I actually never was too high or low during or after the game. The only thing that really had my blood boiling was the turnovers.
Some views:
- I feel like Amile is being asked to do too much. The way K has shrunk his bench and with injuries we don't have any other options, but Amile is not a play maker and he's trying to be right now (7 turnovers). There is no excuse for a 5th yr senior (especially a big) to have 7 turnovers and ONLY 4 Rebounds. Amile did a lot of really good things in the game, but those come typically when he's not the focus.
- Grayson is forcing a bit too much. It looks like he's trying to get 20 points rather than take what the D gives and create for your teammates. He looked kind of sickly last night in the face.
- Huge game for Chase. Not because he played great, I don't think he did. But it was a huge improvement and he didn't at all look like he didn't belong. His strength has to be FT shooting, he can't go 5-10. He also ONLY had 4 rebounds. 8 rebounds out of Chase and Amile is tough. He played solid D but flopped a bit too much and I think that caused a few dumb cheap fouls.
- Luke was awesome on offense but is by far our worst defender. He gives that look like "Yo why wasn't anyone there to help me out after I just let my guy blow by me straight to the basket". Last year luke really really struggled with consistency, this year on offense he's been a constant play and shot maker.
- Frank had a rough first half but I think played awesome in the last 10-15 minutes. Shot looked really good, hit huge clutch 3's and all his FTs. I thought his D was good other than he had some tick tack fouls and I think he was put in a bad high ball screen situation a lot with amile and chase in foul trouble and they didn't really hedge because of it.
-Matt played a solid game, good but not great D. Solid rebounding. Quick guys he will struggle with but it was better than last year. Shot really good from 3 so that was awesome! He struggled big time putting the ball on the deck and didn't try much because of it. My biggest complaint is him at PG. I really think it should be luke and Frank. Frank needs to gain the experience as he had a brutal turnover in the 2nd half.
-Javin played awesome for 10 seconds and contested a shot. It's painful that he couldn't give 10 minutes of hustle and D with all of our foul trouble.
In the end, defense allowed too much penetration but that was somewhat expected. What wasn't expected was how poorly we rebounded and the amount of turnovers. Rebounding and turnovers to me are things you can control with effort and focus. That's my biggest disappointment.
Getting Tatum back helps the play making and puts Amile in a much more comfortable role. Getting Bolden and Giles back secures the interior D and rebounding and makes us dynamic in the post.
The issue that hasn't been solved or won't be solved by the 3 frosh is consistency at the PG spot. Again, i'll say it, but I think we need Luke and Frank to run the show and lets go!