Who do you least want to play again?

[SWC75]

There have been posts about what teams across the country do we not want to play in the tournament. Frankly, I'm game for anybody. I'm more concerned with who we might have to play again. We've played all the top teams in the conference. We know we will have to play Connecticut and Lousiville again. Then comes the BET. Who are the teams that you least want to play again?

For me:

1) Pittsburgh. Yeah, we "broke the spell" against them- just like we did in 2003, 2004 and 2006. We beat them by going on a 13-0 run to start the game and then holding on as they won the rest of the game the way they always do- with physcial defense and dominating the boards, 58-63. I felt then and still feel that if they got another shot at us, it would be the same old story without the 13-0 run.

2) Louisville. 52-51 doesn't change anything.

3) Connecticut. If we hadn't shot the lights out and if Drummond hadn't twisted his ankle...And they will be at home, trying to make the Big Dance, similar to when we beat them in the BET six years ago.

4) Georgetown. A tough team we were lucky to beat.

5) Marquette. We used to own them but they've copied the above teams and are a big problem for us now, especilaly crowder in the high post.

6) West Virginia. I know Boeheim "owns" Huggins but they are another very physical team and are due for a win against us.

7) Cincinnati. Ditto

8) Notre Dame. That was the one times in ten they would beat us and we'll have Melo this time.

9) St. John's. An interesting team but they don't seem to match up well with us.

10) Villanova. Just not their year

11) Rutgers might beat us at the RAC but not in New York

12) South Florida. Not buying it- yet.

13) Providence. Nope

14) Seton Hall. Pope sees Melo in his nightmares.

15) DePaul. Forget it.

 

[OrangeCrush22]

Louisville and maybe Pitt.

That's really it, though.

 

[pfister1]

I'd actually like to play Pitt again. I don't think they are very good and I think that we beat them handily now that the team has seen that they can beat them. Louisville and Georgetown concern me a bit more because they play that really difficult style like Pitt, but they are much better teams than Pitt. IMO.

 

[armory]

Colgate.

Boring, and I always feel guilty afterwards.

 

[RF2044]

What was it Ric Flair said about having to beat the man to be the man?

There are no easy paths to the final four. You've got to win no matter who's lined up on the schedule.

Just win.

And BTW, we're pretty good. I'm not afraid to face any team. Doesn't mean that we win every time, or that teams aren't capable of getting hot / beating us, but I like our kids, I like our squad, and I love our poise. I'm cool taking my chances with our crew over anybody else's.

 

[CorduroyG]

Marquette, DJO is a major pain the ass

 

[dollarbill44]

Interesting take on every team. I guess it all comes down to perspective since some teams we struggled with you dismiss completely, yet others we beat you say we got lucky or things will be different the next time around (only in favor of the opponent, though). You don't seem to consider that SU played poorly in some of the games they were "lucky" to win. College hoops is about runs and countering them. To take away SU's biggest runs from a game and say they would have lost without it is kind of like dismissing SU's NC by saying without Melo, they wouldn't have won.

What makes the BET so great in most years is that any team can win any game, no matter the seed or round.

 

[cliftonparksufan]

We are most likely going to play one of those "pretty good" teams in the first round of the BET. I'll go on record now of saying how I hate the format and that I think the 5,6,7 and 8 seeds have the best draw in the tourney. In my eyes, I think the top four teams have to hang out for a few days too many while these other teams played the day before and have a lot of the tournament kinks worked out. Of course, I understand that it's easy to take the other position as well and say we are the freshest and most rested.

 

[Smithers-Jones]

Georgetown. They attacked the zone with intelligence; their passing offense is well-suited for patience and getting good shots.

 

[Eric15]

I'll go on record now of saying how I hate the format and that I think the 5,6,7 and 8 seeds have the best draw in the tourney.

Hmmm.. so you want the reward for having a strong regular season to have to play more games to win the BET and increase the likelihood of an injury?

 

[MyMeloMyMan]

Marquette scares the ever loving sh(t outta me. They just play so much harder than we do..I always feel lucky to beat them.

 

[SkanSU]

Anybody who plays the zone ... LVille and GTown. For some reason SU is stymied by the zone!!

 

[cliftonparksufan]

Hmmm.. so you want the reward for having a strong regular season to have to play more games to win the BET and increase the likelihood of an injury?

I never said anything about injuries but if you want to bring it up, Onuaku got injured in the very format I am talking about that I hate.

I never said that the top four teams should play more games, what I said was that I felt that it benefited the 5,6,7, and 8 based on the way the format is currently set up.

 

[Marsh01]

Marquette, Pitt or Louisville.

 

[Eric15]

I never said anything about injuries but if you want to bring it up, Onuaku got injured in the very format I am talking about that I hate.

I never said that the top four teams should play more games, what I said was that I felt that it benefited the 5,6,7, and 8 based on the way the format is currently set up.

Fair enough. Honestly, since the Big East is a big and bloated ClusterF, it's tough finding a suitable format. I personally like how it is currently, if you have a great reg season, just three games in three days and you win it.

 

[Orange87]

Don't care. We've beaten them all (or will) except ND and if we do play them again, Fab will eat Cooley's lunch.

It's those teams that should be wary of playing Syracuse, not the other way around.

 

[orangefan13]

Now that we are in the ACC I will play anybody. But let the coaches awnser this question. It would be a good question for JB's radio show.

I still feel our biggest gap offensively is when KJO isn't shooting well or driving well. he tends to just be unoticable. We need the St Johns rebounding version of KJO every night.

And on Defense we don't have a true PF. The right 4-5 combo could give us some fits.
I really appreciate how physical Fair has been the last few games. Hes really pushing and fighting in there. And our guards using their strength and speed to grab a few is nice. We have the most physically strong backcourt in the country.
James still working hard at it.

IMO This team doesn't need transition buckets to win games. They are fun but not needed.

 

[Madbiker]

1. Marquette -- match up problems especially Crowder. They play hard and know how to beat the zone with penetration. My fear is that somewhere out there is a mid major watching film of their games against us and just waiting for the chance.

2. Georgetown - patient offense that gets good shots. Always a close, tight game.

3. UConn- Don't care what their record is they have a lot of talent and one of these days Drummond is going to explode for a 25-18 game.

4. Louisville- it's a style thing.

5. Pitt -- Normally they'd be at the top of the list. SU is not built to play physical teams that clutch and grab all game. It's always like running in cement for us.

Anyone else, bring em on.

 

[Jasoncuse]

Marquette, Louisville and GTown. Only teams I feel we could lose to in NY. Marquette and Louisville are the two toughest teams for us in the league.

If UConn somehow figures it out, they'll be tough. They played their best games in weeks over the weekend and by the BET, they may simply have given up. They are pretty bad offensively.

I want to play ND again. I think we'd crush them this time around.

WVU, Cincy and Pitt would be tough, especially WVU, but we have more talent and are simply better in nearly every phase.