I know a lot of people were worried about missing Psycho T (myself included). The focus should have been on Marcus Ginyard. Ginyard's defense was missed last night. A 13 point victory doesn't look too impressive, but I thought Penn probably overachieved.
I usually discount opening games...too many nervous jitters, lack of chemistry, etc. I believe our chemistry is fine on offense, but our defense has some room to improve. We played Zeller for 23 minutes, Davis for 21, and Drew for 12. That's a lot of minutes for Freshmen.
Penn is a solid team with a high basketball IQ (and much higher SAT scores). They shoot well from the outside and are well-coached. I think we did okay for the first game with no Hansbrough or Ginyard, but we will need to do better against UK. I am encouraged by Zeller's play - he will be a force with Hansbrough in there too. We have a strong frontcourt with Deon, Zeller, Davis, and Hansbrough - but T's absence will help them develop faster - and that bodes well for January through March.
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