Red

[dasher]

I guess I am looking at the season with far lesser expectations than you are at this point dash. I don’t see a calamity on the court that can’t compete against good teams.

Obviously, I hope you are right. But I just see a team that is too limited. Maybe if we have a real hot day from outside, and that can happen, we can hang with a really good team.

 

[NineOneSeven]

these sweeping, declarative threads (both pro and anti Red) before conference games have even started in his first year... just stop

It's wild.

 

[OrlandoCuse]

I see a team out there that plays harder and faster than any team JB rolled out over the past decade. Also, it does look like we can play some pretty good man to man defense, something JB constantly yammered on and on saying we were incapable of.

I like the direction things are headed. This is looking like a tournament worthy team. We’ll find a way to win 12 or 13 games in conference this year.

 

[blust2i3d4]

I don’t see us winning 13 ACC games. 13-5 is not going to happen.

ACC has 20 conference games unlike SEC has 18. So 13-7 is more reachable than 13-5.

 

[Sherman20]

I honestly don't know what that has to do with anything. I just don't think we have a good team. We are too limited. But to answer your question, I have always thought that teams that play man to man will improve more than teams that play zone over the course of a season. So, I think we can get better. But there is a cap to how high that top is.

I don’t have the same pessimistic view and was just curious why you think this team isn’t good and how bad you think they might be. I definitely see us improving on the past two years, which were historically bad by Syracuse standards, so that’s not saying much. But Red is a new head coach and the players are all young (mostly sophomores), so I like the progress we’re making. I don’t see why we can’t be as good as we were in 2020-21 when the team finally started to figure things out by the end of the season and then made runs in the ACC and NCAA tourneys.

 

[Capt. Tuttle]

There were macro level criticisms about JB, but many fans ever critiqued JB’s in game coaching quite like we are doing with Red.

It’s all people did his first few years. JB was known as a guy who just rolled out the balls at practice.

 

[billsin01]

I am not convinced we can play against a good team. I hope, hope, hope, I am surprised and that we can.

I’m with you. Happy to be a bit patient with Red but I’m not feeling confident in what we’ve seen against legit opponents. Oregon was woefully short-handed last night and that game had a lot of ugliness on both ends.

Don’t get me wrong, nice W, but I’m still a bit weary of what we look like against a well-coached group with some talent.

 

[kcsu]

My point was simple. Red can coach. It obvious the team is making progress, maturing and playing better. This team plays hard but is lacking a few pieces. I think Red is doing an excellent job and the future with him at the helm is solid.

 

[Funk Doc]

Yes, small sample size, but like others have said. This team is limited by the lack of consistent inside scoring, and lack of consistent outside shooting. For the first time in a few years though, we are stacked with plenty of athletes. There is progress!

Biggest thing I noticed, was the start of the second half, with Oregon in zone, Red went to Copeland right away, and put him at the foul line instead of Taylor. Game immediately got out of hand.

 

[sugrad68]

We looked great against Oregon but Oregon had one big man who was in foul trouble and missed most of the game, and played with 7 players and they tired in the 2nd half. It's hard to win with no consistent 3-point shooters and that is what Syracuse lacks right now. Taylor shooting 31% from 3. I look at the Pitt game as one that will show us how good (or bad) this year's team is. ESPN gives us a 40% chance to win. Lose that game by a large margin and my hopes for a successful season will be diminished.

 

[CuseFaninVT]

It’s all people did his first few years. JB was known as a guy who just rolled out the balls at practice.

His first few years? The internet hadn’t even been invented yet. What in the world are you talking about?

 

[Brooky03]

1000% way too early to say.

We were completely outclassed by UVA and Gonzaga. And both of those teams have been struggling.


We have played very well against the other P5 teams on our schedule. We won vs Colgate and Cornell.

This team is clearly good enough to be in the upper half of the ACC and honestly get a tournament bid.

I do think come March our OOC will be a net positive. No reason why we can’t win 10 ACC games

We probably could do without the wild swings of ‘Red is no good’ and ‘Red is awesome.’

Oregon is a good team. Even when we sucked with JB, we’d beat good teams. Like you said, too early to call one way or the other. Not losing to the bad teams is the key and we’re doing that, so I’m happy.

 

[M2MPrinciples]

Disagree, I want to see us beat Duke. None of this close/competitive loss BS.

Obviously we all want to see us beat Duke! Just keeping things realistic. We'll probably be double-digit underdogs with the game being at Cameron.

 

[JustPherU]

His first few years? The internet hadn’t even been invented yet. What in the world are you talking about?

Internet? Had pen and paper even been invented?

 

[CuseFaninVT]

Internet? Had pen and paper even been invented?

Yes. Let’s all go back to our notes from jb’s first years and see what we wrote.

Oh that’s right, I was 7 when JB started. FFS.

Edit - damn, my sarcasm meter failed me miserably there. Didn’t realize you were on the same side as me until I posted already.

 

[Red Holzman]

It's not whether you win or lose -but how you play the Game
Well, of course W's are needed -but enjoying how this team plays the game.
Athletes running the floor -seems like more dunks already than we've seen in a season recently.
Some slick passing and splash plays, particularly from Cope.
Kind of nostalgic -past few games helped me remember why I'm an SU fan!

 

[br801]

His first few years? The internet hadn’t even been invented yet. What in the world are you talking about?

Exactly. No social media, no sports talk radio, no Internet, no place to get up-to-date statistics of all sorts. We watched (or listened to) the games and then essentially waited for the next one. JB was known as a guy who had an eye for talent and won games.

 

[JFly10]

Some nice improvements, I'll admit I was pretty discouraged after the Virginia game. Hopefully this continues, they're more and more moving towards an identity but most of all as people have commented, they look much better in terms of just playing with each other.

 

[billsin01]

these sweeping, declarative threads (both pro and anti Red) before conference games have even started in his first year... just stop

For me, I'm not saying Red is good or bad at this point. It's way too early regardless of who was hired to know for sure (I mean, unless you're 0-11 or 11-0, perhaps). But I feel like the entire argument is just kinda bizarre because the job was always going to go to either Red or GMac and, presumably, it was likely Red only.

When the Duke job goes to Scheyer, UNC stays in-house twice to replace legends (Guthridge for Dean, Hubert Davis for Roy), Georgetown went to Esherick, UConn went to Ollie after Calhoun -- it's just the way these things go most of the time so there's not that much point in debating it.

Having said that, I think it's fine to critique what we've seen through 11 games. Doesn't mean Red sucks or that Red is awesome -- just what have we seen? Where can we improve?

I'd love to see, for example, the communication on defense improve. We get beat down the floor or struggle to handle basic offensive actions at an alarming rate. It's led to a lot of uncontested layups, transition scoring opportunities, and wide open threes. And no, I don't believe our defensive intensity is what's causing teams to miss wide open looks. I mean, if we see this for three years then fine, but giving up lots of open looks is not great defense any way you slice it.

Also love to see us push the tempo more (Red seems to want this happening too). How does he work Westry into this if he can get back healthy?

Plenty to watch but, at the end of the day, gotta be patient with Red to a certain degree.

 

[Rautins07]

For me, I'm not saying Red is good or bad at this point. It's way too early regardless of who was hired to know for sure (I mean, unless you're 0-11 or 11-0, perhaps). But I feel like the entire argument is just kinda bizarre because the job was always going to go to either Red or GMac and, presumably, it was likely Red only.

When the Duke job goes to Scheyer, UNC stays in-house twice to replace legends (Guthridge for Dean, Hubert Davis for Roy), Georgetown went to Esherick, UConn went to Ollie after Calhoun -- it's just the way these things go most of the time so there's not that much point in debating it.

Having said that, I think it's fine to critique what we've seen through 11 games. Doesn't mean Red sucks or that Red is awesome -- just what have we seen? Where can we improve?

I'd love to see, for example, the communication on defense improve. We get beat down the floor or struggle to handle basic offensive actions at an alarming rate. It's led to a lot of uncontested layups, transition scoring opportunities, and wide open threes. And no, I don't believe our defensive intensity is what's causing teams to miss wide open looks. I mean, if we see this for three years then fine, but giving up lots of open looks is not great defense any way you slice it.

Also love to see us push the tempo more (Red seems to want this happening too). How does he work Westry into this if he can get back healthy?

Plenty to watch but, at the end of the day, gotta be patient with Red to a certain degree.

IMO when Westry shakes off the rust he will take Taylor’s and Bells minutes. Taylor rebounds well for his size, but passes up some shots he should take and Bell just goes to his 2 spots and waits for his set shots, and he offers nothing else. I had thought at the end of last year Bell looked like he was improving on pulling up for mid range, but obviously not.

 

[billsin01]

IMO when Westry shakes off the rust he will take Taylor’s and Bells minutes. Taylor rebounds well for his size, but passes up some shots he should take and Bell just goes to his 2 spots and waits for his set shots, and he offers nothing else. I had thought at the end of last year Bell looked like he was improving on pulling up for mid range, but obviously not.

I think his mid-range pull-up is pretty solid but he still doesn’t give you anything else — offensive boards, drive-and-dish, entry passes, good screens, off-ball movement. It’s literally shooting only. Doesn’t mean he doesn’t bring value, it’s just that it’s all tied to his jumper

 

[kcsu]

Triple down. I'm pretty sure Red can coach.

 

[Hopkins16]

Triple down. I'm pretty sure Red can coach.

Great 2nd half adjustment on the backline by Red and sitting McLeod early in the 2nd half. He was competent down low but was totally lost when he had to guard the 7 footer who kept losing him and hitting 3s.

 

[CardiacCuse]

Triple down. I'm pretty sure Red can coach.

this was a great win...team just keeps getting better as the weeks pass

come a long way thus far this year...with still room to keep improving

Red has done a great job to get to 10-3, imo

 

[newmexicuse]

It does beg the question, if JB was still the coach, would it be a 7.5 man rotation? Would we ever see Cuffe play?

If JB was the Coach would we ever see Cope play ????