BEARZ77 wrote:Weak opponent, but some encouraging signs for the Bears. Played w/o their two most physical inside guys in 6'8 Martin[ suspension] and 6'11 McCullough[ still rehabbing] , also perhaps most talented player in Kendrix [ suspension] and 6'6 highly rated frosh guard Boogie Williams who will rs. Didn't get any production from last years NOY Miller [ 1pt] but didn't need it. This team is extremely deep as even w/o the big guys and Kendrix, we had guys like Dixon, Ruder, and Rhodes coming off the bench. Ruder while perhaps suffering some loss of overall athleticism to chronic injury, has hiS shot back and hit 6 treys for 18 pts.
Our 3 jucos combined went 20/27 from the field with 49 pts,17 rbs, 9assists vs 2 tos. 6'9 Alize Johnson went 8/8 from the field with 6 rbs. He had several coast to coast rbs , dribble the floor and either finish or assist. He's very skilled for his length. Rhodes at 6'6 went 4/5 from 3pt had 16pts and 7 rbs. He'll keep pushing Kendrix once he's back and is probably gonna play in front of him for a while. PG Rousseau had 16 pts, 5 assists vs 1 to. He's legit although with Miller we are very small in the starting backcourt. We're gonna be hard to guard, lots of offensive fire power, but lots of work to do on defense and establishing an inside presence. Towards that end though Obediah Church did go for 12 pts, 8 rbs and 4 blks. 6 Bears in double figures none named Miller/Kendrix , two of the leading returning scorers in the MVC.
I didn't watch all of the Bears games as I was flipping around ESPN3 pre-Shocker tip off, but here's what I saw:
I can't tell Church and Johnson apart in a half court set. Very similar build and same damn haircut! They are a bit on the thin side, but fast bouncy athletes. Bears fans aren't kidding about Johnson collecting the board and taking it down court. He leads the break and looks to be a point forward type in open court. Johnson had a great demonstration of this as he dribbled past defenders at half court and made the back man stop him at the FT line where he tossed up a great ally-oop for Church on the slam.
Ruder and Kreklow shot extremely well. That will open up the middle for the bouncy athletes. The little PGs are fast and offensive minded. They seemed a little out of control on their drives, but they were fast enough to get all the way to the basket.
The offensive movement of the Bears was a far cry from years past. The Bears were quick and moved the ball well. I wasn't impressed with defensive rebounding.
