Great that we won, BUT!!!!!

[Flacusian]

The reappearance of the enigmatic Mr. Triche and leaving nearly 20 points at the free throw line. Head scratch-er turnovers, Southerland fouls out, and sloppy reckless play by pretty much everyone in Orange. Any decent team would have capitalized enough to swipe this win from us.

If they play like that on Thursday it will be an embarrassment. They have shown that they can be much better than what we saw tonight. At this juncture they are what they are and there's no longer time for excuses. I sincerely hope they represent well and play up to their capabilities, win or lose.

 

[kcsu]

Zero focus on foul shots. Jim should be all over them. His passive approach has not worked with this group. It is obvious that other than Fing around at the end of practice there has not been a concentrated effort to improve and it is going to cost us. How the hell do you miss half of your foul shots.

 

[Madbiker]

We must be the only team in the tourney that has two guards that can't make FT's. And don't give me that BT is 76% or whatever. He is always poor in big situations. MCW has another 4-9 game. Do these guys take FT shooting seriously?

 

[kcsu]

JB does not place an emphasis on it. If we worked half as hard on foul shots as we do on playing the zone we would be a better shooting team. It is focus. Having played college ball i can tell you there is no reason to miss as many foul shots as we do. If you dont make foul shooting a major priority in practice it will come back to bite you in games. My coach used to run our asses off if we missed foul shots in practice run to the point we puked. Trust me it worked as we became a very good foul shooting team. I have seen more than my share of SU practices over the years and we have never placed a huge emphasis on this aspect of the game. One year i believe that Jim did bring in an outside coach to help but year in and year out it has not been focused on. Also if you look back over the years you will see that we have always been a poor foul shooting team. Yes we have a year or two when we were good especially in the early years with guys like the Lee brothers but over the last ten years we have sucked. As good as a coach that Jim is he has never done well in this area.

 

[Opus]

Come on this is Syracuse basketball. You are complaining about ft shooting? Think 1987 vs Indiana in the championship game. It has been going on for 26 years. Time we make them against these Hoosiers come Thursday.

 

[kcsu]

Come on this is Syracuse basketball. You are complaining about ft shooting? Think 1987 vs Indiana in the championship game. It has been going on for 26 years. Time we make them against these Hoosiers come Thursday.

That is my point. We have always sucked because Jim does not make it a priority never has and never will. Agreed cost us the title that year

 

[Opus]

That is my point. We have always sucked because Jim does not make it a priority never has and never will. Agreed cost us the title that year

Oh ok. In your original post I read 'with this group' thinking you thought his passive approach worked with other teams. My bad. LGO!

 

[85SUAlum]

That is my point. We have always sucked because Jim does not make it a priority never has and never will. Agreed cost us the title that year

That missed free throw has bothered me for years - make 1 and we're 87 national champs.
What I also don't get is why when we're such a bad FT shooting team, we don't leave at least 1 guy there to try and maybe grab a rebound off a likely miss.

 

[STEVEHOLT]

Zero focus on foul shots. Jim should be all over them. His passive approach has not worked with this group. It is obvious that other than Fing around at the end of practice there has not been a concentrated effort to improve and it is going to cost us. How the hell do you miss half of your foul shots.

Well thats obvious..when you have your center who cant shoot free throws taking a bunch..your percentage is going to be low....errr...uhhh...wait a minute....

 

[AluminNV]

HATE THIS THREAD. SHAME ON YOU ALL.

Sorry these kids aren't satisfying you and winning by 30. Our 4th sweet 16 in 5 years isn't enough, you needed to pound Cal 20 miles from Campus by 30 huh?

 

[HarrisonJBounel]

HATE THIS THREAD. SHAME ON YOU ALL.

Sorry these kids aren't satisfying you and winning by 30. Our 4th sweet 16 in 5 years isn't enough, you needed to pound Cal 20 miles from Campus by 30 huh?

Another SU "fan" satisfied with forgettable mediocrity, afraid to go for the big win because it will hurt even more if we lose. "So please let me lose now."

 

[OHIORANGES]

HATE THIS THREAD. SHAME ON YOU ALL.

Sorry these kids aren't satisfying you and winning by 30. Our 4th sweet 16 in 5 years isn't enough, you needed to pound Cal 20 miles from Campus by 30 huh?

So you think everything is great, nothing to try and improve on and no one should ever make a negative comment, right?

You don't think MCW rushes his second foul shot almost every single game and that if coaches could get him to slow it down and focus his percent made would go up? You think it's better only to say we played great and everything is peachy?

Great win. Great accomplishment. But very, very sloppy and out of control much of the time. Making foul shots is as much mental as physical and a result of focus, which MCW doesn't see to do well.

 

[cap2nine]

Immediately after the game I felt very similar to many of those posting on this thread. Pissed about sloppy play, disappointed in the performance from our seniors, annoyed by mental mistakes at critical moments and enraged for having left so many free points at the line. But now that I've had an opportunity to digest the game I'm finding the silver lining. We won despite these short comings with really excellent defense and by keeping their two best players from really catching a groove. Cal really wasn't the best match up for us but we still managed a win 3000 miles from home, in their back yard. Admittedly we'll need to play better going forward but when the brackets came out we all said "just get back to DC". Well, pretty or not, DC here we come. More to the FT shooting point, we've been quite solid from the line all year. I'm willing to chalk this game up as an aberration.

 

[Townie72]

That is my point. We have always sucked because Jim does not make it a priority never has and never will. Agreed cost us the title that year

And how do you know this?

For example, is the amount of time SU spends on foul shooting in practice more or less than the average team?

Are the requirements for out of practice foul shooting practice more or less than the average team?

You said he doesn't make it a priority? How do you know? Results?

 

[kcsu]

And how do you know this?

For example, is the amount of time SU spends on foul shooting in practice more or less than the average team?

Are the requirements for out of practice foul shooting practice more or less than the average team?

You said he doesn't make it a priority? How do you know? Results?

i have watched ore than a few practices

 

[SarasotaPaul]

Another SU "fan" satisfied with forgettable mediocrity, afraid to go for the big win because it will hurt even more if we lose. "So please let me lose now."

Forgettable? Seems some on here only remember the bad parts and go on ad nauseum about it. A win is a win. A loss is a loss. I'll take the win for the teams I support.

I may mention what needs to be worked on. What I won't do is pat myself on the back prematurely saying if they do thus and such then we are out. What great insight there?????? Geez , I'll play --- If the other team ends up with more points we will lose.

Out of curiosity, how many points did we need to beat them by to have a "big" win vs just plain winning?

 

[rstone7727]

And how do you know this?

For example, is the amount of time SU spends on foul shooting in practice more or less than the average team?

Are the requirements for out of practice foul shooting practice more or less than the average team?

You said he doesn't make it a priority? How do you know? Results?

Oh, Townie, you are forgetting the obvious. Don't you realize that if we (the fans) bitch enough, it will seep into every pore of JB's skin and soak him so thoroughly with knowledge that he will change his evil ways? Mark my words, Boeheim is already contemplating the restructuring of practices to include more FT practice!

 

[Townie72]

Oh, Townie, you are forgetting the obvious. Don't you realize that if we (the fans) bitch enough, it will seep into every pore of JB's skin and soak him so thoroughly with knowledge that he will change his evil ways? Mark my words, Boeheim is already contemplating the restructuring of practices to include more FT practice!

I forgot that and lost my head.

It might be that JB really doesn't understand the value of FT shooting and the need to practice the skill more. Although you would think that Uncle Howard's FT misses in the 87 NC game just might have gotten his attention.

I shouldn't let these kind of posts bother me, I know. But it's one thing to point out the obvious. And quite another to recommend an obvious fix.

I'm reminded of Marie Antoinette's suggestion to the masses upon hearing they had no bread. "Well, let them eat cake", she said.

I wonder how many of the peasants were hitting their foreheads saying, "Now why didn't we think of that?"

 

[Coach Orange]

It's funny--I didn't feel that we were ever not in control of the game last night. We weren't perfect by any stretch--there are always areas that can be improved--but Cal never took over the momentum, even with the game so close to its campus. That is a testament to our players' ability to make the plays (on both ends of the floor) that were needed when they needed to do so.

 

[RF2044]

Zero focus on foul shots. Jim should be all over them. His passive approach has not worked with this group. It is obvious that other than Fing around at the end of practice there has not been a concentrated effort to improve and it is going to cost us. How the hell do you miss half of your foul shots.

Give me a break. You honestly--honestly--don't think that the team focuses on free throws in practice?

This board often seems to focus on the wrong things. I'm much more concerned about how solid free throw shooters [statistically] like MCW and Triche--our primary ball handlers--seem to miss them in every important situation. Or how CJ, who once was shooting close to 85% from the stripe has shot 56% the last four or five games. We're a team that struggles to score in half court games, and can't afford to lose freebies when those opportunities arise.

 

[cap2nine]

I'm reminded of Marie Antoinette's suggestion to the masses upon hearing they had no bread. "Well, let them eat cake", she said.

I'm going completely off-topic here and I've already made my contribution to this thread 5 or 6 posts above but I think you've misinterpreted the context of this famous quote. The reference to "cake" was not a plentiful, decadent alternative to starvation. Cake was actually the burned, charred, generally inedible scraps and crusts that were considered refuse and discarded. So the quote, in today's terms, would better translate to, "Well, let them eat stuff". To use this quote as a retort to the whiners about our team's FT shooting or JB's philosophy about FT shooting is essentially saying, "You can't succeed? Well then sucks to be you, suffer in your demise." But then again, maybe that's what you were going for?

 

[Sgt Cuse]

Oh, Townie, you are forgetting the obvious. Don't you realize that if we (the fans) bitch enough, it will seep into every pore of JB's skin and soak him so thoroughly with knowledge that he will change his evil ways? Mark my words, Boeheim is already contemplating the restructuring of practices to include more FT practice!

But some of the people aren't even complaining about the overall FT% but rather the "clutch" percentage. This arbitrary measure is very difficult to not only find a definition for, but also to do anything about.

And I am of the same opinion as Coach Orange above, that none of those FTs last night qualify as the "clutch" or "pressure" type.

 

[RF2044]

Another SU "fan" satisfied with forgettable mediocrity, afraid to go for the big win because it will hurt even more if we lose. "So please let me lose now."

Nonsense. We've played two very different games so far--in the first one, we ran the team off the floor and beat them by almost 50.

Last night, we controlled the game from the opening tap, but squandered several scoring opportunities at the line / on some make-able shots. We didn't play poorly; we just didn't have a great offensive game in the second half. Frustrating? Yes. Indicative of poor overall play? Not really.

The best part is, how we've played in the first two games will have no bearing on our next game.

 

[rstone7727]

FT shooting is vastly over rated. Of the top 50 FT shooting teams in the country only 5 are still alive in the tournament. Montana was fifth in the country. Other aspects of the game are much more important than FT shooting thus JB's lower priority. Yet, people will always point to Derrick Coleman's missed FT to justify their complaints. You could make the argument that if we spent more time practicing the zone, Keith Smart would have been covered.

 

[Flacusian]

FT shooting is vastly over rated. Of the top 50 FT shooting teams in the country only 5 are still alive in the tournament. Montana was fifth in the country. Other aspects of the game are much more important than FT shooting thus JB's lower priority. Yet, people will always point to Derrick Coleman's missed FT to justify their complaints. You could make the argument that if we spent more time practicing the zone, Keith Smart would have been covered.

Perhaps, as you contend, FT shooting is vastly over rated. But... When the game is on the line and we are up by 2 pts. with 11 seconds left and MCW steps up to the line with a one and one, how over rated is it to make both of those throws from the charity stripe?

Point being, in many crucial situations a teams ability to make free throws will likely determine the statistical probability of winning the game.