Florida St. Thoughts

[General20]

Because I'm excited, and I have some free time for the first time in forever, I want to take the time to list off a couple observations.

Florida St has a 7'1 300 pound center named Ojo that Tyler Lydon promptly made his bitch. Lydon blocked so many of his shots that Hamilton took the guy out and never put him back in again. Florida St. going "small" (they are still big, but it was small for them) played a big part in us winning the rebounding battle, which was huge in this game.

Florida St. spent the entire first half trying to score down low and being rebuffed by Roberson and especially Lydon. In the second half they changed their strategy entirely and hardly looked inside the 3 point line, often times taking really long 3s. They were hot to start, but its hard to be hot from 3 for twenty straight minutes. I never really had the feeling Syracuse was going to lose this game. This felt more like a typical SU team where our zone forced the other team to go away from their strategy and take shots they didn't want to take. Roberson and Lydon played the biggest part in this D. Minus the 6 missed free throws Roberson had a fantastic game. Lydon was such a game changer on D that I would have given him player of the game even if he went scoreless.

That Isaac kid for Florida St. is the real deal. Coming into the game I thought he was going to kill us. We really benefited from his bout of asthma or whatever kept him on the bench in the first half.

Battle went up against a pro caliber player in Bacon, and it was pretty clear that he's not quite there yet. He will get there, but right now he's outclassed by pro level players.

 

[orangecuse]

Because I'm excited, and I have some free time for the first time in forever, I want to take the time to list off a couple observations.

Florida St has a 7'1 300 pound center named Ojo that Tyler Lydon promptly made his bitch. Lydon blocked so many of his shots that Hamilton took the guy out and never put him back in again. Florida St. going "small" (they are still big, but it was small for them) played a big part in us winning the rebounding battle, which was huge in this game.

Florida St. spent the entire first half trying to score down low and being rebuffed by Roberson and especially Lydon. In the second half they changed their strategy entirely and hardly looked inside the 3 point line, often times taking really long 3s. They were hot to start, but its hard to be hot from 3 for twenty straight minutes. I never really had the feeling Syracuse was going to lose this game. This felt more like a typical SU team where our zone forced the other team to go away from their strategy and take shots they didn't want to take. Roberson and Lydon played the biggest part in this D. Minus the 6 missed free throws Roberson had a fantastic game. Lydon was such a game changer on D that I would have given him player of the game even if he went scoreless.

That Isaac kid for Florida St. is the real deal. Coming into the game I thought he was going to kill us. We really benefited from his bout of asthma or whatever kept him on the bench in the first half.

Battle went up against a pro caliber player in Bacon, and it was pretty clear that he's not quite there yet. He will get there, but right now he's outclassed by pro level players.

Interesting take from your point of view. I, on the other hand, didn't quite see it that way. I thought Battle more than held his own for most of the game. Bacon came on late and made two or three beyond NBA range three pointers in the second half. In the first half, although he tallied the most minutes out of any other FSU player in 13 minutes played, he was for the most part, in my opinion, relatively inconsequential. As they say...opinions vary.

 

[85SUAlum]

Minus the 6 missed free throws Roberson had a fantastic game.

Take out Robie's FT misses and we were 23-34 at the line today. Gillon had only other miss, but he was so clutch at the line down the stretch to help seal the win

 

[General20]

Interesting take from your point of view. I, on the other hand, didn't quite see it that way. I thought Battle more than held his own for most of the game. Bacon came on late and made two or three beyond NBA range three pointers in the second half. In the first half, although he tallied the most minutes out of any other FSU player in 13 minutes played, he was for the most part, in my opinion, relatively inconsequential. As they say...opinions vary.

Well Battle wasn't really guarding Bacon because we play zone. I was mostly talking about Battle trying to score against Bacon's defense.

I do think Battle was excellent defensively in this game as he always is.

 

[Jack Hall]

Because I'm excited, and I have some free time for the first time in forever, I want to take the time to list off a couple observations.

Florida St has a 7'1 300 pound center named Ojo that Tyler Lydon promptly made his bitch. Lydon blocked so many of his shots that Hamilton took the guy out and never put him back in again. Florida St. going "small" (they are still big, but it was small for them) played a big part in us winning the rebounding battle, which was huge in this game.

Florida St. spent the entire first half trying to score down low and being rebuffed by Roberson and especially Lydon. In the second half they changed their strategy entirely and hardly looked inside the 3 point line, often times taking really long 3s. They were hot to start, but its hard to be hot from 3 for twenty straight minutes. I never really had the feeling Syracuse was going to lose this game. This felt more like a typical SU team where our zone forced the other team to go away from their strategy and take shots they didn't want to take. Roberson and Lydon played the biggest part in this D. Minus the 6 missed free throws Roberson had a fantastic game. Lydon was such a game changer on D that I would have given him player of the game even if he went scoreless.

That Isaac kid for Florida St. is the real deal. Coming into the game I thought he was going to kill us. We really benefited from his bout of asthma or whatever kept him on the bench in the first half.

Battle went up against a pro caliber player in Bacon, and it was pretty clear that he's not quite there yet. He will get there, but right now he's outclassed by pro level players.

Agree with your post on Lydon/Robey defense. White was pretty good too! Also agree on Battle, imo hes close but not quite there yet. Happy he got a big 3 to go down! Lately his jumpers have looked good but rattled in n out.

I still think the bigggest factor for this team, right there with how active and physical The Zone is, is Point Guard play. Today pg play was good enough, loved JGs assists!...and FT shooting down the stretch. Now if we could just get consistent pg play the rest of the season we could be Dancin! Go Cuse!!

 

[General20]

Agree with your post on Lydon/Robey defense. White was pretty good too! Also agree on Battle, imo hes close but not quite there yet. Happy he got a big 3 to go down! Lately his jumpers have looked good but rattled in n out.

I still think the bigggest factor for this team, right there with how active and physical The Zone is, is Point Guard play. Today pg play was good enough, loved JGs assists!...and FT shooting down the stretch. Now if we could just get consistent pg play the rest of the season we could be Dancin! Go Cuse!!

Good points all around. White really did have a great game and was not just a shooter. He scored well inside the 3 point arc against a top defensive team, he played great D himself, and rebounded extremely well.

 

[orangecuse]

Well Battle wasn't really guarding Bacon because we play zone. I was mostly talking about Battle trying to score against Bacon's defense.

I do think Battle was excellent defensively in this game as he always is.

I respect your posts as they are of high quality. That being said, I, diplomatically, didn't quite see it that way. Battle had a few wide open looks that simply didn't fall, rattled in an out kind of things. I thought, overall, he wasn't so over matched or as "pretty clear" as you feel.

 

[two3zone]

I respect your posts as they are of high quality. That being said, I, diplomatically, didn't quite see it that way. Battle had a few wide open looks that didn't fall, rattled in an out kind of things. I thought, overall, he wasn't so over matched or as "clear" as you feel.

Battle also got to the hoop really well throughout the game. I thought he looked pretty good

 

[Jack Hall]

The other thing i would like your take on, regarding pg play- it does look like JB (despite his public comments that Mr Battle didnt completely agree with) is putting the ball slightly more and more in Battles hands as the season goes on, ie it does seem to me that TB is helping out with pg duties? Beating a dead horse, but if we can just get stability at pg we can keep playing in March...imo..

 

[billsin01]

Because I'm excited, and I have some free time for the first time in forever, I want to take the time to list off a couple observations.

Florida St has a 7'1 300 pound center named Ojo that Tyler Lydon promptly made his bitch. Lydon blocked so many of his shots that Hamilton took the guy out and never put him back in again. Florida St. going "small" (they are still big, but it was small for them) played a big part in us winning the rebounding battle, which was huge in this game.

Florida St. spent the entire first half trying to score down low and being rebuffed by Roberson and especially Lydon. In the second half they changed their strategy entirely and hardly looked inside the 3 point line, often times taking really long 3s. They were hot to start, but its hard to be hot from 3 for twenty straight minutes. I never really had the feeling Syracuse was going to lose this game. This felt more like a typical SU team where our zone forced the other team to go away from their strategy and take shots they didn't want to take. Roberson and Lydon played the biggest part in this D. Minus the 6 missed free throws Roberson had a fantastic game. Lydon was such a game changer on D that I would have given him player of the game even if he went scoreless.

That Isaac kid for Florida St. is the real deal. Coming into the game I thought he was going to kill us. We really benefited from his bout of asthma or whatever kept him on the bench in the first half.

Battle went up against a pro caliber player in Bacon, and it was pretty clear that he's not quite there yet. He will get there, but right now he's outclassed by pro level players.

Enjoyed the post. Thought white's defense was excellent. Dude has done exactly what they would have hoped, imo. As for battle -- he's so much more aggressive lately and was today as well. Didn't get great results but I love the aggressiveness.

Crazy thing about gillon's game is that I thought his two turnovers were actually good plays. One was a great pass that battle just missed. The other was a good idea on a pass to Thompson but just a little low.

Still love Robey. Has some warts but when he's right he's such a factor.

 

[General20]

The other thing i would like your take on, regarding pg play- it does look like JB (despite his public comments that Mr Battle didnt completely agree with) is putting the ball slightly more and more in Battles hands as the season goes on, ie it does seem to me that TB is helping out with pg duties? Beating a dead horse, but if we can just get stability at pg we can keep playing in March...imo..

Going into the season I thought we'd see some of Battle at point and White at shooting guard. It seems like they have the potential to pull it off, but if it would help our team Boeheim would be doing it. The fact that he was so emphatically against it says to me that its not going to work for us and he doesn't want people second guessing Gillon all year long.

Gillon is good against teams who try to pressure us. He's bad when teams lay off, dare him to drive, and take away his passing lanes.

Florida St. is more of a pressure defensive team so he played good. I'm not sure there's an answer other than to hope more teams pressure us. It doesn't look like Howard is going to play mistake free basketball any time soon.

At this point its just a weakness we have. I do think Battle can counteract that weakness by becoming more of a playmaker (which is slowly but surely happening more and more). You don't need to be a point guard to create offense for your teammates.

 

[NineOneSeven]

Enjoyed the post. Thought white's defense was excellent. Dude has done exactly what they would have hoped, imo. As for battle -- he's so much more aggressive lately and was today as well. Didn't get great results but I love the aggressiveness.

Crazy thing about gillon's game is that I thought his two turnovers were actually good plays. One was a great pass that battle just missed. The other was a good idea on a pass to Thompson but just a little low.

Still love Robey. Has some warts but when he's right he's such a factor.

he had another when he drove and kicked it out to lydon but it was stolen and then lydon fouled

 

[Cheriehoop]

The other thing i would like your take on, regarding pg play- it does look like JB (despite his public comments that Mr Battle didnt completely agree with) is putting the ball slightly more and more in Battles hands as the season goes on, ie it does seem to me that TB is helping out with pg duties? Beating a dead horse, but if we can just get stability at pg we can keep playing in March...imo..

I think we saw a display of darn good PG play from Gillon today! Kid absolutely controlled the game down the stretch. TB was a real factor in the first half like Roberson but both were very quiet in the 2nd half and not a major factor. TB was a monster on defense the first half, very active and disruptive. I worried that he tweaked something or was tired, his energy level was noticeably different after half-time. After being blocked Roberson was very hesitant going to the basket at all with the tall timber they had had in there. The best game for both grad student transfers for sure.

 

[AZOrange]

Ojo was one of the biggest dudes I've ever seen on the court. Good thing he was hot garbage

 

[billsin01]

he had another when he drove and kicked it out to lydon but it was stolen and then lydon fouled

Ah -- maybe they gave one to battle.

 

[007]

Good stuff, as always, General.

I think it was big that we never gave up the lead in the 2nd half. Mental toughness is not a strength.

The other really big factor was Gillon's play from the 5 minute mark. We went into that double high screen, run down the clock mode up 6 or 7 at that point. For the record, not a big fan of that. Fortunately, Gillon was able to get into the lane and draw fouls (before FSU started fouling). His foul shooting exhibition...exactly what you need from your PG in a close game.

 

[Jack Hall]

I think we saw a display of darn good PG play from Gillon today! Kid absolutely controlled the game down the stretch. TB was a real factor in the first half like Roberson but both were very quiet in the 2nd half and not a major factor. TB was a monster on defense the first half, very active and disruptive. I worried that he tweaked something or was tired, his energy level was noticeably different after half-time. After being blocked Roberson was very hesitant going to the basket at all with the tall timber they had had in there. The best game for both grad student transfers for sure.

Agreed Gillon was tremendous today and is clearly the man at point, but still he could use a little help every now and then. Thought FH looked to score nicely today, but some of his mistakes near half court make it tough to use him as a back up point who initiates the offense and protects the ball

 

[General20]

Battle also got to the hoop really well throughout the game. I thought he looked pretty good

There was a stretch in the first half where Battle got to the hoop 3 times (2 assists and 1 basket) but Bacon was on the bench and Rathan-Mayes was guarding him. I don't remember Battle doing much when Bacon was guarding him.

Rathan-Mayes is a good offensive player, but doesn't seem like a great defensive player. He's the guy White lit up for most of the game.

 

[OHIORANGES]

I think we saw a display of darn good PG play from Gillon today! Kid absolutely controlled the game down the stretch. TB was a real factor in the first half like Roberson but both were very quiet in the 2nd half and not a major factor. TB was a monster on defense the first half, very active and disruptive. I worried that he tweaked something or was tired, his energy level was noticeably different after half-time. After being blocked Roberson was very hesitant going to the basket at all with the tall timber they had had in there. The best game for both grad student transfers for sure.

Totally agree with your post. Despite the inconsistent PG play all year, I felt very comfortable with John controlling the ball at the end.
Great to see the team (except Roberson) almost perfect from the line!

 

[Cheriehoop]

Couple of observations I had. Some on the court, some off.

What was Leonard Hamilton thinking allowing Roberson to set screens etc in that last minute and a half, without targeting him to foul?? Glad he didn't but was shocked Hamilton didn't target him down the stretch and force JB to make the decision whether to keep him in or put in Thompson or Howard to finish the game. Nice fouling Gillon on the ball rather than Roberson off it to our benefit.

What is wrong with our students chanting "overrated" to Issac in the beginning of the 2nd half? First of all, he isn't and second, nice way to look foolish and make him prove you wrong. (16 points 9 rebounds in the 2nd half)

Coach Babers brought our top football recruits to this great game. He stood up with a group of about 25 players, family and walked from their seats behind the bench to the aisle directly in front of the students (I imagine HCDB did it purposely) to leave late in the first half. I stood up to cheer them and total crickets from the students and fans. Duh? I thought at least the students would recognize the opportunity - nope, nada.

Just some disjointed thoughts.

 

[OburgOrange]

Couple of observations I had. Some on the court, some off.

What was Leonard Hamilton thinking allowing Roberson to set screens etc in that last minute and a half, without targeting him to foul?? Glad he didn't but was shocked Hamilton didn't target him down the stretch and force JB to make the decision whether to keep him in or put in Thompson or Howard to finish the game. Nice fouling Gillon on the ball rather than Roberson off it to our benefit.

What is wrong with our students chanting "overrated" to Issac in the beginning of the 2nd half? First of all, he isn't and second, nice way to look foolish and make him prove you wrong. (16 points 9 rebounds in the 2nd half)

Coach Babers brought our top football recruits to this great game. He stood up with a group of about 25 players, family and walked from their seats behind the bench to the aisle directly in front of the students (I imagine HCDB did it purposely) to leave late in the first half. I stood up to cheer them and total crickets from the students and fans. Duh? I thought at least the students would recognize the opportunity - nope, nada.

Just some disjointed thoughts.

Absolutely right on with your first paragraph. Great insight

 

[bballbeadle]

Couple of observations I had. Some on the court, some off.

What was Leonard Hamilton thinking allowing Roberson to set screens etc in that last minute and a half, without targeting him to foul?? Glad he didn't but was shocked Hamilton didn't target him down the stretch and force JB to make the decision whether to keep him in or put in Thompson or Howard to finish the game. Nice fouling Gillon on the ball rather than Roberson off it to our benefit.

What is wrong with our students chanting "overrated" to Issac in the beginning of the 2nd half? First of all, he isn't and second, nice way to look foolish and make him prove you wrong. (16 points 9 rebounds in the 2nd half)

Coach Babers brought our top football recruits to this great game. He stood up with a group of about 25 players, family and walked from their seats behind the bench to the aisle directly in front of the students (I imagine HCDB did it purposely) to leave late in the first half. I stood up to cheer them and total crickets from the students and fans. Duh? I thought at least the students would recognize the opportunity - nope, nada.

Just some disjointed thoughts.

Students chanting overrated was a total diss on our own team. On the other hand, I greatly enjoyed the tomahawk chant.

 

[JOC44]

Students chanting overrated was a total diss on our own team. On the other hand, I greatly enjoyed the tomahawk chant.

The tomahawk chant was awesome.

 

[Shark58]

Couple of observations I had. Some on the court, some off.

What was Leonard Hamilton thinking allowing Roberson to set screens etc in that last minute and a half, without targeting him to foul?? Glad he didn't but was shocked Hamilton didn't target him down the stretch and force JB to make the decision whether to keep him in or put in Thompson or Howard to finish the game. Nice fouling Gillon on the ball rather than Roberson off it to our benefit.

What is wrong with our students chanting "overrated" to Issac in the beginning of the 2nd half? First of all, he isn't and second, nice way to look foolish and make him prove you wrong. (16 points 9 rebounds in the 2nd half)

Coach Babers brought our top football recruits to this great game. He stood up with a group of about 25 players, family and walked from their seats behind the bench to the aisle directly in front of the students (I imagine HCDB did it purposely) to leave late in the first half. I stood up to cheer them and total crickets from the students and fans. Duh? I thought at least the students would recognize the opportunity - nope, nada.

Just some disjointed thoughts.

why would they leave?


disloyal idiots

 

[br801]

Because I'm excited, and I have some free time for the first time in forever, I want to take the time to list off a couple observations.

Florida St has a 7'1 300 pound center named Ojo that Tyler Lydon promptly made his bitch. Lydon blocked so many of his shots that Hamilton took the guy out and never put him back in again. Florida St. going "small" (they are still big, but it was small for them) played a big part in us winning the rebounding battle, which was huge in this game.

Florida St. spent the entire first half trying to score down low and being rebuffed by Roberson and especially Lydon. In the second half they changed their strategy entirely and hardly looked inside the 3 point line, often times taking really long 3s. They were hot to start, but its hard to be hot from 3 for twenty straight minutes. I never really had the feeling Syracuse was going to lose this game. This felt more like a typical SU team where our zone forced the other team to go away from their strategy and take shots they didn't want to take. Roberson and Lydon played the biggest part in this D. Minus the 6 missed free throws Roberson had a fantastic game. Lydon was such a game changer on D that I would have given him player of the game even if he went scoreless.

That Isaac kid for Florida St. is the real deal. Coming into the game I thought he was going to kill us. We really benefited from his bout of asthma or whatever kept him on the bench in the first half.

Battle went up against a pro caliber player in Bacon, and it was pretty clear that he's not quite there yet. He will get there, but right now he's outclassed by pro level players.

Agree with you on Lydon. Everyone knows he can shoot. His rebounding and defense were outstanding today, and he displayed tremendous athleticism and toughness. That game, against those players, will resonate with NBA talent evaluators, and may very well land him a nice little lottery spot.