I can't tell you how nice it was to get to watch the shootaround today. The NCAA does it right - every team has an open shootaround in front of fans and media as the players get used to the shooting backgrounds in the arena. I'd probably pay $500 to be able to do the same thing in Champaign (or even attend one Illini shootaround before a road game) because I cover players, not coaches. But the opportunities to cover players are few and far between these days.

Well, there was one today, but I'm a complete and total idiot and I missed it. During the formal interviews in front of the NCAA backdrop (the Illini representatives were Coleman Hawkins and Terrence Shannon Jr. plus Coach Underwood), the other players were available for one-on-one interviews in the locker room. I've basically spent the last three years complaining about no one-on-one interviews. They had that today, and I was there, and... I didn't know about it.

It was right there in the media PDF. But the text was kinda hidden, so I missed it. There's all these headers on the document and under the header for interview times was a big long list of when each team would have their players and coaches in the interview room. I scanned the list for the Illini time and then skipped ahead to the next header on the document. But after the list with all the presser times was a single paragraph saying that additional players would be available in locker rooms while the coaches were at the press conference. And I didn't see it.

Well, I saw it right at the end of Underwood's presser. The media guy said "two more questions" and I was curious who was next up. If it was Kansas, I might stick around for a few minutes to see if Bill Self was going to do the presser. I pulled up the PDF, scanned the list for Kansas, and... saw the paragraph about the players being available in the locker room. It was too late, though. Underwood wrapped up about 90 seconds after that (and then the Illini shootaround began about five minutes after that). I complain and I complain about the lack of one-on-one opportunities, and then the NCAA mandates a time for locker room interviews (like it's 1987 and reporters are chasing Pete Rose around the clubhouse), and I missed it. I'm still kicking myself.

But that's not the point of this article. The point of this article is that this was the first public shootaround of the season. Which means it was my first opportunity to see mid-year enrollee Niccolo Moretti. You know, good ol' Ben Trovato.

He didn't participate in the full shootaround. At the end, they concentrate on getting shots for the players who will be on the court tomorrow, so Moretti was doing some rebounding at that point. But any time he was participating, I had my camera out. Which allowed me to make this little video. I'll let you watch it and then I'll give you my thoughts.

Thoughts are always best organized with bullet points.

• The thing that stuck out to me was his sweet lefty stroke. Those last four shots - those were all four of his shots in that drill. I didn't cut the ones he missed to only show the ones he made. He made all four from that spot. Granted, this is just a shootaround, so a lot of players lose their solid form when they're trying to get off a contested three. But I really liked his form. Great rotation on the ball.
• During other drills it was easy to watch his form next to others and that's when it really stuck out. Sencire Harris would shoot off of his hip, and then Luke Goode would use is very formal, upright shooting form, and then Jayden Epps would shoot his quick-release shot (while jumping forward), and then Moretti would spin a very fluffy three. They even splashed different.
• He was also very smooth in the other drills (the ones at the beginning there). Again, just a shootaround with no one guarding you, but he's very fluid. I wouldn't say he's a plus athlete, but from just one shootaround viewing, he appears to have some basketball fluidity.
• Maybe it was the hair but he kind of reminded me of Brandin Podziemski? Similar lefty stroke.
• He's not a big guy by any means (listed at 160 lbs.), so he's gonna need some strength before he's ready for Big Ten play. Yes, he hit a lot of threes in the shootaround, and that's something we desperately need next season, but he'll need to get much stronger before he's ready to play defense in a Big Ten game.

Overall, I was impressed. I've already watched the video 10+ times. I'm needing some "yes, we'll have guys who can make threes" reassurance for next season, and Moretti's sweet stroke gives me some hope.

Can he play tomorrow?