Adding a new dimension to this team: A look at who's going to break out in 2011.

[Saratoga2]

What we have is two seniors sho play very solid defense, can go for nearly 40 minutes a game and consistently put up 40 or more points as a baseline. Yesterday it was 52. Nolans scoring efficiency is good while Kyles is not quite where we would like it, but game in and game out they will give you at least 40.

What we need is a minimum of 15 from our other guards and 15 from our inside players and we need to play much better defense than we showed yesterday. With our size and talents, coach K needs to look at the defense and possibly go to a more compact man to man with the hope of holding other teams to 70 or less.

Saying that, Ryan Kelly has the size and intelligence to put defensive pressure on his opponents, while blocking a fair number of shots and getting rebounds. He had 9 yesterday. He also can score from the 3, from pull up distance and at times around the basket, plus he is a decent foul shooter. I think Ryan has already shown enough to know that he will help immensely in the stretch of games to follow. Maybe ywe can expect 10 points per game consistently.

Mason also has shown some specialty of rebounding, bothering shooters inside and blocking shots. He is athletic and can pass. Yesterday he very deliberately took two foul shots and made both. I had the feeling he has worked hard in that area and may be turning the corner. Saying that it is hard to see where he will score more than 4 or 5 points a game against good opponents.

Miles had a couple of up games, but seemed way off yesterday. He just doesn't seem good at catching the ball (hands) and making a play to the basket. His defense also didn't impress me. I don't expect major improvements from him this year, but it is sure good to have an athletic big man on the bench who can come in and contest shots and get rebounds.

Josh just hasn't looked ready for the competitive level as yet on defense. I don't expect him to get major minutes going forward.

At guard we have Andre who has a sweet stroke and seems only to lack confidence at times. He played fairly well yesterday, although his shooting needs to return to the earliet form. At 6'4" and mobile, he is a very good guy to come in and defend big guards. He also passes fairly well and doesn't turn the ball over a lot. In my view, he is the guard we have with the highest liklihood of helping the team. His handle needs to improve, but otherwise he looks like an improving player.

Tyler is a special case on this team. He wasn't expected to get a lot of time this year, but when Kyrie went down he seems to have found a role. Provide intense defense on the opponent's ball handlet while helping Nolan with the ball handling on offense. This kid is strong and tough and strong with the ball. I also think he has the potential to substantially improve his offense.

Seth has some skills that he has honed with a year of college play, another year of scrimmage play and now this year. That makes him experienced at the guard position. He uses that for shot fakes and to get open for shots. He also has fairly quick hands. He seems to have only so so ball handling skills and is greatly bothered by a large mobile guard when he has turnovers and his offense disappears.

To summarize, I think our best teams include Nolan, Kyle, Ryan, Mason and Andre.
An alternate to that team is one with Ryan or Mason, Kyle, Nolan, Andre and Tyler. Others I see as valuable subs.

[PADukeMom]

Honestly I just don't know at this point. I've seen potential but where success is seen one game it is lost by the time the next game comes around. This team just mystifies me to no end. Too many uncontested points given up so early in the game & then they have to work harder to make-up those deficits. Working harder = tired legs.

Horrible day all around especially having to deal with idiotic Carolina fans who can not seem to fathom that 5 losses are 3 more than 2.

[Scorp4me]

I've said for some time that I think Tyler could be a real catalyst. I could be attributing him too much potential and I'm not clamoring for him to start. But I've seen him drive and dish to Mason, I've seen him drive and look to score, even seen him take a 3. But it's mainly that he puts everyone back in their correct positions. Frees things up. He doesn't have the same game as Kyrie (few do) but even attempting it at a lesser rate may help.

Alright so I realize it's easy to arm chair coach, but I'm very pleased to see K agreed. It wasn't just a ceremonial start, Tyler played 28 minutes. And while his statistics were quite low, he did all that I mentioned (even the 3) but mainly rotated players back where they were comfortable and everyone seemed to benefit. Mason and Miles looked to score more, Nolan and Singler looked more comfortable, even Seth and Dre came off the bench for instant offense like they were doing earlier in the year.

He made a few freshman mistakes but I was very comfortable with him running the offense.