A Bit of a Contrarian View

[Niastri]

I know everybody is miserable mourning the horror of our performance in Brooklyn.

I on the other hand, am a bit encouraged. We played a couple really good teams and competed, and even had a chance to win if a handful of things went better.

Did anybody think that was possible when Youngstown State was taking us to overtime? Or especially when Lemoyne had the ball down two at the buzzer?

We had a lot of positives we could work with.

This actually feels more positive to me than Hawaii last year, when it really didn't feel like we had any way to get better, other than Benny Williams suddenly becoming a top player.

And yet, we still got to twenty wins, with that crazy roster.

I think we'll be ok this year.

 

[Cusefan0307]

If ok is winning 18-21 and making the NIT bleh. More of the last 3 years. Not much hope of making the dance.

 

[OttosShoes]

other than Benny Williams suddenly becoming a top player.

To be fair I think the elephant in the room is that we’re putting a similar weight on Donnie having a breakout, or Westry coming back.

 

[sufan59]

If ok is winning 18-21 and making the NIT bleh. More of the last 3 years. Not much hope of making the dance.

Based on the way we played this week that would be a huge disappointment.

 

[Ghost]

I know everybody is miserable mourning the horror of our performance in Brooklyn.

I on the other hand, am a bit encouraged. We played a couple really good teams and competed, and even had a chance to win if a handful of things went better.

Did anybody think that was possible when Youngstown State was taking us to overtime? Or especially when Lemoyne had the ball down two at the buzzer?

We had a lot of positives we could work with.

This actually feels more positive to me than Hawaii last year, when it really didn't feel like we had any way to get better, other than Benny Williams suddenly becoming a top player.

And yet, we still got to twenty wins, with that crazy roster.

I think we'll be ok this year.

I have the same feeling of being encouraged - but I'm also wrapping my head around the fact that it's mainly due to the fact that we took the expectations as low as they could possibly go while starting a season 3-0.

I suppose just wait for Cornell and see where we are.

 

[upperdeck]

Reverse the games. Play these 2 first with this effort and roll the other three games and people would be fine with the result.

We played teams that will be in that 25-50 range and played with them and for sure didn't shoot well.

If we just continue to shoot this poorly all year it will be an adventure.

Flip side we have been down about 10 all these games and have almost come back in all of them. Thats always a good sign. Maybe 3's go in at some point and we see another level of energy that can last for a few games.

 

[CuseCPT]

I'll be surprised if this team wins more than 15 games. I think 12 is probably realistic.

 

[MikeSU02]

I know everybody is miserable mourning the horror of our performance in Brooklyn.

I on the other hand, am a bit encouraged. We played a couple really good teams and competed, and even had a chance to win if a handful of things went better.

Did anybody think that was possible when Youngstown State was taking us to overtime? Or especially when Lemoyne had the ball down two at the buzzer?

We had a lot of positives we could work with.

This actually feels more positive to me than Hawaii last year, when it really didn't feel like we had any way to get better, other than Benny Williams suddenly becoming a top player.

And yet, we still got to twenty wins, with that crazy roster.

I think we'll be ok this year.

Hey - support a positive post. I don’t agree with it (not being snarky), but good on ya for the hope.

Really wish Eddie was at 100%

 

[OrangeCrush22]

I'll be surprised if this team wins more than 15 games. I think 12 is probably realistic.

We have 0 guaranteed wins and Cornell, Albany, and Bucknell are our equals. They will be tough games. This could be the worst SU basketball season in our lifetimes.

 

[Scooch]

I think it’s great to take an optimistic, glass half full view. It’s sports, most anything is possible. It wouldn’t be the craziest thing ever to see SU start eeking out wins against good opponents instead of losing.

I hope you’re right. Who wouldn’t hope for that?

 

[OptimusOtto]

I agree. The disappointment I’m feeling is more so the missed opportunities, especially since we should have beat Texas. Let’s build on this and have a strong, comfortable win against Cornell.

 

[Niastri]

If ok is winning 18-21 and making the NIT bleh. More of the last 3 years. Not much hope of making the dance.

I actually think we are pretty close to turning a corner and winning a lot of games.

Moore and Freeman closing the game last night showed talent and athleticism we had been missing.

Bell is going to turn it around. He's a bit streaky anyway. Lampkin will stop being sloppy with the ball. Starling seems to have figured out he's the driver of the offense.

Most importantly, we played actual defense. The hedging looked a lot better. Freeman actually is really effective in his Frankenstein's monster defensive pose. We rotated on time to defend against the drive. Overall, they made tremendous defensive progress from previous games.

We held two pretty good three point shooting teams well below their average. We held the other teams leading scorers to well below their averages, on horrible efficiency.

We crushed Texas Tech on the boards, and held our own against Texas, even though Bell averaged 29.5 minutes a game.

 

[Longtimesu]

We have 0 guaranteed wins and Cornell, Albany, and Bucknell are our equals. They will be tough games. This could be the worst SU basketball season in our lifetimes.

The worst SU BB team in my lifetime was 1962.

 

[Brooky03]

This team will be good at the end of the year. It’s a matter of how long it takes them to get there

 

[kingtidge]

I'll be surprised if this team wins more than 15 games. I think 12 is probably realistic.

That's what my gut tells me as well... I hope my gut is lying.

 

[baggerbob]

We have 0 guaranteed wins and Cornell, Albany, and Bucknell are our equals. They will be tough games. This could be the worst SU basketball season in our lifetimes.

For you maybe, but I was around when we lost 26 in a row. We were recruiting Davis and Mackey from the football team to play.
That was bad, this team isn't good right now, but they keep saying Chance is close.
He may or may not be a difference maker.

 

[jncuse]

There was certainly progress made in game 4&5 that made me feel better about the season. But not good enough to make me feel any positivity about the tournament.

Before these two games I felt getting to .500 was going to be a real problem. Now I think it's a fair bit more probable than not, especially when we see the mass of mediocrity around us in the ACC.

Of course that is nowhere near the level of team we want.

In terms of tournament, we have already done lots of damage to ourselves, and the ACC has equally done lots of damage to our chances.

 

[Yearis73]

For you maybe, but I was around when we lost 26 in a row. We were recruiting Davis and Mackey from the football team to play.
That was bad, this team isn't good right now, but they keep saying Chance is close.
He may or may not be a difference maker.

Roy Danforth really turned things around when I was at SU.

 

[two3zone]

I know everybody is miserable mourning the horror of our performance in Brooklyn.

I on the other hand, am a bit encouraged. We played a couple really good teams and competed, and even had a chance to win if a handful of things went better.

Did anybody think that was possible when Youngstown State was taking us to overtime? Or especially when Lemoyne had the ball down two at the buzzer?

We had a lot of positives we could work with.

This actually feels more positive to me than Hawaii last year, when it really didn't feel like we had any way to get better, other than Benny Williams suddenly becoming a top player.

And yet, we still got to twenty wins, with that crazy roster.

I think we'll be ok this year.

We'll never be able to stop a good team down the stretch, out defense is absolutely horrible and at the end every game because the opponents know who they can cook and pick on every single time. Happened the past two games and will continue to happen.

We were better than I thought we would be and by quite a bit, and we still sucked.

Until we are consistently competing for a single digit seed I'm not going to be happy.

They paid a 325 pound center who can't play two days in a row and is one of the worst defensive centers I've seen. As bad his defense is, his offense can be just as good, but it's not consistent.

This roster is what it is, some people thought it was good, they were wrong.

 

[Niastri]

To be fair I think the elephant in the room is that we’re putting a similar weight on Donnie having a breakout, or Westry coming back.

This isn't an unfair observation, but five games in, Freeman has already shown more than Benny Williams ever did.

Freeman, through five games, has 3 double digit rebound games, two of them double doubles.

Williams, for comparison, had 3 double digit rebound games in his Syracuse career, none as a freshman.

 

[Orangefan1]

I still feel the potential is there for this team we just need to figure out the right lineups, Davis is good and we have a center this year

 

[OttosShoes]

This isn't an unfair observation, but five games in, Freeman has already shown more than Benny Williams ever did.

Freeman, through five games, has 3 double digit rebound games, two of them double doubles.

Williams, for comparison, had 3 double digit rebound games in his Syracuse career, none as a freshman.

Totally fair. Benny was, well, whatever it was. Donnie is just developing.

 

[Zelda Zonk]

• Carlos looked very good in the exhibitions. I have to hope he will just be adjusting to the team, his role, and the competition and he’ll end up somewhere between where we first saw him vs the ‘real games.’
• The defense will improve. It can’t get worse. Guys will be humiliated, will fight to be better, and Red will have to reconsider minutes based on performance on that side of the ball.
• McLeod will have to play, if he’s healthy. Dry Rub doesn’t look like he’s going to be able to maintain a heavy load (minutes or weight) for a full season. Naheem has to get ten+ minutes a game. I don’t even mind if it’s in M2M. He’s not ‘good’ at that, but I think he’s long enough and imposing enough that even when he makes mistakes, he can make up for some of them. And he will get better.
• Less reliance on Carlos if he doesn’t improve. Red seems to be giving him the benefit of the doubt, based either on practice or the exhibitions.
• Bell will shoot better. He has to.
• JJ has more confidence than ever.
• Donnie is learning that his HS stardom doesn't transfer. He’s going to have to work. Especially if he doesn’t want to go in the second round.
• If I believed in prayer, I’d use it on Chance. I can’t foresee him getting back to a health position with the knees where he’s going to be an effective defender against the other team’s PG. Just too much lateral and stop/start stress. Maybe that means he shares point duties on offense but plays the opponent’s 2 or 3?
• The only guys who should feel entitled to heavy minutes at this point are JJ and Lampkins. Everyone else needs to make it a matter of personal responsibility to correct errors, minimize weaknesses, commit to D, and as Melania teaches us, “Be best.”

 

[tptcuse]

At some point do we schedule more early season cupcakes like JB used to do just to get things rolling?

 

[Capt. Tuttle]

I know everybody is miserable mourning the horror of our performance in Brooklyn.

I on the other hand, am a bit encouraged. We played a couple really good teams and competed, and even had a chance to win if a handful of things went better.

Did anybody think that was possible when Youngstown State was taking us to overtime? Or especially when Lemoyne had the ball down two at the buzzer?

We had a lot of positives we could work with.

This actually feels more positive to me than Hawaii last year, when it really didn't feel like we had any way to get better, other than Benny Williams suddenly becoming a top player.

And yet, we still got to twenty wins, with that crazy roster.

I think we'll be ok this year.

They played harder on defense than JB’s last 3 years, combined. They are improving, and that is a plus.
How many years did we come out of the gate at 13-0, 17-1, and limp to the finish line.
I’ll take upward trajectory anytime.