Thoughts on the first home game

If effort won championships, the Blue Devils would be ranked first in the country after last night. They moved on defense, were active on the boards and moved the ball around. Perhaps most impressive was the way they made Albany's ridiculous size advantage a non-factor. Hustle and being in the right place can make up for lack of height.

Offensively, there's some work left to do. Tristan is pressing, and sort of admitted to as much after last night's game (notebook coming Friday with more). Once he learns to trust his new running mates, and once they give him enough reason to trust them, he'll stop trying to do everything.

But I will say this: he's capable of doing everything. As poorly as he shot the ball Wednesday, he led the team in rebounds, ran the offense and was the best defender.
The kid's a machine. There's literally nothing he can't do on a basketball court, and he's as nice a kid as you'll meet. Last night, after a tough loss, he went out of his way to greet each reporter with a handshake, then did the same as he left the interview room.
Not that any Blue Devils have been disresprectful in my four years watching them, but Tristan just stands out in that way. He's never said no to an interview, and I've bugged him during some unusual times, and is the kind of guy who will take the heat, as his quote last night indicates. He wouldn't blame his miss on a bad call.
(For the record, it was right in front of me, and he WAS fouled at the end of overtime.)

I liked David Simmons' work a lot, but I'm not going to go crazy after one night. Just like I'm not going to lose hope on Tamir because he didn't get a ton of rebounds against a much bigger team.

Joe's bigger, Tristan's bigger, and the Blue Devils had more bulk inside than they have in some time last night. There was a lot to take out of the game, especially in the way the team fought back from a big hole and worked so hard on defense.

Shemik, I think, is going to become a fan favorite. He's quick, he doesn't mind shooting the ball, and he's tough. The kid has a cut almost the length of his cheek under his left eye.
I'm not going to burden him by comparing him to a recently departed fan favorite, but the Thompson has a similar kind of intangible quality, at least to me.

The bottom line is this. The Blue Devils will struggle early while they figure things out and the newcomers get their legs, but this will be the kind of team you don't want to play in March. It might be like three years ago, when CCSU was the eight-seed, but ask Monmouth if that team was an easy out come tournament time.

I don't think Central will be an eight, by the way. Speaking of which, now that we have some game scores to look at, and you've had the chance to see your squad in person, what do you guys think of my preseason predictions? What are yours?

I'm writing Gameday tonight, so I'll save football talk until tomorrow.