Hate to say it.

[ForCuseSake]

But then why screw over Brandon? What did he possibly do to these guys?

You got me there - no idea!!

 

[jekelish]

The refs certainly didn't help us at the end, but it's foolish to suggest they are the sole reason we lost. We simply could not make baskets when we needed them, it's as simple as that. The weird alley oop attempt from BT to Rak was also one of the dumbest things I've ever seen.

 

[Section 314 Row C]

The refs certainly didn't help us at the end, but it's foolish to suggest they are the sole reason we lost. We simply could not make baskets when we needed them, it's as simple as that. The weird alley oop attempt from BT to Rak was also one of the dumbest things I've ever seen.

This^^^ Also, I have to say that Wichita St. got a much bigger referee screw job with that absolutely ridiculous held-ball call at the end of the game. Basically handed the game to Louisville. What a bunch of that was.

 

[CaliCuse]

But ref's cost us that game.

Lets just say they were a hurdle but the guys most responsible were the guys wearing orange.and coach who has long believed the compliments coming his way were entirely justified and sees no reason to think anymore or make adjustments in his game plan before or during games.Failure to attack the basket and get their big-man in foul trouble might be a strategy he could have employed Instructing Williams Triche along with CJ to employ that tactic might have been a thought on his part.There are others of course. Bring on the freshmen to fill in for the departed and perhaps learn from their mistakes. Oh, thats right why should they when the coach doesn't.:bang:

 

[Ghost]

The refs certainly didn't help us at the end, but it's foolish to suggest they are the sole reason we lost. We simply could not make baskets when we needed them, it's as simple as that. The weird alley oop attempt from BT to Rak was also one of the dumbest things I've ever seen.

I'm not going to harp on one play as a major reason we lost, but that was perhaps the strangest thing I saw all year. I wasn't even mad when I saw it because my jaw just dropped and I kind of half-smiled in total, absolute confusion - it seemed that odd to me. I still can't figure it out. What was that???

I would have been no more dumbfounded had one of our players suddenly just drop-kicked the ball out of bounds.

 

[jekelish]

I'm not going to harp on one play as a major reason we lost, but that was perhaps the strangest thing I saw all year. I wasn't even mad when I saw it because my jaw just dropped and I kind of half-smiled in total, absolute confusion - it seemed that odd to me. I still can't figure it out. What was that???

I would have been no more dumbfounded had one of our players suddenly just drop-kicked the ball out of bounds.

Agreed. And it was like a bullet pass alley oop, too. It was so bizarre. I felt like Ron Burgundy, "I'm not even mad. That's amazing."

 

[orange79]

Lets just say they were a hurdle but the guys most responsible were the guys wearing orange.and coach who has long believed the compliments coming his way were entirely justified and sees no reason to think anymore or make adjustments in his game plan before or during games.Failure to attack the basket and get their big-man in foul trouble might be a strategy he could have employed Instructing Williams Triche along with CJ to employ that tactic might have been a thought on his part.There are others of course. Bring on the freshmen to fill in for the departed and perhaps learn from their mistakes. Oh, thats right why should they when the coach doesn't.:bang:

So, how many times are you going to make the same post? OK, we get it. You think JB is an awful coach. Let me know the next time you and Igor, get together. I want to hear the conversation about how the HOF made such a horrible mistake. :noidea:

 

[djcon57]

I'm not going to harp on one play as a major reason we lost, but that was perhaps the strangest thing I saw all year. I wasn't even mad when I saw it because my jaw just dropped and I kind of half-smiled in total, absolute confusion - it seemed that odd to me. I still can't figure it out. What was that???

I would have been no more dumbfounded had one of our players suddenly just drop-kicked the ball out of bounds.

Another forgotten play that was dreadful...after the MCW BS foul, down 4, we play GREAT D for 10 more seconds then Triche fouls Hardaway for literally no reason with like 12 seconds on the shot clock and he sinks 2/2

 

[Ghost]

Another forgotten play that was dreadful...after the MCW BS foul, down 4, we play GREAT D for 10 more seconds then Triche fouls Hardaway for literally no reason with like 12 seconds on the shot clock and he sinks 2/2

lol...forgot about that, why did he do that? He was fouling intentionally too - that made zero sense w/ the shot clock so low.

So many What moments in that game I can't even remember them at all.

MCW's one jump pass (soft toss) directly to UM was also a strange play.

 

[Hoov50]

We tried to force the ball to Christmas more times this game than the entire season combined. Why? I have no idea. The alley oop attempt was really dumb!

Several times Southerland looked to have open looks and he hesitated and didn't take the shot. There were times during our slump when he was forcing 27 foot three pointers.

I thought several of our guys looked tight/nervous early on. Especially Southerland and Triche. Triche seemed to become more comfortable as the game went on.

When we started to foul intentionally at the end of the game we made some knucklehead decisions. On one possession Southerland fouled instantly on the inbound. Boeheim looked at him an said, "You were supposed to try to steal it first and then foul." It looked like Southerland had the look of, "Oh yeah, I forgot," on his face. Then we play great defense for 23 seconds and Triche fouls, I would have had no issue with fouling then, but do it 4-5 seconds into the possession not 23!

Even with our dumb plays if we don't waste 8-9 possessions when we are down 4 points or less we win the game. If we rebound the first half like we did the second half we win.

A few people have called out Triche because he didn't drive to the hoop until late in the game. I think Michigan defenders were looking more to defend the three at that point in the game and that allowed Triche to get to the hoop. In the first half and much of the second half Michigan was doing an excellent job stopping dribble penetration.

We had our chances and the three questionable calls by the officials shouldn't have been a factor. That being said, the calls were a factor and it makes the loss tougher to handle.

At the same time a month ago I thought we would be extremely lucky to make it out of the first weekend of the tournament. We really overachieved with a team that only did one thing consistently well, defend. Holding one of the most efficient offensive teams in the country to 61 points should be good enough to a win.

Even after last night and partially because of the gutsy second half play I am happy to be a class of 2002 graduate and to call myself an SU fan!

 

[Capt. Tuttle]

Pretty cavalier attitude. Regardless of how they played earlier, they dug and scratched their way to within one. Bad calls were absolutely a factor. Facts are facts.

Now wait a minute. If Syracuse had made every shot, not had a turnover, and gotten every defensive rebound and made every free throw, we never would have been in a position for the referees to influence the game. Facts are facts.

Sent from my SCH-I200 using Tapatalk 2

 

[AirForceOrange]

We tried to force the ball to Christmas more times this game than the entire season combined. Why? I have no idea. The alley oop attempt was really dumb!

Several times Southerland looked to have open looks and he hesitated and didn't take the shot. There were times during our slump when he was forcing 27 foot three pointers.

I thought several of our guys looked tight/nervous early on. Especially Southerland and Triche. Triche seemed to become more comfortable as the game went on.

When we started to foul intentionally at the end of the game we made some knucklehead decisions. On one possession Southerland fouled instantly on the inbound. Boeheim looked at him an said, "You were supposed to try to steal it first and then foul." It looked like Southerland had the look of, "Oh yeah, I forgot," on his face. Then we play great defense for 23 seconds and Triche fouls, I would have had no issue with fouling then, but do it 4-5 seconds into the possession not 23!

Even with our dumb plays if we don't waste 8-9 possessions when we are down 4 points or less we win the game. If we rebound the first half like we did the second half we win.

A few people have called out Triche because he didn't drive to the hoop until late in the game. I think Michigan defenders were looking more to defend the three at that point in the game and that allowed Triche to get to the hoop. In the first half and much of the second half Michigan was doing an excellent job stopping dribble penetration.

We had our chances and the three questionable calls by the officials shouldn't have been a factor. That being said, the calls were a factor and it makes the loss tougher to handle.

At the same time a month ago I thought we would be extremely lucky to make it out of the first weekend of the tournament. We really overachieved with a team that only did one thing consistently well, defend. Holding one of the most efficient offensive teams in the country to 61 points should be good enough to a win.

Even after last night and partially because of the gutsy second half play I am happy to be a class of 2002 graduate and to call myself an SU fan!

Well said and pretty much sums up why we lost and also the fact, that yes it sucks they lost...but just 3-4 weeks ago at Georgetown, we were wondering if this team was worthy pf the NIT!! I think this team pulled it together, played great ball from the BE Tourney and on and should be commended! They should at minimum finsh in the Top 10...Although disappointed they did make to the final game, I am proud of this team and how they didn't give up against Michigan and kept fighting either against bad calls, some poor play and/or some poor decisions...basically almost right up to the end they still could have won this game!!

 

[orangecuse]

We weren't built for comebacks, we've pretty much led the entire tournament.

I pretty much agree, but we had so many opportunities throughout the 2nd half, but let the opportunities get away. The first 3-4 minutes of the second half alone, we could have cut that 11 point half time deficit down to a one or two possession game. As good as CJ was throughout, he missed several chippies inside in that span that really could've closed the gap. CJ could've gone for 32-34 points had he not missed some of them...

Other than being down for a very brief moment 2-0 to IU, and 3-0 to Marquette, I don't think we were down at all until Saturday's game against UM.

 

[Col. Bleep]

This offensive drought in the 1st half put SU too far behind the 8-ball

from 15-14 Michigan

10:19Michael Carter-Williams missed Three Point Jumper.
10:14Trevor Cooney made Three Point Jumper. Assisted by Rakeem Christmas.
9:21Michael Carter-Williams Turnover.
8:37James Southerland missed Jumper.
7:59Trevor Cooney missed Three Point Jumper.
7:33C.J. Fair missed Jumper.
6:54C.J. Fair missed Jumper.
6:08Brandon Triche made Jumper. Assisted by C.J. Fair.
5:18Michael Carter-Williams missed Layup.
5:18Rakeem Christmas made Tip Shot.
4:21Rakeem Christmas missed Free Throw.
4:21Rakeem Christmas missed Free Throw.
3:07Brandon Triche missed Three Point Jumper.
2:34Michael Carter-Williams Turnover.

to 30-21 Michigan

The two bad calls on MCW & Triche hurt us.
But we only look at the ones that went against us.
No one's talking about the shooting foul Christmas got away with, for example.

But the poor calls didn't cost us the game.
For much of the game we simply didn't play well and they did.
We reverted to the way we were playing offensively before the BE tourney.

Look at this play log above.
Only once in almost 8 minutes did we play aggressively and try to go to the hoop.
Credit Michigan's defense with taking away dribble penetration and preventing Southerland from getting open very often.

And we also missed some good looks (Fair, Triche , MCW and a couple by Southerland).
It wasn't until late in the game when Michigan wanted to avoid putting us on the line that we started driving.

You can't beat a team likc Michigan by playing well for only 8-10 minutes in first half and 6-7 minutes the second.

 

[sufandu]

But ref's cost us that game.

No. What cost us the game is that their freshman center was better than either of our centers, JS waited until the final two minutes of the game to hit a three, and neither of our starting guards could get into the lane. This syracuse team was one that we had seen earlier in the season. We had a good run, but anyone watching this team knew if JS had an off shooting game along with MCW and BT being held out of the lane, we would have a good chance of losing.

Give Michigan credit. They came in with a solid game plan and executed it. They were the better team saturday night.

 

[Hoov50]

No. What cost us the game is that their freshman center was better than either of our centers, JS waited until the final two minutes of the game to hit a three, and neither of our starting guards could get into the lane. This syracuse team was one that we had seen earlier in the season. We had a good run, but anyone watching this team knew if JS had an off shooting game along with MCW and BT being held out of the lane, we would have a good chance of losing.

Give Michigan credit. They came in with a solid game plan and executed it. They were the better team saturday night.

It wasn't just earlier in the season. There were long stretches of games during our end of the season run when these things could have hurt us more. Our defense was the reason we were able to go 12+ minutes against Cal and still win. Our defense was the reason we were able to go 8-9 straight possessions without scoring against Michigan and still have a shot to tie the game at the end. Even with our issues Saturday night I still think the teams were about as evenly matched as they get (although if we played our best I think we were the better team). Take away one of Michigan's 28 foot three pointers from the first half and we are winning by 5. Bottom line, we overachieved and in a month's time went from a team many had pegged as heading to the bubble to a team playing in the Final Four!

 

[Orangepace]

The Charge on Triche and the Block on MCW cost us plenty and prevented us from finishing our comeback. Two blown calls by officials helped cost us the game.

They were fairly far down the list that caused us to lose to an inferior team today. We should have beaten this team handily, and I can't figure out how we had so much go wrong in this game all at once.

You're an idiot calling Michigan inferior. We battled back very admirably, but they were definitely not inferior to our squad.

 

[sufandu]

It wasn't just earlier in the season. There were long stretches of games during our end of the season run when these things could have hurt us more. Our defense was the reason we were able to go 12+ minutes against Cal and still win. Our defense was the reason we were able to go 8-9 straight possessions without scoring against Michigan and still have a shot to tie the game at the end. Even with our issues Saturday night I still think the teams were about as evenly matched as they get (although if we played our best I think we were the better team). Take away one of Michigan's 28 foot three pointers from the first half and we are winning by 5. Bottom line, we overachieved and in a month's time went from a team many had pegged as heading to the bubble to a team playing in the Final Four!

Completely agree. The team we saw against Michigan was an excellent representation of what this team was all year. Great D. Inconsistent O. We made the final four. There's 350+ teams that wish they had... including Georgetown.

 

[kirbivore]

Take away one of Michigan's 28 foot three pointers from the first half and we are winning by 5. Bottom line, we overachieved and in a month's time went from a team many had pegged as heading to the bubble to a team playing in the Final Four!

To paraphrase Mel Kiper Jr.: "Those that thought SU was a bubble team just don't know how tourney selection works." They were never a bubble team.

 

[alphaorange]

Now wait a minute. If Syracuse had made every shot, not had a turnover, and gotten every defensive rebound and made every free throw, we never would have been in a position for the referees to influence the game. Facts are facts.

Sent from my SCH-I200 using Tapatalk 2

You have to be kidding. Officiating is part of the game. Bad officiating most certainly can change the outcome of any competition in any sport. You're simply ignoring reality, but feel free.

 

[Capt. Tuttle]

You have to be kidding. Officiating is part of the game. Bad officiating most certainly can change the outcome of any competition in any sport. You're simply ignoring reality, but feel free.

It was a sarcastic poke at those saying the refs didn't cost SU, SU cost SU.

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[Hoov50]

To paraphrase Mel Kiper Jr.: "Those that thought SU was a bubble team just don't know how tourney selection works." They were never a bubble team.

Personally, I never was concerned about missing out on the tournament entirely, but I was concerned that our participation would be short lived.

 

[Niastri]

You're an idiot calling Michigan inferior. We battled back very admirably, but they were definitely not inferior to our squad.

Without a bad game from us, a whole lot of dumb luck, and some botched officiating, Syracuse blows Michigan out. And would win at least 7 of 10 by double digits at neutral sites. Syracuse is a much better team than Michigan. But I don't have to call you an idiot just because you don't see that obvious fact

 

[Orangepace]

Without a bad game from us, a whole lot of dumb luck, and some botched officiating, Syracuse blows Michigan out. And would win at least 7 of 10 by double digits at neutral sites. Syracuse is a much better team than Michigan. But I don't have to call you an idiot just because you don't see that obvious fact

At first I was mad at myself for calling you an idiot because I thought you were being sarcastic... Now I feel like an idiot for reading another of your posts.

Michigan was an equally matched opponent. They won, fair and square. I was in attendance and will be again tonight. That game was called oddly both ways. Great calling first 17 mins. Last three mins, bad calls benefitting both teams. Let it go. Michigan earned their way to the final.

 

[Captnhowdy]

bad calls benefitting both teams. Let it go. Michigan earned their way to the final.

I'm just wondering, which call in the last 3 minutes benefited Syracuse?