Color Me Concerned

[SoBeCuse]

Dion shot the ball pretty well, Triche shot the ball pretty well, Scoop shot the ball pretty well, Kris Joseph shot the ball well, Southerland shot the ball well.

I think they were all streaky that year. Once Fab was gone then the easy baskets inside disappeared and we became chuckers. Playing like Duke works for them but not us when you have mediocre shooters.

 

[Cusefan0307]

we have something to do with possessions. it's not all the opposition. carter williams got us more easy baskets than ennis does.

We were 22-6 last year at this time. Complain about the number of possessions all you want, but whatever we are doing this year is better.

 

[Millhouse]

We were 22-6 last year at this time. Complain about the number of possessions all you want, but whatever we are doing this year is better.

you brought up possessions, not me

 

[Cusefan0307]

I think they were all streaky that year. Once Fab was gone then the easy baskets inside disappeared and we became chuckers. Playing like Duke works for them but not us when you have mediocre shooters.

Triche, Scoop, and Dion were all great shooters?

 

[kingtidge]

Please talk me off the ledge with real insights. Just typing 26-2 isn't going to cut it. I'm starting to lower my expectations and that sucks. My one solace is that all teams have issues.

LGO. Make me believe again.

Nah... I think you should jump.

 

[SoBeCuse]

Triche, Scoop, and Dion were all great shooters?

Reread it. I think they were "mediocre."

 

[Cusefan0307]

Reread it. I think they were "mediocre."

My bad, I meant to quote the thread above you. Funny the revisionist history on the board. Scoop and Triche were some of the most polarizing figures on the board, now people would rather have them over Cooney.

 

[SoBeCuse]

My bad, I meant to quote the thread above you. Funny the revisionist history on the board. Scoop and Triche were some of the most polarizing figures on the board, now people would rather have them over Cooney.

Yeah, very true. Cooney will be fine. I am more concerned about lack of post scoring and Rak crapping the bed the past three games.

 

[two3zone]

My bad, I meant to quote the thread above you. Funny the revisionist history on the board. Scoop and Triche were some of the most polarizing figures on the board, now people would rather have them over Cooney.

Do you lack reading comprehension skills?

Please find one of my posts saying I'd rather have Triche or Scoop over Cooney.

If you read the post, and the post I responded to it said our offense is bad every February. I responded with it was bad in the 2011-2012 season where that poster said we weren't a shooting team, I corrected him and typed out the shooters names.

I'm sorry, posts like yours where you're trying to put words in other peoples mouths and make people look stupid doing it is what pisses me off the most about message boards. Everybody's posts are out there, words are out there, what gives you the audacity to just make up crap and post it like somebody said it?

 

[ssbriefcase]

Yeah, very true. Cooney will be fine. I am more concerned about lack of post scoring and Rak crapping the bed the past three games.

I'm gonna go glass half full on this one. I agree, his early foul trouble has led to him not being productive lately. But, last year we were guaranteed 0 in the post from both centers and made the F4. Rak has made great strides, and is now an option with a low post move. Of course he needs to keep working at it to up his percentage, but now we have possible O from all 5 positions. (of course not saying he's Olajuwon or anything)

 

[SoBeCuse]

I'm gonna go glass half full on this one. I agree, his early foul trouble has led to him not being productive lately. But, last year we were guaranteed 0 in the post from both centers and made the F4. Rak has made great strides, and is now an option with a low post move. Of course he needs to keep working at it to up his percentage, but now we have possible O from all 5 positions. (of course not saying he's Olajuwon or anything)

Yep. Definitely aware we made the F4 playing that way but it's not ideal. Playing with fire if you ask me when you're not built to play like Duke, Villanova, Creighton, etc.

 

[PhatOrange]

That's a load of bull. This team has not been scraping and struggling all year. Going down the list:

- Cooney has been multi-dimensional at points

- Our ISO numbers with Fair have fluctuated during the season

- Christmas showed consistency for a few stretches

And so forth. To say we've had these concerns since Day One is just wrong. Some of these were concerns then, but players proved otherwise at other points of the season but seemingly regressed.

Well I have been concerned because we've gone on wicked scoring droughts during games. We’ve struggled to score and we've struggled to find scorers. We are not a good half court offensive team.

Over the past two months the team has only average 64.5 ppg.

even so we've found ways to win. that's a trademark of a good team but it's disingenuous to think we haven't had major flaws all season.

edit: JB himself has said we could have 7 or 8 losses.

 

[HoustonCuse]

My perspective:

We have been unable to close out teams since the Villanova game. (meaning build and then keep a lead to cruise to victory)
We have played some hideously bad teams. I would put Maryland as one of the worst teams I have seen us play in conference in years. You can't watch that game and say anything else. They were absolutely terrible.
We are 26-2.
We are clearly at the level of Duke, we handled Nova easily - those are legit Top 10 teams.
We have beaten Pitt 2x which says something even if they are awful because we struggle mightily with those jackasses.
All of our games are close.
We have a chance to win every game we play. But we also give every team we play a chance to beat us at the end.

My confidence is starting to wane only because you just can't expect to win every game when you put it down to the last play or two every night. In an NCAA tournament scenario it is just too much to ask to keep winning games like that. My confidence remains high because I feel that we have played at maybe 60% of our capability and are still winning at a high rate ALSO every single one of our games is a possession by possession chess-match / slug fest. These are how Sweet 16 (and up) games are. How many times have we seen a high flying Syracuse team look like world beaters and then get to that type game in the tourney and then get ground into dust because of the wildly different style.

This all leaves me not sure what to make of this team's prospects. I think the biggest factor will be Grant's health and getting Cooney and Ennis over the fatigue wall. If we get healthy and get a second wind, we can win the NC. If we don't get healthy and our players continue to wear down, Sweet 16 will probably be the tops.

 

[SoBeCuse]

You had me until you said "excellent" - I don't think I'd use that term for this team in regards to offense.

Yeah, "excellent" is a straight bold faced lie. Barely treading water more like it outside of the Duke game in Syracuse and part of the 1H in Durham/College Park.

 

[tbonezone]

i'd rather carry a great team than a great record into the ncaa's. and right now we got a great record.

 

[Millhouse]

i'd rather carry a great team than a great record into the ncaa's. and right now we got a great record.

that sounds right but then i think it's sure is nice to have a 1 seed

 

[Cusefan0307]

Do you lack reading comprehension skills?

Please find one of my posts saying I'd rather have Triche or Scoop over Cooney.

If you read the post, and the post I responded to it said our offense is bad every February. I responded with it was bad in the 2011-2012 season where that poster said we weren't a shooting team, I corrected him and typed out the shooters names.

I'm sorry, posts like yours where you're trying to put words in other peoples mouths and make people look stupid doing it is what pisses me off the most about message boards. Everybody's posts are out there, words are out there, what gives you the audacity to just make up crap and post it like somebody said it?

I wasn't attacking you I just think it's funny that people think Triche, scoop, Dion, and Kris were good shooters, when it seems like we have been complaint about shooting for five years. And for the record you weren't the person who said you'd rather have scoop or Triche over Cooney.

Honestly I just think there's a lot of unnecessary pessimism on the board about the team, when we usually play bad around this time of year anyway. It's good to win playing bad when you know we can play better. If anything after last year you would think there would be more optimism on the board if anything, but I do think some posters (not you two3zone) get off when we don't play well

 

[OttoMets]

I wasn't attacking you I just think it's funny that people think Triche, scoop, soon, and Kris were good shooters, when it seems like we have been complaint about shooting for five years. And for the record you weren't the person who said you'd rather have scoop or Triche over Cooney.

Honestly I just think there's a lot of unnecessary pessimism on the board about the team, when we usually play bad around this time of year anyway. It's good to win playing bad when you know we can play better. If anything after last year you would think there would be more optimism on the board if anything, but I do think some posters (not you two3zone) get off when we don't play well

Sorry to get away from the original point for a moment, but there were times when Triche and Joseph were pretty good shooters. Inconsistent, yes.

As for the other guy, a guard who shoots over 45% from the field and 36% from three for a career is usually considered a good shooter. Unless, unfortunately, his name is Scoop Jardine and we're taking the opinion of Syracusefan.com. Even so, when you shoot one of the 15 best three-point percentages in school history over the course of a four-year career, "good shooter" seems an accurate assessment.

 

[Lil Rick]

You have to pick one - elite in history, or elite this season? My point was based on record and stats - and comparing them to other NCAA teams - we are the elite this year. Over history? Sure. I'm pretty sure there are at least 2 Syracuse teams in the past 10 years that could beat this one.

Elite this season based on looking at our record on paper, only. Anyone watching this team play would say we are far from elite.

 

[CorduroyG]

Color Me Badd

 

[AJDavCuse]

Elite this season based on looking at our record on paper, only. Anyone watching this team play would say we are far from elite.

And what teams in your great wisdom are elite? 2-loss Florida or Arizona playing in clown conferences that have a combined 4 wins over current top-20 teams vs our 5? Six loss Kansas and Duke? What teams are elite?

 

[Lil Rick]

And what teams in your great wisdom are elite? 2-loss Florida or Arizona playing in clown conferences that have a combined 4 wins over current top-20 teams vs our 5? Six loss Kansas and Duke? What teams are elite?

That's why I had said before that hoops is watered down and there are NO truly elite teams, including us. And btw, the ACC isn't exactly a power conference this year. If Syr played Kansas' schedule we'd have 6 losses or more. Does an elite team go on a current 6-game stretch of not scoring above 60 pts and eek out wins? Or lose to a 6-19 team at home, while only managing to score 50 pts in regulation against a defense that is one of the worst in the nation? Or blowing countless double-digit leads and needing last minute heroics to squeak past the likes of mediocre teams like MD, NC St, Miami, St Francis, ND, and Pitt (who is vastly overrated this year)

 

[CuseCPT]

The odds are the exact same of losing to a 14-16 seed as getting to an elite 8?

Oddly enough this is exactly how I feel about this team. Their defense will keep them in any game, but their offense will keep any opponent in the game too.

 

[Lil Rick]

And what teams in your great wisdom are elite? 2-loss Florida or Arizona playing in clown conferences that have a combined 4 wins over current top-20 teams vs our 5? Six loss Kansas and Duke? What teams are elite?

Not to mention, in ACC play (sans the Duke aberation) we are averaging to win games by a 60-54 margin in 14 games. If that doesn't scream elite...

 

[AJDavCuse]

Not to mention, in ACC play (sans the Duke aberation) we are averaging 56.8 pts per game in 14 games. If that doesn't scream elite...

"Elite" is relative. 2003 team wasn't elite. They lost to Rutgers that year (similar to magnitude of BC loss) and often got behind, needing comebacks to win, including in the tourney. Last year's team wasn't elite. They dropped 7 out of 12 and scored 39 points vs Gtown the last regular season game. Went to final four.

I really don't care if they are considered elite. I care that they have a chance to cut down the nets and anyone who says we don't have as good a chance as any other team is just being negative for negativity sake. If it happens, i'll celebrate a great season and you can continue complaining that a non-elite team was the best in the NCAA this year.

I'm not denying the team is struggling right now and that offensively we are a bit out of whack, but based on recent history (i.e. last year), that has few implications for how they can do in the tourney.