My humble thoughts on last night's festivities....

Newcomers:

Jihad Muhammed: Fluid. Effortless. Took a bad baseline fadeaway rainbow from 19+ feet over Chadd Moore and right out of Tony Bobbitt's book that fell, and knocked in a couple of other three point shots with nice loft. Seemed to double-clutch on at least one of those shots. Not sure if it was a function of his typical motion or his small frame jacking the ball up over a taller, extended player, but the shot fell. Seems to have great silent communication already on many passes, including one seemingly-lazy yet amazingly-on-target alley-oop to Roy Bright from a few steps beyond the three point line. Jihad is no doubt fast, but Chadd Moore seems faster, at one point blowing by Jihad on the break for a layup. I do think a healthy Chadd starts over Jihad at this point, but there are big contributions to be made by Jihad over this season. I didn't see much from him on defense or rebounding the ball, areas where Chadd looked very good last night, but Jihad certainly held his own and didn't look near the newcomer that some of the others did. Obviously as a JUCO guy you hope he wouldn't.

Vincent Banks: Banks is one of the newcomers who looked it. He does seem to have a nice stroke as promised, and also seems very fast with and without the ball. He missed several forced shots, though granted in the context of a scrimmage where there weren't organized plays being called. He seems to have a nice handle and no lack of confidence to go to it, unlike, say, Field Williams at a similar stage in his carrer. He did seem very eager to make an impact. He's incredibly skinny and looks very much the freshman in that regard, which leads me to believe he's much more a pure 2 than anything else. Without seeing him in the context of an organized offense, I'd still say he'll be a nice compliment to Nick at the 2 spot who should be able to knock in some shots. Didn't notice him much on D, for better or worse. I think we're going to be in for a very complete Bearcat by his senior year, provided he improves each season. Though he tried hard (and often failed) to carve out a niche offensively last night, it was the trying that impressed me most.

Roy Bright: I guess I wasn't ready for how big Bright is from a physical standpoint. I pictured Bright to have a James White build, and instead he's got a similar build to Pete Mickeal, maybe even a little bigger. I think Mickeal is one of the better Bearcats to play for Huggins from a complete standpoint, so I'm not going to compare Roy to him any more except to say Bright did seem to have that same comfortability inside out and looks to be a better athlete than even Pete. He seems also to be a loose and fun-loving player, with an energy that will hopefully shine through in every aspect of his game including his hustle on the boards. Because of his size and energy, he can contribute solid bench minutes right away at the three. He seemed to want to mix it up under the hoop as much as possible and seemed to want to play D as well. I am excited about what he can do this year, and VERY excited about seeing him and Vincent as Cats for 3 years in the B-east.

Souly: Got a very nice ovation from the crowd. Would/could be a beast in a couple of years under the Ryan Fletcher weight program, and I hope he can put the muscles on his frame. Looked better than I expected on offense. He was on the same team as Max and, though no plays were being called, flashed to the hoop numerous times when Max had the ball from 10 feet out on the baseline. Seemed to be thinking about what he was doing when he wasn't around the ball, which to me was a good sign because he's obviously not going to have the instincts, but also obviously has learned in his 2 years in the game. He hit a nice turnaround jump hook at one point after posting up another player (Kirkland I think) and did a good job getting open on the break for open shots a couple of other times. Unfortunately he got eaten for lunch on the defensive end by an obviously more active Eric Hicks. Hicks was like a shark smelling blood in the water, and just simply beat Souly to the ball a few times and simply out-hustled him to the rack with the ball on a couple of occasions as well. Souly did make a very nice block (which was unfairly called a foul) of a dunk attempt, but also hacked Hicks at least twice on the way to the rack on other possessions. It's unfortunate because I expected him to be lost on offense but a contributor on defense ala Kenyon in his freshman year, but it really seemed the other way around. Of course, Hicks dominated some top-flight competition last year during the season, so better players than Souly have been humiliated by Eric. Practicing against Eric and Jmax last year and this is a great benefit to Souly in the long run ala Kenyon practicing against Danny Fortson. Though he'll be needed, I saw nothing to encourage me that Souly will be able contribute much more than 8-10 minutes a game this season.

Mike Pilgrim: DNP. Coach's decision? Color me disappointed. I really hope Mike is ready to be a Bearcat because he seems like a nice kid, and the rebounding skills he's flashed in summer play are sorely needed, but this is starting to get very frustrating.

Ryan Patzwald: I shall call him....Mini-Brannen. He's absolutely ripped. His pythons are double the size around as Vince Banks'. Dicky V would have a field day with him. Other than that, he showed nothing that would indicate he'll be anything but a hard practice player.

Other thoughts:

Chadd Moore looked good with the ball and on defense. He also rebounded the ball well. I am happy he's healthy and, though he showed no signs of an improved shot, he will be a solid player for this team. As a third year point guard, he'd better be.

Eric Hicks seems to have improved as much this offseason as he did last. He nailed a three from the top of the key and then pointed at Coach Huggins as if to say, "check me out, I'm Jamaal Davis." Eric showed an improved soft touch from inside 10 feet, and has lost zero confidence. If anything, he's more of a warrior than ever. He looks to be more of a leader than even the stoic JMax. He's going to make us very happy as fans over the next two years. He's become as physically imposing as Curtis Bostic and as mentally imposing as Kenyon at the same stage. He belongs on the prototypical Bearcat poster.

James White not only dunked once from the FT line, but also dunked from a short step inside the line, putting the ball between his legs in midair. Melvin remarked that guys in the NBA aren't even doing that, and he's right. James also hit at least 4 three pointers and looked incredibly quick and at ease in doing it. He didn't drive to the hoop much, but we know he can do that as well. I fully expect James to have a huge season. He seems to be so talented as to have a hard time deciding how to impact the game best. He also has the star mentality like Melvin.

Armein looked rusty with his shot, clanging at least three mid-range shots I've seen him knock down consistently in his first two years, but also looked incredibly smooth with the ball. He looked physically improved from last season. He just seems "older" and not for the worse. He handled the ball a lot and passed well. I really don't see how Huggins can keep he and White out of the starting lineup, as they both present incredibly matchup problems at the 2 and even the 3 spots.

JMax was JMax. It's really unfortunate for him that he's not had the classic 5 to play alongside in the last 2 years, because I think he's really been saddled with a big burden in the post. It seems like this team is going to develop an outside-in mentality by default, so Jmax should be able to roam a little bit more and crash the boards harder. I know he can and will. Hopefully the addition of Jihad and a healthy Chad will get JMax the ball in space a lot more often to take advantage of his quickness and athleticism rather than post game.

Lucas is at least as big as Taron Barker was and seems like he should be able to contribute on D as a lock-down type player to the tune of a few minutes a game. He showed little in the scrimmage in terms of new skills.

Meeker went at it with Patzwald a couple of times and showed him some skill. It's really a shame Meeker has never been able to put on weight, because his basketball IQ seems very high. I know I'm not the first to say that but he made a couple of very nice moves and passes in the scrimmage, and is every bit the fan favorite he always was. Physically, he's just too small to have any significant impact.

Overall, the squad is VERY deep at the 2 and 3 spots when you factor in Nick Williams and Pilgrim. This team is one decent 5 (even Kareem Johnson decent) from being a complete and seriously dangerous team. Teams with big players won't necessarily give the Cats fits because the Cats quickness and size in the backcourt will give other teams just as many fits. Hopefully the tapes of St. Joes et al work wonders, because if this team can carve out an identity based on who's here and not on Huggs Bearcat teams of the past, there's a very good chance for an excellent season. One need only look about 10 minutes away and 6 months ago to see that teams don't need a ton of size to make a tournament run.

Finally, I'd highly recommend Michael Perry's book as well. Some great stories from every Bearcat era since Oscar's.

The length of this post is a direct result of me having too much of a head cold to go out to the bars tonight.

Antonio Mazzaro