2023 Red-White Showcase Saturday, Oct. 21, starts at 10:00 am

[basketball nut]

Both Duke and Connor played about 19 of the 20 minutes in the scrimmage. In the final minute or so, Cade Hardtke and Sam Hennessy replaced them. I don't recall anyone else playing point guard.
In practices, Trey Pettigrew would be the next up to play PG.

I don't remember if it was Pettigrew or someone else but there was small stretch that Hickman went more off guard and that player did run the point. Not near as smooth as Hickman. You can see his improvement with his bulked up size. He might be the best player we have if he can shoot like he did Saturday. A lot quicker getting his shot off now.

[Da Coach]

I have been hearing that Connor felt that his shot was broken last year, and that he now feels like he has fixed the problem. His shooting has been very good in the practices this season. Let's hope he keeps it up.

Losing Zek unexpectedly at the end of March hurt Bradley, almost as much as losing Rienk and Ville. He would have been the primary backup point guard this season, and he handled that pretty well last year. When he surprised everyone and announced he was entering the portal on March 28, it was too late to replace him with another quality point guard. So we'll probably see Duke and Connor play 35 minutes in most games this season, with Trey helping out a little.

Btw, there are some Rhode Island people who thought that Zek was the best player on the floor in their Blue-White Scrimmage Oct. 13, and he is being counted on to be a leader for the URI team.

https://twitter.com/BillKoch25/status/1712967298951082199

https://twitter.com/PetrickZack/status/1707172163982110934

Zek will start and get a lot of playing time at Rhode Island, though it might not be at point guard like he wanted to play at Bradley. URI was really bad last year and are rebuilding with a ton of new pieces. They finished with an overall record of 9-22, and they were 5-13 and 14th place in the A-10, despite 2022-23 being the weakest year in the history of the A-10.
Head coach Archie Miller cleaned house after his first year at URI. They lost 9 players from last year's team, including their top 4 scorers, and 5 of the top 6. Every player who started for them is gone, and this year's roster includes 13 new players-- five D1 transfers, three jucos, and 5 freshmen. 3 of the new players are pretty good point guards, so Zek will likely play off the ball.

https://gorhody.com/sports/mens-basketball/roster

[tomahawk chop]

Getting back to our starting 5 I just cannot see Jonovic, Hannah and Leons on the court at the same time because of the situation of guarding the 3 point shot. We would be at a huge disadvantage against any opponent that has multiple players that are able to shoot 3 pointers at a good percentage. I also think Pettigrew can play the point and actually handles the ball better then Zek. We should get a better idea on what combinations work the best after we get several games in this season. We have several veterans but also some new players that will be vital to our overall success this season.

[LittleBrave]

I don't remember if it was Pettigrew or someone else but there was small stretch that Hickman went more off guard and that player did run the point. Not near as smooth as Hickman. You can see his improvement with his bulked up size. He might be the best player we have if he can shoot like he did Saturday. A lot quicker getting his shot off now.

Connor had a quick shot last year too - and mid-season appeared a bit too quick and didn't have good balance, which affected his 3-pt shots.
Can't wait to see his improvements! I was psyched about Hickman even before he joined the Braves - now we're seeing how good he can be!

[LittleBrave]

Btw, there are some Rhode Island people who thought that Zek was the best player on the floor in their Blue-White Scrimmage Oct. 13, and he is being counted on to be a leader for the URI team.

https://twitter.com/BillKoch25/status/1712967298951082199

I thought Zek had the most upside of any Brave last 2 seasons and as close to an nba prospect we've had in over a decade, aside from Childs, but his senior season was mediocre for his potential and we know how the rest of the season imploded for him.

Zek was the catalyst to help the Braves win on the road with his big 2nd half at Indy St. last year. If we didn't have his contributions, I don't think we even finish Top 3 last season. Nothing but best wishes for Zek at URI.

[yoda]

..Btw, there are some Rhode Island people who thought that Zek was the best player on the floor in their Blue-White Scrimmage..

Hmm, the stats and the comments on their message boards had most of the post-scrimmage buzz about David Green, a portal transfer junior who
was really hot in the first half scoring 19 pts, then finishing with 26 pts on 10-17, 4-9 from 3pt and 7 reb. He is however, a 2-time transfer and is still awaiting his NCAA waiver.
Jaden House, senior transfer from High Point also had 26 pts on 10-13. Zek had 15 but was 0-4 from 3pt, 1 asst and 3 turnovers.
Rhode Island had a dozen players leave last year and totally rebuilt their roster from the portal, but 10 or 12 of their guys are guards and wing players. quite a bottleneck at that spot...

One guy on the Rhode Island roster I will be interested to see is the son of one of the greatest shooters in basketball history.
Ray Allen III, son of NBA Hall of Famer Ray Allen, the all-time record holder for 3-pointers made 'til Steph Curry just broke it, and formerly cited by some as the greatest shooter in NBA history.