Photo Credit - Bleacher Report

Article By: Daniel Farish

#1 Nunez - Haven't seen much of him this year; Rick said that he has been shooting poorly in practice, worse than anyone. "I could live with his bad defense if he were shooting well." Kind of makes me wonder if Nunez is going to fall through the cracks. 

#2 Smith - Russ has been a very efficient scorer and one of the best on the ball defenders in the country. Outside of "look at me" stat sheet filling, that's it. His vocabulary does not include the words assist or rebound. Smith has almost twice as many points as Siva and less than a third of his assists. He has got to focus on the off the ball stats to hit that next level.
 
#3 Siva - Peyton has been quiet thus far. We haven't seen the brilliance that we saw in the Big East Tourny/NCAA Tourny, but we also haven't seen the carelessness that we saw at the beginning of last year. This isn't about Siva "turning it on." He's on, just waiting to pick up speed. He tried against Duke, but without the Dieng presence in the post, he wasn't able to dribble-drive-create the way he would otherwise.
 
#5 Ware - Has a long way to go, has come a long way from where he was last season. I no longer fear when he has the ball in his hands. Last season, Rick told us he had Kevin dribbling in practice with no shoes on, to teach him not to dribble the ball off his foot. Seemed like it worked. He only has 4 turnovers in 93 minutes. His high flying ability has promise for the future, but the PG position doesn't usually require that. With Chris Jones and Terry Rozier coming in next year, Ware will probably transition to a backup SG behind Russ.
 
#10 Dieng - Like it or not, this offense runs through him. We saw that against Duke, when UL struggled to get open shots and had almost no presence in the paint. Like Siva, Gorgui got off to a slow start this season. Averaging 8.9 and 8.0, I would expect to see those numbers around 15-10 in Big East play.
 
#11 Hancock - We have yet to see the REAL Luke. It isn't the guy who shot 19% from the field and 13% from 3pt outside of the Mizzou game. Nor is it the guy who shot 6-9 FG and 5-7 3PT against Mizzou. It is a mesh of the two. I'm more impressed with his tenacity on defense and his evolving ball handling skills. But come on, the kid is coming off double shoulder surgery. Let's give him a break. But only for a little bit.
 
 
SOAPBOX RANT
#14 Baumann - Kyle Kuric you're not. But no one expected you to be. So take the #14 off your back.
SOAPBOX RANT OVER
 
#15 Henderson - Good for a few minutes per game, if that. Falling into the same position as EJ. Good kid, home grown, would be better off at a D2 or D3 school.
 
#20 Blackshear - Expecting a lot from this kid. He is on his way to healthy, if not already there. Needs to step up and start playing basketball. Where is the kid we heard about? He is a shooter, but can be so much more than that. And we need him to be. I believe our season is made or broken by his maturing over the course of the next 2 months. He is the catalyst, the variable that will separate us from the rest of the great teams and put us in Championship status.
 
#21 Behanan - We know what we have with Chane. Needs to put the off-season issues behind him, if he hasn't already, and continue growing as an elite post player. His effort in the Bahamas was hit or miss. I think he showed up the morning of the Mizzou game, and flew out following it. Look it: Mizzou (6-8 FG, but only 4 rebounds in 32 minutes). NIU and Duke (3-19 FG, 13 rebounds in 48 minutes).
 
#22 Bond - Absolutely no idea.
 
#24 Harrell - He seems like the only player who doesn't try anything flashy. He gets the ball, immediately try's to get to the rim. Nothing special, no showboating. Just "GET BALL IN HOOP." I love it.
 
#25 Price - Has room to grow but always seems to be in Pitino's doghouse for something. He comes in, does 1 or 2 good things, then screws up back to back possessions and he's off the floor. Didn't look bad against Duke. Shared equal time with SVT. But he is clearly not the backup to Dieng right now.
 
#32 Baffour - His favorite snack it Twix, athlete is Michael Vick and movie is The Wood. That's all I got. Oh, and he has a weird nickname given by a weird dude, Russ Smith. Go figure.
 
#44 SVT - Showed what he can do in a psuedo-starting role against Duke. In 21 minutes, put up 8 and 8 with 0 turnovers. But also no assists, something we need from the post players. He will become more reliable over the next 6-8 weeks, as we learn to play in a world without Gorgui. He is fighting to move up on the roster, Duke was a step in the right direction.
 
NOTE - Written before the beatdown at CofC. Not that we learned much from that game.