At the end of the semester it might be appropriate to hand out...... Player report cards:
Grades are based on the combination of actual play and compared-to-expectations.
•PG - Paulus has been solid so far, not having had a bad game yet, and with a couple of excellent games under his belt. I hope to see more games like he had against the Wolveritos; 6/0 ast/to!!! Has mos def shown improvement from last year. Grade: A-
•2G - Nelson has been solid so far, with a pair of not-so-great games, a pair of very good games and a collection of games of un-spectacular-yet-of-workman-like productivity. His grit, toughness and leadership are difficult to quantify but he has infused this team with his demeanor. Has not shown statistical improvement, although his ast/to is much improved; his awareness withe ball seems to be better this year. Grade: B
•3G - Henderson has shown quite a bit of improvement with more consistency and has achieved a higher ceiling. Has had a collection of excellent games, a pair of middling games and other + productivity games. His rebounding and shot-blocking are unexpected + surprises. Grade: A.
•SF - Singler has lived up to his billing; very polished and versatile. He has had several outstanding games with several + productivity games. His consistency has been a ++, considering Fr. often have trouble dealing withe diversity of teams in D1. Shooting, 3pt shooting and rebounding have been ++, although he will be even a greater asset when he gets his TOs under control. Grade: A.
•PF - Thomas has been relatively quiet so far, although being a rather undersized Center on a Guard oriented team doesn't leave much room for statistical brilliance. His hustle, grit and energy are certainly appreciated. Has shown an expanded offensive range from last year, but his propensity for fouling has remained from last year. Has been a pleasant surprise in a few games and has disappeared from a couple of games too. Grade: B/B-
The Bench (aka, alternate starters):
•Scheyer has exploded in a couple of games and has otherwise registered ++ contributions in every game. Has been a very nice surprise in the rebounding dept. Has dealt with changing his role from last year very well. Grade: A.
•King has led the team in scoring 3 times and has let the NCAA know that he must be guarded out to mid-court. Has made a strong commitment to D (which is still only ok) to gain more PT and has also been a + factor rebounding. His 3pt stroke has earned lots of attention, his lack of effectiveness at the FT line is mysterious. Has been my biggest + surprise so far this year. Grade: A.
•Smith has had a pair of excellent games, a few + contribution games a couple of too-quiet games. He is still trying to adjust from being a true 2Guard to being a PG. His eruption in the Mich. game shows how good he can be at the 2G position. Grade: B.
•Zoubek is perhaps the enigma of this team. At times he looks like he has made great progress since last year, and at other times seems more lost. He is still recovering from breaking his foot, so the modicum of productivity is to be understood. Despite his lack of stats at times, he does "dirty work" that keep earning him minutes and has made + contributions in all but a couple of games. Grade: B/B+.
•Both Pocius and McClure get Incomplete as a grade. Dave is only now starting to play productively after another surgery, and scored his first bucket of the year against Mich. Pocius is done for the year after surgery, I hope he red-shirts so we can see more of him.

The team grade so far in my book is an A/A+ b/c the team has played greater than the sum of it parts. The + comes from the tourney win in Maui and from the ability to win close games down the stretch, which were the games we did not deal with very well last year. Everyone on the team has had a very important impact in at least one game this year (minus Pocius and McClure) which shows how versatile the team is and also how versatile each player is as a different component. There is no single or even pair of players that must be shut down to beat Duke (a la Redick & Williams) as there are 7 players on the team who have scored 16+ pts in a game this year. One of Duke's big problems last year was identity, and this team seems to have found it; Nelson is the leader and he plays withe heart of a captain. Duke has also found that it has several players who want the ball in clutch time, which was sorely lacking last year. Duke's bench has also deepened and become more effective than last year. There was lots of room for improvement from last year and this team has made significant (P=0.01) strides in addressing pretty much every area of concern.