How sad is that we have to "hope we bring it" tomorrow? | Syracusefan.com

How sad is that we have to "hope we bring it" tomorrow?

OrangeFoo

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I've read that exact quote in like 15 posts... we have 2 senior starters, 1 junior starter, 1 junior who gets about 20 minutes a game and 2 sophs with plenty of game experience who play 20+ mins a game and yet we have to "hope we bring it" for an ncaa tournament game. That to me is unbelievable... what motivational tactics does the coaching staff use that we have slow starts in about 30 of our games this year? Do they play Brahm's lullabye in the locker room before the games? I don't get it.

This team played with so much more intensity and focus when they knew that anybody could be benched at any time. Now that we're back to the shortened bench where the main guys know that JB is going to go out with his guys on the court we're back to dumb, lazy basketball where we let the other team dictate play.

If we continue to play like we did yesterday we will go out again and everyone will point to Melo as the reason SU lost to a team it should have beaten for the umpteenth straight year. But the real reasons are JB's 2 achilles heels: to stubborn to take the game to the other team and force tempo on defense or offense (all of those jumpers he lets his kids take, when you are a sub 40% shooting team any open jumper is not a good shot contrary to what the coach says) and sticking with his guns even when they play like . These two factors come out and bite us in the ass year after year.
 
I've read that exact quote in like 15 posts... we have 2 senior starters, 1 junior starter, 1 junior who gets about 20 minutes a game and 2 sophs with plenty of game experience who play 20+ mins a game and yet we have to "hope we bring it" for an ncaa tournament game. That to me is unbelievable... what motivational tactics does the coaching staff use that we have slow starts in about 30 of our games this year? Do they play Brahm's lullabye in the locker room before the games? I don't get it.

This team played with so much more intensity and focus when they knew that anybody could be benched at any time. Now that we're back to the shortened bench where the main guys know that JB is going to go out with his guys on the court we're back to dumb, lazy basketball where we let the other team dictate play.

If we continue to play like we did yesterday we will go out again and everyone will point to Melo as the reason SU lost to a team it should have beaten for the umpteenth straight year. But the real reasons are JB's 2 achilles heels: to stubborn to take the game to the other team and force tempo on defense or offense (all of those jumpers he lets his kids take, when you are a sub 40% shooting team any open jumper is not a good shot contrary to what the coach says) and sticking with his guns even when they play like ****. These two factors come out and bite us in the ass year after year.
Sssshhhhhh! You'll get in trouble for questioning the great one here.
 
Anyone ever think that it's not a question of bringing it versus a question of not playing very well and not being anywhere near as good as we were 6-8 weeks ago. It's not like this team has played consistently well the past couple months, sure we have gutted out some nice wins but I don't think the Big East is as good as many thought even in the down year. I just think it is what it is, we will hang in versus most teams and hopefully gut out another win as long as their not shooting lights out and we rebound somewhat. Words like bring it, game face, ready to play, really don't mean much. If you are not and here is another phrase I hate "ready to play" in the NCAA tournament then when will you ever be. Or maybe all the off court distractions have finally taken their toll or the team is just too tight, another phrase I hate. I just picture the Bob Knight interview where he tried to find his "game face" and laugh about all of this but what does Bob Knight know?

Me, sure I would love to see a 16 point win, but would be happy to be right in there with 2 minutes to go and a shot to win... One game at a time
 
I'm not worried or hoping we'll bring it. We're fine, and we're going to win tomorrow.
 
Funny thing is, this is nothing that making a few shots won't cure. How much less talk would there be about all this crap (including refs) if we just shot the ball a little better?
 
Funny thing is, this is nothing that making a few shots won't cure. How much less talk would there be about all this crap (including refs) if we just shot the ball a little better?

But that comes to the crux of the matter... by this time in the year you are who you are and we are a really poor jump shooting team which means that we probably won't make a few shots... so what's plan B? Why do we continue to just jack up jumpers early in the shot clock when it clearly doesn't work? There are so many possessions where two people touch the ball and we settle for a jumper without ever making the D work. There are two ways to control tempo, one way which everyone focuses on is by racheting up the pressure on D and forcing tempo that way, the other way which we never talk about is by playing controlled on offense and exploring all options before settling for a jumper. I'm not saying we should play slo-ball and hold the ball for 30 seconds but is asking for patience from our veteran team and hall of fame coach too much to ask for? And if you're response will be but but JB isn't on the court the players are, I agree with you, but he can control who is on the court.

This issue isn't new to this year, it's been happening for decades now. I get it he's a HoF coach, but it seems like groudhog's day when we lose to a team we should beat just about every year.
 
I love JB, think hes a great coach, hope he stays here as long as he wants but there is nothing in this thread that is wrong. The OP is on point.
 
Great post. It's so disappointing to see the guards and Joseph play this poorly, knowing that there's nothing they can do that will force Boeheim to bench them.
 
And if by some chance we beat this 8-seed, everyone will be praising JB for what a great job he has done rallying the troops.
 
Having already been yelled at for suggesting at least three of our starters are "soft" out of the gate I'll just say this: Love this team. It's a very talented group and also a group that seems like good kids, etc etc

But citing that they are 32-2 as evidence that they are mentally tough, is not addressing this issue. They have been more talented than their opponent every game so far...people are bringing this issue up because despite those wins, they haven't demonstrated a mental toughness out of the gate this year too often, which they can't afford anymore starting now.

Hoping to be proven wrong bigtime
 

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