We will also be driven to drink at times.
Wyoming fans are going to love Cole Henry. He’s 6’9” and around 240. I thought he showed terrific hands and touch around the rim. Idaho was small so I’m not going to get too carried away here, but I was impressed with Henry. He looked much better than advertised. In terms of hands and touch he reminded me a lot of Ike. He’s not as strong as Graham, but he’s probably a little more agile and a similar skill set. He’s not going to produce like Ike, but he will be an anchor on offense.
Diontae Allen can play. We haven’t had someone as smooth as him in a long time. It’s immediately obvious he’s played high level basketball. At 6-6 he will be big enough to guard in the MW, and he’s got a great stroke. Allen would start on any team in the conference.
Newton has done a lot of work over the summer. He was hot last night, and probably can’t shoot that well all season, but he’s a catch and shoot guy who can stretch defenses. Newton will be one of the best shooters in the conference.
To my eyes, Allen, Henry and Newton could play a lot of minutes anywhere in the league. Nesbitt has the body and athleticism to play but his shot selection was a little iffy.
Tainamo looks slow to me. He’s skilled and probably has a high IQ but I’m not sure he’s athletically competitive with our league’s big men. He’s got good hands, a good shooter, and looked trustworthy on defense.
Ebube is an athletic freak. That’s immediately apparent. He will have flashes this year that will be on highlight tapes for a long time. It looked to me like he also has a tendency to lose focus, and he made a couple sloppy turnovers that got him to the bench. For the first time in a long time, we’re going to have a guy who wouldn’t look out of place in SDSU’s front court, if the kid can stay on the floor.
Finally, the difference in body language on the bench between Sundance and Linder is night and day. It’s great to see some energy and enthusiasm for a change.
I didn’t see anything last night to change my opinion that Wyoming will be competitive this season, we will be fun to watch, and we will play interesting games in February and March. This team also has to grow a lot, and will be frustrating at times. In terms of size and athleticism we are much improved over last season. We don’t have anyone with the full suite of tools like Ike or the seasoning and experience of Maldo, but we have a group that can play and we have some length and size.
