T-Birds open practice
One thing is certain about this year's SUU men's basketball team — the T-Birds are quicker and more athletic.
I was at the first official practice on Friday, and the T-Birds have some good athletes.
One player who has particularly impressed me is honorable mention All-Mid-Con point guard Steve Barnes.
The SUU senior obviously put in an impressive offseason workout regimen. He looks like he's added a lot of upper body strength while retaining his quickness and spot-on shot ability.
Justin Allen remains as athletic as ever, and even the T-Bird big men look faster. That should help SUU if it wants to return to exclusively running the matchup zone defense. The T-Birds had lessened the zone last year, running man-to-man almost half the time.
SUU also has several players who can really get up and throw down a dunk. Last year, it seemed like only Henry Uhegwu, Nate Janes and Allen were capable of that. I saw at least four players dunking at practice.
Brad Kanis, the 7-foot-2 center the T-Birds landed last spring from Lane (Ore.) Community College, looks like he can really plug up the middle. But he also appears to be quicker than last year's centers, Lubor Olsovsky and Fernando Bonfim. His injury history, however, is a red flag. He missed almost the entire 2005-06 season with a broken finger.
Injuries are already slowing down the T-Birds. Marcus Carson, who a couple of departed players told me was the most athletic — and arguably one of the best — player on the team last year despite red-shirting, did not dress for practice. Reserve power forward Junior Abrahao (back) didn't practice, and Kael Pope appeared to suffer an injury in practice.
Check back later this week for more T-Bird men's basketball news.
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Comments
I attented the SUU basketball preview or whatever you call it. I didnt know what to expect but I was disappointed shorty after the player introductions,which was good) and left. I would have like to see a little basketball.
Posted by: utgopher | October 27, 2006 07:56 AM
Actually, I agree with you to a point. I felt like they should have scrimmaged and then had the slam dunk and 3-point contests. I think the 2-ball competition dragged on a little.
The purpose of this event was to showcase the players for the fans. I don't understand how they can do that when half the players on each team didn't compete in anything.
A short 5-minute scrimmage for each team — which used to happen — likely was needed to keep crowd interest. After the introductions, the fans really settled down until the dunk contest.
Posted by: Rich Johnson | October 28, 2006 05:11 PM