Just got back from West LA College where I was able to watch the second half of Hank's Lil Hoopers vs. Hank's Big Time (featuring Arron Afflalo and Mike Fey), as well as Entertainment Tonite vs. Sinclair's Bruins (featuring Josh Shipp, Jordan Farmar, and our five incoming freshmen). The games themselves weren't really the main attraction, of course, as i was mainly there to see how our Bruins look.

First, the game featuring the incoming freshmen: to start, Sinclair's Bruins won 83-43. That's not a typo. And under the rules of the league, there is no stop time if the spread is more than 25. This means that almost the entire second half was running clock, so there wasn't much playing time for everyone. That makes it hard for me to really evaluate each player. Anyway, Farmar and Shipp looked solid, but didn't do anything spectacular. Shipp looks like he's been working on his shot, and his leaping ability seems to be better. Farmar doesn't look a whole lot bigger despite reports that he's put on 15 pounds or so. Perhaps it's all in his legs and base. He had a rough shooting day, missing I believe all but one of his outside shots. In fact nobody on the team shot the ball particularly well - how did they win by 40 then? Because they destroyed the opposition on the boards. Entertainment Tonite was severly outsized, and especially when Luc Moute and Alfred Aboya were in the game (1st and 3rd quarters), the Bruins got every defensive board and several offensive boards. In fact, the domination on the boards, while obviously encouraging, made it tough to guage how good each player is individually. here are some comments on each freshman:

Aboya: He is as advertised - big body, attacks the boards, provides interior presence. Doesn't appear to be gifted offensively, but again, impossible to tell because he didn't need to do anything to create offense. he just let someone else shoot it, and then he went and got it, and then made the layup.

Moute: he did a good job on the defensive boards, as he always seemed to be around the ball once it came off the rim. He is very long and fairly quick for his size. He was perhaps the most intriguing to me - he is still unpolished, but he has the physical tools to cause some major mismatches in years to come. Probably not this year, but he looks like the type that will be too big for the typical 3 to defend, and way to quick to be guarded by a four. Defensively, he appeared quick enough to guard a wing, but could get overpowered by a true power forward.

Ryan Wright: unfortunately, he had very few opportunities today, so I really don't have much to say. He seemed very athletic, but no doubt will have to get stronger to be effective - much like Mata last year, he could get dominated inside by most big men. However, he seems much more explosive and certainly more polished than Mata last year.

Mike Roll: as advertised, a very good shooter (judging by his form), though I think he only made one outside jumper today. this style of league, where offense basically comes from guys creating for themselves, does not suit him. he will be better in a structured offense. he also did not spend a whole lot of time on the floor with Farmar, who probably could have gotten him more open looks.

Darren Collison: very, very quick. Unorthodox shot, but the rotation and arc looked good. again, limited opportunities to draw any real conclusions, but he seems like a better defensive matchup on small point guards than Farmar. Having them on the floor together would be very interesting (they did so today for a couple of minutes) - it was somewhat reminiscent of when Tyus Edney and Cameron Dollar used to be on the floor together (obviously the Edney-Dollar tandem was worlds better defensively), but there were would be plenty of opportunities for fast breaks and hopefully easy baskets.

As far as the other game, Afflalo looked to be in great shape. He looks so much more physically developed than everyone else on the court. His strength, however, still does not appear to be creating shots for himself. I could see him excelling in the post or coming off of picks. Mike Fey looked trimmer, and he was about a head taller than everyone else on the floor, so he had some easy looks inside. I think he will definitely benefit from having to bang with Aboya in practice.

A couple of other players caught my eye: in the earlier game, point guard Kevin Bell from Fresno St and Fairfax High looked absolutely dominating. He drove to the basket at will and finished virtually every time. In the Bruins' game, Mike Gerrity from Pepperdine and Mater Dei High had a great game. He must have scored over half of his team's points. Hopefully it's no reflection on Farmar and Collison's defense, as Gerrity was making extremely difficult shots. Still, they were mostly close to the rim, so our guards, especially Farmar, will have to focus on stopping penetration.

Overall, it seems unlikely that any of our freshmen are going to be dominant players this year. Luckily, they don't have to, not like last year when Farmar needed to do so much for the team to do well. Instead, most of the time when a freshman is in the game, he will be the fourth or fifth option on offense. The one thing the team needs is a dominating presence inside, and at this point, i think Aboya is the only freshman that can provide it. He is raw, but he has the attitude and physical strength, so hopefully he will be effective. Anyway, it will be interesting to see how all of the players develop, as we still have quite awhile until October. and while i still foresee some growing pains this year, if we don't have any early exits among our nine main freshman and sophomores, I am confident we will return among the national elite in 2006-07.

Unfortunately, I won't be able to get back out to the games tomorrow, but hopefully i will be back at some point in the future. anyone else who was there or who has comments, please feel free to post them.