1. Saunders is this team's best player. He doesn't have the ceiling that Demin has but his two way skill and prowess is currently unmatched by anyone else on the team.
2. Keita is not really tall so I was a bit worried about his ability to dominate other bigs defensively...most of those worries have gone away from me. He is stronger and and a better athlete than just about all of the other big regardless if they are a couple of inches taller. He also has a huge wingspan.
3. This is uncommon for a seasoned veteran, but Baker is a wild card. Each time he comes in you don't know if you are going to get good Baker or bad Baker. Most of today it was good Baker. He can get to the rim, but his decision making is not great.
4. Hall looked better today. Less standing around and more attacking. Yesterday he would cross the mid court line and stall. Or he would catch the ball and stall. Today he was moving it. Now we just need to teach him he doesn't need to dribble for 10 seconds at a time.
5. I really liked Stewart's minutes. Not sure why you would put in Crawford again this season as Stewart is the better option. He is an athletic freak who puts a lot of pressure on the offense when he is on the floor.
6. Fouss was not his normal great today, but you saw glimpses of what he can be when the other team has a big that can defend him. He can be a pick and roll guy who moves to the hoop. He can be a guy who hustles down on our fast breaks. He can be a guy who gets key offensive rebounds. I thought he did a lot of those things well even when his primary weapon post ups didn't work.
7. Demin has to cut down on his "bad" turnovers (I consider it a bad turnover when you could make the play but because you do it nonchalantly it is a turnover) and learn to get to the hoops more often. He seemingly can get there when he wants, but seems happy to play 25 feet from the hoop.
8. Catchings needs to learn to the let the game come to him. Yes there are bad shots even if you can get them off without being blocked. He needs to learn to slash a bit more and it will open up that 3 point shot. On defense quit jumping! You are 6'9", make these guys shoot over you. Don't jump to try and block every head fake they give you.
9. This is an elite rebounding team. We don't always do it in traditional ways, but we pound the glass. Yes I would like to see more straight box outs, but it was a good job.
10. Hard not to come away impressed with the defense today. 61 points is not many and like 10 were in garbage time.
11. For all of you that wondered what Trevin Knell brings to the table, go back and watch his minutes today. He only shot 1-5 from 3, but he had a key steal, some key rebounds and a couple of great passes. Strangely enough, he attacks the basket better than most on our team. Oh and his defense is solid.
12. I'm always suprised when I look up the box score and see how few of minutes Boskovic played. I would like to see him get more. He is a good shooter, rebounder, defender and can handle the ball for a big guy. He plays very good defense. He doesn't have the natural feel for the game as some others, but I'm just surprised he only got 9 mins today.
13. BYU matches up better right now in the season against good bigs as opposed to good guards. It surprises me a little bit, but we have proven the ability to stop the big guys better than the guards.