Defense, size and effort... | Syracusefan.com

Defense, size and effort...

Yup. The opening stretch of the 2H was about as bad as I have seen anybody anywhere try to execute offense. Defense and general effort remained steady like you say.
 
The first half they were BALLIN’! So much fun to see. They were getting after it and the sparse crowd appreciated it. Then the first half of the second half was pure tedium and stall. Scary! No tacos tonight. Then suddenly they caught fire. Tacos!!

At one point, Oshae turned to the crowd and waved his arms at us to cheer. We obliged.
 
SoBeCuse said:
Yup. The opening stretch of the 2H was about as bad as I have seen anybody anywhere try to execute offense. Defense and general effort remained steady like you say.
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yeah I found myself in disbelief that Oakland never got it below double digits during that stretch - our D and rebounding are why
 
15 blocks & 12 steals. using the standard formula to compute possessions, syracuse got a block or a steal on over 40% of oakland's possessions.

unadjusted defensive efficiency was 75.04 . . . against a borderline top 100 team.
 
Cusefan0307 said:
I really don’t think I’m exaggerating when I say I think we can be as good defensively as the 2012-13 Orange that went to the FF and was BE runner up.
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I'm not ready to be completely Orange drunk about this team just yet. I think when January rolls around and they look good in conference games then I will tip the glass. This team has a ton of work to do on both ends before the ACC regular season starts.

But this team already looks a lot better than last year's squad.
 
NineOneSeven said:
Last year people were creaming themselves the first week too

(Not really in response to your post which I agree with, just a general comment)
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We had a post from a level headed and beyond respected poster that thought we would have a tough time against literally every team, starting with Cornell. And I kind of agreed with him.

We’re better than a lot of people thought. But I’m not going to get too excited until Maryland.
 
If this team plays last years team right now (11/21/16 vs 11/21/17), anyone think it's probably this year's team coming out on top by multiple possesions? The rebounding and defense alone will give last years team trouble. ALso Doleazj in the middle of the zone on offense would be brutual for last year to try to defend.

Last year just felt like a bunch of pieces that didn't really fit together and a few seniors that never really put it together while here.

This year feels like everyone fits so well together and we are just so young and building towards something.
 
jdubs30 said:
If this team plays last years team right now (11/21/16 vs 11/21/17), anyone think it's probably this year's team coming out on top by multiple possesions? The rebounding and defense alone will give last years team trouble. ALso Doleazj in the middle of the zone on offense would be brutual for last year to try to defend.

Last year just felt like a bunch of pieces that didn't really fit together and a few seniors that never really put it together while here.

This year feels like everyone fits so well together and we are just so young and building towards something.
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Dolezaj needs to be a threat from the foul line to shoot otherwise teams will eventually back off when he gets it.
 
NKR1978 said:
We had a post from a level headed and beyond respected poster that thought we would have a tough time against literally every team, starting with Cornell. And I kind of agreed with him.

We’re better than a lot of people thought. But I’m not going to get too excited until Maryland.
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Yeah it’s hard to gauge but FH and PC didn’t look this good even against cream puffs. And we have dived on more loose balls in 4 games than we did the last 4 years combined
 
Just great to see the team playing with heart and intensity. Even if they lose a game, I'm happy when they go 100% and never quit.

Watching your team quit is one of the toughest things for a fan IMO.
 
jdubs30 said:
This year feels like everyone fits so well together and we are just so young and building towards something.
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So young. And they're just learning how to play together. OB and MD seem to have pretty good chemistry together.

With last year's team, I'm not sure there was that much room to improve. Roberson, White, Coleman and Gillon were finished products. Thorpe might be a finished product, but his role isn't to be the star that White was (displacing other guys who probably thought they were going to be the star), and he is tall enough to play the zone where Gillon clearly wasn't.

Sidibe, Brissett, Chukwu, Dolezaj and even Battle are just scratching the surface of what they can do. Frank needs to keep getting better, but with Moyer and Washington to offer bodies/effort/rests, I like the rotation.

JB never seemed to figure out what to do with last year's team aside from a couple really exciting wins.

I'm trying not to get too excited, but I feel like this team can be pretty decent, and exponentially better than expected. This recruiting class is far better than its ranking and things seem to be pointing to a pretty special 2019 season.
 
310Pigpen said:
Idk something seemed off right from the beginning last year. This year seems more "normal". This years team seems like more of a team.
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It was White and Gillon not being familiar enough with the zone to really know how to play it. Seems like this year's squad just has more experience with it, and most especially Frank and Battle. But Frank has improved so that helps as well.
 
The early games have been a joy because the team looks better than I expected. As the OP mentions just the level of effort, size and D has raised my expectations.

First, I feel much better about keeping the over 500 streak alive. The way the team looks and the focus shown so far have instilled more confidence in me for them to take care of opponents they are favored to beat. Also the downgrade to Pitt and Wake help upgrade the odds for the >500 streak.

Secondly, I am now more excited about the future, even factoring in Battles leaving. The new blood looks good beyond their rankings and PC is showing why some were high on him. The future looks bright.

Third, I think the rational that injuries were a part of last years disappointment has gained a lot of ground. PC would have helped.
 
This years team seems to know where they want to go and how to get there.

Last years team didn't know where they were going and individually tried to figure out what path to take.
 
Sgt Cuse said:
The early games have been a joy because the team looks better than I expected. As the OP mentions just the level of effort, size and D has raised my expectations.

First, I feel much better about keeping the over 500 streak alive. The way the team looks and the focus shown so far have instilled more confidence in me for them to take care of opponents they are favored to beat. Also the downgrade to Pitt and Wake help upgrade the odds for the >500 streak.

Secondly, I am now more excited about the future, even factoring in Battles leaving. The new blood looks good beyond their rankings and PC is showing why some were high on him. The future looks bright.

Third, I think the rational that injuries were a part of last years disappointment has gained a lot of ground. PC would have helped.
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It's interesting to speculate whether PC would have developed into what we are seeing now last year or if he needed another year to become this player.
 
NKR1978 said:
We had a post from a level headed and beyond respected poster that thought we would have a tough time against literally every team, starting with Cornell. And I kind of agreed with him.

We’re better than a lot of people thought. But I’m not going to get too excited until Maryland.
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Thank you for calling me level headed and respected!

Oh. Wait. You said “him.”
:(:(
 
Jake said:
Three things that never have to have off nights.

Our offense may struggle badly, but. we should be in most games...
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Agreed -- those are also the three tings you can control game in and game out.
 
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