Season was a failure

[HoustonCuse]

While true, we haven’t had a good seed since 2014.

We need a wire to wire strong season.

We all thought this year would be it.

I totally agree. I’m not loving the general status of our program right now but again, we really do need to look at the total picture. And for whatever reason, we have seen probably our best sustained period of NCAA tournament success during this time where we have seen some of our most flawed regular seasons. Just like you can’t just look at the tourney wins and say all is fine, you don’t get to just dismiss them and say we are at the lowest rung of Hades.

I absolutely thought we’d be a very good team this year. Returning everyone, adding three players, two of which were actually as good or better than advertised, upperclassmen backcourt, etc. I’m super disappointed and confused about why the team was such a mess, but as sucky as it is we probably don’t need to lose our minds over it. One very good year will brighten moods quite a lot. Will it be next year? I don’t know, maybe.

 

[hungrychuck]

You’re picking out one position though. How much of our liability at the center position is based solely off of the way JB likes his centers? He recruits to the zone. It’s hurt us offensively.

Well, I mentioned two positions, but I think what you're saying can be applied to both.

And I don't think we're in disagreement.

I actually think JB's preferences at PG for the zone have more to do with the problem than what he likes at center. But the bigger picture is maybe it's time to stop recruiting for the zone.

 

[Cuseman78]

With gritted teeth, I have to say that JB has earned the right to go out at a time of his choosing. That hurts in the present, but backing out to the wider view, it's the right thing to do.

Having said that, it's ridiculous to think we can't hire a very good successor.

This is one of the top coaching jobs in the country. And we can get good people -- other than Mike Hopkins -- to fill it.

It will be very difficult, if not impossible, to hire someone who can better JB's 43-year career at SU.

It will not be that difficult to hire someone who is better than JB is right now.

The scare mongers who tell you differently should be flatly ignored.

100% agree that JB goes out how he wants, and deservedly so. But we will have to deal with the slow degradation over the next 3 years. That's what happens at the end of long successful runs.

But what exactly is the plan as we approach 2023? And recruiting wise, how are we supposed to recruit here in the next couple of years when we have a 75 year old coach who players know will not be here after a year or two?

 

[Cuse House]

Gonna be if Jim doesn't start working harder at recruiting.

Please do tell

Well, I mentioned two positions, but I think what you're saying can be applied to both.

And I don't think we're in disagreement.

I actually think JB's preferences at PG for the zone have more to do with the problem than what he likes at center. But the bigger picture is maybe it's time to stop recruiting for the zone.

I have been saying it for awhile that recruiting to a defense hurts our offense. He wants long athletic guys, and most of them are raw offensively. I would rather take a good offensive player and teach him the principles of our zone and roll with that.

 

[HoustonCuse]

I think the ghost of Zombie Boeheim is trolling this thread because I am getting ads titled “Find a Denny’s near you”!!! LOL

 

[OttoinGrotto]

100% agree that JB goes out how he wants, and deservedly so. But we will have to deal with the slow degradation over the next 3 years. That's what happens at the end of long successful runs.

But what exactly is the plan as we approach 2023? And recruiting wise, how are we supposed to recruit here in the next couple of years when we have a 75 year old coach who players know will not be here after a year or two?

Well, one and dones of course.

 

[44cuse]

Ha. Continue to believe that and you will deserve what you get.

Huh? What exactly does that mean? I won't forget this season just like I've never forgotten Mookie and TRob and Shump and Deshaun. Bad teams. You don't forget the worst and you don't forget the best. Everything in the middle is what gets forgotten.

44cuse

 

[hungrychuck]

Well, one and dones of course.

Like Taurean?

Too soon?

 

[hungrychuck]

Huh? What exactly does that mean? I won't forget this season just like I've never forgotten Mookie and TRob and Shump and Deshaun. Bad teams. You don't forget the worst and you don't forget the best. Everything in the middle is what gets forgotten.

44cuse

If you believe that regular-season caterpillars will continue to blossom into NCAA tournament butterflies by dint of the novelty of the zone and some Syracuse mystique, you will be disappointed and deservedly so.

That's exactly what it means.

 

[44cuse]

If you believe that regular-season caterpillars will continue to blossom into NCAA tournament butterflies by dint of the novelty of the zone and some Syracuse mystique, you will be disappointed and deservedly so.

That's exactly what it means.

Ahhhh...I think you are reading it backwards. There's no one on this board who buys into that B.S. argument less than me. Doing well in the tourney (with maybe the exception of winning it like Kemba Walker did) does not make an underperforming season good. Those are people who think only the tourney matters of which I am not one.

44cuse

 

[hungrychuck]

Ahhhh...I think you are reading it backwards. There's no one on this board who buys into that B.S. argument less than me. Doing well in the tourney (with maybe the exception of winning it like Kemba Walker did) does not make an underperforming season good. Those are people who think only the tourney matters of which I am not one.

44cuse

Well, I believe this is my post that you responded to originally:

"Just as important, the myth that the tournament will make everything OK has been blown up."

So, I thought in saying "nope" to that, you meant you disagreed with it.

 

[walsh2012]

Lmao we almost won a tourney game without our senior PG.

Making the NCAAs is an accomplishment. That’s the goal

 

[hungrychuck]

Lmao we almost won a tourney game without our senior PG.

Making the NCAAs is an accomplishment. That’s the goal

Damn, I wish you were my supervisor.

Can I have a raise?

 

[walsh2012]

Damn, I wish you were my supervisor.

Can I have a raise?

Is my job to comment here and supervise people for it?

 

[cuseattle]

After a few years, every team is little treasure in my memory.
Right now, it's still fresh, the hurt of not winning it all. (Probably wasn't gonna happen.)

I'll most likely rememember Tyus going off against Duke and Buddy getting better and Hughes
' threes. And Marek for the little things.
I

 

[Melancer46]

It's going to be worse next year.

Yeah, I think I might enjoy next year’s team more though. Might be my famous last words but I’m at least curious to see what next year’s team looks like even if it isn’t pretty. Seems like we’re going to have more shooting on the team next year than we’ve had in a very long time.

 

[MaxwellCuse]

Go back and read what posters were writing back in September and October. Expectations were sky-high. Using that measure, yeah, this season has been an abysmal failure.

 

[NineOneSeven]

Lmao we almost won a tourney game without our senior PG.

Making the NCAAs is an accomplishment. That’s the goal

 

[ForeverOrange]

Could be UConn or Georgetown. Just saying.

Whose to say we aren't headed in their direction? They both had to transition from HOF coaches. Uconn's inability to get into a power 5 conference may have made things worse, but it all started for both of these teams after losing the coaches that built their programs. I hope that does not become us, but I can easily.

 

[SaltLakeOrange]

If you don’t think it could be worse than making the tournament for the second year in a row with two recent final fours in a “downturn” then there is no reason to explain.

The bar is low in Washington. Feel free to hand in your Cuse fandom if you're going to bitch about Hopkins all offseason.

Nope...I will continue to say what I want. You can choose to not listen.

 

[cuse10]

Nope...I will continue to say what I want. You can choose to not listen.

And I'm going to do just that. You're the first person I've put on ignore.

 

[IthacaMatt]

No Jalen tonight when Buddy was that cold is the worst. This is on the staff.

Jalen got a few minutes until that turnover. JB chewed him out good, but should have put him back in.

Buddy is not yet a 35 minute player, in case anyone failed to notice.
If he doesn't make one of his first couple shots, he's not going to make any that night.
We've seen this a few times before. Love the kid, but he's still a situational player.

Carey should have had more run in the second half when everyone was gassed.

Tyus (and everyone else) was dead tired in the last 5 minutes. That's why we couldn't hit anything late, and we were late to so many loose balls. I think that also has to do with a couple passes that were left short.

Disappointing season. Tyus, Frank and maybe Oshae are gone.
We still need a center in the worst way.
And we have to recruit a great class for 2020, or else this is about as good as it gets until JB decides to retire.

 

[UelSU]

I honestly started to worry about this season last summer when most of the key players weren't in Syracuse and Howard was hurt. The better all be there this summer. That's on JB.

 

[SaltLakeOrange]

Jalen got a few minutes until that turnover.
Buddy is not yet a 35 minute player, in case anyone failed to notice.
If he doesn't make one of his first couple shots, he's not going to make any that night.
We've seen this a few times before.
Carey should have had more run in the second half when everyone was gassed.
Tyus (and everyone else) was tired in the last 5 minutes. We couldn't hit anything late.

We all disappeared at the 10 minute mark of the second half. And they kept raining threes...

 

[OttoMets]

Totally agree. It’s an awful style of basketball.

I’ve long thought that the zone works as long as it’s played well. But this season made me rethink that. Too many guys can drill deep 3s from all over the floor now.

Offensively we’re such a freakin’ mess I don’t know where to begin.

This is where I'm most discouraged. On the whole, we played pretty good defense this year, at least from a technical standpoint (yeah, Buddy's slow, but everyone else was decent). But it wasn't effective. Teams shoot too well and reverse the ball too fast. This is a problem going forward. Because guess what? With two new guards up top and a new center, our zone is most definitely going to be worse next season.