A day late, but I'll give some impressions here.
Spencer "The Mayor" Dinwiddie has grown up. He's taller, has put on some muscle, and has moved into a leadership role. He's going to have a big season and he will be the guy who will be in the Alec/Carlon role of finding us offense when things break down or at crunch time. He can also guard the post now and is often seen d-ing up on Dre down low.
Ski has taken things to the next level. He's a bit bigger than he was and his confidence is through the roof. His shot looks really good.
One of the big things you notice with Mayor and Ski is that with their new strength they've gained explosiveness. They're now getting up and dunking in traffic. They've got great chemistry together.
Dre is Dre. Maybe a bit bigger. The main difference you'll see is that his handle has improved a lot. He's much more comfortable being an offensive swingman and he can now get himself open off a dribble for a mid-range jumper -- and he's consistently hitting that shot.
Chen: Hustle guy who looks stronger than a year ago. He's instant intensity off the bench. Shot comes and goes, but it looks like his form is pretty consistent now. Love his defense. You know that guy you hate playing against at the gym who has his shirt off, gets all up in your grill covering you with his sweat, annoys you by constantly bumping you, and then takes a charge on you as soon as you get frustrated and decide to take one to the hole on him? That's Chen. Love that guy. And the best part is that he's matching up with Jenkins in practice, which will give Jenkins exactly what he needs to develop into the player he can be.
Adams and Shane didn't participate due to each needing to give his knee a chance to rest and heal up before the season. Adams looks like he's in better shape than last year, but that's really all I could tell.
Before turning to the freshman, I wanted to say some nice things about Ben Mills. That kid has obviously put in the work. I wouldn't call him thick, but I also wouldn't call him skinny any more. Too much of a finesse "5" for my liking and he doesn't have elite athleticism, but he's a hustler with very good ball skills. He was able to score a bit in the scrimmage work, especially by hustling on the break to get deep post position out of transition.
The freshman: WOW!
Talton: Won't play this year, I'd expect. But he's got a good handle, technically pretty solid (dribbles with his head up and good form on his shot). Seemed to be kind of overwhelmed by the level of competition and how fast things are implemented at this level, but I saw a guy who can develop into a contributor.
Stalzer: If someone had told me he was a senior transfer, I wouldn't have batted an eye. Big, strong kid who obviously received great coaching at the HS level. Will never be our leading scorer, but look for him to play smart, efficient basketball on the offensive end (unselfish) and develop into one of our best perimeter defenders. As you might expect from them playing together in high school, he's got great chemistry on the court with Xavier Johnson and does a great job of finding XJ in the offense.
Gordon: Better than I expected. He gets overshadowed by Josh Scott with fans, and it's not fair. Gordon's a superior athlete who looks all of 6'8" or 6'9". He's a beast on the glass and blocking shots. Very instinctive player who understands team concepts -- surprisingly good passer out of the post, something you don't normally see in a frosh. Better than expected mid-range jumper. He'll keep his defender honest.
Jenkins: Sharpshooter who has a very developed post game and the explosiveness to throw down some dunks. Extremely skinny and more of a finesse player at this point. He needs to work on playing Tad-style defense, but it will come. Get excited about this kid. Can see him in the Ski role from last season of coming off the bench to deliver some instant offensive punch -- especially from outside where he could knock down a few quick threes in a matter of minutes.
Scott: There's not much he will learn at the college level in terms of his moves with his back to the basket. Very polished offensive post game. Fundamentally sound and a hard worker. Every move is mirrored whether going left or right, which makes him extremely hard to defend. I'd expect him to be a double-digit scorer and draw a lot of fouls. Since it looks like he'll respond to coaching to refine his game where he needs it, I'd expect he'll be NBA-ready as soon as he puts on about 20 lbs.
Johnson: He's got the body of an NFL defensive end. He's playing the Dre role that's hard to define. Sort of a post guy, sort of a back court guy. More of a scorer than shooter, but he can get hot in the mid-range and even extend beyond the arc. Almost impossible to deal with when he gets a path to the basket and can finish with either hand. Like with Dre, this isn't a matter of fixing anything about his game. It's going to totally be a matter of him wanting to dominate even when it's not a big moment or the opponent's overmatched along with him refining specific skills (incremental improvement in his handle and shot). Wait 'til you guys see XJ.
Here's my early thought on this team as a whole:
Offense
Skill is at a level I don't think we've ever had at CU. This is a team that can put 100 pts on the board if a team is willing to trade quick possessions and let us get out on the break. I think Mayor answered my questions about "go-to-guy", so now my biggest question relates to whether this group can be efficient. Low turnovers, good shots, get over the natural inclination good players have of getting theirs instead of sharing the ball. If it comes together, watch out. Look for this year's offense to go much more inside-out than last year, either through dribble penetration & kick out or from feeding the post and passing out of a double team.
Defense
So many new guys makes me worry about how soon they will understand the concepts well enough that they're second nature and they can all be playing fast while trusting each other. The length and athleticism is much higher than we've had, but it's hard to replace guys like Nate and Austin who were always where they were supposed to be, communicated well, and didn't commit too many silly fouls. If and when it comes together, we should have the athletes to extend pressure. There's enough speed on the perimeter to recover and enough shot-blocking ability on the interior to make up for taking a gamble on a steal and missing. I would expect this defense to generate more steals and blocks this year. It's going to take a while until they can frustrate an offense for 35 seconds without breaking down, though. Last year was pretty much textbook in March and it's hard to get to that point.
Rebounding
We have Dre. Him alone makes the Buffs at least an average rebounding team. We also have Mayor, who is a plus rebounder from the PG position. Ski's scrappy and will not hurt us here either. Shane should show incremental improvement and we know we'll get plus rebounding from Chen and Adams against an opponent's "2" or "3". But where this team goes to a new level is with the freshmen. Scott is strong on the glass. XJ is a surprisingly quickly leaper who does not get moved out of his spot. And I saw Gordon elevate and take "Dre's Ball!" away from him - he's a beast. We might still struggle with teams that have four 6'10" wide bodies they can rotate on the front line, but we might also be the best rebounding team in the conference if it comes together.
This team will win 20+ games. I'll hold off on more detailed predictions until we do the season preview. But while they have a long way to go, all the excitement about the 2012-13 Buffs is entirely justified. Get excited. There's something special brewing at the Keg.
