Runnin’ Utes 3-0. Observations…

[Utopia]

‘Mongolian Mike’ keeps impressing. Shot lights out and once again played a complete floor game. Gabe is putting up points, but Mike has been the best/most important player based on his playmaking impact.

Much better scoring balance this game; however, the current frontcourt rotation (Ausar, Whalin, Dawes) is clearly lacking in offensive ability. Ausar has elite athleticism, but is not very skilled offensively. He is extremely prone to losing the ball when he tries to create his own shot and he consistently gets blocked/stopped going up at the rim. Not a good sign if this happening against cupcakes. Whalin missed multiple layups due to being easily bothered by contact and having poor touch. Dawes has a lot of potential and I’m looking forward to seeing him develop; I think he can become a very good player. How much impact will the injured frontcourt players make when they’re back? Lovering isn’t exactly an offensive force, but he is a good passer that can facilitate a lot of action from the high post.

Mason Madsen is a little too trigger happy and rightfully got benched for much of this game. He has shot a good percentage so far, but he can get out of control and force shots.

Our first real competition this weekend and effectively a road game. 3pt shooting often doesn’t travel well, so I could see this getting ugly for us considering the difficulty we’ve had so far creating/converting high quality shots inside.

[Ute Dub]

Thanks for your review and assessment. A good backcourt can sometimes overcome post players that are just…bodies. I like the Little, Madsen, Sharavjamts lineup as far as efficiency (so far) and hopefully they can gel more and more. Hopefully Lovering and Traore can add more Girth when they get back.

[GameForAnyFuss]

Agree with OP. Mongol Mike gets better with every game he plays. He’s so smooth out there. Mike, Madsen, and Miro (3M?) are a pretty formidable back court as long as Miro isn’t trying to do too much.

The front court is our weakness. Ausar shines when he can slash and get to the cup. He draws contact well. But he’s pedestrian in the half court offense. Dawes shows signs of elite potential but he turns the ball over too much and commits silly fouls. I’m still trying to figure out what Wahlin brings other than height.

[DataUte]

Twitter: mongolshark
Instagram: mongolianmike

Pretty cool he has adopted the nickname shark after his father Sharavjamts Tserenjankhar aka The Mongolian Shark was the first Asian Harlem Globetrotter

[chinngiskhaan]

I’m really happy with what I’ve seen so far. It is nice having guys like Sharavjamts and Madsen in the backcourt making smart plays. I’ve loved the ball movement so far. I have my doubts about this team’s ability to continue this style of clean play against much bigger and more athletic teams, but I think we will at least surprise some teams at home.

Having an experienced team is a big deal in college basketball. Basketball is a precision game. If you are off by an inch or two you will miss a lot of shots. A lack of experience leads to rushed decisions, which leads to be ever so slightly off, which leads to missed shots and bad passes. Hopefully the level headed play this team has shown can at least carry through to all home games. If it can, we might actually be decent this year.

For those of you wondering how to pronounce Sharavjamts, the announcer in this video actually does a pretty good job (not the country bumpkin-sounding guy, he butchered it, but the other guy that says it first does a satisfactory job).

[utefansince79]

Nice to have a hoops game to get my minds off the game (and unfortunate aftermath) last Saturday.

Glad we’re trying to get a few more baskets inside as you can’t rely only on treys.

Hoping we can fare well on the road Sunday in Mississippi.

[GameForAnyFuss]

I should have mentioned: It was obvious last night that we were trying to get inside more. It wouldn’t surprise me if Craig told the guys he wanted 2 inside attempts for every attempted triple. In the first half it looked a little herky-jerky and forced, which led to some sloppy play. But in the second half they got more comfortable, plus the defense got better which led to transition baskets (it’s easy to shoot 2’s when you’re running numbers-up fast breaks).

But I think against more athletic teams, we will revert to the three ball, and we will live or die by that.

[Ravenute]

Utah has some nice pieces but I am really curious to see how we hold up against some real competition. Wanting to see their identity.

[Utopia]

Sharavjamts vs TSPP’s Egor Demin is going to be a really interesting matchup of 6’9″ point guards. They have similar skillsets, but I think Demin has superior athleticism and strength/physicality. If Mike has a glaring weakness it’s that he lacks muscle to play more physically. Even against the weak competition so far, he’s been bullied a few times with players taking him to the basket and him not being able to offer much resistance. This will be a lot more apparent against power conference talent.

[RustyShackleford]

I really liked what I saw from Dawes. Dude played his @ss off. Reminds me of a more athletic Rawson. He might not have as good of offensive game yet but you can’t teach effort.

[Author]

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