FanPost

July 16th, Prime Time League, Hot Sprots Takes.


Tonight, in Waterloo's Sportsplex building, was the last non-playoff PTL evening. The playoffs will be held back in North Liberty on July 23, July 26, and the Championship on July 30.

You can find stats here within a day or two, I'll just be including my observations below.

Team Jill Armstrong/Skogman Realty had the bye, so I did NOT get to see Adam Woodbury and Okey Ukah today.

A week ago, I commented on the poor shooting, and I wasn't sure it was all due to good defense. Tonight, I noticed good defensive effort from most teams, and a bit better shooting than last week. It's strange.

On the court nearest my seat, was a matchup between Team Marion Iron (Iowa's Matt Gates, Brady Ellingson, Andrew Fleming, UNI's Wes Washpun, and others), versus Team Linn County Anesthesiologists (UNI's Wyatt Lohaus and Ted Friedman, and normally Iowa's Peter Jok and Ahmad Wagner). I did not see Jok or Wagner there tonight, or Gatens and Ellingson. I also did not see Marion Iron coach Jess Settles.

Also for Team Linn County was Kalund Brown (formerly of Ellsworth CC and Cedar Falls HS), who had a very nice night, and his brother Kalehl Brown. Kalund shot well, was hustling on offense and defense, and looked like a player that would have easily started for UNI about 15 years ago (but, apparently not now). Lohaus also made several 3-pointers, and ran their offense well. Friedman looked good in the low post tonight. UNI is going to be good again, this year. (Sidenote, they will host North Carolina at McLeod Center this fall, in a "homecoming" game for UNC's Marcus Paige).

Team Marion Iron was led by Washpun and Fleming tonight. Washpun can get to the hoop whenever he chooses, and mixed in some made jumpers/threes as well. I think he was trying to get a big dunk to impress Oglesby and some other guys, but I'm not sure he ever got a true dunk. Andrew Fleming shot really well in the first half from 3, and was adequate in the second half. I noticed him being pretty physical (often in response to physical defenders on the wing or near the key). I'm glad he is capable of this, as we all know what Big Ten play can be like.

One thing Fleming may need to work on is not obviously extending his arm into a defender to create space, as I suspect it will often be called an offensive foul on a Hawkeye player (and he did do this less in the second half than the first).

During this game, I was sitting in the front row, next to UNI's Paul Jesperson and graduated Hawkeye Josh Oglesby. I didn't really try to chat them up, as they had friends and ladies nearby, although I wanted to tell both how much I appreciate their efforts (and wish Jesperson a prosperous 2015/16 season). I was surprised that only one small child asked for an autograph from them.

On the far court from where I sat was a game between Team Westport Autowash/Beat the Bookstore, versus Team Culver's/Vinton Merchants. Culver's/Vinton Merchants took an early lead and never really looked back.

Team Autowash/Bookstore included Jarrod Uthoff, Dom Uhl, and UNI's Aarias Austin. Uhl ran the floor well and hit some shots. He looks pretty big compared to the other players in his game tonight. I look forward to seeing what he'll do for the Hawks as a sophomore. Uthoff hit some shots, but appeared to be focused on distributing from the wing and some other spots. I did see that he was double-teamed at times.

Team Culver's/Vinton Merchants included Anthony Clemmons, Nicholas Baer, and UNI's Jeremy Morgan. I didn't really catch who did much of the scoring for that team, but as I said, they played good defense against Uthoff and his squad.

In the late game (again, near my seat), was Team Blendcard/McMurry's versus Team Comfort Care/LL Pelling. I think some players from each team were missing, and each squad began with 6 guys (normally, each team has 9 or 10 guys).

Team Blendcard/McMurry's includes UNI's Paul Jesperson. I did not see Iowa's Dale Jones, and I'm not sure that Brandon Hutton was there, either. Former Hawk Jason Price played a lot, and Kalund Brown and Kalehl Brown stayed over from the first game to play for them, too. Jesperson needed to be, and was, the main man. He was hitting threes, driving to the bucket, and handling the ball a good chunk of the time, as well.

Team Comfort Care/Pelling included Mike Gesell, and I think Steven Soukup, as well as UNI's Matt Bohannon and Klint Carlson. I did not notice Iowa's Christian Williams, nor former Hawk Darius Stokes. Gesell did "Gesell things" by handling the rock well, driving to the basket, getting some free throws, but I did not notice a lot of made field goals from him. Bohannon made some shots (but less than last week). Carlson looked pretty athletic, had a nice dunk or two.

Many of tonight's officials are good guys that I have seen work local high school games. I did not see the "Joey Crawford of the PTL" Rick Hartzell tonight, and thus, did not see any tech fouls or admonishments.

There was a nice crowd again for the beginning games. It dwindled a bit during the late game.

I have very much enjoyed the three dates that the PTL has brought to Waterloo. I very much hope they continue this. I'd like to again give a big "Thank You" to all that make the PTL happen (players, coaches, organizers, sponsors, officials, volunteers, etc).

Have a great rest-of-the-summer, everybody!

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