Hate to put it all on Cooney

[rrlbees]

It's not Cooney fault I guess, he is what he is - and my god I thought he was better than this, but our production from shooting guard is killing us. So, in a roundabout way I'll put it mostly on Cooney as well.

The defense is subpar, the shooting is atrocious of late, and nothing is being created from that spot. I always had my issues with Triche as a shooting guard, but the kid at least showed a propensity for getting to the hoop and could get in the lane and create a little.

Take a guess where Cooney places on assists per game on this team - yeah, tied for fourth. Behind Grant, and Fair, and tied with G.

The two best assists we've probably had this month were Fair's lob to Christmas against UVA, and Roberson hitting a cutting Ennis for a layup last night. Ugh.

If you can't create, you better score from that position. It's like starting your crappy utility infielder at DH in the American League. You're making life so much harder on yourself than it should have to be...

Do you think Cooney's assists are low because it's not his role and that his role is to be a ball of energy trying to create his own opportunity to get a shot? Comparing his assists to Triche isn't even fair because he was a PG too and handled the ball a lot. Triche at 2g was completely different in their roles on the court. Watch 5 mins of a game last year and 5 mins of one this year. Completely different. I don't think we've ever had a 2g who works so hard and is almost constant motion like Cooney. So it has to be by design.

 

[rrlbees]

Well he does sub Gbinijle for Cooney in defensive situations so what does that tell you?

Except for the usual rotation substitutions, he subs in G for Cooney when we press. G is longer and quicker. You're wring when you keep saying Cooney is subpar on defense.

 

[rrlbees]

Tells you that G is bigger and taller and can protect more ground.

People that are tying to compare this years guards to last years guards on defense don't account for the HUGE difference in height and ultimately length. That extra length Triche and more so MCW had is one less step they had to get out compared to this years guards. If the 4, MCW had the most steals but he was by far the lesser of hard work. He never fought thru screens and many times didn't even try to get out on a shooter. He got by with his athleticism and length.

 

[AJDavCuse]

Except for the usual rotation substitutions, he subs in G for Cooney when we press. G is longer and quicker. You're wring when you keep saying Cooney is subpar on defense.

I should try and look back at some older games to confirm this, but I think teams are screening the top of the zone way more than they used to. Seems like everyone is setting a screener on the top of the zone now versus it seldom happening in past. TE and TC need to fight through better, but I think some of the open looks this year are a result of how we are being attacked not that Cooney or others are bad defenders.

 

[rrlbees]

I should try and look back at some older games to confirm this, but I think teams are screening the top of the zone way more than they used to. Seems like everyone is setting a screener on the top of the zone now versus it seldom happening in past. TE and TC need to fight through better, but I think some of the open looks this year are a result of how we are being attacked not that Cooney or others are bad defenders.

Teams are also hitting a lot of corner or deep wing 3's, which is on the forwards. Fair in particular is probably our weakest defender for their position. He's the reason our bigs pick up some of their fouls also. People want to bang in the guards defense, but they should watch CJ sometime.

 

[anomander]

Except for the usual rotation substitutions, he subs in G for Cooney when we press. G is longer and quicker. You're wring when you keep saying Cooney is subpar on defense.

I don't think he is sub par, but i don't think he is great either. He definitely isn't as good as most people on here make him out to be. I would say he is average.

 

[Trueblue25]

Brandon Triche is quickly becoming one of the more underrated players of Syracuse basketball in my lifetime.

 

[Cusefan0307]

Brandon Triche is quickly becoming one of the more underrated players of Syracuse basketball in my lifetime.

Hah, funny thing is if you go back a year, we have the same thread about Triche.

 

[Trueblue25]

Hah, funny thing is if you go back a year, we have the same thread about Triche.

Trevor Cooney is a decent college basketball player, but he hasn't given a fraction of what Triche did to the program in my opinion.

Cooney's but a sophomore though. A little bay bay.

 

[ImperialOrange]

I would prefer Cooney drive more and Ennis take a few more of those 3s. If nothing else it would get Cooney to the line more and keep Ennis from picking up charges.

 

[BludOrange]

Trevor will be fine as soon as he stops thinking and and starts getting looks other than coming off of screens. Instead of just hoisting up the shot, he's thinking/worried that he has to make each shot as he goes up. It's like the baseball player that goes up to the plate trying to jack a home run and ends up striking out. Or the bar league softball player who tries to place the ball and ends up hitting a pop-up to the pitcher. Just need to go with it and not think.
Getting some open looks from kickouts, when others drive and draw an off the ball defender could help as well.

 

[CaptainJ]

why is cooney so weak at the rim? he has good handle. he is strong. he can jump and is athletic. so why when he drives does he finish so weakly? i just don't get it. i think his shot will come around eventually, but it'd be nice to compliment his driving capabilities.

Wait, are you sure you didn't mean to say Jerami?

 

[two3zone]

Brandon Triche is quickly becoming one of the more underrated players of Syracuse basketball in my lifetime.

Based on what?

 

[two3zone]

Trevor Cooney is a decent college basketball player, but he hasn't given a fraction of what Triche did to the program in my opinion. Cooney's but a sophomore though. A little bay bay.

This is Trevor's first year of stable/starter minutes and even with the garbage he's been putting up for the past month he's still hovering around 40% shooting from beyond the arc.

Triche was consistent and started for four years, is it really fair to compare Trevor to him.

I could say that Triche hasn't given a fraction to the program that Gmac did. See what I did there? The comparisons mean nothing. Darryl Watkins hasn't given a fraction to the program that Rony Seikley did. Josh Wright didn't give a fraction to the program that Pearl Washington did. Rakeem Christmas hasn't given a fraction to the program that Hakeem Warrick has.

You can write Cooney off now after one year of consistent playing time but when it's all said and done he has more opportunity to be a much bigger piece to the puzzle this year and the next two than Triche ever did.

 

[alphaorange]

You guys are missing the point about him missing shots. Re-watch the games and see how many GOOD opportunities he gets. We got spoiled by watching him make shots off a dead run or very deep curl on the run. Those are not great shots but he was making them. How many other shooters do see that are forced to make that their opportunity shot? We need to get the kid some screens. An inside game with some offensive boards would help. Offensive rebounds present the best three point opportunities. The OP's complaint about the poor close out against Virginia is unwarranted, IMO. It was a 23-24 foot shoot and it's not like the guy was on a roll. If we have to close out hard on all deep three's we may as well scrap the zone because teams will tear us up in the paint and on the glass. Our problems start and end with not having an inside offense, not TC's struggles. One guy on the outside doesn't make a team bad. When teams go into such a tailspin, it's a culmination of things going wrong, be it shooting slumps, injuries, fatigue, or lack of confidence/effort. There is no reason to believe we can't be very good when the bell rings. I'm not saying we will, but if we are healthy, we have a good chance.

 

[jgeorge322]

Wait, are you sure you didn't mean to say Jerami?

no i didnt. do you think cooney has a bad handle? do you think he is weak? all im saying is cooney has a lot of tools so id like to see him use them more efficiently, when his shots are not falling.

 

[Fly Rodder]

Our problems start and end with not having an inside offense, not TC's struggles.
Last season our problem was that we didn't have Southerland for a spell, which allowed defenses to pack the paint.

This season, it's not the fact that SU has exactly one outside threat and he's not doing much at all, it's that there is no inside threat.

The only thing that changed from last season to this season was the outside shooter. The paint guys are all the same.

Edited to add:
all im saying is cooney has a lot of tools so id like to see him use them more efficiently, when his shots are not falling.

This is a pretty big problem. Cooney is very one-dimensional. His one-dimension was fantastic for a little while, but I'd certainly like to see some assists coming from guys other than Ennis (Fair and Grant aren't immune from this criticism either).

 

[BuffOrange]

Then don't. Good shooting covers up a lot of weaknesses and forgives a lot of sins. When he was shooting well during the first half of the season, he was doing pricisely that. Now that he's struggling the team's other weaknesses are more exposed. For they were always there, they just weren't as noticeable. So don't put it all on Cooney.

Except as the OP made pretty clear, those other weaknesses are much more unlikely to improve - which is actually a compliment to TC. Why so defensive? Dude needs to shoot better for us to win.
I do think Rak can give us more though.

 

[Cowtown]

Except as the OP made pretty clear, those other weaknesses are much more unlikely to improve - which is actually a compliment to TC. Why so defensive? Dude needs to shoot better for us to win.
I do think Rak can give us more though.

Not being defensive, just stating a fact.

 

[timkay99]

James Theus is better

 

[tbonezone]

james thues was an excellent defender. 101 steals as a soph. if we could combine thues defensive and mookie jones' range...lookout!