Red & Blue Scrimmage wrap-up

Saturday after the Homecoming football game, students and alumni moved from Franklin Field into the Palestra for the annual Red and Blue Scrimmage. Head coach Jerome Allen sat at center court and let his assistants handle coaching duties while he absorbed the game.

Allen was ultimately looking to see how freshmen and players returning from injuries integrated into the Quakers style of play. And from what I saw, the newcomers impressed.

Miles Cartwright stood out from the rest of his class — he was paired up with Zack Rosen and did a great job defending him. It took some initial coaxing for Cartwright to really play aggressive defense, but once he got some confidence, he was very effective.

Marin Kukoc also made some athletic plays (see video below). Both Kukoc and fellow freshmen Steve Rennard weren’t afraid to shoot some treys.

Rob Belcore was also solid in his three-point shooting — no official stats from the scrimmage, but. his shots were consistent. When Cartwright began to show signs of fatigue, he moved onto defending Rosen.

Dau Jok, though lauded as an excellent shooter, didn’t really stand out on Saturday. He showed some signs of future success, but my impression was that he hadn’t quite picked up on the offensive and defensive schemes. Definitely a knowledge gap, but he still showcased some talent.

Tyler Bernardini and Andreas Schreiber showed no signs of lingering injury. Like I mentioned in the live blog, I wasn’t a student to see either play in the 2008-2009 season before they were injured, so I can’t really compare to their previous level of play, but neither looked like they had missed entire seasons. I expect a smooth integration back into the lineup.

It’s hard to say how the Quakers will compete once the regular season begins, but I saw promise from this team on Saturday. Overall, they looked confident, well-bonded and didn’t appear sloppy.

But the scrimmage was full of turnovers — it’s hard to presume whether or not this is a result of strong defense or weak offense, but this is definitely something to look forward to as the season opens.