Cornell Postgame Thoughts

[IthacaMatt]

Confidence doesn’t make you dribble, play smart, pass, rebound or play better defense.

I disagree with that. Confidence doesn't make you necessarily play smarter, but it certainly helps you rebound and play defense better. "I'm gonna shut this guy down."

Confidence helps you believe your shot is going in, which can lead to better follow through, better mechanics, than forcing up a heavily contested shot. Seeing an open shot go in helps you on the offensive end.

I think everything except decision making; that probably gets compromised a bit by too much confidence.

 

[Bulldog04]

This was the best I’ve seen JT play ever. He evolved tonight to get involved in a lot of ways. This is a game that could have easily been lost and they fought and I give them credit. The pace of the game I think affected a lot of their misses from 3.

JJ seems like a great kid but I have no clue what he is doing out there. From the turnovers to the defense to just soft with the ball, it’s absolutely awful. This team needs him badly to be better. I just don’t know what his ceiling is because his last 4 games have been bad beyond belief

The main thing I just don’t like bc I know, they aren’t playing how they practice. It’s that simple. You can see Reds frustration on the sideline sometimes with how he is shocked at what happens out there. They still don’t have the lineups figured out and until they do, they just have to put together runs that keep them in games in different ways

 

[OrangePA]

Seriously. You do realize the only reason that we beat Colgate and Cornell was because of man D.
Cornell would've shredded us if we played zone.

I guess I would have to watch it again, but that’s not what I saw.

 

[cuseattle]

We made the SpotscCenter top 10!
Isaiah Gray dunk was #2

 

[OrangePA]

Seriously. You do realize the only reason that we beat Colgate and Cornell was because of man D.
Cornell would've shredded us if we played zone.

I just checked.

Last year we beat Cornell by 15 and had them shoot a lower 3 point percentage.

 

[FloridaCuse]

I liked the way Taylor played today (I don't always). Solid on rebounds & defense, was a little more aggressive on putting up shots, put the ball on the floor & attacked the paint/rim today a few times. He did everything right.

JT: 15pts, 8 rebs, 6 assts, 0 turnovers. Stellar

 

[Cheriehoop]

Seriously. You do realize the only reason that we beat Colgate and Cornell was because of man D.
Cornell would've shredded us if we played zone.

We played zone last year and beat them by 15, this year by 11. Not much difference. It’s how well you play the defense you are playing. We did rebound better in m2m vs zone this year against them. They beat us in points in the paint this year though unlike last year. 3 point defense for man vs zone against Cornell was pretty irrelevant (27.1% last year vs 27.3% this year)

2022

Syracuse basketball box score vs. Cornell

See the numbers from the Orange's game against the Big Red on Saturday afternoon in the JMA Wireless Dome.

www.syracuse.com

2023

Syracuse basketball box score vs. Cornell

See the numbers from the Orange's victory against the Big Red on Tuesday night in the JMA Wireless Dome.

www.syracuse.com

 

[mark79]

I hate it when our ovens don’t make an effort to go to the basket.

But I love it when our ovens make the effort to go to the basket and start heating up. I’ll let myself out now.

 

[Red Holzman]

I'm wondering what JJ's comfort level is from a team perspective -how tight these guys are. His teammates should be doing things to help his confidence and let him know they believe in them, etc. I don't see much interaction between JJ and his teammates -but maybe there's more than I realize.
It's a team game, and that can make a big difference.

 

[SmilinBob]

There were a few drive pass pass moments which was nice to see. Some quick movement of the ball gets people open.

When the O struggles players press and try to make it on their own which makes it even worse.

I liked watching Mintz step back and take his time with J's, that what was what Kadary did. Wasn't a great shooter but could drive and was a better shooter when the D played off him, same for Judah.

Watching Brown just reminds me so much of Paul Silas which is a good thing. Got to finish though.

 

[OrangeFoo]

This was the best I’ve seen JT play ever. He evolved tonight to get involved in a lot of ways. This is a game that could have easily been lost and they fought and I give them credit. The pace of the game I think affected a lot of their misses from 3.

JJ seems like a great kid but I have no clue what he is doing out there. From the turnovers to the defense to just soft with the ball, it’s absolutely awful. This team needs him badly to be better. I just don’t know what his ceiling is because his last 4 games have been bad beyond belief

The main thing I just don’t like bc I know, they aren’t playing how they practice. It’s that simple. You can see Reds frustration on the sideline sometimes with how he is shocked at what happens out there. They still don’t have the lineups figured out and until they do, they just have to put together runs that keep them in games in different ways

You make an interesting point about they don’t play like they practice. Can you share what Red is seeing that is different in practice? I’m no expert and I’m definitely not at practice, but what I see in games seems to line up with the skill level of the players. I’m not seeing any surprises other than JJs slump in basically all areas.

I remember in football when the Bills were bad… every year in pre-season camp there were reports about how THIS was the that the offense would shine and they would stink in really games. It turns out they looked good in practice because they were playing against a not so good D.

Completely unrelated… can someone explain to me why we don’t set an actual screen where we actually touch the defender. When I played basketball… nailing a defender on a screen was one of my favorite moments. We fake screens but never actually lay a body on someone. This started with JB and now Red is continuing that approach… what the actual heck is going on here? If any team ever needed help getting easy shots it’s this one. What are we doing?

 

[Newhouser]

Seriously, I think they were whistled for four fouls on a single possession, culminating with Mintz picking up his fourth foul. Looked pretty random, too. If the refs called an entire game like that, they'd finish it with walk-ons.

Interestingly, SU committed 17 fouls in total, compared to 16 for Cornell, which is probably below average for a typical game.

Q and Judah lost their mind that trip. I thought most if not all were legit. With three fouls Judah can't get his fourth grabbing a big down low.

 

[Eric15]

I have to say, I was not expecting #13 on Cornell who was dressed like Carlton Banks playing basketball to have the dunk of the year in the Dome.

 

[Cuse181]

Man, UNC and UConn are significantly better than us at every position.

Probably why they’re ranked in the top 10

 

[Cuse181]

Seriously. You do realize the only reason that we beat Colgate and Cornell was because of man D.
Cornell would've shredded us if we played zone.

They would’ve shredded us in man if they could hit the broad side of a barn. Did you watch how many open threes they clanked?

 

[CuseDream]

Here’s my thoughts on this team:

Judah will be the man for better or worse bc he’s just way better than everyone else on our team.

Maliq is the highest bball IQ and will be steady for what he does.

And then the rest of how we do is based on JT and Bell.

Westry wildcard if he comes back.

Red is a work in progress.

Westry healthy is basically inserting Kadary. Love his play style and very similar. Going to be interesting.

 

[swish7]

Probably why they’re ranked in the top 10

Yeah, know that.

I'm more commenting on the disparity between us and them, at each position, and almost any metric for every position.

Like, we literally recruited
* a 7'4 big that cannot track the ball or even win a GD tap
* a 2G with the same exact style of play as our 1G (ball dominant slasher with no off-ball positives), but additionally cannot shoot even a lick
* A 6'6 combo forward guard who is trying out for the Harlem Globetrotters but wouldn't make the Washington Generals
* Etc

Its the inability to execute basic basketball plays from so many of our players that is concerning.

 

[OrangeFoo]

They would’ve shredded us in man if they could hit the broad side of a barn. Did you watch how many open threes they clanked?

The same amount as LSU? Oh wait... the was a rhetorical question?

My concern after the LSU game was that the team didn't really seem to get better... the other team got worse. Then UVA had all the same open shots and they drilled them leading to a blowout.

I actually think the effort on D was much improved last night... but a well coached team that passes really well can generate open looks by passing the ball against any D, zone or otherwise. The guys sustained defensive effort for pretty much the whole game, if they hadn't that game would have been a loss. They are still watching the ball too much on D which allowed Colgate to get any number of easy backdoor cuts.

Again I just don't understand our offensive strategy... why are we doing so little to generate easy shots? I will say last night at least there was some motion to get Taylor and Bell easy looks at 3s off of Mintz/Starling drives. But I'm not sure that strategy works against better athletes who can guard Mintz/Starling without helping when they drive... like say UVA.

 

[benjams77]

They missed SOOOOOO many open shots, that’s not good defense.

We made them uncomfortable on the perimeter and they ended up rushing alot of those 3's ... the defense was very good.. We extended out.. We left driving lanes and Back door cutting lanes and did a decent job of rotating and cutting those off... We knocked the ball away on a number of Back door cuts . We did give up some layups, but 2's were better than 3's

 

[skeeter223]

I would like a team of 5 Justin Taylors. That young man is a basketball player.

 

[Bulldog04]

You make an interesting point about they don’t play like they practice. Can you share what Red is seeing that is different in practice? I’m no expert and I’m definitely not at practice, but what I see in games seems to line up with the skill level of the players. I’m not seeing any surprises other than JJs slump in basically all areas.

I remember in football when the Bills were bad… every year in pre-season camp there were reports about how THIS was the that the offense would shine and they would stink in really games. It turns out they looked good in practice because they were playing against a not so good D.

Completely unrelated… can someone explain to me why we don’t set an actual screen where we actually touch the defender. When I played basketball… nailing a defender on a screen was one of my favorite moments. We fake screens but never actually lay a body on someone. This started with JB and now Red is continuing that approach… what the actual heck is going on here? If any team ever needed help getting easy shots it’s this one. What are we doing?

The bell movement in practice is far quicker and fast paced. The amount of dribbling in games compared to practice is absurd. Look at how fast the ball moved for Cornell last night. Spacing is also an issue. In games the court is shrinking yet again. That’s not what they are after I promise you

 

[Cusefan0307]

The bell movement in practice is far quicker and fast paced. The amount of dribbling in games compared to practice is absurd. Look at how fast the ball moved for Cornell last night. Spacing is also an issue. In games the court is shrinking yet again. That’s not what they are after I promise you

I saw improvements last night, but again it is just Cornell. Taylor, Bell and Brown seem to really buy into what Red is preaching. I get it's not pretty at times, but they you can tell they are listening. A big issue with the ball movement besides Judah overdribbling is teams are starting to not guard JJ on the perimeter and he's dribbling into traffic. The kid looks like a broken player right now.

 

[FrancoPizza]

The main thing I just don’t like bc I know, they aren’t playing how they practice. It’s that simple.

So what are they doing in practice???

 

[billsin01]

I guess I would have to watch it again, but that’s not what I saw.

This stupid man vs. zone argument needs to die. You have to play good defense. The zone may well be a bit outdated and absolutely colgate/cornell could (or would) have torn it up. But you can play various zone defenses that can still give teams -- good teams -- fits.

Conversely -- Colgate absolutely shredded our man defense (as did gonzaga and UVA) and Cornell put up 70 on a pretty subpar shooting night. And, man, they had a lot of open looks early that didn't go down.

We have to play good defense. Don't really care exactly what the system or style is, but it has to be five players playing together as a unit and executing. We're not doing that in our zone or our man.

 

[Fly Rodder]

In games the court is shrinking yet again. That’s not what they are after I promise you

That's the biggest thing that I notice during games. It always looks like our players our completely covered and doubled up while opponents are well-spaced out and usually taking wide open shots or making easy entry passes.