Have your expectations changed since October?

[DonLightfoot]

Back then I thought we would have a decent team and a good overall year. In fact, if I recall, on a thread about this way back when I projected us to be 2nd or 3rd in the ACC and lose in the ACC Tournament Championship Game and get a 2 or 3 seed in the big dance.

At this point my expectations are a little higher. I now anticipate us finishing 1st or 2nd in the ACC and possibly winning the tournament. Given where the ACC tournament is being played, we definitely will not have the fans on our side which will make it tough.

For the NCAA’s I see us as a solid #2 seed. This is based on the current overall ranking of the ACC. However, if we win the ACC regular season and the ACC Tournament, and maybe only have two or three losses, we could get a #1 seed.

This optimism is based on the unexpected high level of play from our backcourt.

 

[Lawrinson14]

Honestly...yes.

We have 2 wooden award winner candidates and a steller "supporting" cast. (grant, cooney, rak, G).

I hate to say this, but if we do not make at least the final four I will be extremely disappointed. Especially considering we will likely lose CJ, Grant, and Tyler next year.

 

[Dave85]

Honestly...yes.

We have 2 wooden award winner candidates and a steller "supporting" cast. (grant, cooney, rak, G).

I hate to say this, but if we do not make at least the final four I will be extremely disappointed. Especially considering we will likely lose CJ, Grant, and Tyler next year.

That about covers it for me.

 

[Marsh01]

My expectations changed when I saw Ennis and the team respond in canada against Carleton

 

[JeremyCuse]

Was hoping for a Sweet 16 run, obviously with how good the team has played I think people are hoping for back to back final fours. As Lawrinson noted above the pressure is on a little bit because it appears likely Ennis and Grant are gone along with CJ obviously. Based on those losses next year could be more of a rebuild year (not a true rebuild by any stretch but more like last year without the final four run).

 

[bnoro]

Final Four or bust.

 

[edowd26]

I knew it all along. I have the gift of foresight. Btw. You're all going to die.

 

[CorduroyG]

Back then I thought we would have a decent team and a good overall year. In fact, if I recall, on a thread about this way back when I projected us to be 2nd or 3rd in the ACC and lose in the ACC Tournament Championship Game and get a 2 or 3 seed in the big dance.

At this point my expectations are a little higher. I now anticipate us finishing 1st or 2nd in the ACC and possibly winning the tournament. Given where the ACC tournament is being played, we definitely will not have the fans on our side which will make it tough.

For the NCAA’s I see us as a solid #2 seed. This is based on the current overall ranking of the ACC. However, if we win the ACC regular season and the ACC Tournament, and maybe only have two or three losses, we could get a #1 seed.

This optimism is based on the unexpected high level of play from our backcourt.

if we win the acc regular with 3 or fewer losses we're a 1 seed regardless of what happens in acc tournament. maybe even 4 losses.

 

[JOC44]

I hate to say this, but if we do not make at least the final four I will be extremely disappointed. Especially considering we will likely lose CJ, Grant, and Tyler next year.

And Keita too. We're all going to miss Baye when he's gone.

 

[OttoinGrotto]

You bet. I did not expect to be getting this much from our guards. No way I thought Ennis would be this good. No way I thought Cooney would make such a fantastic leap.

I thought we'd be getting more scoring from Coleman, Gbinije, and Rak and been a much more front court oriented team. Instead, we have a nicely balanced team, so yeah, my expectations are higher.

 

[JohnCuse44]

I think if you are really being honest most of us would have to say yes.

 

[Cusefan0307]

I guess we are going to have to look at everyones iggy's predictions! I predicted 26-5 regular season, with a trip to the final four. Wish I predicted 28-3.

Idk how anyone sees us as a 2 seed right now. If we win the regular season we will be a one.

 

[ROCuse]

I find that as Syracuse fan, or really a college basketball fan in general, managing expectations is one of the hardest things to do.

 

[Rocco]

Even JB's expectations have gone up. This is a really, really good team that is capable of winning it all. Anything short of a Final Four is a disappointment, and frankly, anything short of a NC hurts too. There aren't any dynamite teams this year, so this is the year we need to take advantage of.

 

[pearl31]

if we win the ACC regular season and the ACC Tournament, and maybe only have two or three losses, we could get a #1 seed.

COULD get a #1 seed?

 

[RF2044]

Yes and no.

I wasn't sure how good our backcourt would be heading into the season. After the Canada tour, I was pretty sure that Ennis would be much better than expected, but I wasn't sure about Cooney. So from that standpoint, yes--my expectations have changed a bit from pre-season.

But "no" from the standpoint of whether they've changed since October. I had the opportunity to head up to practice in early October and see the team in action. I wrote an extensive report detailing my observations, and it was pretty evident that the team was going to be a lot better than what the prognosticators projected--and I'm not criticizing those projections, since we'd lost a lot from the previous year--starting backcourt, and most of our outside shooting.

I knew after seeing them in October that this team was going to be very, very good. Some of the responses / reactions I got to that practice observation thread made it sound like people thought I was being too optimistic, but you could just tell that something was different about this crew. The chemistry was great, they seemed more focused upon rebounding than I can ever remember coaches emphasizing in practice before, and both CJ and Ennis brought an element of poise that not all teams have.

This team is special. Wouldn't remotely be surprised to see this team return to the F4. They can absolutely win the national championship.

 

[Col. Bleep]

I don't think ANYONE - except maybe Jim Boeheim and Tyler Ennis - knew how good Tyler Ennis was going to be.
Even Boeheim is a maybe.
And TE is the difference between a good season and a great season.

 

[stuckinbig11]

My expectations are always that we will win every game.

 

[HoustonCuse]

Yeah, I see this as a team that is on the very short list of SU teams that has a really legit NC chance. I still am concerned about the back end of the ACC schedule. The ACC may be down, but we have several very difficult road games all bunched at the back. There could be a multiple game losing streak still this year. That could finish us with 3 losses in reg season - still awesome, but the perception of a slide could jeopardize seeding or Buffalo/MSG. Nothing is in the bag yet. Really the Pitt win is the only "good" win we have in conference play and that was at home - where we should win.

 

[two3zone]

I posted a 7 loss season in the Iggy thread. I see 3-5 tops right now. I love this team and it has been an amazing ride but the college basketball game is crazy and nobody knows when shocking losses or losing streaks will come out.

I think we've lost with better teams, I love this team but I honestly wouldn't be disappointed with an elite 8 finish. We do have holes that have been exposed against inferior teams multiple times that kept us close, that's the only thing that makes me nervous.

 

[runningorange]

My expectations have fluctuated a bit this season:

Before Canada: sweet sixteen
After Canada: elite eight
After St. Francis: just make the tournament and win a game
After Maui: sweet sixteen
After Villanova: Final Four (been there ever since)

 

[jordoo]

I picked us to win it all in the prediction thread but I am much more convinced now than I was then that we can do it.

 

[jordoo]

I knew it all along. I have the gift of foresight. Btw. You're all going to die.

Life is the #1 cause of death.

 

[edowd26]

My expectations have fluctuated a bit this season:

Before Canada: sweet sixteen
After Canada: elite eight
After St. Francis: just make the tournament and win a game
After Maui: sweet sixteen
After Villanova: Final Four (been there ever since)

You're an emotional wreck.

 

[newmexicuse]

The team is playing very well right now. There is a good chance that we hit a rough patch at some point during the season. How we deal with and come out of that rough patch will go a long way towards managing my expectations.

Pre-season I thought we would probably be at least a Sweet 16 Team with FF upside. Now, I think we can move that needle a little bit to say we should probably be an Elite Eight team w NC upside.

In particular a few detailed thoughts relative to my expectations:

1. Our D - better than I expected - good team flow, and the fast hands of Ennis and Trevor are off-setting the loss of height.

2. PG - Ennis is a gem of a gem - his consistency and ability to rise to the occaision more than offset MCW's superior size and athleticism. However, looking at the overall position, Silent G does not equal Triche for the backup minutes.

3. 2G - Trevor has exceeded my expectations, but his poor conference trey shooting is an increasing concern. Hope he can get back to early season form. Also, I think Trevor needs to find more ways to score than just treys. Mike G is solid, but I was expecting more O from him. Frankly, pre-season I thought he would have been our starter. I draw a big bolo for that thought. All in all, our 2G play is probably not as good as last season, but the drop-off has been less than I expected. I wish I saw more of Buss, I would liketo think he could help if Jimmy gave him some sort of a shot.

4. - Center - Rak is greadually improving, but still has a ways to go. BMK is BMK - not much change there. Probably the loss of DC is offset by the improvement in Rak, so this is a wash for me. Of course, the real disappointment was the failure of DC2 to make the big frosh to soph jump that I wasn't necessarily expecting, but that I was certainly hoping might occur.

5. The forwards - I was expecting big things from Jerami and incremental improvement from CJ, by and large that has occurred. CJ needs to cut TOs and improve his trey percentage. If he can do that we even have more upside from here. I think Roberson could and should play a bigger role. especially with the loss of DC2 we will need more frontcourt help before this is all said & done.

6. Jimmy - nobody is better at preparing a team for a given game. He has the Zone down to a fine art. However, I wish he would do a bettre job of bench development, especially with Roberson and Buss.