How about some game thoughts?

[Jake]

Some actual stuff about the team...randomly broken down:

*Dion has turned into a beast. As Fonzi once said..."I was wrrrrr..ng." I cannot beleive the mental transformation in his approach to individual possessions and defense. He is an absolute force on the press and enough of his defensive gambles in the halfcourt are resulting in steals that I don't think you can tell him to stop. Only gripe is that I'd like to see him penetrate more often and take threes only when they are uncontested. Minor gripes. Plus, his chemistry with Triche - which was non-existant last year - appears off the charts positive. This is the kid I saw on film in HS with his ability to get to the hole and finish ala Pearl.

*Keita's hands still suck. He has a great natural ability to be in the right place, but he just doesn't squeeze the rock well enough to finish plays. Frustrating to watch. I saw a wrap on his hand a couple of games ago. Its gone, but I wonder if the hand is still hurting him.

*James. Its quite obvious that he is not comfortable shooting with a hand in his face...which is why he lights up zones and dissappears against m2m. He needs to better "shot prepare" against m2m teams, so he can release the ball before the defender gets in his shooting space. I think a lot of his issue is that he's not a great catch and shoot guy off of down screens...which is where Andy and Gerry thrived. His inability to put the ball on the floor, also means that defenders will close on him more quickly because they can attack without fear of being taken off the dribble.

*Rakim had a nice little game last night. Loved the little turnaround off the glass. One thing about him is that he's comfortable with his back to the basket. A rarity in today's CBB world. Obviously he's really athletic. One good year in the weight room and I think we have a really really solid PF.

*MCW. He's not there yet, but holy cow can you see the potential problems he will cause teams down the road. His ability to see over perimeter defenders and deliver to the big men is a huge asset. Gonna be a great one.

*This team doesn't not spurt well offensively, but they are good enough on the defensive end to just wear other teams down over time. The rotation has allowed us to keep fresh legs on he court...and grind out wins.

*Having said that, we are in gonna be in a bad way against teams with size. Not sure we have enough post up offense, or the confidence to go inside against better teams. It will lead to some offensive droughts that will have to broken by defensive run outs - perhaps off the press. Very good team, not sure we have the go to guy to get us past the sweet sixteen in march.

 

[MikeSU02]

My biggest concern with this year's team was not having a guy on offense that could throw us on his back when someone hits us back and knocks us down.

I still remain skeptical that we can get past the sweet 16 because of that.

However, if we do, it is going to be due to Dion stepping up and us winning with him leading the charge.

He is a beast. Honey Badger-esque.

 

[AZOrange]

Some actual stuff about the team...randomly broken down:

*Dion has turned into a beast. As Fonzi once said..."I was wrrrrr..ng." I cannot beleive the mental transformation in his approach to individual possessions and defense. He is an absolute force on the press and enough of his defensive gambles in the halfcourt are resulting in steals that I don't think you can tell him to stop. Only gripe is that I'd like to see him penetrate more often and take threes only when they are uncontested. Minor gripes. Plus, his chemistry with Triche - which was non-existant last year - appears off the charts positive. This is the kid I saw on film in HS with his ability to get to the hole and finish ala Pearl.

*Keita's hands still suck. He has a great natural ability to be in the right place, but he just doesn't squeeze the rock well enough to finish plays. Frustrating to watch. I saw a wrap on his hand a couple of games ago. Its gone, but I wonder if the hand is still hurting him.

*James. Its quite obvious that he is not comfortable shooting with a hand in his face...which is why he lights up zones and dissappears against m2m. He needs to better "shot prepare" against m2m teams, so he can release the ball before the defender gets in his shooting space. I think a lot of his issue is that he's not a great catch and shoot guy off of down screens...which is where Andy and Gerry thrived. His inability to put the ball on the floor, also means that defenders will close on him more quickly because they can attack without fear of being taken off the dribble.

*Rakim had a nice little game last night. Loved the little turnaround off the glass. One thing about him is that he's comfortable with his back to the basket. A rarity in today's CBB world. Obviously he's really athletic. One good year in the weight room and I think we have a really really solid PF.

*MCW. He's not there yet, but holy cow can you see the potential problems he will cause teams down the road. His ability to see over perimeter defenders and deliver to the big men is a huge asset. Gonna be a great one.

*This team doesn't not spurt well offensively, but they are good enough on the defensive end to just wear other teams down over time. The rotation has allowed us to keep fresh legs on he court...and grind out wins.

*Having said that, we are in gonna be in a bad way against teams with size. Not sure we have enough post up offense, or the confidence to go inside against better teams. It will lead to some offensive droughts that will have to broken by defensive run outs - perhaps off the press. Very good team, not sure we have the go to guy to get us past the sweet sixteen in march.

I agree with most except for James. He has made some pretty tough contested shots inside the 3 point arc with hands in his face. I think the key to him is getting an easy bucket early and the rest really seem to flow. But I dont recall seeing a guy seem so out of position on the offensive end.

Another thought I had about the games so far. People keep saying we need our best offensive players out there starting, but this team with Dion/ Dirty/Fair off the bench really started to remind me of a couple years ago when Scoop and Kris brought the offensive spark off the bench (people said then that they needed to start too and Triche and Rick needed to sit).

 

[AZOrange]

My biggest concern with this year's team was not having a guy on offense that could throw us on his back when someone hits us back and knocks us down.

I still remain skeptical that we can get past the sweet 16 because of that.

However, if we do, it is going to be due to Dion stepping up and us winning with him leading the charge.

He is a beast. Honey Badger-esque.

Joseph has played that role very well especially when we got punched in NY...he is playing really well on the offensive end.

 

[AZOrange]

his tip in last night was unreal. athleticism crazy.

 

[OburgCuse]

I agree with most except for James. He has made some pretty tough contested shots inside the 3 point arc with hands in his face. I think the key to him is getting an easy bucket early and the rest really seem to flow. But I dont recall seeing a guy seem so out of position on the offensive end.

Another thought I had about the games so far. People keep saying we need our best offensive players out there starting, but this team with Dion/ Dirty/Fair off the bench really started to remind me of a couple years ago when Scoop and Kris brought the offensive spark off the bench (people said then that they needed to start too and Triche and Rick needed to sit).

Agree 100% here. James is very streaky and a lot of his game appears to be based on confidence. I'd love for us to set something up for him early when he gets into the game to get him free for a little 8 to 12 footer and get his confidence going. It seems like his effectiveness (offensive and defensive) is predicated on how he starts and if he hangs around the perimeter and misses a couple 3's early he disappears

 

[moqui]

Very good team, not sure we have the go to guy to get us past the sweet sixteen in march.

this is not even a 2nd weekend team at this point in time. same as last year, too poor an offensive team unless someone else emerges.

and, Jake, I think you are premature in your assessment of Southerland. The fact of the matter is that he didn't get enough time vs. VPI and Stanford to judge. Now, he may never get time against better teams, because against good teams JB cannot put Dirty and Kris on the court at the same time - they are the same player and neither is a good enough rebounder. So, Dirty can only play when Kris is off the floor, and JB is going to ride his senior star for 35+ against quality opponents. That doesn't mean James cannot play against those teams, just that JB values Kris' experience more.

It is amazing how similar the two are on the boards. Forget the per game numbers, they are skewed by minutes played differentials. Look at the rebounding per minutes - James and Kris are the worse of the frontcourt players:

 

[Macho Uno]

We need one of the bigs to develop a go to back to the basket move so we can at least have the threat of a post game.

 

[AZOrange]

this is not even a 2nd weekend team at this point in time. same as last year, too poor an offensive team unless someone else emerges.

I disagree right now. But Friday should give us a pretty good idea where we stand.

 

[mark79]

We need one of the bigs to develop a go to back to the basket move so we can at least have the threat of a post game.

This

 

[tbonezone]

not really seeing the keita hands things.in fact he picked up a ball out of traffic last night that had no business being an assist.

and i don't see really how dirtydix and xmas can dominate a game against emu and yet no earn a no-show in a game against stanford. ok we won but...these guys got skillz.
fab didn't really struggle but never wowed. gotta love 15 fouls deep to give inside. mcw again to me looks slight. to his credit he's looking to dish every possession and has good vision for a frosh but i'm afraid the more physical,quicker guards we face will eat him alive .#5 pace...i mean cj fair ...never really found a rhythm on the court this game. he's a tweener stuck at PF and these bearded mountainbredwhitegoliaths have been too much for his slingshot. we definately need a little more christmas this time of year.i thought scoop dion and brandon all played solid. and glad mookie hit his trey.

 

[albanycuse]

Dirty's problem is confidence related and against good teams jb doesnt let him play through it because we have the luxury of depth which is a double edge sword because it hinders his development.

 

[moqui]

Dirty's problem is confidence related and against good teams jb doesnt let him play through it because we have the luxury of depth which is a double edge sword because it hinders his development.

no, it is not a depth thing - Dirty is a pure 3 and there is only one other guy at his position. His problem is that the one other guy happens to be a senior co-captain preseason All Big East Wooden Watch player. He is not fighting for time with the other forwards, just the best one on the team. JB will ride Kris for 35+ in tight games barring injury or foul trouble.

 

[albanycuse]

no, it is not a depth thing - Dirty is a pure 3 and there is only one guy at his position. His problem is that the one other guy happens to be a senior co-captain preseason All Big East Wooden Watch player. He is not fighting for time with the other forwards, just the best one on the team. JB will ride Kris for 35+ in tight games barring injury or foul trouble.

I see it differently, we have diff size lineups we can switch to and dirty is confidence driven no doubt buddy.

 

[OttoMets]

this is not even a 2nd weekend team at this point in time. same as last year, too poor an offensive team unless someone else emerges.

and, Jake, I think you are premature in your assessment of Southerland. The fact of the matter is that he didn't get enough time vs. VPI and Stanford to judge. Now, he may never get time against better teams, because against good teams JB cannot put Dirty and Kris on the court at the same time - they are the same player and neither is a good enough rebounder. So, Dirty can only play when Kris is off the floor, and JB is going to ride his senior star for 35+ against quality opponents. That doesn't mean James cannot play against those teams, just that JB values Kris' experience more.

I agree with more of this than I'd like to. Not a lot of our positives from last night are things that will translate against good teams.

We hit a good number of threes against a zone. That's unsustainable. We'll lose more games in which we 30 threes this year than we'll win.

Christmas and Southerland played really well. Their minutes in New York don't give much hope that they're going to be in the mix for playing time during the meat of the schedule (I'll be thrilled to be proven wrong on this one).

However, our defensive pressure should be something that is a consistent positive against all opponents this year. With a little luck, that could keep us in the top-ten the whole way and give us a chance in March.

 

[moqui]

I see it differently, we have diff size lineups we can switch to and dirty is confidence driven no doubt buddy.

against ty november and december teams, yes, JB can mix and match his forwards. but against good teams, JB cannot play Dirty and Kris at the same time. He has to have a rebounder at the other forward spot, so Dirty is only going to get on the floor in those very few minutes when Kris needs a blow or gets in foul trouble.

 

[albanycuse]

against ty november and december teams, yes, JB can mix and match his forwards. but against good teams, JB cannot play Dirty and Kris at the same time. He has to have a rebounder at the other forward spot, so Dirty is only going to get on the floor in those very few minutes when Kris needs a blow or gets in foul trouble.

Ok im with that , another issue he has is hes caught out of position trying to board and gets the quick hook deservedly so , but again no time to play through it.

 

[IthacaBarrel]

Some actual stuff about the team...randomly broken down:

*Dion has turned into a beast. As Fonzi once said..."I was wrrrrr..ng." I cannot beleive the mental transformation in his approach to individual possessions and defense. He is an absolute force on the press and enough of his defensive gambles in the halfcourt are resulting in steals that I don't think you can tell him to stop. Only gripe is that I'd like to see him penetrate more often and take threes only when they are uncontested. Minor gripes. Plus, his chemistry with Triche - which was non-existant last year - appears off the charts positive. This is the kid I saw on film in HS with his ability to get to the hole and finish ala Pearl.

*Keita's hands still suck. He has a great natural ability to be in the right place, but he just doesn't squeeze the rock well enough to finish plays. Frustrating to watch. I saw a wrap on his hand a couple of games ago. Its gone, but I wonder if the hand is still hurting him.

*James. Its quite obvious that he is not comfortable shooting with a hand in his face...which is why he lights up zones and dissappears against m2m. He needs to better "shot prepare" against m2m teams, so he can release the ball before the defender gets in his shooting space. I think a lot of his issue is that he's not a great catch and shoot guy off of down screens...which is where Andy and Gerry thrived. His inability to put the ball on the floor, also means that defenders will close on him more quickly because they can attack without fear of being taken off the dribble.

*Rakim had a nice little game last night. Loved the little turnaround off the glass. One thing about him is that he's comfortable with his back to the basket. A rarity in today's CBB world. Obviously he's really athletic. One good year in the weight room and I think we have a really really solid PF.

*MCW. He's not there yet, but holy cow can you see the potential problems he will cause teams down the road. His ability to see over perimeter defenders and deliver to the big men is a huge asset. Gonna be a great one.

*This team doesn't not spurt well offensively, but they are good enough on the defensive end to just wear other teams down over time. The rotation has allowed us to keep fresh legs on he court...and grind out wins.

*Having said that, we are in gonna be in a bad way against teams with size. Not sure we have enough post up offense, or the confidence to go inside against better teams. It will lead to some offensive droughts that will have to broken by defensive run outs - perhaps off the press. Very good team, not sure we have the go to guy to get us past the sweet sixteen in march.

Agree with you on the low post offense, other than Fair who is actually too small for the 4, IMO who has actual low post moves on the team right now. Fab is playing at a higher level but he still has no drop step steal off move, little hook shot which he needs desperately. Big guys just take more time, the problem is when they get even remotely ready those with legit size and athleticism head to the NBA. That is what always amazed me about how Otis Hill. Coleman, Arinze and especially Siekaly as to how they developed, my god from his frosh year to his senior year he developed some almost unstoppable moves down low.

 

[BlueCurtain]

our defensive pressure should be something that is a consistent positive against all opponents this year. With a little luck, that could keep us in the top-ten the whole way and give us a chance in March.

This should be our bread and butter, but everyone knows it's never going to happen. I think you forgot the part where JB crawls into a shell against respected opponents. We saw 0 minutes of m2m @MSG and maybe 3 minutes of press in 2 games combined. The only pressure he will apply in those situations is when we fall behind and get desperate. He's just not willing to trade growing pains up front for what could be a more refined and dangerous product in March. What is the point of liberally playing m2m and press against chicken fodder if you're not willing to apply that attacking mindset against a team like Florida? Even if we somehow manage to win Friday playing 40 minutes of zone - that's missing the point.

If they played the NCAA tourney in November, we'd have more titles than Wooden.

 

[billsin01]

*MCW. He's not there yet, but holy cow can you see the potential problems he will cause teams down the road. His ability to see over perimeter defenders and deliver to the big men is a huge asset. Gonna be a great one.

Agree with most of your points, especially about the post-up offensive game. MCW though really stood out to me. I don't think he's really ready this year but I'd be shocked if he isn't our best point guard in a long, long time. And I like Scoop. And, yes, I remember Flynn. I loved JF as a player and thought had a great second half of his soph year as a PG but struggled at times in that respect.

 

[OttoMets]

This should be our bread and butter, but everyone knows it's never going to happen. I think you forgot the part where JB crawls into a shell against respected opponents. We saw 0 minutes of m2m @MSG and maybe 3 minutes of press in 2 games combined. The only pressure he will apply in those situations is when we fall behind and get desperate. He's just not willing to trade growing pains up front for what could be a more refined and dangerous product in March. What is the point of liberally playing m2m and press against chicken fodder if you're not willing to apply that attacking mindset against a team like Florida? Even if we somehow manage to win Friday playing 40 minutes of zone - that's missing the point.

If they played the NCAA tourney in November, we'd have more titles than Wooden.

You'll find we agree on some of that, but I'm operating under the assumption that Syracuse won't play any man against capable opponents.

Even so, our performance two years ago (except for our four games against football-style teams and the day we didn't show up against Georgetown) shows that an aggressively-played zone can generate offense and win a lot of games.

This year's defense is nearly there, but with worse rebounding and subsequent struggles in getting the ball to guards in transition.

 

[AZOrange]

This should be our bread and butter, but everyone knows it's never going to happen. I think you forgot the part where JB crawls into a shell against respected opponents. We saw 0 minutes of m2m @MSG and maybe 3 minutes of press in 2 games combined. The only pressure he will apply in those situations is when we fall behind and get desperate. He's just not willing to trade growing pains up front for what could be a more refined and dangerous product in March. What is the point of liberally playing m2m and press against chicken fodder if you're not willing to apply that attacking mindset against a team like Florida? Even if we somehow manage to win Friday playing 40 minutes of zone - that's missing the point.

If they played the NCAA tourney in November, we'd have more titles than Wooden.

our M2M stunk last night for the most part and it didnt get the "thoroughbreds" going either.

 

[TinyManInside]

some random thoughts:

Rak's one-handed oop was ridiculous.

I thought Scoop played with more poise than he has shown recently.

Agree with moqui that a team with Southerland and KJ on the floor at the same time would get killed on the glass in BE play. JB's system also requires his 3's to be able to handle the ball quite a bit to take pressure off the guards, and I'm still not seeing that from JS yet. But man, that kid can shoot when he's got space, and he can jump out of a gym. Tony Scott II.

Pretty much shocked by the change in mental approach from both Fab and Dion. These guys both totally reworked their bodies in the offseason and are showing a dedication that wasn't there last year. That said, I thought that Fab didn't have the same sort of impact yesterday that he in NYC.

I was really impressed with MCW last night. He has a lot of work to do, but I thought he showed a ton of maturity to come into the game and consistently look to set up his teammates after going 0-fer in NYC. Most freshman guards that we've had coming off two games in which they barely played, would be out there trying to score 10 points in 2 minutes. He was really unselfish last night, showed great court vision, and his defensive intensity and length at the top of the zone is really impressive. The good news is that we really don't need him to be a major contributor this year, so strength and shooting issues can be sorted out and I fully expect him to be a very, very good player for SU in the future.

Last impression: way too much reliance on the perimeter shot last night, and this team doesn't get to the line enough. I don't think we'll win many BE games taking 30 threes. Without a true low post presence, I think you need to be able to score points from the line.

mason

 

[TinyManInside]

If they played the NCAA tourney in November, we'd have more titles than Wooden.

Boeheim really is Mr. November. He's had unbelievable success in preseason tournaments.

 

[MaxFischer]

Agree with moqui that a team with Southerland and KJ on the floor at the same time would get killed on the glass in BE play. JB's system also requires his 3's to be able to handle the ball quite a bit to take pressure off the guards, and I'm still not seeing that from JS yet. But man, that kid can shoot when he's got space, and he can jump out of a gym. Tony Scott II.

Tony Scott II...and that is bad how?