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Message: [QUOTE="dcw914, post: 3622139, member: 6001"] Really impressive analysis. Nailed so many of the themes, both positive and negative, that can be taken away from this game. Wanted to touch on a few of your points with some additional things I noticed: JG3 - He was pressing and not being able to make shots made him press harder. I think a consequence of his struggles against a quick guard made him take some questionable shots. He said himself this year that he was looking to improve his shot selection and that didn't show in the first game. What JG3 should realize is that he doesn't have to score a ton to be effective. Case in point was the UNC game in the ACC tournament which was arguably our most impressive game of the season. He only scored 3 points in that game but was incredibly productive running the offense, controlling tempo, and making his teammates better. He's always going to look to score first, has flare, and can change the game with his shooting (and we don't win without his couple of clutch buckets with less than 5 minutes to play), but when shots aren't falling, he should take a 'less is more' approach to the game. Griffin - Kid is a stud. He's going to play major minutes this year. However, I echo your analysis of his defense and I believe he had the most significant and frequent defensive lapses in this game. That's somewhat expected due to being a transfer and not being able to practice for two weeks, but something to keep an eye on throughout the season. He seems to have the athleticism, physicality, and instincts to do well in our zone. It's just a matter of knowing where to be which he will hopefully pick up sooner than later. Quincy - One thing I wanted to add is his shot looked improved. I remember one three in particular went in and out of the hoop. I would love to see Quincy become more of a threat in the mid-range game since I believe he's a good enough shooter to atleast make shots near the free throw line. This would be a nice added layer to his game which could lead up to him taking more 3s. If he can even be respectable from distance, like anything over 30%, he becomes a really dangerous player. Buddy - Couldn't agree more with everything you wrote. Despite his physical and athletic shortcomings, I believe he has a nice feel for the zone and typically is where he needs to be. Offensively, this team loses a lot if he's off the court and it's crazy to think otherwise. Buddy would play major minutes on any team in the country and he just keeps getting better. Dolezaj - Wow was he impressive and I actually think he left some meat on the bone in terms of his opportunities to score. He's going to be a matchup nightmare for opposing teams this year because he plays really well over guys smaller than him but is also skilled enough to get by guys bigger than him. While I agree that the offense won't necessarily run through him, I'd bet JB finds ways to get the ball in his hands on most possessions. He simply needs to stay out of foul trouble because he's too valuable on the court for us. Rebounding - Really curious to see if this team rebounds better than in years past. Griff and Guerrier are an impressive physical combo on the wings to rebound the basketball. Bryant doesn't have great length but they did a pretty good job having all their guys crash the boards so I'm cautiously optimistic our rebounding won't be a major flaw this year. Obviously, having Sidibe back will improve this area as well. Also, is it possible that Griff's and Guerrier's rebounding prowess comes at a detriment to their defense? Something I'm not sure of, but could be possible in particular with Griffin. Center Position - Tough blow for Bourama who looks like he bulked up quite a bit in the offseason. We were all hoping his success from late in last season would carry over, but this injury will inevitably set him back some. Let's hope he's ready to go in January and can make a difference early on. In the mean time, I'm eager to see who out of Edwards or Anselem steps up because you'd think atleast one of them will be getting minutes. If I had to bet, I'd say Edwards becomes our 7th man while Sidibe is out. I think there's a lot to like with Edwards still, am I the only one who thought he seemed to have a knack for making plays when he got a chance last year? He's got length, has decent footwork and touch around the basket, and I don't recall him being a totally liability defensively last year when he was in there. From everything I've read and heard, the issue seems to be that he isn't physical/strong enough to make a difference which may be true. I haven't seen enough of Anselem but he certainly does look the part. Very curious to see who gets a chance in game to play center when Marek needs a break. All in all, this was one of the strangest games I've witnessed during the entirety of my Syracuse fandom. Quite fitting given the state of the world in 2020. It's easy to look at this game and think critically of this team and have a pessimistic outlook, but i'll reserve judgement until we can get a few more games (and practice) under our belt. On no planet can you judge a team after one game that hasn't played in a couple weeks against a pretty impressive Bryant team. Hopefully this team improves against Niagra and Rider leading up to Rutgers which should be a nice litmus test. [/QUOTE]

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