Expectations for this year?

[bballbeadle]

I'm looking forward to the season because it's Syracuse basketball and it is unquestionably my singular favorite sporting entity. Just not really looking forward to the results. Only team left in my life where losing games still can make my day a bit crappier. I've gotten over football, the Bills, Sabres and everyone else mostly due to years of trauma but Cuse bball was still the one thing we could look forward to to get through winter. It's sort of miserable to just look at our expectations for this year and combine that with how unenjoyable the past few seasons have been. I'm sure someone will tell me how great the tournament runs were in 16 & 18 but 5 straight bubble seasons with 13+ losses has worn me down. So my hopes are that the games themselves aren't as ugly to watch, just hoping that with all of the shooting that we've accumulate and a PG that likes to push that we will be playing in the 80s instead of the 60s most nights.

I feel your pain. They looked pretty lively in Italy but . . . We know what their competition was. Still, getting those four games under our belt hopefully puts us a tad ahead in figuring out who we are going to be. I really liked Goodine. He was a surprise.

Who knows? All I know is I sat next to a snotty kid all last year who screamed and yelled at Frank and Chukwu and certainly made a difficult season even more difficult. I think he is off to college this year, so I expect MY season to be better this year than last for sure!

 

[Scooch]

My expectations are low, but I’ll admit that’s mostly a reaction to the ugly, glacier ball we’ve been subjected too recently. I’d like to buy into the notion that we’ll surprise and/or improve as the year goes along. It’s been a while since that happened though.

 

[Briancuse]

Sadly our ceiling is probably a bubble team. We should be better offensively. rebounding will be a huge problem.

 

[OttoMets]

My expectations are low, but I’ll admit that’s mostly a reaction to the ugly, glacier ball we’ve been subjected too recently. I’d like to buy into the notion that we’ll surprise and/or improve as the year goes along. It’s been a while since that happened though.

2010 for the former, 2016 (arguably 2017) for the latter. And those last two had a lot of halves of basketball that were difficult to watch. Though all the home upset wins in 2017 were a lot of fun, obviously.

Just give me a team that has five guys who can pass and score and move a defender, kids who know how to throw an outlet pass and fill a lane on a fast break, players who can execute a screen at the right time and roll toward the hoop. I don't even need to wish for 20 wins or .700 records, that'll come if they can do that stuff.

 

[FrancoPizza]

I think this is JB's evolution to modern offensive basketball.

 

[bnoro]

Realistically expecting a battle to stay on the bubble all year, but could see this team surprising and getting seeded anywhere from 7-10...

The talent is there.

 

[Scooch]

2010 for the former, 2016 (arguably 2017) for the latter. And those last two had a lot of halves of basketball that were difficult to watch. Though all the home upset wins in 2017 were a lot of fun, obviously.

Just give me a team that has five guys who can pass and score and move a defender, kids who know how to throw an outlet pass and fill a lane on a fast break, players who can execute a screen at the right time and roll toward the hoop. I don't even need to wish for 20 wins or .700 records, that'll come if they can do that stuff.

Maybe I'm splitting hairs, but I don't consider making a run in the NCAAT as necessarily improving as the year goes along. We lost 5 of of our last 6 pre-NCAAT games that year, which hardly gave off the feeling of improvement. I'll assume referencing 2017 was a mistake, since we had one of our patented February swoons that year and landed in the NIT. I'm not trying to be argumentative, if people think a tourney run counts as late season improvement, that's fine.

I do agree with your 2010 example, which means that it's been a decade since JB fulfilled the notion of surprising when expectations are low. To be fair, expectations were pretty high in 2011-2014, but since then expectations have been low, and we've met them.

Ultimately, I'm with you on just wanting to watch a team that's offensively functional. I can't take another season of glacier ball, life is too short.

 

[OttoMets]

Maybe I'm splitting hairs, but I don't consider making a run in the NCAAT as necessarily improving as the year goes along. We lost 5 of of our last 6 pre-NCAAT games that year, which hardly gave off the feeling of improvement. I'll assume referencing 2017 was a mistake, since we had one of our patented February swoons that year and landed in the NIT. I'm not trying to be argumentative, if people think a tourney run counts as late season improvement, that's fine.

I do agree with your 2010 example, which means that it's been a decade since JB fulfilled the notion of surprising when expectations are low. To be fair, expectations were pretty high in 2011-2014, but since then expectations have been low, and we've met them.

Ultimately, I'm with you on just wanting to watch a team that's offensively functional. I can't take another season of glacier ball, life is too short.

I might be getting them mixed up, wasn't 2017 the year that the two graduate transfers came in and November was a total nightmare but then Boeheim moved Andrew White to the frontcourt and the team got better? Wasn't a very fun season, but I remember improvement (and a brief effort in the NIT).

2016 stunk, one of my least favorite teams, though mine's not a popular opinion around here. But I can see the argument that they were better in March than when I saw them drift through an ugly loss to an appallingly bad St. John's team in December (among other fall semester eyesores).

No more glacier ball! It's ruined SU hoops, far and away my favorite pastime, for me.

 

[Scooch]

I might be getting them mixed up, wasn't 2017 the year that the two graduate transfers came in and November was a total nightmare but then Boeheim moved Andrew White to the frontcourt and the team got better? Wasn't a very fun season, but I remember improvement (and a brief effort in the NIT).

You got that right, aside from the getting better part. We 4 of our last 6 in the regular season, then lost that dreadful ACCT opener to Miami, then lost our 2nd NIT game. I'm gonna call that "not improvement" but we can agree to disagree on that.

 

[cuseinseattle]

I feel your pain. They looked pretty lively in Italy but . . . We know what their competition was. Still, getting those four games under our belt hopefully puts us a tad ahead in figuring out who we are going to be. I really liked Goodine. He was a surprise.

Who knows? All I know is I sat next to a snotty kid all last year who screamed and yelled at Frank and Chukwu and certainly made a difficult season even more difficult. I think he is off to college this year, so I expect MY season to be better this year than last for sure!

I'm flying out for the UVA game to start the year. I really want to come and see your seats and put faces to the names of these people. I feel like I know them.

 

[cuseinseattle]

I'm excited for the season but I tend to trend on the optimistic side. We have kids at multiple positions who can shoot the 3 and pass the ball. We could get some really good production out of the 5 if BS is healthy and has no issues. We need Jalen Carey to step up and BS to be healthy but if they do I really like the Quincey/Marek/Hughes forward rotation and the 3 guards of Buddy/Jalen/Goodine with JG3 getting a little run. Jalen and Goodine could both get us up and down and we wouldn't have the slower iso offense.

 

[billsin01]

- There seems little doubt we have a few excellent shooters, if we can find ways to get them good looks.
- Center position is going to be a key and Sidibe's health and offensive performance will be crucial.
- I hope Guerrier will show his prowess in the rebounding department.
- It really will all come down to Point Guard play as always.

Yes, yes, yes and yes. Good post. Probably the biggest individual key is the play of Sidibe at center, which is utterly indispensable. But we are in desperate need of an offensive system that is creating looks for shooters. Not sure we'll see that consistently, but it's the difference between potentially being solid and fighting for .500.

 

[hungrychuck]

On the face of it, probably greatest risk yet to the winning season streak staying alive.

Based on JB's history of doing less with more and more with less, this team is probably OK -- some cushion on the upside.

Borderline NCAA team, NIT also a real possibility.

 

[TinyManInside]

Another 18-13 type season with the fanbase sweating it out on Selection Sunday. Maybe worse though. I think we have some decent shooters but I don't have any faith that we'll run an offense capable of getting them consistently good looks. Expect to get murdered on the glass and have yet another season of inconsistent PG play. I also expect to capitalize on some unrealistic point spreads in the pre-season.

 

[ebucklewis]

I’m expecting that we will create a very nice foundation (and a winning record) so that next year we can plug in a stud big ,cough **IJ** cough, and finally be a force in the ACC.

 

[orange79]

On the face of it, probably greatest risk yet to the winning season streak staying alive.

Based on JB's history of doing less with more and more with less, this team is probably OK -- some cushion on the upside.

Borderline NCAA team, NIT also a real possibility.

If we are a borderline NCAA team, how can this be the "greatest risk yet to the winning season streak staying alive"? You don't get an at-large bid into the NCAA's with a losing record.

 

[hungrychuck]

If we are a borderline NCAA team, how can this be the "greatest risk yet to the winning season streak staying alive"? You don't get an at-large bid into the NCAA's with a losing record.

Read the entire post.

"On the face of it" means that based on the available talent/experience of players, this team could log a losing record.

The point is then made that JB has a history of prodding such teams to overachieve, which is why I think he can get them to the bubble.

 

[rrlbees]

My expectations are that I’m not going to have any. This is one of our youngest teams ever and with the shooters we have it’s just going to be fun to watch them and see what happens.

 

[SU2NASA]

Natty.

 

[Madbiker]

Very young and experienced team all around. Will make lots of mistakes and have growing pains. Lower pure talent level than we usually have in the JB era. Hope for some pleasant surprises but expect a likely NIT season.