What are you looking for against North Florida?

[jordoo]

For those who still think this team has a chance to be very good what are you interested in against North Florida? What things will you be looking for from the players and staff? My oldest is finally getting into watching sports with me and has been watching SU this year. I think its given me a much better perspective that usual when we are winning or losing. She asks a lot of questions pertaining to basketball itself and why teams seem to play so differently. So for me the things that I'm looking for have been forming since game one as I've been forced to analyse what I'm watching more than usual.

Here are mine:

Will the staff effectively end the White as a guard experiment? They could do this two ways. Either they change the starting line up by inserting another guard or they use the first whistle to bring the guard in while leaving Howard out there. Either way they must be aware that the starting lineup is not ideal and that White as a guard limits the number of guys we have on the floor that can make a play with the ball. I think its leading to stagnant offense that often ends in a late 1on1 play or deep jumper that is not in the flow.

This sort of has to do with point one. Will the staff solidify the guard rotation and get them all regular minutes in regular shifts rather than pulling them when they screw up. Howard is a sophomore trying to run the show, he's going to make mistakes. Battle is a freshman finding his way and Gillon is new to the system. I don't think for a minute they will stop coaching these three hard and pointing out their mistakes but I do think its time to let them play for a good span of minutes and have more of a set rotation. They need to learn on the job and play through things at this point IMO. Moving White to the forward spot would go a long way in the aspect of freeing up more minutes at the guard spot while also always having a second guard out there to help whoever is running the point. This also would let White concentrate on one position defensively.

Will the staff experiment with Thompson in the middle. The wing of the 2-3 is notoriously hard for freshman to grasp especially the bigger guys like Thompson. Is it a better option defensively to bring Thompson in at center when you sit Coleman (I'll talk Chukwu later). Thompson is a far superior offensive talent than Roberson or Chukwu. I think long term this season getting him more minutes is going to help more than getting Roberson and Chukwu more minutes. Chukwu simply does not look ready this year IMO. Roberson is what he is at this point. He will be great in some games and non existent in others. His lack of being a threat on offense makes him a liability when he is not driving teams crazy on the glass.

Will Frank take ownership of this team? Will he learn to manage his emotions and move to the next play? He has the ability to be a fine PG this season but in two straight games we have seen what happens when things aren't going well and its not working and hurts the team when he is supposed to be running it. Frank is the key to this team IMO.

Will Battle find his grove? He needs to figure out his role within the offense. He just doesn't seem to understand what he should be doing and when he should be doing it. I'd personally love to see him start and play the first 6-8 minutes of each half along with Howard. Then coach him up on what went on.

Will the team as a whole really get after it on defense and the glass? I don't expect to see the defense magically get good after 4 days of practice but I think we need to see the energy as a team. We need 5 guys hustling and being disruptive.

 

[Cusefan0307]

Lydon as the backup center getting at least 15 minutes there.
Howard's continued development as point guard.
Battle showing ability to get to the basket.

 

[andyw715]

I'd be happy with "basketball"

 

[RF2044]

Great post, Jordoo.

Terrific points you raise.

 

[PoppyHart]

TV coverage

 

[SC Orange]

A starting line up of Howard, Battle, White, Lydon, and Thompson. Of course I will never get this wish.

 

[jordoo]

I'd be happy with "basketball"

You must have missed the first line of my post.

 

[RF2044]

A starting line up of Howard, Battle, White, Lydon, and Thompson. Of course I will never get this wish.

If Thompson can handle the responsibilities of playing the middle in the zone, sign me up.

Maybe Lydon flips there, just because he seems more comfortable defending the post.

 

[Cuse House]

Simple for me, better ball movement. We have the weapons, we need to share the wealth. Too much isolation the past two games.

 

[RF2044]

Simple for me, better ball movement. We have the weapons, we need to share the wealth. Too much isolation the past two games.

Agree 100%. EVERYTHING is one-on-one, because we have no offensive continuity, and we aren't doing a good job in our half court sets. Needs to change.

 

[RF2044]

The Carlson PS article from yesterday touches on some of the same points you make, Jordoo. The starting lineup is inherently flawed, because the players don't have complimentary skill sets offensively, and that unit is too one-dimensional. Trudging this unit out each half probably means we're going to be spotting the better teams on our schedules leads, which isn't a good thing.

Boeheim's comments make it clear that Lydon is going to be playing a LOT more center moving forward. That's net-good for SU, even if it isn't perfectly ideal defensively. Lydon [amongst many others] has been poor defensively on the wing with his rotations--maybe he's just more comfortable defending the post, after that being his primary role last year?

If Lydon shifts out of the 3 spot, then that's where White needs to go. "Will the staff effectively end the White as a guard experiment?" is a perfect way to put it. Enough. But it would be nice for Battle to step up and show that he needs / deserves more PT.

 

[Brooky03]

I'm looking for a sign of life on defense. If we allow more than 2 open 3-pointers, I'm going to be disappointed. If they score more than 40 points, I'm going to be disappointed. If we don't force 20 turnovers, I'm going to be disappointed.



I'm probably going to be disappointed.

 

[tbonezone]

nothing . games against teams like north florida give you a little cardio but actually teach you nothing. hope nobody on either side gets hurt is all.

 

[Cuse House]

Agree 100%. EVERYTHING is one-on-one, because we have no offensive continuity, and we aren't doing a good job in our half court sets. Needs to change.

I used to go up to Potsdam basketball camp, and Jerry Welsh used to preach movement without the ball. Cutting and replacing the man, over and over. He said many times, the easiest man to guard, is the guy who isn't moving. Well right now, our offense is 1 guy with the ball and 4 guys watching, there is no movement. Besides our defense being poor, our half court sets are my biggest concern. We have guys who are capable of getting into the lane, and we have shooters. Our offense theoretically should be a thing of beauty, but at the moment it looks hideous.

 

[SoBeCuse]

I just want to see some plan on offense. Or at least a COUNTER plan to our predictable sets when the PG dribbles then passes to a wing. These last two games it was like the team didn't know what to do when that basic first option was taken away. The basics which we have been unable to execute against good teams. Not world beaters but simply good teams. I want to see more than one pass and one chuck. We need to make the defense move sides of the floor. On defense no more open threes. Posters like Townie want to laud and blame Wisconsin for our loss because of their ball movement. Yes it was terrific but we gave zero resistance. Zero. The rotations were virtually non-existent, we were a step slow, and interior defense was absent except for a weak side Roberson block into Lyndon's face. I guess just baby steps...sigh.

 

[FrancoPizza]

Too much isolation the past two games.

I think you meant to say years, not games.

 

[TinyManInside]

I would like to see much better player movement and ball movement on offense. Purposeful movement and added play diversity would be nice.

I would like to see the team focus on generating turnovers to generate some transition offense (the problem of course is doing that against North Florida is a lot different than doing that against ACC teams).

 

[SC Orange]

If Thompson can handle the responsibilities of playing the middle in the zone, sign me up.

Maybe Lydon flips there, just because he seems more comfortable defending the post.

The question obviously is what do we get from Thompson at the 5. He has shown a very high iq on the offensive end and I really think at center he can be a force. He would have to get run now against North Florida and other cupcakes so he can handle experienced bigs of the acc.

 

[MattOB]

I'd really like to see some chemistry start to form. This should hopefully be an easy win and could be a chance for them to have some fun out there, and make them more comfortable playing as a team. And somebody throw Roberson an oop goddammit.

 

[Eric15]

I don't mean to be cynical and the OP makes good points, but no result of this game will make me feel happy. I already know we can blow the doors off crappy teams, we proved that in the first four games (minus Monmouth who is respectable).

 

[jordoo]

I don't mean to be cynical and the OP makes good points, but no result of this game will make me feel happy. I already know we can blow the doors off crappy teams, we proved that in the first four games (minus Monmouth who is respectable).

Which is why its a good time to see if the coaching staff takes a different approach on some things. This would be a game to try them out and get the players used to it. Obviously the result of this game is going to be a pretty meaningless win in the record books.

 

[FrancoPizza]

I would like to see the team focus on generating turnovers to generate some transition offense (the problem of course is doing that against North Florida is a lot different than doing that against ACC teams).

The problem is he coaches differently against crappy teams. We'll see the return of the 4-1 or 1-3-1 press with mixed results. And then if we're up 75 with 3 minutes remaining he'll feel safe trying some m2m.

 

[Funk Doc]

Simple for me, better ball movement. We have the weapons, we need to share the wealth. Too much isolation the past two games.

YES!!!! All we have run the last few years now is that damn back curl from the baseline out. It was Cooney's play for years, and now AW is making that same cut. He is then either taking a contested jumpshot or passing back out to a guard. (He does not have the ball handling skills to really even put the ball on the floor if the catch and shoot isn't there. He has his skill set of shooting, yes, and he's great at that, but he can't help us if his shot isn't open and falling). On the reset, is where they look really lost. Guards back it out, get it to a wing or in the post and then the balls stops, for a brief one on one, followed usually by another contested shot. It's just so predictable and takes zero effort to stop! They have the players to move the ball and create, but it just is not happening.

On defense, they just need to hustle. Every rotation is either too slow, or worse, not happening at all! For all the crap we gave Cooney regarding his offense, his hustle on defense(with a random dud mixed in though) combined with whatever long armed guard we had with him, made our defense great!

 

[Col. Bleep]

YES!!!! All we have run the last few years now is that damn back curl from the baseline out.

Presumably "the last few years" means the last 40 years.

In the interest of lowering performance expectations, two things to look for:

1. Keeping hands up on defense

2. A win

 

[CuseFaninVT]

Looking for the following -

1. Man to man from the jump, switching to box and one if one of their guys gets hot.
2. Press the entire game.
3. Feed the ball inside to our bigs every time in the half-court offense.
4. A minimum of 4 passes on offense, and
5. Leprechauns playing the half-time show.