Our Core

Heading toward the end of our non-conference schedule, the team is finally starting to put together an offense that doesn't look like it belongs to a 7th Grade girls church league team. I imagine Coach Wolff scripted it just like that: test the team and its already stellar defense early, and use that time to find out what works on offense. It seems to be coming together just in time.

We knew at the beginning of the year that KG and Shaun Wynn would be two of the leaders of the team, and we were hoping stud freshman Corey Hassan would step up to join them (which he seems to be doing right about now). These three make up the solid core of the team this year: KG serves as the anchor and steady offense, Wynn is the steady defender and occasional offensive spark, and Hassan is the lights-out shooter who gets red-hot. Could be too early to start referring to them as the Holy Trinity, but we'll see where this season goes.

That much has been established, but the supporting cast is much more fluid. Coblyn stepped up early, but we were able to get by without him while he was out; now that he's back, he'll have a chance to show that those flashes were no fluke. Ibe has been serviceable inside, but his lack of basketball IQ at this point probably keeps him from being the steady second post player we need. I see Ibe learning a lot this year, and then getting much better next year and beyond (remember, he's just a freshman!). And most recently, Omari apparently asked for some aggression as an early X-mas present, on which Santa seemingly delivered. Whether one of these three becomes more consistent than the others or they all contribute on a rotating basis, we're still waiting for this supporting cast to mold itself around the core. You see, a great basketball team is a lot like eating an orange: first there's the skin, then the sweet, sweet innards...

This team has a chance to be great this year.