Does it concern anyone that

[samspann1]

we haven't really even been competitive these past 2 games, our first 2 games against "real" competition? I mean, we *almost* cut the deficit to a 1-possession game a few times. Yay, I guess?

I am frankly not sure whether or offense or defense is worse right now. We give up one open look after another on defense - we are apparently helpless against the high/low - and on offense, we have no ball movement of note (a couple of our newcomers are ball stoppers/black holes), and we don't even seem to want to go after our own misses, of which there are plenty.

No idea why JB played Gillon so much in the 2nd half. Yes, he's a HOFer, and I'm not, but I think Howard needs to see much more PT than Gillon. White is kind of useless unless he's hitting shots - I appreciate that he has confidence, but yeesh.

Hopefully, the frosh grow up quickly, because we need what they were supposed to bring.

 

[NKR1978]

There's like 7 threads pointing out just these concerns. But good points.

 

[We Are Syracuse]

Agree. Just saw a post saying by pearl31 (One of my favorite posters) that it would be crazy to not expect this team to be better in March. While I absolutely agree, I do not believe this team could get much worse at the moment given the talent level we have.

Edit to add: USC and Wiscy are good basketball teams. But are in no way groundbreaking or superb. UNC, Duke, UVA, and UL are very very very good basketball teams. Those games are frightening at the moment.

 

[two3zone]

Agree. Just saw a post saying by pearl31 (One of my favorite posters) that to not expect this team to better in March is crazy. While I absolutely agree, I do not believe this team could get much worse at the moment given the talent level we have.

I think we can get better (can't get much worse), but we have a lot of guys who are who they are. Chemistry could get a lot better too, but if they don't do it then we're looking at a Shumpert/Williams type team.

 

[MSOrange]

I think we can get better (can't get much worse), but we have a lot of guys who are who they are. Chemistry could get a lot better too, but if they don't do it then we're looking at a Shumpert/Williams type team.

Let's hope nobody's girlfriend gets involved this year.

 

[jdubs30]

In my opinion it's hard to the judge the D on a night like tonight. Nigel Hayes is literally the perfect player to put in the middle of the zone if you're going against it and Ethan Happ is a force on the block. South Carolina had 50pts with about 4 minutes left.

This team has a lot of new pieces that will take time to fit together. I'm usually very pessimistic, but I like this team and we have UConn and some easier teams coming up and our ACC schedule to open is fairly soft - I think we can get on a run here. By the time we go to Chapel Hill in about 6 weeks we will be a TOTALLY different team

 

[pearl31]

No idea why JB played Gillon so much in the 2nd half

Frankie - doghouse

 

[samspann1]

Frankie - doghouse

I hope not, but suspect that you're right.

 

[Ghost]

Nobody will probably agree, but I think we have the same issues on offense as we did the past three years. Shooting guard is weak.

Having a one dimensional shooting guard is NOT the key to having a successful offense.

We start the game with Howard, and a bunch of guys who are pretty limited off the bounce.

That leaves Battle or Gillon. Gillon is good off the bounce, and can score, but sort of woeful at everything else, and off the bounce he either gets a basket, or disaster if he has to (or should) pass. I'm still not sure how he plugs in - but that's not his issue to concern himself with! The vision just doesn't seem to be there with him though. That leaves Battle - who should be the guy, but outside of the pre-season hasn't really shown much to make you think he's the guy.

I don't know.....I just wish we had guards that were more adept at attacking and keeping pressure on the defense, because we have two pretty good complimentary pieces in Lydon and White. They just need the guard play to get them good looks, because they're not creating them for themselves all that often.

 

[tbonezone]

you know the nearer your destination the more you're slip sliding' away...

 

[FrancoPizza]

I'm very concerned- without El Niño I was counting on an exciting basketball season to get me through the winter.

 

[cuseguy]

If Howard is in the doghouse, we're in deep doodoo next year.

 

[pearl31]

what concerns me most is the no-shows from Roberson and then White/Lydon in the 2nd half - that has nothing to do with chemistry

 

[pearl31]

I'm very concerned- without El Niño I was counting on an exciting basketball season to get me through the winter.

you'd be "very concerned" if the team was undefeated heading into the f4

 

[cuseguy]

Nobody will probably agree, but I think we have the same issues on offense as we did the past three years. Shooting guard is weak.

Having a one dimensional shooting guard is NOT the key to having a successful offense.

We start the game with Howard, and a bunch of guys who are pretty limited off the bounce.

That leaves Battle or Gillon. Gillon is good off the bounce, and can score, but sort of woeful at everything else, and off the bounce he either gets a basket, or disaster if he has to (or should) pass. I'm still not sure how he plugs in - but that's not his issue to concern himself with! The vision just doesn't seem to be there with him though. That leaves Battle - who should be the guy, but outside of the pre-season hasn't really shown much to make you think he's the guy.

I don't know...I just wish we had guards that were more adept at attacking and keeping pressure on the defense, because we have two pretty good complimentary pieces in Lydon and White. They just need the guard play to get them good looks, because they're not creating them for themselves all that often.

We had G at the shooting guard last year.

 

[Ghost]

We had G at the shooting guard last year.

Huh? What do you think the lineup was last year?

 

[OttoMets]

Nobody will probably agree, but I think we have the same issues on offense as we did the past three years. Shooting guard is weak.

Having a one dimensional shooting guard is NOT the key to having a successful offense.

We start the game with Howard, and a bunch of guys who are pretty limited off the bounce.

That leaves Battle or Gillon. Gillon is good off the bounce, and can score, but sort of woeful at everything else, and off the bounce he either gets a basket, or disaster if he has to (or should) pass. I'm still not sure how he plugs in - but that's not his issue to concern himself with! The vision just doesn't seem to be there with him though. That leaves Battle - who should be the guy, but outside of the pre-season hasn't really shown much to make you think he's the guy.

I don't know...I just wish we had guards that were more adept at attacking and keeping pressure on the defense, because we have two pretty good complimentary pieces in Lydon and White. They just need the guard play to get them good looks, because they're not creating them for themselves all that often.

I was thinking about this the other day. How were we ever effective with guys like Marius Janulis as the off-guard?

Doesn't matter now. Fact is that running a decent offense is hard enough that we can't afford to have a 2 who doesn't bother to pass to his teammates and can't dribble. Hate to be that guy, but I'll jump on the bandwagon - this team could really use Malachi Richardson.

Short of that, we've got to get Battle up to speed. Because White's use in that spot is making a bad situation worse.

 

[pfister1]

Frankie - doghouse

He went to the doghouse after Lydon pulled down a rebound and then tried to pass the ball to Howard but instead fed Happ for a layup. I guess JB was either so upset at Lydon that Frankie had to be disciplined or he wanted Frankie to realize that Lydon was going to cough it up and instead come back for the ball.

 

[tbonezone]

the key to the doghouse

 

[OttoMets]

He went to the doghouse after Lydon pulled down a rebound and then tried to pass the ball to Howard but instead fed Happ for a layup. I guess JB was either so upset at Lydon that Frankie had to be disciplined or he wanted Frankie to realize that Lydon was going to cough it up and instead come back for the ball.

Classic Boeheim.

 

[RF2044]

Nobody will probably agree, but I think we have the same issues on offense as we did the past three years. Shooting guard is weak.

Having a one dimensional shooting guard is NOT the key to having a successful offense.

We start the game with Howard, and a bunch of guys who are pretty limited off the bounce.

That leaves Battle or Gillon. Gillon is good off the bounce, and can score, but sort of woeful at everything else, and off the bounce he either gets a basket, or disaster if he has to (or should) pass. I'm still not sure how he plugs in - but that's not his issue to concern himself with! The vision just doesn't seem to be there with him though. That leaves Battle - who should be the guy, but outside of the pre-season hasn't really shown much to make you think he's the guy.

I don't know...I just wish we had guards that were more adept at attacking and keeping pressure on the defense, because we have two pretty good complimentary pieces in Lydon and White. They just need the guard play to get them good looks, because they're not creating them for themselves all that often.

Agree about the starting lineup. Seeing them play [and admittedly, it's early], I get the impression that we are going to be spotting the good teams on our schedule leads every game due to their lack of complimentary offensive skills.

 

[cuseguy]

Huh? What do you think the lineup was last year?

My point is you replaced G with Howard at the point.

Huge drop off.

 

[Coach Orange]

you know the nearer your destination the more you're slip sliding' away...

I have to like this post simply because of the clearly awesome Paul Simon reference.

 

[Ghost]

My point is you replaced G with Howard at the point.

Huge drop off.

Eh, I'm just missing something I guess in what you're trying to say.

G had a decent enough handle, could create a bit off the bounce, so can Howard. Howard's more of a pure PG though.

I don't know really get the reference to G being our shooting guard last year though and how that plays in......I'm not comparing the two in any other respect. The trouble is, we keep ending up with people at the other 4 spots that can't really create much offense for themselves. You need a REALLLLLLY dynamic point guard to compensate for that if you're offense is designed around players having unlimited freedom. I don't think G or Howard were/are that.

That just increases the importance of having a good creator as your secondary guard. If our defense can't compensate for our offense, than we're in big trouble. Thus far, that defense doesn't look very good.

 

[Cowtown]

Well, I think this is what JB needed to see. Now he knows what he has to do, and with whom. SC and this one were the first games I've seen, and none of it was pretty. I agree with samspann1, Gillon has shown me very little, and it was almost comical watching him try to "get longer" on top. He sorta reminded me of Josh Wright. Well, okay maybe not that bad. But there's no leader, and none of them know how to play with the rest. And their understanding of zone D is way too passive. The wings were like their feet were in cement. How many time do you have to see the short corner dish from the elbow to know that's what they're doing? Either slow footwork, or bad basketball IQ. I don't like either one, but together they're like a root canal without the xylocaine.