Year two of the Ross Hodge era unofficially began this afternoon as the West Virginia Mountaineers fell to the Maryland Terrapins in overtime by a 90-81 score. There's plenty to dissect from this one, but here are a few of my initial thoughts from today's exhibition.
Strong overall showing
Things looked great in the first half, and not so much in the second half. That's basketball. This type of competitive exhibition is exactly what Ross Hodge and this team wanted to prepare them for the gauntlet that they are about to go through. Getting challenged and battling some adversity allows you to learn more about your team than probably these next two exhibitions will. This team is far from a polished product, so there's no need to be overly concerned about anything, especially with the first exhibition being against another Power Four team. A lot of positives to build on, but certainly some things to work on (defensive rebounding) as well. We'll dive more into that this week.
Amadou Seini is super intriguing
No, this is not shocking news, but man, seeing him on the court and in an actual game setting is different. He moves superbly well for his size and already rebounds the ball at a high clip. He has the frame to play through physicality and handle it defensively, but body positioning is a work in progress. Once he gets some experience under his belt and things slow down for him, he's going to be a real handful.
Miles Sadler is as good as advertised
Sadler is lightning fast. He can dribble past his man in the blink of an eye and can recover pretty quickly when he overplays something defensively. As expected, there is some room for him to grow as an on-ball defender. He'll get a little too handsy at times and end up committing a foul. Offensively, though, he has a great feel for the offense already and can really see the floor, connecting on some nice passes to guys cutting to the basket.
Bizjack can be a real microwave scorer
The Butler transfer was red hot in the first, knocking down 4/6 shots from the field, including 4/5 from three, but couldn't buy much in the second half until he hit a three late when WVU desperately needed it. He is a very different player from Honor Huff, but similar in that he can get scorching hot in a hurry. It'll be fun to see him get after it in the Coliseum against Big 12 competition.
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