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Written by Matt
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Tuesday, 14 July 2009 14:56 |
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Basketball season is finally underway and now I get to give my first set of observations of the season.
I, like just about every other Mizzou fan at this point in time, care infinitely times more about the success of the football team than I do the hoops team. That said, basketball has always been my favorite sport. I played it throughout elementary and high school, have watched more games than anyone I know and it's the only sport where I feel like I could hold an extended conversation with a head coach at any level and not come off sounding like a complete jackass.
So I'm excited for this season if for no other reason than to share my encyclopedic knowledge of all things hoops with you, the reader. And away we go: - Is it me or does Leo Lyons actually look like he might give a damn this season? I could gush about how well Leo's played offensively and how hard he's crashing the offensive glass. But I'll save that for a later date because Leo's guaranteed to have a few more solid performances on that side of the court. What I've been impressed with is that he's actually been exerting himself on the defensive side of the floor. On Saturday he was bodying up his man and consistently pushing him out of the lane (at least in the first half, didn't stay for the second). I know the Tigers have yet to play anyone significant, but these are very good signs.
- Great to see a completely healthy DeMarre Carroll. I pray that he stays that way because he is a joy to watch when he's at 100 percent. I don't know if I've ever seen a big man at Mizzou run the floor as well as he does. Although I've always argued that players with dreads just look like they play harder than everyone else because of how their hair bounces up and down.
- Speaking of DeMarre, I love the video they play on the jumbotron before the game now. For those of you that haven't seen it at the end of the video it flashes to DeMarre screaming at the top of his lungs a la Kevin Garnett at the :38 mark of this clip. I can't wait to hear Mizzou Arena when they play that before the kU game.
- Speaking of screaming, did anyone else see Justin Safford swat Chattanooga player's shot and blatantly get in his face and scream? How the hell do you not get T'd up for that? I love the intensity but that's a technical foul if I've ever seen one.
- Not sure what to make of Zaire Taylor. Physically he looks like a great fit for the system. And I love the rebounding and assist numbers. But if he's only hitting one-of-10 shots against these teams what's he gonna do against Big 12 defenses? We just got through with four years of Jason Horton. I'm tired of watching players that are essentially dead weight on the offensive side of the floor.
- Don't expect much from Keith Ramsey, Steve Moore or Laurence Bowers this season. They should provide some much needed size and depth, which will hopefully help with the Tigers' rebounding woes (most concerning weakness thus far), but they look very limited offensively.
- I was very impressed with the freshman guards: Miguel Paul, Marcus Denmon and Kim English. They all three were out of control a lot of the time the last two games but they were also all three sparkplugs. Paul, by the way, even looks like his all-star cousin.
- The Tigers left this morning for Puerto Rico where they'll play Xavier at 11:30 a.m. on Thursday. The game will be televised on ESPNU. Hopefully that will give us a better idea of where this team is at.
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