BC Postgame Thoughts

[Fly Rodder]

Flawed roster now more flawed due to injury.

Four centers and none of them can play at this level. No shooters with any kind of overall game. The offense is still a dribble drive ISO offense that basically drags multiple defenders to the paint. Judah at one point dribbled the entire perimeter, under the basket back out and drew his man right into the shooter he passed too. JJ is just a ball handler and doesn’t provide much else. Benny I don’t get at all. I’m 50 and I think I could make 1 FT and get 3 rebounds just by dumb luck if I played 15 minutes.

 

[OrangeinBoston]

Judah was eh. Too many forces and then not enough effort on D at times.

The team looked better during the first 9 minutes of the game.

 

[Newhouser]

For some reason, this team will not give the ball up on the break. We missed at least three opportunities in the first half. No idea how to drive and dish. Two on one spacing is terrible too.

I notice that too. Absolutely no incentive for the trailer to run as you most likely are not seeing the ball. Spacing is horrible in halfcourt and open floor situations.

 

[boog7]

Q's shot looks fine, it just, uh, doesn't go in a lot.

Form looks off to me but agree that he's going to have to learn to shoot better and make more jumpers - mid and long range - to take the next step. But he is truly an elite passer. Very gifted in that regard.

 

[boog7]

Cope has skills that can't be taught. His talent level is off the chart. If he develops a shot he will make the league.

His vision and passing ability remind a little of Rafer "Skip To My Lou" Alston who I used to see play in Rucker Park when he was still just a high school drop out making a name for himself in street ball.

Like Skip, Q just has a natural inclination to make a nice pass - often of the fancy, no-look variety - which often leads to turnovers but it just as often leads to a spectacular play. The key for Red & his staff is to teach Q - the way that Tark ultimately taught Skip at Fresno State - is how to control his gift, play smart and accept that sometimes the basic, fundamental play is the best play, not the crowd pleasing highlight.

If Cope ever figures it out, and as you pointed out, develops a consistent outside shot and/or a floater/mid-range shot, he just might make the league like Skip did. Q's natural showmanship will likely lead to a professional career somewhere, even if it isn't in the NBA. I could see him wowing crowds overseas professionally if he doesn't make the league.

 

[NineOneSeven]

Cope has skills that can't be taught. His talent level is off the chart. If he develops a shot he will make the league.

What’s your track record for successfully predicting SU players to make the NBA?

 

[kingtidge]

Add Q to that list as well. It's weird for one team to have so many players with odd/ugly looking jump shots. Bell and maybe Cuffe & Brown appear to be the only rotation guys with a "normal" or proper shooting form.

Benny's free throws... zero-arc lasers... no idea how they go in, lol.

 

[boog7]

Flawed roster now more flawed due to injury.

Four centers and none of them can play at this level. No shooters with any kind of overall game. The offense is still a dribble drive ISO offense that basically drags multiple defenders to the paint. Judah at one point dribbled the entire perimeter, under the basket back out and drew his man right into the shooter he passed too. JJ is just a ball handler and doesn’t provide much else. Benny I don’t get at all. I’m 50 and I think I could make 1 FT and get 3 rebounds just by dumb luck if I played 15 minutes.

And yet they are still 11-4, 2-2. Not bad for a flawed roster.

Despite this teams many deficiencies - primarily perimeter shooting - they somehow seem to manufacture just enough offense to beat peer level teams. If they somehow learn to do that against the better teams, their record will continue to improve.

 

[boog7]

Benny's free throws... zero-arc lasers... no idea how they go in, lol.

Yeah, he's another one. How does ONE team have so many flawed shooters and yet somehow still wins games?

 

[atlanticuse]

Yeah, he's another one. How does ONE team have so many flawed shooters and yet somehow still wins games?

zone defense?

reality is that we've been crushed by 'good' teams - Tenn, Gonzaga, Duke, and UVA.

But those are our only losses.

 

[Dinkyspond]

Is anybody else wondering why BC did not start fouling at the end? There was about 2 minutes to go and they were down only 8 or 9. Their only chance was to start fouling, stop the clock, hope we miss the FTs and score on their end. It seemed like Grant just threw in the towel and gave up.

 

[Dinkyspond]

For some reason, this team will not give the ball up on the break. We missed at least three opportunities in the first half. No idea how to drive and dish. Two on one spacing is terrible too.

There was a time when Taylor did that, went to the rim and missed or got his shot partially blocked. I yelled at the TV, "give it up!" I think Maliq was right there. The only thing I could think of was that Taylor was dribbling with his head down and didn’t see him.

 

[atlanticuse]

The team looked better during the first 9 minutes of the game.

basically before Judah entered the game?

 

[Fly Rodder]

And yet they are still 11-4, 2-2. Not bad for a flawed roster.

Absolutely true and they played a tough(er) schedule to start. Unfortunately, the schedule IMO only gets tougher in the 2nd half of the season. They have 8 conference road games and 8 home games remaining. Of those remaining road games, only two are against teams that are ranked appreciably lower than Syracuse in most metrics (KP, NET, Evan Miya, SRS, etc): @Louisville and @G-Tech. At BC is going to be a tough one, as is @Pitt and @NC State. They have 7 remaining games that are going to be incredibly tough to win: UNC x 2, Clemson x 2, @Wake, Miami, and @Pitt and 5 games that are probably going to be pick-ems: VT, NC State x 2, FSU, and @BC.

Syracuse is 2-4 against teams with better metrics with their two wins being at home against Pitt and and in Sioux falls against short-handed Oregon team. The four losses have been blowouts. 4-12 to end the season is not that unlikely, especially given the state of the roster.

 

[STEVEHOLT]

I would have bet everything I own Taylor had more than 7 rebounds.

but we’re a mess of a team, we need to enjoy and be thankful for wins when we get them. We’re going to get “schemed” into many losses because we can’t shoot

I’d bet everything I own that you would not bet everything you own on that fact

 

[STEVEHOLT]

basically before Judah entered the game?

Mere coincidence……..or was it ?

 

[STEVEHOLT]

Never saw anything like that before with no whistle-
Absolute Bulldozer job -kept going and going for at least 10' into the paint.
That was early 1st half -raised concern that Post had a License To Kill.
Good thing Maliq has a cool head -I'd have lost it!

It was an Oklahoma drill where only one guy knew it was an Oklahoma drill

 

[boog7]

Syracuse is 2-4 against teams with better metrics with their two wins being at home against Pitt and and in Sioux falls against short-handed Oregon team. The four losses have been blowouts. 4-12 to end the season is not that unlikely, especially given the state of the roster.

Pretty dim outlook. I think this team is trending up and could see this group fighting and scraping together a surprising 12-4 finish. Something in between is more likely. We'll see.

 

[CardiacCuse]

i think this game was bit of a "pink elephant" situation

practice focused on shooting and finding a way to get better shots...to the point that it became a distraction and forced. by focusing on something too hard, you sometimes cause it to not happen.

still, this team needs to shoot better no matter what...there really isnt any excuse at this point.

i think it is possible but its just a weakness at this point.

also think the hangover effect of the duke blowout brought them down

they should never lose to BC, imo...should blow them out...and wouldve if they could shoot better.

 

[Fly Rodder]

Pretty dim outlook.

Not my prediction, just an observation that there are a lot of tough games left.

 

[bballbeadle]

Oh and the 2nd most important thing-- my buddy was the one who did the shooting challenge in the first half! He was a few inches from nailing that half court shot. I was cheering loudly from 213 and took a video for him. I wish he was able to get more than 1 shot up but he was sort of stalled before his attempt.

Pretty cool. Nice to have people out there that have actually dribbled a basketball in the last 30 years, if ever.

He came so close! The whole Dome was behind him.

 

[boog7]

Not my prediction, just an observation that there are a lot of tough games left.

Agreed. And also agree that collecting wins won't be easy. But there's just something about this team - they seem to be evolving positively and incrementally every game. And because of that steady growth it's hard to predict what it will lead to. I don't know the ceiling for this team and based on the flawed roster, I don't think it's very high.

But because there are some very interesting pieces on this squad the ceiling may still be higher than expected. This team imho, has three players that do things at an elite level:

1) Mintz - an elite ability to get to the rim and finish or draw fouls
2) Brown - an elite ability to disrupt on the defensive end
3) Copeland - an elite ability to create for his teammates

Red and his staff seem to be doing a good job of maximizing these three players skill sets and because of that and because of the focus on being a good defensive team, this athletic group scrapes together wins in spite of their obvious deficiencies. I don't how long that can work, especially against tougher comp. But hey, it just might because this team just keeps improving. But again, we'll see.

 

[rocklloyd]

I never really taken notice before, but is it normal for point guard to be on the ground after every drive to basket?. I’m worried Judah is gonna get hurt with the amount of times he’s on floor. Feels like it’s almost every time. I’d like him to stay on his feet more.

 

[UnderHisOwnPower]

What a bizarre game. Maliq saved us. LGO! Thoughts?

Judah getting torched by CK3 a couple times and Benny dropping that wide open feed for a dunk were the ugh moments for me. Otherwise they removed Posts impact and took away all drama at the end. Next

 

[CuseDream]

I think opposing teams base line out of bounds against our 2-3 zone has to be like a 70% success rate. Can we please stop doing that.