Few SU-Pitt thoughts

[orangepassion]

• After the 1st SU-Pitt game, I was wondering if it was possible that I actually won't hate Pitt anymore. Didn't see any thuggery, actually helped someone from our team off the floor. After Saturday's game, cleared that up. You can see Capel's a Duke guy with all the flopping in the 2nd half. I must have seen at least 5 total flops from them in the second half-Love that they actually called a foul the second time the Pitt guy threw his feet out when taking a 3. On a side note, I believe 95% of fouls called on 3 pointers are bogus. If you were really fouled, 95 times out of 100, you don't have enough strength to still get the ball in the basket from that distance
• I have said this before, but think it's a mistake to bury Sidibe. Love Dolezaj, but he can't cover any real 5's and Sidibe needs the development.
• Boeheim continues to improve, showing n the Offensive and Defensive end. Pleasantly surprised at the level of his improvement in year 1. He is definitely gaining the trust of his teammates and will make it easier for Battle to drive to the basket.

 

[OttoMets]

Near the end of the first Pitt game one of their players (#1, I think) deliberately tripped Howard during the intentional foul parade at the end. Maybe the officials reviewed it, I don't recall. This might've been the game where the board wasn't working for a couple hours around gametime. Anyway, it didn't get a ton of attention but that reminded me of why I hate Pitt. Dirty team.

 

[721Comstock]

There was a play where X. Johnson put his chin on Tyus' shoulder, then hooked his elbow around Ty's to make it look like Tyus was instigating something with him.

Total punk move, no redeeming qualities to that kid, at all.

 

[GooseMutt]

Saw both incidents described above. The first a little dirty the second was assault. Still thugs

 

[UnderHisOwnPower]

• After the 1st SU-Pitt game, I was wondering if it was possible that I actually won't hate Pitt anymore. Didn't see any thuggery, actually helped someone from our team off the floor. After Saturday's game, cleared that up. You can see Capel's a Duke guy with all the flopping in the 2nd half. I must have seen at least 5 total flops from them in the second half-Love that they actually called a foul the second time the Pitt guy threw his feet out when taking a 3. On a side note, I believe 95% of fouls called on 3 pointers are bogus. If you were really fouled, 95 times out of 100, you don't have enough strength to still get the ball in the basket from that distance
• I have said this before, but think it's a mistake to bury Sidibe. Love Dolezaj, but he can't cover any real 5's and Sidibe needs the development.
• Boeheim continues to improve, showing n the Offensive and Defensive end. Pleasantly surprised at the level of his improvement in year 1. He is definitely gaining the trust of his teammates and will make it easier for Battle to drive to the basket.

I think Sidibe is already getting all the minutes his knees can tolerate.

 

[billsin01]

I had a few thoughts I'd tag on as well, but I agree on Sidibe (which was one of my thoughts) and Buddy defensively (he's not great but he's better than he was and shows some instincts there). Also thought Wilson-Frame tried to kick his leg out on one of his threes right in front of the pitt bench. Capel playing dumb is pretty fun as well.

Anyway, other thoughts on the game:

• Battle the facilitator is a pretty intriguing development. Really nice passing including a beautiful drop to Chuckwu in the post. Not included in the six assists was the nice entry to Dolezaj to set up the alley-oop to Chuckwu. Crazy to think that until late Feb last year, Battle had never had five assists in a game. That included 61 games and 52 starts and a 50-minute, 0 assist performance vs. FSU last year. Since that point, he's hit at least five assists in a game five times and three times in the past four games. It's a credit to Battle's hard work and unselfishness and can't hurt his NBA chances either. Easy kid to root for.
  
  
• There was a stretch in the first half that shows just how valuable Dolezaj is to this team and why he gets as much run as he does even though he's not scoring much. He got the ball in the high post and turned it over. But instead of stewing about it, he hustles back, moves well on defense, grabs the defensive board, starts a secondary break by outletting to Hughes, then gets us an extra possession fighting for the rebound (over the back by the pitt player). On the ensuing possession, he takes the nice entry from battle and goes to chuckwu for the dunk on essentially a touch pass. It's a little thing but I love how he plays and if I were an opponent I would think twice about being in a zone with him on the floor. We seem to be content to play without him offensively vs. man-to-man (not sure I agree with it, but it is what it is), but when teams go zone we go to Marek immediately. Opposing coaches should be wary of that move.
  
  
• Brissett's struggles have been weird but I wonder if we're seeing signs that he's starting to improve. Still had a couple painful attempts -- the wild, spinning floater from the left side baseline that hit the side of the backboard, another where he cut across the lane but instead of jump-stopping and making a move he tried to just throw up a little sideways leaner that clanged off the back iron -- but generally he finished really well. In the past three games he's 15 for 25 on 2-point tries. Super small sample size but three decent performances hopefully can be the start of something good.
  
  
• Still haven't really put 40 mins together. Going essentially scoreless for over 4 mins until Pitt started fouling in the final minute puts a smudge on an otherwise solid offensive effort. Nice to have a possession that took more than a minute off the clock in that stretch and we got OK looks, but it's tough to not have a go-to set in the offense that takes the air out of the ball.

 

[OttoMets]

I had a few thoughts I'd tag on as well, but I agree on Sidibe (which was one of my thoughts) and Buddy defensively (he's not great but he's better than he was and shows some instincts there). Also thought Wilson-Frame tried to kick his leg out on one of his threes right in front of the pitt bench. Capel playing dumb is pretty fun as well.

Anyway, other thoughts on the game:

• Battle the facilitator is a pretty intriguing development. Really nice passing including a beautiful drop to Chuckwu in the post. Not included in the six assists was the nice entry to Dolezaj to set up the alley-oop to Chuckwu. Crazy to think that until late Feb last year, Battle had never had five assists in a game. That included 61 games and 52 starts and a 50-minute, 0 assist performance vs. FSU last year. Since that point, he's hit at least five assists in a game five times and three times in the past four games. It's a credit to Battle's hard work and unselfishness and can't hurt his NBA chances either. Easy kid to root for.
  
  
• There was a stretch in the first half that shows just how valuable Dolezaj is to this team and why he gets as much run as he does even though he's not scoring much. He got the ball in the high post and turned it over. But instead of stewing about it, he hustles back, moves well on defense, grabs the defensive board, starts a secondary break by outletting to Hughes, then gets us an extra possession fighting for the rebound (over the back by the pitt player). On the ensuing possession, he takes the nice entry from battle and goes to chuckwu for the dunk on essentially a touch pass. It's a little thing but I love how he plays and if I were an opponent I would think twice about being in a zone with him on the floor. We seem to be content to play without him offensively vs. man-to-man (not sure I agree with it, but it is what it is), but when teams go zone we go to Marek immediately. Opposing coaches should be wary of that move.
  
  
• Brissett's struggles have been weird but I wonder if we're seeing signs that he's starting to improve. Still had a couple painful attempts -- the wild, spinning floater from the left side baseline that hit the side of the backboard, another where he cut across the lane but instead of jump-stopping and making a move he tried to just throw up a little sideways leaner that clanged off the back iron -- but generally he finished really well. In the past three games he's 15 for 25 on 2-point tries. Super small sample size but three decent performances hopefully can be the start of something good.
  
  
• Still haven't really put 40 mins together. Going essentially scoreless for over 4 mins until Pitt started fouling in the final minute puts a smudge on an otherwise solid offensive effort. Nice to have a possession that took more than a minute off the clock in that stretch and we got OK looks, but it's tough to not have a go-to set in the offense that takes the air out of the ball.

Battle's emergence as a facilitator has come out of nowhere. I don't think that can be emphasized enough. One month ago he couldn't do this. Now he can. It's pretty crazy, and it's huge for the team.

 

[rrlbees]

Battle's emergence as a facilitator has come out of nowhere. I don't think that can be emphasized enough. One month ago he couldn't do this. Now he can. It's pretty crazy, and it's huge for the team.

Tyus has greatly improved as a facilitator and that’s only going to help in his nba quest. But what’s been helpful to him is the team hitting 3’s at a much better rate. Hitting 3’s are a PGs best friend. Of the 3 recent games where Tyus has had the 9, 6 and 5 assist games, 17 of his 20 assists were off made 3 pointers. What I’ve liked is the couple times he’s hit guys cutting to the basket underneath. That’s an improvement that in the past he hasn’t shown.

 

[Fly Rodder]

Battle's emergence as a facilitator has come out of nowhere. I don't think that can be emphasized enough. One month ago he couldn't do this. Now he can. It's pretty crazy, and it's huge for the team.

I like Tyus bringing the ball up on a quick break (not necessarily a transition fast break). Against an unset defense, he can beat just about anyone to the basket. If he's bringing the ball up at a good pace, he can either break for the hoop or roll off and hit a trailing shooter. I think trying to get him the ball at 30 feet out after the defense is set up and expect to him create from a dead start just isn't as effective.

 

[OttoMets]

Tyus has greatly improved as a facilitator and that’s only going to help in his nba quest. But what’s been helpful to him is the team hitting 3’s at a much better rate. Hitting 3’s are a PGs best friend. Of the 3 recent games where Tyus has had the 9, 6 and 5 assist games, 17 of his 20 assists were off made 3 pointers. What I’ve liked is the couple times he’s hit guys cutting to the basket underneath. That’s an improvement that in the past he hasn’t shown.

That's a helpful breakdown. Battle is obviously looking for Buddy (among others) so it makes a huge difference when their shots go in. It's the other assists that I've appreciated most, though. Gone is the tunnel vision of his first 2.5 years. I hope his future employers are noticing.

 

[OttoMets]

I like Tyus bringing the ball up on a quick break (not necessarily a transition fast break). Against an unset defense, he can beat just about anyone to the basket. If he's bringing the ball up at a good pace, he can either break for the hoop or roll off and hit a trailing shooter. I think trying to get him the ball at 30 feet out after the defense is set up and expect to him create from a dead start just isn't as effective.

On the whole, I trust him in the open court. He's faster and more decisive than most, and he's a good finisher. There are sometimes 2-on-1s where he makes a horrible decision to hold the ball or even advance with two extra dribbles before making a too-late pass, but most of the time I'm cool with it.

Initiating a set offense, eh. I'm less enthusiastic about that. But given his improvement in the last three or four weeks, maybe he's got another trick up his sleeve.

 

[rrlbees]

I like Tyus bringing the ball up on a quick break (not necessarily a transition fast break). Against an unset defense, he can beat just about anyone to the basket. If he's bringing the ball up at a good pace, he can either break for the hoop or roll off and hit a trailing shooter. I think trying to get him the ball at 30 feet out after the defense is set up and expect to him create from a dead start just isn't as effective.

I think Tyus is one of the best in the country after a steal or turnover where Tyus immediately gets the ball and just goes coast to coast.

 

[Fly Rodder]

I think Tyus is one of the best in the country after a steal or turnover where Tyus immediately gets the ball and just goes coast to coast.

Yeah, except for those occasional 1 on 2 breaks. But the point stands, Tyus is fast and just a touch quicker with his decision making so he can get defenders flat-footed. Against Duke, he was a monster and was just going to the rim whenever he had the advantage.

 

[Fat tire 13]

That's a helpful breakdown. Battle is obviously looking for Buddy (among others) so it makes a huge difference when their shots go in. It's the other assists that I've appreciated most, though. Gone is the tunnel vision of his first 2.5 years. I hope his future employers are noticing.

Good take there. There was that nice kickout to Buddy when he was driving hard. The announcers made a point of it (how he has evolved, matured, etc), and agree with all the others that it is a definite improvement