2024 - Portal Tracker | Page 49 | Syracusefan.com

2024 - Portal Tracker

M2MPrinciples said:
It'd be nice to get some perimeter defense in the starting lineup. Bell has some untapped potential, but it'd be unwise to bank on him realizing it; Starling rebounded well for his size, but wasn't a stopper in any real sense. We need someone who can cut off passing lanes and be a terror without being a sinkhole offensively.
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Its weird both have the lateral quickness/size/athleticism to be good defenders. The more I watched the more I became convinced that the scheme was to force drivers one direction away from the middle of the court. The problem was 2 fold, we had poor help defense/rim protection and both guys overplayed this strategy making it all to obvious and often allowing almost straight line drives. What I'm saying is that I believe there can be corrections made that will improve both of their performances on that side of the ball.
 
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jordoo said:
Its weird both have the lateral quickness/size/athleticism to be good defenders. The more I watched the more became convinced that the scheme was to force drivers one direction away from the middle of the court. The problem was 2 fold, we had poor help defense/rim protection and both guys overplayed this strategy making it all to obvious and often allowing almost straight line drives. What I'm saying is that I believe there can be corrections made that will improve both of their performances on that side of the ball.
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Yep, and has been discussed, Lampkin can't be counted on to block shots, so it's not like we can funnel action to him the way we could with Jesse or McLeod.
 
M2MPrinciples said:
Yep, and has been discussed, Lampkin can't be counted on to block shots, so it's not like we can funnel action to him the way we could with Jesse or McLeod.
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Agreed but also there is a big difference between funneling and sitting on someone's hip with your hips almost perpendicular to the baseline. When Bell and JJ who get blown buy it was often after positioning themselves to be blown by.
 
RyanCuse44 said:
Guess the high bidder won -
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He was my first choice until I saw his weight. 6 ft 170 pounds may cut the mustard in the Ivy but that’s a defensive liability in the ACC I think. Maybe I’m missing but that does not scream the toughness we’re looking for. Remember how small Boopie looked and he was still listed 175. Mack has seen I think 2-3 P5 opponents so far and 24 games as a fresh. Leffew with 4 years and at 6’5 has played 100 games of college hoops.

All that said I would’ve lived with Mack and hoped for the best.

I’m really starting to question why Leffew hasn’t already pulled the trigger to commit. Is there a world where Autry has told him he’s competing for that starting spot? Is there something else out there we’re waiting on?
 
jordoo said:
Its weird both have the lateral quickness/size/athleticism to be good defenders. The more I watched the more I became convinced that the scheme was to force drivers one direction away from the middle of the court. The problem was 2 fold, we had poor help defense/rim protection and both guys overplayed this strategy making it all to obvious and often allowing almost straight line drives. What I'm saying is that I believe there can be corrections made that will improve both of their performances on that side of the ball.
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I think there's a bunch of factors here. You point out one of them which is where are we trying to force guys and how are we playing it to make sure they go where we want them to go. Another is when to help. We saw a lot of teams this year cheat early against Judah, before he ever started his drive, knowing that keeping him from getting to the paint ensured more jump shots and fewer fouls. Yes, Bell and JJ both took advantage of this with open or decent looks at threes, but Judah living in the paint was a worst-case scenario for an opponent. Our help was often non-existent or too late to do much but foul.

We also played terribly against screens off-ball on the wings, which led to our players often chasing the play from behind. Judah and JJ were chasing the ball-handler down the lane most of the year. Tough to adjust to that for the other four guys.

There's a lot of work to be done for Red and co. Thought we got better as the year went on, but losing Brown and Copeland and even Judah when he decided to play defense, is going to be difficult.
 
billsin01 said:
I think there's a bunch of factors here. You point out one of them which is where are we trying to force guys and how are we playing it to make sure they go where we want them to go. Another is when to help. We saw a lot of teams this year cheat early against Judah, before he ever started his drive, knowing that keeping him from getting to the paint ensured more jump shots and fewer fouls. Yes, Bell and JJ both took advantage of this with open or decent looks at threes, but Judah living in the paint was a worst-case scenario for an opponent. Our help was often non-existent or too late to do much but foul.

We also played terribly against screens off-ball on the wings, which led to our players often chasing the play from behind. Judah and JJ were chasing the ball-handler down the lane most of the year. Tough to adjust to that for the other four guys.

There's a lot of work to be done for Red and co. Thought we got better as the year went on, but losing Brown and Copeland and even Judah when he decided to play defense, is going to be difficult.
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JJ didn't see a screen he wouldn't go under. I'm hoping he's working on that all off season. There's no reason he can't be a solid defender
 
djcon57 said:
JJ didn't see a screen he wouldn't go under. I'm hoping he's working on that all off season. There's no reason he can't be a solid defender
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Yeah, he also needs to leverage his athleticism and quickness and actually take the occasional gamble. I'm not saying you need to be Q or playing way out of control, but at this level you can't just give ground -- guys are too good at getting to a spot and finishing. JJ led the team in minutes but committed just 42 fouls on the year -- barely more than 1/game. Not complaining about him avoiding foul trouble, but when you combine that with his 27 total steals it tells me he's not taking any chances at all. Not in the passing lanes and not on ball.
 
billsin01 said:
Yeah, he also needs to leverage his athleticism and quickness and actually take the occasional gamble. I'm not saying you need to be Q or playing way out of control, but at this level you can't just give ground -- guys are too good at getting to a spot and finishing. JJ led the team in minutes but committed just 42 fouls on the year -- barely more than 1/game. Not complaining about him avoiding foul trouble, but when you combine that with his 27 total steals it tells me he's not taking any chances at all. Not in the passing lanes and not on ball.
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Also - he’s not a toothpick. Time to use that size and be far more physical on the defensive end. We should have depth so we don’t need him handing out buckets to preserve fouls
 
Orangezoo said:
Reed is a big step down from Clingan. That’s just how good Clingan is.
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But, it's remarkable what they did for Clingan. That kid transformed his body and became a beast of a player. They just have a machine going over there. I hate that.
 
Orangefan1 said:
I’m just surprised we aren’t involved with more power five guys conference players given how critical this year is for the basketball team
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im not...the oversized egos sunk the team this year

but I agree ...going for lower level players might also not work, either
 
orangefog said:
But, it's remarkable what they did for Clingan. That kid transformed his body and became a beast of a player. They just have a machine going over there. I hate that.
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i'm afraid your observation is simply illogical and incorrect . when you state UCONN " has a machine" and "transform bodies " you are clearly confusing the clingans with the borgs.
clingans are in fact carbon based humanoid beings (although they do possess some exoskeletal features which aids their defense). the borg on the other hand are cybernetic organisms who are injected with nano probes and then surgically augmented with cyberkinetic components to achieve a hive mentality with the goal of "achieving perfection" . resistance is futile.
 

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