Anyone Attend Night with the Runnin' Utes?

[Tony (admin)]

Anyone have a report from last night?

[NSLUte]

I was there, the team overall looked good. It was tough to gauge as you could tell the guys were not going as hard as they could at each other. But here are my thoughts on some of the players.

Taylor: Looked great, really controlled the offense and the tempo while he was in, ball handling was superb and court vision was excellent, did not force things.

Loveridge: he looks a little bigger to me this year, not as lean as last year but his shot was falling, his pull-up looked a little slow and was blocked a few times. I think his production will be similar to last year.

Isaiah Wright: much improved on running the offense and even looking for his own shot. Got to the rim quite a few times and had some beautiful penetration in the lane and nice dump offs for some easy baskets, he will be a great leader for the team in the next few years, should not see much drop off when he replaces Taylor in the game.

Tucker: this guy is in shape, never looks gassed or even tired, shot was silky smooth as always and his defense looked good. I expect to see him assert himself a little more on offense this year but see his overall production similar to last year.

Poeltl: dude is a beast. I know it has been reported he put on 30 LBs but you really cannot see it just from looking at him but he is definitely stronger. His touch around the rim looked ok last night but had some unlucky bounces of the rim. His free throw shooting looked much improved. During the warm up session and the scrimmage he only missed 1 or 2 that I can recall. He will dominate this year.

Chapman: wish I would have seen more out of him but he looked good overall. He definitely was not shy about taking or looking for his own shot. The major thing that concerned me with him is he gets a lot of unnecessary fouls. If they actually kept track last night he may have fouled out in the first half. Looks much more athletic this year.

Kuzma: has some great plays but overall had a quiet night. Freak athlete that can jump out of the gym. Looked a little lost in the offense at times but looks much improved from last year.

Lorenzo Bonham: this was the biggest surprise for me as I had not seen him play at all. This guy is a huge get for us. Very athletic and got to the rim with ease. Played the point quite a bit and had Taylor play the 2 and he also ran the offense well. He seems to have great chemistry with others on the team already. I hope I don’t jinx him at all but had a lot of Delon Wright qualities, but is an overall better athlete than Delon. I hope he plays every game like he played last night.

Gabe Bealer: I was most anxious to see him play as I used to live in Antelope, CA and have heard about this kid. He had a quiet not from a scoring standpoint but did a lot of things well. Did not force things and did not turn the ball over, got to the rim with ease when he tried, another phenomenal athlete that was a great pick up for us. I think he will be similar to Princeton Onwas was for us a few years back.

Mawein, Mongtgomery: both look really raw but with some potential, looked a little nervous at times, I attribute a lot of that to being freshman.

Reyes, Ogbe, Miller: they did not suit up, I am guessing due to injury but have not heard anything about the injuries. Miller was in a walking boot, not sure what happened, maybe some can shed some light on these 3.

If anyone else was there last night feel free to correct or add to any of this. Overall I liked what I saw and I can’t wait to see this team in action this year.

[Anonymous]

Awesome report! Thank you.

My biggest worry, well, I should say my ONLY worry about this team is the point guard position. Taylor seemed to struggle last year when called upon to bring the ball up the court and get the offense set. If Lorenzo Bonham can start at point guard, that would be ideal. We have plenty of wings.

Do you think this is what Larry K is thinking?

PG Bonham/Wright
SG Taylor/Ogbe/Kuzma
F Tucker/Bealer/Loveridge/Kuzma
F Chapman/Reyes/Loveridge/Kuzma
C Poeltl/Reyes/Mawein

It’s hard to find space for everyone, especially if Bonham isn’t playing point guard.

[Tony (admin)]

Fantastic report @nslute. Just what I’d hoped for. If I could give you more than one thumbs-up I would.

I can’t imagine Larry not starting Taylor, Moose unless you’re thinking a 6th man gig for him. Bohnam more athletic than Delon? Hard to believe that’s possible.

Looking forward to basketball, but not just yet. Still lots of football to go.

[NSLUte]

@whistleofmoose I think your thoughts on the lineup are pretty good but I agree with Tony, Larry K. needs to start Taylor, he too good of a leader. Things did go well when Bonham ran the point but Taylor also looked much improved running the point.

And speaking to my Bonham being a better than Delon statement let me clarify. Delon is a phenomenal athlete, we can all agree there, my take is that Delon was the type of athlete that was very intentional about his movements and was sure not to expend more energy than necessary. Bonham is the type of kid who walks on the court and will automatically be one of the fastest, strongest, and can probably jump higher than everyone and he does not need to work harder on being more athletic. In a nutshell what I am saying is I think Delon worked hard to become a great athlete and Bonham just has natural god given athleticism. With all that being said Bonham will be a playmaker this year.

[Anonymous]

Tony and Adam,

I never said Larry should consider not starting Taylor. I’m saying it would be ideal for Taylor to play SG rather than PG, he’s much better at SG.

[NSLUte]

I agree with that and I think Bonham is very capable of running the point. Will be fun to watch!

[Dhisatake]

Bohnam is capable, but let me just tell you that I. Wright is right there and there is no drop off between Taylor running the point and Wright. Taylor shoots the ball a little better but I. Wright is going to be much better than Brandon when it comes to PG.

[Tony (admin)]

Nice to hear. Taylor’s pretty damn good.

[Staples]

Just joined up and thought I’d add my two cents. Bonham to me was the most impressive player at Runnin’ Utes night, but part of that might be because he’s a new guy and many of the others are proven commodities and we know what to expect. I had read on Twitter that there wouldn’t be much if any drop on the offensive side of things with the newcomers and from what I saw I tend to agree. Bonham looked like he’ll be able to get his points. It’s defensively where we will miss Delon, the guy’s instincts were incredible.

That being said, anything learned at a night like this is to be taken with a grain of salt. I remember walking away from a few Runnin’ Ute nights thinking that Chris Jackson looked dominant, and then the season rolled around and he was … Chris Jackson. All in all, should be a fun year, looking forward to it.

[Tony (admin)]

@staples thanks for stopping by and taking the time to post your thoughts. I’m looking forward to seeing the players for the first time this Thursday evening. It will be just me and my 3 year old though, so not sure how much I will be able to watch or how long I can stay around.

[Author]

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