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Andy Mac Notebook: Saturday Scrimmage Notes
By
Andy Mac Williams,
11/16/2020
Follow Andy on Twitter @mm_AndyMac.
Xavier Basketball TEAM 99 Update...Saturday November 14 Report. Muskies split up into Blue-White teams again and played full court w/ game clock-3 refs and a halftime included. Last week a lot of individual talent showed itself and the overall shooting, depth and tempo looked much improved over TEAM 98. Today performance amped up to a higher level. The second half proved to be intense very competitive compelling basketball.
Frosh wing Colby Jones played after missing a week ago w/ a mild lower body tweak. He's a versatile active athletic 2G-SF type with slick passing skills-dribble drive capabilities-a floater move and a smooth outside shot.
Rotation ready. 2G Adam Kunkel(Belmont transfer-Cooper HS NKY) DNP w/ slight upper body injury. He warmed up etc. White(Kyky Tandy- Paul Scruggs-Colby Jones-Ben Stanley-Bryan Griffin) beat Blue( Dwon Odom-Nate Johnson-C. J. Wilcher-Jason Carter-Zach Freemantle) 64-60. Dionte Miles played for both teams.
White led 31-23 at the half w/ better inside scoring-more FTs-forcing more turnovers. Blue showed grit w/ 2nd half comeback.
One possession game into final minute White nailed down win w/ strong defense on O.B plays plus 2 FTS and stick back bucket for SR. leader Paul Scruggs.
Much stickier more physical half court defense overall. New BIGS Stanley and Griffin excelled inside scoring-getting to FT line-rebounding. Nice 4-5 depth w/ Freemantle-Carter and Miles. Freemantle knocked down 3 three pointers off pick and pop. BIGS all show hook shots.
PGs Odom and Tandy went head to head. Tandy had about a personal 10 point scoring run. Odom led 2nd half Blue surge w/ hard "D" and attacking rim offense. Griffin must have scored 16 to 18 inside w/ tips and short post moves plus FTs. Strong repeat jumper. Stanley strong on strong deadly FT stroke takes contact to get to FT line.
Very little aimless dribbling. Moving the ball w/ a purpose to get better shots. Bevy of knock down 3 point shooters in this group. Quick releases spotting up w/ a plan and thriving on ball reversal.
The final few minutes were really good basketball w/ an edge. Very encouraging! 12 guys can play and are competing hard to divide up 200 minutes/game.
Forgot to mention Nate Johnson (Gardiner Webb trabsfer-2G). He made several strong moves off dribble to go w/ his 3 point stroke and penchant for steals.
Miles had most memorable sequence(lefty jump hook off dribble at one end then sprint back to block a shot on defense. Great length perfect vs trigger man trying to inbound the ball in late game situations. Very disruptive like James Posey.
Opener is one week from Wednesday November 25-12 noon at Cintas versus Oakland( Horizon League) from Detroit area.
Additional Notes:
COVID has forced cancellation of our(Byron Larkin and mine) Musketeer Club preview event scheduled for this Thursday. I'm bummed. It was becoming a tradition working w/ Byron.
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