Anybody we can't play with?

[OttoinGrotto]

We'd probably struggle a bit against the Warriors.

 

[GooseMutt]

Saturday will be a good indication if we are pretenders or for real. VT has played very well other than NC and Penn st loss. NC loss was a whipping.

 

[tbonezone]

team is 5-1 ACC league play. we've beaten #2 (down 2 starters) in OT . and numbers 9,11,13 and 14.

 

[Sgt Cuse]

Yeah if hes not on draft boards its way better to be out of sight out of mind in Europe making 50k a year than challening for national POY in front of 30k fans and on TV twice a week at Syracuse... good call I love it when our fans push our guys out the door. After last night Buddy seems to have NBA range why doesn't he leave as well plenty of upside and potential since hes only a FR...

My man, do not be hating on Tyus for leaving. Enjoy that he is here!!! It's an unexpected bounty for most of us that we should not forget. It's a big part of why this thread exists, Battle came back!!

I also think you will need to start checking out updated draft boards. TB just won the Naismith National Player of the week, last week. He outplayed Zion head to head. He has followed that up by taking a much larger role in the point guard function and went off for 9 assists. JB is talking him up. The NBA will notice.

 

[Sherman20]

My man, do not be hating on Tyus for leaving. Enjoy that he is here!!! It's an unexpected bounty for most of us that we should not forget. It's a big part of why this thread exists, Battle came back!!

I also think you will need to start checking out updated draft boards. TB just won the Naismith National Player of the week, last week. He outplayed Zion head to head. He has followed that up by taking a much larger role in the point guard function and went off for 9 assists. JB is talking him up. The NBA will notice.

I guess you missed the sarcasm.

 

[Sherman20]

I think we ll beat va tech in a shootout, always tough to score against uva, but we’re at home so you never know!!!

I envision a win on Saturday.

 

[SUOrangeSU]

Tyus could 5th year transfer to Duke. He’d still get college basketball exposure and he’d make more money than he would in Europe. Tax free as well.

Honestly, if I were in his shoes, I would do that to UK or KU or another big big time program (I don't think you can grad transfer in conference?)

 

[Sherman20]

Im dreading the game at Pitt.

I’m not really dreading any games the rest of the way. This team is starting to gel and play with a lot of confidence. They will lose some games (probably 4-5 more) because the ACC is the toughest conference in the country, but I don’t think there’s anything to dread.

 

[orangedave]

Rationalize it from a fans perspective all you want. I am not pushing anyone out. Just telling it like it is. Sorry, didn't mean to get you all worked up.

Did you mean to say telling it like I think it is?

 

[CuseFaninVT]

Tyus could 5th year transfer to Duke. He’d still get college basketball exposure and he’d make more money than he would in Europe. Tax free as well.

I'm guessing you're assuming he graduates this year and goes right away, yes? He's in his third year of playing now, and you're only allowed 4 seasons of playing in 5 years, even with the grad transfer.

 

[syrBossHogg]

Im dreading the game at Pitt.

Not going to be an easy game but I feel more confident after watching SU play them last week. They were a few missed FTs/couple bad possessions away from beating them by 20+

 

[Sgt Cuse]

Honestly, if I were in his shoes, I would do that to UK or KU or another big big time program (I don't think you can grad transfer in conference?)

If the bad blood is legit, I think transferring to UW would sting.

 

[Doc5120]

Yeah if hes not on draft boards its way better to be out of sight out of mind in Europe making 50k a year than challening for national POY in front of 30k fans and on TV twice a week at Syracuse... good call I love it when our fans push our guys out the door. After last night Buddy seems to have NBA range why doesn't he leave as well plenty of upside and potential since hes only a FR...

Didn't Tyus say before the season this is his last year and that he'll be able to get his degree as well? I would obviously love to have him back for his Sr. season, but I'm fairly sure he said this would be his last go round.

 

[Cusefan0307]

team is 5-1 ACC league play. we've beaten #2 (down 2 starters) in OT . and numbers 9,11,13 and 14.

They beat Virginia and Reddish isn't good. Own it and stop your agenda.

 

[Cusefan0307]

We'd probably struggle a bit against the Warriors.

Well we did hold Harden under 10 points. The Warriors can't do that.

 

[DoctahLexus]

We'd probably struggle a bit against the Warriors.

Strongly disagree. That is one team we can guarantee has little experience with the 2-3 zone.

 

[GoCuse14]

Did you mean to say telling it like I think it is?

I meant what I said.

 

[Forza Azzurri]

Now that we seem to be gelling, as mentioned in another thread, are there any teams that you feel we couldn't at least be competitive with and have a chance to beat? Any particularly bad matchup problems?

Not to be a Debbie Downer but I think the board has gotten a tad overnethusiastic.

We shot 45% from 3 vs Duke. They shot 21% and took 43 3s and we still needed OT to beat them

We shot 20% from 3 vs GaTech and they shot 45% and they beat us at home by double digits.

We are a jump shooting team at this point. We are getting better looks but are still a jump shooting team.

We are going to have bad shooting days and, as a result, will likely lose some games we probably shouldn't.

To be a really good team, and compete with the really good teams, you have to have balance.

At this point, I don't believe that we can generate enough points in the paint to beat the top teams unless they have a really bad shooting night and we shoot the ball well.

I also think our D is very good and getting better but we will see how much better it is when we play the better offensive teams in the ACC. Duke put up a bundle on us.

Can you win 4-6 games in the tourney with good D and shooting the ball really well? Absolutely. But the odds of a jump shooting team shooting the ball well for 4-6 straight games is, IMHO, pretty low.

My kingdom for Brissett consistently finishing in the paint...

 

[Cusefan0307]

Villanova won 2 titles shooting 40% from 3 and little post presence. Post play isn’t as important as it was in the past.

Also Duke is an awful shooting team.

 

[Forza Azzurri]

Villanova won 2 titles shooting 40% from 3 and little post presence. Post play isn’t as important as it was in the past.

Also Duke is an awful shooting team.

Right but they also shot 40% as a team from 3 for the season. We shoot 32%. A team shooting 32% from 3 needs points in the paint...They also shot 59% from 2...so, even though they did not have much of a post presence, they were able to get into the lane and score.

Duke is an awful shooting team but they shoot 30% from 3, not 20%, They shoot their average against us, they get the W.

 

[NKR1978]

team is 5-1 ACC league play. we've beaten #2 (down 2 starters) in OT . and numbers 9,11,13 and 14.

How did that Duke team do against Virginia? At Cameron? Didn't they play on saturday?

 

[Cusefan0307]

Right but they also shot 40% as a team from 3 for the season. We shoot 32%. A team shooting 32% from 3 needs points in the paint...They also shot 59% from 2...so, even though they did not have much of a post presence, they were able to get into the lane and score.

Duke is an awful shooting team but they shoot 30% from 3, not 20%, They shoot their average against us, they get the W.

I'm not disagreeing, but we also shot terrible the beginning of the season and I think guys like Hughes, Boeheim, and Howard are closer to what they are now than they were earlier in the season.

Williamson and Barrett are just not good shooters yet in their development so when people downgrade our win against them because Jones and Reddish were out I kind of disagree as it put their best shooter on the court in O'Connell.

I'm not saying we are winning all the rest of our games, but we also are not the same team that lost to Buffalo, ODU, and UConn.

 

[Forza Azzurri]

I'm not disagreeing, but we also shot terrible the beginning of the season and I think guys like Hughes, Boeheim, and Howard are closer to what they are now than they were earlier in the season.

Williamson and Barrett are just not good shooters yet in their development so when people downgrade our win against them because Jones and Reddish were out I kind of disagree as it put their best shooter on the court in O'Connell.

I'm not saying we are winning all the rest of our games, but we also are not the same team that lost to Buffalo, ODU, and UConn.

Oh, I agree 1000% with you on that. We are a much better team now than we were in December.

But I still don't think we are good enough that if we played 10 games each against Duke and Virginia that we would split the series.

 

[OrangeDW]

team is 5-1 ACC league play. we've beaten #2 (down 2 starters) in OT . and numbers 9,11,13 and 14.

Footage of tbone at the Dome:

 

[omniorange]

I'm not disagreeing, but we also shot terrible the beginning of the season and I think guys like Hughes, Boeheim, and Howard are closer to what they are now than they were earlier in the season.

Williamson and Barrett are just not good shooters yet in their development so when people downgrade our win against them because Jones and Reddish were out I kind of disagree as it put their best shooter on the court in O'Connell.

I'm not saying we are winning all the rest of our games, but we also are not the same team that lost to Buffalo, ODU, and UConn.

Exactly. Besides Zion and Barrett, O'Connell was the one who kept Duke close in our game. He's the one who got the key threes when they needed them. He has gotten little play in their last two games and Reddish hasn't been that impressive. Jones was their only true loss for our game and losing a player during a game is always tougher than entering the next games knowing that player won't be there. Still, beating Virginia shows just how good Duke is even without Jones which I think makes our win even better.

And like you say, this improvement doesn't mean we are winning all the rest of our games, but this three game sustained effort is the best three game stretch I have seen from this team since our Final Four run in 2016. And we don't even have OB (our consensus second best player coming into this season) playing at the same level he played last year yet.

I suppose this upcoming three game road trip will tell us more.

Cheers,
Neil