Updated Nov 18, 2009 - 12:00 am

Faisel Aden Finally Sends In LOI

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The 2nd member of the 2010 class, JC guard Faisel Aden, signed his Letter of Intent and made it official earlier today: He's a Coug.

Ken Bone said of Aden, "He's a 6-4 guard that can really shoot the ball from the perimeter...really good scorer, not just a shooter. He's putting up big numbers right now (at Hillsborough Community College), he's averaging about 30 points per game after like five games. He's the type of guy that could come in and help us next year, whether he would play immediately next year or not, that's for down the road, we'll see what happens."

Aden joins Ephrata star Patrick Simon as next year's incoming players. As noted earlier when Aden gave his verbal commitment, there is only one available scholarship for next season.

Coach Bone has played every member of his roster over the first two games, meaning that no one is redshirting and everyone is fighting for their scholarship from now through the end of the season.

It has been mentioned that Bone is not done recruiting and may pick up another player before the season is over.

In response to reader 0623 and his comments regarding Klay Thompson - it's funny you should post such a comment at this time, as I was writing a post about the element that Klay has added to his game over the summer.

Klay transformed his game over the off-season, and now is finally a game-changer, rather than simply an offensive threat. Ken Bone's work with Thompson has showed immediately - just check out Klay's free throw numbers and his quick burst in to the lane.

Imagine the difficulty of guarding a guy who can not only elevate quickly and get off an accurate shot from anywhere on the floor, but who also has a good first step, can get past you on the dribble and elevate to the rim if you overcommit just a tiny bit.

It spells huge numbers for Klay and huge headaches for opponents. A defender simply has to respect his shot, so watch for a lot of quick moves to the hole this season.

The one part of Klay's offensive game that still is lacking is his passing. He got past his man several times last night only to be met by others, and instead of dishing the ball off, he forced up a shot or was turned around. I'm certain that I'm not the only one who's noticed this and work is being done.

So, 0623, while I agree that based on last year's performance, Klay may have been a bit overhyped, I think that he'll earn every bit of his hype this season. The assertion that he is resting on his laurels while Casto is the only one working on his game is not, as illustrated above, completely accurate. I do agree that Casto has an amazing upside and with more hard work he'll become an elite player in the conference, but the spotlight has room for both him and Klay!

Speaking of those who are out of the spotlight, Abe Lodwick and Nik Koprivica looked great last night. Neither lit up the stat sheet, but both were all over the boards, chasing down balls, diving and disrupting. I love that tenacity on the court. That's Caleb Forrest-like tenacity! Marcus Capers also deserves a tip of the cap as he was assigned to Benny Valentine last night, EWU's leading scorer, and held him to 5 points on 1-7 shooting. Nicely done, Marcus!

Go Cougs!

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• 0623 wrote...

  "in response to 0623"

  Thanks for your observations and feedback, Bert. Actually I agree with all you've said. I think we just said it in different words. My irritation is not so much with Thompson as with the media which gives the appearance of thinking Klay is the be-all and end-all to Cougar basketball because of his relationship to the Great Mychal. The press is inclined to latch onto some concept like that an pass it on from media-rep to media-rep until it is all out of proportion. It's like a contagious disease! Incidentially, 0623 is not a "his". She is an 81 year old woman whose parents were introduced by Jack Friel.

  November 18, 2009 10:20 am

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