Honestly, I would much rather see Hunter Mickelson. And he did well at finding spaces in the zone last night.

I was shocked how good Mickelson looked last night. Very promising if it can translate to the regular season.

This I think he showed some real promise. :thumb:

Yeah. He found the soft spots and gave a good target but he needed somebody to get to the top of the key and put pressure on the D. That was Cliffs role last year. I don't know what Traylor did yesterday but hopefully he can get back to executing that role in the season.

I'm a little apprehensive yet. That Serbia team had Length but none of it was very physical. I mean they tried but they ended up being awful at it and just putting Mickelson in a headlock or whatever.

It LOOKED to me like it would be pretty easy to neutralize him down low with physical play. Good news is he moves really well so if he and the coaches can operate the offense so he doesn't get locked up in a physical battle under the bucket, hopefully he can keep moving enough to still be effective.

My thoughts as well. It may be a race thing, but I couldn't help but think maybe Hunter is better suited for the European style game and will disappear against the big boys.

No, you were right. It was Selden.

This whole tournament has been played at a physicality much higher than the Big 12, even. If he disappears, it won't be because of a strength issue.

From what I've seen (which is only two games and I've been pretty hammered by the time the 10pm games have come on, lol) that is more due to the style of officiating and not the opponent.

When watching the World University Games, please compare it to the last time the USA competed in 2013 when they got NINTH. Team USA was also more of an All-Star team as well that included Doug McDermott, Cory Jefferson, Spencer Dinwiddie, Yogi Ferrell, Luke Hancock, Tyler Haws, Alex Kirk, Adreian Payne, Will Sheehey, Aaron White. So if this team medals at all, it's a pretty big accomplishment.

It just further cements how big of a win against Serbia this really was, DESPITE missing half our team in (Graham, Diallo, Svi, Greene)

The optimist in me shares your excitement.

The pessimist in me is thinking its more about having players that are familiar with each other and the system they have been running for years together.

Agreed.

It didn't seem to me to be very physical. We got tagged for a lot of ticky tack calls I thought.

Even still, there isn't anybody on that Serbia team that is Cameron Ridley strong (I know he graduated, but it's the first guy that came to mind).

Maybe last night, but that Brazil game was intense. Turkey wasn't quite as bad, but Brazil was banging us around pretty good.

Yeah. Unfortunately I missed that one.

Either way, here's to hoping Mickelson is a solid contributor in the post.