One of the best exhibition games I have ever seen the Irish play. They were on fire and look to have a very deep team. Here's the player breakdowns.
Vasturia - Was Vasturia. Look to have cleaned up his shot release a bit. Was more compact and more fluid. Had about ten points and was very active as always.
Beachem - Very confident on offense. Hit five threes. Looks to be shooting free throws with more confidence. Still sleepy on defense which probably never goes away.
Farrell - Very confident with the ball. Much more natural point than Jackson and was more confident with his shot. Had a ton of assists and many were of the spectacular fashion. Had some Grant type passes out there and a two handed dunk. Still a step slow and an inch short for the ACC, but he's going to have a good year.
Geben - Certainly more athletic. Had several dunks. Higher IQ than August. Got a ton of rebounds. Suspect he'll be part of a three headed center. Still don't think he's athletic enough to hang with the ACC blue bloods. He's going to get a lot of stuff sent back in his face, but he'll contribute with physical play. Most physical big man.
Colson - Looked really confident. Took a couple confident threes and hit one. Looks to be a more polished version of last year's Colson.
Pflueger - Like Vasturia he brings the d big time and made some nice passes. Hit one three. Had a couple ugly misses. Hard to picture that shotput three going down consistently, but he's a gem of a defender, and will be hard to keep off the court in big games.
TJ Gibbs - Better than advertised in my estimation. Looked completely college ready. Looked like a junior. Really sweet stroke. Even better than I thought and his release is really quick. I think he hit every shot and scored 14. Quite a debut. Most game ready freshman I have seen since Vasturia and he's more confident than Vasturia was as a freshman. Like Jackson, he can run the point, but he's not the creative playmaker Farrell is. He's a scoring point or a two guard. Going to press Pflueger and Ryan for that first spot off the bench player and pushing Vasturia to small forward. Defense really impressed me for a freshman. He's tough.
John Mooney - As advertised, and the advertising was done mostly by me. He's a little smaller than I hoped (6'9 v 6'10), but big enough to play center. He is getting compared to Kurz but I think he's going to be better than that. Hit a three, boxes out on every play, grabbed a bunch of rebounds and blocked a shot. He's a little smaller, but has quicker feet and better hops than Geben and can shoot from deep and handle the ball well. Like Matt Ryan and Pflueger last year, it will take 3/4 of the season for him to adjust to the speed of play, but he's got a nice tool set. He'll be part of a rotation for the first 3/4 of the season, but by the NCAA's I think he'll be the center on the court in crunch time.
Torres - Same game as last year. High energy veteran but may get squeezed this year. Could take Geben's minutes against more athletic teams.
Elijah Burns - Did not play as much as Geben and Mooney but looked good when he did. High basketball IQ kid who is thicker and an inch taller than Torres and more athletic than any big but Torres. Had a couple nice dunks. Really like the way he defends. I think he takes Torres minutes as his game is similar but he's bigger stronger and has a lot more skill.
Djogo - Bouncy freshman with good hops. He's thin and needs to redshirt. Shots not the smoothest thing and that will need work.
Overall, the team is really impressive. Should pick up right where we left off last year. Going to be tough to find minutes, but Brey has the option to play some interesting combination. A lineup of Gibbs, Vasturia, Beachem, Ryan and Mooney would be the best shooting team to take the court in the Brey era. All of those guys can hit and three of them are flat out deadly from deep.
Or Brey can go defensive and lineup with Gibbs, Vasturia, Plueger, Burns, and Torres. That's probably the best defensive lineup of the Brey era.
The reality is that neither of those will be our best lineup and Farrell, Vasturia, Beachem, Colson and Mooney will probably be the crunch time lineup although Pflueger, Ryan and Gibbs could displace or play equal minutes to all of them.
It's unlikely this team can repeat a final eight because that's just impossible to do three years in a row, but I think they can win more total games than last year's team. It's a talented roster, and will be much better defensively minus Auguste.
Vasturia - Was Vasturia. Look to have cleaned up his shot release a bit. Was more compact and more fluid. Had about ten points and was very active as always.
Beachem - Very confident on offense. Hit five threes. Looks to be shooting free throws with more confidence. Still sleepy on defense which probably never goes away.
Farrell - Very confident with the ball. Much more natural point than Jackson and was more confident with his shot. Had a ton of assists and many were of the spectacular fashion. Had some Grant type passes out there and a two handed dunk. Still a step slow and an inch short for the ACC, but he's going to have a good year.
Geben - Certainly more athletic. Had several dunks. Higher IQ than August. Got a ton of rebounds. Suspect he'll be part of a three headed center. Still don't think he's athletic enough to hang with the ACC blue bloods. He's going to get a lot of stuff sent back in his face, but he'll contribute with physical play. Most physical big man.
Colson - Looked really confident. Took a couple confident threes and hit one. Looks to be a more polished version of last year's Colson.
Pflueger - Like Vasturia he brings the d big time and made some nice passes. Hit one three. Had a couple ugly misses. Hard to picture that shotput three going down consistently, but he's a gem of a defender, and will be hard to keep off the court in big games.
TJ Gibbs - Better than advertised in my estimation. Looked completely college ready. Looked like a junior. Really sweet stroke. Even better than I thought and his release is really quick. I think he hit every shot and scored 14. Quite a debut. Most game ready freshman I have seen since Vasturia and he's more confident than Vasturia was as a freshman. Like Jackson, he can run the point, but he's not the creative playmaker Farrell is. He's a scoring point or a two guard. Going to press Pflueger and Ryan for that first spot off the bench player and pushing Vasturia to small forward. Defense really impressed me for a freshman. He's tough.
John Mooney - As advertised, and the advertising was done mostly by me. He's a little smaller than I hoped (6'9 v 6'10), but big enough to play center. He is getting compared to Kurz but I think he's going to be better than that. Hit a three, boxes out on every play, grabbed a bunch of rebounds and blocked a shot. He's a little smaller, but has quicker feet and better hops than Geben and can shoot from deep and handle the ball well. Like Matt Ryan and Pflueger last year, it will take 3/4 of the season for him to adjust to the speed of play, but he's got a nice tool set. He'll be part of a rotation for the first 3/4 of the season, but by the NCAA's I think he'll be the center on the court in crunch time.
Torres - Same game as last year. High energy veteran but may get squeezed this year. Could take Geben's minutes against more athletic teams.
Elijah Burns - Did not play as much as Geben and Mooney but looked good when he did. High basketball IQ kid who is thicker and an inch taller than Torres and more athletic than any big but Torres. Had a couple nice dunks. Really like the way he defends. I think he takes Torres minutes as his game is similar but he's bigger stronger and has a lot more skill.
Djogo - Bouncy freshman with good hops. He's thin and needs to redshirt. Shots not the smoothest thing and that will need work.
Overall, the team is really impressive. Should pick up right where we left off last year. Going to be tough to find minutes, but Brey has the option to play some interesting combination. A lineup of Gibbs, Vasturia, Beachem, Ryan and Mooney would be the best shooting team to take the court in the Brey era. All of those guys can hit and three of them are flat out deadly from deep.
Or Brey can go defensive and lineup with Gibbs, Vasturia, Plueger, Burns, and Torres. That's probably the best defensive lineup of the Brey era.
The reality is that neither of those will be our best lineup and Farrell, Vasturia, Beachem, Colson and Mooney will probably be the crunch time lineup although Pflueger, Ryan and Gibbs could displace or play equal minutes to all of them.
It's unlikely this team can repeat a final eight because that's just impossible to do three years in a row, but I think they can win more total games than last year's team. It's a talented roster, and will be much better defensively minus Auguste.
