Watched some of this. Kayden was excellent. Great pace, tight handle, and an advanced midrange game. Missed three straight free throws at the end of regulation that could've iced it, but kept his head in the game.
Bodo Bodo is still a wait-and-see. His rim protection wasn't great, and the footwork and timing were off. Hopefully, that's just rust. Tough to judge a guy who hasn't played in a long time against a frontcourt that good. He did get better as the game went on.
The complementary pieces are solid in their roles, but they'll need another featured guy to step up alongside Kayden.
- Williams: Quiet 17, efficient and smart - No TO's. Good performance.
- Decker: Struggled with the level of competition. Still early, but we'll see if he can develop into a secondary ball handler/playmaker or if he's more of the spot-up shooter we originally expected.
- Mingo: Will contribute even when he's not scoring. Brings consistent energy, a good first step, developing handle, and great size. If he develops a shot, there's big upside. Continues the tradition of our guards being among the best rebounders in the country for their size.
- Celiscar: Has decent tools and a chance to make a jump with this staff. Will contribute outside of scoring
- Chatman: Could fill an energy role at Iowa State or Houston. Took a lot of threes and didn't hit them today, but if he can knock those down, he'll open things up.
Overall, missing two solid bigs against what will probably be the best frontcourt in college basketball and still winning is always a positive.
Defense was solid - they compete.. but Florida also missed some pretty open threes. Everyone contested better, though their percentage was a mix of good defense and Florida just missing shots. That said, teams tend to miss more when the initial defense is good. In past years, teams got comfortable against us by making open shots early, then started hitting tougher ones all game.
Illinois will be interesting. They won't miss that many open looks, and they'll really test this defense.
