Buddy's game

[Newhouser]

represents a lot of what I hate about basketball - he threw in a ton of points in the second half when the game was never in doubt. He was a major negative on both ends in the first half and on D the entire game. What irks me the most is he literally does nothing else on the court, but shoot. He doesn't rebound or seem to scrap. Not a good passer or handler. I thought he had a chance to be fringe honorable mention ACC, but now I just see him as a chucker who gets too many minutes.

 

[tbonezone]

he's a mediocre talent who also happens to be among the tops in minutes and in shot attempts. so when you factor in he's also coach's son it's a bad look. and i suppose i hold him to a higher standard becuz of the latter. but that's the reality. he's gonna take more flack than joe blow cuz of his name. and he should've known that when he signed here . not saying it's fair. but he's no C.J. fair either.

 

[OrangeDW]

He’d be great if we had Hart, Blackwell, Brown, Thomas as the other starters.

Or Douglas, Thompson, Owens, Coleman.

He’s a Marius Janulis/Matt Roe type who would be a deadly floor spacer on a typical old school athletic and big Syracuse team.

 

[jgeorge322]

hes got cinderblocks for feet and is flat footed on defense. No other player that bad on defense would ever start for jb. He seems to hit shots once the game is decided. That being said, i think he will get better.

 

[rrlbees]

represents a lot of what I hate about basketball - he threw in a ton of points in the second half when the game was never in doubt. He was a major negative on both ends in the first half and on D the entire game. What irks me the most is he literally does nothing else on the court, but shoot. He doesn't rebound or seem to scrap. Not a good passer or handler. I thought he had a chance to be fringe honorable mention ACC, but now I just see him as a chucker who gets too many minutes.

when the game was never in doubt? that was with a couple minutes to play. the whole 2nd half we still had a chance. its not like it was 20 down the whole time. if not for him we lose by 25 and would have been down 20-25 the whole half. and as bad as his defense is, and it is, girards is as bad for different reasons. they are both bad. and while everyone is killing buddy today, 25 is still 25 regardless of half. he also shot better from the field than joe, better from 3 and even had more assists and fewer turnovers. some people pick their whipping boy and are blind to everything else.

 

[dasher]

I think Buddy will have a very good career here. Right now, he is terrible on defense. And he doesn't add much on offense other than he can shoot. Usually when the game is sort of decided. But that will change. He will pick up short cuts on defense that will make him acceptable on defense at some point. He will add to his offense because it is clear he works hard. I think the same about Girard. they will be a tough offensive duo at some point.

 

[gmoney44]

hes got cinderblocks for feet and is flat footed on defense. No other player that bad on defense would ever start for jb. He seems to hit shots once the game is decided. That being said, i think he will get better.

What really chaps my arse is JB will yank any underclassmen for a defensive lapse or two but Buddy never seems to get the hook for being a turnstile for penetrating guards.

 

[dasher]

What really chaps my arse is JB will yank any underclassmen for a defensive lapse or two but Buddy never seems to get the hook for being a turnstile for penetrating guards.

He hasn't pulled Girard for that either. Just as bad

 

[gmoney44]

when the game was never in doubt? that was with a couple minutes to play. the whole 2nd half we still had a chance. its not like it was 20 down the whole time. if not for him we lose by 25 and would have been down 20-25 the whole half. and as bad as his defense is, and it is, girards is as bad for different reasons. they are both bad. and while everyone is killing buddy today, 25 is still 25 regardless of half. he also shot better from the field than joe, better from 3 and even had more assists and fewer turnovers. some people pick their whipping boy and are blind to everything else.

Joe is a true Freshmen forced to run point. He also gets the hook when he jacks up unlike Buddy.

 

[CaptainJ]

He’d be great if we had Hart, Blackwell, Brown, Thomas as the other starters.

Or Douglas, Thompson, Owens, Coleman.

He’s a Marius Janulis/Matt Roe type who would be a deadly floor spacer on a typical old school athletic and big Syracuse team.

This.
Plenty on here are downplaying how the lack of real bigs effect other players on both offense and defense. I'll try to leave Bernie Fine out of it, being plenty like to devalue his contribution to the success of our bigs when we had them, so maybe it's coincidence the lack of success we've had down low since he was banned from the team.

 

[Briancuse]

Let's be honest right now all buddy can do is shoot.

 

[gmoney44]

He hasn't pulled Girard for that either. Just as bad

Gerard is bad on D, Buddy is the worst starter I've ever seen at the top of the zone.

 

[Arangeman]

His ceiling is low defensively due to his physical limitations. He‘s not exactly a kid who is getting on the floor for loose balls or taking charges either. I’m not sure he improves that much on D.

 

[CanadianSU]

I don’t get it. Never will. Sure he can be ok offensively at times but just not the type of player you can win with when he is that bad defensively. There is room for a player like him at Syracuse but with this much minutes? Something wrong. This is Syracuse not Colgate.

 

[Arangeman]

He hasn't pulled Girard for that either. Just as bad

Girard is horrendous on D too but he plays with physicality. Like a kid who played football. Buddy not so much.

 

[CaptainJ]

His ceiling is low defensively due to his physical limitations. He‘s not exactly a kid who is getting on the floor for loose balls or taking charges either. I’m not sure he improves that much on D.

Maybe Mike Hopkins could inspire him a bit and coach him up on those aspects of the game, or at least show him some VHS tapes of his games.

 

[CaptainJ]

Gerard is bad on D, Buddy is the worst starter I've ever seen at the top of the zone.

That's a lot of starters. I try not to focus on the negative as much as some, so even worse than Kaleb Joseph who was ruthlessly mocked on here for not having his hands up on D?

 

[OttoMets]

...I thought he had a chance to be fringe honorable mention ACC, but now I just see him as a chucker who gets too many minutes.

I shared this optimism, he seems to have some solid intangibles and has occasionally shown a well-rounded offensive game, but I don't know. His misses are remarkable. What's the record for missed jumpers that jam themselves between the rim and backboard and result in a held ball? Halfway through the year, I think he already owns it.

 

[Dick_in_MI]

Let’s see if I understand this correctly...

We get crushed on the glass, G’town takes 31 free throws to our 9, our point guards combine for 2 lousy assists vs 5 turnovers, we have defensive lapses all over the place and you are singling out Buddy?

 

[OburgOrange]

Let’s see if I understand this correctly...

We get crushed on the glass, G’town takes 31 free throws to our 9, our point guards combine for 2 lousy assists vs 5 turnovers, we have defensive lapses all over the place and you are singling out Buddy?

It’s how it works around here.

 

[OrangeXtreme]

Let’s see if I understand this correctly...

We get crushed on the glass, G’town takes 31 free throws to our 9, our point guards combine for 2 lousy assists vs 5 turnovers, we have defensive lapses all over the place and you are singling out Buddy?

But, the narrative...

 

[OrangeDW]

when the game was never in doubt? that was with a couple minutes to play. the whole 2nd half we still had a chance. its not like it was 20 down the whole time. if not for him we lose by 25 and would have been down 20-25 the whole half. and as bad as his defense is, and it is, girards is as bad for different reasons. they are both bad. and while everyone is killing buddy today, 25 is still 25 regardless of half. he also shot better from the field than joe, better from 3 and even had more assists and fewer turnovers. some people pick their whipping boy and are blind to everything else.

Joe can at least get a loose ball every now and then. Buddy’s foot speed becomes very apparent in those situations.

 

[Doc5120]

Kid scored 25...in a single half!! Has any Syracuse player ever done that? Jeeeesuusss.

Yes, he's a TERRIBLE defender in the zone because he is slow and just unathletic. But my goodness, he's an excellent shooter and 1 of 3 guys who can score.

The narrative here is utterly ridiculous. I feel like I'm reading a thread with a bunch of upset parents who want to crucify the coach because he's playing his kid and not theirs. While I'd like to see Q a little bit more by sliding Elijah to the 2, I'm not upset the guy who went off for 25 in a half was out there.

 

[OrangeXtreme]

Kid scored 25...in a single half!! Has any Syracuse player ever done that? Jeeeesuusss.

Red scored 31 in the 2nd half against Missouri in 1994.

Eli just had 26 1st half points last week., and GMac had 28 against BYU.

 

[rrlbees]

Let’s see if I understand this correctly...

We get crushed on the glass, G’town takes 31 free throws to our 9, our point guards combine for 2 lousy assists vs 5 turnovers, we have defensive lapses all over the place and you are singling out Buddy?

he's the low hanging fruit.