Your official post exhibition season thread

[OrangeDW]

Darius Miles was becoming a pretty awesome player before a devastating injury, Benny has been never been better than bad.

Benny should start doing the head tap and see if it helps.

 

[samspann1]

but...that game against Lemoyne over a decade ago!

 

[SWC75]

A quick calculation of "net points", (points, rebounds, assists, steals and blocks minus missed field goals and free throws, turnovers and fouls committed), over the two games:

Benny Williams: +34NP in 53 minutes Per 40: 26.7
Joe Girard: +28NP in 55 minutes Per 40: 20.4
Jesse Edwards: +22NP in 46 minutes Per 40: 19.1
Maliq Brown: +17NP in 20 minutes Per 40: 34.0
Symir Torrence: +16NP in 26 minutes Per 40: 24.6
Justin Taylor: +14NP in 30 minutes Per 40: 18.7
Chris Bell: +7NP in 36 minutes Per 40: 7.8
Mounir Hima: +4NP in 12 minutes Per 40: 13.3
Quadir Copeland: +3NP in 32 minutes Per 40: 3.75
Peter Carey: +1NP in 14 minutes Per 40: 2.9
Jon Bol Ajak: -1NP in 11 minutes Per 40: -3.6
Judah Mintz: -3NP in 56 minutes Per 40: -2.1

Off of that, (two exhibitions vs. D2 teams), the starting line-up should be Torrence, Girard, Williams, Brown and Edwards with Taylor as the first guy off the bench and Hima coming in when Jesse gets into foul trouble, (as he will). The other guys are "not ready to help up us", (a favorite JB line.

We'll find out more next week.

 

[atlanticuse]

What’s the risk of back to back losing seasons?
I’m afraid.

 

[Melancer46]

I’ve heard and seen probably 1,896 posts about his “upside” for the last 18 months, and I’ve yet to figure it all out. Not to be mean, but his shot is absolutely awful. Sy clearly worked on his all summer (kudos to him!)…..not sure what Benny was doing. He seems like a great kid, but someone clearly got his HS rankings wrong

I’m sure Benny worked on his shooting, but honestly, that’s the least of my concerns with him. He was an all around mess last year and with his physical tools, I would have had him prioritizing pretty much everything other than shooting.

 

[Melancer46]

What’s the risk of back to back losing seasons?
I’m afraid.

I admittedly have only seen highlights of the exhibition games, but just based on what I believe our talent level to be this year, I’d be fairly surprised if we have a winning season. Isn’t impossible but will require someone or someone’s to step up more than I expect.

 

[billsin01]

I like everyone on the team - and I'm an eternal optimist so I give us a fighting chance against Lehigh. I'd have to see the defense against mildly capable offenses a few times to make a guess on this season. Offensively we're in some trouble.

I think we sacrificed stability and long-term viability to customize a roster for some of the departing players last year. That will always seem like a mistake to me, and one that's going to haunt us for a bit...unless the transfer market is kind in the next season or so.

This team reminds me of the type of team you see at St. Johns or Ga Tech during a rebuild - where you kinda think maybe they found something if everyone stays and gets stronger. But that never seems to work out for any of those type teams - so I'm worried! Maybe as we develop the lineup though some things click - Copeland, Mintz, etc...as they advance maybe they gel and we get the stability from Girard/Edwards/Sy!

So, all things considered, maybe 3rd in ACC, and E8????

This is a great post. Agree with how we built the roster last year. Was also thinking the exact same thing about St. John's or Ga Tech or the like. It's an interesting group of players that clearly isn't ready and you hope to plant some seeds for the future and improve over the course of the year ... but ...

Such a weird sight to see this team the past two seasons -- last year with so little athleticism for really the only time I can really remember in the JB era and this year where we are soooo young and, I would argue, still not overwhelmingly athletic.

If we're trying to be positive:

-- thought the m2m looked much better tonight. much better communication on screens and cutters, help wasn't great early but improved.

-- Perhaps it's a lack of high-level starters, but we do at least have depth in a real way.

-- Hima was active and could be OK as a backup to jesse.

-- Brown and Taylor did some nice things in their minutes and Bell got a couple buckets close to the basket.

-- Symir looks confident with his shot.

Biggest concerns (and not the only ones):

-- Tough rebounding night against a small team. We seemed to not get the rebound despite having two guys in position for the rebound on multiple occasions.

-- The chances of Joe scoring 20 ppg and/or Edwards having a Rak-like senior season look remote. I like both but neither feels like an alpha that is going to be the team leader.

-- Benny was active but his offense is likely going to be put-backs and fast breaks ... speaking of which ...

-- how did we not get 6 or 7 more buckets in transition. Bell had one and we got some early opportunities with jesse, but with a young, athletic team, you'd really hope they at least ran the floor well. That wasn't really the case in either game.

-- How many fumbled passes did we have? A ton of unforced errors in general. Not crazy for a young team, but not a good sign.

 

[billsin01]

I’m sure Benny worked on his shooting, but honestly, that’s the least of my concerns with him. He was an all around mess last year and with his physical tools, I would have had him prioritizing pretty much everything other than shooting.

Yes and ...

I admittedly have only seen highlights of the exhibition games, but just based on what I believe our talent level to be this year, I’d be fairly surprised if we have a winning season. Isn’t impossible but will require someone or someone’s to step up more than I expect.

yes

 

[OttoinGrotto]

I’d caution taking too much from the exhibition games. I’ve seen good teams look like crap in these games and bad teams look like world beaters. I specifically remember thinking Kaleb Joseph was going to be our next first round pick freshman year.

That being said I don’t like the lineups we are throwing out there. I think there’s a very good chance Justin Taylor is our best forward. He needs to play with the main guys to see how it fits.

Benny is a mess. If he doesn’t produce I can see Brown taking his minutes very quickly.

The guard rotation needs to get figured out. I remain high on Mintz, but he needs to grow. The talent is there for him.

I don't understand the hockey line substitutions. At all.

That's not how JB is going to work the rotation during the actual season.

 

[NKR1978]

If people thought things got ugly last year (here and locally). Its gonna look like Christmas compared to what's coming over the next 4-5 months. I hope JB and SU is ready because its gonna get ugly.

At least a truly horrible season would provide Wildhack some cover to perform an actual coaching search instead of promoting from within.

 

[orangefog]

Judah is so good at using his handle and quickness to get to open spots for his midrange jumper. If he would use those skills to draw a defender, and if our guys repositioned after their defender cheated off of them, either cutting to the basket or moving a few steps over for an open three, Judah could rack up assists like crazy. He has the ability to make the defense shift, but he is wired to find an open space and get his shot off before the defense adjusts.

 

[IthacaMatt]

A quick calculation of "net points", (points, rebounds, assists, steals and blocks minus missed field goals and free throws, turnovers and fouls committed), over the two games:

Benny Williams: +34NP in 53 minutes Per 40: 26.7
Joe Girard: +28NP in 55 minutes Per 40: 20.4
Jesse Edwards: +22NP in 46 minutes Per 40: 19.1
Maliq Brown: +17NP in 20 minutes Per 40: 34.0
Symir Torrence: +16NP in 26 minutes Per 40: 24.6
Justin Taylor: +14NP in 30 minutes Per 40: 18.7
Chris Bell: +7NP in 36 minutes Per 40: 7.8
Mounir Hima: +4NP in 12 minutes Per 40: 13.3
Quadir Copeland: +3NP in 32 minutes Per 40: 3.75
Peter Carey: +1NP in 14 minutes Per 40: 2.9
Jon Bol Ajak: -1NP in 11 minutes Per 40: -3.6
Judah Mintz: -3NP in 56 minutes Per 40: -2.1

Off of that, (two exhibitions vs. D2 teams), the starting line-up should be Torrence, Girard, Williams, Brown and Edwards with Taylor as the first guy off the bench and Hima coming in when Jesse gets into foul trouble, (as he will). The other guys are "not ready to help up us", (a favorite JB line.

We'll find out more next week.

First five in your list will possibly be our starting 5 by December.

 

[IthacaMatt]

Judah is so good at using his handle and quickness to get to open spots for his midrange jumper. If he would use those skills to draw a defender, and if our guys repositioned after their defender cheated off of them, either cutting to the basket or moving a few steps over for an open three, Judah could rack up assists like crazy. He has the ability to make the defense shift, but he is wired to find an open space and get his shot off before the defense adjusts.

I hated his quote in the Post this morning on being SU's point guard: "I don't think it's anything I can't handle."

Young man, you have not played PG yet on this team. You're playing playground ball. All you're doing is hunting your own shot.

 

[orangefog]

I hated his quote in the Post this morning on being SU's point guard: "I don't think it's anything I can't handle."

Young man, you have not played PG yet on this team. You're playing playground ball. All you're doing is hunting your own shot.

Hopefully he recognizes where he needs to improve and makes the adjustments.

 

[capeorange]

I hated his quote in the Post this morning on being SU's point guard: "I don't think it's anything I can't handle."

Young man, you have not played PG yet on this team. You're playing playground ball. All you're doing is hunting your own shot.

And team.