5 Things...

[TBCuse11]

1. Okafor is the real deal. That said, the refs REFUSED to foul him out down the stretch. He blatantly hacked Rak three times, and none were called. That could have changed everything.

2. Rak had a bad game when we needed him most. I know he got doubled some, and had a few assists, blocks and boards, but he missed 8 shots from 4 feet in. That is unheard of. People across the country will have seen this game and not consider him a top player because he didnt make the bunnies. Too bad.

3. Foul shooting: killed us again. What's new...

4. As i said in a previous thread and have said all year, Mike G is our best all around player and it isnt close. People can say Rak is, and thats fine, but he isnt. Mike is so very versatile and absolutely should be our PG next year if he comes back. I will beat this drum until it happens.

5. I was dead wrong about the crowd not being as big as the numbers said. The crowd was huge and i give unreal props to all of us. We are a passionate fan base and love our Cuse. The weather was horrendous, flat out blizzard, yet the Dome was packed.

Bonus point: If Tyler Ennis was on SU, would we have taken the ban this year? I think not. We would be a top 15 team in a very down year for NCAA as a whole. We would be a threat.

 

[CuseFaninVT]

Regarding your bonus point, I really wonder what having Ennis on the team would do. I just have a hard time imagining feeding the post as much as we have done. The butterfly effect here would be interesting to see. Would Roberson have broken out as much as he has?

 

[Full_Rebar]

I really don't understand how Ennis gets blamed for tempo and not feeding the post last year? Everyone knows Boeheim, so if Ennis wasn't doing exactly what he wanted, he would have let the world know- just like he did after the Dayton loss when he said Ennis was supposed to take the ball to the basket on the set play near the end of the game.

Last year's team was built around CJ and not Rak. This year is different, especially after the McCollough injury.

 

[dasher]

Throw Grant on this team as well and I believe we would be unbeaten.

 

[RF2044]

Agree 100% with point #2. Its too bad.

He makes another 2 or 3 shots [which isn't a stretch, given how he's played all year long], and everyone sings a different tune. Okafor is a mountain. He bothered Rak, clearly. And Rak still managed to maneuver for good shots, they just didn't drop like they have all year.

 

[alphaorange]

I guess I'll be the outlier and disagree about Okafor. He had 8-10 pts on gimmies that had more to do with Duke guards breaking down our guards than it had to do with his talent. He has nearly "zero" impact on a game defensively and is not nearly the passer that Rak is. Those points in the paint came hard when he was guarded closely by Rak...something like 4-11 with two of them getting blocked. Comparisons to Duncan are crazy. Al Jefferson with better feet is a closer comp. He will not live on 4 footers in the NBA.

 

[alphaorange]

Agree 100% with point #2. Its too bad.

He makes another 2 or 3 shots [which isn't a stretch, given how he's played all year long], and everyone sings a different tune. Okafor is a mountain. He bothered Rak, clearly. And Rak still managed to maneuver for good shots, they just didn't drop like they have all year.

Not sure how much he bothered Rak. Rak seemed over-hyped in the beginning and never really settled down. I thought the constant double teams were much more of a factor. Second meeting will tell the story.

 

[Madbiker]

Not sure how much he bothered Rak. Rak seemed over-hyped in the beginning and never really settled down. I thought the constant double teams were much more of a factor. Second meeting will tell the story.

Rak was definitely too amped up early and that hurt his game. But as the game went on it was apparent he couldn't get around Okafor with his spin move and drop step and had a lot of trouble trying to shoot over him which is why he missed so many shots. Duke doubled Rak in the first half but in the second half they changed and played him straight up with one defender. He had more success with Plumlee and very little against Okafor.

 

[TBCuse11]

Rak was definitely too amped up early and that hurt his game. But as the game went on it was apparent he couldn't get around Okafor with his spin move and drop step and had a lot of trouble trying to shoot over him which is why he missed so many shots. Duke doubled Rak in the first half but in the second half they changed and played him straight up with one defender. He had more success with Plumlee and very little against Okafor.

yeah, Duke didnt double nearly as much as other teams have...

 

[realorange]

IF Ennis, Grant, etc. had been here and we hadn't self imposed, the NCAA would have dropped the bomb on us a week before the ACC tournament.

 

[longtimefan]

IF Ennis, Grant, etc. had been here and we hadn't self imposed, the NCAA would have dropped the bomb on us a week before the ACC tournament.

This deserves a "like", but I refuse to like the subject.

So, I'll just agree that they would have dropped the bomb, albeit earlier in the season.

 

[Forza Azzurri]

5. I was dead wrong

There. Fixed.