The true fans of Hilltopper Men's and Women's basketball teams streamed into Diddle Arena Saturday night to see something they hadn't seen in a while from Topper basketball. A full court of players.
That fact alone sets apart both teams from those in recent memory if nothing else does. But, what is even more encouraging is the quality of the players on the court and the harmony you sense within Diddle Arena between the fans, the coaches and the players.
Both teams are bigger, stronger, faster, shoot better and play together well for such an early stage of the season. Now, there wasn't a whole lot of defense going on, which is a good thing, because we got to see a lot of what these players can do.
On the Lady Tops, probably the most marked difference was the tallest and the smallest players on the teams. Ruta Savickaite, the 6' 4" Freshman center from Vinius, Lithuania via Hamilton Heights (Chattanooga, Tenn.) obviously the tallest on the team, displayed promising shooting, shot blocking, rebounding and passing ability which will come in handy on the high low post situation created with Chastity Gooch. The shortest team member, Kierra Muhammad from Lexington, KY, displayed good speed and driving ability making herself a promising point guard for the Tops. These two players are interesting to watch and should give the Tops some nice moments in the years to come.
On the men's team, everything seems different although a good core group returns to the floor from last year. What is nice to see is how the players who have been here a while have grown on the Topper faithful, and they are seen almost as family by the crowd. TJ Price, George Fant, Caden Dickerson, Nigel Snipes, Brandon Harris, Kevin Kaspar, Percy Blade, Aleksej Rostov and Okaro Akamune seem like home folk. The new guys bring a lot of athleticism, length, shooting ability and power to the team, to such an extent that the whole team seems different.
In fact, there is almost too much to mention, but Trency Jackson showed that he isn't afraid of the lime light, being very athletic, above the rim and shooting lights out most of the game. Ben Lawson showed that his 7 foot size doesn't keep him from being coordinated, and should do well on the hill. Chris Harrison-Docks looks like a veteran already at point guard. Aaron Adeoye was impressive with his physicality and dunks and Douda Soumauro with his powerful 6'9" frame showed he will be difficult to stop inside, while being able to shoot from short range. Brandon Price, the 5'9" walk on guard obviously has hops and seems like a street savy player even as a freshman.
This writer thinks that Nigel Snipes is set to have a break out year. He looks smooth, shoots well and is energetic on the floor. He is going to sneak up on folks this year.
What is also apparent to me is that this team has the size, physicality, speed, shooting and personality to be a really good team. Ray Harper and staff have put together maybe the best team in school history since the glory years of the 70's, and this means no disrespect to the other great teams who have played in Diddle since. But, I've never seen such a complete roster at WKU. Now, whether that will translate into wins is a different matter.
We won't really know what we've got until everyone comes available in December, but we should be pretty good before then.
If you want my advice…get your tickets for both the men's and lady's teams, they are going to be fun to watch! Go Tops!
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