This will be interesting…
Alcorn is who they are, but it’s live competition and a chance to see how this hunk of clay is coming together, early.
Gabe, Hunter and Lovering are known quantities.
Ezra Ausar is talented and versatile, a clear upgrade from Keita.
Gabe’s twin Mason looks good, nice shooter, definitely doesn’t match in tattoos. That quantity may actually be zero.
Baylor transfer PG Milo Little looks promising, is an accurate passer, not finding his 3 game tonight, but has a green light.
Keanu Dawes 6-9, long, skilled, looks like he could be pretty good, has a green light, shooting looks good.
Mike S from Mongolia is a legit 6-9, skilled, shoots well, passes well, but is pretty thin, not a presence down low. He kind of reminds me of a young Pace Mannion. Not really a basketball body, but skilled.
Wahlin should be better than his very limited role last year, is now 6-10.
They may not win many conference or road games, but they can shoot, which will result in some upset wins at home & they play hard & are fun to watch.
Mongolian Mike & Milo are both nice players who will get better with tons of playing time. Ezra is not tall & needs to learn to box out. They will struggle with rebounding.
Gabe & his brother are both better shooters than anyone on the Jazz—but that is a really low bar.
Hunter is still a horrible defender, but is shooting it better.
Ezra will need to develop a bag of tricks to compensate for his stature, inside. We saw Keita really shrink going up against long & athletic bigs - esp Ballo & Dante - because his offensive game was so limited, but Ezra is more well rounded offensively, if not as broad across the shoulders.
Last year’s team overperformed in the PAC early, then faded as younger teams gelled. This team is a new set of ingredients, so we’ll probably get smacked early and might find ways to be victorious, later.
Kind of an interesting basketball lab experiment, this year. Love of the game + love of the Utes + keep the expectations “moderate”.