Practice reports?

[steve dave]

Heard there was a pretty good turnout. 

[kstatefan11]

Pretty bland over all two 8 min scrimages and one 5 min.  Nick Russell and Curtis Kelly were the most impressive new players.  Denis and Jacob are still our best players.  Jamar is alot bigger and seemed to be more explosive.  Wally is very quick for his size but still raw.  Thats about all i could pick up from what i saw.

[steve dave]

thanks ksf11

[lynchmobrules]

I'll second a of that. I was in the autography lines after the scrimmage and Frank made two comments to me. One was "sorry for making you get up so early" and the other was "we need to find a way to box out and rebound". He didn't sound real impressed with the rebounding effort. I thought that CK was pretty good on the boards in one of the scrimmages but didn't really see that in all of them. Frank got on Nick a couple times for
dribbling the ball up the floor and not passing it when Jake was open a couple times.

I also walked in in front of a couple Colorado fans. They were impressed with how
big the OoD is and how many people were there.

[joeis4ksu]

How did all of the freshman look?

[pwrcat1]

Pwrcat1 was not there this morning but I just got a text from a fellow ksu.com'er who was. He Said Kelley looked completely different.  Def. tell he's been taking his conditioning seriously.  Jam Sam played with aggressive energy and looked much stronger.  Wally looked a little shaky but has through-the-roof potential.  Luis was playing, so apparently he's all healed up.  Team looked very, very, fast.  New guard play looked solid.

I know, I know, nothing really new covered here but I just thought I'd give another review from someone that was there.  

[Paul11]

Curtis is back to his high school days. He has swagger back. Just pogo sticks for legs. Nick Russell looks solid, silky smooth jumpshot. Dom was driving the ball. He only shot jump shots when he was open. Rodney also had a nice stroke. Irving is a good defender and was able to block one of Jake's shots.

The team looks like a basketball team.

[McGrowlTowelZac]

Nice to see Meek making the early morning trip.

A few early-morning observations from Kansas State's hoops scrimmage ....

* You can see why Curtis Kelly is getting so much preseason buzz. He's the piece K-State was missing last year -- a skilled big guy who can score and defend. Seems to have nice touch around the basket, and you can tell he's been in the weight room.

* My first chance to see Jordan Henriquez, K-State's 7-foot freshman. If you were expecting Jason Bennett -- and I sort of was -- you'll be pleasantly surprised. You can tell there's some athleticism there.

* Nothing spectacular from Wally Judge, but you can tell he's got the tools. Kelly is just a more developed player, which you would expect from a guy who's played three years of high-major basketball.

* As gopowercat.com's Rob Cassidy notes, the new media guides lists a number of Wildcats as aspiring detectives, which would make a great CBS crime drama or a Saturday morning cartoon.

* The freshmen guards all have some work to do, but you can see the potential. Nick Russell looks smooth, Rodney McGruder looks like a shooter, and Martavious Irving looks like he's already had a two years in K-State's weights program.

* Lu Colon played with some type of cast or wrap on his hand. As far as I could tell, it did not impact his game, although I'm not sure we'd know if it did.

[KSUFansPoster495028]

i'll post a vid soon. nothing spectacular, but a little look

[mcmwcat]

How did all of the freshman look?

amazing   

[Pett]

How many people were there would you all guess?

[hemmy]

hope colon's cast doesn't hurt his shooting stroke

[jswo89]

How many people were there would you all guess?

1500? I doubt that is even remotely accurate, I tend to be terrible at guessing attendances.  Still, I was pleasantly surprised by how many people showed up.

[I_have_purplewood]

hope colon's cast doesn't hurt his shooting stroke

or weigh him down when he jumps...

[raquetcat]

Nice to see Meek making the early morning trip.

A few early-morning observations from Kansas State's hoops scrimmage ....

* You can see why Curtis Kelly is getting so much preseason buzz. He's the piece K-State was missing last year -- a skilled big guy who can score and defend. Seems to have nice touch around the basket, and you can tell he's been in the weight room.

* My first chance to see Jordan Henriquez, K-State's 7-foot freshman. If you were expecting Jason Bennett -- and I sort of was -- you'll be pleasantly surprised. You can tell there's some athleticism there.

* Nothing spectacular from Wally Judge, but you can tell he's got the tools. Kelly is just a more developed player, which you would expect from a guy who's played three years of high-major basketball.

* As gopowercat.com's Rob Cassidy notes, the new media guides lists a number of Wildcats as aspiring detectives, which would make a great CBS crime drama or a Saturday morning cartoon.

* The freshmen guards all have some work to do, but you can see the potential. Nick Russell looks smooth, Rodney McGruder looks like a shooter, and Martavious Irving looks like he's already had a two years in K-State's weights program.

* Lu Colon played with some type of cast or wrap on his hand. As far as I could tell, it did not impact his game, although I'm not sure we'd know if it did.

Wow, from train's video I was surprised by Henriquez too, he can move his feet, isn't ridiculously skinny, and makes people change their shot in the lane.

I think I remember pullen and mike's favorite show being "The first 48", a reality detective show about tracking down killers, they probably did it as a joke pfffft, those crazy guys 

[jswo89]

I know a lot of this will be redundant, but here are a few of my thoughts:

1. Kelly looked fantastic.  I was impressed by his scoring with his back to the basket and his passing from the post.  He'll play with a lot of intensity this year, and his conditioning looks like it will be able to support that.

2. Sutton actually appeared to want the ball in his hands and he did some nice things with it.

3. It will be nice to have a true point guard out on the floor this year (Russell).  Looked like he can shoot the ball too.

4. Martavious could get some quality minutes as an on ball defender.  Hopefully we won't have to worry too much about CMER being on the court once conference play starts.

5. I totally underestimated just how much bigger Samuels has gotten.  He should actually be able to bang in the paint in Big 12 season and play a more traditional role at the post.

6. Wally = Faster version of Samuels (maybe with a better jumpshot?)

7. Henriquez could end up being really, really good.

Lots more, but that's what really stood out to me

[catnut]

Observations:
1. Post play is light years ahead of last year, Kelly has sweet moves under the basket, Wally plays long and athletic, Henriquez will alter shots with his wingspan. Lou's about the same, will prolly have trouble getting on the floor.

2. Love our depth at guard. Kept thinking about the next few years with Russell (long and smooth) and Southwell in our backcourt. Jake looked solid, think Denis was forcing up some shots in traffic, but made some sweet floaters in the lane too. Irving looks like an energy guy off the bench. Rodney took some nice looking jumpers.

3. Dom and Jamsam looked amazing. Dom was attacking the basket, especially in the 1st period. Had a ridic oop and went hard twice more inside. He has my vote for most improved. Jamsam took a couple hook-floaters in the lane. Looked sweet, but didn't drop. Both seemed to really be enjoying MHK while signing autographs.

Figga coached one team, Underwood the other. 'Te sat at half court on the far side and just took it all in. Frank walked around the court with a styrofoam to-go cup(black-no sugar, no cream) got on the floor and coached-em up a bit towards the end. No speeches, no welcome to '09 mens bb or anything. just scrimmage with refs. Went back to tailgate feeling pretty good about this year.       

[steve dave]

Wow, great reports from everyone in this thread.  Posters just killing it here 

[Big Sam]

How many people were there would you all guess?

1500? I doubt that is even remotely accurate, I tend to be terrible at guessing attendances.  Still, I was pleasantly surprised by how many people showed up.

I sat in the upper row toward the south.  A lot of fan trickled in (and in some cases out).  I'd guess around 2,000 to 2,300 where there for most of it with a few hundred that wandered through.

Sam S.

[feralchat]

I got there after the tip of the first period. Then it took some time to figure which of the new guys was who. Got no help in that regard from the athletic department that didn't provide any kind of program or put names and numbers up on the clock, one of several things that could have handled better.

Frank was absolutely right. You don't need a roster to figure out who the upperclassmen are. They look different, expect for Irving, are more agressive and -- at this point -- just plain better.

CK was the one player who got your attention, because you know what to expect  from Pullen and Denis.
Other impressions:

Henriquez is going to help us this year.

Judge has a lot of length, didn't really do anything spectacular. Got hit on top the head on a turnaround, fell to the floor and acted like a pu$$ie for about 30 seconds and then moped around. Welcome to college basketball Wally. Play through it.

Seemed as if Rodney was a bit timid. I think it's that period for the freshmen when the coaches are breaking them down and they really don't trust their instincts
.
I didn't like that they blocked off the student section, forcing everyone to sit in endzone.
It would have been nice to be closer to the action with so many new faces and lineup changes that included changing teams. It's also disappointing they knew the crowd wouldn't exceed the limited seating available.

Can't wait to see the team in a competitive situation.

[catdude33]

CK's back to the basket moves and ability to score were the most refreshing thing about the scrimmage for me.  Had a couple silky smooth jump hooks that looked fantastic.  I seriously can't remember the last time we had a legit "back to the basket" scoring threat besides Beasley.  Maybe Massey?

Also, I know some people don't like the Clemente "runner".  But it seems as though he's nearly perfected it.

[yoga-lika_abana]

Didnt go to the practice but this does remind me Q was at the football game.

[CatMission]

I know the early start time sucked, but I was personally disappointed in attendance, especially considering the parking lots were starting to fill up.

Operationally, it was not well executed by our athletic department.  Some doors were not open and you had to guess which entrance to go into or watch the poor suckers who guessed wrong.  Once inside, you had to guess again at which sections were available.  Never really got an explanation as to why some were open and others were not. 

The lack of rosters or anything identifying players sucked.  With them switching back and forth between teams, it was difficult to follow at times.

Overall, i don't care about any of the above...i am freaking ready for hoops season.
 

[mcmwcat]

quit your fvkin whining.  we should all be grateful that Frank allowed us in to see his team

[wildcatfan79]

This is going to be a great team and a fun, fun year.

[Trim]

Anyone claiming they were watching anything aside from Frank wandering around the lawn with his coffee is full of crap.

[Pete]

Frank was hilarious...just cruising around the gym in his gigantic short pants with a cup of joe...shooting the crap with half the building.

Jordan Henriquez-Roberts was very impressive.  When he's running the floor it looks like he's in incredible pain, nothing could look more laborious.  However, in the half court, he's really, really quick.  He made several really agile moves to the hoop when he had the ball.  We he gets the ball he's looking to make a move and score.  On Defense, he's really active as well.  He swatted the hell out of one on the base line.

He's WAY better than Colon, it's not even close.  Lou is going to have a real tough time finding the floor this year.

[doom]

I got there after the tip of the first period. Then it took some time to figure which of the new guys was who. Got no help in that regard from the athletic department that didn't provide any kind of program or put names and numbers up on the clock, one of several things that could have handled better.

Frank was absolutely right. You don't need a roster to figure out who the upperclassmen are. They look different, expect for Irving, are more agressive and -- at this point -- just plain better.

CK was the one player who got your attention, because you know what to expect  from Pullen and Denis.
Other impressions:

Henriquez is going to help us this year.

Judge has a lot of length, didn't really do anything spectacular. Got hit on top the head on a turnaround, fell to the floor and acted like a pu$$ie for about 30 seconds and then moped around. Welcome to college basketball Wally. Play through it.

Seemed as if Rodney was a bit timid. I think it's that period for the freshmen when the coaches are breaking them down and they really don't trust their instincts
.
I didn't like that they blocked off the student section, forcing everyone to sit in endzone.
It would have been nice to be closer to the action with so many new faces and lineup changes that included changing teams. It's also disappointing they knew the crowd wouldn't exceed the limited seating available.

Can't wait to see the team in a competitive situation.

Jordan will not be a key player this year.  I was pleasantly surprised by his play and I think he will be a bennett like blocker and probably foul out every time he plays more than 15 minutes this year.  The big thing I noticed was that he was physically afraid to not be facing the basket.  When he works on some big man skills he can be awesome though.  Fantastic athlete.  

Martavious was impressive to me for a frosh.  And I noticed the coaches ride his ass like they used to do to Jake.  Seems like they expect a lot from him.  

Rodney will not be a player who takes over games this year.  He knows how to contribute without trying to do too much.  He will eventually be a fantastic player.

Great turnout for that practice time.  I expected less.

Frank told me the doom sign was "Big Time."  

CK's back to the basket moves and ability to score were the most refreshing thing about the scrimmage for me.  Had a couple silky smooth jump hooks that looked fantastic.  I seriously can't remember the last time we had a legit "back to the basket" scoring threat besides Beasley.  Maybe Massey?

Also, I know some people don't like the Clemente "runner".  But it seems as though he's nearly perfected it.

I noticed that too.    We've been missing that.  He seemed confident and athletic.  Did not seem like a guy who'd sat out most of his college career.

[Pett]

Russell looking very Clementeish....

[LimestoneOutcropping]

Deb and the Estro ballers report?