Louisville Postgame Thoughts

[IthacaMatt]

by what measure was it effective? My heaven I feel like it’s 2017 again and the usual holdouts are defending JB.

They were crushing us inside in man. We got a few more defensive rebounds out of the zone, and a bunch of their guys fouled out.

 

[AlaskaSU]

That's what I was thinking. Or that they should have called a foul and Cope was going to make the FTs.

Cope has hit from behind.

 

[STEVEHOLT]

Jimmy Boeheim is playing pro ball, tons of pro leagues to go make some cash

As a dirtbag gambler I can attest to this

Here are some teams who I cashed money on betting from across the world

Meralco Bolts
Shanghai Sharks
Alba Berlin
Fenerbace
London Lions
San Miguel Beermen

 

[CA Monk]

Derek Brower

Billy Drew

 

[NineOneSeven]

5x5 has been done (allegedly) 3x in 15 seasons based on the tweet I posted.

That’s why I was cheering so heavily in the game thread for this. Not sure people realized how crazy difficult of a line that is.

 

[upperdeck]

Somehow this mess of a team is in 7th with 1 good weekend away from being in 6th in the ACC.

 

[Orangeman]

IMO, it was so apparent that Seth spent quite a bit of time with his friend and former assistant Red the last day or so and absorbed all of Red's venting, lack of execution, etc. plaguing the team. He was so on point relative to Mintz and how the ball, more times than not, just stops when he pounds the ball the way he does, vs. getting all involved, ball moment, passes, etc.

He talked about how our guards consistently allowed dribble drive penetration on the defensive end, etc. causing ensuing defensive breakdowns. He also talked about how we stood around and ball watched, didn't box out, etc. and the reason for getting pounded on the glass.

It was so obvious...quite comical to boot. Which, he seemed rather aware of himself about his seemingly rooting for his fellow assistant and SU, as immediate afterwards, he would then pay Louisville a backhanded type compliment.

Yes, this was my point in another thread

We do not have basketball players. This is the 2nd derivative group from the "Zone-Players" that we sought out for a decade.

I have confidence we'll be back into real Basketball soon, just need patience now.

If you want to watch "Basketball", pull up the replay of Providence/Creighton, and you'll realize why we're not making the NCAA Tournament lately.

 

[SwagSocks]

Defense is atrocious. We can't continue to let teams score at will on us.
But a win is a win. On to Clemson. I don't think we are close to tournament but play the games and see. Maybe we can get rolling

 

[twinight]

This is the third post saying we may not win another game! I just did the probability analysis and it’s 1 in 47,000 that we lose out. Lol.

I hope you don't have a job where you have to do math. You are... not good at it.

 

[Oakland]

I can't remember being so disappointed with a Syracuse basketball victory in my life.

Is this the fourth SU game that you have watched?

 

[CA Monk]

The slow motion replay was shocking in so many ways.

1) JJ has a wide open layup if Q just drops it off
2) Q is fouled
3) it’s not a goaltend
4) brown somehow botches the dunk and it still goes in

Bball is nuts that way. Games hang on so many oddities like these. And that's just one play.
You can coach it all you want, but at crunch time it gets passionate and momentous on the court. Planning often goes out the window. Seeing players adapt and react to fraught situations is what makes it fun and dramatic.

 

[longtimefan]

Mintz's best play of the night--grabbing the ball out of the net after the tying LVille 3-pointer, and flinging the ball downcourt to Copeland, initiating the drive to the rim for the deciding points. Q should have been at the line shooting 2.

 

[Owens guy]

I think tonight was an important win. A loss tonight and potentially a blowout home loss next game to JGIII & Clemson and there is a chance of the team publicly imploding and fans questioning the state of the program.

 

[JDubbin]

Whew, what a game. Definitely didn’t have a 2023-24 Syracuse basketball game with primarily 2-3 Zone & a 7 man rotation tonight on my Bingo card, but I’m never mad at a little throwback retro night, if you know what I mean

Coming off of the Benny situation & an absolutely brutal away loss at Wake Forest, I can’t help but be excited about a crazy win tonight. I know we’re not great, we won’t be this season, it’s just the reality. But seeing Bell go off & shoot lights out, while actually make a significant defensive play with the block, along with Maliq’s stunning stat line, combined with the Copeland’s jump/through the leg outlet pass & fake behind the back pass… I’m here for it. I was nervous & entertained, Syracuse got the win. I will always celebrate that!

P.S. shout out JJ’s continued rising shooting percentages & improved form, it matters. I really believe in his shot now whereas when the season started, I thought the wheels had fallen off & it may not be meaningfully fixable.

P.P.S. We haven’t talked enough about how we have out & out gone back to the cursive script uniforms for real, I love it! Yet, I wonder if they they are the shortest uniform tops in NCAA basketball. We consistently have a minimum of 3 players on the court at all times that are in full untucked mode. It’s wild.

 

[SWC75]

JB calling the Duke game.

 

[pokercuse08]

Was out to dinner for my wife's birthday tonight, glanced at the score at one point and saw something like 65-64 Louisville and decided not to check until the end of the night. Glanced at the box score and this thread, and I think I'm relieved I didn't watch.

From the sound of it in this thread, we're going to need better effort, creative coaching, and a lot of luck to string together more than two wins down the stretch.

Here are my creative two cents: Red needs to find ways to use the guys that aren't really ready/good enough to spell the others. Maybe that means pressing aggressively and leaving Carey back under the basket with the instructions to make everyone earn it at the line. Get a few minutes out of him each half and maybe the press gets us a couple turnovers. Let Cuffe play just a few minutes and pick up the PG full court and harass the daylights out of him, if only to wear out the opponents and maybe get a steal or two before racking up his fouls.

Do some stuff like that, mix man and zone, attack and try to get opponents into foul trouble, and hope someone shoots the lights out against Clemson/GT/VT/NC State, maybe we get ND, Ville, and two more if we're really lucky. Maybe steal one more in the ACCT, and get to 20.

Not enough to get into the tourney, but respectable.

 

[mikemorg]

From the media guide:

View attachment 237489

That GMAC game vs BYU in the tourney in 2004 was absolutely bonkers. 43 points. Man he was fun to watch.

 

[Capt. Tuttle]

Because we couldn't come close to staying in front of them in man.

And as bad as us shooting %.

 

[Newhouser]

Cuffe has to be hurt right? We are way too undermanned to have him sit entire games. I mean he stinks, but so do most of the people we are putting out there.

 

[Capt. Tuttle]

You can live in a fantasy land, that’s fine. But that effort doesn’t win another game this year outside of maybe Notre Dame. Personally, I have higher expectations for guys making money at the 5th winningest program in college basketball history

You brought in a new coach with misfit leftover parts. Give him time to get guys who :1) want to share the ball rather than play 1v 5;
2) who want to defend; 3) who care enough to rebound; 4) who have a freakin’ clue about game and clock management, 5) aren’t a locker room virus; 6) who don’t ignore him because they know he has no one else to play, 7) who gets recruited as a shooter who actually looks at the basket, 8) who get back on defense instead of chirp at the refs, the opponent or each other, 9) who aren’t so self important the would rather get points than wins.

Having a winning record with this group is an amazing feat.

 

[690West]

I hope you don't have a job where you have to do math. You are... not good at it.

lol. My probability analysis involves me throwing up a made up hyperbolic number to show how ridiculous certain ideas are.

The real number is probably around 1in 100

 

[Capt. Tuttle]

G league is technically pro.

So is Euro ball.

 

[Capt. Tuttle]

I found that game depressing and oddly entertaining.

The unwillingness to dish on the break for an easy bucket continues to amaze and confound.

It’s as if they don’t like one another, Hmm. I expect some excising of the cancerous cells at year end. Don’t know who it is, but it’s clear there are chemistry issues. Maybe players think if Judah is gonna get his, they are gonna get theirs. Judah is the head guy on the floor, and fish rot from the head down. (He may well be a fine young man, but he doesn’t make his teammates better.)

 

[SmilinBob]

I saw young Carey get pushed so easily by the Ville and some were incredibly obvious but they let that go pretty much all game along with Ville big men doing the shuffle. That said, Carey had better hit the weights this off season because that ain't going to stop.

Judah is Allen Iverson like to the nth degree. Pearl knew how to mix the two but Judah is still struggling to hit teammates in their happy shoot zone.

 

[Orangezoo]

Of course not. But I’m not going to pretend like this was amazing effort that proves the team turned a corner. The same issues exist, just this time they played a horrible team. Put that defensive effort out against Clemson and they might score 120

Ever played a game after losing a long time team member and friend? Ville is a crappy team who’s played many good teams to the wire this year. They have talent no matter the mess they are. This team needs a roster reset. They fought through and won vs a team thinking there was clearly blood in the water to steal one.

Sometimes this should be the second place to blow off irrational amounts of steam not the first.. sheesh.