sorry but coaching is a problem

[CorduroyG]

watching the same stuff all year, zero adjustments other than slapping on a desperation press when we're down double digits in 2nd half. roster is shorthanded but shouldnt be this bad

keep running the pick and roll with chukwu. keep daring teams to shoot 3s. its working out so well. painful to watch. i miss syracuse basketball. 4 straight bubble teams, ugh.

 

[orangehomer]

it's a huge problem. and we let Hopkins get away.

 

[HakAttack]

it's a huge problem. and we let Hopkins get away.

Do we really think JB is going to last until he’s 77? I can’t see him coaching for four MORE years after this one.

 

[orangecuse]

Just as next season's football results are crucial to the program, so is next year's hoops results. JB cleary has a much better and extensive track record of success than Babers, but missing the tourney 3 out of the past 4 years is certainly going to have considerably more pressure on him to not just Dance, but a high seed to boot.

 

[cuse10]

What do you mean zero adjustments? Are you watching the game or just skimming through it? If guys don't want to guard, that's on them. We've seen multiple times this year where the zone has transformed throughout the game to adjust to shooters and passing lanes.

Offensively, guys aren't developing. You can only go with the cards you are dealt. That was a problem WHILE Hopkins was here, since some of you think he would have waved a wand and fixed everything. If guys like Moyer and Roberson can't stretch the floor with a 15 foot jumpshot, an opposing defense will throw everything at the person who can. Like Oshae Brissett, Tyler Lydon couldn't beat his man off the dribble. Hop was here for Lydon. How come he didn't see to it guys got better? Wasn't he the big man coach? Who's the last big that looked competent under him?

You guys make observing a game rocket science when it's basic arithmetic. I promise you, it's not that hard.

 

[IthacaBarrel]

What do you mean zero adjustments? Are you watching the game or just skimming through it? If guys don't want to guard, that's on them. We've seen multiple times this year where the zone has transformed throughout the game to adjust to shooters and passing lanes.

Offensively, guys aren't developing. You can only go with the cards you are dealt. That was a problem WHILE Hopkins was here, since some of you think he would have waved a wand and fixed everything. If guys like Moyer and Roberson can't stretch the floor with a 15 foot jumpshot, an opposing defense will throw everything at the person who can. Like Oshae Brissett, Tyler Lydon couldn't beat his man off the dribble. Hop was here for Lydon. How come he didn't see to it guys got better? Wasn't he the big man coach? Who's the last big that looked competent under him?

You guys make observing a game rocket science when it's basic arithmetic. I promise you, it's not that hard.

Stop making sense, a hall of fame coach thatcan't coach? Not the best narrative out there. when we get more talent our coach will once again look like the HOF coach he is. Like you said, it's not rocket science and it isn't that hard. Sure the 2-3 zone will be victimized against good shooting teams but that is nothing new

 

[EastCoast2]

What do you mean zero adjustments? Are you watching the game or just skimming through it? If guys don't want to guard, that's on them. We've seen multiple times this year where the zone has transformed throughout the game to adjust to shooters and passing lanes.

Offensively, guys aren't developing. You can only go with the cards you are dealt. That was a problem WHILE Hopkins was here, since some of you think he would have waved a wand and fixed everything. If guys like Moyer and Roberson can't stretch the floor with a 15 foot jumpshot, an opposing defense will throw everything at the person who can. Like Oshae Brissett, Tyler Lydon couldn't beat his man off the dribble. Hop was here for Lydon. How come he didn't see to it guys got better? Wasn't he the big man coach? Who's the last big that looked competent under him?

You guys make observing a game rocket science when it's basic arithmetic. I promise you, it's not that hard.

How many adjustments can you really make if you're 100% dedicated to the zone? After BC hit their first 10 threes, why not switch to man-to-man defense and see what happens? Syracuse was taller, stronger, and more athletic at all 5 positions, especially on the perimeter. Battle and Brissett are on another level athletically than the entire BC roster, yet we let their three trolls (Bowman, Robinson, Chatman) play hop scotch and take turns burying wide open three pointers. No adjustments. Stick to zone. Just yell at your players more.

 

[oli44]

What do you mean zero adjustments? Are you watching the game or just skimming through it? If guys don't want to guard, that's on them. We've seen multiple times this year where the zone has transformed throughout the game to adjust to shooters and passing lanes.

Offensively, guys aren't developing. You can only go with the cards you are dealt. That was a problem WHILE Hopkins was here, since some of you think he would have waved a wand and fixed everything. If guys like Moyer and Roberson can't stretch the floor with a 15 foot jumpshot, an opposing defense will throw everything at the person who can. Like Oshae Brissett, Tyler Lydon couldn't beat his man off the dribble. Hop was here for Lydon. How come he didn't see to it guys got better? Wasn't he the big man coach? Who's the last big that looked competent under him?

You guys make observing a game rocket science when it's basic arithmetic. I promise you, it's not that hard.

It's the staff's job to develop players and it's the staff that deals the cards. They bring the players in. There is plenty of blame to go around. You really think BC has that much more talent ?

 

[UnknownOrange]

For the love of all that is holy is I have to watch Paschal Chukwu run pick and roll one more game I may lose my mind

 

[newmexicuse]

part of being able to make adjustments is having bench players with different skillsets than the starters have. having no bench makes this aspect of adjusting impossible. it also may be that our starters are finally wearing down from too many minutes.

jimmy was never one to play all of his cards, but this season he has no other cards to play.

besides the departures, the big imbalance issue is a lot of inconsistency from marek, and frankly almost nothing fom matt, who i thought would have given us more.

 

[IthacaBarrel]

part of being able to make adjustments is having bench players with different skillsets than the starters have. having no bench makes this aspect of adjusting impossible. it also may be that our starters are finally wearing down from too many minutes.

jimmy was never one to play all of his cards, but this season he has no other cards to play.

besides the departures, the big imbalance issue is a lot of inconsistency from marek, and frankly almost nothing fom matt, who i thought would have given us more.

Yep, no bench and no 4th scoring threat is the issue. Chukwu can barely run at this point as well. You can get away with 1 guy that is zero threat to score on the court, 2 is too much to overcome most games. The problem is the defections, the current roster

 

[OrangeZeus]

The defense has been great this year. However, the only time we've run any semblance of an offense is when we have a shooter like Rautins/Cooney/Southerland who can stretch a defense. We don't have that luxury this year, and the lack of depth definitely has hurt us down the stretch in a few games where we settle for jumpers rather than attack the hoop.

As a student at Pitt who was against pushing Dixon out the door, I'd advise the same here. Just at Pitt's not going to get anyone better than Dixon, Syracuse isn't going to get anyone better than Boeheim. I think we have to hope he improves his coaching with more depth and talent next season. If that doesn't happen, then there will be more cause for concern. All things considered, sitting at 18-12 is good for this team, even if it's not the standard we are accustomed to expect.

 

[Deano]

For the love of all that is holy is I have to watch Paschal Chukwu run pick and roll one more game I may lose my mind

Totally agree. I think I can recall maybe once or twice that we've even looked to throw him the ball when he rolls towards the rim. Teams aren't that stupid to know our guards or Oshae will throw it to him. Not sure what JB is thinking on continuing to run that stupid play.

 

[SoBeCuse]

There is one major issue for me. I am in agreement with the position that there isn’t that much JB can do with these guys. Pretty much have to go all ISO/driving and hope for the best. Get fouled, assists are going to be way down, etc. But, by now, this team shouldn’t look so clueless on offense. With the playbook scrapped beyond a high ball screen with Chukwu; it still looks so chaotic out there. So much wasted time, indecisiveness, etc. By now one would think they would be adjusting a little better. They are seeing most M2M defenses play them the same way.

 

[newmexicuse]

The defense has been great this year. However, the only time we've run any semblance of an offense is when we have a shooter like Rautins/Cooney/Southerland who can stretch a defense. We don't have that luxury this year, and the lack of depth definitely has hurt us down the stretch in a few games where we settle for jumpers rather than attack the hoop.

As a student at Pitt who was against pushing Dixon out the door, I'd advise the same here. Just at Pitt's not going to get anyone better than Dixon, Syracuse isn't going to get anyone better than Boeheim. I think we have to hope he improves his coaching with more depth and talent next season. If that doesn't happen, then there will be more cause for concern. All things considered, sitting at 18-12 is good for this team, even if it's not the standard we are accustomed to expect.

jimmy will not improve his coaching. he is far too set in his ways.

we should get better results next season due to a deeper more talented roster.

the question is has the game passed jimmy by ? next season should give us an answer.

 

[Brooky03]

Personnel is the problem. I'm going to hammer this home every chance I get. I attribute the personnel issues primarily to the recruiting restrictions, others attribute it to poor recruiting effort/strategy by the staff. If that's what we're talking about, then I can see the point. The roster being what it is is some combination of both, I'm sure.

But on-court coaching is not the problem. Chukwu shouldn't be setting high screens. Fair enough, that's one point for the "the coaches can't coach" crowd. But that's the only point you're getting. When a team doesn't have balance, especially in basketball, they better be crazy awesome at whatever the one this is that the players can do. We know there's no strategy in the world that could bring balance to the offense with this group of guys, currently. So what's the one thing they're capable of doing extremely well on offense to make up for it? We definitely don't have sharpshooters. We have zero post scorers with Sidibe still not 100% healthy. Marek and Howard can pass a little bit, but the rest of the guys really struggle to make fundamental passes. Two guys on the team can drive from the perimeter but neither is a great finisher and they often need help to beat their man. Some of these things can be improved and will be, but it takes a little bit of time. The team is one of the youngest teams we've ever had. That's a point that gets overlooked, too. You can work with a young team that oozes talent. When you don't have the talent, though, you need experience and this team just doesn't have enough.

If you're an opposing coach, why would you even guard Chukwu, Moyer, or Marek? Where can these guys get the ball that helps the team? Marek open 10 feet from the hoop has not been that successful. Chukwu open at the rim usually results in him kicking it out to the perimeter because 7'2" is, apparently, not tall enough to dunk without getting blocked/stripped. Moyer inside of 6 feet is probably the best option among these guys and it's not an efficient one.

The defense has been mostly good. Leaving guys open for 3's is an effort problem, not a defensive strategy problem, as evidenced by the thousands of hours of film of Syracuse zones shutting down 3 point shooting teams.

 

[EastCoast2]

Personnel and roster construction is 100% JB's authority and responsibility. How can we give JB a free pass due to personnel issues? That's literally more than 50% of his job.

One thing people don't like to think about, and rarely say on here, is that a significant reason for the depleted rosters due to early departures is because of JB. Even if Tyus Battle was considering coming back for his junior season, do you really think he would want to come back to play zone and get yelled at by a 74 year old man? I don't get why so many people are shocked when guys like MCW, Ennis, Grant, McCullough, Malachi, Lydon, and soon to be Battle, leave early. While draft-able guys stay at UNC 3-4 years.

 

[durhamcuse]

The defense has been great this year. However, the only time we've run any semblance of an offense is when we have a shooter like Rautins/Cooney/Southerland who can stretch a defense. We don't have that luxury this year, and the lack of depth definitely has hurt us down the stretch in a few games where we settle for jumpers rather than attack the hoop.

As a student at Pitt who was against pushing Dixon out the door, I'd advise the same here. Just at Pitt's not going to get anyone better than Dixon, Syracuse isn't going to get anyone better than Boeheim. I think we have to hope he improves his coaching with more depth and talent next season. If that doesn't happen, then there will be more cause for concern. All things considered, sitting at 18-12 is good for this team, even if it's not the standard we are accustomed to expect.

When has he ever not had success with a full roster? Sanctions, injuries, early departures, defections have plagued this team. It might be alright to have one player playing close to 40 minutes. You can't have almost your entire starting five playing every minute of every game. Eventually, this will catch up to even the best players.

 

[Brooky03]

There is one major issue for me. I am in agreement with the position that there isn’t that much JB can do with these guys. Pretty much have to go all ISO/driving and hope for the best. Get fouled, assists are going to be way down, etc. But, by now, this team shouldn’t look so clueless on offense. With the playbook scrapped beyond a high ball screen with Chukwu; it still looks so chaotic out there. So much wasted time, indecisiveness, etc. By now one would think they would be adjusting a little better. They are seeing most M2M defenses play them the same way.

I attribute a lot of that to youth. Howard is a Junior who just started seeing significant, though inconsistent, playing time last season. Chukwu is a RS Junior who's effectively in his first year with playing time in this system. Battle and Moyer have been here two seasons, one with game experience and one without. And the rest are true Freshman. By this point in the season, I agree that the team should be more cohesive than it's been, but the starting point for these guys was just so far back. It could actually have been worse.

 

[SoBeCuse]

Personnel and roster construction is 100% JB's authority and responsibility. How can we give JB a free pass due to personnel issues? That's literally more than 50% of his job.

One thing people don't like to think about, and rarely say on here, is that a significant reason for the depleted rosters due to early departures is because of JB. Even if Tyus Battle was considering coming back for his junior season, do you really think he would want to come back to play zone and get yelled at by a 74 year old man? I don't get why so many people are shocked when guys like MCW, Ennis, Grant, McCullough, Malachi, Lydon, and soon to be Battle, leave early. While draft-able guys stay at UNC 3-4 years.

I’m not shocked. I think it is a big under the radar reason or let’s say a big ‘swept under the rug’ issue by the homers and/or JB loyalists. I’m mostly in agreement with Brooky on the on court stuff. Our big three aren’t THAT great and the others don’t give you anything. The 2013 class was a debacle aside from Ennis who was barely here. Roberson had a couple of big games rebounding but he never developed. The Kaleb Joseph debacle. We’ve had injury bad luck big time with DJC and now Chukwu/Sidibe/HW. Missed on some other PGs and turned our noses at others. Diagne never making it here. This year and the last couple we are still playing ball with a lot of Top 100 players on the roster. More than many programs. In fact Boeheim almost was puffing his chest out and all giddy when he started announcing and putting it out there about the 7’2” C from Providence coming here. Ugh, what, lol?

But, yes, I wonder if the kids often just don’t want to play here after they enroll and are in the system and now that the good cop Hopkins is gone. The irony is that all these SU/Nova/UNC guys are ending up in the D-League more often than not. It would be nice to have them longer here.

 

[MSOrange]

The defense has been great this year. However, the only time we've run any semblance of an offense is when we have a shooter like Rautins/Cooney/Southerland who can stretch a defense. We don't have that luxury this year, and the lack of depth definitely has hurt us down the stretch in a few games where we settle for jumpers rather than attack the hoop.

As a student at Pitt who was against pushing Dixon out the door, I'd advise the same here. Just at Pitt's not going to get anyone better than Dixon, Syracuse isn't going to get anyone better than Boeheim. I think we have to hope he improves his coaching with more depth and talent next season. If that doesn't happen, then there will be more cause for concern. All things considered, sitting at 18-12 is good for this team, even if it's not the standard we are accustomed to expect.

You're a Pitt grad? Sorry to hear that. I'll try not to use big words with you just messing with you...

 

[SU94]

How many adjustments can you really make if you're 100% dedicated to the zone? After BC hit their first 10 threes, why not switch to man-to-man defense and see what happens? Syracuse was taller, stronger, and more athletic at all 5 positions, especially on the perimeter. Battle and Brissett are on another level athletically than the entire BC roster, yet we let their three trolls (Bowman, Robinson, Chatman) play hop scotch and take turns burying wide open three pointers. No adjustments. Stick to zone. Just yell at your players more.

I get your sentiment, but think about this ... when Navy football gets down 17-21 points, they don't come out in the second half in the Air Raid offense. Do they throw more out of their option offense? Yes. But no Air Raid.

For better (mostly) or worse (sometimes, including last night), we are a basketball program whose foundation is the zone defense. It won't likely always be like this, but for now it is.

Let's also not forget that the zone, and the adjustments JAB makes within it (including the press), have led to dozens of comeback victories over the years (Virginia NCAA win, Gonzaga NCAA win, at Clemson/NC State last year, Wake Forest at the Garden about 15 years ago), including a few this year (Georgetown comes to mind immediately, but even the St. Bona loss). Last night, those adjustments did not work as well. BC's hot shooting had something to do with that as well.

 

[upperdeck]

If people cant watch a game and see what adjustments were made then thats on them.. we didnt even play the same D the 2nd half at all.

 

[Jasoncuse]

There are so many issues right now. I agree that coaching is one of them, but doesn't necessarily have to be one next year. JB has his system and if the pieces are there, it'll be successful. If not, he needs to do more.

He can't keep running pick and rolls with Chukwu, having an offense where everybody stands around, a defense that can be carved up when teams actively attack, etc. I don't have the solutions, but I know that doing the same things over and over are problematic.

 

[OrangeZeus]

Personnel and roster construction is 100% JB's authority and responsibility. How can we give JB a free pass due to personnel issues? That's literally more than 50% of his job.

One thing people don't like to think about, and rarely say on here, is that a significant reason for the depleted rosters due to early departures is because of JB. Even if Tyus Battle was considering coming back for his junior season, do you really think he would want to come back to play zone and get yelled at by a 74 year old man? I don't get why so many people are shocked when guys like MCW, Ennis, Grant, McCullough, Malachi, Lydon, and soon to be Battle, leave early. While draft-able guys stay at UNC 3-4 years.

I don't think playing for JB is the reason MCW, Ennis, Grant, McCullough, Malachi, and Lydon left. MCW went to the final four and didn't have much more to prove. Ennis led us to a 25-0 start and wasn't expected to be a one-and-done player, but performed well enough to get drafted in the first round. Grant was tabbed as a first rounder as well in 2014, but slipped, so maybe he should have returned, but that's easy to say in hindsight. McCullough was alays going to be a one and done. Malachi had a great run on the way to the final four where he got good national exposure. Lydon was ranked what, like 75th in his high school class? In two years he parlayed that into being drafted 24th and probably would have been drafted around 24th as a freshman as well. Coming back wouldn't have improved his stock much.

Why players stay at UNC, I'm not quite sure. Maybe part of it is due to some of their guys underachieving early (James Michael McAdoo) or peaking late (Brice Johnson). If a guy like McAdoo lives up to his hype, I doubt he sticks around for 3 years.