by billyjack » Fri Aug 02, 2019 10:54 am
I was able to watch a lot of the game. They play 4 quarters. 3 point line looked to be at the international distance of course, which will be new this year in NCAA hoops.
Powell (#10) is amazing. Hits beautiful driving layups, drills 3 pointers, and all with guys in his face. The Big East was maintaining a lead throughout of around 6 8 10 points, then Powell in the 4th quarter drained like a 40 footer with 2 guys draped on him, and Venezuela never recovered.
Gillespie (#2) was great running the point. Reliable ball handling and good decisions.
Duke Jr (#7) was Gillespie's main backup, with a couple of pretty dishes for layups. Can be really explosive.
I've always been a huge fan of Wideman (#12), who gets tough rebounds, bruises people, plays great defense, and makes smart plays. Had a key dunk off a Gillespie missed layup early on. Grabbed huge boards late.
Diallo (#11) filled up the scoresheet, made a ton of nice plays, got big rebounds, was very active, and he and Powell have kind of taken on the leadership roles.
Samuels did a great job, very active.
Groselle was a nice surprise. Steady play under the hoop, good rebounding, and nice putbacks.
Heron had some nice moves but didn't play a big part last night. Cale had limited minutes.
Alexander couldn't find his groove last night. Nothing bad, but nothing noteworthy like he's capable of, and he kind of rushed things.
Friars Watson and Reeves had DNP's.
It was a really entertaining game and great to see the camaraderie between players and coaches. Really a no-drama win. Maintained the lead the entire game, everyone did their job competently and in many cases exceptionally. Great group. Fun to watch the familiar faces, in the Summer, and especially in this setting. And to think of the unavailable players like Markus Howard, Naji Marshall, Paul Reed, and Akinjo and LeBlanc.
The game was only on ESPN-3, and in their typical ESPN way, the telecast was in Spanish only, and there was no halftime studio show. Actually I'd rather hear Spanish spoken by a Peruvian announcer than anything babbled by Bilas or Seth Greenberg or Dakich.
Providence