Watching tonight's Boeheim's Army game on TV... | Page 2 | Syracusefan.com

Watching tonight's Boeheim's Army game on TV...

Can someone fill me in on the score? Storm has come through and I've lost my satellite signal. Last I saw we were down 58-53. Thanks.
 
Nichols really off tonight.

Thought pops also traveled there, but I was slightly distracted at the time.
 
Oh well. I do feel bad for Terrence Roberts - if you read the article the other day, he really needed the money.
 
I didn't like playing Devo as the PG the guy makes plays but is so damn sloppy with the ball. Hopefully Jonny Flynn gets healthy and can be a member of these teams in the future. PG and speed killed us.
 
The team was fun to watch and these games were better than college basketball because 1. the refs aren't the stars 2. teams don't milk the shot clock 3. the fun of the game.

We may have lost, but the guys played well. Next year hopefully Triche, Rautins, Flynn can join the team.
 
Where was Andy? Haven't heard much about him lately.
 
Southerland would be a good get for this team. Need some younger legs. Playing back to back nights might have hurt Nichols/Hak
 
Fun run. Lack of G depth really hurt. Pops Mensah Bonsu was the best player on the floor. I think tonight may have effectively been the championship game. I hope I'm wrong tho simply because of The City of Gods coach. Talking trash to Rick. Cursing on live tv. Guy was an absolute clown every second he was on camera.

And the Devo leg swipe at the end of the game was embarrassing. I don't care how "passionate" you are, grow the up.
 
pfister1 said:
I think DNic and Warrick are having trouble withPops Mensa Bosa and DeMarr Johnson respectively.

Looks to me like City of Gods is getting away with a lot of physical play and yet we seem to be getting called for the fouls.
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WOW..this is JUST like REAL 'CUSE bball!
 
It was like being in a time warp. They all have the same flaws they did in college. Triche would have helped because he could have just bulled his way into the lane. Flynn would have been nice too if he has any quicks left.

This team would have went nowhere without Deane. As much as I love Devo, he is not a pg.

Must have yelled Da Ruler 5 times.

Can we get these refs in college? They actually called 3 moving screens at the top of the zone. Never gets called in our real games
 
Digger said:
Fun run. Lack of G depth really hurt. Pops Mensah Bonsu was the best player on the floor. I think tonight may have effectively been the championship game. I hope I'm wrong tho simply because of The City of Gods coach. Talking trash to Rick. Cursing on live tv. Guy was an absolute clown every second he was on camera.

And the Devo leg swipe at the end of the game was embarrassing. I don't care how "passionate" you are, grow the up.
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I'll watch the rest of the tournament only to root against these guys. Imagine a team full of Jared Dudleys, including the coach. They were the absolute worst. Pops Mensah Bonsu was good but he was so dirty. The players would be running back to the bench for a time out and he'd throw a shoulder into one of our guys. The difference between their coach and Moten was unbelievable. After the game Moten was hugging the players on both teams while their coach was jumping up and down and heckling the crowd.
 
Conrad13 said:
I'll watch the rest of the tournament only to root against these guys. Imagine a team full of Jared Dudleys, including the coach. They were the absolute worst. Pops Mensah Bonsu was good but he was so dirty. The players would be running back to the bench for a time out and he'd throw a shoulder into one of our guys. The difference between their coach and Moten was unbelievable. After the game Moten was hugging the players on both teams while their coach was jumping up and down and heckling the crowd.
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I think the announcer said pops is dealing with a year long suspension in europe. Doesn't surprise me
 
I'm genuinely annoyed we lost that game.

Jackson's inability to do anything with his right hand really holds him back. Still.
 
Quick summary: it was fun to follow this team the last couple of weeks, and to watch them in "Orange" again. However, the team had some limitations that were exploited last night.

For one thing, the other team had younger legs. It sounds crazy, but these were two very good teams--yes, they played a little bit slower than the college game, but this was a high quality match up, with great players on both ends. Comparable to a high-end college game [just a tad slower / less athletic, if that makes sense]. What surprised me was how much guys like Hakim Warrick had lost a step. Don't get me wrong--he can still play. But there was a lot of standing around after missed shots, etc. And our movement in the zone was what you'd expect from older guys, so there were a lot of offensive rebounds we gave up just due to them having a bit more of a bounce in their step while our guys watched the ball come down. Our younger guys were players like Keita and Rick Jackson, who are both still playing professional ball. And it showed--those guys were in great shape and could run. But the majority of our guys looked a bit slower than the competition.

Secondly, we were a big team with lots of size, but the main emphasis was on the slow down, half court game. Makes sense, when you have Hakim Warrick, Jackson, Terrance Roberts, etc. But this city of gods team was just as big, and they made it tough for us to overpower them with size like we probably did against many / most other opponents in this tournament.

Third, we kind of had an "off" offensive night, so we resorted to too much ill-advised one-on-one forcing. The announcers commented on this late--Warrick in particular forced some bad shots where he tried to back in from 10 into double and triple teams. Hakim Warrick from 4 years ago might have been able to do that stuff. Hakim Warrick today couldn't take over like that anymore and finish over people, in particular that guy from GW who also has spent time in the NBA recently.

Lastly, it looked like the main offensive weapons for this team were Warrick, Nichols, and Devendorf. All three of them struggled. Tough to win when your top three guys can't put it in the ocean. Warrick forced all game long. He had his moments, but it just wasn't vintage Hakim. Devendorf was quiet most of the game, until a big flurry of shots at the end which vaulted him to about 13 points [I'd estimate that 8-10 of those came in the last 7 minutes of the game]. They made it a point of emphasis to guard Devo closely, and he spent the majority of the game unable to shake his man. Nichols led the team with close to 18ppg average in the tournament, but couldn't get on track. I think he finished with 6 or 7 points, and missed a WIDE OPEN three with 9 seconds to play that would have sent the game to overtime.

Despite all that, we were right there with them. If any of the guys mentioned above hits a few shots, we probably win. Too bad--because as many have pointed out, the other team's coach was a grandiose of the highest magnitude, and I would have like to see our players win the prize money.

So, while this team was an interesting experiment, it is clear that if they try again next year, the team needs to get a little bit younger, a little bit faster, and have improved guard play / depth. A kid like James Southerland would have gone a LONG way toward shoring up some of the teams deficiencies--in terms of both shooting and athleticism. Flynn, Triche, Rautins -- guys like these presumably would help stock a backcourt that was pretty limited. Harold Deane was terrific, but there was nobody behind him to run the point, and it showed when he went out of the game. Plus, he was 35, and he got tired too. Meanwhile, the other team had a backcourt filled with 20-something shooters who were lighting it up from deep. We need to make those guys run around more defensively so that they have tired legs.

Too bad, but it was nice to see those players suit up again. Summer Syracuse basketball was a cool treat to enjoy.
 
OttoinGrotto said:
I'm genuinely annoyed we lost that game.

Jackson's inability to do anything with his right hand really holds him back. Still.
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That is true. But Jackson was the best player on the floor for us last night--he sure wasn't the problem that caused the "L."
 
RF2044 said:
That is true. But Jackson was the best player on the floor for us last night--he sure wasn't the problem that caused the "L."
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Oh for sure. He looked unstoppable for a little while. And then they stopped letting him go over his right shoulder, and he went from looking like a man among boys to a really pedestrian player. It was glaring.
 
What killed them was playing the zone. You can't play zone defense in a game like this. First off what's the one thing old guys can still do at an advanced age? Shoot!!! Your shot improves because your athleticism goes down the tube. Plus the zone defense is based a lot off of hustle, and teamwork. You can't expect much of either in a tournament like this. I mean how many shots did that other team bury? I am confident if we plated man to man we would have won by 10.

I can't believe I ended up caring as much as I did. I think being let down once every March is enough for me.
 
anomander said:
What killed them was playing the zone. You can't play zone defense in a game like this. First off what's the one thing old guys can still do at an advanced age? Shoot!!! Your shot improves because your athleticism goes down the tube. Plus the zone defense is based a lot off of hustle, and teamwork. You can't expect much of either in a tournament like this. I mean how many shots did that other team bury? I am confident if we plated man to man we would have won by 10.

I can't believe I ended up caring as much as I did. I think being let down once every March is enough for me.
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Agree with both of your points. It was more like Igor's proverbial old man tavern league zone than the Syracuse zone.

And like you, I also ended up caring about it a lot more than I expected. That other team / coach really got under my skin during the telecast.

Too bad.
 
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