Disclaimers:
1 – As has been proven over and over, ratball means pretty much nothing. Some players are ratball stars and never contribute when the real season starts.
2 – This is based solely on my opinions. I am not an expert, and according to some have zero basketball credibility. 😉
3 – The stats that I kept track of are far from perfect. I realized that it’s pretty hard to keep all the statistics at once. Keeping track of scoring isn’t too bad, but keeping assists, rebounds, steals, and blocks at the same time makes it hard. I would give them about 80% accuracy. The scoring is fairly close (only missed a couple buckets) but the rebounds, steals, assists and blocks aren’t as close. I’m sure I missed several of them, but it should give you an overall feel.
Now that that’s out of the way… 🙂
Went up to watch some ratball this afternoon and thoroughly enjoyed myself. The team looked very good offensively today. I’ll try to give a quick synopsis on each player that participated.
The starters were (probably means NOTHING)
Shirts:
PG – Roland
SG – Pane
SF – Berger
PF – Clifford
C – Stone
Skins:
PG – Davis
SG – Medlin
SF – Butterfield
PF – Reed
C – Lopez
Spencer Butterfield – Absolutely tore it up out there today. Dropped in 29 points. Hit 5 three pointers. I didn’t keep track of misses, but he didn’t miss many. I’d say he shot over 60% from downtown and I don’t remember him missing many two pointers. He got to the hoop with ease several times. Played with toughness and ran the floor. Played some solid defense. I was most impressed by him today. He also had 5 boards and 3 assists.
Marcel Davis – Looked great out there today. I was most impressed with his shooting. He hit the majority of his shots and if we were playing NBA Jam we would’ve heard “He’s On Fire!” once or twice throughout the day. Seemed very comfortable distributing the ball. Ended up with 22 points (4 threes), 3 assists (this may be way off), three steals, and a blocked shot.
TeNale Roland – Looked very comfortable and confident out there today. He’s very fast. Has a great handle on the ball and is more flashy than Davis. He hit a couple three pointers and ended up with 20 points. Has a very nice reverse layup that he uses when going full speed towards the hoop. Both him and Doc looked great out there today. I expect Roland to start at the beginning of the year mainly from how comfortable he looked out there running the team. To me it’s a toss up though. He also grabbed 4 boards, 1 assist (this may be way off), and 1 steal.
Jarred Shaw – Shaw had a very good game shooting-wise. He dropped in 24 points on twelve made baskets. He did not show a power game, but more of a finesse game. He has a little jab step pull up jumper that is pretty effective from 8-14 feet out. He hit the majority of the shots that he took. When the ball goes to him he rarely gives it up. Looks to score, possibly to a fault. I can’t blame him too much today though because the shots were falling. Teams will have to guard him close to prevent him from getting his jump shot off. Had 4 rebounds, 0 assists, and a block.
Jordan Stone – Stone had some nice moves under the hoop. All of his shots were within 5 feet of the basket on power moves. He had 14 points. Got several offensive rebounds and picked up at least 1 steal. Didn’t have any assists that I saw. He appears to be the strongest of our bigs and likes to bang down low the most.
Matt Lopez – The thing that stood out to me is his basketball IQ and passing ability. He had some very nice passes out of the post for easy baskets. Ended up with 4 points, 5 rebounds, 3 assists, and a block. His post moves need some polishing, but he has the body for it. Didn’t put up a ton of shots. Played solid defense. Appears to have a “power game” but not so much as Stone.
Preston Medlin – Preston wasn’t looking for his shot as much as he normally does, but was getting others involved. He looks very comfortable out there. Had 15 points (1 three), 2 boards, 2 assists, and a steal. Scored on Bradshaw once with a nice post up. Backed him under and got an easy hoop. Appears to be a good leader out there.
Riley Bradshaw – Had 5 points (1 three), 4 assists, 2 boards, and a steal. Had one of the nicest crossover moves and quick drive to the hoop from the three point line that I have seen. It devastated the defender (can’t remember who it was), but he missed the reverse layup. Seemed to show a little bit of nerves out there but played hard and looked good to me. He played mostly the SG position, but did play a bit at point at times. After the scrimmage he was the only player that played to go out and put up some extra shots (besides Harris… I’ll get to that later)
Danny Berger – Berger was shooting well today. Had 15 points (3 threes), 6 rebounds, and 2 assists. Most of his shots were three pointers. Looked pretty solid.
Kyisean Reed – Had a very nice rebound putback dunk (surprise!). Didn’t seem to be quite as assertive as he could have been. Had 14 points, 6 boards, and a steal. Seemed to be trying to develop an outside shot a little bit more. Hit a couple of them but missed several as well. From another report I heard that he was head and shoulders above all the other players, but today he wasn’t. Hopefully he can develop consistency. Has a nice beard and mo hawk ‘do.
Ben Clifford – Played well. Ended up with 10 points, 4 boards, 1 assist, and 1 steal. Didn’t back down on either end of the floor. Was just solid out there. Hustled well.
Brockeith Pane – Scored 8 points (0 threes). Had 1 rebound, 1 assist and 1 steal. Seemed to be out there in more of a mentor role. Stuck up for Butterfield from the bench on one play where the other team was trying to call a traveling violation on a Butterfield fast break layup. Also has a nice beard and mo hawk ‘do. Played the SG position most of the time to allow for Roland and Doc to play the point. Did play some point along the way.
Sean Harris – DNP. He was there in basketball shorts and a nice pink Aggie shirt. 🙂 He’s a pretty big kid. He took shots at times while the teams were on the other side of the court. After the scrimmages he went out and did a little running and put up some shots. He is very adept at hitting the three point shot (at least in practice). He was hitting them with consistency. Appears to be a good FT shooter as well.
Quincy Bair – DNP. Was not present due to recent surgery (appendix).
Marvin Jean – DNP. Was not present (recent surgery on thumb).
Quinn Taylor – DNP. Was not present.
I spoke with Doc and Riley after the scrimmage. They said that Harris is out for precautionary reasons. He is cleared to play starting in August. They both said that Marvin Jean looked really good and was playing well for them before the injury. They said he should be back in 3-4 weeks. They said Quincy would be fine as well. Doc is one of the most polite, nicest kids I’ve seen. Riley was very cool too. I’m proud to have them on the team.
Hope that helps ease some slow-summer Aggie hoops update pain. 🙂