General20
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Syracuse played Pace who is predicted to finish 11th in their conference, meaning not only are they a D2 team, they're a bad D2 team, and they looked it. From now on I will refer to them as the not ready for prime time players. When you play a team that bad you cant learn much from player's performances. I think a lot more can be read into how the players were used.
I'm paraphrasing, but before the game Boeheim said that these exhibition games were more important than any in recent memory because with all the youth and new players the guys need more time playing together. We are also opening the season with a game against a ranked opponent for the first time in 25 years, so there will be no in-season warm ups.
All coaches say things pre-season that are only partly true, but the way Boeheim coached in this game you could clearly see that the above sentiments were genuine. He has always played man to man in exhibition games. I'm not exactly sure why, but he has. In this game Syracuse played zone the entire time. It was clear that Boeheim wanted to get the team as much game time as possible playing how they will have to play against San Diego St. It was also clear that this team is nowhere near where it has to be defensively.
Yes, Syracuse won 99-63, which is a typical SU exhibition stat line, but they did not play this game in the glorified practice way that Syracuse usually approaches exhibitions. They played it much closer to the way they will play in the regular season. Considering this, the outcome was disappointing. If last year's team played this not ready for prime time team and actually played zone for the entire game the score would have been closer to 150-25, and that is assuming they called off the dogs early.
This year's team is not as ready to go as the last several have been to start the year. That stood out to me in this game. That, and the fact that there are a few personnel issues Boeheim does not have a handle on yet.
There were two instances (one big and one small) where Boeheim was holding an open audition. I've never quite seen that before in an exhibition game. Normally that kind of stuff is figured out behind closed doors in practice.
The first, and big issue, is who will play center. Coleman or Christmas. In the first half, Christmas played center and Coleman played the wing. In the second half, Coleman played center and Christmas played the wing. Why would Boeheim set it up that way if he was not trying to determine who is better at what position? It seems pretty clear to me from what I saw that Fair and Southerland will be getting the majority of the minutes at the forward spots. That means either Coleman or Christmas is going to win the majority of the minutes at center (Kieta had a good game but is the same guy he was last year, a valuable back up).
I was hoping we might see a dynamic high-low set with Coleman (who can hit jump shots) up high and Christmas posting up physically outmatched power forwards. Syracuse ran that play several times, and it did not look effective enough to run against real opposition. This can change as the year goes on and these guys mature, but until it does they will be on the court together sparingly and mostly early in games. With Fair and Southerland on the court together when it matters.
So who will win the majority of the center minutes? I'm not quite ready to say yet, but I did love Coleman's hands. His teammates threw the ball to him often before he had established position. They simply got it high and expected him to come down with it. Yes, he was up against over matched competition, but the fact that the other guys made these passes (they didn't to anybody else) shows that he has proven in practice that he will come down with anything you throw his way. Good hands are huge for a big man, especially one who is strong enough to get good position, and skilled enough to hit free throws when fouled.
The second, smaller, issue was who will play in the 4th guard role. In this case Southerland was the guard in the first half and Fair was the guard in the second half. I thought Fair looked much more comfortable at the top of the zone (Southerland's lateral movement was too slow) but its clear that Boeheim is yet to decide who he thinks will fit in better as the fourth guard.
Another interesting (but probably meaningless) observation was that Kieta dunked twice. He always lays the ball up. I'm not sure I've ever seen him dunk unless it was a put-back, but today he went up strong and dunked when a lay up would have done the trick. Its a small issue, but I have to say I liked seeing it.
Now onto the meaningless player performance evaluations.
MCW could have scored any time he wanted. Of course, he had a guy who was literally a foot shorter than him trying to guard him. Early in the game MCW scored 7 or 8 straight points and Boeheim immediately took him out so the team could work on other things where they didn't have such a glaring advantage. Triche didn't look nearly as good going up against the tiny guards. Not sure what that means, if anything.
Grant has all the tools he needs to excel at Syracuse, but is going to need a year to hone them before he is ready for the big time.
Fair's jump shot looked good. He hung out a lot farther from the basket than he has in years past. He had to when we was playing with both Christmas and Coleman (which was the starting line up) but he also looked a lot more comfortable out there than in years past.
Southerland lead the team in scoring in this game and I wouldn't be surprised if he did so for the entire season.
That is pretty much all I've got. Going forward I am going to be looking to see how Coleman and Christmas play together, but I am also going to be assuming that only one of them gets really big minutes in meaningful games and that its a dog fight for that spot. I am going to be excited to see how Cooney changes the mix we already have. Mostly, I will keep an eye on the defense and hope for improvement.
I'm paraphrasing, but before the game Boeheim said that these exhibition games were more important than any in recent memory because with all the youth and new players the guys need more time playing together. We are also opening the season with a game against a ranked opponent for the first time in 25 years, so there will be no in-season warm ups.
All coaches say things pre-season that are only partly true, but the way Boeheim coached in this game you could clearly see that the above sentiments were genuine. He has always played man to man in exhibition games. I'm not exactly sure why, but he has. In this game Syracuse played zone the entire time. It was clear that Boeheim wanted to get the team as much game time as possible playing how they will have to play against San Diego St. It was also clear that this team is nowhere near where it has to be defensively.
Yes, Syracuse won 99-63, which is a typical SU exhibition stat line, but they did not play this game in the glorified practice way that Syracuse usually approaches exhibitions. They played it much closer to the way they will play in the regular season. Considering this, the outcome was disappointing. If last year's team played this not ready for prime time team and actually played zone for the entire game the score would have been closer to 150-25, and that is assuming they called off the dogs early.
This year's team is not as ready to go as the last several have been to start the year. That stood out to me in this game. That, and the fact that there are a few personnel issues Boeheim does not have a handle on yet.
There were two instances (one big and one small) where Boeheim was holding an open audition. I've never quite seen that before in an exhibition game. Normally that kind of stuff is figured out behind closed doors in practice.
The first, and big issue, is who will play center. Coleman or Christmas. In the first half, Christmas played center and Coleman played the wing. In the second half, Coleman played center and Christmas played the wing. Why would Boeheim set it up that way if he was not trying to determine who is better at what position? It seems pretty clear to me from what I saw that Fair and Southerland will be getting the majority of the minutes at the forward spots. That means either Coleman or Christmas is going to win the majority of the minutes at center (Kieta had a good game but is the same guy he was last year, a valuable back up).
I was hoping we might see a dynamic high-low set with Coleman (who can hit jump shots) up high and Christmas posting up physically outmatched power forwards. Syracuse ran that play several times, and it did not look effective enough to run against real opposition. This can change as the year goes on and these guys mature, but until it does they will be on the court together sparingly and mostly early in games. With Fair and Southerland on the court together when it matters.
So who will win the majority of the center minutes? I'm not quite ready to say yet, but I did love Coleman's hands. His teammates threw the ball to him often before he had established position. They simply got it high and expected him to come down with it. Yes, he was up against over matched competition, but the fact that the other guys made these passes (they didn't to anybody else) shows that he has proven in practice that he will come down with anything you throw his way. Good hands are huge for a big man, especially one who is strong enough to get good position, and skilled enough to hit free throws when fouled.
The second, smaller, issue was who will play in the 4th guard role. In this case Southerland was the guard in the first half and Fair was the guard in the second half. I thought Fair looked much more comfortable at the top of the zone (Southerland's lateral movement was too slow) but its clear that Boeheim is yet to decide who he thinks will fit in better as the fourth guard.
Another interesting (but probably meaningless) observation was that Kieta dunked twice. He always lays the ball up. I'm not sure I've ever seen him dunk unless it was a put-back, but today he went up strong and dunked when a lay up would have done the trick. Its a small issue, but I have to say I liked seeing it.
Now onto the meaningless player performance evaluations.
MCW could have scored any time he wanted. Of course, he had a guy who was literally a foot shorter than him trying to guard him. Early in the game MCW scored 7 or 8 straight points and Boeheim immediately took him out so the team could work on other things where they didn't have such a glaring advantage. Triche didn't look nearly as good going up against the tiny guards. Not sure what that means, if anything.
Grant has all the tools he needs to excel at Syracuse, but is going to need a year to hone them before he is ready for the big time.
Fair's jump shot looked good. He hung out a lot farther from the basket than he has in years past. He had to when we was playing with both Christmas and Coleman (which was the starting line up) but he also looked a lot more comfortable out there than in years past.
Southerland lead the team in scoring in this game and I wouldn't be surprised if he did so for the entire season.
That is pretty much all I've got. Going forward I am going to be looking to see how Coleman and Christmas play together, but I am also going to be assuming that only one of them gets really big minutes in meaningful games and that its a dog fight for that spot. I am going to be excited to see how Cooney changes the mix we already have. Mostly, I will keep an eye on the defense and hope for improvement.
