FIVE QUICK impressions after a rather entertaining first glance at the Marshall basketball team:

The first stunning performance of Saturday night's Thundering Herd Madness - OK, after the magic act in which coach Donnie Jones materialized from a stack of small boxes - was Lutz tossing in 18-of-25 rapid-fire shots behind the new 20-foot, 9-inch arc.

After watching the Herd clank its way through the Ron Jirsa era and hit a paltry 31.6 percent from 3-point range in Jones' first season, watching the former Purdue shooter work was a welcome sight.

Remember, the junior from Bedford, N.H., led the Big Ten in 3-point shooting (47.2 percent) in 2006-07.

The Herd's 3-point shooting prowess dried up in the 15-minute scrimmage, as players combined to go 3-for-16. Goode, easily the biggest man on the squad, accounted for two of the successful shots.

Those brought some of the biggest cheers of the night, as those shots surprised just about everybody in the building, save for Tirrell Baines. Baines knew about Goode's stroke from their days at The Patterson School in North Carolina.

"I knew from Patterson that he could always shoot it," Baines said. "But he surprised me tonight by how many 3s he hit. But it was great to see him having fun out there."

"With the size and height he is, you wouldn't think he could shoot," said Markel Humphrey. "He has a nice, soft touch."

Shoot, I was just as impressed when Goode hit one of those college basketball rarities, the 15-foot jumper. He showed some skill and seemingly survived Jones' early-session drills, which are as heavy on running and communicating as they are on passing and shooting.

As you probably know, Goode is one big dude. After sitting out last season to gain eligibility, the 6-foot-10 product of Chapin, S.C., was the squad's most pressing conditioning project in the summer. By Goode's admission, he has dropped from 338 pounds to about 315.

"But he uses that weight very well, and moves very good with it," Jones said. "He's got a great basketball feel, too."

The first stunning performance of Saturday night's Thundering Herd Madness - OK, after the magic act in which coach Donnie Jones materialized from a stack of small boxes - was Lutz tossing in 18-of-25 rapid-fire shots behind the new 20-foot, 9-inch arc.

After watching the Herd clank its way through the Ron Jirsa era and hit a paltry 31.6 percent from 3-point range in Jones' first season, watching the former Purdue shooter work was a welcome sight.

Remember, the junior from Bedford, N.H., led the Big Ten in 3-point shooting (47.2 percent) in 2006-07.

The Herd's 3-point shooting prowess dried up in the 15-minute scrimmage, as players combined to go 3-for-16. Goode, easily the biggest man on the squad, accounted for two of the successful shots.

Those brought some of the biggest cheers of the night, as those shots surprised just about everybody in the building, save for Tirrell Baines. Baines knew about Goode's stroke from their days at The Patterson School in North Carolina.

"I knew from Patterson that he could always shoot it," Baines said. "But he surprised me tonight by how many 3s he hit. But it was great to see him having fun out there."

"With the size and height he is, you wouldn't think he could shoot," said Markel Humphrey. "He has a nice, soft touch."

Shoot, I was just as impressed when Goode hit one of those college basketball rarities, the 15-foot jumper. He showed some skill and seemingly survived Jones' early-session drills, which are as heavy on running and communicating as they are on passing and shooting.

As you probably know, Goode is one big dude. After sitting out last season to gain eligibility, the 6-foot-10 product of Chapin, S.C., was the squad's most pressing conditioning project in the summer. By Goode's admission, he has dropped from 338 pounds to about 315.

"But he uses that weight very well, and moves very good with it," Jones said. "He's got a great basketball feel, too."

While he showed some skills from the outside, the Herd obviously wants him to prosper on "the block." If the Herd can get even 10 quality minutes per game out of Goode, that presents an imposing complement to Baines and Tyler Wilkerson inside.

"He's Shaq [O'Neal, not the Herd's Johnson] compared to us," said Octavius Spann. "I hate to see his future - in a positive way. He's going to be something special for the school, the university, for the whole community."

If you're wondering, Goode is shooting to get down to 290 pounds. And what if he reaches that ambitious goal?

"It would be something crazy if he got down to 290," Baines said. "He'd be an animal."

Uh, oh ... a poor choice of words there. After a stress fracture in his right foot hampered his 2007-08 season, he is dealing with a stress fracture in the left foot.

"They say three weeks or three months," he said. "It all depends on how the foot heals. Just trying to stay off my foot, trying to rehab."

As the Herd's only graduating senior (if Darryl Merthie regains a fourth year) and the man who has weathered the most adversity, he deserves much better.

Along with Goode, he scored 12 points in the 15-minute scrimmage Saturday. He was 6-of-7 from the floor, had three assists and simply doesn't not look like an ordinary freshman. Even taking his year at Hargrave Military Academy into account, I was most amazed at his control while penetrating to the basket.

"I think we're a little more talented than we were last year," Jones said. "We've got a lot more bodies ... The freshman had the typical jitters, but it was good to get that out here tonight, kind of let these people see what they've been hearing about them. And now, we get ready for practice next week."

Reach Doug Smock at 348-5130 or dougsm...@wvgazette.com.