Red-White scrimmage

[Da Coach]

The Red-White scrimmage just started for the men's team. White has most of the seniors- Duke, Darius, Christian, plus Corey Thomas, Demarion Burch, Linke, Dillon,
Red has Meta, Almar,, Zen, Biliew, Jaquan, Case, Sam, and Timo.
Red leads early 12-5.

[Da Coach]

It was announced that Connor Dillon might not play because of a back issue. He was supposed to sit out ths scrimmage as a precautionary measure.

[Da Coach]

Crowd looks to be around 1,000.

[Da Coach]

Halftime- Red 21 White 15. Zek & Almar looking good for the Red. Duke, Darius, and Demarion for White.
Scoreboard reset to 0-0 for 2nd half.

[Da Coach]

Duke raining threes to start the 2nd half.
White leads 13-5

[Da Coach]

White team in 2nd half with Duke, Zek, Davis, Darius, Meta, Linke, and Timo.. They lead 16-12 with 3:50 left. Red playing well, too. Jaquan looks like a capable PG, Almar has made a couple threes, Corey Thomas with rebounds and a putback, and Biliew just hit a three.

[Da Coach]

Almar taking a couple threes while on the move, and he's 1-2 in the last minute.

[Da Coach]

Meta looks more active. He just made an inside hook shot, and a big block on the other end.
Final score for 2nd half- White 25 Red 18.

[Da Coach]

Photos from today's Red-White scrimmage - https://x.com/BradleyUMBB/status/1845157486761746655

[Da Coach]

More photos from BradleyBraves on X.com- https://x.com/BradleyUMBB/status/1845157491518451997

[Da Coach]

Video clip from Dave Eminian of the PJ Star,,, Corey Thomas (# 4 in white) with a 3-pointer, assist from Demarion Burch (# 0)- https://x.com/icetimecleve/status/1845139712916242927

[basketball nut]

My views on today's scrimmage.
Meta looks better. Handled the ball a lot better and hustled. Scored inside and looked a lot more comfortable.
Almar looks more comfortable shooting the 3 and stronger.
Darius & Duke are what we expected. It sometimes blows me away how much Darius has improved over the years
Thomas is going to give us some great help. Seemed to play to his strengths.
The most interesting to me was Zek matching up against Burch. As quick as Burch is Zek beat him off the dribble several times. Zek had a nice fall away 15 ft shot several times as well as prove he can shoot the 3. Burch is still very quick and had several drives to the basket.
Davis played hard the whole time. It seemed to me that he didn't shoot a lot.
Seemed like he was always looking for an open player which is a good thing.
Cade will get some playing time. Another player that has improved each year. He doesn't hurt the team when he is in the game.
The new guys have a ways to go to catch up with these 4th and 5th year players.
That's how I seen today's scrimmage.
Other thoughts?

[Da Coach]

I agree with your comments. Duke looked like his shot is even better and more reliable than last year. He took a couple quick shots after bringing the ball up court without even passing it. and he had a couple shots on the move, including a drive down the lane and a nice fade-away from the corner that hit nothing but net.
Darius could probably be more of a scorer, but he played unselfishly and passed up good shots.
Zek and Davis could also be bigger scorers, and I think Zek will be. I am not sure he missed any shots. Davis also played unselfishly and looked to pass the ball more than shoot. And Meta looks more confident and relaxed while playing the post. And as I commented earlier, Almar looks like he's improved his game. He made a couple spot up threes, and also made one or two shots while on the move, something we didn't see last year. Burch was steady and not as frantic as we saw last year. He hounded his player on defense, and I have to think that kind of defense will earn him good playing time.
The new guys- Corey Thomas made a three and at least one inside shot, but mostly looked to be in position for rebounds and outlet passes. Jaquan Johnson impressed me with his quickness and passing. In his high school games I watched last year, he was always walking the ball up the court and looking for his shot, but he can play uptempo, too. I think he'll get some playing time at PG, but he will learn that he isn't going to get the easy dribble-drive baskets he got a lot of in high school.
The shooting was not always great, but the team had a full practice early this morning, and they might have had some leg fatigue from that.

Dave Eminian just posted his summary of the scrimmages, including photos and video - https://www.pjstar.com/story/sports/...a/75640677007/

[BUFAN1]

I was impressed with Bullys game. Looks to be Dukes backup, so hopefully duke isn't playing 38 minutes a game...but he will be lol.

I did find it a little crass that Dave Emian called him out as tired in the article.

"Johnson, meanwhile, looked tired toward the end, after two 10-minute halves in which he barreled up and down the floor."

Like duh, he's a freshman, and this is the first time they have played "full-go". Maybe just worded a little differently, like "Johnsons endurance will improve throughout the season"

[Da Coach]

Some videos from the Red-White Scrimmage - https://x.com/BradleyUMBB/status/1845888596269572467
>> https://x.com/BradleyUMBB/status/1845888597662249314