a couple observations

[dfairchild]

1) One of the reasons Huggins has not been able to play the freshmen more is
that our non-conference schedule has been more difficult than in years past.
Last night's game was only the second game against an opponent that we truly
outmatched - Florida A&M was the other game.  It was great to see the new
players play significant minutes and like most of the comments that have
been made, there are a lot of bright spots and a ton of potential.

2) The mocs were really overmatched so it is hard to gauge how much of our
performance was due to our skill or their inferior play - we had a +13
rebounding edge and +13 margin in turnovers - that is 26 more possessions
than UTC!  We clearly didn't get a good gauge of Moore defensive skills, he
was guarding a 5'7" point guard half of the night.

3) Huggins ran the press for a while - extended the defense to 3/4 of the
floor - and it was by and large a disaster.  The Mocs handled the press well
and then were able to hit open 3s because we weren't set up in our half
court defense.  It seemed to me we generated most of our turnovers from
double teams in the half court defense. In his post game comments Huggins
said part of UC's game plan was to double team every time the Mocs used a
ball screen.

4) James White is going to be a great addition.  Before and during the game
he was with the team.  He is as tall as or taller than Max.  And the news
reports out of practice is that he is an asset even now with his intensity,
knowledge, and practice ethic.  I was worried that he might be unhappy with
a lack of playing time.  Now I think it is Hicks who will be the disgrunted
one.  I'm not sure Hicks will be content next year coming of the bench for
White and Max, but it looks like that will be his role.

5) Some one mentioned about the discrepancies between Huggins' treatment of
Bobbit and the freshmen.  I think you are right, Bobbit has clearly seen
more game PT and has had a little longer leash.  I think the difference lies
in the fact that Bobbitt has 2 seasons of JC ball under his belt.  My guess
is that he has a little better understanding of work ethic, offensive and
defensive schemes, and more mental and physical maturity.  But that is only
a guess.  JCs are a mix bag because I think they also come in with some bad
habits that we saw in Antwan Jones and now again in Bobbitt - looking for
their shot, poor mechanics, and lack of defensive concentration.

DF