Black and Gold: Wishing I Were There
Wouldn’t you know it? The Winston-Salem Journal rocket sled is reserved already for Saturday, which means I can’t make both the basketball Black and Gold scrimmage on campus at noon and the football game at Navy at 3:30. And given that the idea of cloning the likes of me is too frightening to even contemplate, I have to make a choice.
I’m shoving off for Annapolis tomorrow.
That means I’m going to be counting on you guys who make it over the Reynolds Gym for the festivities to let me know how the Deacons look. I caught a couple of practices this week, and actually chatted with a few people who know what they’re talking about. But I’d be anxious to hear any impressions you might have.
Pay, if you would, particular attention at the lineup combinations. I’m wondering how much time Al-Farouq Aminu will spend at wing forward and how much time he’ll play in the post. If he’s inside, that’s obviously going to negate one of the team’s strengths, front-court depth. If he’s outside, will he sacrifice any of his advantage in quickness and speed?
Coach Dino Gaudio said it’s too early to set a lineup, though he, like everyone else, knows that Aminu will start somewhere and Ish Smith will be the point guard. He said that he’s still deciding on a backup point guard between freshman C.J. Harris and sophomore transfer Konner Tucker. Tucker has missed practice with an injured ankle but Gaudio said yesterday he hopes to have him back by tomorrow.
“I think it will be interesting to see who that other starting post guy might be,’’ Gaudio said. “It’ll be interesting to see what role (Ari Stewart and Harris) are going to play. When these guys get done with open gyms, somebody will come down and say `Wow coach, C.J. really shot the heck out of the ball,’ or `Ari was really. . . ’ I’m really looking forward myself to see those guys every day.
“We’re arguing as coaches now, should we have Ari learn the 2 and the 3, or the 3 and the 4?’ * We know Farouq is going to learn the 3 and the 4. Do we have some lineup where we could be really big, Ish, Ari, Farouq and two giants? So we’ll see as we go through the season. I don’t want any of those guys learning more than two spots. Somebody said `The more you put in their head, the slower their feet get.’ If they each have two spots to learn, I just hope the young guys can pick the stuff up sooner rather than later.’‘
*To risk stating what pretty much everybody already knows, in basketball positions are numbered as follows:
1—point guard.
2—wing guard.
3—wing forward.
4—power forward.
5—center.