General20
Basketball Maven
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I fancy myself something of an exhibition game enthusiast. I bought two tickets about 10 rows up in the bleachers, definitely the best seats I'll sit in all year, and they cost me $12 a piece. Pretty great way to watch all the new players up close and personal, if you ask me.
Interesting anecdote from sitting in the expensive seats ... during half time my friend's shirt made GMac's daughter cry. It had Otto on it and apparently she's scared of Otto. Also, GMac's wife seems like a great mom. She had 5 very small children/babies to take care of and hardly seemed overwhelmed. These are stories you just don't walk away with in the cheap seats.
I went into the game hoping to see Hughes in the starting line up and Dolezaj sitting the bench, so I was really happy. I have a theory that you should always start your shooters and bring your energy guys off the bench. Shooting is all about comfort and consistency, and putting them in the starting lineup helps give them the consistency they need to succeed, while energy guys often times thrive when they can come in fresh and wreak havoc against opponents with tired legs. The perfect situation for Dolezaj is bringing him off the bench for about 20 minutes a game, and letting him be a tornado of energy that disrupts the opponents in all kinds of ways. I think we have the exact team to be able to put him in that role, and I'm happy about it.
Speaking of energy, this SU team had very little (Dolezaj included). It wasn't an intense game. My guess is this was a direct result of injuries. Battle had to play most of the game due to 3 point guard injuries, and looked like someone told him to make sure he didn't get hurt. He seemed to be giving it about 50% effort. The team seemed to follow this lead, except Chukwu who played with tons of energy.
A few interesting take aways ...
Syracuse played zone the whole game. They used to play man to man in exhibitions - even after they became an exclusively zone team, I'm not sure why they switched. I wish somebody would ask Boeheim that.
They also pressed the entire game, only falling back into the 2-3 after St. Rose crossed the half way line. But the press was not the usual SU press we are accustom to seeing. Usually SU puts a player on the inbounder to make the pass difficult, then sells out to trap whoever catches the inbound pass. This ups their chances of causing a turnover but leaves them with a 2 or 3 on 1 if the trap is broken.
This time Syracuse played a soft 2-2-1 zone press, with nobody harassing the inbounder. They never sold out on the trap, and never allowed any 2 on 1 situations. It got a few steals (all by Buddy who seemed good in the press) but mostly the press was designed to slow the opposition down so they had less time to attack the 2-3. This is a new twist for Syracuse. I wonder how often it will be employed during the year?
In that tread breaking down the last 5 NCAA champions, I mentioned how I think the new championship formula is forcing your opponents to grind out difficult points on one end of the court and raining 3's on the other end of the court. The 2-3 zone already forces teams to grind out points, but this zone press may slow things down even more. If so, I'm in favor of it.
I also mentioned in that post that I believe Syracuse will be undefeated (or close to it) when they hit 10 three pointers or more. In this game they hit 10, shooting a very efficient 39%. And they did it without Howard, and with Battle having an off night from the floor. I'll call that a good sign.
St. Rose mostly played man, but also tried to press and zone, none of it bothered Syracuse much. As most smaller teams do, they tried to swarm the paint and left SU with a bunch of good looks from 3. Everybody but Battle and Braswell was hitting. Battle will be fine, and Braswell won't play when it matters. So, again a good sign.
Dolezaj played center early (about 10 minutes into the game) and he played it well. Of course, if all our opponents were the size of St. Rose (their center about the size of our point guard) I'd want Dolezaj playing center all the time. I'm not sure we can learn much from this, but I also think its notable that it happened.
Here's my individual breakdown.
Battle - As I mentioned above, he looked like he was giving about 50% in this one. St. Rose was pretty good at stopping penetration, and pretty physical. The refs (who were equally terrible for both sides) allowed St. Rose to absolutely batter Battle a couple times early and this really frustrated him. I think he decided it was better just to let others shine than to get the bumps and bruises necessary to get to the basket. Add in his outside shot not falling. This is why his numbers were worse in this game than they are likely to be all during the season.
Boeheim - Obviously the story of this game. There were no freshman jitters at all, He looked like he spent his whole life playing in the Carrier Dome ... probably because he has. As mentioned above he had quick hands in the press, and got a few steals. I thought he looked fine in the zone too. Those small teams that play 5 guys out of the paint can be confusing to play, and he missed a few assignments, but overall looked confident about where he was suppose to be to my eye. If you missed the game, and just looked at a box score you probably don't appreciate how many different ways he scored. Buddy is a great shooter, and hit three 3's. But he also scored several points faking the three, taking a few dribbles and hitting a mid range shot. I was very impressed by how automatic he seemed off the dribble in the mid range. He also had 4 or 6 points driving to the basket and taking contact. This kid is a very good basketball player and will contribute this year. The question is how much. We won't know until we see how he plays against guards who are as tall as him, and also stronger and faster. My guess is, Buddy and Carey will be in direct competition for minutes, with Carey playing more against teams that pressure and Buddy playing more against teams that lay off and dare us to shoot.
Hughes - This is my first time ever seeing him play, but he looked much the way tomcat, and RF described him in their practice reports. I was expecting him to look a little more athletic than he did, but not be quite as good a ball handler as he was. Hughes handled the ball more than anybody except Battle, and looked comfortable doing so. He has DEEP range, and a quick high release, his shot is going to be a major weapon this year. He also drove to the basket and scored a few times. How much he plays will ultimately depend on how he defends and rebounds. He's not going to protect the rim well (not that anybody was expecting him to) and he didn't look like much of a presence on the boards. He's not going to be the defender Dolezaj (who is an excellent rim protector and an above average rebounder) is. But if he can manage to not be a liability our offense will be much better with him than with Dolezaj.
Brissett - For those looking at the box score and seeing a kind of low shooting percentage, I wouldn't worry. He took a handful of ill advised shots and missed them all. This hurt his percentage. I have no reason to think that taking bad shots will become a trend with him - and when he took good shots he generally made them. He did miss one lay up early, but its the first game of the year. Last year his problem was rocketing to the basket at 100 miles per hour and being too out of control to finish. In this game he slowed that down to 80 mph, and took the hit instead. Against, St. Rose at least, he was able to finish through the contact. I'm not sure if he will be great going to the basket or not, but he's going to be a great shooter, great defender and great rebounder (he gets TONS of boards out of his zone). That's good enough for me. If he finished around the basket too, of course, the sky is the limit!
Chukwu - I thought he looked fantastic. Seemed like a man against boys on the boards. He was up so high and so quick that nobody else had any chance to grab them. 11 rebounds in 19 minutes is a pretty sweet return. He also had 2 impressive steals in the press. Offensively, he only took 3 shots, he made 2 of them. I think if Syracuse wanted to feed him all game he could have scored 30 as well, but what would be the point of that? Syracuse's season will not come down to Chukwu against an unathletic 6-7 center. To me Chukwu looks better and more athletic than Sidibe right now.
Sidibe - While Chukwu spent the summer working on his body, Sidibe spent the summer just trying to get healthy. Both things show. Sidibe does look healthy to me, but while I thought he looked more athletic than Chukwu at the beginning of last year, its reversed this year. Sidibe had kind of a bad game, but it wasn't all his fault. He got 2 quick fouls early, neither of which should have been called. In fact, he had 2 blocks in the game and should have had 2 or 3 more that were incorrectly called fouls instead. That said he just wasn't the intimidating presence Chukwu was in the pain or on the boards. It will be fascinating to see what happens with him this year. I think he's got all the potential in the world. If he can stay healthy, I expect him to be much better in March than he is now.
Dolezaj - This wasn't a great game for him. Dolezaj is an energy guy, and this was a low energy game. Dolezaj is a guy who gets the garbage/hustle points, but that's not needed when you have such a height and athletic advantage. Dolezaj operates in the paint and the mid range, but St. Rose allowed more 3's than 2's. Not sure we can take much away from this performance. How much he plays will depend more on Hughes defense than anything else.
Braswell - Looked like he had a case of freshman jitters. Didn't play well and was often in the wrong place. This is typical for the first exhibition game. What Buddy did is atypical, even for our best players. Braswell will be fine, but this is going to be a learning year for him.
Bottom line, I think this year comes down to how well Syracuse shoots from 3. They are probably going to be good no matter what. If they want to be great, they have to shoot great. Their shooters are Howard, Battle, Hughes, Brissett, and Boehehim. They'll all have their good games and their bad games. The key will be for a couple of them to step up each every game. Howard didn't play in this one and Battle didn't hit any 3;s, but Brissett, Hughes, and Boeheim stepped up, so mission accomplished. Of course, this game was easier than any of the others will be. Should be fun to find out how things end up shaking out.
Interesting anecdote from sitting in the expensive seats ... during half time my friend's shirt made GMac's daughter cry. It had Otto on it and apparently she's scared of Otto. Also, GMac's wife seems like a great mom. She had 5 very small children/babies to take care of and hardly seemed overwhelmed. These are stories you just don't walk away with in the cheap seats.
I went into the game hoping to see Hughes in the starting line up and Dolezaj sitting the bench, so I was really happy. I have a theory that you should always start your shooters and bring your energy guys off the bench. Shooting is all about comfort and consistency, and putting them in the starting lineup helps give them the consistency they need to succeed, while energy guys often times thrive when they can come in fresh and wreak havoc against opponents with tired legs. The perfect situation for Dolezaj is bringing him off the bench for about 20 minutes a game, and letting him be a tornado of energy that disrupts the opponents in all kinds of ways. I think we have the exact team to be able to put him in that role, and I'm happy about it.
Speaking of energy, this SU team had very little (Dolezaj included). It wasn't an intense game. My guess is this was a direct result of injuries. Battle had to play most of the game due to 3 point guard injuries, and looked like someone told him to make sure he didn't get hurt. He seemed to be giving it about 50% effort. The team seemed to follow this lead, except Chukwu who played with tons of energy.
A few interesting take aways ...
Syracuse played zone the whole game. They used to play man to man in exhibitions - even after they became an exclusively zone team, I'm not sure why they switched. I wish somebody would ask Boeheim that.
They also pressed the entire game, only falling back into the 2-3 after St. Rose crossed the half way line. But the press was not the usual SU press we are accustom to seeing. Usually SU puts a player on the inbounder to make the pass difficult, then sells out to trap whoever catches the inbound pass. This ups their chances of causing a turnover but leaves them with a 2 or 3 on 1 if the trap is broken.
This time Syracuse played a soft 2-2-1 zone press, with nobody harassing the inbounder. They never sold out on the trap, and never allowed any 2 on 1 situations. It got a few steals (all by Buddy who seemed good in the press) but mostly the press was designed to slow the opposition down so they had less time to attack the 2-3. This is a new twist for Syracuse. I wonder how often it will be employed during the year?
In that tread breaking down the last 5 NCAA champions, I mentioned how I think the new championship formula is forcing your opponents to grind out difficult points on one end of the court and raining 3's on the other end of the court. The 2-3 zone already forces teams to grind out points, but this zone press may slow things down even more. If so, I'm in favor of it.
I also mentioned in that post that I believe Syracuse will be undefeated (or close to it) when they hit 10 three pointers or more. In this game they hit 10, shooting a very efficient 39%. And they did it without Howard, and with Battle having an off night from the floor. I'll call that a good sign.
St. Rose mostly played man, but also tried to press and zone, none of it bothered Syracuse much. As most smaller teams do, they tried to swarm the paint and left SU with a bunch of good looks from 3. Everybody but Battle and Braswell was hitting. Battle will be fine, and Braswell won't play when it matters. So, again a good sign.
Dolezaj played center early (about 10 minutes into the game) and he played it well. Of course, if all our opponents were the size of St. Rose (their center about the size of our point guard) I'd want Dolezaj playing center all the time. I'm not sure we can learn much from this, but I also think its notable that it happened.
Here's my individual breakdown.
Battle - As I mentioned above, he looked like he was giving about 50% in this one. St. Rose was pretty good at stopping penetration, and pretty physical. The refs (who were equally terrible for both sides) allowed St. Rose to absolutely batter Battle a couple times early and this really frustrated him. I think he decided it was better just to let others shine than to get the bumps and bruises necessary to get to the basket. Add in his outside shot not falling. This is why his numbers were worse in this game than they are likely to be all during the season.
Boeheim - Obviously the story of this game. There were no freshman jitters at all, He looked like he spent his whole life playing in the Carrier Dome ... probably because he has. As mentioned above he had quick hands in the press, and got a few steals. I thought he looked fine in the zone too. Those small teams that play 5 guys out of the paint can be confusing to play, and he missed a few assignments, but overall looked confident about where he was suppose to be to my eye. If you missed the game, and just looked at a box score you probably don't appreciate how many different ways he scored. Buddy is a great shooter, and hit three 3's. But he also scored several points faking the three, taking a few dribbles and hitting a mid range shot. I was very impressed by how automatic he seemed off the dribble in the mid range. He also had 4 or 6 points driving to the basket and taking contact. This kid is a very good basketball player and will contribute this year. The question is how much. We won't know until we see how he plays against guards who are as tall as him, and also stronger and faster. My guess is, Buddy and Carey will be in direct competition for minutes, with Carey playing more against teams that pressure and Buddy playing more against teams that lay off and dare us to shoot.
Hughes - This is my first time ever seeing him play, but he looked much the way tomcat, and RF described him in their practice reports. I was expecting him to look a little more athletic than he did, but not be quite as good a ball handler as he was. Hughes handled the ball more than anybody except Battle, and looked comfortable doing so. He has DEEP range, and a quick high release, his shot is going to be a major weapon this year. He also drove to the basket and scored a few times. How much he plays will ultimately depend on how he defends and rebounds. He's not going to protect the rim well (not that anybody was expecting him to) and he didn't look like much of a presence on the boards. He's not going to be the defender Dolezaj (who is an excellent rim protector and an above average rebounder) is. But if he can manage to not be a liability our offense will be much better with him than with Dolezaj.
Brissett - For those looking at the box score and seeing a kind of low shooting percentage, I wouldn't worry. He took a handful of ill advised shots and missed them all. This hurt his percentage. I have no reason to think that taking bad shots will become a trend with him - and when he took good shots he generally made them. He did miss one lay up early, but its the first game of the year. Last year his problem was rocketing to the basket at 100 miles per hour and being too out of control to finish. In this game he slowed that down to 80 mph, and took the hit instead. Against, St. Rose at least, he was able to finish through the contact. I'm not sure if he will be great going to the basket or not, but he's going to be a great shooter, great defender and great rebounder (he gets TONS of boards out of his zone). That's good enough for me. If he finished around the basket too, of course, the sky is the limit!
Chukwu - I thought he looked fantastic. Seemed like a man against boys on the boards. He was up so high and so quick that nobody else had any chance to grab them. 11 rebounds in 19 minutes is a pretty sweet return. He also had 2 impressive steals in the press. Offensively, he only took 3 shots, he made 2 of them. I think if Syracuse wanted to feed him all game he could have scored 30 as well, but what would be the point of that? Syracuse's season will not come down to Chukwu against an unathletic 6-7 center. To me Chukwu looks better and more athletic than Sidibe right now.
Sidibe - While Chukwu spent the summer working on his body, Sidibe spent the summer just trying to get healthy. Both things show. Sidibe does look healthy to me, but while I thought he looked more athletic than Chukwu at the beginning of last year, its reversed this year. Sidibe had kind of a bad game, but it wasn't all his fault. He got 2 quick fouls early, neither of which should have been called. In fact, he had 2 blocks in the game and should have had 2 or 3 more that were incorrectly called fouls instead. That said he just wasn't the intimidating presence Chukwu was in the pain or on the boards. It will be fascinating to see what happens with him this year. I think he's got all the potential in the world. If he can stay healthy, I expect him to be much better in March than he is now.
Dolezaj - This wasn't a great game for him. Dolezaj is an energy guy, and this was a low energy game. Dolezaj is a guy who gets the garbage/hustle points, but that's not needed when you have such a height and athletic advantage. Dolezaj operates in the paint and the mid range, but St. Rose allowed more 3's than 2's. Not sure we can take much away from this performance. How much he plays will depend more on Hughes defense than anything else.
Braswell - Looked like he had a case of freshman jitters. Didn't play well and was often in the wrong place. This is typical for the first exhibition game. What Buddy did is atypical, even for our best players. Braswell will be fine, but this is going to be a learning year for him.
Bottom line, I think this year comes down to how well Syracuse shoots from 3. They are probably going to be good no matter what. If they want to be great, they have to shoot great. Their shooters are Howard, Battle, Hughes, Brissett, and Boehehim. They'll all have their good games and their bad games. The key will be for a couple of them to step up each every game. Howard didn't play in this one and Battle didn't hit any 3;s, but Brissett, Hughes, and Boeheim stepped up, so mission accomplished. Of course, this game was easier than any of the others will be. Should be fun to find out how things end up shaking out.
