Impressions of Someone Seeing the Orange for the First Time

[Col. Bleep]

(First time this season).

1. Frontcourt has potential to be great : Rak has improved immensely on offense. Must cut down the needless fouls. This team needs him on the floor. C-Mac is going to get better and better. His biggest weakness now is when he has to play center and direct traffic in the zone. Otherwise, smart, versatile player. Very hard to guard because he can shoot from everywhere. Gbinije is crucial for this team. He's a solid presence.

2. Backcourt: we've been spoiled by very strong guard play the last number of years. But there are worries. No great confidence when the ball is in Joseph's hands. Guards were not up to Iowa's trap. In fairness we've had games like that over the past couple of years. Louisville and Temple two seasons ago.

3. Bench: what bench? Gbinije should be starting. He's like the Howard Triche of this team (Yes, I mean Howard, not Brandon).

4. Defense: The zone isn't close to what we're used to. Top of the zone isn't great. Big guys need more experience in it. C-Mac looks like he's getting it...although moving to center is a problem.

4.Coaching: Boeheim has his work cut out for him developing this team. But his coaching success will largely be a function of how much Kaleb Joseph grows over the season.

5. Fans: The Garden might have been 40% full for much of the game...and it was probably 80+% Syracuse. We have the quietest major college basketball fans in America.

 

[bballbeadle]

5. Fans: The Garden might have been 40% full for much of the game...and it was probably 80+% Syracuse. We have the quietest major college basketball fans in America.

Awwww, Colonel, that is not true! The fans who were there on Thursday night, and all the fans who watched the game across the country were in total shock by how abysmally we played. That was honestly one of the worst performances I have ever seen for a Syracuse team. I allow the fans may have been tepid tonight, but we are only human. I am just speaking as one fabulous fan to another fabulous fan.

 

[TinyManInside]

great post and agree with pretty much everything you've written.

 

[rottweiler44]

One additional positive...rebounding looks much stronger this year. This could potentially make up for some of the weakness in the the zone.

 

[HoustonCuse]

Regarding defense: I think this zone is actually going to round into form. The issue, as you point out, is that its effectiveness drops by about 50% when Xmas is not in the game. You could see the baseline being worked at will against any lineup where Xmas was out. The other cleanup is KJ needs to get better at denying that entry pass from the top of the circle into the foul line area. He was caught sleeping on that too many times to count in the last 48 hours. This will improve, I have no doubt.

 

[STEVEHOLT]

What I dont like about the last two games is how teams have had a very easy time scoring once they get the ball to the free throw line vs the zone. I know the talking heads always say that THAT is where you need to get the ball vs the zone, but our vintage defenses literally invite teams to pass the ball there, at which point the guy receiving the pass is harassed into a a turnover, bad shot, or a return to sender.