Thoughts on the scrimmage...

Basketball is upon us again!

Which means you get to hear from an old, ghostly, Hall of Famer rant about the Runnin' Utes. I am very excited about this team.  Each returning player has notably improved in some way.

What defines this team in my opinion is their athleticism. Especially out on the perimeter. Newcomers like Princeton Onwas, Kenneth Ogbe, and Delon Wright were very impressive in this regard. Onwas had a couple of impressive blocks that brought everyone in the Special Events Center to their feet. Unless I am mistaken, I seem to recall it happening a couple of times. Ogbe produced similar results when he dunked over the aforementioned Onwas. And Wright had some steals that were a result of his length. He is certainly longer than your traditional guard and it will prove to be useful.

You can tell that this team is just going to be fun to watch.
Here is who I think the starting five will be:

Wright/Taylor, Tucker, Loveridge, Lenz, Olsen

I could also see Ogbe moving into the starting lineup if he continues to play like he did last night. They have him down as a guard, but I think he could play a little small forward as well. He was the player of the game yesterday in my opinion. Also will be interesting to see how Wright and Taylor split minutes.

Overall, to sum up my thought about yesterdays scrimmage:

Player of the game: Kenneth Ogbe. This young man had 21 points, going 8-of-9 and 4-of-4 from 3 point range. Delon Wright is a close runner-up though as he was close to a triple-double. 11 points, 9 rebounds, 7 assists and a few steals.

Most improved: Dakarai Tucker. He had 16 points, 4/4 from beyond the arc, and only missed once going 6-of-7

Most athletic: Princeton Onwas. I'm telling you, that block was sensational.

Team Strength: Athleticism and physicality

Team Weakness: Probably the bigs. They are a little weak down low, especially defensively. Dallin Bachynski is the most athletic of this group but is limited by whats going on in his head. Renan Lenz has showed improvement but is still soft. Jeremy Olsen has got game, but he isn't the fastest and strongest guy in the league by any means.

Best player Loveridge/Wright. Loveridge has improved his game a lot from last season as well. He appears to be in a lot more control over the ball and the direction he wants to take the ball. Last year he could be a little out of control, especially when he drove in. He had one play in particular last night where he faked right, dribbled behind his back, drove in, pump faked in air, and then layed it up and in. I talked about Wright earlier. It will be interesting to see which of these guys step up this year and becomes that "go to" guy. I see it being one of these two guys, but somebody else could surprise us and become that guy. With this team I would not be surprised.

I am excited about this season and things appear to only be going up for Larry K and his squad.

Go UTES!!!