Denzel Aberdeen........anybody know any details of his summer season?

I do not, but, at Dr. Phillips, he was just about as good a basketball player as was Riley Kugel. There is no reason why he should not be a big time college basketball player.

 

That's absolutely true. Denzel was Riley's equal.

 

He's not at this point.

 

if he becomes 80% of RK, I'll take it

 

You’re likely right, but how would you know? Denzel was never given a chance last year, because he was playing behind experienced guards who turned out to not be particularly good.

 

With our transfers, I just assumed he'd be the odd man out and either transfer (likely, especially if he really is good) or sit and be patient (if he's a Trask type, or believes he'll get his time to shine).

He's a SO this year?

 

I sort of trust our staff, who observes them practicing hours each day during the season, to identify a Riley Kugel talent.
I'm not picking on Aberdeen. I like him and believe he'll be a solid D1 player. But he clearly wasn't the equal of Kugel last season. Not even close.

 

Last year, he reminded me, progress-wise, of Szymczyk. Not ready for major college basketball but was enthusiastic when out there and knew what they were asked to do (with a VERY limited script). The main difference was, Aberdeen did not have to play minutes whereas Sz had to sometimes. I am looking forward to see how his sophomore campaign is progressing. I like his size. Probably going to take a "Lane" role and see where it leads.

 

I'm interested to see his progress. He isn't quite as explosive as Kugel athletically, but he is long, pretty smooth, plays with good pace, and can defend multiple positions. One of the knocks on him coming in was that he didn't have a great stroke and probably wasn't going to be a primary ball handler at this level, so he was kind of stuck between positions. But we also know Golden loves secondary ball handlers in his offense. Not sure how Aberdeen carves out minutes in an already crowded rotation, though. If he gets time this year, it will obviously be because he has earned it.

 

I thought that Denzel was a solid ballhandler, passer, scorer and defender in the games that I saw him play in his senior year at Dr. Phillips. He was a little better than an 80% free-throw shooter, a 60% scorer from two and about a 31% scorer from three. I would like to see him as the back-up point guard this year and hopefully get a good, solid 10 to 15 minutes per game of playing time. He seems to me to be the heir apparent to the starting point guard spot, so I would hate to see him go into the transfer portal.

 

A dislike from potomic gator on this one. Unless it was a fat finger, how about explaining what you disliked about my post.

 

Thanks. I figured that was a distinct possibility.