Up Next, the Edgewood College Eagles

[formerseasonticketholder]

you guys must be watching a different version of Al than I am. To me, he's the only guard on the team so far who has shown the ability to run an offensive set. I love to see Avery bring the ball up the court and attack the rim while he's running the point, but he has definitely not progressed to the point where he can run an offense, or even consistently find a trailer if his initial burst to the hoop is turned back.

Also, it was great to see Al dive for that loose ball on the press 2 minutes into the second half. That's how you establish an identity as a team and I hope to see more of that kind of effort this weekend.

[BBFran]

I thought Al played well too.

Nevertheless, we need the strength and athleticism Charlie brings. Charlie, Avery, Ricky and Al will make for a nice set of guards.

[kaygee]

How did Thornton look? Wasn't sure if he would be redshirted or not.

[FTA1982]

pantherlou said:

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, .

Uhhh...isn't Al left handed??

I thought he played very well. I was lucky enough to sit on the floor last night, and I must say I was impressed with his vocal leadership. Al and Ricky seem to be the players on the floor who get it. Avo played well, but he still has the me first attitude.

With the lack of shooters, Thornton better not be red shirted. I think we saw the beginning of our 8-man rotation (soon 9 when Swiggett gets cleared) with spot minutes by Averkamp, and Gentry.

[milwsport]

kaygee said:

How did Thornton look? Wasn't sure if he would be redshirted or not.

Read all the comments before yours. He looked good. His defense needs some work and he needs to calm down a bit but he is going to be a scoring machine.

On another note, in his post game interview, Bid had nice things to say about Messiah. He said they were pleased with his 6 points and 6 rebounds.

He also said they are working on what role everyone will play on the team. I agree Al is not the answer at PG.

[pantherdon]

Massiah had 7 rebounds.

[bball30]

I also think Al looked to be one of the stronger players on the court, and thought he did an absolutely fine job of running the point. And yes, to the best of my recollection, Al is in fact left handed

[uwmeasye]

Besides Ricky, Al was one of our strongest players out there last night

[BBFran]

Thornton has a somewhat unorthodox shot but he sure gets it off fast. He certainly isn't afraid to shoot, but I'm not sure we need him taking shots 4 feet behind the line. I think he plays this year just because we may need the scoring, but his body is a year or two away. It will be fun to watch him mature.

Kevin Massiah had by far his best game for us. I know the competition wasn't much but in the second half particularly Kevin really played hard. Play hard and good things happen.

By the way -- we aren't going to win many games if Marcus and Paige both foul out in less than twenty minutes! Those guys need to stop reaching. Paige showed a lot of talent last night.

Last comment: ALL our big men need to learn to finish strong at the hoop!

[PantherLou]

Don't get me wrong - I like Al, but I encourage you to watch him play the point. He consistently drives to the right, and then shoots with his left.

Last night, I was asked by someone to watch how many times Al went to his left. By my count, he did it ONCE. He simply does not move well to his left, which is odd, because, as mentioned, he is left handed.

I am convinced that if Swigget was eligible, Al would be coming off the bench.

[uwmeasye]

we missed way to many layups last night on top of having 23 fouls

[FTA1982]

pantherlou said:

Don't get me wrong - I like Al, but I encourage you to watch him play the point. He consistently drives to the right, and then shoots with his left.

Last night, I was asked by someone to watch how many times Al went to his left. By my count, he did it ONCE. He simply does not move well to his left, which is odd, because, as mentioned, he is left handed.

I am convinced that if Swigget was eligible, Al would be coming off the bench.

I'll have to watch him the next time. I may be wrong, but I would assume since the majority of the players on the low block are right handed, maybe they set most of their offense on the right side.

I agree with the Swiggett comment. All I had to do was watch Saturday Madness to see that he will be a SPECIAL player for UWM.

[formerseasonticketholder]

You guys have me excited to see Swigget play. Until either he gets on the court and shows he can run the team in a game or either Ricky or Avery take a few steps forward, Al seems to be the only realistic option at the point though.

I thought Thornton looked much more comfortable during the game last night than he did against Parkside. Others have commented on his fearlessness with the jumper, but I also liked that he drew a foul late in the game fighting through a pick. If it was up to me, I wouldn't redshirt him this year. I think the team can use his outside shot and he can use the season to continue to progress. If the advances he made between the first and second exhibition game are any indication of what's to come, I think he's a player to keep an eye on.

[uwmeasye]

we need a guy who is not scared to pull the trigger on a 3 and i think thornton did a good job.

[fan]

from playing the swing in high school ball, the 1, 3, and 5 positions typically (80-90%) set up on the right. if you want the ball to go to the left you make the pass over to whomever (2 or 4) has interchanged up on that side once the 1 gets to his spot. If this was the case, then the 5 set a screen for the 3 to come across or the 5 just moved over to the other post. Conceivably, the 1 could come to the left side of the formation and start the offense, but the design is to have your best post player down on the blocks immediately and this would put the 5 out on the opposite side of the ball, on a wing interchanging.

The Swing rules I was taught may be different (aka: I could be wrong. Our HS head coach sells tapes on his defense, not his offense which in its better days scored 45-30 points a game), but from my conceptions of its intentions, I see these rules as being logical. Hanson isn't supposed to drive. His first task is getting it to the 3 and giving the 3 a chance to feed or drive with their dominant hand is more important.