A long weekend completed.

Okay, so I apologize for my temporary absence. . .was more than a little busy this past couple weeks. . .

Last night I had the opportunity to take in the BU basketball scrimmage. With such a youthful and exuberant team, it was hard to walk away disappointed with what you saw.

We caught a glimpse of what our starting lineup will be to start the year:

PG-Daniel Ruffin (Fr.)
SG-Tony Bennett (Jr.)
SF-J.J. Tuaui (So.)
PF-Marcellus Sommerville (Jr.)
C-Patrick O'Bryant (Fr.)

Any time you start two freshmen, you know you've got your work cut out for you. I will say that they have a favorable schedule, though by no means easy, their biggest early season challenges will be at home. With many teams, a little early confidence can go a long way with this group.

Ruffin and Bennett are a lot of fun to watch, even if just one of them is on the court. When they are both out there at the same time, they will run circles around teams. Both of them are hard nosed, controlled, and really go after it. I can only imagine them going at one another in practice makes them both that much better in the end.

Tuaui, who has recently earned the nickname "The Frisbee" shows a lot of promise, and I believe the fact he will see very little (if any) time out of position, will go a long way from erasing the timidness that we saw the better part of last season.

Sommerville is absolutely the crutch of this team. He is a natural talent, and seems much more relaxed and comfortable then what we saw most of last season. He let the game come to him, and he did not disappoint on either end. He also appeared much more accurate on the 3 point shot.

Patrick O'Bryant is one of the biggest guys the MVC has seen in some time. That alone gives him a little bit of an advantage. During the summer game I saw, he didn't move too much on offense. But last night, he was very active, and making openings to create shots. He, along with Sommerville and Tuaui will need to make sure they limit teams to one shot on as many possessions as possible to take full advantage of the speed that Ruffin, Bennett, Wright, and Tuaui offer.

Lawrence Wright will be a fan favorite, and an integral part of this team as a top reserve. A naturally gifted athlete with incredible jumping ability will hopefully be what is needed to get the Carver Arena crowd on their feet.

Another bright spot was Rembert, who though didn't show massive scoring ability, did show immeasurable improvement on defense and decision making. At times last year, he seemed lost in the pace of the college game. Not anymore, which is a credit to his hard work in the offseason, especially given the large increase in team speed. On defense, he complemented the other interior players quite nicely. It was nice to see such large bodies there. Rembert, Singh, Sommerville, and O'Bryant did not give up the easy looks. They were a force in the paint, which will benefit them greatly when they play more physical teams like last year's NCAA participant Northern Iowa.

Sam Singh will develop into a very important part of this team, is another gifted athlete who has obviously spent the summer bulking up. The key to success for him this year, is to focus on rebounding and defense, and opportunities elsewhere will unfold for him. His feet constantly pedal, and so if he shows patience, opportunities will be there when opponents tire.

Danny Adams and Montana Heirman also showed some positives, Adams on the shooting side, and Heirman actually impressed me at the point. There was a stretch where he showed some amazing passing skills. He didn't try to create opportunities for himself (which would be a common thing to see in an exhibition setting, for someone in his position on the roster), and protected the ball very well. The side he was on made a huge rally over several minutes. A lot of that happened when he set things up with the ball in his hand. Jeremy Crouch and Kevin Jones are also guys who can fill one of those roles as the season progresses.

Brandyn Heemskerk and Lance Stemler did not play.