Getting to the 2nd Weekend

[shandeezy7]

of the NCAA tournament is this team's ultimate goal at this point. I'm usually one of the most optimistic SU fans you'll know, but this team is just not good at all.

They have a PG who makes boneheaded play after boneheaded play (if there's a stat out there for turnovers in the last 5 mins of a game, he has to lead the country in it), a SG who might be the most inconsistent player in basketball history, a non-existent bench, and ZERO leadership.

It's really amazing they started the season as well as they did. There are way too many fatal flaws with this team to expect anything come March. In fact, a 1st round loss would not surprise me at all. It's a sad reality at this point, but I've pretty much come to expect it.

 

[samspann1]

Yep, I'm more worried about getting to the 2nd round.

 

[shandeezy7]

Yep, I'm more worried about getting to the 2nd round.

At this point, I'm just hoping that we win our 1st round game. Everything after that will be gravy for this team.

 

[wallacecuse]

of the NCAA tournament is this team's ultimate goal at this point. I'm usually one of the most optimistic SU fans you'll know, but this team is just not good at all.

They have a PG who makes boneheaded play after boneheaded play (if there's a stat out there for turnovers in the last 5 mins of a game, he has to lead the country in it), a SG who might be the most inconsistent player in basketball history, a non-existent bench, and ZERO leadership.

It's really amazing they started the season as well as they did. There are way too many fatal flaws with this team to expect anything come March. In fact, a 1st round loss would not surprise me at all. It's a sad reality at this point, but I've pretty much come to expect it.

I'm right there with you...I was very optimistic after Saturday that we could win tonight, and get rolling. The scale has tipped for me; I have no expectations for this team to do anything in the tourney anymore. We have guards that cannot make jumpshots, and aren't capable of getting into the lane. Couple that with no back-to-the-basket presence. Bad combo. They aren't very tough either...really wilted tonight. It's one of those teams that just has a hard time stemming the tide when things go bad. It gets ugly in a hurry.

Come to think of it, none of the things we needed to have happen to be good have happened. Dajuan was not the post scoring threat we needed him to be. Cooney hasn't been the 3 pt specialist off the bench. Rakeem hasn't progressed nearly enough. Brandon hasn't become our scorer in the clutch. The main reason we have gone 4-5 is that MCW's sterling play in the non-conf sked was fool's gold. He was the only component exceeding expectations. CJ and James have given us what we expected, but it hasn't been enough to stay afloat.

 

[cuseguy]

I don't think it matters what round we lose in. No one will remember a year from now if lost in the first or second round.


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[CorduroyG]

yup, sadly at this point we'd have to consider getting ousted in the sweet 16 a successful season. assuming we get a 4 or 5 seed its gonna be tough just to get out of the 1st weekend.

 

[samspann1]

Maybe one of these years, we'll actually beat a higher-seeded team in the NCAAs.

 

[jncuse]

At least we dont need to worry about being embarrassed by a 14 or 15 seed.

 

[shandeezy7]

I'm right there with you...I was very optimistic after Saturday that we could win tonight, and get rolling. The scale has tipped for me; I have no expectations for this team to do anything in the tourney anymore. We have guards that cannot make jumpshots, and aren't capable of getting into the lane. Couple that with no back-to-the-basket presence. Bad combo. They aren't very tough either...really wilted tonight. It's one of those teams that just has a hard time stemming the tide when things go bad. It gets ugly in a hurry.

Come to think of it, none of the things we needed to have happen to be good have happened. Dajuan was not the post scoring threat we needed him to be. Cooney hasn't been the 3 pt specialist off the bench. Rakeem hasn't progressed nearly enough. Brandon hasn't become our scorer in the clutch. The main reason we have gone 4-5 is that MCW's sterling play in the non-conf sked was fool's gold. He was the only component exceeding expectations. CJ and James have given us what we expected, but it hasn't been enough to stay afloat.

Yup, to be successful, this team needed Coleman and Cooney to be the x-factors we thought they were going to be coming into the season. They have provided us with literally nothing besides being extra bodies. And Rak didn't make the sophomore leap many were hoping he would. Disappointing would be an understatement.

 

[jdubs30]

I think people (including me) forget what we lost last year;
- Our 5th year senior, starting PG, and leader
- A top 4 NBA draft pick, another 1st round pick, and a 2nd round pick

We still have enough talent and defense to make a run in the tourney. Hey, if Triche can get his head on straight for a handful of games we'll make a good run.

 

[cuseguy]

We're last year's team without Fab and Waiters.

We miss both in a big way. The holes were never filled.

 

[jdubs30]

We're last year's team without Fab and Waiters.

We miss both in a big way. The holes were never filled.

Agreed. Luckily the nation as a whole isn't as good as it was last year.

It's not impossible at this point to make a deep run in March.

 

[cuseattle]

I think people (including me) forget what we lost last year;
- Our 5th year senior, starting PG, and leader
- A top 4 NBA draft pick, another 1st round pick, and a 2nd round pick

We still have enough talent and defense to make a run in the tourney. Hey, if Triche can get his head on straight for a handful of games we'll make a good run.

Glass is much more than half full imo. Remember we have lost only 2 non-conference games in two years. The Big East is a grind indeed.
Hope we can maintain at least a four seed. On any day in March, we won't be much of an underdog against anyone.

 

[jdubs30]

Glass is much more than half full imo. Remember we have lost only 2 non-conference games in two years. The Big East is a grind indeed.
Hope we can maintain at least a four seed. On any day in March, we won't be much of an underdog against anyone.

Of the top of my head, our recent tourney losses:
2012- OSU. Foul shots were ridiculously disproportional (didn't Waiters foul out in 20 minutes?), Centers were bad without Fab. Lenzelle Smith career game.
2011- Marquette. Big East team, enough said.
2010- Butler. Had that guy (Vanzant maybe?) hit a 3 who was like 15% on the year (Mopa-Gjila like) with around a minute and a half left. Had no center depth without AO. Butler were pretty much the darlings of that dance.
2009- Oklahoma. Tony Crockett career high. Blake Griffin.

In that time span we've been pretty successful against OOC. I'm with you bro, I think our zone is really good this year and will be really hard for a lot of teams to adjust to. If we can stay out of foul trouble and be semi-compotent offensively I don't see why we can't make a decent run in March.

 

[cuseattle]

G-Town with a pretty good zone too. Bastards.

 

[ForeverOrange]

The writing was on the wall for a lot of us early this season. I think we have been spoiled lately with the current top 10 finishes. This team doesn't have anyone who can go out there and get their own shot, that's just not a good formula for success in March. We should just enjoy the season and still appreciate the fact that regardless of how it ends, we still will make the dance. We could be like Uconn just playing, just to play.

 

[shandeezy7]

Glass is much more than half full imo. Remember we have lost only 2 non-conference games in two years. The Big East is a grind indeed.
Hope we can maintain at least a four seed. On any day in March, we won't be much of an underdog against anyone.

Normally I would agree, but we lost to freaking Temple this year. Yeah, a decent team, but losing to them coupled with some really ugly losses in the Big East does not give me one shred of confidence in this team.

 

[Marsh01]

Normally I would agree, but we lost to freaking Temple this year. Yeah, a decent team, but losing to them coupled with some really ugly losses in the Big East does not give me one shred of confidence in this team.

A lot of teams have bad losses. Gtown lost to USF for crying out loud. Kansas lost to TCU. Miami lost to Wake. Our temple loss is BY FAR the best loss of these 3 examples.

 

[shandeezy7]

A lot of teams have bad losses. Gtown lost to USF for crying out loud. Kansas lost to TCU. Miami lost to Wake. Our temple loss is BY FAR the best loss of these 3 examples.

Yeah but it's not just that loss by itself. If it was, then it really wouldn't be a big deal. Hell, we lost to Memphis and Rutgers the year we won the championship. It's that loss, coupled with the fact that we have played like absolute garbage (especially offensively) for the better part of the last 10 games, losing more than we have one. That is disconcerting and does not bode well for our tournament chances.