Rider @ Buffalo

[Eagle66]

Ohio fan here. Glad to see the MAC pick up another OOC win.  Good luck in Atlantis.

[MuchMany]

I imagine the only redshirt will be Zaakir, with his current injury and an extra year to chisel up his body.

Couple of thoughts from the game:

-We didn't play very well and still blew them out. Weird sleepy game against a pretty poor team in Rider, who missed at least a dozen bunnies right at the rim. Crowd was decent but quiet. Refs with some bad block/charge calls but what else is new.

-Jeenathan is as good as senior year Perkins was. He's not far behind what CJ was. He's a high-major talent and I'm really trying to enjoy him this year, as we might not see another player of his quality for a while. If he misses time or gets in foul trouble, we're sunk.

-Mack's quick stroke didn't look great to me in early viewings, but I see it now. When he gets hot it's awesome. His game logs from GW show some streakiness with big 7/9 bursts mixed in. He was a great get and fit for this team.

-Mballa is a bit overhyped imo. His offensive package hasn't really developed since he got here (aside from FTs). Very useful player of course, but he's not a first-team MAC guy with the way others are looking. Hope he elevates his game.

-I'm worried about Curtis Jones logging real backup PG minutes in conference play and beyond. His handle is too loose too often. He's almost always shielding the ball in the halfcourt offense. Whitesell was visibly frustrated with him a few times today. He did have a couple moments today and I like him as a longer term prospect, but we might run into some sticky situations this year if he's forced into bigger minutes.

-I think every Rondo set 3 is going in this year. He's a dead eye now. His and Jeenathan's long hours in Alumni have paid off in their shots.

-Have high hopes for the freshman long-term, but they're all pretty raw right now. Not sure we'll get meaningful contributions this year. Mading looks absolutely enormous out there against low-major bodies. Blocker might be a Davonta-level quick twitch athlete - if the game slows down for him, he could be very good.