I managed to see some of the game. I do start to wonder how much we can trust Izzo when he talks about what he sees in practice. I often suspect that he is saying things to the public to influence his players’ psyches more than to inform the public about what he is seeing. He had been saying that Akins was playing better than everyone, but I begin to think that he wants Akins to hear this to boost his confidence, and it might not be exactly true. Of course, maybe Akins will play great in the next game. And maybe he played better than his stats showed. I was watching the game on my phone while eating so I couldn’t watch it closely. 

This team appears to have a high ceiling. We were excited about guard play last year, but this year might live up to the potential we expected from last year’s team. Fears seems like a potential all-conference player. If Akins doesn’t live up to expectations, either Teng or Richardson, (or both) could be really good freshmen. Then there is Holloman who might deserve to be in the starting backcourt as much as anyone.

Couch recently said that he thinks this year needs to be strong because he sees the following year as having a lower ceiling, basing his opinion on Booker likely being gone. While I usually find Couch insightful, I do not agree with him. A Fears-Holloman-Teng or Normand-Carr-Kohler team with the combination of returning players and another strong recruiting class could be really good, mostly because Fears will likely be such a great floor general. 

I saw recently that someone had Teng at 6’5”. If he is that tall, I wonder if he could play the 3.