Miami game notes are up. Starting lineup not a big surprise:
PG Evan Ipsaro
G Peter Suder
W Eian Elmer
W Brant Byers
F Antwone Woolfolk
I am curious to see if we redshirt any of the 5 freshman. Last year, Travis had a pretty solid rotation of 9, and I have heard he might consider a rotation of 10, which means some of these freshman likely are not going to be in the rotation as you have to assume two spots off the bench are Skaljac and Almar. So that is 7. I would guess Tyler Robbins is in the rotation, that is 8 spoken for right there. Anyway, that will be interesting to watch.
I wonder if Kyle Waltz might see some action. In practice two weeks ago, he dropped one dunk that was impressive, and another that was absolutely jaw dropping and had his teammates whooping. He is super athletic, which I had not realized.
It would definitely be nice if Kotecki could give us some positive production beyond the cheering on his teammates. Jackson seems like the ideal teammate.
I saw that dunk as well, & it was spectacular. I could see him suiting up this year and not redshirting as he has an advantage - 3 of the freshmen are guards, Robbins plays the 4/5 - Kyle Waltz is the only wing/4 of the freshmen.
My worry with Waltz is his weight/strength. However, he’s similar in size to Byers last year and all Brant did was become MAC Frosh OTY.
From their HS highlights I thought Stowers was the best rebounder (strong and active) out of the incoming freshmen, but he seemed to play some post in HS, maybe his team lacked a true big man?
This. Seems to me that Stowers has sort of gotten lost in our conversations about this freshmen class, but he reminds me of Marcus Weathers (a guy who can do some dirty work beneath the basket) with ball handling skills.
Great comp with Marcus Weathers (plus a handle), I couldn’t come up with one. Being a great rebounder starts with an inner drive to become one… Stowers seems like he has it. Guys like that are a pita to play against.
Last year, ODU was in the bottom 5 in Division 1 in 3 point shooting and shooting overall (effective field goal percentage). Their assists/field goals made was in the bottom 25 so they didn’t share the ball. However, they ranked 13th in offensive rebounding percentage.
They made a run to the Sun Belt Championship last year. They return Robert Davis, who was named preseason Sun Belt player of the year. 328 of his 462 shot attempts were 3s and he shot 33% from 3.
They also feature Jordan Battle, a 6’2” senior guard who was named Sun Belt Preseason 3rd team. Transfer from Coastal Carolina, where last year he led Coastal with 12.8ppg. But the key to beating ODU is containing Davis.
