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Observations from Open Practice Before Penn State Game

+24 HS
bsk33's picture
October 28, 2017 at 2:10pm
24 Comments

It was only an hour and 15 minutes and they did not even scrimmage, so obviously take my opinions with a grain of salt. 

1. I don't know if it would have been different if the Buckeyes did not have a closed scrimmage (v. Xavier) scheduled for tomorrow, but the atmosphere for this was 'night and day' different than when they held this event with Thad's teams.  I attended most of those.  They usually involved a couple laid back warm up drills, 30-45 mins of a scrimmage, and then maybe a dunk contest. There was none of that today.  Seemed like a typical practice with non-stop drills and plenty of intensity.

2.  The crowd was horrible per usual.  I would guess maybe 200-300 fans were in attendance.

3. Holtmann coached non-stop with plenty of physical demonstrations.  Obviously, not something Thad was capable of doing quite as much the last few years.

4. The big news to me was Ja'Sean Tate working exclusively with the perimeter players and KBD working more in the post.  I think they are the two best players on the team. But it sure seems like their roles will be different (especially Tate) than they were under Matta.

5. There was a lot of motion and less isolation when they practiced offensive sets.  I hope that holds true in games.

6. Kaleb Wesson looks like a different human being than the one that played in The Schott as a Junior at Westerville South. He has lost so much weight. He still isn't very athletic at all, but he is so skilled with great hands.  And he has a swagger/confidence about him that we haven't had in the post since Jared Sullinger.  Not saying he is Sully by any stretch, but I think he is going to be a heck of a player. Hopefully he will be a major contributor sooner than later.

7. Kyle Young just seems solid in every aspect of the game. Doesn't blow you away, but does everything pretty well.

8. Musa Jallow has a funky looking shot and I think he will struggle in that aspect of his game, at least this year.  But man is he an impressive athlete.  All muscle, good quickness, incredible hops, etc. It is hard to believe he is 17 years old.

9. Tate actually shot the ball really well.  The fact that I used the word 'actually' is the reason why I am apprehensive that he seems to be moving to the perimeter.  But Chris Holtmann knows a hell of a lot more about basketball than I do. It will be interesting to see how it works out.

10.  The players were very vocal, especially Tate, Dakich, and Potter.  And the chemistry and camaraderie seemed great.  Again, it was only one practice.  But it was refreshing to not see the crappy body language that we saw so often from guys like Loving and Lyle.

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