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Kenner League Recap: July 8, 2017

Back for another summer! A few notes before reviewing the day 1 action:

-the talent level of the Kenner League has really dropped in recent years. There are very few Big East quality players on the court. It is hard to get any truly clear sense of how our guys look due to the level of competition. So please be cautious in projecting any positive comments forward into actual Big East competition. For example - I thought Mulmore looked like a solid starter last summer, and clearly he…. was not! It is still fun to see our guys play, and you can certainly learn something from these games. But the quality of play is significantly lower than it was even 4 or 5 years ago.

-the general vibe: Big John was there in his big old wooden chair, with Ronnie and his kids running around. Patrick showed up for just a few minutes. In general - it felt pretty much exactly the same as this league has felt in the past. Not that anyone had any question about this - but the Thompson family clearly is still the foundation of the program.

Marcus Derrickson: 23 pts, 8/13 2pt, 1-1 FT, 2-5 3 pt, 6 reb (2 off), 2 asst, 1 TO

-Marcus had a boot on his right foot prior to the game, and he looked a little gimpy during warmups. But the injury did not seem to impact him much during the game

-He is in really good shape, noticeably slimmer and more defined than last year. Give the guy credit, he has worked his butt off to get into better shape every year

-On the whole Marcus played pretty well. He was aggressive offensively, looking to attack in some way almost every time he got the ball.

-He took his man off the dribble from the perimeter a number of times, often using a shot fake. He is not real quick, but he used his strength and touch to finish effectively when he drove to the basket.

-Hit a step back 3 off the dribble

-good pass to an open shooter in the corner when he was doubled on the baseline

-His perimeter defense was OK. Usually able to keep his man from getting deep enough into the lane to cause much damage.

-Had a nice defensive board followed by a long outlet bounce pass that led to an easy transition basket

Jagan Mosely: 26 pts, 7-16 2pt, 6-8 FT, 2-10 3 pt, 9 reb (4 off), 4 asst, 1 st, 5 TO

-Jagan was running the show for his team, and was extremely aggressive all game. He attacked the rim repeatedly, and he took pretty much every open look from 3 that he got.

-He was able to get to the rim well, but was inconsistent at finishing. He tries to use his athleticism and strength to finish, with mixed results. He does not have the clever little finishing moves that the best penetrating guards have (think Kyrie Irving as the master of this stuff). Jagan just jumps high and uses his body to try to hold defenders off from the ball. So he ends up trying a lot of tough, contested layups. On the positive side, he drew quite a few fouls through his willingness to absorb contact. But it took him a lot of shots to get his points.

-his outside shooting was rough, it did not look any better than last year.

-he hit two nice floaters. He may be better served to try the floater more often instead of always trying to power his way to the rim, as he seems to have a pretty good feel for the floater.

-Had some real sloppy turnovers in the second half, forcing some long passes into heavy traffic as he looked to create transition opportunities.

Antwan Walker: 18 pts, 6-10 2pt, 2-7 3pt, 7 reb (2 off), 4 TO

-Walker looked good. Very athletic. Has a very live, bouncy body and can really jump. He put on a show in warmups, trying all kinds of flashy dunks, and even making a few!

-Has a nice feel as the roll man on the pick/roll. Good timing in breaking for the basket, and he also has good feel on when to fan out to a "pop" position when the lane is clogged up for the roll

-had one perfect roll finish where he grabbed a lob pass from Mosely with one hand, well above the rim, and slammed it down.

-Also hit a pick/pop 3. His jumper looked solid - good height on his jump, nice arc and rotation. He hit a few mid range jumpers and a few 3s. Also had one airball on a contested 3. Looks like he could be a solid 3 point shooter on open catch/shoot 3s, but probably should not be looking to pull up off the dribble for contested 3s at this point.

-Overall an encouraging first game. Definitely a very good athlete, plus he seems to have pretty solid skills.

Jesse Govan: 14 pts, 6-10 2pt, 2-2 FT, 0-1 3pt, 12 reb (3 off), 1 bl, 1 TO

-Early in the second half, Jesse tweaked his ankle. Plus his team had only one sub. Between being a bit gimpy, and getting visibly tired - Jesse kind of floated through the second half

-After watching Jesse for two years, it seems pretty clear that he does not play well when he gets tired. He stops moving his feet on defense and starts reaching/using his hands a lot. He loses any real power/explosion in his game. He is likely best used for around 25 minutes a game, pulling him whenever he gets winded.

-Hit a nice turnaround 12 foot jumper; but then airmailed a similar shot when trying to face up his defender

-Jesse is always going to put up some numbers because of his size and skill level. But there just is not much explosion or power to his game. Defensively his feet are not quick enough to defend the perimeter consistently. He has some definite strengths, but some clear weaknesses as well, and his improvement over the course of his Georgetown career has been pretty marginal. He is a useful player, but at this point it is hard to see him evolving into a real impact player

Other notes:

-Greg Whittington played with Jesse’s team today

-A lot of hoyas did not play: Trey Mourning, Tre Campbell, and Tre Dickerson are not even listed on a Kenner roster. Kaleb Johnson was in the gym, but did not play. Looked like he had some kind of wrap on his right thigh. Jahvon Blair was not, I think, in the gym. I think Greg Malinowski was present, but he did not play. Mulmore/Sodom’s team did not play today.

-Hines and Muresan both played, but neither had any real impact on their games, and I did not keep stats for them.


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Stay Casual, my friends.