Not that you asked ...
I just watched a large portion of the game on FB (hopefully, for Game 2, the orientation of the broadcast won't shift 3 times throughout, forcing us to change display settings). It was very cool though to get a chance to see these guys in a pre-season game. Since I have nothing to do tonight and it's a slow news day, I'll throw out some observations of the game:
* Newsflash: Haliburton is really good. I love watching him in transition.
* The guys played with intensity on D. This was definitely not a Cap City game. I thought they looked better vs. the drive than they did closing down shooters or owning position close to the basket. It's very early, of course. Jacobson had a few really acrobatic plays on D (I remember a flying rejection and a couple leaping steals / deflections).
* There was a lot of drive-and-kick action. The Clones were cold early on but the shots were good ones.
* ISU looked to push the ball at all times. I think that that pressure eventually got to the Dutch.
* I know that Prentiss Nixon has a reputation as being a good defender but a few times when I iso'd on him, he was kind of lax and gave up 2 3-pointers back-to-back. His close-outs both times could have been more high-energy.
* Bolton looks a lot bigger than Nixon; he's got longer reach and a bigger build. He missed a dunk in transition but looks like he has the build to finish in the Big12.
* Jackson will get some PT, especially if the NCAA denies Bolton's petition. He got lost at times on D but that should improve. He moves well laterally and has good overall speed. Good combo guard skills - he hit his first 2 shots (both 3pts, I think). He definitely can play at P5 speed on offense.
* Zion hit some nice 3's; he seems to look to spot up more than drive, in spite of his size. His shot looked hurried and flat a lot as a freshman but it looked fluid and comfortable in this game. It'd be nice for him to emerge as a consistent outside threat.
* T-Lew is strong and, unlike Zion, seems to look to put the ball on the deck more. He had a number of finishes on drives. His D is way better than it used to be but it was often hard to follow who was whom on the court so I'm not yet ready to say that it's where it needs to be. I still believe he'll be a contributor this year.
* The ball was in Solo's hands a LOT, especially early (not so much in MJ's). He passes the ball well and it looks like he's moving well again. Given Conditt's upside, I was thinking he might move into the lineup if Young didn't look fluid yet after the injury but it appears that he's behind Solo and Jake on the depth chart for now.
* Conditt didn't score much (1 bucket that I saw on a post up) but he made his presence felt. You can see that he's added muscle and is more comfortable with the ball in his hands.
* Grill and Anderson didn't do a lot but these early reps are great for them. Grill looks athletic enough to play at this level, certainly. His couple shots that I saw looked like they had a good chance but didn't fall in. You could see he was working hard on D, trying to get to the right spots. Anderson will need to add some bulk; hopefully, he'll get more comfortable with reps.
No great revelations there but maybe you don't want to watch the recording of the game, which had the production value of ESPN20, the veinte.
. It does make me wonder though how he didn't have any rebounds.
