Generalizations & Expectations After Media Day

[Niastri]

Yep. It’s evolved. I liked it when the focus was using a guard to trap in the corners with the forward.

The Rautins trap made it so teams were literally unwilling to use 1/3 of the offensive zone because they knew it was more likely to be a turnover than a made basket.

It was like NFL teams not passing to the side of the field where Deon Sanders was playing. It was just too risky.

I have no idea why we stopped doing the corner/wing trap, because that made our defense a deadly weapon.

 

[Niastri]

I think we will see zone less than 5% of possessions. It's too much of a detriment to against good shooting and good offensive rebounding teams. I think we play in your face man to man. That's what it looks like our guys will excel at.

If a team is having trouble against the man to man or (if we use it) press, they may have to sub in a ball handling team to try to attack the basket off the dribble.

If this specialist team can't shoot, zone them till they get different guys oh the court. Defense can/should be situational to the opponents personnel and scheme.

Hopefully, our team of zone expert coaches can do that in man to man.

 

[IthacaMatt]

The traditional 5s we have will struggle in man. Maliq is going to have to hold the fort.

I disagree with that. I think I recall that Hima has a minor injury right now, but between him and MacLeod, they are big boys, and opposing centers will have trouble getting shots off over them, or bullying them underneath the basket.

 

[billsin01]

It started once guys were able to shoot from 30 feet out on the wing. The Gillon year was pretty bad with perimeter defense as well.

Yeah that was the ultimate death knell to the zone being a true weapon night after night. The game evolved to where not only were 25-foot 3s good shots if you were set and open, but also to where most teams had five offensive threats on the floor at once and most of those five were at least reasonably good shooters.

 

[billsin01]

My biggest takeaway from Autry was his mention of Maliq as the guy who made the biggest jump from last year. You mention Macleod above, who I hope develops into a force at least defensively, but I fully expect to see Brown log the most minutes at the center position. Mostly because in order to get the 5 best players on the court, he has to be there.

Are you including Benny in the top 5? That’s one question I have generally is what do we get from Benny? I know he’ll be playing and be a factor to some degree but I’m still a little hesitant to say I have any idea if he’ll be a good or even average starter for us. Potential is there but the fist ~1000 minutes of his career have provided very few glimpses of a player who can deliver positive plays consistently game-to-game.

 

[SmilinBob]

My biggest takeaway from Autry was his mention of Maliq as the guy who made the biggest jump from last year. You mention Macleod above, who I hope develops into a force at least defensively, but I fully expect to see Brown log the most minutes at the center position. Mostly because in order to get the 5 best players on the court, he has to be there.

I think it's going to be interesting hearing what Red says and what actually happens regarding the players getting better or not playing. We all know Jim had his quirks regarding that.

 

[justgold315]

JJ and Judah are going to be the best players on the court for most games on both sides of the ball. Consistently great and often elite. At least one forward is going to be hot for every game, including Copeland in that mix. MacLeod is going to have at least 5 double doubles. Malik will be the constant, the dump to the dish and dumb, the beneficiary to our elite guards penetrating and being double teamed, putting back anything falling off the rim. I anticipate 10 dunks per game.

 

[Hopkins16]

JJ and Judah are going to be the best players on the court for most games on both sides of the ball. Consistently great and often elite. At least one forward is going to be hot for every game, including Copeland in that mix. MacLeod is going to have at least 5 double doubles. Malik will be the constant, the dump to the dish and dumb, the beneficiary to our elite guards penetrating and being double teamed, putting back anything falling off the rim. I anticipate 10 dunks per game.

I can't wait... this is what I've been waiting for.

 

[OmahaCuse]

Hima has chronic knees but can play in spurts, hopefully better than Sidibie

 

[Mr. M]

JJ and Judah are going to be the best players on the court for most games on both sides of the ball. Consistently great and often elite. At least one forward is going to be hot for every game, including Copeland in that mix. MacLeod is going to have at least 5 double doubles. Malik will be the constant, the dump to the dish and dumb, the beneficiary to our elite guards penetrating and being double teamed, putting back anything falling off the rim. I anticipate 10 dunks per game.

don't exactly recall JJ being praised for his D last year with ND

 

[IthacaMatt]

Are you including Benny in the top 5? That’s one question I have generally is what do we get from Benny? I know he’ll be playing and be a factor to some degree but I’m still a little hesitant to say I have any idea if he’ll be a good or even average starter for us. Potential is there but the fist ~1000 minutes of his career have provided very few glimpses of a player who can deliver positive plays consistently game-to-game.

As much as people my say Benny underachieved, I think he wound up with pretty respectable stats last year.

 

[OrlandoCuse]

Hima has chronic knees but can play in spurts, hopefully better than Sidibie

We may need to start sending any recruits that are taller than 6’9” to an orthopedist for a knee exam before we make an offer

 

[orangefog]

The Rautins trap made it so teams were literally unwilling to use 1/3 of the offensive zone because they knew it was more likely to be a turnover than a made basket.

It was like NFL teams not passing to the side of the field where Deon Sanders was playing. It was just too risky.

I have no idea why we stopped doing the corner/wing trap, because that made our defense a deadly weapon.

Because our guards weren’t capable of it. Andy Rautins was an ok athlete, but he was a very intelligent player. When he wasn’t trapping and others were trapping, he knew exactly where the trapped player was going to try to outlet. Buddy and Joe just had no defense in them.

 

[FrancoPizza]

Nah. That’s not when we started using it. Even with Battle and Howard we did it some with the forwards. Probably before that too.

He started doing it after the 2009-2010 season. Pitino routinely overloading the wing that year is what ultimately convinced him he needed to make some changes. That team only lost 5 games. 2 were to Slick Rick.

 

[billsin01]

As much as people my say Benny underachieved, I think he wound up with pretty respectable stats last year.

I’d say his stats were sorta meh. He certainly improved over freshman year which is great and he had some nice moments and nice games.

The issue for me is more about how he gets his numbers, what we may need from him, and how does he play outside the box score. The last point may be the most important and the area where Benny has struggled the most. Hustle plays, deflections, movement off the ball, etc. the first two count too — is he just a jump shooter who grabs some boards? I guess that is fine, maybe even good if that’s all we need from him.

But at the end of the day, he’s likely going to have to be a guy who genuinely helps us win games and he’s going to have to be legitimately improved to help us win more games. At least that’s my thought.

 

[Sherman20]

Jeff Borzello article on Autry, with some interesting nuggets.

Autry marks post-Boeheim era by ditching zone D

New Syracuse coach Adrian Autry is following Jim Boeheim's advice and doing things his way, including bringing in his own defensive system instead of using the 2-3 zone defense that had become a staple in central New York.

www.espn.com

Autry and Boeheim still speak fairly regularly. In fact, it was a piece of advice that Boeheim gave Autry this past summer that stuck with him more than anything else his mentor said in the past 12 years or during Autry's playing days.

"Do it your way," Autry said Boeheim told him. "Whatever you believe, whatever you think is right, do it your way. And you better believe in it. Because you ain't gonna get anyone else to believe in it, if you don't."

He said Boeheim never overtly told him a retirement was looming or that he would be tabbed as the next in line. There were some hints in the months prior, though. He said Boeheim asked to talk to him early last season and started giving him different tasks that Boeheim would normally do himself.

"I still think he just didn't know," Autry said. "He could say he knew, but I think he always kind of left that door open. You know, 'I feel like this now, but maybe it'll change.' I knew it would never be during the season. I didn't know if he would go through the summer and see how he felt. I didn't know what his timeline was."