In case you missed it in another thread, I'm re-posting KSO Hoops Analyst @Chris_Nelson's thoughts from K-State's exhibition against Missouri State yesterday:
Here are some of my random thoughts from the game:
It wasn't a dominating performance by any stretch, but it was solid. I left feeling better about the team than worse.
The effort/energy level was pretty good throughout. Out of the 10 four minute segments between media timeouts, the Cats were only outscored in one of them. The offense was stagnant and sloppy at times during that stretch, but a number of subs were in the game as well.
K-State played man to man the entire game. They did sprinkle in some token full court pressure and on one possession showed a 1-2-1-1 press with Dean at the top of the press. As I alluded to in the game story, the attention to detail was decent. When MSU ran their flex, KSU's bigs were sitting in the lane waiting on the flex cutter. One of the young bigs did get caught on this late in the game.
Speaking of the freshman bigs, while they both have a long ways to go, there were encouraging signs from both Stockard and Shadd. On one defensive possession, Stockard showed nicely on a ball screen, and then recovered to his man, who had picked and popped, to contest the shot. Offensively, they combined for a nice high/low where Shadd sealed his defender and Stockard made a nice entry pass.
Brian Patrick. He showed flashes of being a good shooter last year and he continued to show that this afternoon. However, at least on this day, his struggles on the defensive end continued. If K-State is indeed going to play a lot of small ball with him on the floor, he must improve his ability to guard and rebound.
Rebounding will continue to be a concern coming out of this game, particularly when K-State goes small. A guy like Xavier Sneed really needs to be a consistent rebounder for this team.
Diarra looked nothing like the player I saw in the first scrimmage. The competition will get better, but you couldn't have asked for a much better first performance from him. He has a strong and athletic body, which could allow him to get to the free throw line a lot. And the good news with that, he appears to be a very good free throw shooter.
Stokes was very solid. Brown had his moments. And while Wade didn't put up big numbers, he was solid in the first half. Wade did turn down some decent looks in the post, but his passes did lead to open shots.
Wainright was quiet on the offensive end, but he did show a willingness to guard.
Mawien was a factor on both ends. He did take one quick three that led to him being taken out of the game, but outside of that, he looked good. I am excited to see his growth over the course of the year.
As I mentioned in the game story, we did make a more concentrated effort, from both the players and coaches, to push the basketball. That was good to see. It's easy to say we are going to play faster, but it really does take a commitment every day in practice, in every full court drill, to become a team that plays fast. It has to become a habit.
Along those lines, when the initial break wasn't there, K-State got into their secondary breaks. When Wade was the trailer, they got right into some pick and roll action with Stokes. There were a number of times the Cats looked to create a situation where one side of the floor was cleared and let Stokes and Wade play a 2 man game.
Other looks out of the secondary break were a dribble weave, pin down after ball reversal, and a big setting a back screen for a waterfall cut for the point guard, followed by a down screen for the wing.
I will look through my notes again to see if there is anything I missed. And I am happy to answer any questions anyone may have.
Here are some of my random thoughts from the game:
It wasn't a dominating performance by any stretch, but it was solid. I left feeling better about the team than worse.
The effort/energy level was pretty good throughout. Out of the 10 four minute segments between media timeouts, the Cats were only outscored in one of them. The offense was stagnant and sloppy at times during that stretch, but a number of subs were in the game as well.
K-State played man to man the entire game. They did sprinkle in some token full court pressure and on one possession showed a 1-2-1-1 press with Dean at the top of the press. As I alluded to in the game story, the attention to detail was decent. When MSU ran their flex, KSU's bigs were sitting in the lane waiting on the flex cutter. One of the young bigs did get caught on this late in the game.
Speaking of the freshman bigs, while they both have a long ways to go, there were encouraging signs from both Stockard and Shadd. On one defensive possession, Stockard showed nicely on a ball screen, and then recovered to his man, who had picked and popped, to contest the shot. Offensively, they combined for a nice high/low where Shadd sealed his defender and Stockard made a nice entry pass.
Brian Patrick. He showed flashes of being a good shooter last year and he continued to show that this afternoon. However, at least on this day, his struggles on the defensive end continued. If K-State is indeed going to play a lot of small ball with him on the floor, he must improve his ability to guard and rebound.
Rebounding will continue to be a concern coming out of this game, particularly when K-State goes small. A guy like Xavier Sneed really needs to be a consistent rebounder for this team.
Diarra looked nothing like the player I saw in the first scrimmage. The competition will get better, but you couldn't have asked for a much better first performance from him. He has a strong and athletic body, which could allow him to get to the free throw line a lot. And the good news with that, he appears to be a very good free throw shooter.
Stokes was very solid. Brown had his moments. And while Wade didn't put up big numbers, he was solid in the first half. Wade did turn down some decent looks in the post, but his passes did lead to open shots.
Wainright was quiet on the offensive end, but he did show a willingness to guard.
Mawien was a factor on both ends. He did take one quick three that led to him being taken out of the game, but outside of that, he looked good. I am excited to see his growth over the course of the year.
As I mentioned in the game story, we did make a more concentrated effort, from both the players and coaches, to push the basketball. That was good to see. It's easy to say we are going to play faster, but it really does take a commitment every day in practice, in every full court drill, to become a team that plays fast. It has to become a habit.
Along those lines, when the initial break wasn't there, K-State got into their secondary breaks. When Wade was the trailer, they got right into some pick and roll action with Stokes. There were a number of times the Cats looked to create a situation where one side of the floor was cleared and let Stokes and Wade play a 2 man game.
Other looks out of the secondary break were a dribble weave, pin down after ball reversal, and a big setting a back screen for a waterfall cut for the point guard, followed by a down screen for the wing.
I will look through my notes again to see if there is anything I missed. And I am happy to answer any questions anyone may have.
