UCSB Gaucho Hoops Practice, 10-1-18

I took contemporaneous notes, recorded basic drills before turning off the recorder, and got a short interview with Coach Pasternack.

Ramsey’s jumper is solid.

Idehen’s as quick as most 3’s and his wingspan is huge.  He’s more than capable and assertive on offense.  At this point, he will get the most minutes in the post, as long as he minimizes his mistakes guarding the high ball screen.  He's really fast in flashing, and hustling back to guard his man.  He just needs to learn to better read the screener and ball handler.

Gauchos have many different variations on the fast break offense, more than say, Coach Williams' teams.  They certainly practice transition offense more.

Even 5’s have to sprint on breaks.  There are plays where the 5's will get the ball if they beat their defender downcourt.

With Heidegger and McLaughlin out, Ramsey ran the point most.

Lakoju was limited to drills, but they did include fullcourt drills.  Heidegger was under the weather, and McLaughlin held out of full practice for cautionary reasons.  All 3 will be at full strength for the season.

Davis and Terrell played point on some drills.  That would be a tall lineup.

They practiced against 2-3 zone defense, even if they don't play one.

Toure can shoot the 3, with good results and good form.

Coach really emphasized reversing the ball

Freshmen look good and seasoned, as did Idehen.  A person from Mars wouldn't be able to tell the difference between the three freshmen, Idehen, and the rest of the players.  There is no drop off in talent at all between the older players and the underclassmen (which could be even truer if you include McLaughlin and Ramsey as underclassmen).

We could easily go 10 deep, with Blackmon, Moore, and Kupchak on the outside looking in.  Toure and Nagle are just too good to redshirt, so they probably won't?  It's up in the air and a lot can happen til November.  Blackmon can rebound on offense, Moore can shoot in the perimeter, and would be in the rotation and even start on many Div. 1 teams.  That indicates our depth, and doesn't even take into account we have potential all-BW players.  With little drop off from 1 through 10, will a few emerge as go-to players?  Heidegger is an obvious candidate because he's already established as a mid-major all-American, but it's a tossup on who else will step up.

Nagle and Toure are composed freshmen, and can play both offense and defense.  Nagle's strength is obviously his perimeter shot, but he was more athletic than I thought.  Toure is a lock down defender, but his perimeter shot is WAY better than I thought it would be, both in form and in results.

Cyrus can score, especially driving to the rim and has an effective mid-range game.  On the scout team sometimes, he is a terror vs. the rotation players.

Idehen is the tallest but also fastest player when running lines.  He has to clean up some mental mistakes guarding the high ball screen, but he is well rounded in other aspects of the game.  I saw him knock down 8 three point shots in a row, 9 out of 10 at the top of the key.  He actually is a better shooter from 22 feet than 10 feet, even if the offense won't allow him to shoot the 3.  He is an obvious future pro player, maybe even NBA level.  As I speculated, the doubters from other BW teams will be disappointed if they think he is merely a juco bust.

Sow is athletic, but he was gassed.

Transition defense picks up at half court

One lineup was 6’5” and over.  That is a tall lineup, but probably won't happen much since, Heidegger and McLaughlin were on the sidelines

Terrell's shot is more stable.  It was getting better as last season progressed, and he's on the same improvement trajectory.

Bigs flash to the high post a lot from the opposite low post, with some high-low action.

Defending high ball screens is an emphasis

Blue vs gold scrimmage was very competitive.  No one gets anything free.

We have a lot of potential

“Potential doesn’t mean anything.  We were picked to finish 6th in the big west.  Nobody outside this gym respects us.  We lost four double digit scoring seniors, who are now pros.
How you practice every single day determines how the season goes.  Honor the process." - Coach Pasternack

Sow, Toure and Robinson have range to the three point line, surprisingly.

So does Nagle, unsurprisingly.  His touch is as featherly as advertised.  He shoots a set shot, kinda like Dell Curry, Steph's father, only he's 6'8".

I watched Coach P improve Sow's free throw shooting to 90% in real time.  He really monitors every detail, coaching every nuance of their shooting, and asking for feedback on how it feels.

Videos coming.