A couple of observations now that we're past the quarter pole [long]

[RF2044]

Well, we're about a quarter of the way through the season, and in many respects I'm still not sure what caliber of team we have. Some things have unfolded about how I expected, but the team has lagged behind in other dimensions where I expected them to do better. Here are some observations, starting with general and moving to more specific. And I qualify all of this by pointing out up front that I am one of the more optimistic posters on this board--so I don't intend this post to come across as negative as I'm sure it will be interpreted.

• I'm greatly concerned about our half court execution. We have a PG who predominates the ball and has a tendency to over dribble. If he isn't getting into the lane and getting passes that set up easy scoring opportunities, the entire offense seems to bog down and degenerate into one-on-one play. I think scoring points is going to be more difficult this year than expected.

• We get more shots blocked--as a TEAM--than any SU squad I can remember. Coleman, Triche, and CJ are the biggest culprits.

• The free throw shooting has been absurdly bad. It's already cost us one game, and will cost us others if we don't improve. On that note, I'm really at a loss to understand why Grant has been so bad from the charity stripe; kid seems to have a great stroke. In fact, we have the tools to be a good free throw shooting team, with MCW / Triche / CJ / Dirty as the principals; even Rak / Coleman have good form and should both be more effective from the FT line than they are.

• As a team, we don't shoot the ball as well as I expected from either mid-range or three. We have the components to be a reasonably good jump shooting team [with Dirty, Triche, MCW, Cooney, and to a lesser extent CJ and Grant], but so far we haven't gotten the job done. Need to improve in both areas [although I'm encouraged by CJ's mid-range shooting of late].

• I'm really concerned about how I see this team have a tendency to sulk when things aren't going well. I don't want to overstate this, but during the Alcorn State game there were several times when we'd turn the ball over or get blocked, and guys would half assed jog back up the court. We also seem to have lapses where we play half hearted defense. When we play aggressive, active in the zone, we are SO MUCH BETTER, and it generally translates into positive offensive play on the other end.

• I think that the Temple game exposed us a bit.

• The rebounding the last few games is another cause for concern. I certainly didn't expect our #1 status in rebounding differential to hold up for the duration of the season, but we simply have to be better. Temple not only killed us on the glass, they also outhustled us to every loose ball. Unacceptable in my book. You're always going to have games where shots aren't dropping or where offensive production is hard to come by, but the one thing you can ALWAYS control is the level of effort and intensity you play with. I'd really like to see our players demonstrate more collective intensity out there; hopefully this will pick up now that we're entering league play.

• Southerland has really come down to earth after a phenomenal start. I'm pleased that he is finding other ways to contribute when the three is taken away--rebounding, scoring in the paint, etc. I'd like to see him doing a better job moving without the ball, because we need to find ways to get him more looks.

• MCW is a special talent, but I think we need to dial back some of the hyperbole about him being elite. I know--funny to say on a day where he came within an eyelash of a triple double. But the specific areas I'd like to see him improve are: (1) eliminating the unforced turnovers--too many every game for my tastes, (2) doing a better job executing half court offensive sets, especially when the defense clamps down and points aren't easy to come by, and (3) finding ways to continue to be a disruptive defensive catalyst like he was earlier in the season.

• I keep harping on some of the same themes, but I am greatly concerned about our propensity to turn the ball over. Last year's team won multiple games by taking great care of the ball, especially in a few close games where the outcome could have gone either way. This year's team hemorrhages the ball at an alarming rate at times. Triche has been poor in this regard for a senior, but he isn't alone.

• Triche has the tools to be a very good offensive player for us. He has done a great job on the offensive boards [a trend we started seeing toward the end of last year], but he needs to do a better job shooting the ball. We need this guy to be a 37%+ three point shooter, and thus far he has underdelivered.

• MCW and Triche need to adjust a little, now that the caliber of competition is going to improve. Against the overmatched OOC teams, those guys could get into the lane and leave their feet and still make something happen that was net positive. Both need to be smarter from here on out and not overpenetrate or put themselves in bad positions with the ball. They could get away with some of that stuff against lesser opponents, but won't be able to in the Big East.

• I'm of the mindset that Triche has sufficient combo guard skills to chip in with ball handling and take some pressure off of MCW when we face pressure defenses, but thus far I've been underwhelmed when the ball is in his hands. Too many dopey turnovers, and his ball handling in general has been poor overall. Kid gets ripped 2 or 3 times per game, it seems like.

• Glad to see that CJ is starting to dial in from mid-range, but he needs to do a better job taking the ball to the rim. Kid is too explosive to get so many shots blocked, and would it kill him to mix in a right hand? And I don't want to see him taking any threes other than from the left baseline area--that's his comfortable spot. Rebounding has been pretty good for CJ--need that to continue to help shore up the deficiency there.

• Grant has really impressed me. Kid facially looks identical to his dad and uncle. Really looks ready to play. I think he's going to be a terrific stretch 4 in our system, especially when he puts on 15-20 pounds of muscle. I expected him to be solid, but to get squeezed out into MCW frosh type of minutes this year, but I think he's too good not to get some PT.

• Rak is showing flashes of offensive growth. Really like the hook shots, and he seems more comfortable facing up. Needs to do a better job rebounding and playing smart defense. And I was surprised during today's telecast to hear that he's #3 nationally in blocks per game at 2.3--that seems awfully low. Not that 2.3 bpg is low, just that this figure is third nationally. Usually, there are a couple guys at mid majors wracking up eye popping statistics with blocks.

• Coleman is struggling, especially on offense. I was hoping he'd be more ready to give us that consistent low post threat that the team desperately needs, but I'm not sure that it is fully going to manifest this year. In fact, I think that both Coleman and Rak are going to give us very solid interior production NEXT year. Hope it isn't a year too late.

• Cooney has shot poorly all year. I'm hoping that he will improve to the point where he offers us another complimentary shooter. I've liked his handle and ability to get into the lane, and his defense is better than what I'd expected. But overall he needs to shoot better, because as the only eligible scholarship guard on the bench he's going to garner PT this year.

• As a team, I think that to a man our players have a tendency to force--especially when things bog down. Actually, I take that back--because I don't think Keita and Grant show that tendency. But everybody else does.

• Speaking of Keita, he's really improved from a confidence standpoint. He's now finishing pretty much everything he's supposed to inside, and he seems like our best interior defender. Will be interesting to see how much he plays in the middle now that we're entering conference play.

• Given Coleman's struggles, I expect to see a lot of the lineup with CJ / Southerland playing alongside one big. Which I expect to be whichever of the three bigs is playing well any particular game.

• Last year's team played with a lot of swagger--they expected to win, and played like champions most of the time, getting tougher when things got tough. Not sure I see that type of character in this year's squad...yet.

• This team is at its best when we find ways to get easy scoring opportunities in transition. We need to do a better job rebounding and generating turnovers to run.

• Heading into the season, the biggest question marks I saw for how the team would perform were the following four things: (1) how well would MCW man the point and handle pressure defenses, (2) how would we shoot the ball collectively, (3) would either Coleman / Rak offer us consistent low post scoring, and (4) how well would we rebound the ball. I'm quite confident that #1 is being answered positively, but the jury is still out on the other three items. How well we improve in those areas will go a long way toward determining what this team's ultimate potential is, and whether or not they are elite.

• There's a lot of negative [mixed in with some positive] observations I list above, but the bottom line is that we are still 12-1, which is a great spot to be for a team that lost 4 key contributors off of last year's team. Many posters expressed the opinion that we might hit some speed bumps and lose more games along the path than last year's team did, but that we had the raw materials to develop into a more dangerous team by postseason. Well, we lost a game that we shouldn't have [even as poorly as we played], but we are positioned well heading into conference play. This is a year with no dominant teams; if we continue to show improvement, we have as good a shot as anybody to make a run.

Let's Go Orange!!!

 

[Marsh01]

Well, we're about a quarter of the way through the season, and in many respects I'm still not sure what caliber of team we have. Some things have unfolded about how I expected, but the team has lagged behind in other dimensions where I expected them to do better. Here are some observations, starting with general and moving to more specific. And I qualify all of this by pointing out up front that I am one of the more optimistic posters on this board--so I don't intend this post to come across as negative as I'm sure it will be interpreted.

• I'm greatly concerned about our half court execution. We have a PG who predominates the ball and has a tendency to over dribble, if he isn't getting into the lane and getting passes that set up easy scoring opportunities, the entire offense seems to bog down and degenerate into one-on-one play. I think scoring points is going to be more difficult this year than expected.

• We get more shots blocked--as a TEAM--than any SU squad I can remember. Coleman, Triche, and CJ are the biggest culprits.

• The free throw shooting has been absurdly bad. It's already cost us one game, and will cost us others if we don't improve. On that note, I'm really at a loss to understand why Grant has been so bad from the charity stripe; kid seems to have a great stroke.

• As a team, we don't shoot the ball as well as I expected. We have the components to be a reasonably good jump shooting team [with Dirty, Triche, MCW, Cooney, and to a lesser extent CJ and Grant], but so far we haven't gotten the job done from mid-range or three. Need to improve in this area.

• I'm really concerned about how I see this team have a tendency to sulk when things aren't going well. I don't want to overstate this, but during the Alcorn State game there were several times when we'd turn the ball over or get blocked, and guys would half assed jog back up the court. We also seem to have lapses where we play half hearted defense. When we play aggressive, active in the zone, we are SO MUCH BETTER, and it generally translates into positive offensive play on the other end.

• I think that the Temple game exposed us a bit.

• The rebounding the last few games is another cause for concern. I certainly didn't expect our #1 status in rebounding differential to hold up for the duration of the season, but we simply have to be better. Temple not only killed us on the glass, they also outhustled us to every loose ball. Unacceptable in my book. You're always going to have games where shots aren't dropping or where offensive production is hard to come by, but the one thing you can ALWAYS control is the level of effort and intensity you play with. I'd really like to see our players demonstrate more collective intensity out there; hopefully this will pick up now that we're entering league play.

• Southerland has really come down to earth after a phenomenal start. I'm pleased that he is finding other ways to contribute when the three is taken away--rebounding, scoring in the paint, etc. I'd like to see him doing a better job moving without the ball, because we need to find ways to get him more looks.

• MCW is a special talent, but I think we need to dial back some of the hyperbole about him being elite. I know--funny to say on a day where he came within an eyelash of a triple double. But the specific areas I'd like to see him improve are: (1) eliminating the unforced turnovers--too many every game for my tastes, (2) doing a better job executing half court offensive sets, especially when the defense clamps down and points aren't easy to come by, and (3) finding ways to continue to be a disruptive defensive catalyst like he was earlier in the season.

• I keep harping on some of the same themes, but I am greatly concerned about our propensity to turn the ball over. Last year's team won multiple games by taking great care of the ball, especially in a few close games where the score could have gone either way. This year's team hemorrhages the ball at an alarming rate at times. Triche has been poor in this regard for a senior, but he isn't alone.

• Triche has the tools to be a very good offensive player for us. He has done a great job on the offensive boards [a trend we started seeing toward the end of last year], but he needs to do a better job shooting the ball. We need this guy to be a 37%+ three point shooter, and thus far he has underdelivered.

• MCW and Triche need to adjust a little, now that the caliber of competition is going to improve. Against the overmatched OOC teams, those guys could get into the lane and leave their feet and still make something happen that was net positive. Both need to be smarter from here on out and not overpenetrate or put themselves in bad positions with the ball. They could get away with some of that stuff against lesser opponents, but won't be able to in the Big East.

• I'm of the mindset that Triche has sufficient combo guard skills to chip in with ball handling and take some pressure off of MCW when we face pressure defenses, but thus far I've been underwhelmed when the ball is in his hands. Too many dopey turnovers, and his ball handling in general has been poor overall. Kid gets ripped 2 or 3 times per game, it seems like.

• Glad to see that CJ is starting to dial in from mid-range, but he needs to do a better job taking the ball to the rim. Kid is too explosive to get so many shots blocked, and would it kill him to mix in a right hand? And I don't want to see him taking any threes other than from the left baseline area--that's his comfortable spot. Rebounding has been pretty good for CJ--need that to continue to help shore up the deficiency there.

• Grant has really impressed me. Kid facially looks identical to his dad and uncle. Really looks ready to play. I think he's going to be a terrific stretch 4 in our system, especially when he puts on 15-20 pounds of muscle. I expected him to be solid, but to get squeezed out into MCW frosh type of minutes this year, but I think he's too good not to get some PT.

• Rak is showing flashes of offensive growth. Really like the hook shots, and he seems more comfortable facing up. Needs to do a better job rebounding and playing smart defense. And I was surprised during today's telecast to hear that he's #3 nationally in blocks per game at 2.3--that seems awfully low. Not that 2.3 bpg is low, just that this figure is third nationally. Usually, there are a couple guys at mid majors wracking up eye popping statistics with blocks.

• Coleman is struggling, especially on offense. I was hoping he'd be more ready to give us that consistent low post threat that the team desperately needs, but I'm not sure that it is fully going to manifest this year. In fact, I think that both Coleman and Rak are going to give us very solid interior production NEXT year. Hope it isn't a year too late.

• Cooney has shot poorly all year. I'm hoping that he will improve to the point where he offers us another complimentary shooter. I've liked his handle and ability to get into the lane, and his defense is better than what I'd expected. But overall he needs to shoot better, because as the only eligible scholarship guard on the bench he's going to garner PT this year.

• As a team, I think that to a man our players have a tendency to force--especially when things bog down. Actually, I take that back--because I don't think Keita and Grant show that tendency. But everybody else does.

• Speaking of Keita, he's really improved from a confidence standpoint. He's now finishing pretty much everything he's supposed to inside, and he seems like our best interior defender. Will be interesting to see how much he plays in the middle now that we're entering conference play.

• Given Coleman's struggles, I expect to see a lot of the lineup with CJ / Southerland playing alongside one big. Which I expect to be whichever of the three bigs is playing well any particular game.

• Last year's team played with a lot of swagger--they expected to win, and played like champions most of the time, getting tougher when things got tough. Not sure I see that type of character in this year's squad...yet.

• This team is at its best when we find ways to get easy scoring opportunities in transition. Need to rebound or generate turnovers to run.

• Heading into the season, the biggest question marks I saw for how the team would perform were the following four things: (1) how well would MCW man the point and handle pressure defenses, (2) how would we shoot the ball collectively, (3) would either Coleman / Rak offer us consistent low post scoring, and (4) how well would we rebound the ball. I'm quite confident that #1 is being answered positively, but the jury is still out on the other three items. How well we improve in those areas will go a long way toward determining what this team's ultimate potential is, and whether or not they are elite.

• There's a lot of negative [mixed in with some positive] observations I list above, but the bottom line is that we are still 12-1, which is a great spot to be for a team that lost 4 key contributors off of last year's team. Many posters expressed the opinion that we might hit some speed bumps and lose more games along the path than last year's team did, but that we had the raw materials to develop into a more dangerous team by postseason. Well, we lost a game that we shouldn't have [even as poorly as we played], but we are positioned well heading into conference play. This is a year with no dominant teams; if we continue to show improvement, we have as good a shot as anybody to make a run.

Let's Go Orange!!!

Good stuff...war and peace esque lol

 

[RF2044]

Good stuff...war and peace esque lol

You know me--man of few words. I haven't been able to post nearly as much as in the past, been a lot busier on the job. Just haven't had time to post some of the above before now.

Sorry so long!

 

[IthacaMatt]

Well, we're about a quarter of the way through the season, and in many respects I'm still not sure what caliber of team we have. Some things have unfolded about how I expected, but the team has lagged behind in other dimensions where I expected them to do better. Here are some observations, starting with general and moving to more specific. And I qualify all of this by pointing out up front that I am one of the more optimistic posters on this board--so I don't intend this post to come across as negative as I'm sure it will be interpreted.

• I'm greatly concerned about our half court execution. We have a PG who predominates the ball and has a tendency to over dribble, if he isn't getting into the lane and getting passes that set up easy scoring opportunities, the entire offense seems to bog down and degenerate into one-on-one play. I think scoring points is going to be more difficult this year than expected.

• We get more shots blocked--as a TEAM--than any SU squad I can remember. Coleman, Triche, and CJ are the biggest culprits.

• The free throw shooting has been absurdly bad. It's already cost us one game, and will cost us others if we don't improve. On that note, I'm really at a loss to understand why Grant has been so bad from the charity stripe; kid seems to have a great stroke.

• As a team, we don't shoot the ball as well as I expected. We have the components to be a reasonably good jump shooting team [with Dirty, Triche, MCW, Cooney, and to a lesser extent CJ and Grant], but so far we haven't gotten the job done from mid-range or three. Need to improve in this area.

• I'm really concerned about how I see this team have a tendency to sulk when things aren't going well. I don't want to overstate this, but during the Alcorn State game there were several times when we'd turn the ball over or get blocked, and guys would half assed jog back up the court. We also seem to have lapses where we play half hearted defense. When we play aggressive, active in the zone, we are SO MUCH BETTER, and it generally translates into positive offensive play on the other end.

• I think that the Temple game exposed us a bit.

• The rebounding the last few games is another cause for concern. I certainly didn't expect our #1 status in rebounding differential to hold up for the duration of the season, but we simply have to be better. Temple not only killed us on the glass, they also outhustled us to every loose ball. Unacceptable in my book. You're always going to have games where shots aren't dropping or where offensive production is hard to come by, but the one thing you can ALWAYS control is the level of effort and intensity you play with. I'd really like to see our players demonstrate more collective intensity out there; hopefully this will pick up now that we're entering league play.

• Southerland has really come down to earth after a phenomenal start. I'm pleased that he is finding other ways to contribute when the three is taken away--rebounding, scoring in the paint, etc. I'd like to see him doing a better job moving without the ball, because we need to find ways to get him more looks.

• MCW is a special talent, but I think we need to dial back some of the hyperbole about him being elite. I know--funny to say on a day where he came within an eyelash of a triple double. But the specific areas I'd like to see him improve are: (1) eliminating the unforced turnovers--too many every game for my tastes, (2) doing a better job executing half court offensive sets, especially when the defense clamps down and points aren't easy to come by, and (3) finding ways to continue to be a disruptive defensive catalyst like he was earlier in the season.

• I keep harping on some of the same themes, but I am greatly concerned about our propensity to turn the ball over. Last year's team won multiple games by taking great care of the ball, especially in a few close games where the score could have gone either way. This year's team hemorrhages the ball at an alarming rate at times. Triche has been poor in this regard for a senior, but he isn't alone.

• Triche has the tools to be a very good offensive player for us. He has done a great job on the offensive boards [a trend we started seeing toward the end of last year], but he needs to do a better job shooting the ball. We need this guy to be a 37%+ three point shooter, and thus far he has underdelivered.

• MCW and Triche need to adjust a little, now that the caliber of competition is going to improve. Against the overmatched OOC teams, those guys could get into the lane and leave their feet and still make something happen that was net positive. Both need to be smarter from here on out and not overpenetrate or put themselves in bad positions with the ball. They could get away with some of that stuff against lesser opponents, but won't be able to in the Big East.

• I'm of the mindset that Triche has sufficient combo guard skills to chip in with ball handling and take some pressure off of MCW when we face pressure defenses, but thus far I've been underwhelmed when the ball is in his hands. Too many dopey turnovers, and his ball handling in general has been poor overall. Kid gets ripped 2 or 3 times per game, it seems like.

• Glad to see that CJ is starting to dial in from mid-range, but he needs to do a better job taking the ball to the rim. Kid is too explosive to get so many shots blocked, and would it kill him to mix in a right hand? And I don't want to see him taking any threes other than from the left baseline area--that's his comfortable spot. Rebounding has been pretty good for CJ--need that to continue to help shore up the deficiency there.

• Grant has really impressed me. Kid facially looks identical to his dad and uncle. Really looks ready to play. I think he's going to be a terrific stretch 4 in our system, especially when he puts on 15-20 pounds of muscle. I expected him to be solid, but to get squeezed out into MCW frosh type of minutes this year, but I think he's too good not to get some PT.

• Rak is showing flashes of offensive growth. Really like the hook shots, and he seems more comfortable facing up. Needs to do a better job rebounding and playing smart defense. And I was surprised during today's telecast to hear that he's #3 nationally in blocks per game at 2.3--that seems awfully low. Not that 2.3 bpg is low, just that this figure is third nationally. Usually, there are a couple guys at mid majors wracking up eye popping statistics with blocks.

• Coleman is struggling, especially on offense. I was hoping he'd be more ready to give us that consistent low post threat that the team desperately needs, but I'm not sure that it is fully going to manifest this year. In fact, I think that both Coleman and Rak are going to give us very solid interior production NEXT year. Hope it isn't a year too late.

• Cooney has shot poorly all year. I'm hoping that he will improve to the point where he offers us another complimentary shooter. I've liked his handle and ability to get into the lane, and his defense is better than what I'd expected. But overall he needs to shoot better, because as the only eligible scholarship guard on the bench he's going to garner PT this year.

• As a team, I think that to a man our players have a tendency to force--especially when things bog down. Actually, I take that back--because I don't think Keita and Grant show that tendency. But everybody else does.

• Speaking of Keita, he's really improved from a confidence standpoint. He's now finishing pretty much everything he's supposed to inside, and he seems like our best interior defender. Will be interesting to see how much he plays in the middle now that we're entering conference play.

• Given Coleman's struggles, I expect to see a lot of the lineup with CJ / Southerland playing alongside one big. Which I expect to be whichever of the three bigs is playing well any particular game.

• Last year's team played with a lot of swagger--they expected to win, and played like champions most of the time, getting tougher when things got tough. Not sure I see that type of character in this year's squad...yet.

• This team is at its best when we find ways to get easy scoring opportunities in transition. Need to rebound or generate turnovers to run.

• Heading into the season, the biggest question marks I saw for how the team would perform were the following four things: (1) how well would MCW man the point and handle pressure defenses, (2) how would we shoot the ball collectively, (3) would either Coleman / Rak offer us consistent low post scoring, and (4) how well would we rebound the ball. I'm quite confident that #1 is being answered positively, but the jury is still out on the other three items. How well we improve in those areas will go a long way toward determining what this team's ultimate potential is, and whether or not they are elite.

• There's a lot of negative [mixed in with some positive] observations I list above, but the bottom line is that we are still 12-1, which is a great spot to be for a team that lost 4 key contributors off of last year's team. Many posters expressed the opinion that we might hit some speed bumps and lose more games along the path than last year's team did, but that we had the raw materials to develop into a more dangerous team by postseason. Well, we lost a game that we shouldn't have [even as poorly as we played], but we are positioned well heading into conference play. This is a year with no dominant teams; if we continue to show improvement, we have as good a shot as anybody to make a run.

Let's Go Orange!!!

The first 3 remind me of the 2009 team. PG who dominates the ball, guys getting their shots blocked a lot (Paul Harris), terrible foul shooting (Arinze & Rick), lots of one-on-one when the fast break isn't there. Inconsistent defensive effort. Can we rebound or not?

 

[OttoMets]

The effort is the most disappointing thing because - as you said - that's entirely within the players' control and should be consistent.

With few exceptions, it was consistent in the past three years. That effort kept us in a lot of games. Would hate to think the younger guys aren't having a good example set for them.

 

[rrlbees]

The effort is the most disappointing thing because - as you said - that's entirely within the players' control and should be consistent.

With few exceptions, it was consistent in the past three years. That effort kept us in a lot of games. Would hate to think the younger guys aren't having a good example set for them.

I wasn't at the Alcorn game which seems to have been the lightening rod, but I was there yesterday. I had no problems with the effort. I thought it was outstanding save a couple of isolated instances which occur every game on every team.

Lemoyne says hello.

Sent from my DROIDX using Tapatalk 2

 

[cliftonparksufan]

• MCW is a special talent, but I think we need to dial back some of the hyperbole about him being elite. I know--funny to say on a day where he came within an eyelash of a triple double. But the specific areas I'd like to see him improve are: (1) eliminating the unforced turnovers--too many every game for my tastes, (2) doing a better job executing half court offensive sets, especially when the defense clamps down and points aren't easy to come by, and (3) finding ways to continue to be a disruptive defensive catalyst like he was earlier in the season

I'm still trying to figure out if MCW is overrated or underrated. Every person who talks about him on TV calls him the best point guard in college today. We know we are only as good as he plays. We haven't had a point guard since the Pearl who is this important to the offense. Can MCW carry this team on his back throughout the regular and post season. I guess that's a key question. So far I don't see anyone else on this team that can, unless JSIII can catch another real hot streak or Triche wakes up from his nap and decides that he really wants to be the man that a lot of us think he is capable

 

[OttoMets]

I wasn't at the Alcorn game which seems to have been the lightening rod, but I was there yesterday. I had no problems with the effort. I thought it was outstanding save a couple of isolated instances which occur every game on every team.

Lemoyne says hello.

Sent from my DROIDX using Tapatalk 2

I was there, too. Across the board, defensive intensity is not where it was in previous years.

And LeMoyne's got nothing to do with anything.

 

[Jake]

A lot of good points RF. the only slight disagreement would be the choice if the word "sulk". I don't know if they'll sulk as much as just not knowing how to fix the half court issues.


I just think we need to press everyone this year.

 

[Albeck43]

Well, we're about a quarter of the way through the season, and in many respects I'm still not sure what caliber of team we have. Some things have unfolded about how I expected, but the team has lagged behind in other dimensions where I expected them to do better. Here are some observations, starting with general and moving to more specific. And I qualify all of this by pointing out up front that I am one of the more optimistic posters on this board--so I don't intend this post to come across as negative as I'm sure it will be interpreted.

• I'm greatly concerned about our half court execution. We have a PG who predominates the ball and has a tendency to over dribble. If he isn't getting into the lane and getting passes that set up easy scoring opportunities, the entire offense seems to bog down and degenerate into one-on-one play. I think scoring points is going to be more difficult this year than expected.

• We get more shots blocked--as a TEAM--than any SU squad I can remember. Coleman, Triche, and CJ are the biggest culprits.

• The free throw shooting has been absurdly bad. It's already cost us one game, and will cost us others if we don't improve. On that note, I'm really at a loss to understand why Grant has been so bad from the charity stripe; kid seems to have a great stroke. In fact, we have the tools to be a good free throw shooting team, with MCW / Triche / CJ / Dirty as the principals; even Rak / Coleman have good form and should both be more effective from the FT line than they are.

• As a team, we don't shoot the ball as well as I expected from either mid-range or three. We have the components to be a reasonably good jump shooting team [with Dirty, Triche, MCW, Cooney, and to a lesser extent CJ and Grant], but so far we haven't gotten the job done. Need to improve in both areas [although I'm encouraged by CJ's mid-range shooting of late].

• I'm really concerned about how I see this team have a tendency to sulk when things aren't going well. I don't want to overstate this, but during the Alcorn State game there were several times when we'd turn the ball over or get blocked, and guys would half assed jog back up the court. We also seem to have lapses where we play half hearted defense. When we play aggressive, active in the zone, we are SO MUCH BETTER, and it generally translates into positive offensive play on the other end.

• I think that the Temple game exposed us a bit.

• The rebounding the last few games is another cause for concern. I certainly didn't expect our #1 status in rebounding differential to hold up for the duration of the season, but we simply have to be better. Temple not only killed us on the glass, they also outhustled us to every loose ball. Unacceptable in my book. You're always going to have games where shots aren't dropping or where offensive production is hard to come by, but the one thing you can ALWAYS control is the level of effort and intensity you play with. I'd really like to see our players demonstrate more collective intensity out there; hopefully this will pick up now that we're entering league play.

• Southerland has really come down to earth after a phenomenal start. I'm pleased that he is finding other ways to contribute when the three is taken away--rebounding, scoring in the paint, etc. I'd like to see him doing a better job moving without the ball, because we need to find ways to get him more looks.

• MCW is a special talent, but I think we need to dial back some of the hyperbole about him being elite. I know--funny to say on a day where he came within an eyelash of a triple double. But the specific areas I'd like to see him improve are: (1) eliminating the unforced turnovers--too many every game for my tastes, (2) doing a better job executing half court offensive sets, especially when the defense clamps down and points aren't easy to come by, and (3) finding ways to continue to be a disruptive defensive catalyst like he was earlier in the season.

• I keep harping on some of the same themes, but I am greatly concerned about our propensity to turn the ball over. Last year's team won multiple games by taking great care of the ball, especially in a few close games where the outcome could have gone either way. This year's team hemorrhages the ball at an alarming rate at times. Triche has been poor in this regard for a senior, but he isn't alone.

• Triche has the tools to be a very good offensive player for us. He has done a great job on the offensive boards [a trend we started seeing toward the end of last year], but he needs to do a better job shooting the ball. We need this guy to be a 37%+ three point shooter, and thus far he has underdelivered.

• MCW and Triche need to adjust a little, now that the caliber of competition is going to improve. Against the overmatched OOC teams, those guys could get into the lane and leave their feet and still make something happen that was net positive. Both need to be smarter from here on out and not overpenetrate or put themselves in bad positions with the ball. They could get away with some of that stuff against lesser opponents, but won't be able to in the Big East.

• I'm of the mindset that Triche has sufficient combo guard skills to chip in with ball handling and take some pressure off of MCW when we face pressure defenses, but thus far I've been underwhelmed when the ball is in his hands. Too many dopey turnovers, and his ball handling in general has been poor overall. Kid gets ripped 2 or 3 times per game, it seems like.

• Glad to see that CJ is starting to dial in from mid-range, but he needs to do a better job taking the ball to the rim. Kid is too explosive to get so many shots blocked, and would it kill him to mix in a right hand? And I don't want to see him taking any threes other than from the left baseline area--that's his comfortable spot. Rebounding has been pretty good for CJ--need that to continue to help shore up the deficiency there.

• Grant has really impressed me. Kid facially looks identical to his dad and uncle. Really looks ready to play. I think he's going to be a terrific stretch 4 in our system, especially when he puts on 15-20 pounds of muscle. I expected him to be solid, but to get squeezed out into MCW frosh type of minutes this year, but I think he's too good not to get some PT.

• Rak is showing flashes of offensive growth. Really like the hook shots, and he seems more comfortable facing up. Needs to do a better job rebounding and playing smart defense. And I was surprised during today's telecast to hear that he's #3 nationally in blocks per game at 2.3--that seems awfully low. Not that 2.3 bpg is low, just that this figure is third nationally. Usually, there are a couple guys at mid majors wracking up eye popping statistics with blocks.

• Coleman is struggling, especially on offense. I was hoping he'd be more ready to give us that consistent low post threat that the team desperately needs, but I'm not sure that it is fully going to manifest this year. In fact, I think that both Coleman and Rak are going to give us very solid interior production NEXT year. Hope it isn't a year too late.

• Cooney has shot poorly all year. I'm hoping that he will improve to the point where he offers us another complimentary shooter. I've liked his handle and ability to get into the lane, and his defense is better than what I'd expected. But overall he needs to shoot better, because as the only eligible scholarship guard on the bench he's going to garner PT this year.

• As a team, I think that to a man our players have a tendency to force--especially when things bog down. Actually, I take that back--because I don't think Keita and Grant show that tendency. But everybody else does.

• Speaking of Keita, he's really improved from a confidence standpoint. He's now finishing pretty much everything he's supposed to inside, and he seems like our best interior defender. Will be interesting to see how much he plays in the middle now that we're entering conference play.

• Given Coleman's struggles, I expect to see a lot of the lineup with CJ / Southerland playing alongside one big. Which I expect to be whichever of the three bigs is playing well any particular game.

• Last year's team played with a lot of swagger--they expected to win, and played like champions most of the time, getting tougher when things got tough. Not sure I see that type of character in this year's squad...yet.

• This team is at its best when we find ways to get easy scoring opportunities in transition. We need to do a better job rebounding and generating turnovers to run.

• Heading into the season, the biggest question marks I saw for how the team would perform were the following four things: (1) how well would MCW man the point and handle pressure defenses, (2) how would we shoot the ball collectively, (3) would either Coleman / Rak offer us consistent low post scoring, and (4) how well would we rebound the ball. I'm quite confident that #1 is being answered positively, but the jury is still out on the other three items. How well we improve in those areas will go a long way toward determining what this team's ultimate potential is, and whether or not they are elite.

• There's a lot of negative [mixed in with some positive] observations I list above, but the bottom line is that we are still 12-1, which is a great spot to be for a team that lost 4 key contributors off of last year's team. Many posters expressed the opinion that we might hit some speed bumps and lose more games along the path than last year's team did, but that we had the raw materials to develop into a more dangerous team by postseason. Well, we lost a game that we shouldn't have [even as poorly as we played], but we are positioned well heading into conference play. This is a year with no dominant teams; if we continue to show improvement, we have as good a shot as anybody to make a run.

Let's Go Orange!!!

This is a no-nonsense look in the mirror. It is hard to argue with the assessment. Great analysis. Fortunately the teams we will play also have problems. The bottom line will be the intensity and effectiveness of the zone. If the zone is tough it will generate our open court offense and in relative terms will make our opponents shoot poorly and turn the ball over even more than we do. The main vulnerability is the way we play on the interior of the zone. Temple and Arkansas to a certain extent had their way inside, slicing and dicing our bigs. Last year when Fab Melo was gone down the stretch we needed Christmas to step up. He was good enough for Kansas State but not Ohio State. Keita is good in there but not the talent that Rak can be. Boeheim yells at Rak the whole game and offers a blistering critique everytime he's pulled. The heat is directed at our achilles heal. CJ, Southerland, Grant and Rak give us great coverage on the wings. But the lane demands both quickness and muscle. Rak is really the only answer at this time. He needs to play inspired interior defense. We are going to get our 73 points a game, no matter how badly we shoot from the field or the line. That will be enough to win IF the zone is sound and nasty. The traps and our talent at the top will get the breakouts. The back line, the heart of the zone, will tell the story from here until March.

 

[SoBristol]

In looking at this first segment of the season, I tend to discount the games against cupcakes (most of our games so far). When opposing teams can't match up inside, or when teams can't play MCW tough, or when we can repeatedly get out in the open court, we look like world-beaters. This team is good at beating up on cupcakes.

There aren't many cupcakes left on the schedule. Against Big East competition, we need to defend better inside, limiting second chances. It is a glaring issue -- especially since we have to play the smaller line-up (CJ, James and one big) in order to generate offense.

MCW may be dominating the ball, but I wouldn't put the fault on him. We get very little play-making out of BT or James. Interesting to see yesterday that the offense got going with BT and James sitting on the bench.

The bigger forwards (Rak, Grant, Coleman) are a work in progress. Should not be a surprise. In many seasons, the rotation is set by this stage. Boeheim is still trying out combinations to see what works, with defense being just as important as finding some inside scoring. The key to the season is how this works out.

 

[Knicks411]

MCW is a special talent, but I think we need to dial back some of the hyperbole about him being elite. I know--funny to say on a day where he came within an eyelash of a triple double. But the specific areas I'd like to see him improve are: (1) eliminating the unforced turnovers--too many every game for my tastes, (2) doing a better job executing half court offensive sets, especially when the defense clamps down and points aren't easy to come by, and (3) finding ways to continue to be a disruptive defensive catalyst like he was earlier in the season.

Wait, so maybe he isn't the best college PG since Magic? (I know you didn't say this, but like you said, some of the hyperbole was out of control at times)

And I was surprised during today's telecast to hear that he's #3 nationally in blocks per game at 2.3--that seems awfully low. Not that 2.3 bpg is low, just that this figure is third nationally. Usually, there are a couple guys at mid majors wracking up eye popping statistics with blocks.

Had the same thought. My first inclination was that it wasn't true. So I looked it up; it's not true. Rak is 43rd in the country in blocks per game. Maybe they meant 3rd in the conference? He is 12th in the country in block%, fwiw.

I keep harping on some of the same themes, but I am greatly concerned about our propensity to turn the ball over. Last year's team won multiple games by taking great care of the ball, especially in a few close games where the outcome could have gone either way. This year's team hemorrhages the ball at an alarming rate at times. Triche has been poor in this regard for a senior, but he isn't alone.

Very frustrating. It was probably too much to ask to repeat the ball protection from last year. Triche has his highest TO% since his freshmen year. CJ and James still have solid to numbers, but they are up pretty significantly from last year. Grant's is on the high side,which you would expect from a frosh.

Triche has the tools to be a very good offensive player for us. He has done a great job on the offensive boards [a trend we started seeing toward the end of last year], but he needs to do a better job shooting the ball. We need this guy to be a 37%+ three point shooter, and thus far he has underdelivered.

I'm just not sure that's going to happen. Ever since his freshmen year he's basically been about a 33% shooter from deep. It's possible that's just what he is. I do expect him to improve on his FT% though. (Right now he seems to be working on the Scoop plan of having your FT% fall like 8 points every year. Not good)

Speaking of Keita, he's really improved from a confidence standpoint. He's now finishing pretty much everything he's supposed to inside, and he seems like our best interior defender. Will be interesting to see how much he plays in the middle now that we're entering conference play.

We might need to play some more lineups with Keita and Christmas to help with the rebounding. I then looked this up; believe it or not, but CJ has a better defensive rebounding% than Rak, and James has the same % as Rak.

This team is at its best when we find ways to get easy scoring opportunities in transition. We need to do a better job rebounding and generating turnovers to run.

It's weird; all of the block/steal/to numbers are similar to last year, but it definitely seems like we aren't doing as good of a job turning them into transition opportunities.

 

[rrlbees]

I was there, too. Across the board, defensive intensity is not where it was in previous years.

And LeMoyne's got nothing to do with anything.

I disagree and I also disagree that Lemoyne has nothing to do with anything. We didn't work too hard that night either and why we LOST to Lemoyne, not just play uninspired vs Alcorn, and that season turned our OK.

 

[Knicks411]

I was there, too. Across the board, defensive intensity is not where it was in previous years.

And LeMoyne's got nothing to do with anything.

This is where I jump in and point out that the defense has better efficiency numbers than we've ever had before. Of course it's early, and the competition hasn't been great (though the numbers are adjusted). The last 3 years we ranked 17th, 16th, and 18th in defensive efficiency. We're 2nd right now. (of course this is also where I point out this is the worst offense we've had since 2008)

 

[44cuse]

I just think we need to press everyone this year.

^^^^^^^This...is exactly right. Press all over the place, all the time. When you have the depth in the front court and the athleticism...bring the pressure.

44cuse

 

[OttoMets]

This is where I jump in and point out that the defense has better efficiency numbers than we've ever had before. Of course it's early, and the competition hasn't been great (though the numbers are adjusted). The last 3 years we ranked 17th, 16th, and 18th in defensive efficiency. We're 2nd right now. (of course this is also where I point out this is the worst offense we've had since 2008)

Interesting; I didn't know that. As far as the eye test goes, that's surprising.

 

[OttoMets]

I disagree and I also disagree that Lemoyne has nothing to do with anything. We didn't work too hard that night either and why we LOST to Lemoyne, not just play uninspired vs Alcorn, and that season turned our OK.

LeMoyne served as a nice teaching opportunity. Play man, point out the team's shortcomings, and improve. As you say, it worked. Our guys learned that defense is important, and the next three years were unlike any other era in Boeheim's career.

As RF pointed out in the first post, we're seeing guys playing half-speed on defense this season. A lot.

 

[rrlbees]

LeMoyne served as a nice teaching opportunity. Play man, point out the team's shortcomings, and improve. As you say, it worked. Our guys learned that defense is important, and the next three years were unlike any other era in Boeheim's career.

As RF pointed out in the first post, we're seeing guys playing half-speed on defense this season. A lot.

i'm not seeing that. a lot. i have seen mcw jog back a few times. i have seen rak jog back a few times (he sprinted his butt back hard yesterday). i have seen mcw a few times make a half hearted attempt at getting out on a shooter. but i saw that last year too. scoop and dion made half hearted attempts on defense unless they were going for a steal. not always, but enough to be noticeable. i just dont see this lack of effort and laziness to an extent that it is different.

 

[Knicks411]

Interesting; I didn't know that. As far as the eye test goes, that's surprising.

I think it's mainly a function of the improved rebounding. (Also the effective FG defense has improved from 44% to 40%, but I bet that comes up a little in the conference season). We're basically still forcing TO 25% of the time. But last year we allowed 40% of the misses to be grabbed by the opponents; this year it's down to 30%. That's huge

 

[OttoMets]

i'm not seeing that. a lot. i have seen mcw jog back a few times. i have seen rak jog back a few times (he sprinted his butt back hard yesterday). i have seen mcw a few times make a half hearted attempt at getting out on a shooter. but i saw that last year too. scoop and dion made half hearted attempts on defense unless they were going for a steal. not always, but enough to be noticeable. i just dont see this lack of effort and laziness to an extent that it is different.

You're right - we did see some of that from the guards last year. Seems more common this season, though, especially defending the break.

 

[OttoMets]

I think it's mainly a function of the improved rebounding. (Also the effective FG defense has improved from 44% to 40%, but I bet that comes up a little in the conference season). We're basically still forcing TO 25% of the time. But last year we allowed 40% of the misses to be grabbed by the opponents; this year it's down to 30%. That's huge

Our guards are rebounding much better this year. Would have to think the small forward spot has improved as well. Makes a difference.

 

[Knicks411]

Our guards are rebounding much better this year. Would have to think the small forward spot has improved as well. Makes a difference.

Carter Williams has a higher defensive rebounding% than Joseph did last year. That's both impressive for MCW and kinda sad for KJ.

 

[OttoMets]

Carter Williams has a higher defensive rebounding% than Joseph did last year. That's both impressive for MCW and kinda sad for KJ.

Yikes. Both.

Mike and Brandon have both been going after rebounds like they really want them. Good to see.

 

[RF2044]

I think it's mainly a function of the improved rebounding. (Also the effective FG defense has improved from 44% to 40%, but I bet that comes up a little in the conference season). We're basically still forcing TO 25% of the time. But last year we allowed 40% of the misses to be grabbed by the opponents; this year it's down to 30%. That's huge

You've qualified it sufficiently, but it is important to keep in mind that last year's numbers were compiled against a full season's worth of competition, which included the #16 SOS, a very tough conference slate, and a run to the elite 8.

This year's numbers might be comparable thus far, but have been amassed against largely inferior opposition. If these numbers hold up over the course of the season, we'll be in good shape. But I don't think it is an accurate interpretation to look at this year's limited subset of data and formulate conclusions about how effective we are defensively / forcing TOs / rebounding compared to last year.

 

[RF2044]

A lot of good points RF. the only slight disagreement would be the choice if the word "sulk". I don't know if they'll sulk as much as just not knowing how to fix the half court issues.

I just think we need to press everyone this year.

That's fair. I think that "sulk" was just me typing fast in an incredibly long post.