Has anyone seen Benny's lost game?

[Madbiker]

How did this guy get such a high recruiting ranking? He appears to have no offensive game or skills at all. No rebounding ability.
He's as raw a freshman as I can remember. The expectations were obviously way too high. If we had any options on the bench in a normal year he wouldn't be seeing any PT. Have to hope he improves as the season progresses.

 

[FRANKIEFAN]

Its a shame we are so thin because you could just write it off and see what he looks like next year.

Not to mention 1 injury and hes playing 30+ per game.

 

[Orangefan1]

Its a shame we are so thin because you could just write it off and see what he looks like next year.

Not to mention 1 injury and hes playing 30+ per game.

I think his confidence after the foul and the Boeheim yelling affected him this game. He needs to improve his shooting but he has a ton of potential

 

[MadNY3]

How did this guy get such a high recruiting ranking? He appears to have no offensive game or skills at all. No rebounding ability.
He's as raw a freshman as I can remember. The expectations were obviously way too high. If we had any options on the bench in a normal year he wouldn't be seeing any PT. Have to hope he improves as the season progresses.

Steak on the grill is so much better than throwing it in the microwave.

This kid is going to be good. We’ve become so used to instant success situations. This kid, by end of year, but certainly next year, is going to be a gamer.

Kids at this age can be Motens (underrated, instant success), Melos (no definition required) or - gasp - college kids who need to develop.

Excited for his future. Thankfully we have a Cornell kid grinding his way to provide a gap year.

 

[Zelda Zonk]

He will be pretty good.

It’s all just happening too fast right now, but he’ll grow into the moment. Lots of stuff to improve and lots of work to be done, but I’m pretty sure he’ll do that work. At some point, it will click and there will be a pretty immediate jump in performance. Sorta like Jesse. It’s all in his head right now. I just hope JB is pushing the right buttons so that the Click happens sooner rather than later.

 

[miamicuse]

It's his hair! He needs a hair cut or gel it, his hair floats around and obscures his vision!

 

[HoustonCuse]

He’s the very definition of Boeheim’s famous “he’s not ready.” I suspect it takes quite an effort to be of so little impact while on the floor. He does as close to the same amount of stuff as a dead guy that a live guy could!

 

[Orangeman]

Classic looking over his shoulder guy who will play better when thrust in and he's a must.

It shouldn't be this way here at Syracuse, but it IS this way, so that's that

 

[rhcuse]

I just think he needs a slump buster. A Mutombo at Faegan’s should do the trick.

 

[rrlbees]

Not worried about Benny. Freshman year, Jerami Grant played 14mpg and averaged 4ppg and 3rpg.

 

[Sherman20]

Not worried about Benny. Freshman year, Jerami Grant played 14mpg and averaged 4ppg and 3rpg.

Agreed. I love his upside and have faith Autry can bring it out. But I want to see him try harder and hustle more. He’s not running the floor well trying to get easy buckets in transition and he’s slow to crash the glass and get in better position when he’s out on the wing on offense. Too many times I saw him just jogging up the floor instead of trying to get ahead of the defense. He needs to focus on crashing the glass and running the floor and setting screens (not doing much of that either). Man, I wish we had Quincy back this season—or even Woody or Braswell!

 

[Cusesky8214]

Anyone else notice him on the bench after he got yanked...looked like he was going to cry.

 

[elimunelson]

Not worried about Benny. Freshman year, Jerami Grant played 14mpg and averaged 4ppg and 3rpg.

Agreed. He’s raw and has zero offensive game after floating through AAU on his physical traits.

He will be fine. Reminds me of Terrence Robert’s right now.

 

[xc84]

Leave the kid alone

 

[Dcuse]

Not worried about Benny. Freshman year, Jerami Grant played 14mpg and averaged 4ppg and 3rpg.

I think the issue is that we, without a doubt, need contribution from him now. Bringing him along slowly is not an option. Autry will earn his paycheck here.

 

[Geode]

I think his confidence after the foul and the Boeheim yelling affected him this game. He needs to improve his shooting but he has a ton of potential

I agree with this. Basketball can be such a mental game. If you look at how flat the team came out to start the 2nd half you can see how 1 mistake compounded into multiple mistakes and missed shots. Pretty quickly that rattled confidence affected much of the team.

On a side note, I'm going through this with my 13/yo now, his confidence and entire game can be derailed by missing a gimme layup or his coach yelling at him for a silly mistake. As his dad, I can literally see the confidence drain out of him when this happens and sometimes it's heartbreaking watching him try to figure it out on his own. Trying to figure out how to get kids to just have the confidence to forget and move on is a huge challenge (Ted lasso's "Be a goldfish"). Long story short, I agree with your assessment on Benny, he didn't just get worse, there's a huge mental side to the game and coaches, being human, aren't always the best at tolerating youthful mistakes.

 

[orangefog]

Benny does have offensive skills. He is just lacking confidence right now. He will get there, hopefully soon. Last year, he was showing the ability to score from all three levels. He has a sweet and unblockable fade away from 15-18 feet. He is figuring out how to fit in and it has shaken his confidence. You can see it in his jump shot. He has shown his passing ability. By the end of the season, he is going to be a really valuable piece to this team.

 

[capeorange]

It's his hair! He needs a hair cut or gel it, his hair floats around and obscures his vision!

I was thinking the same thing when he missed both free throws.

 

[Col. Bleep]

...This kid is going to be good. We’ve become so used to instant success situations. This kid, by end of year, but certainly next year, is going to be a gamer...

This is right on point!
The raw ability is visible.
Will just take a little time and some work.

Someone mentioned a parallel to Jesse Edwards and that seems right.

Excited for his future. Thankfully we have a Cornell kid grinding his way to provide a gap year.

Right on this point, too.
Jimmy Boeheim is providing a lot for this team

 

[Dick_in_MI]

Bennie is not where we thought he would be. A lot of fans thought that the 5* rating would make him the next freshman Melo but it will take time. He clearly has raw talent but it will take a while for him to bring his game to the next level.

In a way, it stands out because we get almost no scoring from our bench and he would have been expected to be the obvious choice to counter that. So far, he is not.

 

[Newhouser]

right now he is more athlete than basketball player. I also think last night may be a turning point in a way. He got big boyed (foul or no), you can handle that 2 ways, and I think he will choose the right path.

The comp to Grant is interesting - he should mimic JG in that Grant from the moment he arrived on campus tried to dunk everything. Benny should do the same - aggressively attack anything at the rim on both O and D.

 

[PhatOrange]

He has no game but I think right now he's just trying to find his role. Boeheim should be commended for actually finding him court time because much better players have seen far fewer as freshman.

 

[Melancer46]

I believe in his potential but just based on how we've been spurned in the past, I'm nervous he could be a transfer at the end of the year and we'll miss out on that potential. Hopefully he's wired differently from some of the guys we've had recently but he's obviously had a pretty short leash thus far and has struggled immensely.

 

[JDubbin]

A couple of Benny observations:

1) the form on how he holds the ball release is really… narrow? The shooting arm & elbow should be under the ball, but his ball stabilization arm/elbow is almost directly under the ball as well. It’s not very fluid & looks almost uncomfortable. It was really clear shooting the FT’a & the camera angle directly facing him. I know there’s already been talk about keeping the ball on fingertips instead of palm, but the arm placement really grabbed my attention… haha it was almost jarring.

2) it’s hard to be a good slasher when every time you dribble drive it’s a turnover or at least a fumble of the ball. Benny has great athletic ability, but it’s almost he hasn’t been ready for the ball swiping & physicality of taking the ball too the rim. Once he elevates, he’s fine. It’s just felt like he’s had basically one clean drive & bucket in traffic the whole season. Over & over it’s stripped or fumbled.

 

[JRDCuse]

To everybody knocking Benny, you don't get to say "I knew it all along" when he is killing it in January. He just needs to break through. It's going to be one those where he gets 2-3 dunks back to back in a game, a lightbulb goes off and he becomes a whole different player.