From an offensive standpoint this team in the tourney is a total mystery

[JeremyCuse]

I dont know about anyone else but I could easily see this team making its way to the Final four with its Great D and end game prowess or I could see it in a 3 pt game with a minute to go against the 16th seed in a nightmare situation.

I know that sounds out there but with this team would either scenario really surprise you?

I almost feel more comfortable with this team in a sweet 16 or elite 8 matchup then I do in the 1 vs 16 or 1 vs 8/9. I know its probably the ghosts of Richmond but after watching that UNC Ashville near disaster I never feel completely comfortable as a 1 seed despite the mismatch.

 

[TheCusian]

I dont know about anyone else but I could easily see this team making its way to the Final four with its Great D and end game prowess or I could see it in a 3 pt game with a minute to go against the 16th seed in a nightmare situation. I know that sounds out there but with this team would either scenario really surprise you? I almost feel more comfortable with this team in a sweet 16 or elite 8 matchup then I do in the 1 vs 16 or 1 vs 8/9. I know its probably the ghosts of Richmond but after watching that UNC Ashville near disaster I never feel completely comfortable as a 1 seed despite the mismatch.

The reason 16's never beat 1's is size and rebounding. There's a point where your physical dominance is too much for flawed teams of midgets shooting threes.

 

[JeremyCuse]

The reason 16's never beat 1's is size and rebounding. There's a point where your physical dominance is too much for flawed teams of midgets shooting threes.

Yup thats a good point, I think size and overall athletic skill really come into play. That being said I wouldnt mind a repeat of last years first round matchup, that was a great opening tourney game.

 

[690West]

Yup thats a good point, I think size and overall athletic skill really come into play. That being said I wouldnt mind a repeat of last years first round matchup, that was a great opening tourney game.

Love those 47 point wins.

 

[JeremyCuse]

Love those 47 point wins.

I cant tell you how nice it was to sit back and just enjoy a tourney game and see some of the other guys get some PT. The entire second half was just relaxing drinking a few beers watching us just dominate. Theres nothing better then a comfortable win in the tourney when you can sit back and enjoy it.

 

[NineOneSeven]

I felt the exact same way last year.

 

[Full_Rebar]

Hopefully in the first couple of games, SU will not let teams dictate pace like they've let Miami, BC and others do. Can't be afraid to throw out a press which could be a very valuable weapon against some teams. Need to create some easy offense and use the athletic advantage that SU has on most teams.

 

[Alsacs]

Some teams are clamping down on Cooney in those games Ennis needs to be aggressive like last night. When teams put their best defensive guard on Ennis then Cooney needs to be more aggressive. I think Cooney will improve his non-catch and shoot offense over the next 2 years. Cooney has made a huge leap this year from last year. Fair/Grant are a dynamic duo when they play together, but Grant was hurt and JB smartly played the long term and rode Gbinije at the 3 last night and we won. I think Rak has improved a lot offensively this year, but last night he didn't play well. Honestly outside of the Duke game we haven't played well offensively. The only game we got over the Taco Time 75 point barrier was the Duke game at home. Our defense will beat the 16 seed we play I am not worried about that. I think we need 2 of Fair/Ennis/Grant/Cooney/Rak to play well to win the first 2 rounds we need 3 of those 5 to play well in the Sweet 16/Elite 8 and we need the whole team to play well to win the NC in Dallas. I think Gbinijie/Keita are good bench pieces, but if Coleman was healthy we would have that solid 8th guy for now Roberson should be working on his offense in practice extra beyond during the team practices for me to feel comfortable with him as the 8th guy this season. The kid has potential, but he needs to work on his offense as I think he hasn't been that bad on defense this year when he has played.

 

[Alsacs]

Hopefully in the first couple of games, SU will not let teams dictate pace like they've let Miami, BC and others do. Can't be afraid to throw out a press which could be a very valuable weapon against some teams. Need to create some easy offense and use the athletic advantage that SU has on most teams.

Sadly last night was the first time I realized we were the team that wanted the really slow tempo. Now I realize why with no Grant and we had a double digit lead and wanted to salt away the lead, but for the 15 minute mark in the 2nd half we basically played stall ball the entire 2nd half. It was smart because we only had 6 guys basically and Fair had foul trouble, but I think we will play a slow tempo in the NCAA tournament. However, in that first game we need Fair/Grant to get baskets down low over smaller less athletic kids. I think our defense will win us the first game no matter what unless that team can shoot the 3 ball really well.

 

[Full_Rebar]

Agree that it made sense last night, but with a team like BC's line-up, SU should not have been letting them bleed the clock. Would love to see SU clear out one side of the court and let CJ post smaller players. All he needs to do is catch, turn and take his jumper while Rak/Keita and Grant hit the weakside boards.

 

[longislandcuse]

For some reason I think our offense is going to open up in the tourney.

The ACC is probably the best defensive league in the country. I could see us scoring more come tournament time.

 

[BuffOrange]

[quote="JeremyCuse, post: 960638, member: 43"]I dont know about anyone else but I could easily see this team making its way to the Final four with its Great D and end game prowess or I could see it in a 3 pt game with a minute to go against the 16th seed in a nightmare situation.

I know that sounds out there but with this team would either scenario really surprise you?

I almost feel more comfortable with this team in a sweet 16 or elite 8 matchup then I do in the 1 vs 16 or 1 vs 8/9. I know its probably the ghosts of Richmond but after watching that UNC Ashville near disaster I never feel completely comfortable as a 1 seed despite the mismatch.[/quote]

I feel like people say this every year and it's usually just fans being fans but I definitely think there's reason to believe it with this team.
BC is effectively a 16seed. That we were in a better position to win @Dook w/ 10sec's left (w/ a correct call) than a minute left vs BC at home is incredible.

I'm probably not going to feel super comfortable before a Sweet 16 game either - it's likely to be played vs a team roughly as good as us with a worse record in close games.

 

[Cusefan0307]

For some reason I think our offense is going to open up in the tourney.

The ACC is probably the best defensive league in the country. I could see us scoring more come tournament time.

Funny we are saying this coming from the Big East, but it seems the ACC has really adopted the old Big Easts style of play.

 

[Eagles20]

I dont know about anyone else but I could easily see this team making its way to the Final four with its Great D and end game prowess or I could see it in a 3 pt game with a minute to go against the 16th seed in a nightmare situation.

I know that sounds out there but with this team would either scenario really surprise you?

I almost feel more comfortable with this team in a sweet 16 or elite 8 matchup then I do in the 1 vs 16 or 1 vs 8/9. I know its probably the ghosts of Richmond but after watching that UNC Ashville near disaster I never feel completely comfortable as a 1 seed despite the mismatch.

I have been feeling the same way lately. I fear running into a game where a team gets hot from the outside and Syracuse struggles offensively. Its weird though, because at the same time I feel that Syracuse can be a very good offensive team with many potent weapons. They have been moving the ball well enough to get good shots, just haven't been knocking them down. The droughts lately when they build a lead has been frustrating and allowing teams to stick around.

 

[Marsh01]

Yup thats a good point, I think size and overall athletic skill really come into play. That being said I wouldnt mind a repeat of last years first round matchup, that was a great opening tourney game.

That was a 15-16 seed masked as a 13 seed. Complete gift

 

[SWC75]

When is the tourney not a mystery?

 

[JeremyCuse]

I have been feeling the same way lately. I fear running into a game where a team gets hot from the outside and Syracuse struggles offensively. Its weird though, because at the same time I feel that Syracuse can be a very good offensive team with many potent weapons. They have been moving the ball well enough to get good shots, just haven't been knocking them down. The droughts lately when they build a lead has been frustrating and allowing teams to stick around.

Good post. To me when Syracuse gets in trouble in the tourney especially against lower seeded teams the games always seem to follow a pattern. Both teams come out sluggish and seem to be feeling each other out. Syracuse cant hit anything other team goes on a little run. Syracuse seems to be getting itself together nearly pulls ahead but other team suddenly cant miss hits a couple threes builds lead that they then extend late in the first half. Fanbase panics (me included) - Syracuse goes on mini run to close out half still down 5-9 pts. Syracuse then spends nearly all of the second half trying to play catch up and usually around the 6-8 minute mark either ties the game or takes the lead. After that it turns into a crap shoot either Syracuse makes it all the way back and pulls away late ie Unc Asvhille, Ok State, etc or the other team hits a few prayers and we blow a late lead ie Vermont, Butler, etc.

When Syracuse is in the tourney if they have a lead for most of the game (ie the Maryland game we just played) the ending for the most part is that we will find away to win even if the game is close throughout. When Syracuse gets down a decent amount early 8 to 1o pts + then has to stage a big comeback thats where they end up getting burned in the end. Thats what made the UNC Ashville game so alarming, it was playing out like the Vermont and Butler games.

Your point about our offense is also spot on, we have gotten a lot of good looks and for the most part have missed them and in some cases badly. Even in the first 10 minutes of yesterdays game we were hitting most shots but you just knew eventually our old habits would creep back in and we would start missing wide open looks again which we did. To many missed layups from Ennis and Silent G, to many missed 3's from Trevor and way to many airballs from CJ. He had 3 yesterday.