What I love as it progresses gradually is this team bit by bit finding it’s identity, still leading with stout defense, and if last night is an indicator with maybe the SEC’s 2nd best road win so far, and Bruce slowly calibrating what his offensive options are a given night.
Liked what I saw with Broome finding his groove, complemented well by the other bigs inside, especially Jaylin, Dylan, and Moore.
Guard play getting more reliable with Wendell settling down and working the drive and dish, and Tre clearly too good to not increase minutes. On a given night, Lior can even be inserted for 3-point threat.
So this Bruce release 9.0 will surely lose some SEC games because the opponent has a Jabari level superstar to close out a game. As a team, however, we’ll still be VERY hard to beat in the Jungle mad house.
But because we’re talking BRUCE here, I’m betting on this being one of the better total TEAMS in the SEC that plays cohesively by February. And sometimes that can add up as a whole to a deeper run than sporting 1-2 NBA lottery picks as we saw with Miami vs us in the second round. Stars can be schemed and defended below their average.
I’m also curious to watch our SEC opponents’ ‘pitch count’ (minutes) as the grind wears into February. Bruce can go 11 deep in some games, and not every top 5-6 SEC team has that luxury or as a coaching philosophy will deploy that as we’ve seen with Cal at KY. Injuries and the grind may become an asset for Bruce by early February.
And who knows, a star may congeal in Westry, Broome, or Donaldson sooner than later. It took Okoro and Chuma a while.
Gonna be fun. I need help here doubting BRUCE, I’m unapologetically “incapable”.
E5
Liked what I saw with Broome finding his groove, complemented well by the other bigs inside, especially Jaylin, Dylan, and Moore.
Guard play getting more reliable with Wendell settling down and working the drive and dish, and Tre clearly too good to not increase minutes. On a given night, Lior can even be inserted for 3-point threat.
So this Bruce release 9.0 will surely lose some SEC games because the opponent has a Jabari level superstar to close out a game. As a team, however, we’ll still be VERY hard to beat in the Jungle mad house.
But because we’re talking BRUCE here, I’m betting on this being one of the better total TEAMS in the SEC that plays cohesively by February. And sometimes that can add up as a whole to a deeper run than sporting 1-2 NBA lottery picks as we saw with Miami vs us in the second round. Stars can be schemed and defended below their average.
I’m also curious to watch our SEC opponents’ ‘pitch count’ (minutes) as the grind wears into February. Bruce can go 11 deep in some games, and not every top 5-6 SEC team has that luxury or as a coaching philosophy will deploy that as we’ve seen with Cal at KY. Injuries and the grind may become an asset for Bruce by early February.
And who knows, a star may congeal in Westry, Broome, or Donaldson sooner than later. It took Okoro and Chuma a while.
Gonna be fun. I need help here doubting BRUCE, I’m unapologetically “incapable”.
E5
Last edited:
