General20
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It was a weird game. Syracuse shot very well, and played good zone defense, but overall played poorly. Not a combination you usually see.
The beginning and end of the game were shining examples of how this team can shut people down defensively. The middle was a mix of endless fouls and pressing.
Georgetown came out looking a lot more like the Georgetown of the 80's than John Thompson III's teams ever did. Tough defense and transition offense was their focus. They looked to punch Frank Howard in the mouth every trip down court. It sure looked like Ewing watched the UConn game and tried to duplicate what they did to Howard. Unfortunately that strategy only works when the officials allow you to get away with breaking the rules and in this game the officials were having none of it. 5 minutes into the game Georgetown had zero points and 5 team fouls. Syracuse could have built a very sizable advantage had they made a few shots, or attacked the basket with any kind of purpose. Unfortunately they did neither and were only up 3-0 when Georgetown started scoring.
Georgetown never looked comfortable against Syracuse's zone. Most of their first half points came in transition. There are only three ways to get transition baskets (1) force a turnover (2) a bad offensive shot (3) the offense just not getting back off a rebound. Syracuse hurt themselves with a few too many turnovers, but the biggest culprit of this game was bad shots. Specifically weak takes around the basket.
To me the worst part of the whole game was how weak everybody on Syracuse (Matt Moyer excluded) attacked the rim. Syracuse has attacked the rim effectively against every team they have played this year, yhat has been a constant. Yet for some reason (especially in the first half) most of Syracuse's lay ups came while weakly falling away from the rim. Somebody smarter than me will have to tell you why that happened. Georgetown was pretty good at rim protection but not THAT good, and not better than we have already seen. I lost track of how many 4 point swings I saw (Syracuse misses an easy shot around the basket which leads to a transition basket from Georgetown), but it was enough to give Georgetown a double digit lead in the second half despite the fact that they were not shooting well, were not scoring in the post, and were not rebounding well.
The start to the second half was bad, and Syracuse was out of sorts in pretty much every way you can be out of sorts when Boeheim decided to press. Its easy to say the press turned the game around, but when Syracuse scores 45 points in a half and gives up 41, I can't give the defense credit. The offense, and specifically the three point shooting turned the game around.
Georgetown had 5 guys on the court who were all capable of dribbling and passing (thanks John Thompson III) and those kinds of teams are very difficult to press - one of the reasons you never see pro teams press.
Georgetown mostly ate our press alive ... so why did Boeheim stick with it? I believe it had more to do with foul trouble than anything else. These refs called everything, on both sides of the ball, and it affected both team's strategies. For Syracuse Chukwu was in foul trouble, Sidibe was hurt and in foul trouble so Dolezaj had to play center. My guess is Boeheim liked his chances better with Dolezaj covering Georgetown's center Govan in the open court with 20 seconds left on the shot clock, rather than have to suffer through Georgetown bleeding the clock down and then forcing Dolezaj to stop Govan in the post.
Georgetown switched from their good man D to a bad 2-3 zone to avoid foul trouble, which gave Syracuse a ton of open looks from 3 and SU's press worked JUST well enough for Syracuse to get back in the game with some hot shooting. Once the score was tied and Syracuse was able to go back to the 2-3, Georgetown looked incapable of scoring again.
We are done with the early season part of the schedule, and we've come to the point where you want to start seeing improvements and things coming together. We all see the same flaws and the same strengths in this team. Some are pessimistic because they envision this team playing the exact same way they do now against the better competition of the ACC. I'm optimistic. I see a young team with obvious athletic gifts, and I tend to think they will be a lot better in Jan, Feb, and March than they are now. I see potential, but potential doesn't always pan out. Sometimes it doesn't.
What we need to see now is some realization of the potential they have. In this game as bad as it was at times we saw exactly that. Syracuse shot over 40% from 3 as a team despite Howard going 0-5. And they held Georgetown who was shooting 39% from 3 up to this point, to a meager 11%. That is an offensive and a defensive step forward of exactly the type SU will need moving forward. Lets hope to see more of it. I think a "big 3" of Battle, Howard, and Brissett, can be very effective if Moyer and Dolezaj can average 10 ppg combined (like they did in this game) and Chukwu and Sidibe can do the same (like they were before Sidibe got hurt).
Individual player assessments:
Howard - Yes he had too many turnovers, but they were generally turnovers of commission trying to make something happen when not much worked on offense. How he improves in the turnover department will be something to watch going forward, but he's a fantastic combination of scoring, passing and defense that few players can match, and that makes those turnovers feel less important. A point guard is most important when things are going bad and least important when things are going good. In this game when things were going bad Howard pretty much single handedly kept us within striking distance, and then when momentum swung in Syracuse's direction he rightly and smartly took a back seat to Battle and Brissett.
Battle - His job is to score and defend. He did both. Boeheim mentioned that he was feeling better than he has since before the injury, which is nothing but good news for Syracuse.
Brissett - He's been averaging 14 and 10 without shooting well, and everybody wondered how good he would be once his shots started falling. How does 21 points and 10 rebound grab you? Those weren't his game totals ... that's how much he scored and rebounded in the second half alone. He can be THAT good when his shots are falling!
Moyer - As I mentioned he was the only player going strong to the rim, and it really noticeably helped. If he can be aggressive around the basket, on defense, and on the boards like he was last night then he will help this team. There are times he looks lost on offense. I'm not sure that is going away this season because I think some of it has to do with him not having the skill to do some of the things we need him to do. Even with those flaws he was a big net positive in this game, and unlike the UConn game, what he did in this game is repeatable.
Chukwu - He got two bad over the back fouls that he needs to avoid, but he also got two terrible calls for I don't even know what called against him. I'll give him a pass on the foul situation. We do need him to be a bit better on offense around the basket, but defensively he was really fantastic. I don't think Govan scored a single point in the post with Chukwu in the game, and Chukwu had an impressive 3 blocks and 3 steals in only 24 minutes of action.
Dolezaj - Needs to take four shots a game, and in this game only took two. One he made, and the other was a super weak lay up that got blocked when any kind of aggressive move to the hoop would have been a score and probably a foul too. If he didn't have to play center in this game he wouldn't have played much as Moyer was better. I'm still waiting for him to take on more of the offense. I still think he can produce more than he is now.
Washington - Nothing much to see here. We couldn't afford to sit Howard or Battle in this one.
Sidibe - Looked terrible. Boeheim mentioned he was still hurt. Hopefully things turn around soon, because he's a big help to this team.
The beginning and end of the game were shining examples of how this team can shut people down defensively. The middle was a mix of endless fouls and pressing.
Georgetown came out looking a lot more like the Georgetown of the 80's than John Thompson III's teams ever did. Tough defense and transition offense was their focus. They looked to punch Frank Howard in the mouth every trip down court. It sure looked like Ewing watched the UConn game and tried to duplicate what they did to Howard. Unfortunately that strategy only works when the officials allow you to get away with breaking the rules and in this game the officials were having none of it. 5 minutes into the game Georgetown had zero points and 5 team fouls. Syracuse could have built a very sizable advantage had they made a few shots, or attacked the basket with any kind of purpose. Unfortunately they did neither and were only up 3-0 when Georgetown started scoring.
Georgetown never looked comfortable against Syracuse's zone. Most of their first half points came in transition. There are only three ways to get transition baskets (1) force a turnover (2) a bad offensive shot (3) the offense just not getting back off a rebound. Syracuse hurt themselves with a few too many turnovers, but the biggest culprit of this game was bad shots. Specifically weak takes around the basket.
To me the worst part of the whole game was how weak everybody on Syracuse (Matt Moyer excluded) attacked the rim. Syracuse has attacked the rim effectively against every team they have played this year, yhat has been a constant. Yet for some reason (especially in the first half) most of Syracuse's lay ups came while weakly falling away from the rim. Somebody smarter than me will have to tell you why that happened. Georgetown was pretty good at rim protection but not THAT good, and not better than we have already seen. I lost track of how many 4 point swings I saw (Syracuse misses an easy shot around the basket which leads to a transition basket from Georgetown), but it was enough to give Georgetown a double digit lead in the second half despite the fact that they were not shooting well, were not scoring in the post, and were not rebounding well.
The start to the second half was bad, and Syracuse was out of sorts in pretty much every way you can be out of sorts when Boeheim decided to press. Its easy to say the press turned the game around, but when Syracuse scores 45 points in a half and gives up 41, I can't give the defense credit. The offense, and specifically the three point shooting turned the game around.
Georgetown had 5 guys on the court who were all capable of dribbling and passing (thanks John Thompson III) and those kinds of teams are very difficult to press - one of the reasons you never see pro teams press.
Georgetown mostly ate our press alive ... so why did Boeheim stick with it? I believe it had more to do with foul trouble than anything else. These refs called everything, on both sides of the ball, and it affected both team's strategies. For Syracuse Chukwu was in foul trouble, Sidibe was hurt and in foul trouble so Dolezaj had to play center. My guess is Boeheim liked his chances better with Dolezaj covering Georgetown's center Govan in the open court with 20 seconds left on the shot clock, rather than have to suffer through Georgetown bleeding the clock down and then forcing Dolezaj to stop Govan in the post.
Georgetown switched from their good man D to a bad 2-3 zone to avoid foul trouble, which gave Syracuse a ton of open looks from 3 and SU's press worked JUST well enough for Syracuse to get back in the game with some hot shooting. Once the score was tied and Syracuse was able to go back to the 2-3, Georgetown looked incapable of scoring again.
We are done with the early season part of the schedule, and we've come to the point where you want to start seeing improvements and things coming together. We all see the same flaws and the same strengths in this team. Some are pessimistic because they envision this team playing the exact same way they do now against the better competition of the ACC. I'm optimistic. I see a young team with obvious athletic gifts, and I tend to think they will be a lot better in Jan, Feb, and March than they are now. I see potential, but potential doesn't always pan out. Sometimes it doesn't.
What we need to see now is some realization of the potential they have. In this game as bad as it was at times we saw exactly that. Syracuse shot over 40% from 3 as a team despite Howard going 0-5. And they held Georgetown who was shooting 39% from 3 up to this point, to a meager 11%. That is an offensive and a defensive step forward of exactly the type SU will need moving forward. Lets hope to see more of it. I think a "big 3" of Battle, Howard, and Brissett, can be very effective if Moyer and Dolezaj can average 10 ppg combined (like they did in this game) and Chukwu and Sidibe can do the same (like they were before Sidibe got hurt).
Individual player assessments:
Howard - Yes he had too many turnovers, but they were generally turnovers of commission trying to make something happen when not much worked on offense. How he improves in the turnover department will be something to watch going forward, but he's a fantastic combination of scoring, passing and defense that few players can match, and that makes those turnovers feel less important. A point guard is most important when things are going bad and least important when things are going good. In this game when things were going bad Howard pretty much single handedly kept us within striking distance, and then when momentum swung in Syracuse's direction he rightly and smartly took a back seat to Battle and Brissett.
Battle - His job is to score and defend. He did both. Boeheim mentioned that he was feeling better than he has since before the injury, which is nothing but good news for Syracuse.
Brissett - He's been averaging 14 and 10 without shooting well, and everybody wondered how good he would be once his shots started falling. How does 21 points and 10 rebound grab you? Those weren't his game totals ... that's how much he scored and rebounded in the second half alone. He can be THAT good when his shots are falling!
Moyer - As I mentioned he was the only player going strong to the rim, and it really noticeably helped. If he can be aggressive around the basket, on defense, and on the boards like he was last night then he will help this team. There are times he looks lost on offense. I'm not sure that is going away this season because I think some of it has to do with him not having the skill to do some of the things we need him to do. Even with those flaws he was a big net positive in this game, and unlike the UConn game, what he did in this game is repeatable.
Chukwu - He got two bad over the back fouls that he needs to avoid, but he also got two terrible calls for I don't even know what called against him. I'll give him a pass on the foul situation. We do need him to be a bit better on offense around the basket, but defensively he was really fantastic. I don't think Govan scored a single point in the post with Chukwu in the game, and Chukwu had an impressive 3 blocks and 3 steals in only 24 minutes of action.
Dolezaj - Needs to take four shots a game, and in this game only took two. One he made, and the other was a super weak lay up that got blocked when any kind of aggressive move to the hoop would have been a score and probably a foul too. If he didn't have to play center in this game he wouldn't have played much as Moyer was better. I'm still waiting for him to take on more of the offense. I still think he can produce more than he is now.
Washington - Nothing much to see here. We couldn't afford to sit Howard or Battle in this one.
Sidibe - Looked terrible. Boeheim mentioned he was still hurt. Hopefully things turn around soon, because he's a big help to this team.
