Wonder if Dame is still hurting. Limited minutes for him. Ben also pretty limited minutes. Braden still playing the most minutes on the team, but those minutes aren't as intense with Dolan and/or Quinn out there with him.

With Dolan, Watson, Quinn, Edwards, and Mwamba (not to mention Dawson when healthy) playing at the 3, looks to me like Ben Schweiger has moved down the pecking order. I'm surprised, but you can see how the decision-making, athleticism, defense and confidence (?) come and go in flashes. He had a bad shooting day today, and had 4 fouls in 14 minutes.

Based on what I saw today, Dame Adelekun has moved down somewhat in my estimation of playing time and Rubin has moved up. Welch appears to have beefed up and is still as smart and efficient as ever (4-for-4 from the field). Adelekun can rebound, that's for sure-- 8 boards in 9 minutes, 3 of them offensive-- but he's slower than I thought and less able to manufacture a shot in inside traffic than I thought. Bring him in when we're getting killed on the boards. We may have a three-headed center by committee this year, with Welch the best shooter, Adelekun the best rebounder, and Rubin the best rim protector (he had 3 blocks to go with 11 points and 4 rebounds).

Rubin appears to have some issue with his knee-- he wore a brace at halftime and was limping a bit.

Watson had a bad shooting day. His reputation for being smart, quick, athletic and a bad shooter has carried over. Some of the shots are wide open, and he hits those shots in warm-up. May be a mental/confidence thing-- overthinking, performance anxiety? But he's a very good defender with quickness that no one else on the team has. Plays smart, has good court vision. He finishes well at the basket with a good touch, but his jumpers veer off line and miss the range. You can see why he gets big minutes even in an off shooting day. Will be interesting to see what happens when Dawson comes back.

Mwamba was pretty impressive, but he was a total mis-match for Trinity's personnel. Three of six on threes, three steals, two rebounds, and 13 points in 14 minutes.... Trinity had some big guys in the 6-8 to 6-9 range, but they mostly stayed near the basket.

Definitely thought Ben's minutes were the biggest surprise.

Seems like we have a pretty strong guard group with Norris, Dolan, Watson, and Quinn. And with Dawson to add to the mix.

Alston and Mwamba are nice swing players. Hopefully Ben is part of that, too.

I'm really hoping Dame is getting healthy. He was on the bike some and he fouled out. As good as Miles looked, that's concerning. I only saw Miles limping when he was wearing a knee brace. Which he was doing every time he was out of the game. He seemed fine on the court.

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MBB Scholarship Chart

NBC Sports Chicago has a recap of the 104-44 exhibition win

https://www.nbcsportschicago.com/ncaa/n ... chi_twt_mn

Ok... THIS is the biggest surprise.

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MBB Scholarship Chart

Well, first let's remember the level of competition. My thoughts:

1. We beat them by 60 points. This is what we're supposed to do. Last year we couldn't string enough together to beat anyone, let alone by 60. This is a good sign.

2. We did handle the ball better and we were playing fast, we did take care of the ball. Again, keep in mind competition level, but good sign.

3. The offense was moving, cutting, and efficient from two. We started out very cold from 3. We did get better and for a long stretch we were in mud 40s. Once the game out of hand we missed some threes and percentage sank into the 30s. We also ran the break better.

4. Miles looked good, but still needs to learn a few things and pick up a few lbs. One thing that stands out is how quick he finishes near basket. Loved Hutty, but he did not have that quick twitch ability.

5. Schwieger minutes were surprising. He looked a bit tentative and as if he may have lost some confidence. Let's see if the staff can rehab him, Ben can find his confidence again.

6. Dame looked out of shape and slow. Understandable if he's coming off an injury. Riding the bike can't get you into game shape. Rest of the transfers looked good.

7. I also liked Quinn today. He looks like he worked on his handle. He also did not get any fouls by reaching out and putting his hands on the offensive player. We saw way too much of that last year.

8. Don't know what's up with Lewis. He had a heavily taped left thumb. Don't know if he will be getting minutes. Dawson did not dress.

9. Rotation is gonna be interesting. Drew was using lots of guys today. Certainly, if we want to play hard and fast, we have the bodies to do it.

10. This team looked like they were having fun. They seem to like each other. The interactions on the bench were good. This is a good sign and an early improvement from last year.

11. Didn't mention Brandon or Philip. They were good as expected. Reliable.

Big test against FAU. Top team with experience. We're gonna learn a lot very quick about this team.