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I went to Maroon Madness last night with some diehard Saluki fans. Because of renovations underway at the SIU Arena it was held where the Women's Volleyball Team plays.. pretty small.. 1-2 thousand seats. It was packed before the end of the first set of the Vball game (Drake won by the way).
The basketball program started off a little disorganized with a 3 point shooting contest. One of the SIU woman won. Then they did a deal taking fans out of the stands to play with 4 of the men & women players. That was followed by a dunking contest. Interstingly it came down to 5'10" freshman Kendal Brown and JC transfer Jack Crowder. Brown won. Very impressive hops. He can really get up there. He also appears to be cocky and a ham.. playing it up for the crowd. Crowder also appears very athletic.
Next the women played a 7 minute scrimmage. The women's team will be challenged to win many games from the look of things. But of course it was just the first night.
Finally the men scrimmaged. It looked like the expected starters against the bench. Dillard, T Freeman, Bocot, Booker & Fay against Brown, Crowder, Evans, Teague & Freshman John Myers (who I understand will red shirt).
Without programs and actual jerseys and not knowing the players very well it was tough to keep track of who did what. Here are my impressions.
Tony Freeman is a man among boys. He is a hard body with an excellent shot. There was not a ton of D played in this.. but that is his rep. I think he will be tough to handle all season long. He may become the go to guy with the game on the line.
Dillard ran the show, but I am not sure if he has that real point guard mentallity yet. I think he is still making the transition from high school "scorer".
Bocot hit a few. As pointed out by one of the Saluke fans.. he has an odd shot for a scorer.. almost no spin. I would think in venues where there is a breeze down by the court that would hurt him. But he is smooth.
I didn't think any of the big men were overly impressive.
Booker took an elbow in the face almost immediately (SIU's first injury of the season.. saw him after the game with a rag up in the nose and a big bag of ice).
Evans took a pass off the head when he was not looking for the ball.
I know alot of the SIU fans were impressed with Teague. He is a wide wide body.. very strong looking and he was a force in this scrimmage rebounding and taking the ball up to the basket. He backed his way in over several players. My thought however was.. he fouled just about every time he was around the ball both on offense and defense. If they can get him under control he might be someone you have to deal with.
The kid who is red shirting.. Myers actually was pretty impressing hitting a number of long jumpers.
And the freshman Kendal Brown (I believe this is the coach's nephew) from Indiana was pretty impressive in the scrimmage. Looked to have a good nose for the ball.. runs well.. crisp passes.. sees the court very well. I'm sure he took a shot, but I don't recall if it went in or how his form looked. By the way for those of you who put stock in such things.. he is lefthanded.
Crowder did not show much in the scrimmage.. he appeared tired after all his dunk attempts.
As has been the case with SIU teams of the past.. every loose ball was contested. A couple of players dove into the crowd.. while pleased with their hustle I'm sure the coaches were cringing.. not wanting to risk injury during a scrimmage for the fans.
The reserves hung with the starters.. which I think says SIU will have good depth this year. You will see Crowder & Brown in the guard rotation.
Booker & Fay will be your starting forwards.. with Evans and Teague giving relief and fouls. Not sure where John Freeman fits in.. I really didn't see that much of him.
Diamond Taylor was there on the bench.
That's all I can think of.
If you have any questions let me know.
The basketball program started off a little disorganized with a 3 point shooting contest. One of the SIU woman won. Then they did a deal taking fans out of the stands to play with 4 of the men & women players. That was followed by a dunking contest. Interstingly it came down to 5'10" freshman Kendal Brown and JC transfer Jack Crowder. Brown won. Very impressive hops. He can really get up there. He also appears to be cocky and a ham.. playing it up for the crowd. Crowder also appears very athletic.
Next the women played a 7 minute scrimmage. The women's team will be challenged to win many games from the look of things. But of course it was just the first night.
Finally the men scrimmaged. It looked like the expected starters against the bench. Dillard, T Freeman, Bocot, Booker & Fay against Brown, Crowder, Evans, Teague & Freshman John Myers (who I understand will red shirt).
Without programs and actual jerseys and not knowing the players very well it was tough to keep track of who did what. Here are my impressions.
Tony Freeman is a man among boys. He is a hard body with an excellent shot. There was not a ton of D played in this.. but that is his rep. I think he will be tough to handle all season long. He may become the go to guy with the game on the line.
Dillard ran the show, but I am not sure if he has that real point guard mentallity yet. I think he is still making the transition from high school "scorer".
Bocot hit a few. As pointed out by one of the Saluke fans.. he has an odd shot for a scorer.. almost no spin. I would think in venues where there is a breeze down by the court that would hurt him. But he is smooth.
I didn't think any of the big men were overly impressive.
Booker took an elbow in the face almost immediately (SIU's first injury of the season.. saw him after the game with a rag up in the nose and a big bag of ice).
Evans took a pass off the head when he was not looking for the ball.
I know alot of the SIU fans were impressed with Teague. He is a wide wide body.. very strong looking and he was a force in this scrimmage rebounding and taking the ball up to the basket. He backed his way in over several players. My thought however was.. he fouled just about every time he was around the ball both on offense and defense. If they can get him under control he might be someone you have to deal with.
The kid who is red shirting.. Myers actually was pretty impressing hitting a number of long jumpers.
And the freshman Kendal Brown (I believe this is the coach's nephew) from Indiana was pretty impressive in the scrimmage. Looked to have a good nose for the ball.. runs well.. crisp passes.. sees the court very well. I'm sure he took a shot, but I don't recall if it went in or how his form looked. By the way for those of you who put stock in such things.. he is lefthanded.
Crowder did not show much in the scrimmage.. he appeared tired after all his dunk attempts.
As has been the case with SIU teams of the past.. every loose ball was contested. A couple of players dove into the crowd.. while pleased with their hustle I'm sure the coaches were cringing.. not wanting to risk injury during a scrimmage for the fans.
The reserves hung with the starters.. which I think says SIU will have good depth this year. You will see Crowder & Brown in the guard rotation.
Booker & Fay will be your starting forwards.. with Evans and Teague giving relief and fouls. Not sure where John Freeman fits in.. I really didn't see that much of him.
Diamond Taylor was there on the bench.
That's all I can think of.
If you have any questions let me know.
(A personal note: I misread the note I got on Hare.. as was not supposed to say anything for a couple of days.. so I inadvertantly burned a friend. Apologies to you know who!)
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