General20
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Discounting the fact that they had the word HUSKIES written on their butts, which quite frankly creeped me out, Bloomsburg (unlike Pace) looked every bit the equal of a D1 team. They had D1 size across the board, they were the champions of their league last year, and they had the preseason player of the year in their league.
Despite this, Bloomsburg had no chance of stopping Syracuse's offense. They tried man to man, they tried zone, they tried to press - nothing so much as slowed Syracuse down. For what its worth I think Syracuse is going to have one of its best offensive years ever this year.
Even though Syracuse could score at will from the opening tip on, Bloomsberg managed to keep the game tight for about ten minutes. They did it by scoring on us as often as we were able to score on them. They looked to be very well coached, and knew how to attack the 2-3 zone. What that well coached team decided to do every single time down the court for the first ten minutes of the game was attack the area DaJuan Coleman was guarding.
Like the last exhibition game against Pace, Coleman started on the wing of the zone. I had some thoughts about Coleman's ability to defend the wing during that game that I held in. After all, it was only his first game. I know this is only his second game, but even so I am no longer able to hold these thoughts in. Its painfully clear to me that Coleman is incapable of guarding the wing of the zone. He was not able to get out on shooters, he was not able to stop dribble penetration, he was not able to get in passing lanes, he was not able to rebound, he was not able to block shots. In short, he was not quick enough to be in the right place at the right time.
Blomsburg, who was clearly well coached, knew this going in and literally attacked it on every single possession. Boeheim tried moving Coleman from one side of the court to the other, but no matter what side he went to Bloomsburg attacked it without fail, and without fail earned a wide open shot.
At the time Boeheim finally gave up on having Coleman play the wing, Syracuse was up 26-20. The change Boeheim made was simple. Christmas went from the center to the wing and Coleman when from the wing to the center. The difference was dramatic. Syracuse went on a 34-4 run, and the 4 points that Bloomsburg did score were off a play where Grant threw the ball directly to the opposing team who went in for an uncontested dunk, and two free throws. In other words, the four points Bloomsburg scored did not come against our defense.
This game can be summed up very efficiently and effectively by pointing out that single change in Coleman's position.
I like Coleman's skill set, a lot. I'd like to see him use his frame a little more and bang more for position under the basket (something the Big East teaches centers to do quickly and unfailingly), and I'd like to see him throw in a few more pump fakes. These are two very small and very fixable issues - so long as he is the center. Its time to end the Coleman as a power forward experiment and let him learn the center spot full time.
After the run I mentioned above, the game was over. Syracuse started messing around with presses and man to man D (like they have always done preseason in other years, but had not done yet this year) and basically cruised to a victory.
Onto a few other things I noticed.
Someone lit a fire under Triche. He played as intensely as I've ever seen anybody play in an exhibition game, but it wasn't just that, he also played smart. Triche clearly had one goal and only one goal in mind today - get inside, get to the basket. This should be a winning strategy for us all year. We have two very big guards in MCW and Triche. We also have an excess of forwards and bigs who can step away from the basket and stretch the D (Southerland, Fair, even Coleman can hit jump shots), creating huge lanes for our guards to get to the basket where they can utilize their size mismatch. Triche understood that today, he exploited it, and was rewarded by being the highest scoring and best player on the court.
I did not fail to point out Triche's poor game against Pace, but I also pointed out that he was very capable of going for twenty the next game and making us all forget the Pace game. Triche did exactly that, and in doing so showed a blueprint for how he can succeed against just about every team we play this year.
Besides pulling opposing bigs away from the basket and letting our tall guards exploit mismatches inside, there are a few other offensive sets Syracuse will run this year that make my mouth water.
The first is the pick and roll with MCW and Southerland. This is an NBA quality pick and roll. Both players have NBA size and NBA athleticism. Both players are capable of going to the basket and dunking over help D. Both players are capable of burying wide open shots. With this pick and roll the defense basically has to pick their poison and hope one of our guys has an off day. I literally can't see enough of this play.
The second is DaJuan Coleman in the high post feeding Christmas in the low post. This set is still a work in progress. They ran it a few times against Pace with no success, but were able to run it successfully against Bloomsburg. Coleman can hit a mid range jumper so he must be guarded. That leaves Christmas down low against the opposing power forward. He was able to dunk right over Bloomsburg's power forward . . . but he would have a physical mismatch against almost anybody in the Big East as well. I hope they keep working on this play because it has a lot of potential.
Cooney finally got some action. He looked very comfortable handling the ball, and comfortable (though with work still to do) on defense. Have to think that was a positive first game for him. I really liked that he would take a few dribbles to put the D in a weaker position before making a pass, not enough players do that. There are going to be a few teams he goes off against this year, though I think Triche and MCW will be on the court the vast majority of the time.
Grant looked very good too. He is the prototypical Syracuse forward if there ever was one. Six foot eight, freakishly long arms, freakish athleticism, great ball handling skills. He has all the tools, and you've got to think with the basketball family he comes from that he is going to put everything together for us in a big way. That said, he is going to need time to learn our zone. Right now he is in the early stages of learning it and is in the wrong places a lot. He will play a good amount in games where the outcome is not in doubt, but when its close Fair and Southerland are going to get all the time.
Southerland lead a fast break today as perfectly as any guard we have ever had. Boeheim knew we would need ball handling help this year, and ball handling was clearly a focus for both Southerland and Fair in the off season. Southerland has needed to work on it all four years, and that work is clearly paying off. He looks ready for a huge year. Fair is playing outside more, using his improved dribble to drive to the basket, and he looks silky smooth doing it. It seems to me that our forwards were working hard over the summer.
My guess is that Christmas plays more minutes than Coleman early in the season but that Coleman catches and surpasses Christmas as he starts to "get it." But that's just a guess. Should be an interesting battle for minutes all year. Even Kieta will be in the mix. Early he will provide crucial stability off the bench, but if those two guys progress enough his playing time may dwindle.
I wanted to see progress from the Pace game to this one, and that is exactly what I saw. The team that played Pace did not look capable of beating a top 25 team. This one did. Hopefully there will be an equal amount of improvement between now and the time they lace them up against San Diego St. It will be interesting to see what develops, and no matter what I am sure this is going to be a fun team to watch.
Despite this, Bloomsburg had no chance of stopping Syracuse's offense. They tried man to man, they tried zone, they tried to press - nothing so much as slowed Syracuse down. For what its worth I think Syracuse is going to have one of its best offensive years ever this year.
Even though Syracuse could score at will from the opening tip on, Bloomsberg managed to keep the game tight for about ten minutes. They did it by scoring on us as often as we were able to score on them. They looked to be very well coached, and knew how to attack the 2-3 zone. What that well coached team decided to do every single time down the court for the first ten minutes of the game was attack the area DaJuan Coleman was guarding.
Like the last exhibition game against Pace, Coleman started on the wing of the zone. I had some thoughts about Coleman's ability to defend the wing during that game that I held in. After all, it was only his first game. I know this is only his second game, but even so I am no longer able to hold these thoughts in. Its painfully clear to me that Coleman is incapable of guarding the wing of the zone. He was not able to get out on shooters, he was not able to stop dribble penetration, he was not able to get in passing lanes, he was not able to rebound, he was not able to block shots. In short, he was not quick enough to be in the right place at the right time.
Blomsburg, who was clearly well coached, knew this going in and literally attacked it on every single possession. Boeheim tried moving Coleman from one side of the court to the other, but no matter what side he went to Bloomsburg attacked it without fail, and without fail earned a wide open shot.
At the time Boeheim finally gave up on having Coleman play the wing, Syracuse was up 26-20. The change Boeheim made was simple. Christmas went from the center to the wing and Coleman when from the wing to the center. The difference was dramatic. Syracuse went on a 34-4 run, and the 4 points that Bloomsburg did score were off a play where Grant threw the ball directly to the opposing team who went in for an uncontested dunk, and two free throws. In other words, the four points Bloomsburg scored did not come against our defense.
This game can be summed up very efficiently and effectively by pointing out that single change in Coleman's position.
I like Coleman's skill set, a lot. I'd like to see him use his frame a little more and bang more for position under the basket (something the Big East teaches centers to do quickly and unfailingly), and I'd like to see him throw in a few more pump fakes. These are two very small and very fixable issues - so long as he is the center. Its time to end the Coleman as a power forward experiment and let him learn the center spot full time.
After the run I mentioned above, the game was over. Syracuse started messing around with presses and man to man D (like they have always done preseason in other years, but had not done yet this year) and basically cruised to a victory.
Onto a few other things I noticed.
Someone lit a fire under Triche. He played as intensely as I've ever seen anybody play in an exhibition game, but it wasn't just that, he also played smart. Triche clearly had one goal and only one goal in mind today - get inside, get to the basket. This should be a winning strategy for us all year. We have two very big guards in MCW and Triche. We also have an excess of forwards and bigs who can step away from the basket and stretch the D (Southerland, Fair, even Coleman can hit jump shots), creating huge lanes for our guards to get to the basket where they can utilize their size mismatch. Triche understood that today, he exploited it, and was rewarded by being the highest scoring and best player on the court.
I did not fail to point out Triche's poor game against Pace, but I also pointed out that he was very capable of going for twenty the next game and making us all forget the Pace game. Triche did exactly that, and in doing so showed a blueprint for how he can succeed against just about every team we play this year.
Besides pulling opposing bigs away from the basket and letting our tall guards exploit mismatches inside, there are a few other offensive sets Syracuse will run this year that make my mouth water.
The first is the pick and roll with MCW and Southerland. This is an NBA quality pick and roll. Both players have NBA size and NBA athleticism. Both players are capable of going to the basket and dunking over help D. Both players are capable of burying wide open shots. With this pick and roll the defense basically has to pick their poison and hope one of our guys has an off day. I literally can't see enough of this play.
The second is DaJuan Coleman in the high post feeding Christmas in the low post. This set is still a work in progress. They ran it a few times against Pace with no success, but were able to run it successfully against Bloomsburg. Coleman can hit a mid range jumper so he must be guarded. That leaves Christmas down low against the opposing power forward. He was able to dunk right over Bloomsburg's power forward . . . but he would have a physical mismatch against almost anybody in the Big East as well. I hope they keep working on this play because it has a lot of potential.
Cooney finally got some action. He looked very comfortable handling the ball, and comfortable (though with work still to do) on defense. Have to think that was a positive first game for him. I really liked that he would take a few dribbles to put the D in a weaker position before making a pass, not enough players do that. There are going to be a few teams he goes off against this year, though I think Triche and MCW will be on the court the vast majority of the time.
Grant looked very good too. He is the prototypical Syracuse forward if there ever was one. Six foot eight, freakishly long arms, freakish athleticism, great ball handling skills. He has all the tools, and you've got to think with the basketball family he comes from that he is going to put everything together for us in a big way. That said, he is going to need time to learn our zone. Right now he is in the early stages of learning it and is in the wrong places a lot. He will play a good amount in games where the outcome is not in doubt, but when its close Fair and Southerland are going to get all the time.
Southerland lead a fast break today as perfectly as any guard we have ever had. Boeheim knew we would need ball handling help this year, and ball handling was clearly a focus for both Southerland and Fair in the off season. Southerland has needed to work on it all four years, and that work is clearly paying off. He looks ready for a huge year. Fair is playing outside more, using his improved dribble to drive to the basket, and he looks silky smooth doing it. It seems to me that our forwards were working hard over the summer.
My guess is that Christmas plays more minutes than Coleman early in the season but that Coleman catches and surpasses Christmas as he starts to "get it." But that's just a guess. Should be an interesting battle for minutes all year. Even Kieta will be in the mix. Early he will provide crucial stability off the bench, but if those two guys progress enough his playing time may dwindle.
I wanted to see progress from the Pace game to this one, and that is exactly what I saw. The team that played Pace did not look capable of beating a top 25 team. This one did. Hopefully there will be an equal amount of improvement between now and the time they lace them up against San Diego St. It will be interesting to see what develops, and no matter what I am sure this is going to be a fun team to watch.
