Clarion Postgame Thoughts

[althea]

He's 6'9" and his guy got off 5 wide open threes on him.

Coach has options this year.

 

[two3zone]

Coach has options this year.

Maybe that's why Petar started? Just speculating.

 

[Scott11]

I couldn’t help but think how different Donnie‘s debut felt compared to Benny’s. Other than a dunk, I remember thinking that Benny did not seem like a five star, from his shot to the way he ran. I was kind of hoping that I was missing something. Conversely, today Donnie looked comfortable with the ball in his hands, was an engaged rebounder and had a nice stroke. Obviously he wasn’t perfect, but I think we’re talking about a freshman with a really significant upside.

 

[hoopsupstate]

After ten games or so I think Choppa will be our backup two guard. He can really shoot and he plays hard. His defense needs to improve but that’s expected for a freshman. Taylor is quick, athletic and plays hard, but his jumper looks a little funky. Freeman has to be more physical and more of a rim protector. Carlos is what you want from a point guard. He made so many good plays today and he constantly pushes the ball. Last year we walked it up too much. Good first game. One issue is that Lampkin got beat off the dribble a lot today. Not much help.

 

[IthacaMatt]

Can’t wait until we play Blaupunkt!

I'll bet the sound is remarkable in their arena.

 

[Sherman20]

I bet nobody had that starting lineup going into the game! No offense to Petar or Taylor but them starting is a pretty clear indication that we were not treating this like a real game, so as fans we have to take everything with a grain of salt.

For me this game was all about the guard play. I came into the game more confident in the frontcourt than the backcourt, and I've always fiund it hard to take much from a D1 front court going against a D2 frontcourt (which are pretty much D1 guards) anyway.

The good news is our starting backcourt was on a totally different level than Clarions. Definite 'men against boys' scenario. Not only did they both put up great numbers, but they both got to the spots they wanted every time, and seemed like they could have had as many points/assists as they wanted.

The bad news is the depth all looked pretty bad. Something to keep an eye on for sure. We need one of Taylor/Moore/Cuffe to step up and we need to be able to play without Carlos on the floor sometimes.

Bell weirdly came off the bench, but when he did play he looked exactly like I thought and hoped he would. Some skill improvement but not looking to give up on what he does so well. The team provided him with plenty of good looks which he converted at a high percentage which allowed him to score a lot of points in a short amount of time.

Because of the practice nature of exhibition games you can usually count on the second game looking a lot different than the first, and you can always count on the real games looking different than the exhibition games. Let's see what we get on the 30th.

Great post. One disagreement: I think Moore looks really promising and should live up to his top 75 recruiting ranking. We need another knockdown shooter on the perimeter to help out Bell and Starling, and Choppa could be it. He knocked down two 3s, came in with a reputation as an elite shooter, has a smooth stroke and doesn’t lack for confidence. I still think Taylor will produce as a backup SG too. Probably just needs some time to adjust to his new role and team. I don’t have high hopes for Cuffe but that was a helluva chase down block late in the game.

 

[Sherman20]

It was an interesting game and a very interesting version of Syracuse basketball we’ve never really seen before. No clear superstar. Lots of interchangeable pieces. Not a lot of clear separation between many players. A team full of good players, but not really any “great” players (at least yet, as Donnie will likely be great).

I really liked what I saw from Carlos. Having a true PG is very refreshing. It’s also a bit concerning because I don’t see a clear backup point.

I think Donnie and Choppa are going to be great once they settle down a bit.

I liked what I saw but I’ll still temper my expectations a bit because we beat up on a small, bad D2 team and we really haven’t seen a primary starters and rotation in any form.

Starling and Bell will be the stars. They only played half the game and looked very good, though their defense still needs work.

 

[Cuse181]

Just watch the early games last year with the antics from those no longer here. It’s night and day

It’s only been one game against a bad D2 team. They weren’t arguing calls or goofing on the bench but they also know this game doesn’t matter

 

[CardiacCuse]

Carlos doesn’t at all look like a kid from a mid major program.

didnt watch the game and dont wanna draw conclusions from a d2 exhibition...last year I got hyped from an exhibition game...and i told myself not to do it again.

but do wanna point out that there was a strong sentiment on the boards this offseason that was dismissive of the portal adds of carlos taylor and davis because they dont come from big schools...and I think it is and was silly

these guys are grown ups...seniors ...that matters so much more than how many stars they had as recruits

i like the model of young big time recruits mixed in with off the radar seniors from smaller schools...just hope other schools dont start copying it haha

hopefully this years team can squash this obsession people on this board seem to have with the recruting rankings and the star system being the end all and be all of what a player is. the stars are a general indicator, nothing more

 

[tptcuse]

After ten games or so I think Choppa will be our backup two guard. He can really shoot and he plays hard. His defense needs to improve but that’s expected for a freshman. Taylor is quick, athletic and plays hard, but his jumper looks a little funky. Freeman has to be more physical and more of a rim protector. Carlos is what you want from a point guard. He made so many good plays today and he constantly pushes the ball. Last year we walked it up too much. Good first game. One issue is that Lampkin got beat off the dribble a lot today. Not much help.

And he works hard. Those 11 PM Instagram posts from the Melo Center were not smoke and mirrors. He will take time to develop but he was running around like a maniac when he was in (in a positive way.)

 

[Sbucketball]

Had a conflict and watches today, sorry if this has already been said but here’s what i thought -

Carlos looked like the best player on the floor. If he shoots 3s mid 30s he might be the most important.

Jj looked good offensively with a nice shot. We need 5 star JJ this year and we just may get him.

Bell’s gonna make more than he misses.

Lampkin is what i expected - nice touch, offensive threat, great vision, not great D and cant jump. Donnie will take jump balls and will be the main shot blocking presence.

Donnie looked like a freshman and will take a month to get used to college, but you can tell he’s a 5 star and I think he’ll put it together this year, and he’s not another Benny.

Donnie got bigger. Looks huge. We’ll see lineups with no Lampkin or McLeood.

Choppa looked like a freshman, but i think he’ll be dangerous by January. Really want to keep him in orange his whole career, i think he’ll be really good.

Davis needs to play inside more.

Taylor needs to make shots but cant judge on just the first exhibition.

Cuffe playing probably depends on whether Taylor makes shots and whether Chance plays. I could see Moore overtaking Cuffe by late season. Glad to have Cuffe as depth though.

Curious about petar. Surely will have great career if he stays 4 years. Curious about this year because we have lampkin, donnie, davis and mcleod as big fromt court players so i dont know how the rotation will shake out. He’ll play though- euro training did him well.

Defense looked hectic and confused, but fixable by coaching so we’ll get a good look at what the staff will do.

Score says it all. Put up 100 but let them hang 70 on us.

Team will win or lose as a team. No hero ball. Team will go as far as coaches take them - time to cook up a masterclass in ball movement, make defense serviceable, and win games. We’ll get a good look at Red’s coaching mind this year.

Better product than last year.

 

[IthacaMatt]

Had a conflict and watches today, sorry if this has already been said but here’s what i thought -

Carlos looked like the best player on the floor. If he shoots 3s mid 30s he might be the most important.

Jj looked good offensively with a nice shot. We need 5 star JJ this year and we just may get him.

Bell’s gonna make more than he misses.

Lampkin is what i expected - nice touch, offensive threat, great vision, not great D and cant jump. Donnie will take jump balls and will be the main shot blocking presence.

Donnie looked like a freshman and will take a month to get used to college, but you can tell he’s a 5 star and I think he’ll put it together this year, and he’s not another Benny.

Donnie got bigger. Looks huge. We’ll see lineups with no Lampkin or McLeood.

Choppa looked like a freshman, but i think he’ll be dangerous by January. Really want to keep him in orange his whole career, i think he’ll be really good.

Davis needs to play inside more.

Taylor needs to make shots but cant judge on just the first exhibition.

Cuffe playing probably depends on whether Taylor makes shots and whether Chance plays. I could see Moore overtaking Cuffe by late season. Glad to have Cuffe as depth though.

Curious about petar. Surely will have great career if he stays 4 years. Curious about this year because we have lampkin, donnie, davis and mcleod as big fromt court players so i dont know how the rotation will shake out. He’ll play though- euro training did him well.

Defense looked hectic and confused, but fixable by coaching so we’ll get a good look at what the staff will do.

Score says it all. Put up 100 but let them hang 70 on us.

Team will win or lose as a team. No hero ball. Team will go as far as coaches take them - time to cook up a masterclass in ball movement, make defense serviceable, and win games. We’ll get a good look at Red’s coaching mind this year.

Better product than last year.

Nice post!

Totally agree that Carlos, JJ and Bell all had very solid games and are going to be essential guys, part of the top 8.

I think Petar may wind up with more minutes than McLeod or Davis, barring injury. He's the most versatile of those 3 guys.

It's only 1 game, but Moore looked better than Cuffe. Cuffe is looking like the 5th guard, but it's only 1 game.

 

[Orangezoo]

A few other notes of significance.

Higher difficulty lower pct shots were a problem last year consistently.

In one game we had I counted 7 total lower pct shots rewatching ( not including walk ons). That’s 6 out of 70 non walk on attempts. Of those 7 only 3 were contested.

We had 10 offensive rebounds off of 34 misses ( including 3 end of game from walk ons and 1 end of half )for a rebound rate of 29 pct of our misses and only gave up 4 offensive rebounds to Clarion.

Last year we were near worst in the country giving up 10 offensive rebounds a game and it started even with the exhibitions. Love to see us keep that number much lower. St Rose was bad last year and they got 16 offensive boards against us as an example.

 

[hoopsupstate]

Nice post!

Totally agree that Carlos, JJ and Bell all had very solid games and are going to be essential guys, part of the top 8.

I think Petar may wind up with more minutes than McLeod or Davis, barring injury. He's the most versatile of those 3 guys.

It's only 1 game, but Moore looked better than Cuffe. Cuffe is looking like the 5th guard, but it's only 1 game.

The moment doesn’t look too big for Moore. He plays fearless. He just needs to continue to get better on the defensive end.

 

[FrancoPizza]

Starling and Bell will be the stars. They only played half the game and looked very good, though their defense still needs work.

Did Starling use his left hand at all?

 

[IthacaMatt]

Did Starling use his left hand at all?

Did he have our lowest defensive rating?

 

[FrancoPizza]

Did he have our lowest defensive rating?

What does one have to do with the other?

 

[IthacaMatt]

What does one have to do with the other?

Well, as you may recall, there is a whole menu of complaints about Starling's game so "I'm just askin'".

Got any more disappointments with his performance? I thought he had a pretty good game.

Committed a couple fouls on defense, but otherwise, I thought he was pretty solid and looked like one of the guys we can depend on this year.