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Message: [QUOTE="jordoo, post: 1192367, member: 569"] Good post but I have a couple of quibbles. Cooney is an established offensive player coming back. We ran regular plays for him, he averaged double figures and yes he shot very poorly down the stretch but that wasn't just him. Whatever you think of him as a player he is an established returning offensive player as is anyone who averaged double figures IMO. Part of the reason Ennis wasn't able to drive and dish as the season wore on was because of the overall offensive failure. Teams crowded the lane, stayed off Ennis hen he had the ball outside because they didn't fear his shot and then stuck one guy to Cooney to keep him from getting open looks. If Ennis had more help or shot it better himself then he could have done more driving and dishing. Over all on what turned out to be a shooting challenged team I felt Ennis did a great job for a freshman PG. I like others share in the frustration of the slow methodical take no chances style he played. I think he had a good enough handle, passing and vision to push the ball more but the he didn't finish well himself and that can create issues for a lead guard on fast breaks. I'm glad he came to SU and I'm glad he played well enough to get drafted in the NBA and make some money. I'm not sure that last years team allowed him to show us what he was really capable of and obviously another year of getting stronger, improving his shot and having more options around him may have allowed him to but likely wouldn't have increased his draft stock much. This year I think the defense has a chance to be really good if the forwards improve over the course of the season. I think the top will be great one Kaleb has about 8 games of experience out there because Cooney, Buss and Mike are all good defenders in the zone. Rakeem is very good in the middle if he stays on the court but right now Mike is our best defensive forward. Chris is lost out there but puts in effort and has the physical tools. Tyler and BJ just need some real game time in the zone IMO because they have a season of practicing it and know what they should be doing. They just need to get to the point of reacting at game speed rather than thinking through it. I agree that offense should be improved. Mike and Buss specifically seem like they are ready for bigger rolls. Christmas looks like he can score IF we commit to feeding him the ball. Kaleb is dynamic and even simply by pushing the ball will help our offense but he also looks like a guy that one player cannot keep in front of in half court sets plus that jumper especially from 17' is money. Chris has a lot of skills and will garner a lot of attention. To me overall the season comes down to how well the forwards develop and how quickly they do it on both ends. Shooting well to some extent also as we cannot be successful shooting the way we did down the stretch. This years team just has a lot more options as shooters and we shouldn't have to rely on one guy to make all the 3's nor will we often have only one guy who can shoot on the court. [/QUOTE]

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