19-0, but

[Easy Goer]

And we shouldn't get hung up on the final score. Just because they ended up winning by 12 points doesn't mean it was an easy win.

Which game had you more nervous or worried about with 5 minutes left in the game.? Miami or North Carolina? Both were 12 point wins, yet they had totally different "feels" during the game.

 

[anomander]

Good teams finish games. I can't remember a team who has been better in the clutch then this Syracuse team. I never really worry because in the last 5 minutes you know our defense is going to be extremely difficult to get a basket on, let alone a good shot

 

[SarasotaPaul]

Exactly.
It was Disney level goofy.

@7:43 left in the 1st, the score was 26-8.
@1:05 left in the 1st, the score was 28-24.

It felt like most of the game, but maybe it was just that stretch that sticks in my craw.

{times and scores selectively chosen just to prove my point. that's how I roll.}

Sure felt like three separate games. We crushed them in the first, relaxed on both ends of the floor and got crushed by them and then won the free throw shooting contest.

Some UM fan behind us was a cliche machine. He almost knew the game but slowly but surely proved he had no clue. He explained that we were #2 and they played like #262, then he told everyone that we were overrated due to what Duke had done to them. Best was for the end when he said: "since when does Syracuse make free throws?". He was less than cordial and even some UM fans asked him to keep it down or to himself. He may have been one of those leaving by giving everyone the finger, of which there were several. All the rest of the UM fans were quite fun to be around.

 

[rrlbees]

Agree -- best way to get better is for our top 5 (plus Keita) to improve. Unless it is a team where your top subs are Joseph and Scoop, who could come in and lift the team. We don't have that sort of bench. I see improvement in Rak and Keita -- but it tends to be in alternate games and that can be OK. Cooney was playing better before the ACC games started, and maybe his strong game yesterday is a sign of better games. Still, Grant is the one with the major upside. Can't ask for CJ and Ennis to do much more than they have already been doing.

Can certainly ask CJ to play better. Hrs playing good especially when we need him in the clutch, but he can certainly shoot better and take better shots. His percentages have been going down for awhile now.

 

[BomberOrange]

Can certainly ask CJ to play better. Hrs playing good especially when we need him in the clutch, but he can certainly shoot better and take better shots. His percentages have been going down for awhile now.

Agreed. CJ was in a funk yesterday & still finished with good stats. He missed at least 4 open looks that he normally nails. In fact the whole team has been doing this as of late. No worries as we are winning these games while missing 10-15 pts worth of opportunity. Yesterday I knew Miami would start to score, but we let them back in with poor offense. It happens, we're 19-0, and I'm happy.

 

[SoBristol]

Can certainly ask CJ to play better. Hrs playing good especially when we need him in the clutch, but he can certainly shoot better and take better shots. His percentages have been going down for awhile now.

OK -- ask away. CJ, in his 4th year, isn't going to change his game in the next 8 weeks. He is good, he is clutch -- is he improving? Same for Ennis -- he plays like a mature PG, and has from the day he put on an SU uniform.

The issue here is getting better. Some teams (Michigan) are picking it up. SU, last season, got better in March when MCW figured a few things out, and Southerland returned to his best form in the BET.

This season -- it might be Grant's inside play (rebounding) that improves and carries us in the tournaments.

 

[swish7]

I know people define "clutch" as consistently doing great things in the last few minutes of a tight game. That's great and all, and I do not disagree.

For someone like Fair, the bar is higher. The unforced turnovers and the forced, but What turnovers are unacceptable. They are not clutch.

For a senior, AA & POY candidate. His shot selection does not seem great either. Maybe he is playing a new position, as someone else mentioned? I don't know. I assume it is the pressures of the larger role he's playing. I'm gonna get a little radical here and say that he does not need to assume a Wallace-esque large role. The parts around him are good. Grant has massive NBA potential. Ennis practically plays like a senior. We do not need Fair to put everything on his shoulders (Flashback to '96/Wallace), and iso from 21' out. Can he just play to his strengths?