Heading down to Athens soon for season opener. Remember being in the convo for last year''s opener v. N. Iowa I believe and first look at Mo. If I remember correctly, Mo hit 3 or 4 3-pointers and my son and came away thinking we had a 6-9 3-point shooter. I don't believe he showed that the rest of the year.

As often been stated on here, any publicity is good publicity.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Caitlin_Upton

My stream hasn't even loaded. What on earth is going on?

Ryan Taylor is the real deal.

Still just the one camera show, but the video quality was tremendously improved and didn't buffer on me once the entire game. Don't know if Stretch upped their game or we're paying them more, but either way, big improvement.

Got the stream to work on my phone, luckily. Quality was awesome.

Here are my thoughts (really missing the bullet point functionality, Ryan Carey):

- Setting aside the extremely bizarre -2.5 line that opened and did not last long, even the -12.5 line that it settled on was the biggest steal of a line I have ever seen. Appy State is not a good team, and we generally cruise at home against weaker OOC teams (if you mention Winthrop, I'll sock you).
- The game could have been MUCH worse as we missed a ton of easy jumpers that rattled out, and had some butterfingers today as well. We could have easily doubled them up.
- 12 assists to 12 turnovers was the weak spot as a team. We had several assertive drives to the basket that are good to see but I am guessing Saul wants to see more ball movement than we saw today.
- We had a good game despite pretty weak games from Ndour and Stevie, and Bean sitting the bench. That is VERY encouraging, because you know those 3 guys will be fine in the long run.
- Ryan Taylor, my goodness what a game. Calm and smooth out there for his first collegiate game. Seems like the type to fearlessly put up shots when he has the look but also recognize when he doesn't have the look. And can run the point no problem. He may end up with may more minutes than any of us envisioned.
- Did anyone else notice an awkward looking walk/run to Ryan? He almost looked injured at times. Nothing concerning at all, I think just a harmless look he has about him. It is almost like it makes him appear to be unathletic when he is in fact completely athletic and smooth. Maybe I'm just crazy.
- Mike Laster of course also looked impressive, though I think he saw the bulk of the minutes that would have went to Bean. Again, great composure for a true freshman. VERY excited about Ryan and Mike!
- Treg Setty 4 fouls in 12 minutes...Some things never change. I continue to believe his role on this team will be almost identical to last year, namely due to his propensity to foul. Don't get me wrong he is a nice piece off the bench, I just never bought him as being a starter who plays major minutes.
- Wadley WAY improved. Seemed to have slimmed down and become more athletic and assertive. Once Tony is 100%, adding an improved Wadley to Maurice and Tony once he is 100% is quite a force.
- I know C Thomas is still not eligible due to a technicality, but I still don't think he sees the regular rotation without a significant injury. I feel bad making the judgment without ever seeing him suit up for the Bobcats, but I just don't see it. Went 8 deep today, will be 9 with Bean.
- Harley to be determined, wanted to see more of him down the stretch considering Laster & R Taylor we over 35 minutes.

I am very excited to see how this team does at Florida Gulf Coast...Who by the way looked like crap against a D2 team today.

I just hope Stretch can make their player work on Linux...

 

Didn't think it was dead.

When Mo improves passing effectiveness out of all the hacking, double teams, etc, it will help him create his,? shot or get in position to receive a pass.

App State is pretty miserable, but we did what you want to do against those teams: Put them away. So that's encouraging. I don't think FGCU is going to be any good this year, but I am anxious to see how this group does on the road.

Thanks for posting.

I enjoyed listening to that, beyond just the fact that Saul is awesome to listen to. Some very interesting points were made about the game and this team.