Good news and bad

Ok, so I thought I'd pick off the Devan questions before I even got them.
First off, no, he didn't need to take the 3. But he was wide open. You can't kill him for the shot, though it's absolutely ok to say they should have tried to get the ball inside.
The last shot: Yes, he had more time than he thought and rushed up a shot. He probably could have kicked it or set himself for a shot. Sometimes younger players don't realize just how long 7 seconds is.
Shemik being out hurt there. Say what you want about him taking too many shots (who else do you want with the ball?) but he'd have gotten either a jumper or gotten to the rim and maybe drawn a foul.
But let me say this in Bailey's defense: The kid wanted the ball. In a year where I've written too often about Central looking for an answer on offense and needing someone to step up, someone not named Shemik tried to take over. Usually, freshmen are scared to have the ball. If you told me Devan messed up at the end of a game on the last shot, I'd have told you he turned down an open look and gave it to Shemik. Nope. The kid was aggressive. Maybe he didn't handle either play right, but that will come. He's done too much too fast for me to give him grief over an enthusiastic mistake.
Robby was ok. A step slow. I was just giving him a hard time about the jersey thing, which was funny. It happens to NBA guys a couple of times a year. Coach said he didn't want to push him too much in his first game back, and referenced Dave's needing 2 or 3 games to be back to his old self. I think he'll be fine. If he's healthy next year, I still say this is a team to watch out for.
Speaking of which, let me revise and extend my chat remarks like they do in Congress.
First off, the projected lineup for next year, and this is just a guess: Devan, Shemik, Robby, Kenny, Markeys.
The bench bigs will be Dave, Chris and Justin Alexander. Joe Efese will give them some versatility if they want to go big and use him as a 3 or small and let him be a shot blocking 4 like Kenny is. The backup guards will be Vince, a freshman, and Robby sliding back to the 2. It will be an odd year where Central might have more answers up front than on the outside. But let's get back to this year first. I think Central needs 3 of 4 to guarantee a berth.