Could Christmas have been any worse?

[anomander]

is this thread serious? christmas is probably one of the last people i would blame today. he was playing great during the first 6 or 7 minutes then inexplicably was taken out where bmk went on to give up at least 4 or 5 offensive boards. Rak was actually very active and playing with confidence until another quick hook. i don't understand the christmas hate, and even more want to know who else you want in there instead of him?

 

[longislandcuse]

This thread is so wrong. Xmas is no superstar but he is decent and if he didnt get pulled anytime he makes the littlest mistake (no matter how well hes played before that) maybe he would develop.

Our offense is a mess because noone is consistent from game to game, Triche has taken the role of senior leader and up to this point, effectively the bed with it and Keita apparantly does all these "amazing" things that only basketball aficionado's on this board and Boeheim see because to everyone else...hes useless out there.

 

[SoBeCuse]

I've argued on this board that Christmas isn't a great post player yet. But Christmas was good tonight. He's becoming an above average rebounder which is hard out of the zone. He's a sophomore so he's still raw but we need to feed him in the post way more.

Btw - whoever started this thread must not watch basketball well.

Christmas was not good today. He wasn't terrible but he certainly wasn't good. That is indisputable. He also isn't an above average rebounder yet as he was caught staring a few times watching Georgetown players grab offensive rebounds. I agree we need to feed him WAY more.

 

[Czar]

Christmas was not good today. He wasn't terrible but he certainly wasn't good. That is indisputable. He also isn't an above average rebounder yet as he was caught staring a few times watching Georgetown players grab offensive rebounds. I agree we need to feed him WAY more.

Just going to point out that Keita's Roland Avg. is ing horrible compared to Christmas'. Stats show we're a better team with Christmas on the court.

 

[swish7]

Pivotal moment in the game was with about 6 minutes left, SU down 4, MCW drives baseline, throws a great shovel pass to Christmas who should have had a wide open dunk, but instead catchs the ball with this "What-is-this-orange-spherical-object-that-was-just-thrown-to-me, and-What-am-I-supposed-to-do-with-this-orange-spherical-object-now???" look on his face, takes like 42 seconds to gather himself to go up for a shot, then gets PACKAGED. Should have been a dunk and we're down 2, plus we have uncle MO on our side. Instead, Porter hits a three in Triche's face on the next play, 5 point swing. Game over.

The bigger issue though, really, is how in the world do you recruit back-to-back-to-back McD's All-American centers and only get 0.7 total competent seasons out of these 3 players????????? None of them could play a lick as a FR, and only Flop Melo developed at all as a SO.

Egg zactly. Thank you.

On that play, Christmas was tomahawking on an imaginary hoop one foot in foot in front of the real hoop. And he got spanked.

Despite protestations from his defense counsel, he does not play the center position well. 'Oh he had 8 rebounds!!!!' So the heck what? Georgetown clanked about 70% of their shots, and beat us 10-1 (at one point) on second chance points.

And again, as I said in my OP, I wouldn't only blame him.

This is just one if those JB teams with little attention to the fundamentals. Our most fundamental player, triche, even gets caught up in jacking up stupidly long threes.

 

[TBCuse11]

Christmas was not good today. He wasn't terrible but he certainly wasn't good. That is indisputable. He also isn't an above average rebounder yet as he was caught staring a few times watching Georgetown players grab offensive rebounds. I agree we need to feed him WAY more.

I think this Is accurate. I have been baffled reading this thread with the people claiming Rak played well today. It makes me lose faith in the basketball IQ of posters on this site. There were at least a half dozen times that Rak gave up offensive rebounds, and he seemed to be involved (negatively) on the few chances we had in the second half to turn momentum on our side.

I watched the game with a bunch of alums and long time, die hard Cuse fans and all u heard waa "Damn Rak" repeatedly as the game wore on. He plays with no fire and no agression. Its horrifying that he Is a better option than Baye. I respect some people may know Rak or may defend all cuse players, but Rak has been real bad most of the year, and today was no different.

Coleman should have been given a chance. Sadly, he is ten times the offensive threat that Rak is, or ever will be. I also worry there is really no place for Rak on this team next year. Coleman, cj, grant... No way Rak should play over any of them.

 

[Orangeman]

I wouldn't blame Xmas alone, but he was terrible. Or just his usual self.

I have these foggy memories of him playing well, in some prior season. What happened?

Southys 3 was fools gold. It was a terrible shot selection, but he made it. So, we started jacking up more of Em. Lost the game right there.

In turn, gtowns selection was good all game. Once they finally started making Em, we were toast.

I so wanted JB to sub for all 5, at least a couple times. Send a message, if nothing else.

Christmas played great early and did exactly what we need from him...and then he was pulled because the zone brought him out of position...and he didn't play great after that.

 

[swish7]

This thread is so wrong. Xmas is no superstar but he is decent and if he didnt get pulled anytime he makes the littlest mistake (no matter how well hes played before that) maybe he would develop.

Our offense is a mess because noone is consistent from game to game, Triche has taken the role of senior leader and up to this point, effectively the bed with it and Keita apparantly does all these "amazing" things that only basketball aficionado's on this board and Boeheim see because to everyone else...hes useless out there.

Decent does not cut it.

Agree, Keita has definitely become useless. Remember when he used to bring so much positive energy off the bench? He's regressed.

 

[swish7]

Christmas was not good today. He wasn't terrible but he certainly wasn't good. That is indisputable. He also isn't an above average rebounder yet as he was caught staring a few times watching Georgetown players grab offensive rebounds. I agree we need to feed him WAY more.

Great post. The title of my post was melodramatic, and apparently twisted up some panties.

My op was pretty clear that the blame goes all around.

I do find the Xmas defenders to be quite misguided. He should be developed , and fed more, but he is simply not as giod as he should be, as we need him to be , and as claimed by his defenders here.

he was at the forefront of a few plays that took us out of the game.

Guards don't feed centers they can't trust. If JB wants him fed anyways, then he needs to make guards accountable for not doing it

 

[orangejunkie]

There was one pass into the post. Rak really has no post up game so guards are not encouraged to make that play. If Rak was an under the radar recruit like Keita, I think that fans would be more patient with his development. By the end of his sophomore year we might as well accept that he needs a lot more time to develop and it won't be happening any time soon. Why get frustrated with him at this point. Just because he has great athletic abilities doesn't make him a good basketball player. I hope by his senior year he has made the jump. I am more optimistic about Coleman than I am Rakeem.

 

[cliftonparksufan]

There was about 4 seconds when MCW made his drive. Xmas caught it with maybe 2 seconds left and got blocked with 1 second left. It was a good play by MCW, Xmas just wasnt able to get it up quick enough. Wouldn't really blame him. Just a good recovery by Georgetown.

I didn't think Rak played well, but the play you reference definitely wasn't Rak's fault. That was a key point in the game so why would we pass the ball to our 5th option with two seconds on the shot clock. Our guards needed to do a better job with the shot clock.

Sent from my SPH-L710 using Tapatalk 2

 

[SoBristol]

... the play you reference definitely wasn't Rak's fault. That was a key point in the game so why would we pass the ball to our 5th option with two seconds on the shot clock. Our guards needed to do a better job with the shot clock.



Wouldn't over-analyze this one play. It wasn't Rak's fault, so much as a good block by G-town. But the play illustrated a general problem. Other than CJ, how many inside finishes did we get from guards, forwards, or centers? How many moves by the guards to create something inside? Any put-backs by the forwards?

Rak is limited on offense. On this feed from MCW, Rak took the direct move to go straight up and got matched by the defender; didn't have time for a fake, or an opportunity to go under/up; doesn't have a range of inside moves even if he had more time. He is improving . . .

 

[rosconey]

bigs have regressed since last year- anyone who says otherwise is a total Georgetown fan-

bmk has lost his energy and it was his game- christmas literally comes once a year- and coleman hasnt offered much of anything-

but they cant take all the blame-guards have been up and down more than a barometer in florida during hurricane season-and we have no guards on the bench when they do play like crap to relieve or replace them -

lets be serious- this team goes as mcw goes- he plays smart the bigs dont get shown up near as much and the forwards game opens up- triche is a lost cause, cant or wont be a floor leader -

this team is all on jimmy- just not a good mix of talent and team play-seems like we play best with 1 or 2 mcidees no more

if this team goes 2 games in the tourney i would be amazed- my money is on a major game 1 upset- ala vermont

 

[Halfmooncuse]

Whether he was good bad or indifferent the fact remains that we get zero offense from our center position. Whether it's Rak Keita or DC2 we get nada from the 5 position. They are not a threat at all. Teams know it and play D accordingly.

 

[OttoMets]

I think this Is accurate. I have been baffled reading this thread with the people claiming Rak played well today. It makes me lose faith in the basketball IQ of posters on this site. There were at least a half dozen times that Rak gave up offensive rebounds, and he seemed to be involved (negatively) on the few chances we had in the second half to turn momentum on our side.

I watched the game with a bunch of alums and long time, die hard Cuse fans and all u heard waa "Damn Rak" repeatedly as the game wore on. He plays with no fire and no agression. Its horrifying that he Is a better option than Baye. I respect some people may know Rak or may defend all cuse players, but Rak has been real bad most of the year, and today was no different.

Coleman should have been given a chance. Sadly, he is ten times the offensive threat that Rak is, or ever will be. I also worry there is really no place for Rak on this team next year. Coleman, cj, grant... No way Rak should play over any of them.

Come on. This is ludicrous, especially the last paragraph.

Coleman? Are you kidding? This is the same player who spent three months showing you he can't even get the ball past his shoulder without getting rejected.

 

[bpo57]

Come on. This is ludicrous, especially the last paragraph.

Coleman? Are you kidding? This is the same player who spent three months showing you he can't even get the ball past his shoulder without getting rejected.

Tough to score when your butt is firmly parked on the bench. DC averaged about five minutes a game in January. Very puzzling when you consider the woeful play of the other two guys who aren't good and are never gonna be good.

 

[MyMeloMyMan]

Zubick can give Gtown 30 solid mins, set awesome screens, pass well..make layups...

Our McD's AA's cant do anything.

Odd.

 

[Ghost]

I think this Is accurate. I have been baffled reading this thread with the people claiming Rak played well today. It makes me lose faith in the basketball IQ of posters on this site. There were at least a half dozen times that Rak gave up offensive rebounds, and he seemed to be involved (negatively) on the few chances we had in the second half to turn momentum on our side.

I watched the game with a bunch of alums and long time, die hard Cuse fans and all u heard waa "Damn Rak" repeatedly as the game wore on. He plays with no fire and no agression. Its horrifying that he Is a better option than Baye. I respect some people may know Rak or may defend all cuse players, but Rak has been real bad most of the year, and today was no different.

Coleman should have been given a chance. Sadly, he is ten times the offensive threat that Rak is, or ever will be. I also worry there is really no place for Rak on this team next year. Coleman, cj, grant... No way Rak should play over any of them.

It's like group think sets in on this board all the time and ppl just repeat the same things for an entire year.

Wait, rebounds, for the other team? That happened - insane!! At least 6 times too, damm you Rak, damm YOU TO HELL!!!! lol He's a 6'9" center, the fact that the other team is still getting offensive rebounds, while we're in a zone, makes no sense to me either. It's nonsense.

Coleman???? 10 times better? I'm not even sure what to say.

 

[Ghost]

Zubick can give Gtown 30 solid mins, set awesome screens, pass well..make layups...

Our McD's AA's cant do anything.

Odd.

Lubick?

That rebounds less, and shoots about the same from the field? That guy? I guess he does set some awesome screens. Not sure when Rak has the ball in a position to make a pass tbh.

 

[PoppyHart]

If you just tuned into the game and saw #25 you would not say "hey, that guy plays like a McDonald's All American", despite being 64 games into his career.

 

[OttoMets]

Tough to score when your butt is firmly parked on the bench. DC averaged about five minutes a game in January. Very puzzling when you consider the woeful play of the other two guys who aren't good and are never gonna be good.

Coleman is one guy who we can all confidently say isn't ready.

You can't score consistently in college basketball when you're unable to go up without a dribble and you shot-put the ball from your shoulder. Unless he's wide-open for a dunk, it's incredibly difficult for him to score. He got rejected by little guys on Bloomsburg, Louisville, and everyone in between.

Until he gets some intensive instruction and strips his game of those two big hitches, Coleman's third on our list of most potent offensive big men.

Not sure why people have forgotten this just because he's been on the bench for a month.

 

[Ghost]

If you just tuned into the game and saw #25 you would not say "hey, that guy plays like a McDonald's All American", despite being 64 games into his career.

True. That much I wouldn't argue.

 

[OttoMets]

It's like group think sets in on this board all the time and ppl just repeat the same things for an entire year.

...

This. Incredible.

Christmas gives no effort.

Southerland can't dribble and only plays well against bad teams.

Triche is a good shooter, though streaky, and the best player on the team, as evidenced by a Jay Bilas comment and his high career win total.

Coleman is highly offensively-skilled.

 

[wallacecuse]

is this thread serious? christmas is probably one of the last people i would blame today. he was playing great during the first 6 or 7 minutes then inexplicably was taken out where bmk went on to give up at least 4 or 5 offensive boards. Rak was actually very active and playing with confidence until another quick hook. i don't understand the christmas hate, and even more want to know who else you want in there instead of him? [/quote]

Just because we have no one else, doesn't mean he is competent. I don't get the Xmas love...he had a decent rebounding game, but he's not consistent at all in that regard, and he's horrible offensively. Terrible hands, and he front rims every hook/layup he attempts.

Every game we hear about how nobody passes to him enough, so that is why he doesn't score. When you are Plan E, and you botch the first two chances you get, your teammates are going to lose faith you. Want the ball more? He needs to convert. As Plan E, he needs to maximize his opportunities more than anyone else on the cour; he hasn't done that.

I have more faith in this team team than most on the board, but not in Rakeem.

 

[OttoMets]

Just because we have no one else, doesn't mean he is competent. I don't get the Xmas love...he had a decent rebounding game, but he's not consistent at all in that regard, and he's horrible offensively. Terrible hands, and he front rims every hook/layup he attempts.

Every game we hear about how nobody passes to him enough, so that is why he doesn't score. When you are Plan E, and you botch the first two chances you get, your teammates are going to lose faith you. Want the ball more? He needs to convert. As Plan E, he needs to maximize his opportunities more than anyone else on the cour; he hasn't done that.

I have more faith in this team team than most on the board, but not in Rakeem.

This is a nice example of the group-think myths:

"horrible offensively"
No.

"Terrible hands"
No.

"he front rims every hook/layup he attempts"
No.