during the slide when did you first start to think...

[PoppyHart]

Re: St. Francis

First, the O.P. asked when we FIRST started to worry. This was before the Maui tournament, so even if people had a change of heart, it's entirely logical that they had already experienced a period of significant doubt.

The reason I said St. Francis, and to expand on my earlier comment about how good teams don't struggle with teams like that, is that it showed that opponents were going to have an easier time than usual dictating the pace. After St. Francis, no one tried to slow it down until Miami, and then the secret was out for good. (We certainly didn't help matters on our end with our style and shooting display.) So Maybe it was Miami because it acted as the confirmation point, but St. Francis was the calm before the storm.

 

[TBCuse11]

NC St. at home. They had some crazy travel scenario and flew in a few hours before the game. Barely won that game and that was the third game in a row scoring in the 50s. Those were the 'bad' wins and there obviously is such a thing.

agreed. this was the game when it was clear we were a mirage.

 

[Forloveoforange]

When they didn't recover from the first Duke game. Did Duke have this same problem?

 

[gilardino]

At the time, I was fine with NC State win. I was concerned with the yellow jackets, but then we beat FSU, and I said ok, we have this. Losing to NC state in ACC tourney proved to me that we were in trouble. The St. Francis game, give me a break people.

Looking back, we never recovered form beating Pitt on Tyler's shot 10 weeks ago today :(

 

[Ryand877]

At the time, I was fine with NC State win. I was concerned with the yellow jackets, but then we beat FSU, and I said ok, we have this. Losing to NC state in ACC tourney proved to me that we were in trouble. The St. Francis game, give me a break people.

Looking back, we never recovered form beating Pitt on Tyler's shot 10 weeks ago today :(

But what a shot it was! I still watch it at least once a week lol.

 

[gilardino]

After the St. Francis game a friend asked me what happened and I said "I think we're just not that good this year." And I continued to be nagged by doubts throughout the pre-conference because we couldn't blow anybody out. I know a W is W but I still think it says something when you can't put up 30+ point wins against lower-tier schools. But I'll admit that by the Nova game I had drunk the Kool-Aid and started to believe our slow pace just didn't lead to blow-outs. First Duke game was the peak of confidence. By the Clemson game I was back to thinking we had some real problems.

we beat clemson by 13

 

[SoBeCuse]

we beat clemson by 13

That was another offensive stinker. Scored in the 50s again. Ugh.

 

[ClamOtto]

we beat clemson by 13

Yeah - did you watch the game? we didn't look good.

 

[Briancuse]

That was another offensive stinker. Scored in the 50s again. Ugh.

Clemson was a very good defensive team, there was nothing wrong with that game.

 

[rocklloyd]

Notre dame. For me, all of our warts were exposed and we saw a glimpse into future if the machine was not clicking.

 

[SoBeCuse]

Clemson was a very good defensive team, there was nothing wrong with that game.

We can agree to disagree. Clemson played well early then became so inept at attacking the zone. McDaniels almost had half of their points. They had many more turnovers, had a slight edge on the boards, and were within striking distance til late in the game. We barely pulled away. Too close for comfort, imo.

 

[Briancuse]

We can agree to disagree. Clemson played well early then became so inept at attacking the zone. McDaniels almost had half of their points. They had many more turnovers, had a slight edge on the boards, and were within striking distance til late in the game. We barely pulled away. Too close for comfort, imo.

Clemson at the time was playing pretty well, nothing wrong with a 13 point win.

 

[Ghost]

Tough question.

Early in the season I was pretty concerned about the team (primarily after the SF game), but then they won the Maui Tourney.

I started to have doubts again and they win the Duke game.

At a certain point they stopped ringing that bell though. The doubts remained, but it's VERY hard to be that down on a team when they're ranked #1 or #2 and undefeated.

The team always had flaws, but early on just as the doubts I had would mount (I thought Duke would crush us) they would come out and play a great game. Who knows, I'm not sure I was ever sold on the team one-hundred percent, we seemed too dependent all too often on CJ playing out of his mind down the stretch...and once that stopped, so did we. Cooney going into an epic cold streak after ND didn't help either. I was never crazy in love with Ennis either.

 

[kuethstheman]

Clemson at the time was playing pretty well, nothing wrong with a 13 point win.

Nothing wrong with the win but it was evident there was something wrong with the team. You can rationalize it along with all the other games that individually didn't prove we were destined for a short tournament. But it doesn't change the fact that we were struggling for a long time before the first loss and some of us recognized some potentially fatal problems. And those of us that mentioned it were not treated kindly by a few that preferred to rationalize.

 

[pearl31]

some of us recognized some potentially fatal problems. And those of us that mentioned it were not treated kindly by a few that preferred to rationalize.

puh-lease

 

[SoBeCuse]

puh-lease

I'll back kueth. Any mention of a bad win or critiquing a sloppy offensive performance in a win and I was one of those mocked.

 

[kuethstheman]

puh-lease

Yeah! Like that!

 

[Townie72]

puh-lease

I'll testify to that.

We were being told how "great" this team.

Check the history.

 

[two3zone]

I'll testify to that. We were being told how "great" this team. Check the history.

I mentioned we weren't a top 5 team and were probably an 8-15 team and got destroyed by the next 10 posts after I said it. Yeah, the rationalists got crushed here.

 

[Dave85]

St Francis game. That was the beginning of a string of really lucky wins. People would say to me: "Wow, Syracuse is undefeated and Number 1." And I would reply that we weren't as good as our record might suggest. Seriously, I had no delusions about the team all season. The flaws were so apparent.

I'm curious as to the depth of your insight. What flaws specifically did you see that were so apparent?

 

[TinyManInside]

I was so confused. I went back and forth and I really thought we could make the Final 4 or lose in the first round. I guess it really dawned on me that we weren't the undefeated force we saw early in the season when UVA blew us out.

Seeing the UVA game in person pretty much told me that this team was done.

I honestly think that the team was emotionally and physically spent after beating Duke. The run-up to that game, with the monumental hype...

 

[Otto'd]

Georgia Tech is when reality set in. However, I first got really concerned when Keita got hurt (Vs. Clemson I believe). I saw him limping off and said to myself , we're gonna have problems the rest of the year. I know we beat Pitt and NC, but the fatigue started to set in and the cumulative effect on the other players started to rise really fast. Keita is one of my favorites, but he wasn't the same when he came back.

^^ This. The team just felt different after that. We pulled some out still, but we did not look like the same team that played at such a high level early (culminating with the Duke game at the dome.)

 

[jordoo]

Never. I thought we could make the final four and even win it all with some luck. Always thought all the guys might get hot at the same time.

Agreed. I felt that if we could get by our offensive clunker early in the NCAAT which we were sure to have we'd be fine. Its why I preferred OSU over Dayton. Think about it we played a heck of a defensive game against Dayton and one of our worst offensive games of the season but had a chance to pull it out. Dayton made the E8 against Florida and played well enough to be in that game most of the way. If we slipped by Dayton and got any sort if offensive confidence we could have beaten anyone IMO.

 

[cuseattle]

Agreed. I felt that if we could get by our offensive clunker early in the NCAAT which we were sure to have we'd be fine. Its why I preferred OSU over Dayton. Think about it we played a heck of a defensive game against Dayton and one of our worst offensive games of the season but had a chance to pull it out. Dayton made the E8 against Florida and played well enough to be in that game most of the way. If we slipped by Dayton and got any sort if offensive confidence we could have beaten anyone IMO.

Quit being a Pollyanna!

 

[CU44SE]

Well, I would say early in the year before the Maui tournament I thought we were in trouble. Played very poorly against cornell and colgate, two teams that we really should have destroyed and followed that up with a terrible game against St. Francis which we really should have lost. But then we go to Maui and really took care of business beating 3 very good teams and then coming home and just blowing out an Indiana team that barely lost (by 1 i believe) to a ranked uconn team in MSG. At this time, I started to believe that this would be the year. However, I started to question this team after the second half collapse against St. Johns (although they were a much improved team this year), we were up 11 or so at half and it was in our second home MSG. I thought we should have ran away with that game but saw how much trouble we had when Cooney wasnt getting open looks and really struggled when he didnt come close on his only 2 attempts; he looked gassed from trying to get open. But then the Villanova game happened and we blew them out after giving them the first 16 or 18 points of the game. So I was still very confused by this team, I believed we had that "IT" factor that everyone always talked about and we would find a way to get it done. But what really told me what this team was, were 3 of the first 4 ACC games. We were in close games against Miami, VT, and BC which were 3 of the worst teams in the ACC this year and they all struggled in OOC play. At this point I started to realize that this team was not as good as I originally believed and we were going to run into trouble at some point. You need to put teams away and we really couldnt do that but I enjoyed the ride and the last second wins until the BC game at home. Another game, up 11 or 12 at one point in the second half before BC just started draining threes from everywhere. I knew at that time our luck had run out and we were coming back down to reality. This was the game where I knew we were frauds for lack of a better word and that this wasnt going to be a national championship year. National Championship teams dont lose to teams that are ranked in the rpi 200's. So I would say that although I had doubts for the entire season, this game was the DAGGER.