Benny williams

[charleston]

It's early but Benny Williams does not play like a 5*...shot is eye level and low trajectory...does not use his length ...gets pushed around easily and tries high school spin moves on experienced D1 players ...either get a charge or loses ball...he does not look ready for this level of play ...most 5* can come in as frosh and contribute...lots of work to do!

 

[STEVEHOLT]

It's early but Benny Williams does not play like a 5*...shot is eye level and low trajectory...does not use his length ...gets pushed around easily and tries high school spin moves on experienced D1 players ...either get a charge or loses ball...he does not look ready for this level of play ...most 5* can come in as frosh and contribute...lots of work to do!

Confidence is everything. Right now he’s afraid to the point he’s catatonic. He’s broken and the the shortest leash in history is exacerbating the issue

 

[SoBristol]

Confidence is everything. Right now he’s afraid to the point he’s catatonic. He’s broken and the the shortest leash in history is exacerbating the issue

We have seen many much shorter leashes - Rak Christmas, as a frosh is an example. Rak needed to get stronger and better, and he did - in practices and over the summers.

Confidence is a function of getting things done. Work, get better, then he can be confident but it isn’t a switch that can be flipped.

 

[Jeremy L.]

He's a freshmen. The only thing I'm worried about is him not enjoying Syracuse and him transferring. The game will come to him.

 

[NineOneSeven]

Some bad luck last night did not help. That was not a charge.

 

[STEVEHOLT]

We have seen many much shorter leashes - Rak Christmas, as a frosh is an example. Rak needed to get stronger and better, and he did - in practices and over the summers.

Confidence is a function of getting things done. Work, get better, then he can be confident but it isn’t a switch that can be flipped.

Totally different era where players stayed along time and weren’t prone to jump ship. You can’t freeze kids out like that anymore

 

[Red Holzman]

Hop would be perfect for what Benny needs now.
Lost, playing passive with no confidence.
Needs a hug and confidence boost-
Then get after it using his athletic ability to start making some plays and having fun.
He's broke right now -staff needs to help Benny get going b/c if no progress by end of season Benny may be gone.

 

[SoBristol]

Totally different era where players stayed along time and weren’t prone to jump ship. You can’t freeze kids out like that anyone

Benny isn’t being frozen out. He gets his chances in the rotation and will get more if he ever does something. Can’t let him play more at this stage when Jimmy is a big factor on offense and Cole is the only one helping Jesse on the boards.

 

[OttoinGrotto]

We have seen many much shorter leashes - Rak Christmas, as a frosh is an example. Rak needed to get stronger and better, and he did - in practices and over the summers.

Confidence is a function of getting things done. Work, get better, then he can be confident but it isn’t a switch that can be flipped.

Freshman Rak started 35 games. It was a token start and he didn't play a ton of minutes, but he was on the floor when the game began. That probably helps.

 

[phil77]

The whole Benny sucks is played out. You can't tell anything from the 2 minutes he gets. He plays afraid because of any mistake whether it is his fault or a bad call and he is glued to the bench for the rest of the game. So instead of playing free and being an athlete like he is, he plays scared that if he makes a mistake he is done for the game. Who can perform like that? It is crazy to think an 18-year-old kid has to play mistake-free to stay on the court.

If you aren't going to play your TOP 20 5 star recruit more than 2 minutes a game THEN DONT WASTE A ROSTER SPOT ON HIM and just grab a body from the portal.

Jimmy and Cole need to be sitting 3-4 minutes a half each creating Benny a steady 10-15 minutes a night to show what he can or can't do. He can't be yanked because he misses a shot or has a bad turnover. You have to let him figure it out on the court.

And if you think he is staying for another year after playing 2 minutes a game you are really misjudging the landscape of college sports right now.

 

[UnknownOrange]

Some bad luck last night did not help. That was not a charge.

DEATH to giving-up-on-defense-charges PLEASE

 

[CuseCrew08]

JB does this with nearly every frosh he has, zero leash, no opportunity to get in a rhythm. We wonder why 1/2 our players transfer...

 

[OttoinGrotto]

JB does this with nearly every frosh he has, zero leash, no opportunity to get in a rhythm. We wonder why 1/2 our players transfer...

I think he's hardest on forwards. Guards he kinda lets them figure stuff out, which is easier to do when the ball is in your hands.

Forwards though don't get that luxury.

 

[Cuse Action]

Confidence is everything. Right now he’s afraid to the point he’s catatonic. He’s broken and the the shortest leash in history is exacerbating the issue

I agree, and whose fault is that?

 

[STEVEHOLT]

I agree, and whose fault is that?

Michael Buble

 

[orangefog]

I’ve been a Benny fan for quite some time. He will get this figured out. He is too good not to. He is thinking way too much out there. JB has his methods, personally I don’t think they work on every player. Hopefully everything clicks for Benny soon.

 

[JDubbin]

Is there anyone on this board who actually thinks players like Benny have some ownership in their own performance? Anyone?! Nothing should surprise me on Syracusefan (haha it still does!), but it gets ridiculous to me when Benny doesn’t perform & the coaches get blamed automatically.

Benny turns the ball over within 30 seconds of getting in… “give him a longer leash, you know how Boeheim do!”

Benny misses a bunny or bricks a shot… “Coach destroyed his confidence, I knew it, you know how Boeheim do!”

My thought… “Benny, get in the gym & keep working on your game, you gotta take advantage of the opportunities you have when you get in the game”

 

[orangecuse]

The whole Benny sucks is played out. You can't tell anything from the 2 minutes he gets. He plays afraid because of any mistake whether it is his fault or a bad call and he is glued to the bench for the rest of the game. So instead of playing free and being an athlete like he is, he plays scared that if he makes a mistake he is done for the game. Who can perform like that? It is crazy to think an 18-year-old kid has to play mistake-free to stay on the court.

If you aren't going to play your TOP 20 5 star recruit more than 2 minutes a game THEN DONT WASTE A ROSTER SPOT ON HIM and just grab a body from the portal.

Jimmy and Cole need to be sitting 3-4 minutes a half each creating Benny a steady 10-15 minutes a night to show what he can or can't do. He can't be yanked because he misses a shot or has a bad turnover. You have to let him figure it out on the court.

And if you think he is staying for another year after playing 2 minutes a game you are really misjudging the landscape of college sports right now.

He's "not ready." Amazing how Jesse wasn't "ready" either only some 8 months ago. And, now he's been reincarnated so to speak. I guess that's what not playing scared does and getting the yank at first mistake can do for one. It's JB's way, it blows, but he ain't a changing, certainly not at 77-ish.

No different then watching a came of H-O-R-S-E our opponents play when we are on D nowadays with zone and nothing but the zone so help me God, and simply hoping they miss their WIDE OPEN looks...or his 6 man comfort zone rotation and zero bench. Ugh!!!

 

[Melancer46]

The whole Benny sucks is played out. You can't tell anything from the 2 minutes he gets. He plays afraid because of any mistake whether it is his fault or a bad call and he is glued to the bench for the rest of the game. So instead of playing free and being an athlete like he is, he plays scared that if he makes a mistake he is done for the game. Who can perform like that? It is crazy to think an 18-year-old kid has to play mistake-free to stay on the court.

If you aren't going to play your TOP 20 5 star recruit more than 2 minutes a game THEN DONT WASTE A ROSTER SPOT ON HIM and just grab a body from the portal.

Jimmy and Cole need to be sitting 3-4 minutes a half each creating Benny a steady 10-15 minutes a night to show what he can or can't do. He can't be yanked because he misses a shot or has a bad turnover. You have to let him figure it out on the court.

And if you think he is staying for another year after playing 2 minutes a game you are really misjudging the landscape of college sports right now.

I certainly think there are things that Boeheim could do to try to get Benny going/make things easier on him. Not playing him with Frank and Torrence would be a good start; when we sub all three in together it just allows defenses to shrink the floor substantially. At the same time though, the team is literally getting wiped off the floor any minute Benny spends on the court, largely because of his play, and we aren't good enough to just surrender for a few minutes and try to make it up once we put him back on the bench. Playing him right now makes it more difficult for us to win games in the short-term and we need to win games in the short-term if we want to have a chance to make the tournament.

 

[DoctahLexus]

I certainly think there are things that Boeheim could do to try to get Benny going/make things easier on him. Not playing him with Frank and Torrence would be a good start; when we sub all three in together it just allows defenses to shrink the floor substantially. At the same time though, the team is literally getting wiped off the floor any minute Benny spends on the court, largely because of his play, and we aren't good enough to just surrender for a few minutes and try to make it up once we put him back on the bench. Playing him right now makes it more difficult for us to win games in the short-term and we need to win games in the short-term if we want to have a chance to make the tournament.

Agreed. JB is coaching each game to win that game on that night. Tomorrows problems are for tomorrow. This might seem obvious to some, but that is how it should be. If Benny got 10-12 minutes instead of 2 against FSU we probably lose that game, just because it would take time away from one of our two other forwards who were actually having an impact. We only won by three so every point was crucial. Would I trade a loss for giving Benny a real chunk of playing time that builds his experience and maybe leads to him finding some momentum sooner? In the end the answer has to be hell no. We need wins when we can get them.

It would help if we could say "well he sucks on O but he is a monster on the boards and really boosts the D" but right now he is just as much of a problem on that end of things as well. Totally different than the situation with you-know-who from last year.

 

[kuethstheman]

Is there anyone on this board who actually thinks players like Benny have some ownership in their own performance? Anyone?! Nothing should surprise me on Syracusefan (haha it still does!), but it gets ridiculous to me when Benny doesn’t perform & the coaches get blamed automatically.

Benny turns the ball over within 30 seconds of getting in… “give him a longer leash, you know how Boeheim do!”

Benny misses a bunny or bricks a shot… “Coach destroyed his confidence, I knew it, you know how Boeheim do!”

My thought… “Benny, get in the gym & keep working on your game, you gotta take advantage of the opportunities you have when you get in the game”

I believe that if JB had no other forwards to play (and had to play Bennie big minutes), Bennie would be killing it by mid season.

 

[KevMonstah]

Hey, he did have a +/- of +1 yesterday, the only one on the team on the positive side, so
maybe coach could mention that, as opposed to trashing him, and only him, after
an earlier loss.

ANYBODY would be fine if given the opportunity to play with the freedoms some of
the others have. I particularly was a fan of:

4:54 - Girard III Turnover, leading a Nova score at 4:27 to go up 59-51
4:24 - Girard III Turnover, Nova steal, leading to a Nova score at 4:21 to go up 61-51.

Some kind of 33 second sequence. Would that all players could do that at times
during the game and not have to worry about being yanked.

 

[Eric15]

I think Benny will be OK. I could see him making a big leap forward as a sophomore similar to guys like Fab, Dion and Paul Harris.

 

[Orangezoo]

Benny is a talented kid but he is also like a healthier freshman Dajuan Coleman. He gets way to amped up when going to make a play and then loses himself at times when he is off the ball.

He played 19 mins in the 2OT win, 21 vs Auburn, 21 vs Lafayette, 22 vs Colgate, 16 vs Drexel and 17 vs VCU. That is not spot minutes.

In each of those games he was too quick to defer and unsure of himself. He needs the next few games badly but he also has to assert himself. Even last night he is a 6-9 kid and big time athlete who should be trying to destroy the rim and instead didn't elevate at all and missed a lay in that was at the rim and not above it.

Honestly so far Benny looks a lot what Andre Jackson looked like at UConn last year. Just nervous and unsure when to be aggressive as well as deferring before he can even attempt to take a shot or finish a drive.

 

[Orangezoo]

Hey, he did have a +/- of +1 yesterday, the only one on the team on the positive side, so
maybe coach could mention that, as opposed to trashing him, and only him, after
an earlier loss.

ANYBODY would be fine if given the opportunity to play with the freedoms some of
the others have. I particularly was a fan of:

4:54 - Girard III Turnover, leading a Nova score at 4:27 to go up 59-51
4:24 - Girard III Turnover, Nova steal, leading to a Nova score at 4:21 to go up 61-51.

Some kind of 33 second sequence. Would that all players could do that at times
during the game and not have to worry about being yanked.

Buddy was struggling too so who comes in then and who stays in? Symir can't play two positions at once.