How good are you feeling about the Miami game?

[jordoo]

I was thinking about that Miami game. It was one of the first games we played well in. I recall our front court actually defending and rebounding well in that game. I think Andrew and TylerL had good games shooting the ball while Miami struggled to convert inside the 3pt line and at the FT line. In general I feel like we are a better team and playing in Brooklyn favors us compared to Miami. That said I wonder if we can replicate the interior play from our last match up with Miami. It was an anomaly and something we have rarely seen from this group all season.

Our backcourt of Battle and Gillon has improved a lot since that point in the season but so has the freshman guard Brown for Miami.

I think we win this one but I expect it to be a much different style of game than the last one.

 

[Trueblue25]

There seems to be a general consensus of "..once we beat Miami we're a lock" on this board right now. Miami's a good team with a very solid coach. I think tomorrows going to be a battle and I think a win would give us all the momentum we could hope for going into mid march. Hope we get a good orange crowd there and the boys give it their all. Not many teams that can touch us when we're clicking and this is the time of year where it has to happen. I don't think we make it in anymore if we lose, 10 ACC wins or not.

 

[cliftonparksufan]

Boeheim > doppelganger

 

[OrangeYaGladi]

I respect Miami as a solid team with good talent and a great coach. But I think Cuse matches up well with them.

Miami only starts 1 knock down shooter -- Davon Reed, who the zone will need to extend on. Vasiljevic came off the bench and bombed 6 threes against Cuse in January, but he's the only other 3 pt threat. Miami is not a club that can spread the floor with 4 legit threats to shoot, as far as I know.

Newton has been struggling of late. Some Miami fans are calling for him to see less playing time. Not a shooter or play-maker, and is more effective against m2m than zone.

I'm predicting a close game that could go either way (definitely don't think Cuse is a lock), but I prefer playing Miami to UVA, Va. Tech, or even Wake. By way of comparison, would rather be playing Ga Tech again than Miami -- although on a neutral floor, Round 3 with Ga Tech would be much closer.

 

[MGP]

Gotta break this road/neutral jinx at some point, don't we?...

 

[dollarbill44]

Whenever I've felt good going into a tourney game, our team plays poorly. I don't like to feel good about a tourney game going into it. I kind of feel like we're snakebit in the ACCT. I don't think playing in Brooklyn will give us a big advantage and I don't trust this team on the road. This team may have the biggest differential between home and away of any team I've ever seen.

I don't like to feel good going into tourney games.

 

[realorange]

I respect Miami as a solid team with good talent and a great coach. But I think Cuse matches up well with them.

Miami only starts 1 knock down shooter -- Davon Reed, who the zone will need to extend on. Vasiljevic came off the bench and bombed 6 threes against Cuse in January, but he's the only other 3 pt threat. Miami is not a club that can spread the floor with 4 legit threats to shoot, as far as I know.

Newton has been struggling of late. Some Miami fans are calling for him to see less playing time. Not a shooter or play-maker, and is more effective against m2m than zone.

I'm predicting a close game that could go either way (definitely don't think Cuse is a lock), but I prefer playing Miami to UVA, Va. Tech, or even Wake. By way of comparison, would rather be playing Ga Tech again than Miami -- although on a neutral floor, Round 3 with Ga Tech would be much closer.

This is a solid indicator that Newton will go off against us.

 

[PauliePeppas]

Confident but weery that Euro dude will hit 10 threes .....before half

 

[nycfan]

There seems to be a general consensus of "..once we beat Miami we're a lock" on this board right now. Miami's a good team with a very solid coach. I think tomorrows going to be a battle and I think a win would give us all the momentum we could hope for going into mid march. Hope we get a good orange crowd there and the boys give it their all. Not many teams that can touch us when we're clicking and this is the time of year where it has to happen. I don't think we make it in anymore if we lose, 10 ACC wins or not.

Yeah, Rothstein just mentioned the same thing on Twitter about an hour ago. Hopefully everyone on here that lives in this area can take the day off and attend (or take a half day). We'll have all the fans tomorrow, but the more the better to make up for the empty seats so it still sounds good and loud. This could be a "once in a life-time" opportunity to see the Cuse in the ACC Tourney for a mere $6. Especially when there is a perception by some that this a "play-in" game.

Jon Rothstein(@JonRothstein) tweeted at 2017-03-07 07:53:
Syracuse needs its fans to turn the Barclays Center into what MSG used to be during the Big East Tournament. Need to get one more key win.

 

[OrangeYaGladi]

This is a solid indicator that Newton will go off against us.

Bruce Brown is the one I'm worried about.

 

[OrangeYaGladi]

BTW, Miami looks like they will be a menace next year. Only losing Reed, bringing in Lonnie Walker (Cuse target), Deng Gak (4 star 7 footer and favorite of Francis03), and a 4 star PG.

 

[Doc5120]

It's 50/50 for me. I think we're the better team, but I can absolutely see it going either way.

 

[jordoo]

Bruce Brown is the one I'm worried about.

He's really put it together lately. He's having an excellent freshman season.

 

[Toga]

6.79 out of 10.

 

[cusetown1]

we could lose the first game or win the whole thing. I have no clue what to expect from this team, they've been up and down all year. I will say that the ACC tourney has had 6 different champions the last 6 years . So we have that going for us. It's wide open.

 

[Newhouser]

I was surprised at how poorly Miami played in our first match-up. I think our play contributed to that but they didn't look like a Larranega coached team. Simple game for us, can we get open shots in rhythm and knock them down.

 

[HoustonCuse]

I'm 50/50 on it.

In some ways this feels very much like 2006 and the tournament would play out largely like that when you look at our likely opponents. Gillon takes the GMac role.

It is really hard to get past our really awful road performance standard this year. We haven't won a game in NYC in many moons, but we're also clearly substantially better now than our last game in NYC (UConn).

 

[hungrychuck]

I'd put our chances at 53% currently, but 73% after a couple of Bloody Marys in Brooklyn.

 

[SoBeCuse]

Bruce Brown is the one I'm worried about.

He's very good. Underrated. I'm 50/50 on this game. To me it all comes down to rebounding. This year (and last) we have lost to some teams like UNC and UL (obviously very good ones) who killed us on the boards and won in the paint even despite stinking it up from 3. The defense seems to be getting better. If we can hold our own and at least not get killed on the boards then I like our chances. They don't have a Jekiri-type this year so that's a plus.

 

[Brooky03]

60/40

 

[RaleighSUfan]

It's 50/50 for me. I think we're the better team, but I can absolutely see it going either way.

It's hard for me to tell what teams we're better than. Our ceiling is much higher than Miami's as well as a ton of other teams out there. When we play well, we can compete with the elite teams in the country. The problem is that we're way too inconsistent and we haven't played well outside the Dome.

I think this game will come down to defense and rebounding. If we hold our own on the boards and play good defense, our offense will take care of itself.

 

[cuseinseattle]

BTW, Miami looks like they will be a menace next year. Only losing Reed, bringing in Lonnie Walker (Cuse target), Deng Gak (4 star 7 footer and favorite of Francis03), and a 4 star PG.

Maybe if Francis03 didn't like those guys they would have come here.

 

[Cusefan0307]

I love this matchup. Miami can't score. They scored below 60 5 times in ACC play and 7 times overall. They have only scored 80 against a P5 team twice and that was NIT State. We have a lot more offensive firepower. If we just guard the 3pt line we will win because they have nothing inside. I think we win 68-57ish.

 

[cuseinseattle]

I like our chances but I think it will be close. I haven't watched Miami a lot since we played them but Brown has been good lately in what I've seen. He is my biggest concern. I think if we can play reasonable defense and rebound the basketball then we will be ok. The good news is outside of Reed the rest of their team isn't great at shooting the 3.

 

[stlorange]

50-50 toss up. Would not surprise me if we won or lost. Don't think it will be a blow out either way. Don't expect us to be dancing with a loss.