Player updates after our first three days of individual instruction

Peyton Siva - One of the top point guards in the country

-Shooting much improved

-Strong and fast

-Solid smart defender

-Great Leader

Needs to work on: not much

Stephan Van Treese

-Shooting improved

-Rebounds and runs well

-Strong body inside

Needs to work on:   finishing inside and conditioning

Russ Smith AKA Russdiculous

-Much stronger, pound-for-pound only Peyton is stronger

-Improved finisher around the basket

-Rebounds from the guard position

Needs to work on:  My website not big enough (JK)

Gorgui Dieng

-245 lb at 5% body fat. Stronger and quicker

-Much improved off right shoulder inside

-3pt shot will come into play… Not!!

-Smart defender

Needs to work on: conditioning.  Senegal must be a party country.  I think he must have a butler when he goes home.

Wayne Blackshear

-Stronger and in better shape

-Improved one on one game

-Powerful around the basket

-Strong defender

Needs to work on: going left, arc on jump shot, and conditioning

Zach Price

-Improved footwork

-Stronger and in better shape

-Scores inside with soft touch

Needs to work on: conditioning and defensive footwork

Kevin Ware

-Most improved so far

-Shot looks much better

-Terrific shot blocker from the guard position

-Quick and explosive

Needs to work on: passing away from the defense and being more active with his hands on defense

Angel Nunez

-Much stronger

-Improved defender

-Improved ball handler

Needs to work on: passing skills and consistency with his jump shot (looks great, but needs a higher percentage)

Chane Behanan

-Improved defender

-In great shape

-Powerful inside

-Reminds me a little of Charles Barkley.  Smart, tough and an excellent rebounder for his size

Needs to work on: like Sir Charles at his age, a consistent jumper. If he can put aside distractions and focus all season the way he worked the first week -- look out.

Michael Baffour AKA Dark Slime

-Improving with each workout

-Quick and good driver to the basket.

-Good defender

Needs to work on: jump shot, passing skills and knowledge of offensive system.

Montrezl Harrell

-Strong and good offensive rebounder

-Runs well and finishes inside

-Hard worker

Needs to work on: offensive footwork, left hand, and one-on-one moves

Mangok Mathiang

-Extremely quick at 6’10

-Runs the floor

-Good defender and superb athlete

Needs to work on: jump shot and strength (similar to Gorgui, he came in at 187 lbs.). Great upside, will consider redshirting as a possibility

(his name is pronounced MANG-go like the fruit, with a silent "K", MATH-ee-ang)

Luke Hancock, Mike Marra, and Tim Henderson will all start working out soon.

Other notes

Our schedule is a killer, in and out of conference. As usual TV gave us two games vs. Notre Dame and Syracuse.   Notre Dame will be one of the stronger teams in the nation.

My guys told me two players that impressed them most at Adidas Nations were Ray McCallum from Detroit and Sean Kilpatrick from Cincinnati.