Couple of Observations

[pfister1]

We don't get back in transition...dammit get the back on d and defend the hoop.

Our guys get blocked on drives to the hoop more than I ever recall seeing...ever. It's almost like having 5 Paul Harrises out on the floor. Maybe if McCullough and Xmas would skip the one handed thunder dunks and go hard with two hands they might be able to finish through contact or improve the outcome.

Did Ron Patterson really take all three shots that we got during crunch time?? I'm thinking I would not have drawn it up that way...ouch.

I liked that Rak managed to avoid foul trouble. If only he hadn't gone with the throw down on Harrison at the same time Cooney decided to actually drain a 3 we might have had a different outcome.

Did Cooney play 40 minutes tonight? Because he didn't give us enough to get 40 minutes. I know, I know...JB doesn't trust the backups. But I didn't feel like we got enough out of Cooney for him not be subbed out more tonight.

I didn't see enough of McCullough from 10-15 feet tonight. I'm not smart enough to know if the defense absolutely took that away from us, but if they didn't we screwed up by not getting him that shot.

I'm going to be seeing guys get blocked by Obekpa in those silly high water shorts all night tonight...maybe I can hope that I won't dream?

 

[Toga]

 

[OrangeXtreme]

Did Ron Patterson really take all three shots that we got during crunch time?? I'm thinking I would not have drawn it up that way...ouch.

Ball don't lie...

 

[hoopsupstate]

Everybody thinks this is a transition year. To what? You lose CM and Christmas and you're looking at another lousy year. JB might be looking at his first loosing season. We're looking at 6-4 in another two weeks. We will not go five hundred in the ACC. I don't see how this team can win a road game in the ACC and they will not win all of their home games. This team has no answers. CM was responsible for three late threes. He had no idea where the shooter was. They only have one and he couldn't keep track of him. He played really soft today. He couldn't finish and they knew it. The just fouled him all day and he missed a ton of foul shots.

 

[Orangeman]

Everybody thinks this is a transition year. To what? You lose CM and Christmas and you're looking at another lousy year. JB might be looking at his first loosing season. We're looking at 6-4 in another two weeks. We will not go five hundred in the ACC. I don't see how this team can win a road game in the ACC and they will not win all of their home games. This team has no answers. CM was responsible for three late threes. He had no idea where the shooter was. They only have one and he couldn't keep track of him. He played really soft today. He couldn't finish and they knew it. The just fouled him all day and he missed a ton of foul shots.

all true but they had 2 shooters

 

[Madbiker]

We had 3 guys play 40 minutes and another 37. There just aren't a lot of answers on this roster. I agree it's hard to see Cooney out there for 40 minutes when he scores 2 points on 1-6 shooting. But KJ's play was worse and there is only 1 back court sub and he's questionable. It's going to be a tough year.

 

[Ghost]

We don't get back in transition...dammit get the back on d and defend the hoop.

Our guys get blocked on drives to the hoop more than I ever recall seeing...ever. It's almost like having 5 Paul Harrises out on the floor. Maybe if McCullough and Xmas would skip the one handed thunder dunks and go hard with two hands they might be able to finish through contact or improve the outcome.

Did Ron Patterson really take all three shots that we got during crunch time?? I'm thinking I would not have drawn it up that way...ouch.

I liked that Rak managed to avoid foul trouble. If only he hadn't gone with the throw down on Harrison at the same time Cooney decided to actually drain a 3 we might have had a different outcome.

Did Cooney play 40 minutes tonight? Because he didn't give us enough to get 40 minutes. I know, I know...JB doesn't trust the backups. But I didn't feel like we got enough out of Cooney for him not be subbed out more tonight.

I didn't see enough of McCullough from 10-15 feet tonight. I'm not smart enough to know if the defense absolutely took that away from us, but if they didn't we screwed up by not getting him that shot.

I'm going to be seeing guys get blocked by Obekpa in those silly high water shorts all night tonight...maybe I can hope that I won't dream?

Good post.

Joseph is mediocre (super-generous) on offense, fairly bad on defense, but the lack of hustle getting back on D burned us quite a bit today. It's probably one of the main reasons he sat. Dear god, kid, at least Patterson tries hard - I'll give him that much.

Cooney playing 40 minutes is pretty astounding.

How many times did he even touch the ball on offense after we crossed half court? I mean, if you're THAT bad at getting open, dear god help us all. Is there a SG in the country that could TRY to touch the ball less than that through an entire game and be successful? Outside of sitting down in the stands and eating popcorn - I would say not likely.

He may have honestly set a record for inability to get open enough to even receive a pass on offense tonight.

Agree on the Rak foul - what unbelievably bad timing. Although maybe he though he would slow Harrison down, our guys aren't the quickest to pick up the guy with the hot hand.

Hi Greene, you're up next...no worries, we won't guard you either till you're streak hits double-digits!

Still, Cooney did bury that shot, and it was a big one - but for the Rak foul. I keep hoping he's going to come alive...maybe next game. We need you TC!

 

[tbonezone]

if you're gonna play your guys 40 minutes how about at least using your all your time outs. believe we had 3 left.

 

[Ghost]

if you're gonna play your guys 40 minutes how about at least using your all your time outs. believe we had 3 left.

We used them all in the second half - we used three between the 5:00 and 1:00 mark if I recall correctly.

 

[OrangeXtreme]

In all fairness to Cooney, he did hit one 3-ball, but it was called back due to an offensive foul on Rak.

 

[OrangeXtreme]

if you're gonna play your guys 40 minutes how about at least using your all your time outs. believe we had 3 left.

Negative.

15:08
7:45
5:48
3:56

 

[Libero2]

if you're gonna play your guys 40 minutes how about at least using your all your time outs. believe we had 3 left.

No. We used our 3rd TO with 5:48 to play, I remember because I thought it was weird to see JB use a TO in that spot. Then we used another with about 3:40 to play after the Greene layup to go ahead. Then we held the last one till about 2:00 left, and JB couldn't take it any more.

 

[Jasoncuse]

Everybody thinks this is a transition year. To what? You lose CM and Christmas and you're looking at another lousy year. JB might be looking at his first loosing season. We're looking at 6-4 in another two weeks. We will not go five hundred in the ACC. I don't see how this team can win a road game in the ACC and they will not win all of their home games. This team has no answers. CM was responsible for three late threes. He had no idea where the shooter was. They only have one and he couldn't keep track of him. He played really soft today. He couldn't finish and they knew it. The just fouled him all day and he missed a ton of foul shots.

totally agree and I hate it.

Next year, we're bringing in some good shooters (supposedly), but if we don't land Bryant, we'll most likely be extremely poor in the frontcourt. Next year could be even worse than this one and this looks like it could be the worst team of the past 30-40 years? That may be a bit hyperbolic, but this is not a good team. Our recruiting continues to be vastly overrated. It'd be nice to just have good BASKETBALL PLAYERS instead of long athletes with upside.

 

[cuseguy]

Everybody thinks this is a transition year. To what? You lose CM and Christmas and you're looking at another lousy year. JB might be looking at his first loosing season. We're looking at 6-4 in another two weeks. We will not go five hundred in the ACC. I don't see how this team can win a road game in the ACC and they will not win all of their home games. This team has no answers. CM was responsible for three late threes. He had no idea where the shooter was. They only have one and he couldn't keep track of him. He played really soft today. He couldn't finish and they knew it. The just fouled him all day and he missed a ton of foul shots.

Greatest recruit since Melo.

 

[cuseguy]

totally agree and I hate it. Next year, we're bringing in some good shooters (supposedly), but if we don't land Bryant, we'll most likely be extremely poor in the frontcourt. Next year could be even worse than this one and this looks like it could be the worst team of the past 30-40 years? That may be a bit hyperbolic, but this is not a good team. Our recruiting continues to be vastly overrated. It'd be nice to just have good BASKETBALL PLAYERS instead of long athletes with upside.

Lydon isn't playing next year. A redshirt year may do him well.

That's one less shooter.

 

[OttoMets]

Good post.

Joseph is mediocre (super-generous) on offense, fairly bad on defense, but the lack of hustle getting back on D burned us quite a bit today. It's probably one of the main reasons he sat. Dear god, kid, at least Patterson tries hard - I'll give him that much.

Cooney playing 40 minutes is pretty astounding.

How many times did he even touch the ball on offense after we crossed half court? I mean, if you're THAT bad at getting open, dear god help us all. Is there a SG in the country that could TRY to touch the ball less than that through an entire game and be successful? Outside of sitting down in the stands and eating popcorn - I would say not likely.

He may have honestly set a record for inability to get open enough to even receive a pass on offense tonight.

Agree on the Rak foul - what unbelievably bad timing. Although maybe he though he would slow Harrison down, our guys aren't the quickest to pick up the guy with the hot hand.

Hi Greene, you're up next...no worries, we won't guard you either till you're streak hits double-digits!

Still, Cooney did bury that shot, and it was a big one - but for the Rak foul. I keep hoping he's going to come alive...maybe next game. We need you TC!

Cooney just isn't effective against a decent man-to-man.

This team isn't constructed well; I can't remember a Syracuse team in which so few guys fill their roles well:

We've got a power forward playing center (he's the best of the bunch) without a backup.
Our power forward is rail-thin, finishes worse than Elvir Ovcina, and, as a young guy, struggles in the zone.
Small forward...who knows. B.J. looked good in the first half; he's clearly a smart basketball player.
Shooting guard. We don't have one who can shoot. Gbinije doesn't really feed the post and makes terrible decisions (the latest installment, giving away two points at the end of the first half).
Point guard. Meh, he's young. He'll become good someday. Two things I can't live with at this stage: not rotating back on defense and taking defended jump shots 5 seconds into the shot clock.

I miss the days of players who can play a defined position. This is a bunch of utility guys playing bad basketball.

 

[Ghost]

Cooney just isn't effective against a decent man-to-man.

This team isn't constructed well; I can't remember a Syracuse team in which so few guys fill their roles well:

We've got a power forward playing center (he's the best of the bunch) without a backup.
Our power forward is rail-thin, finishes worse than Elvir Ovcina, and, as a young guy, struggles in the zone.
Small forward...who knows. B.J. looked good in the first half; he's clearly a smart basketball player.
Shooting guard. We don't have one who can shoot. Gbinije doesn't really feed the post and makes terrible decisions (the latest installment, giving away two points at the end of the first half).
Point guard. Meh, he's young. He'll become good someday. Two things I can't live with at this stage: not rotating back on defense and taking defended jump shots 5 seconds into the shot clock.

I miss the days of players who can play a defined position. This is a bunch of utility guys playing bad basketball.

I do wonder how it would look with McC at the SF, Rak at PF, and a healthy Coleman in the middle. That's a big lineup.

G does seem to struggle to feed the post - he seems just as lost as Roberson at times. He'll have a stretch where you start to think he could be capable of being our third scorer, and then you get a stretch where he seems utterly incompetent. He's a strange player this year.

Joseph not getting back on D today was a killer. I keep waiting for something intriguing to develop from him, but I'm not seeing it. He seems like he'll develop into a very solid college PG. That's it though. At least that's all I'm seeing. I certainly could be wrong - and would love to be. At this stage though, we're probably getting what we should expect from someone never expected to be cast into this role this early.

They mentioned earlier that JB has talked about BJ stepping up - and it is most certainly true. We need to see him hit some shots. The other aspects of his game seem to be coming along, but he seemingly misses every jumper. It's frustrating.

 

[SoBeCuse]

totally agree and I hate it.

Next year, we're bringing in some good shooters (supposedly), but if we don't land Bryant, we'll most likely be extremely poor in the frontcourt. Next year could be even worse than this one and this looks like it could be the worst team of the past 30-40 years? That may be a bit hyperbolic, but this is not a good team. Our recruiting continues to be vastly overrated. It'd be nice to just have good BASKETBALL PLAYERS instead of long athletes with upside.

Yup. We see guards drive and penetrate our zone all the time. Sometimes supposed nobodys. We can't do anything with our guards vs a zone (or often vs man). Guys picking up their dribbles constantly, offense stagnating, and Gbinjie when deployed as a G is the only guy who can get into the lane to make a play, like twice.

 

[pfister1]

Joseph not getting back on D today was a killer. I keep waiting for something intriguing to develop from him, but I'm not seeing it. He seems like he'll develop into a very solid college PG. That's it though. At least that's all I'm seeing. I certainly could be wrong - and would love to be. At this stage though, we're probably getting what we should expect from someone never expected to be cast into this role this early.

They mentioned earlier that JB has talked about BJ stepping up - and it is most certainly true. We need to see him hit some shots. The other aspects of his game seem to be coming along, but he seemingly misses every jumper. It's frustrating.

I'm trying to reserve judgment on Joseph somewhat. After all he wasn't recruited to play this year. I think JB fully expected to have Ennis and his apprentice this season, instead the apprentice is having to learn on the fly. The failure to get back on D is tough to forgive though...stop watching and get involved.

As for BJ's shooting. I assume he's just trying to fit in with his teammates.

 

[Ghost]

Greatest recruit since Melo.

Greatest recruit since Donte Greene!

 

[Eagles20]

Good post.

Joseph is mediocre (super-generous) on offense, fairly bad on defense, but the lack of hustle getting back on D burned us quite a bit today. It's probably one of the main reasons he sat. Dear god, kid, at least Patterson tries hard - I'll give him that much.

Cooney playing 40 minutes is pretty astounding.

How many times did he even touch the ball on offense after we crossed half court? I mean, if you're THAT bad at getting open, dear god help us all. Is there a SG in the country that could TRY to touch the ball less than that through an entire game and be successful? Outside of sitting down in the stands and eating popcorn - I would say not likely.

He may have honestly set a record for inability to get open enough to even receive a pass on offense tonight.

Agree on the Rak foul - what unbelievably bad timing. Although maybe he though he would slow Harrison down, our guys aren't the quickest to pick up the guy with the hot hand.

Hi Greene, you're up next...no worries, we won't guard you either till you're streak hits double-digits!


Still, Cooney did bury that shot, and it was a big one - but for the Rak foul. I keep hoping he's going to come alive...maybe next game. We need you TC!

Cooney has been putting the ball on the floor a lot more this year and has been trying to be aggressive off the bounce. He touches the ball a lot more than you allude to as well. He is the one who set up the joseph to gbinje lay-up by dribbling across the top taking joseph defender away giving him the whole lane to drive. he plays sound positional defense and gets his hand on some passes. Had some rebounds. He made a nice pass in transition to Mike G for a dunk. He made a nice play late when he drove and passed to christmas...unfortunately it hit him in the chest. The kid isn't great, but when you are the only player who opposing teams think can hurt you from the outside you are going to get decent attention from them.

 

[Ghost]

Cooney has been putting the ball on the floor a lot more this year and has been trying to be aggressive off the bounce. He touches the ball a lot more than you allude to as well. He is the one who set up the joseph to gbinje lay-up by dribbling across the top taking joseph defender away giving him the whole lane to drive. he plays sound positional defense and gets his hand on some passes. Had some rebounds. He made a nice pass in transition to Mike G for a dunk. He made a nice play late when he drove and passed to christmas...unfortunately it hit him in the chest. The kid isn't great, but when you are the only player who opposing teams think can hurt you from the outside you are going to get decent attention from them.

I don't blame Cooney. He would be a phenomenal asset off the bench, or a starter that plays 20 minutes or so a game. His limitations are certainly accented even more this year thus far by the fact that he's playing off of Joseph instead of Ennis - and our offense is just, well, putrid.
The pass to Christmas I would have to rewatch, but it looked like a **** pass to be honest.

 

[Cusefan0307]

St. John's had a simple game plan. Double team Christmas and Cmac. Don't let Cooney get the ball.

The reason we aren't good right now has nothing to do with the freshman or the upperclassmen. It's because we have seen no improvement from the sophomore class. Johnson and Patterson got all the shots they wanted yesterday. The best shots of anyone on the team. They couldn't knock them down.