Changing Expectations

[IthacaMatt]

My expectations for this program have been low for a number of years. The Hopkins coach-in-waiting debacle was a serious clue.

To slightly change the subject, what is with JB in his last two post-game press conferences? A total change of demeanor and attitude. I've been watching his PG pressers for decades and I've never seen him act as humble, relaxed, and actually likable. Nothing but kind words for the players. Something is up.

He gone.

 

[IthacaMatt]

4. It was a disaster for our basketball identity. It doesn’t matter because of 1 and 2

Actually, you know what hurt us about the ACC? Maryland leaving. They gave us some better geographic continuity, and we might have even gotten more Washington DC support for the conference tournament. We had a bit of a rivalry with them in both football and basketball over the years; not major rivals, but we were regular opponents, and their backyard was one of our best recruiting grounds. So that part hurt more than people realize.

 

[IthacaMatt]

Yes in my revised history of college basketball Arinze never gets hurt and we won the title that year.

We were the best team that season.

That was probably the most perfect team we ever had. The parts fit together so well. We were a machine.

 

[IthacaMatt]

My son wore his 2003 Carmelo jersey to the Pinstripe Bowl.

But in fairness, I'm an excellent father.

I wore my Hak #1 jersey to the game a couple weeks ago. Original, showing some wear, I have to admit.

 

[rocklloyd]

10 years ago I would obsess over our RPI, potential NCAA seed, Bracketmatrix, etc. after every game. I honestly miss doing that. It was part of my daily routine.

Now, I basically treat basketball seasons like an SU football season in November when we're out of bowl contention. I'm going to watch every minute of every game and hope we win, but I'm not pacing around my living room with sweaty palms like I used to.

I regularly fall asleep during games only to wake up to watch last 2 minutes. Sometimes we win, sometimes we lose. Whatever.

 

[CardiacCuse]

Are you unfamiliar with the current state of college hoops?

transferring is still a crap shoot

kadary is maaaybe the only player who hasnt suffered from transferring out of SU in recent years...hes avg 9.9 pts/game and 3.9/asts game as a junior...worse than judah as a frosh

I think he and the rest transferred bc of the buddy/jimmy/joe situation not bc of the state of the sport

cary, goodine, braswell, guerrier, woody all basically had better stats at SU than anywhere else...none of them have blown up elsewhere

for all of JBs faults, he really does get the best out of players imo...which should matter a lot to players

should be very easy to "recruit" current players to stay based on that imo

so...I expect all of the players that the staff wants to stay, to stay

 

[Sherman20]

This could be us in a few years if we hire the right successor to JB. If lunatic Hurley can turn around UConn, a talented and hungry young coach here with the right approach should be able to do even better with better resources.

UConn means something. This is how Dan Hurley made it matter again

UConn is place that measures its success by national title banners "It isn't hard to understand expectations here," Hurley says.

theathletic.com

 

[Forza Azzurri]

I wore my Hak #1 jersey to the game a couple weeks ago. Original, showing some wear, I have to admit.

What do you wear underneath it?

Never really thought about it until this thread but I wear football jerseys to football games but I don't wear hoops jerseys to hoops games. I think it is because I won't wear it by itself but not sure what I would wear under it that looks halfway decent.

 

[Otto'd]

I miss “ BIG MONDAY” on ESPN. we were in 1/2 those games. Remember? National BigEast broadcasts that were must watch TV? Now we get bumped off stations.

 

[pwong]

This could be us in a few years if we hire the right successor to JB. If lunatic Hurley can turn around UConn, a talented and hungry young coach here with the right approach should be able to do even better with better resources.

UConn means something. This is how Dan Hurley made it matter again

UConn is place that measures its success by national title banners "It isn't hard to understand expectations here," Hurley says.

theathletic.com

Hurley literally kicked off/over recruited the end of his bench and it paid off big time lol.

 

[Otto'd]

Hurley literally kicked off/over recruited the end of his bench and it paid off big time lol.

I don’t like it but those are the times we are in. Everywhere.

 

[IthacaMatt]

What do you wear underneath it?

Never really thought about it until this thread but I wear football jerseys to football games but I don't wear hoops jerseys to hoops games. I think it is because I won't wear it by itself but not sure what I would wear under it that looks halfway decent.

I have a white long sleeve cotton t-shirt with Syracuse written down one arm (and the logo over the heart). I put the jersey over that. A plain Navy long sleeve T would also look good. It's the Orange colored jersey.

 

[IthacaMatt]

transferring is still a crap shoot

kadary is maaaybe the only player who hasnt suffered from transferring out of SU in recent years...hes avg 9.9 pts/game and 3.9/asts game as a junior...worse than judah as a frosh

I think he and the rest transferred bc of the buddy/jimmy/joe situation not bc of the state of the sport

cary, goodine, braswell, guerrier, woody all basically had better stats at SU than anywhere else...none of them have blown up elsewhere

for all of JBs faults, he really does get the best out of players imo...which should matter a lot to players

should be very easy to "recruit" current players to stay based on that imo

so...I expect all of the players that the staff wants to stay, to stay

I think part of a player transferring is that he has to enter into a whole new culture. He didn't go through recruitment with the other guys on the team. He is a late arriver who is here to take one of your friend's positions on the team. That's how other guys may see a transfer, as an outsider, a usurper.

It's not surprising to me that so many transfers don't excel at the new destination school, because they are not "organically" part of the culture, part of the team. That plays a factor in many of these kids not doing better at their next stop, unless they are clearly going down a level in competition.

 

[DanielA]

This could be us in a few years if we hire the right successor to JB. If lunatic Hurley can turn around UConn, a talented and hungry young coach here with the right approach should be able to do even better with better resources.

UConn means something. This is how Dan Hurley made it matter again

UConn is place that measures its success by national title banners "It isn't hard to understand expectations here," Hurley says.

theathletic.com

Hurley is useless he doesn’t do any coaching the assistants are the one who do all the talking in the huddle.

 

[atlanticuse]

I miss “ BIG MONDAY” on ESPN. we were in 1/2 those games. Remember? National BigEast broadcasts that were must watch TV? Now we get bumped off stations.

ACCNX!

 

[CuseFaninVT]

ACCNX!

Bless you!

 

[DilemaCuse]

Hurley literally kicked off/over recruited the end of his bench and it paid off big time lol.

Meanwhile until this year JB didnt want to use all his scholarships.

That aspect, contributes to one program rising from the dead and the other from the pedestal to the grave

 

[CousCuse]

I think part of a player transferring is that he has to enter into a whole new culture. He didn't go through recruitment with the other guys on the team. He is a late arriver who is here to take one of your friend's positions on the team. That's how other guys may see a transfer, as an outsider, a usurper.

It's not surprising to me that so many transfers don't excel at the new destination school, because they are not "organically" part of the culture, part of the team. That plays a factor in many of these kids not doing better at their next stop, unless they are clearly going down a level in competition.

Mike G, Wes, White, Hughes, Swider etc. and others were great transfer players at SU.

 

[CousCuse]

UVA is the best team in the ACC, they had 2 huge OCC wins and then stumbled a bit, but returned to form and took it out against the youthful Orange team. I like the guys who play for Syracuse and think they will get better as the season goes on, maybe a lot better.

 

[Capt. Tuttle]

That was probably the most perfect team we ever had. The parts fit together so well. We were a machine.

It hard to describe just how confident I was, every game, that SU would win, and comfortably. Just a perfect compliment of really good players with no egos. Everyone did their job and played their parts. They even let the new guy be the star.

 

[Zelda Zonk]

Three years old.

 

[atlanticuse]

Three years old.

But if the zone players are fast and talented, you'll lose 80% of the time.
If the zone players are Boeheim^2 and the other ones we've had the past 3-4 years, you'll win half the time.

And who is "coach Novak" ? Some clown who doesn't have a first name.

 

[orangecuse]

That was probably the most perfect team we ever had. The parts fit together so well. We were a machine.

The two worst moments I've ever felt (as an SU fan) was the Smart shot and when Arinze went down in the quarterfinals of the Big East Tournament in March '10. I was in the Garden (per usual for the BET) and that place went from raucous to eerily quiet in a heartbeat. We were down 6 with about 5 minutes left in the game and I knew right then we were losing that game to G'Town, and likely much much more than that.

Unfortunately, as it turned out, it was indeed the case.

I recall how sick to my stomach I felt for the majority of that weekend in NYC afterwards about the whole ordeal. Nowadays, that, along with most other emotions experienced as a multiple decades SU hoops fanatic, has long 'left the building.'

 

[HakAttack]

We are at the stage of apathy. As you said, I miss the feeling of expecting to go into every game and win no matter who the opponent was or where the game was being played.

I honestly haven’t watched a full game in years and only check in to update the MVPs thread (and I don’t even manage to tally the totals with regularity).