FW: Tues Summer League notes

[Schroeder, Tom]

Great to see you there last night Mike, but one slight correction, Hollman
plays with Slats.  A few other thoughts...West gets one foul and spends the
next 8 minutes jawing with the ref that gave him the call, what an absolute
baby...all the while the Mike Albert team was getting away with their usual
"X defense" hacking style.  Chadd looks real good, despite the context of
the summer league "pick-up games".  Armein may not be sitting on the bench
as much as people might think.  Over the last year, most people felt that he
may have to work into the rotation over the next few years.  He is skinny
but with a very good handle for a bigger man, although there is no need for
him to act like a point, with the guys we'll have.  He has a very confident
drive to the basket which will no doubt get better as he begins his UC
conditioning.  He has a great upside, given his height advantage over other
players at the 2-guard and wing forward spots.  Hollman did not really stick
out in mix of play.  He was active, but the Mike Albert team had much more
overall size than did Slats.  At times it was basically four guards and
Little playing, so it comes as no surprise that they were so easily beat.
Most of the Albert points came from the perimeter.

BJ did his best "Baby Huey" look alike in years.  It's like he had a giant
diaper on filled to capacity !!  If he can't get the load off, his
contribution will be limited, even with his nice shooting touch.  He had a
6'-0" guard run up his chest and dunk all over him one time last night.
Embarrassing to say the least.  Max was his usual great and had a few threes
on top of it.  As someone who witnessed the start of Max at last year's
summer league, it's just a thrilling to imagine the "X" jaws drop when Hicks
makes his debut.  All of the people who go to the summer league are there to
feed the buzz for the upcoming season.  It's not about watching "good"
basketball, because it's actually pretty bad.  It's the buzz, and just like
Max last year, this year's flavor will be Hicks, with Chadd and Armein
thrown in for good measure.  It would be nice if Bobbitt could show, but I'm
not sure if he is in town in time for the league.  

Still looking forward to seeing Dedrick Finn from X.  He must be something
special for Jaison Williams to leave like he did.  Dedrick plays for Cintas.

-----Original Message-----
From: Michael Ryan [mailto:address@hidden
Sent: Tuesday, July 02, 2002 10:52 PM
To: Bearcats BB Forum
Subject: [UC Basketball] Tues Summer League notes


Watched the Slats team and the Flessa team play tonight.  Here are some
thoughts: 

Slats team included Chadd, Armein and Donald Little.  Field was
unavailable. Taron was there, but did not play.  Levett played Sunday
but was not there this eve.  Typical early games of the SL.   No
official stats were kept and I didn't know this until after the game,
otherwise I would've paid more attention.   Flessa had Damon Flint,
LaZelle Durden, BJ Grove, Derek Hollman and Maxiell. 

First game: 
CHADD: great handles and good vision.  Drove the baseline well, but the
tall trees usually stopped his layups.  He'll need to dish that ball in
the future.  By my count, Chadd had just one trey against four misses,
and a few missed mid range jumpers. He did sink some J's though. He also
did little things well and has good quick feet.  Had a great block late
in the game as he caught the guy from behind and spanked his layup.  Got
some oohs and aahhs.   I didn't count the assists, but I can think of
two I really liked. 

ARMEIN: "Kirk" had two mid range jumpers and a trey. He did miss 4 other
three's from my count. (Again, all unofficial).  Armein reminds me of
Patterson, though his first step is not as quick as Ruben's. But Kirk is
more consistent from outside. Armein will need to work on dee, but he
dribbles much better than a 6-7 guy should.  

Slats got crushed by the David West led Mike Albert team. (Mental note:
West hit two trey's)  The game was 'over' about mid way thru the 1st
half. 

Second game: 
BJ GROVE: Randy Shinkle and I traded notes earlier today and we
discussed 'stamina' as BJ's biggest issue.  That was again confirmed
this evening. Sheesh. Late in the game, the Cincinnati-based Flessa team
was up by less than 10 and BJ was on the bench dripping with sweat and
very tired.  Coach didn't want to use him with the game on the line, I
guess. I have to admit his footwork near the basket looked good.  Has a
good spin move, even though he's bigger than he should be. 

MAXIELL:  The "Long Arm Of the Law" looks the same, which is good !
Couple of nice monster dunks to get the crowd going.   The Flessa team
won by approx six in a good game. 

It was great to see LaZelle and Damon running with Max, BJ, etc.
'Zelle is as quick today as he was 6 years ago.   Damon said he will
likely go back to the Philippines to play, which is where he was till
this past week. Art Long is also on his team ( ! ). LaZelle continues to
work with his brother in keeping our young people away from drugs with
his company, Drug Deterrent. LaZelle: cute kid ya got there !

Mike Ryan

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