams in the conference will quickly learn to respect his ability as he will hit the shot on you even when you guard him closely. If given the chance Ryan is going to have success this year, but like most young player will be streaky and a liability on defense against stronger opponents.

The post game, like has been said before, is laking. The guys need to go stronger to the hoop and finish shots. I saw far too many wasted opportunities under the hoop by Skinner, Mauldin, and Paulsen. Plays that would have been converted by Joah and AT last season now aren't hitting the right spots and are ending up as defensive rebounds. The play was physical around the hoop tonight, but if we are going to be successful these guys will need to take some "toughen-up pills". Seeing James "You're Mother F'ing" Wright in the stands made me really miss a guy like him who would clean the glass, and give you those put backs no matter how ugly his free throw shooting was.

Finally I'm happy to see the coaching staff getting on these guys if they are executing things. The best had to be Coach Bid ask the team to, "Get a ****ing Rebound!" after all our guys were completely boxed out by Edgewood, and barely made an attempt early in the 2nd half. They have teachers and motivators on this staff that are going to make them realize their potential.

P.S.
I didn't realize former Badger Sharif Chambliss had been added as part of the coaching staff. Great move by Rob in bringing in a very good shooting guard and class act whom he helped coach from his days at UW.

Art Vandelay

[Deleted]

Freak he does actually only have 3 years remaining..following his 4th year here he comes under review...if he graduates in 4 years he regains that year of eligibility remember he was a partial qualifier.

Totally! I just assume he'll pass like Cedric.

[pantherdon]

Mauldin showed some improvment. His leg looks stronger. 4 pts and 7 rebounds in 10 min.

[Kingsbury]

Am I the only person worried about our PG position if Swiggett isn't cleared this year? I think Al is a good bench guy for 15 or so minutes a game, but not starting PG material. IMO, Al just doesn't have that next gear what are PG's in the past have had (Fountain, Jones, Hill). He seems like he would rather have the O get set and then bring up the ball. With the lack of height and bigs that can run in Skinner and Paulsen, I kept saying to myself, Al - get your head up and run the floor.

Assuming Jeter was using his rotation he did for the first 10 minutes of the second half, not having Swiggett is a huge blow since he plans on starting a 3 guard lineup. Moving Franklin over to the point is the equivalent of Kam Taylor moving to PG last year, you hinder his play making ability by making him run the team.

[PANTHERfan]

much better performance last night. i liked the way they came out strong playing good defense and draining some early threes. perimeter shooting is going to be a must for this undersized team.

you could literally watch Ricky Franklin start to mature before your eyes. the first couple times we've seen him play it's been obvious he was working out some jitters. as he regains his confidence on the floor we're going to see just how special a player we have. there's a reason he beat out Landry at UW for city POY.

as others have already mentioned, i too was impressed with Thorton. he seems to have good confidence for a true freshman. his shooting could really open up the lanes. you saw that starting to happen last night.

we're undoubtably going to see some steps forward and some steps back this weekend. this is just what the team needs though. three quick games against good competition. i look forward to watching this team come together. if we can muster 2 wins that would be a huge accomplishment.

[PantherLou]

kingsbury said:

Am I the only person worried about our PG position if Swiggett isn't cleared this year? I think Al is a good bench guy for 15 or so minutes a game, but not starting PG material. IMO, Al just doesn't have that next gear what are PG's in the past have had (Fountain, Jones, Hill). He seems like he would rather have the O get set and then bring up the ball. With the lack of height and bigs that can run in Skinner and Paulsen, I kept saying to myself, Al - get your head up and run the floor.

I completely agree. Al looked pretty bad out there running the point. He lacks the ability to go to his left, and plays with his head down far too much. IMO, he is far better suited as a bench guy. Yes, he can fill in at both guard spots, but he lacks the court vision and ball handling ability to be a starter at the point, and lacks the shooting ability to be a starter at the two.

[PantherLou]

Other observations:

Massiah looked unwilling to post up for most of the first half. His play improved in the second half, but I think it's a concern that he still doesn't look tremendously comfortable out there.

Mauldin did a great job establishing post position, but really looked uncomfortable when he got the ball. He seemed to be pressing, and was hurried. It's my guess that this is still rust, and as he grows in confidence, I expect to see him converting more of these opportunities.

It was a tale of 2 halves for Paige. He looked sloppy for the entire first half, but played like a man possessed in the second half.

When Ryan is set, his shot looks fantastic. You can see he is still a little excited out there, and did rush a few shots before getting squared up. However, his attitude and confidence are evident. I think he's going to be very, very good for us.

I can't say enough good things about Ricky Franklin. Once we start feeding him the ball, I think he's going to post up any and every guard that he goes against.

AVO looks a lot better in his decision making, with one exception: He still struggles to make the post entry pass. He's not going to be able to play PG if he can't get the ball into the post.


Overall, a much better, more cohesive unit than I expected. It's going to be a growth process, but I am confident that this will ultimately be a very successful team.