Franco - Making a point here:
I was first team All - State N.J. prep QB, was recruited by several schools but not SU. So I was a walk on at SU. Almost flunked out because I was cutting my design courses to make football practice. Could throw the ball better than their scholarship QB and they eventually game me a scholarship. But I had to quit sports and go to summer school which was great; women out numbered men 10 -I and they were all very friendly. Was also the N.J State Champion sprinter in '62 ran a 9.7 hundred, ran indoor track in Manley and used to be a spotter for the official scorer at Manley in '63, '64
so I bleed Orange profusely and am a personal friend of JB's.
Of course I was trying to defend the coaching staff specifically JB. Enjoy what you have while you have him. What I do not understand is why the current roster cannot exert more energy and play like they did last year. Like I said above , we are playing with the same roster/starters as last year with the addition of Carey with great hopes that Battle, back for a junior year, would be great again. But, we're not. I do not think it has anything to do with Jim - he can't shoot the ball for them and his record is second in basketball history 1034 -375 .734 with 36 NCAA appearances and one National Championship. In my mind JB is not the problem nor is the Zone. Other schools copy our zone and use it effectively. And he IMHO is a very effective coach, still, no matter what is said here.
I don't know what the answer is but you have to shoot better than they are currently or they'll have a bad year. Occasionally it happens. I do think we've been spoiled because we are a winning program Jim put us there, is a great coach and we expect to be ranked and have over 20 wins a year as we have had for 35 of 42 years and been to the tournament. I have been at practices and watched them coach - they are trying to impart basketball wisdom to these players but sometimes the players don't get it. We have a very good player in Jalen Carey but he's going to make mistakes, it usually it takes a year for them to get the experience they need to play in this league or the Big East, Jim would tell you that. This week they had as he described it two lousy practices before last nights game. Sometimes you just need patience which many on this board don't have. They want instant gratification and it's not happening. So you have to live with it. I hope he can turn this team into an offensive machine - we'll see. Merry Christmas to you and everyone on this board. GOSU