Upbeat news on AJ 4 months in:
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Utes get first commit in class of 26 and it looks pretty goof.
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Utes lose big man for season. Leaves Utes with Dawes and James Okonkwo as upperclassmen front line. The rest are freshmen.
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the conference schedule came out today. I wish they paired teams with travel partners.
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Hi!
Finnish basketball fan here. I follow a lot of finnish basketball players and I wonder how you guys see Elmeri Abbeys role in the upcoming season? Hardcore fans usually knows the best.
Abbey is insanely good âon ball defenderâ I would call it even a world class in that department. I think he is a lot better than Miro Little in every aspect of the game rather than (shooting, rebounds and âmaybe playmakingâ). Shooting is by a wide margin his biggest weakness and I hope he would improve in that drastically in the college years. That probably terminates what level player he could become..
I think Abbey is the biggest PG prospect from Finland in a quite some time. But for a NCAA level I think he is still a âprojectâ who could be an elite PG in NCAA on his junior and senior years.
What does the rotation looks like for the Utes? Could Abbey make the 8 man rotation. What do you think, who would be the primary ballhandler for the Utes and who is the starting PG?
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Welcome to the UFN, Dogwater.
Not sure what the Utah BB will look like in the upcoming season, but I am certainly very intrigued.
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Well, I am intrigued also. As a non-citizen he canât receive NIL money, I understand, but maybe that has been changed.
Tervetuloa, Dog!! Iâve been a fan and follower of Hanno for decades now, and didnât realize that we had another person from Finland on the team coming in. I wonder if Alex and Hanno discuss the issue at all. In any case welcome aboard and it would be cool if we can get to meet you in person at some point. Kiitos for joining the discussion! I still the number visiting turku and Helsinki in September 1988 when I was traveling all over scandinavia. In fact itâs easy to kind of remember a bit of a benchmark because the original metro line in Helsinki was open for not that long at that point if I remember correctly. I really enjoyed my time in Helsinki and bizarrely enough I actually ran into a Mormon missionary while walking through the esplanade n. He was from fruit heights Utah, talk about a small world.
With the attention for tomorrowâs game in Provo, will note our menâs hoops team hosts Nevada tonight at 7PM in an âexhibitionâ game. Free admission to the Hunty. For those of us not able to get to the Hunty, (Iâm on call this weekend) itâs on ESPN+.
Curious to see what Alexâs new look group looks like.
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Not showing good BB IQ and shooting so far. A couple of injured players on the bench, though.
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Ill put the players in tiers:
As expected: Dawes- rebounded like crazy, had a number of nice dunks, including one where he got the ball at the top of the key, saw an opening took a few dribbles in and dunked it home.
Okonkwo- not spectacular but he battled hard down low and was a factor on the offensive glass. Hes going to be out-sized most nights and hes gotta finish better, but hes about what I thought hed be night 1 of the exhibition season. Wes Wilcox said hed be out for the first few games because of âtransfer rulesâ, which confuses me.
Abbey- I expected him to look overmatched and he was. I think the kid has some physical tools, but he needs time. He was forced into action tonight due to Don Mchenry being out.
S Traore- didnât see him much tonight, but he did well in the minutes he was out there. Dont know if thats an âexhibitionâ thing, but he is a good playmaker for his size.
Jackson- had a few minutes, nothing stood out either way. We will see what he becomes.
Better than expected: Brown- wow this kid was terrific tonight. Got to the rim and finished, got to the line, hit a couple threes to keep the defense honest, rebounded well in his area, 6 assists. I had high expectations and for now, he beat them.
Patrick- started and shot really well. Has such a quick release. Great looking shot. second highest scorer but literally nothing else in the box score, except fouls. Still, need that gravity out there.
Hayes- 9 points on 3-3 shooting, 3-3 from the line, 5 boards, 1 block, 1 assist in 12 minutes. HeâŚlooked pretty good out there. If this wasnât a fluke and he is playable, it will really help us out depth wise, because we need it!
Sanders- debated between here and what i expected but i didnt expect anything and he wasâŚok? I think in a perfect world he redshirts this year. Our lack of depth in the front court may prevent that. who knows.
Hoping for more: Howard- the tools and talent are there. He threw down an alley oop from Brown that was just crazyâŚnot sure the last wing that would have been capable of that in semi traffic. But outside of that, he was 0-9 from downtown. Got good looks, they just didnt drop tonight. He did have 2 blocks and 2 steals. Like I said, you can see the talent, just a matter of the shots falling.
Moore- same kinda story. Shot just didnt fall tonight. 1-6 from downtown. Hopefully, that turns around. Talent is clearly there.
Its one exhibition game. Coaches are still tinkering with the lineup. I love that we played a legitimate opponent and it was televised and not a âsecret scrimmageâ.
Refs got a little bit of âhey mom! Im on tv!â-itis at the end, but it was just fun to watch the psuedo-start of the alex era. On to the next one.
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When Abbey wasnât able to shoot a second free-throw due to cramps. They went to Laven and asked him to choose a player - he said 7 (Hayes) who promptly sunk the FT and then two more a little later.
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i liked it that Nevada decided Hayes was the one most likely to make the toss and he calmly stepped up and drained it.
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Great summary by Ben.
An exhibition game this early and lose to the UNR Alfordites by 3, with a good shot at the buzzer to tie? I remember an exhibition game against Christian Athletes in Action (or whatever it was called) and Lorenzo Romar was one of their players. Dang that was a long time ago.
So many unanswered questions, so much development by AJ & staff to come. Iâm seriously impressed it was just by 3, at this juncture.
I still miss the PAC-12 and the P12 network, but last night caused me to subscribe to ESPN+ Comcast can do directly to hell, now. Ha!
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I believe two different Majerus teams lost to Athletes in Action. Also, the 2008-09 Utah team lost to some D-II school in the opener (canât remember the name) but went on to win the MWC.
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Thatâs the name, thanks. Yeah, I know the game has changed a lot, and Rickâs teams started slowly, especially early in his tenure. Looking forward to how Alexâs first team does, how they progress, how they grow. A .500 season would be fine. Just build for the future.
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Who started?
Brown, Patrick, Seydou, KD, Okonkwo.
Hoops tickets have been added to my events in paciolan / Utah 360 account.
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