It’s been forever since I’ve written. I don’t know how you guys made it this far into the season without my writing. But here we are, and I’m back with my one-of-one notes from my latest trip to Westwood, where I saw UCLA vs. Purdue. Let’s start with some pre-game thoughts:
Walking into the arena, the excitement was palpable. There was a huge contingent of Purdue fans; I’d say about 35% of the building was there for the Boilermakers. I also saw a good bunch of NBA scouts in the building. Walking onto the floor for warm-ups, the first person who stood out was Daniel Jacobsen of Purdue. Dude was towering over everyone on the floor. I knew he was skinny, but what surprised me about him was how coordinated and light on his feet he was for a man his size. He looked good moving around the floor, catching lobs, even taking jumpers from the top of the key. He wasn’t as heavy-footed as I thought he was going to be and showed really good touch from outside and around the rim.
I had a very similar reaction to seeing Braden Smith, but for a very different reason. Smith was very small, but for as small as he was, his athleticism was sick to see up close. They threw him a lob in layup lines, and he two-hand reverse jammed it in. I always knew he was athletic, but that was nasty. Another guy who stood out to me in warmups was Fletcher Loyer. His jumper was silky smooth; he was hitting pretty much every shot he took, and he just looked the part.
