Edwards rebounding

[Grabberorang]

His rebounding in games where he’s had significant PT have been great. In those 4 games he averaged 7.5 rebounds in 22 minutes.

 

[jdubs30]

He is just so long ... he gets his hands on rebounds that Marek wouldn’t come close to

 

[kcsu]

As his strength increases he will get much better. He needs arm and hand strength. Upper body.

 

[RF2044]

I wonder why JB didn't play him until very late in the second half. I get that JB has always preferred to go with vets that he trusts.

But in the first half, NCST killed us inside early by grabbing a ton of offensive rebounds for point blank scores. That's why they were able to match pace with our hot start. Then, Quincy gets a couple of quick fouls [as did Marek], and he brings in Edwards. All of the sudden, the dump-and-chase stopped. He challenged several shots, made them take several wild ones inside due to his length, he started rebounding, etc. I think I read yesterday that he had 6 rebounds in the first half, in 14 minutes.

Second half, NCST begins by attacking inside again, but we stretch the lead out. Their only way they were scoring the first 7 minutes of the 2nd half or so was to attack the rim for dunks, or drawing fouls that put them at the line. Quincy also picked up a couple more quick ones. I expected JB to again turn to Jesse, given how well he played in the first half, but he didn't.

At the end of the day, we won by 20+, so I'm not criticizing JB for how things unfolded. I'm just surprised that he didn't go with Jesse more in the second half -- both to offset foul trouble issues, and to get the guy more ACCT experience, as he's going to be counted upon to play more today.

 

[General20]

I wonder why JB didn't play him until very late in the second half. I get that JB has always preferred to go with vets that he trusts.

But in the first half, NCST killed us inside early by grabbing a ton of offensive rebounds for point blank scores. That's why they were able to match pace with our hot start. Then, Quincy gets a couple of quick fouls [as did Marek], and he brings in Edwards. All of the sudden, the dump-and-chase stopped. He challenged several shots, made them take several wild ones inside due to his length, he started rebounding, etc. I think I read yesterday that he had 6 rebounds in the first half, in 14 minutes.

Second half, NCST begins by attacking inside again, but we stretch the lead out. Their only way they were scoring the first 7 minutes of the 2nd half or so was to attack the rim for dunks, or drawing fouls that put them at the line. Quincy also picked up a couple more quick ones. I expected JB to again turn to Jesse, given how well he played in the first half, but he didn't.

At the end of the day, we won by 20+, so I'm not criticizing JB for how things unfolded. I'm just surprised that he didn't go with Jesse more in the second half -- both to offset foul trouble issues, and to get the guy more ACCT experience, as he's going to be counted upon to play more today.

Jesse played the best game of his career by far, and did everything he was suppose to do, but Syracuse was still better off without him in the second half.

That is because we turned over NC St a bunch early and hit a handful of 3s. By time they started to score inside against us (never really actually scoring inside but earning trips to the foul line which Edwards could have helped stop) we were already up by 20 and NC St's only hope was pressing us hard, which obviously Dolezaj is valuable against, especially when they try to guard him with their center.

Going back to Edwards for a minute, even though he played during our down stretch in the first half, he did his job extremely well. If memory serves NC St. Shot 0% when challenging him, and also earned 0 free throws. It's normal for everything to seemingly come together all at once for college kids mid season, but I don't think I've ever seen anything like what happened with Edwards when he had one of the worst games I've ever seen an SU player have against Georgia Tech and then turned it around 2 days later to hold his own against UNC.

This game topped that UNC performance. It has to give you hope for next year to say the least.

For the record the reason NC St playing us even with Edwards in the game had nothing to do with him. It was because we had both Richmond and Braswell in the game at the same time, which allowed NC St to play both of their really short guards together, who hit 3s against us but never got punished on the defensive side of the ball having to guard guys 6 and 8 inches taller than them.

 

[Geode]

Jesse appears to be a great example of improvement through playing time. It's interesting that coach seemed intent on him not being ready and I fully appreciate he may not perform as well in practices and thus the coach's concern. It makes you wonder if he's one of those players who just plays better during games but because of his size and potential practice performance JB was hesitant to play him more minutes. The kid is perpetually undersized but sure does manage to make in impact in almost every game he gets to play in, we've seen for 2 years. However, it's easier for us armchair coaches to see what we want.

 

[Trueblue25]

We will need him downlow today. Never been fed more crow than with Edwards

 

[CardiacCuse]

Jesse appears to be a great example of improvement through playing time. It's interesting that coach seemed intent on him not being ready and I fully appreciate he may not perform as well in practices and thus the coach's concern. It makes you wonder if he's one of those players who just plays better during games but because of his size and potential practice performance JB was hesitant to play him more minutes. The kid is perpetually undersized but sure does manage to make in impact in almost every game he gets to play in, we've seen for 2 years. However, it's easier for us armchair coaches to see what we want.

undrsized? hes oversized.

I mean, hes actually the size of center...which seems oversized.

 

[Geode]

undrsized? hes oversized.

I mean, hes actually the size of center...which seems oversized.

I hear ya. I should've said - skinny

 

[OttoinGrotto]

I wonder why JB didn't play him until very late in the second half. I get that JB has always preferred to go with vets that he trusts.

But in the first half, NCST killed us inside early by grabbing a ton of offensive rebounds for point blank scores. That's why they were able to match pace with our hot start. Then, Quincy gets a couple of quick fouls [as did Marek], and he brings in Edwards. All of the sudden, the dump-and-chase stopped. He challenged several shots, made them take several wild ones inside due to his length, he started rebounding, etc. I think I read yesterday that he had 6 rebounds in the first half, in 14 minutes.

Second half, NCST begins by attacking inside again, but we stretch the lead out. Their only way they were scoring the first 7 minutes of the 2nd half or so was to attack the rim for dunks, or drawing fouls that put them at the line. Quincy also picked up a couple more quick ones. I expected JB to again turn to Jesse, given how well he played in the first half, but he didn't.

At the end of the day, we won by 20+, so I'm not criticizing JB for how things unfolded. I'm just surprised that he didn't go with Jesse more in the second half -- both to offset foul trouble issues, and to get the guy more ACCT experience, as he's going to be counted upon to play more today.

Nothing really makes sense to me in regards to how Edwards has been used. I'm just happy that he gets in now and contributes.

 

[RF2044]

Jesse played the best game of his career by far, and did everything he was suppose to do, but Syracuse was still better off without him in the second half.

That is because we turned over NC St a bunch early and hit a handful of 3s. By time they started to score inside against us (never really actually scoring inside but earning trips to the foul line which Edwards could have helped stop) we were already up by 20 and NC St's only hope was pressing us hard, which obviously Dolezaj is valuable against, especially when they try to guard him with their center.

Going back to Edwards for a minute, even though he played during our down stretch in the first half, he did his job extremely well. If memory serves NC St. Shot 0% when challenging him, and also earned 0 free throws. It's normal for everything to seemingly come together all at once for college kids mid season, but I don't think I've ever seen anything like what happened with Edwards when he had one of the worst games I've ever seen an SU player have against Georgia Tech and then turned it around 2 days later to hold his own against UNC.

This game topped that UNC performance. It has to give you hope for next year to say the least.

For the record the reason NC St playing us even with Edwards in the game had nothing to do with him. It was because we had both Richmond and Braswell in the game at the same time, which allowed NC St to play both of their really short guards together, who hit 3s against us but never got punished on the defensive side of the ball having to guard guys 6 and 8 inches taller than them.

Good post General, but you're viewing this partially through the lens of hindsight. When Guerrier / Dolezaj both had 3 fouls, it would have been a smart coaching move to bring Edwards in, and manage the foul situation with the two starting bigs.

Now, it didn't burn us yesterday -- even though Guerrier fouled out. But what if Dolezaj had picked up an earlier 4th foul?

 

[General20]

Good post General, but you're viewing this partially through the lens of hindsight. When Guerrier / Dolezaj both had 3 fouls, it would have been a smart coaching move to bring Edwards in, and manage the foul situation with the two starting bigs.

Now, it didn't burn us yesterday -- even though Guerrier fouled out. But what if Dolezaj had picked up an earlier 4th foul?

I watched the game yesterday with my dad and had that exact conversation with him real time. My dad mentioned being surprised Edwards wasn't playing, and I said I think Boeheim thinks we have the game locked up so long as we handle the press and that's why Dolezaj keeps playing center with Griffin and Guerrier as forwards.

We know Boeheim trusts his guys to play with foul trouble unless they demonstrate they can't. He always has.

I think Boeheim would be the first to admit Edwards earned more PT and it was only the circumstances of the game that kept him on the bench.

 

[orangecuse]

I wonder why JB didn't play him until very late in the second half. I get that JB has always preferred to go with vets that he trusts.

But in the first half, NCST killed us inside early by grabbing a ton of offensive rebounds for point blank scores. That's why they were able to match pace with our hot start. Then, Quincy gets a couple of quick fouls [as did Marek], and he brings in Edwards. All of the sudden, the dump-and-chase stopped. He challenged several shots, made them take several wild ones inside due to his length, he started rebounding, etc. I think I read yesterday that he had 6 rebounds in the first half, in 14 minutes.

Second half, NCST begins by attacking inside again, but we stretch the lead out. Their only way they were scoring the first 7 minutes of the 2nd half or so was to attack the rim for dunks, or drawing fouls that put them at the line. Quincy also picked up a couple more quick ones. I expected JB to again turn to Jesse, given how well he played in the first half, but he didn't.

At the end of the day, we won by 20+, so I'm not criticizing JB for how things unfolded. I'm just surprised that he didn't go with Jesse more in the second half -- both to offset foul trouble issues, and to get the guy more ACCT experience, as he's going to be counted upon to play more today.

Are you 5'2"?

 

[RF2044]

I watched the game yesterday with my dad and had that exact conversation with him. My dad mentioned being surprised Edwards wasn't playing, and I said I think Boeheim thinks we have the game locked up so long as we handle the press and that's why Dolezaj keeps playing center with Griffin and Guerrier as forwards.

We know Boeheim trusts his guys to play with foul trouble unless they demonstrate they can't. He always has.

I think Boeheim would be the first to admit Edwards earned more PT and it was only the circumstances of the game that kept him on the bench.

Yup, I qualified my original post above with the acknowledgement that JB plays guys he trusts. But we were up 17+ for a significant portion of the second half -- I think we had a cushion if NCST made a run. I mean, if you aren't going to play the bench when sporting such a big lead, when ARE you going to play them?

Good point about Dolezaj with the ball handling, though. That was big.

 

[SBU72]

Jesse appears to be a great example of improvement through playing time. It's interesting that coach seemed intent on him not being ready and I fully appreciate he may not perform as well in practices and thus the coach's concern. It makes you wonder if he's one of those players who just plays better during games but because of his size and potential practice performance JB was hesitant to play him more minutes. The kid is perpetually undersized but sure does manage to make in impact in almost every game he gets to play in, we've seen for 2 years. However, it's easier for us armchair coaches to see what we want.

IMHO, JB places a high value on defense and a kid sees limited playing time until he demonstrates in practice that he understands the zone and moves without thinking. In this case he who hesitates is lost. Right or wrong, that's coach.

 

[CuseFaninVT]

Yup, I qualified my original post above with the acknowledgement that JB plays guys he trusts. But we were up 17+ for a significant portion of the second half -- I think we had a cushion if NCST made a run. I mean, if you aren't going to play the bench then sporting such a big lead, when ARE you going to play them?

Good point about Dolezaj with the ball handling, though. That was big.

I'm with you on this one. He could have easily achieved the same thing bringing in Jesse and sliding Marek to the forward slot again. Still have the ball handling needed (Q and Griff both being on the floor don't help as much with that as Marek does), and increase rebounding.

 

[Consigliere]

I wonder why JB didn't play him until very late in the second half. I get that JB has always preferred to go with vets that he trusts.

But in the first half, NCST killed us inside early by grabbing a ton of offensive rebounds for point blank scores. That's why they were able to match pace with our hot start. Then, Quincy gets a couple of quick fouls [as did Marek], and he brings in Edwards. All of the sudden, the dump-and-chase stopped. He challenged several shots, made them take several wild ones inside due to his length, he started rebounding, etc. I think I read yesterday that he had 6 rebounds in the first half, in 14 minutes.

Second half, NCST begins by attacking inside again, but we stretch the lead out. Their only way they were scoring the first 7 minutes of the 2nd half or so was to attack the rim for dunks, or drawing fouls that put them at the line. Quincy also picked up a couple more quick ones. I expected JB to again turn to Jesse, given how well he played in the first half, but he didn't.

At the end of the day, we won by 20+, so I'm not criticizing JB for how things unfolded. I'm just surprised that he didn't go with Jesse more in the second half -- both to offset foul trouble issues, and to get the guy more ACCT experience, as he's going to be counted upon to play more today.

Surprised me as well. Wonder if he wanted to stick with Griff more than usual as he was playing as well as he has all year on the defensive end (not saying much) and has been so up and down the last month. Team was playing so well offensively that he wasn;t going to take Marek out and Quincy was the inside presence.

 

[Consigliere]

I watched the game yesterday with my dad and had that exact conversation with him real time. My dad mentioned being surprised Edwards wasn't playing, and I said I think Boeheim thinks we have the game locked up so long as we handle the press and that's why Dolezaj keeps playing center with Griffin and Guerrier as forwards.

We know Boeheim trusts his guys to play with foul trouble unless they demonstrate they can't. He always has.

I think Boeheim would be the first to admit Edwards earned more PT and it was only the circumstances of the game that kept him on the bench.

He did rave about Jesse in the post game. Said "He has a huge...I mean HUGE upside." Think people get all caught up in the "not ready" comment. I chose to interpret that as JB believing Jesse hasn't yet scratched the surface of what he can contribute.

 

[CuseFaninVT]

Surprised me as well. Wonder if he wanted to stick with Griff more than usual as he was playing as well as he has all year on the defensive end (not saying much) and has been so up and down the last month. Team was playing so well offensively that he wasn;t going to take Marek out and Quincy was the inside presence.

I agree that Griff's activity was pretty good yesterday. It wasn't as crazy as normal. Kept to his assignments and didn't appear to be trying to fly all over the court like a maniac as he has in the past. Was glad to see.

 

[justgold315]

Once he has some better footwork and strength, he is going to be tough to guard on offense. He caught the ball in the post a few times, and you can see him thinking too much on his move. We need AO, Christmas, or DC to come in give a clinic

 

[RF2044]

Surprised me as well. Wonder if he wanted to stick with Griff more than usual as he was playing as well as he has all year on the defensive end (not saying much) and has been so up and down the last month. Team was playing so well offensively that he wasn;t going to take Marek out and Quincy was the inside presence.

Agreed on Griffin -- he played GREAT yesterday. Not just rebounding, but the passing. He's really playing far more unselfishly than earlier in the year.

 

[CuseFaninVT]

Agreed on Griffin -- he played GREAT yesterday. Not just rebounding, but the passing. He's really playing far more unselfishly than earlier in the year.

Love when he makes the quick passes. One of the best things about team basketball is seeing players recognize immediately they don't have a shot or lane to drive, and make the right pass to the open guy.

 

[Consigliere]

Agreed on Griffin -- he played GREAT yesterday. Not just rebounding, but the passing. He's really playing far more unselfishly than earlier in the year.

Been beating this drum since November, but this would have been a far different team if we had a full complement of practices. Especially the acclimation of the newbies.

 

[Newhouser]

and as a reminder - if Jesse doesn't play great today, we don't need to banish him from the program. JB and fans.

 

[hoopsupstate]

JB didn’t mind giving up twos for our threes. When Jessie was in NCS were forced to shoot threes and they made them. Hitting threes can quickly change momentum. JB’s mind works in mysterious ways and don’t ever under estimate his logic. JB also went out of his way to say great things about Joe. He says he really trusts him and he’s loyal to his players. He said Joe is a very good player. He does not want to lose either of these two guys. Braswell too. It looks like Woody may be a casualty of riches at forward with Benny coming in next year. Too bad because I really like his upside. I wonder if he could convince him to stay and play some guard? Not much room there either.