Symir will see no crunch time

[Trueblue25]

The lack of movement without the ball is infuriating and comedic all at the same time.

It’s incredible how much this board tore apart Cooney for whatever flavor of the day reason there was at the time. Trevor worked harder than Buddy, Joe and Cole combined to get open and draw defenders.

 

[Cuseball]

It’s incredible how much this board tore apart Cooney for whatever flavor of the day reason there was at the time. Trevor worked harder than Buddy, Joe and Cole combined to get open and draw defenders.

That is true. Connect ran himself ragged to get open and move defenders. Shocked that he could still hit at a decent clip given the work rate. Our current group does not seem to be able or willing to separate from defenders. Push off once in awhile and get yourself open.

Cuse

 

[Eagles20]

I feel like we should be getting a lot more out of Symir than we are. He has a good frame, athleticism, is an upperclassmen. His problem is that he plays uncertain of what he needs to do as a back up point guard. He has flashes of his role, but then takes two steps back with careless lazy plays. He has a good enough handle but his dribble is choppy, stop and go. He needs to use his frame once he gets by the defender to push it up the court, not stop and try to spin. Numerous times last night he spun directly into where the double was coming from once he could have just pinned his man on his side and dribbled right up the court. Defensively he is active on the ball, but his position off the ball is always one or two steps too deep in the lane or not cheating towards where the next pass will be going. He is also should be able to get to the basket against smaller defenders and at worse get a floater in the lane if not get to the hoop. Its frustrating because I feel like most of this can easily be fixed through film and individual work outs.

 

[hoopsupstate]

I feel like we should be getting a lot more out of Symir than we are. He has a good frame, athleticism, is an upperclassmen. His problem is that he plays uncertain of what he needs to do as a back up point guard. He has flashes of his role, but then takes two steps back with careless lazy plays. He has a good enough handle but his dribble is choppy, stop and go. He needs to use his frame once he gets by the defender to push it up the court, not stop and try to spin. Numerous times last night he spun directly into where the double was coming from once he could have just pinned his man on his side and dribbled right up the court. Defensively he is active on the ball, but his position off the ball is always one or two steps too deep in the lane or not cheating towards where the next pass will be going. He is also should be able to get to the basket against smaller defenders and at worse get a floater in the lane if not get to the hoop. Its frustrating because I feel like most of this can easily be fixed through film and individual work outs.

I have never seen him drive going left. He’s all right handed. He never penetrates and pass. He either misses or gets blocked. I see why he never played at Marquette. He has few skills.

 

[CuseFaninVT]

I have never seen him drive going left. He’s all right handed. He never penetrates and pass. He either misses or gets blocked. I see why he never played at Marquette. He has few skills.

That's the big issue for me as well. For a PG, he's got no left. That can't be. I like the way he tries to push the ball up the floor quickly, but he often outruns his teammates, thus the reason he rarely finds an outlet when he gets to the bucket.

I still can't believe JB wouldn't (not couldn't) sign a 4th actual guard to this team.

 

[MSOrange]

That's the big issue for me as well. For a PG, he's got no left. That can't be. I like the way he tries to push the ball up the floor quickly, but he often outruns his teammates, thus the reason he rarely finds an outlet when he gets to the bucket.

I still can't believe JB wouldn't (not couldn't) sign a 4th actual guard to this team.

Agree. I really like how he gets the ball up court, but other than that, he's Doug Gottlieb on the offensive end and that's not what we need in today's game.

 

[DCUNITED13]

Saw one play Symir made that our starting guard are incable of making. He had around 2 or 3 quick rebounds off of misses where his quickness and change of direction allowed him to snatch a rebound. We have not seen this in a while (before Buddy and Joe). Cooney and Silent G were fantastic at doing this and starting the break. Notice how we cannot start the break last few years. Has a lot to do with our current starting guards unable/incapable of being able to rebound balls that "fall" near them. Symir needs to continue to focus on assists and dribble penetration. He causes a lot of chaos when he does that to the other teams defence. It opens a lot of lanes for our shooters.

Someone mentioned Cooney, who was a favorite one to yell at until Joe Girard came along. However, Cooney made it up with this Senior season and Joe has been having a fantastic Junior season.

Coney SR Season
FG 150-431 .348
3PT 92- 260 .354
FT 87-108 .806
Reb-Asst-Stls-Pts 95 82 61 479
12.9 Pts/Game

Girard Soph Season
FG 92 - 259 .385
3PT 50 - 150 .333
FT 39-50 .780 ==> half of his Freshman year
RB-Asst-Stls - Pts 75 99 39 273
9.8 Pts/Game

Girard Jr. Season (projected by me)
FG 130 - 317 .408
3PT 82 - 197 .414
FT 60-69 .863 ==> still below his Freshman totals
RB-Asst-Stls - Pts 91 152 56 401 (in 32 games)
12.5 pts/game

To me Joe is a better shooter than Cooney, however, defensively, Cooney is miles ahead. He was quicker and we had a much larger percentage of fast break points with him up top. Yet, statistically, I expect Joe's Jr. Season to be almost identical to Cooneys Sr. campaing. Not to shabby IMHO. Yes, projection is difficult to do. One big item is Joe's and this entire team inability to draw fouls. If you recall in our Final 4 run we got other teams into serious foul trouble resulting in mismatches and were able to overcome large deficits (Virginia). This team woud be more awesome if they could go to the line more. The mismatches created then would make us difficult to beat. Most teams have one guy that can guard Buddy. Very few have two talented defenders that are capable of handling him for 40 minutes.

Now back to Symir, that this thread is all about. He is an asset we have when there is full court press. However, his lack of a shooting stroke will need to be addressed in the offseason. He can work on it and get better. First year player, he can contribute.

 

[NorSyr66]

He’s done some good things here this year. 2.8 assists per game vs 0.9 turnovers.

Per 40 minutes, he’s averaging 9.7 assists. He’s a good passer, and one of our best ball handlers. It is what it is.

I agree he has done some good things but last night was not a very good outing. He does play fairly solid defense out front short of losing a 3 pt shooter every now and then. The one thing he is just not getting done for us is the drive to the basket and finishing. I honestly think his free throw problem will be fixed by GMac. He seemed to be consistently short on free throws from the couple I can recall.

 

[pearl31]

yeah Symir obv isn't a gifted offensive player but honestly right now I think he's got the yips, just like Benny - you see promising flashes from both but then a couple of "oof that's bad" sequences that follow... here's hoping HOPING one/both of them can get past it

 

[NorSyr66]

Cornell is not going to get away with that type of defense in the Ivy league night after night. It was old school Hoya ball where you basically foul all game long on every play and force the refs to blow the whistle, which they choose not to against Syracuse.

I was in disbelief during most of the first half when Cornell was consistently bumping, grabbing and tugging on our players with hardly any fouls called at all. In the first half Cornell took one free throw and Syracuse had zero free throws. I am sure JB had some words for the refs at half time.

 

[OttoinGrotto]

The thing Symir has going in his favor is that he's gotten two or more assists in every game except 2, in very limited minutes.

He does an excellent job of setting people up, for whatever flaws he has, and that impact shows up pretty much as soon as he enters the game.

I wish he was a more complete player, but for a team of scorers that need some help, Symir provides that.

 

[Orangezoo]

It's funny just reading vs posting more. When something goes poorly its like a damn moth and light for some of you to jump on.

Joe had maybe his second or third bad game of the entire year. Symir had some great spurts and some really bad ones. Overall we won this game with size and defense. Had we defended like this vs the very similarly built Colgate, that's not a stain on our resume earlier this year.

Cornell hasn't played anyone but VT but 88 pts a game is 88 pts a game. The defense is much better.

Game 2 coming off the CoVid break has been a problem for a lot of teams going back to last year and we weathered it. This was game 2 of the stretch of 8-0 or 7-1 play we have to get to turn things around.

We played some solid basketball the first 12 minutes and again the first segment of the second half. Last segment of both halves was awful. Game shape tends to show up exactly at that point.

Far less disappointed than some of you for what is the stretch that makes or breaks us. We have warts and we have some good wins. Time to rack up more or the latter. If we keep defending at a better clip it bodes well.

 

[Orangezoo]

I was in disbelief during most of the first half when Cornell was consistently bumping, grabbing and tugging on our players with hardly any fouls called at all. In the first half Cornell took one free throw and Syracuse had zero free throws. I am sure JB had some words for the refs at half time.

Very good point. We played through this but they got away with a ton of physical play that went uncalled. Buddy gets fouled nearly every shot he gets inside the arc. Really hope ACC play we see him get to the line at the clip he should.

I go back to Dasher talking about this team still being a good team and I really do see it now that we are defending reasonably well. We have work to do but a team with a top 20 strength of schedule that is supposed to be limited to being 3pt shooting or bust - is only relying on 3pt shooting for a third of its total offense.

 

[djcon57]

That's the big issue for me as well. For a PG, he's got no left. That can't be. I like the way he tries to push the ball up the floor quickly, but he often outruns his teammates, thus the reason he rarely finds an outlet when he gets to the bucket.

I still can't believe JB wouldn't (not couldn't) sign a 4th actual guard to this team.

oh, I can believe after last year with the plus/minus mentions in the pressers. The commentary on his show about playing time. He wasn’t going to deal with it this year and so he doesn’t have to now

 

[djcon57]

Now back to Symir, that this thread is all about. He is an asset we have when there is full court press. However, his lack of a shooting stroke will need to be addressed in the offseason. He can work on it and get better. First year player, he can contribute.

this is his 3rd year of D1 basketball. Can you think of a player who drastically changed his shot in his sr year? He‘s a fine 4th guard on a team like he was at Marquette. We better hope Copeland can beat him out next year.

 

[Orangezoo]

this is his 3rd year of D1 basketball. Can you think of a player who drastically changed his shot in his sr year? He‘s a fine 4th guard on a team like he was at Marquette. We better hope Copeland can beat him out next year.

It's gonna be up to Symir. He will no doubt be better than a Howard Washington would as a 4th guard but even with their limitations I see a lot that Copeland and Taylor bring playing with Joe that push Symir clear 4g status.

Also if you really rewatch the games- Cole makes this lineup more of a 3G lineup than a traditional GGFFC. Benny is more of a forward ( with a long ways to go) than Cole.

Symir is around to spell Joe and be an asset when playing well. He also is a defensive sub. His quickness and ability as a defender along with natural PG instincts is what makes him valuable. When Buddy or Joe, Cole, Jimmy and Jesse are doing their thing His game is all we need it to be.

Next year he has two guys coming in with equal or better athleticism and more diverse games. He will have to be elite at something to be more than the 4th G.

 

[Mareiniss]

I was in disbelief during most of the first half when Cornell was consistently bumping, grabbing and tugging on our players with hardly any fouls called at all. In the first half Cornell took one free throw and Syracuse had zero free throws. I am sure JB had some words for the refs at half time.

They only called fouls against Jesse Edwards.

 

[NorSyr66]

They only called fouls against Jesse Edwards.

Good one. I forgot that gem of a call. I never seen a replay so I had the question in my mind - "how was that a foul?" but now watching it again...WOW! The ref really missed that one. Suspect he was anticipating an over the back but Jesse timed it well.

 

[721Comstock]

Good one. I forgot that gem of a call. I never seen a replay so I had the question in my mind - "how was that a foul?" but now watching it again...WOW! The ref really missed that one. Suspect he was anticipating an over the back but Jesse timed it well.

Yeah, that was total anticipatory BS.

Jesse is a FOOT TALLER than the little white dude.

He’s allowed to jump vertically to get a rebound.
Which he did.

 

[the villager]

College basketball refs are really bad. I must have said 5 times during the Cornell game “ how is that not a foul” on the many grabs until the JE overtheback then it was “ how was that a foul” so sad.

 

[721Comstock]

College basketball refs are really bad. I must have said 5 times during the Cornell game “ how is that not a foul” on the many grabs until the JE overtheback then it was “ how was that a foul” so sad.

Buddy got fouled while shooting AT LEAST 2-3x. None called.

Swider got fouled on his breakaway fast break layup - literally got knocked to the floor from behind, but made the basket anyway.
Shoulda been an AND1.
No foul called.

 

[MSOrange]

Yeah, that was total anticipatory BS.

Jesse is a FOOT TALLER than the little white dude.

He’s allowed to jump vertically to get a rebound.
Which he did.

I asked my dad at the time whether he thought that was really a foul or just a case of one guy being much taller than the other.

 

[two3zone]

That’s not exactly a scoop I know. It’s a shame because they need the extra ball handling. That was UGLY tonight.

It’s kind of funny that this topic is posted after a game Joe had as many turnovers as points and literally just stood in front of guys shooting 3s playing zero defense.

He can’t bring the ball up against Cornell nor any team that pressures him.

All that said, Symir shouldn’t be on the roster. Nothing he did prior to coming here warranted him a roster spot yet he is our ONLY guard off the bench.

 

[Dcuse]

It’s kind of funny that this topic is posted after a game Joe had as many turnovers as points and literally just stood in front of guys shooting 3s playing zero defense.

He can’t bring the ball up against Cornell nor any team that pressures him.

All that said, Symir shouldn’t be on the roster. Nothing he did prior to coming here warranted him a roster spot yet he is our ONLY guard off the bench.it has to do with free throw shooting.

It’s kind of funny that this topic is posted after a game Joe had as many turnovers as points and literally just stood in front of guys shooting 3s playing zero defense.

He can’t bring the ball up against Cornell nor any team that pressures him.

All that said, Symir shouldn’t be on the roster. Nothing he did prior to coming here warranted him a roster spot yet he is our ONLY guard off the bench.

The post had to do with free throw shooting. I didn’t think I had to explain that.

 

[storange]

I concur

Those ESM kids don’t speak good.