Honest Assessment

[ORUHomer]

I thought there were some very surprising bright spots from last night's scrimmage. Yemi certainly raised the most eyebrows, but Vealy's play was impressive, especially when you consider how much size he was giving up to Green and how he was able to adapt his shot inside-out and hit the mid-range jumper. However, Vealy's height and size put him at a definite disadvantage. He got moved around quite easily on the boards and will benefit from future trips to the weight room.

I was a bit intrigued by Mickey's play. He hit some nice jumpers, but struggled offensively around the basket. He also seemed a bit soft on the boards. It will be interesting to see how his new "lighter" frame will affect his play.

There were a few times when guys got tripped up and appeared to be injured, then I remembered how demonstrative JB can be when he hits the floor (albeit he usually hits the floor pretty hard). He let out a yelp, and immediately the question hit me:

Besides Caleb (and maybe Ken), who can we least afford to lose to injury?

We are very deep at guard, but who follows Caleb and Mickey? Larry and Yemi? Not exactly the prototypical post players, but they can certainly fill in if needed. If an honest assessment could be given, I am worried about the following two things:

1) Depth at the post, ESPECIALLY in the post-season. We will match up with Mid-Con teams just fine, but non-conference and post-season opponents could spell trouble.

2) Cold shooting nights. Not a lot you can do to control this, but the white team went a long time between buckets last night and left me realizing that we DEFINITELY will live and die by role players such as Yemi, Fowlkes, Riouse, etc. at various times throughout the season.

Comments?

[ORU Eli]

How tall is Vealy?

[ORUTerry]

He is either 6'7" or 6'8".... Vealy has a body type like Rawle Marshall. Similar style of play; Vealy is not yet as accomplished as a ball handler.

[ORUTerry]

Our post situation is similar to last year. We traded Gastel for Ogunoye and also have Vealy in a pinch. If we don't red-shirt Spicer, we could also throw him in the mix - although he is a bit undersized.

We have all kinds of option to throw at teams; if Plan A doesn't work we can go with Plan B.

The White team suffered from a shooting drought, but also could not get a lay up to fall - they had open shots. Blue (Vealy/Ogunoye) was doubling down on Green and playing him very physical. Meloy and his shooting touch would have helped the White team.

[MadAdder]

I cast my vote for JB. He's a proven ballhandler, and without LSG he'll hafta shoulder the load even more. I mean, the only people we'd have left to run point is Jordan (a rookie) or Eric Fowlkes (who naturally plays the 2/3 but can play PG in a pinch).

[orustatboy]

I would say our post situation was better a year ago. While Yemi's wing span is over seven feet, he is definitely a wing player while Matt was a true post presence.

Don't get me wrong, I love Yemi, and if last night is any hint of what he'll give us this year, we will be even better than most people think. I just don't think Yemi's back will ever allow him to "bang around" on the blocks.

It will be interesting to see what happens the first time BOTH Caleb and Mickey find early first half foul trouble. It will happen, but hopefully it's not against a team like OU that could make us serverely pay for it.

Yemi Ogunoye ... Most under-rated player in the Mid-Con?

[ORUTerry]

Good points.... but, while I appreciated Matt and his abilities, he was not a significant contributor for a good part of the season last year. He averaged 2.3 rebounds while playing 12.4 minutes per game. We will miss Matt and his height - but he could also get pushed off the block and did not have the athleticism of Ogunoye. Matt had to contend with the loss of his Mom - something no young man should have to deal with.

[orustatboy]

Matt definitely had some life issues to deal with last year that kept him from his true potential (Side point: anyone else remember the second half of Gastel's freshman year when he nearly averaged a double-double? That was an amazing stretch of basketball)

As far as this season's post situation ... I think we'll see Marchello defend more down low than Yemi will. Yemi's quickness and long arms will allow him to give the other team's #3 absolute fits. Marchello has the talent to become a great shot blocker and could handle his own on the blocks just as well as Yemi.

Just think if you're being shadowed by either Larry and/or Yemi all night long. That can't be something you'd look forward to facing.

[ORUHomer]

Looks like we will have the opportunity to see how true the poll plays out at the top of the page .

I suppose the only bright spot is that our injuries are at the guard position where we at least have some depth. We may see Veally a bit more on the wing as the coaches scramble to fill the holes at the guard position.