Thought it a very sloppily played game by both teams. Some of the passing was horrendous. We’ll get better, but this was hard to watch basketball.

+1. I sometimes wonder if some posters are watching the same game I am.

A quantum upgrade would be infinitesimally small.

Postgame presser with Boals, AJC, and Elmore: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jQ52Xz_VFOs .

Some random thoughts after a late-night viewing of the replay:

- Clayton seems to be the closest thing to a go-to scorer we've got at the moment. Hit a huge 3 shortly after the timeout when Asheville had all the momentum. Still think he can go inside more (and be more patient when he does), but at this point I'm not sure how much he'll evolve.
- Elmore James rebounded nicely from a rough first game. Thought he played much more in the flow of the offense, driving to the rack when lanes were open and taking a couple of threes in rhythm. 5/6 from the line is encouraging too, as he's a guy who should get there often.
- Still confused what's going on with AJ Brown. Didn't seem that involved in the offense, and his 16 minutes were 8th-most on the team. I guess it's good we can win without him, but whether it's foul trouble, precautionary, or just a rough stretch of form we'll need him to be much more assertive if we're going to turn close games like this one into 15+ point wins.
- Agree with other posters about Searls being an upgrade over Wiz. Solid piece off the bench who seems to be able to hold his own on defense and mix it up with a few post moves. He's not going to light up the scoreboard, but 7 points/6 rebounds--and only 1 turnover--in 2 games is encouraging.
- Very happy to see the freshmen get minutes. Elliott seems to have a "college-ready" frame and made an impact in his short stint with a flying snag of a rebound and a forced travel. I can see why people were singing praises about his defense. Evans wasn't in long enough for me to get much of a feel for his game, but starting off his Bobcat career with a dunk has to feel good.
- On the other hand, 0 minutes for Ben Nicol once again. With Kuany/Burris out of commission that leaves him as the only available player not to see the court today. I remember hearing promising things about his shooting, so there must be some other part of his game lagging. Defense? Lack of athleticism?
- Crowd seemed solid, if unspectacular, from my view. Have to imagine that several thousand more would have packed the Convo had it been Dad's Weekend. At least those that were there got to go home with a Bobcat W.

A reception for the volleyball team was held in the Hardwood after their final home match.

Could you say that claiming a quantum upgrade is NOT some strong copium after the first two games?

Not our best, but UNC-Asheville is a solid team, this was never going to be a rollover game. Still a strong team win, a lot of scoring distribution and involvement.

I’m not understanding the debate between Searls and Wiz here. I can’t tell if some actually believe there’s no difference or just want to die on the hill of opposing FearLeon.

Searls is a better rotational player than Wiz and it isn’t even close.

Glad we got see Elliot and Evans get some PT and I hope there’s more on the way. Elliot looks like a true playmaker/facilitator and energy off the bench. Would like to see these two 10-12/15 mins a game instead of 5.

Nice to see Elmore look more like Elmore. I’ll take 10 assists between Pav and Reef every night. It’s wild to me our starting backcourt out rebounds our starting frontcourt, but this might just be the norm for us at this point. At least we won that category last night.

After two games, Hadaway and Reef seem like “the guys” who want the ball when we need a basket and embrace.

My guess on AJB — load management during non-conference. Could be wrong, but I’ve got nothing else on his usage so far.

Reggie Keely would like a word with you.

Hadaway + Sheldon creates loads of chaos. Really like the player Sheldon has become, just needs to get his shot going and he could really be a difference maker.

FJC31 +1

Even Stevie Wonder can see this, but The Whiz supporters will die on the hill all season.

Speaking of Norm, I hardly recognized him in the team's home opener. He's lost a lot of weight since OUr last home game last season. His weight loss in no way kept him from clearly letting OUr defense know who the Asheville shooters were on the floor. Nor in any way prevented him from letting the O Zone know when to quiet down, like when a Bobcat was taking a foul shot.

Hadaway is a weapon from beyond the arc and proved it last year. probably a little streakier than ideal, but it has to be a threat for him to effective as an inside player. Keep making the D respect his ability outside to create opportunities inside whether driving or cutting. dude knocked down 3 in the first game and almost got us back in the game against jmu. Fire away.