how does a redhot 6' player...

[tbonezone]

wanna play zone ? fine. but there are a lot of variations to riff on besides 2/3. or is that too much to learn ?

 

[orangecuse]

I doubt anything would have helped considering the great play of Tech last night.

Nope, not anything. Gee whiz, shucks, gosh darn it all...just wasn't our night.

 

[Caboose]

And you think that’s because we play zone? Not because we haven’t had the greatest teams during that period.

We play zone defense. Our program practices and plays zone exclusively. When someone gets hot against us it would be no more effective to switch to a defense we don’t practice than to say, start feeding Chewy in the post because we can’t hit outside shots. Both would be different, but sometimes it’s more effective to work harder at what you actually practice than to roll out something you don’t work on.

Why do we work on only one defense? Why aren't we multi dimensional? Isn't it better to have multiple tools instead of one? That helps you in situations where no no matter how good you are at it, you won't elevate lesser competition and give them a chance.

 

[tbonezone]

Nope, not anything. Gee whiz, shucks, Gosh darn it all...just wasn't our night.

hey ...it wasn't greg robinson that killed us last night . (at least cite the author.) it was justin.

 

[BillSU]

Nope, not anything. Gee whiz, shucks, Gosh darn it all...just wasn't our night.

orangecuse - if all the shots we took from the outside went in it would have been a much different game BUT they weren't going in - 3's were off the back of the rim or missing entirely.

 

[pfister1]

Why do we work on only one defense? Why aren't we multi dimensional? Isn't it better to have multiple tools instead of one? That helps you in situations where no no matter how good you are at it, you won't elevate lesser competition and give them a chance.

That’s your view, and many others here as well. It’s not the head coach’s view. But as long as that is what we do, it’s kind of dumb asking why we didn’t switch to man when someone gets hot.

Go look in our tool box, you won’t find that particular tool.

 

[orangecuse]

orangecuse - if all the shots we took from the outside went in it would have been a much different game BUT they weren't going in - 3's were off the back of the rimm or missing entirely.

I know. It was so hard to watch all of their shots fall and none of ours. I just kept saying to myself, "why is this happening?" In any event, afterwards I went outside and played a game of 'Around The World,' oddly enough, I didn't miss a thing!

 

[Caboose]

That’s your view, and many others here as well. It’s not the head coach’s view. But as long as that is what we do, it’s kind of dumb asking why we didn’t switch to man when someone gets hot.

Go look in our tool box, you won’t find that particular tool.

We will never switch to man. Myself and every other Syracuse fan gets that. I'm not hoping for that, I'm just pointing out the stupidity of it. The stubbornness of a 73 year old man here is the problem, along w all the other people who drink his Kool Aid and get fooled into thinking "one way is the only way". Dayton beat us w 7 seconds left on the shot clock and knocked us out of the tourney because of said stubbornness.

 

[Caboose]

That’s your view, and many others here as well. It’s not the head coach’s view. But as long as that is what we do, it’s kind of dumb asking why we didn’t switch to man when someone gets hot.

Go look in our tool box, you won’t find that particular tool.

Doesn't it strike you as amazing that we don't even touch a defense that 90-something % of teams in the sport use?

 

[orangecuse]

Doesn't it strike you as amazing that we don't even touch a defense that 90-something % of teams in the sport use?

Not at all, but I'm somewhat perplexed that 98% + of the other coaches out there haven't caught on to JB's brilliance.

 

[OrangeXtreme]

The same stubbornness that beat Virginia in 2016, and Michigan St last year.

 

[Cusefan0307]

"Real competition". Not cupcakes bud. Apply that and the math will add up for ya. With cupcakes we're 61-48.

What’s real competition? Did we suck in 2024 and 2014?

You realize our defense is the main reason we have won the games we have?

 

[pfister1]

Doesn't it strike you as amazing that we don't even touch a defense that 90-something % of teams in the sport use?

I probably wouldn’t do it that way if I was the coach, but I haven’t won as many games as the guy making the decision to do it that way.

If I was the coach and made the decision to be all zone all the time, I probably wouldn’t switch to a defense we don’t practice when the other team is having a great night.

 

[Cuse12]

when you're repeatedly punched in the face by the same jab you might want to consider adjusting your stance.

Frustrates me beyond belief. I understand we are a zone oriented defense and always will be. But after like the 4th three point shot made... why not try something different? I mean all VT did was quickly move the ball around and rotate our zone the swing the ball back to a wide open shooter. They are a very good team offensively against the zone.

 

[Caboose]

I probably wouldn’t do it that way if I was the coach, but I haven’t won as many games as the guy making the decision to do it that way.

If I was the coach and made the decision to be all zone all the time, I probably wouldn’t switch to a defense we don’t practice when the other team is having a great night.

You mean you haven't won the 40 games out of 88 real games in the past 5 seasons? Did someone else lose the other 48 games or am I just imagining things?

 

[CuseFaninVT]

Frustrates me beyond belief. I understand we are a zone oriented defense and always will be. But after like the 4th three point shot made... why not try something different? I mean all VT did was quickly move the ball around and rotate our zone the swing the ball back to a wide open shooter. They are a very good team offensively against the zone.

Have to make the guy at the free throw line make a shot. I'm not sure if they ever even tried. Ball went into the ACC area, we overreacted and he made a nice pass. Let's find the shooters instead and jump those passing lanes.

 

[Caboose]

I probably wouldn’t do it that way if I was the coach, but I haven’t won as many games as the guy making the decision to do it that way.

If I was the coach and made the decision to be all zone all the time, I probably wouldn’t switch to a defense we don’t practice when the other team is having a great night.

And hence my point in the first place... about being defensively one-dimensional and the limitations that come from that... like resigning to a position where "hey we never practice it so we can't use that", i.e. it's not a tool in our arsenal. Great way of thinking.

 

[Caboose]

What’s real competition? Did we suck in 2024 and 2014?

You realize our defense is the main reason we have won the games we have?

Real competition is the non-cream puff teams, i.e all ACC competition, GTown, UConn, etc, the non Cornells, Colgates, Morehead States etc.. Did I really need to clarify that?

 

[rrlbees]

So a defense that gives MORE open looks from the perimeter would fare better? Do you have any idea why sh## teams like ODU, UConn, and Georgia Tech have regularly beaten us over the last 5+ years??? It's not our offense either, stop blaming that. I know it's convenient, but stop blaming that. There's a white elephant in the room and it's not our offense.

We are top 10 in FG% defense
Top 20 in 3FG% defense
Top 20 in ppg defense

 

[CuseFaninVT]

We are top 10 in FG% defense
Top 20 in 3FG% defense
Top 20 in ppg defense

That's great and all but we allowed a team to shoot 46% from three last night. Past performance and all...

 

[rrlbees]

That's great and all but we allowed a team to shoot 46% from three last night. Past performance and all...

It happens.

 

[Caboose]

We are top 10 in FG% defense
Top 20 in 3FG% defense
Top 20 in ppg defense

Ok no. We're 27th in 3-pt fg defense at 29.9%. Virginia is #1 at 24.6% and guess what, they play man to man defense! So weird that another type of defense can actually work at stopping 3-pt shooting. What's even funnier, Duke is ahead of us at 16 and Pitt us 14th. Coach K recognizes the importance of having more tools than one in a defensive arsenal. We've lost more non-cream puff games than we've won over the last 5 years using just this one defense, but you keep throwing these stats around if it makes you feel better.

 

[Cusefan0307]

Ok no. We're 27th in 3-pt fg defense at 29.9%. Virginia is #1 at 24.6% and guess what, they play man to man defense! So weird that another type of defense can actually work at stopping 3-pt shooting. What's even funnier, Duke is ahead of us at 16 and Pitt us 14th. Coach K recognizes the importance of having more tools than one in a defensive arsenal. We've lost more non-cream puff games than we've won over the last 5 years using just this one defense, but you keep throwing these stats around if it makes you feel better.

We shot 11-24 from 3 against Duke. Why didn’t they switch to zone?

 

[Caboose]

I know what's coming next... but we only recruit for the zone... more length, bla bla bla.

 

[CuseFaninVT]

We shot 11-24 from 3 against Duke. Why didn’t they switch to zone?

They lost their best defender. All stats from that game have a huge asterisk. Until we do it again, with Jones on the floor.