was a really fun game. have to say the Thunderdome has become a top notch facility with all the updates. now if only they can get a Teraflex for volleyball and get announces that are not homers. notoriously homerish there over the years

Start with DMX. Good to see him in and active. and getting boards. it's only offset by two really poor basketball plays, was leaning in/on on D a bit two much vs Bending his legs - that's how you get fouls. the big one though was that offensive board and then instead of just sending back out to re-start the offense, he backs in and lowers his shoulder for a predictable offensive charge. note to DMX running over the defender is not an offensive move. It's clear he needs a lot of work to develop a post move, like ANY sort of post move off of a pivot foot lol

bad. don't want to turn it into blaming the refs, but will blame them for way too much ticky tack, like from the first possession a marginal moving screen in first 30-40 seconds, and they almost gave SB the 2nd half possesson before Acker/Bench went screaming.

still 55 fouls? the big one was the non call on Sykes drive to the bucket, if they are gonna let SB just jump into our guys for every single call, that bump was so obvious and changed his shot, galling just because every time down SB was shooting FTs, and they gifted SB a change in possession.

the good: we were winning that foul contest, with about 10+ minutes, SB had 8 fouls, Beach had 4, it was like yeah we'll be shooting double bonus the entire last 10 minutes. but then the flow changed, we picked up a lot of fouls in succession, too much letting SB get a step in side and some silly bumps, and in highsight Acker I think should have posted Petra to get a couple more or maybe Bender just to get to the double bonus first. SB seemed to adjust better to the refs and that was the ball game, and it's not fun to watch

the good: ball movement. for the first time in two years, the last few games have a lot of confidence not getting in to TO mode and strong movement and passes. a couple, like Petra's long telegraphed entry that was easily read by a far side defender should not happen.

maybe part of it is SD & SB not the greatest defense teams, so now see if can continue to be strong with the ball vs better defense like SD. SD also had a soft schedule.

was just nice to see the team with some confidence and with some cohesive offense and yes defense play, despite having some skill deficit inside. see if DMX can develop a couple post moves he's still only a soph ? I think

the entire guard crew has a lot of potential, to be like the 2022 team, if Diaz can actually take some shots, he's trying to facilitate, and Jones/Lewis just to be able to hit more. the form on these guys is collectively really solid, we've had so many guys out on wing with weird looking form on their shot. these guys all look like they were taught correctly how to shoot, even if some end up as bricks,

and Sykes! Yikes!! awesome, just learn how to play some D and pass some. No folks, he is not a NBA body (yet), not NBA material (yet); a damn good college ice cold scorer though