Hooville Postgame thoughts...

[Orange315]

We need a coaching reset.

 

[kirbivore]

Not gonna stress this one too much. This was a circle in pen loss when the schedule was released.

 

[kirbivore]

Very true on McLeod. On a 3 attempt today, I literally watched him rotate downcourt, run behind his man, i.e . further away from the ball, and behind the basket. The ball bounced to where he should have been had he just tracked the ball and crashed the rim.

Dude is the dictionary definition of a stiff.

 

[HOFCeluck]

Not gonna stress this one too much. This was a circle in pen loss when the schedule was released.

I remember as a Syracuse basketball fainnsuch a thing didn’t exist:..

 

[Dcuse]

JJ Starling is Louis McCrosky but worse on the defensive end.

Benny doesn’t belong on the court.

Copeland would be excellent playing at the Rucker but not in organized basketball.

McLeod is the same guy who barely played for a 9 win team last year.




If the players are going to be blamed for not executing Red’s plan then Red needs to sit them immediately, if these guys are executing his plan then he needs to change things up immediately. He needs to realize that his job is going to ultimately depend on this group of sophomores, after last season and through this one thus far I wouldn’t bet on them.

Incorrect. He will be judged on how the team with his own recruits does.

 

[kirbivore]

There is a SERIOUS culture problem around the Syracuse basketball program. I thought getting a new coach would help but it has possibly become worse in the short term because Red doesn’t have the same clout with the players as JB did. Any team we play with a tough, cohesive mentality that plays together and with a purpose is going to pound what we’ve seen on the floor the last 10 years basically every time. We aren’t disciplined, we don’t play tough, we don’t play together, we seem like we lack a plan and a purpose on both ends of the floor, we don’t make plays down the stretch of close games, etc etc etc. Those things I mentioned are a sign of a positive culture around a program and we don’t have it in football or basketball and haven’t for a long time. I know it’s Red’s first year and we need to give him time, but the problem is JB held on for too long. Another crappy season or two where we can’t win a quad one game or make the big dance and this program is headed to complete irrelevance just like the football program.

Total substitute teacher vibe with the hoops team.

 

[SkyTopBus44]

Question is has Wildhack actually conducted any real coaching search other than women’s bball?

At least he left Manley Fieldhouse for Fran Brown?

 

[sam]

Have we outrebounded anybody this year? This has to be one of the worst rebounding teams I’ve seen in decades here.

 

[Biaxtar]

Have we outrebounded anybody this year? This has to be one of the worst rebounding teams I’ve seen in decades here.

LSU

 

[FRANKIEFAN]

JG3 went .500 the last two years as “the guy” (which he wasn’t). Some of you have really short memories

I don’t think there’s a single poster who wasn’t happy with the Girard for Starling swap. If anyone questioned it please bump those posts and get your accolades.

Rest of the schedule isn’t too scary we’ll see I think we scrape out a .500 ACC record. I don’t see us portaling a brand new team.

 

[Toga]

Exactly. We have two top 45 recruits in the back court. Look, right now, there is nothing we do well that is good. We don't shoot well. We don't handle the ball well. We don't rebound well. We have played 3 good team and been trucked by all three. We aren't well coached either. Red is trying to find his way. And his style may indeed work. But not with this team. He seems to sub to sub. No real reason to it. This is going to be a long fruitless season. I'm not even sure we are going to get better as the season goes on. We should. But we will see.

Other than that Mrs Lincoln

 

[djcon57]

I don’t think there’s a single poster who wasn’t happy with the Girard for Starling swap. If anyone questioned it please bump those posts and get your accolades.

Rest of the schedule isn’t too scary we’ll see I think we scrape out a .500 ACC record. I don’t see us portaling a brand new team.

huh? I don’t get your point at all. im questioning the people RIGHT NOW. “Knock jg3 all you want but for the most part he accepted the pressure of being the guy.” was what the short memories was about.

the rest of your point is hypotheticals. we were 3-4 last year at this with the guys everyone is suggesting we should have kept. I dont get the point crying about these guys who never won anything. Wish them well and move on.

 

[gmoney44]

Have we outrebounded anybody this year? This has to be one of the worst rebounding teams I’ve seen in decades here.

It’s difficult to rebound out of the 2-3 zone.

I guess we can’t use that one anymore.

 

[Zelda Zonk]

At what point do we start to hold the staff accountable? they’re not even competitive. I don’t know why the boosters were so convinced that they had the best man for this job.

Let’s remember- Red wasn’t completely stuck with these players. He re-recruited them hoping they’d stay.

i think we were somewhat "stuck" in that you don't purge a player without knowing you can improve upon that roster spot. It's not unreasonable to have thought that some of these players were going to make natural progressions. Also, the notion of the 'Syracuse family' makes it not so much of a cutthroat situation. When Pitino moved into StJ, he was a foreign entity without relationships to the incumbents.

Red assumed the HC position, but helped recruit our players, helped develop them (or tried to)—it's a different thing. And then he would have had to convince impact portal transfer candidates that he had the tools and plan to improve us from a team that isn't a part of the Top 25 and isn't a tournament team. That's a lot to sell in a first year, which is why we got who we got—a guy with whom we already had a relationship, and who was coming home; our third (?) choice of Jesse replacements; and Cuffe—off an injury. Jury is still out on Chance, but he too is a bit of a reclamation project.

I don't know how hard the staff worked. I think they did a decent job, considering they didn't have a HC resume as a platform. Maybe Chance is the impact piece we need to be the team most of us projected. And JJ's shooting is the other major hindrance to us being a decent team. A lot of us thought we easily had the best backcourt in the ACC. If JJ could shoot like we saw in HS, maybe we'd be in that conversation. When he can't we have a pretty poor backcourt. We assumed JT would be Buddy 2.0, and he isn't/hasn't been. Some progression should be expected. We're not getting that yet.

I think Red said the offense is going to develop slower because of so much emphasis on the new defense. But, it's not just offensive schemes and plays. We're seeing steps back just in terms of skills. Basic skills.

 

[Madbiker]

Virginia is a bad matchup for Syracuse. We're a poor perimeter shooting team. Our offense is geared to the dribble drive, driving to the rim. Virginia's defense is geared to take that away and make it very tough to drive the ball. We don't have the outside shooting to make that defense pay and stretch it. We were always going to look bad against UVA. We need more offensive talent and we have 2 nice pieces coming next season. It's really a matter of talent.

 

[73CAV]

Yet UVA continues to get sub 100 ranked players and completely owns us. At some point the talent argument becomes an excuse for the garbage system we throw out there.

That's not exactly true. At least, the part about the sub 100 ranked players isn't. UVa has talent. FWIW, using the RSCI tables, Beekman was ranked #57, McKneely was #66, Leon Bond III was #78, Elijah Gertrude was #55, and Buchanan was #75. Also, recruiting rankings have to be taken with a grain of salt. Ryan Dunn was ranked #112 and ESPN has projected that he will be the #18 pick in next spring's NBA draft. (Of course, by sub 100, I presume that you mean players ranked outside the Top 100.) That said, Virginia may have returned less experience this year than did Syracuse. Between graduation and expired eligibility, UVa only returned four scholarship players, and Beekman was the lone starter. Furthermore, Beekman and Taine Murray are the only two players with more than one year, if that, of playing experience in Coach Bennett's schemes. Aside from the transfers, Jacob Groves (Oklahoma) and Jordan Minor (Merrimack), everyone else on the team is either a 1st or 2nd yearman (frosh or sophomores to you). UVa has talent, but is very young, and is going to be inconsistent this year. Syracuse was unfortunate to catch them when everything was clicking. The Wisconsin game saw a different Virginia team.

Also, with all the criticism being directed at Coach Autry, you might take note that in Coach Bennett's first two years, Virginia played .500 ball. They were 15 - 16 (5 - 11) and 16 - 15 (7 - 9) before making the NCAAT in his third year. And, he had the advantage of head coaching experience prior to moving to Charlottesville. Coach Autry may succeed, or he may not, but it is way too early to tell. That said, Virginia does seem to bring out the worst of Syracuse fans. I've been following this board for the past decade, and I have found it to be one of the better college basketball forums on the internet. There are a lot of knowledgeable fans here who are always providing excellent insights along with the occasional bon mot. Except before and after Virginia games. I don't know why, and I wonder if there was a Big East equivalent in the days before your move to the ACC. At any rate, here's wishing you well in your remaining games.

 

[atlanticuse]

I think UVA just hit another 3.

 

[newmexicuse]

I think a big part of the problem is that none of last year's frosh has taken a leap. The biggest leap is probably by Cope from a non-rotation player to a rotation player. Look at the others - Bell and Taylor - cant make a play unless wide open, though Justin has improved his rebounding. Judah looks about the same to me. He needed to get a steady trey shot - hasnt happened. Maliq is maybe a tad more consistent, but he still hasnt developed a mid-range shot or a post move.

Also people are not considering how much we lost when Joe and Jesse left. I thought JJ would be an upgrade over Joe, but so far not the case. We gave up a lot of three point shooting when Joe left. MacLeod is hardly on the same planet as Jesse. Cuffe is so far just a couple of minutes off the bench guy. Westry was supposed to be the best of the transfers, but he is hurt so we dont have that answer.

So all in all, I see a less talented roster than we had last season.

As for Red, way to early to have an opinion until we get a talent upgrade and see what happens. Big key this off-season is that he needs to land at least two players from the portal who will be good enough to beat out returnees and be starters. If Judah leaves....well make that three players.

 

[two3zone]

Incorrect. He will be judged on how the team with his own recruits does.

I wish it was that case but if we’re bad bad for two years it could be bad news for him.

 

[OrangeinDC]

Hopefully Red can turnover the roster come year end. Way to many non P5 players on this team right now. Freeman and choppa will help but they are young and there will be a learning curve. Really hope we didn't swing and miss on Westry, need him to be decent

Just curious... What's supposed to happen if he "turns" over the roster?

 

[Janner]

Just curious... What's supposed to happen if he "turns" over the roster?

Hopefully a couple things, he hits the portal to upgrade the roster and/or recruits better high-school players, if available. Some of the roster is "fixed", McCloud, cuff, JJ and westry will still be here.

 

[br801]

At least JJ made a few shots. His form still stinks though.

Baby steps.

 

[tbonezone]

we're too finesse .our front line lacks NASTY. someone to hit the glass and put back misses.

 

[Newhouser]

One of my main takeaways was Judah not matching iron with iron. As soon as he knew he had a great defender on him, he deferred, seemed uninterested in pulling out everything he's got. You know FIRE. He's seemed to have that in the past but I don't know...

Kid was better than him and he turtled up (notice no chirping today). Rest of team was impacted by that IMHO as nobody fought in the second half.

 

[charleston]

Baby steps.

I don't know why McCloud is playing ...there is a reason he didn't play at Florida State...play the other two centers ...at leaset we get some athleticism ...and next year go to the portal and get a 3 point shooter from a lower level school!!!Please