I’ll ask the obvious question... where was this team all year? | Syracusefan.com

I’ll ask the obvious question... where was this team all year?

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OrangeFoo

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The last two games have been totally different from much of the season. And our best player, on paper, didn’t even play.

Loved the ball movement, the aggression and the toughness. We got beat by an NBA all-pro... no shame in that.

But seriously, where was this team all year? Were they all waiting on Battle to do something? Did Frank get a new foot? Did Brissett go see a sports psychologist? The only bummer of the night for me was that Hughes didn’t really play well.

If this team shows up in the dance I’ll take our chances against any team outside of the ACC top 3. The question is how do they reintegrate Battle into the offense. I actually think Hughes should sit so Buddy can start as Buddy is playing much better right now. Hughes could be a potent weapon off the bench.

I am officially excited for next year as I think it will have more basketball skills than this year and will have the best shooting we have seen in a long time.
 
Didn’t we have 11 points about 12 minutes into the game? And first half yesterday was a mess. Loved the fight and the execution but what we proved all year is that we couldn’t execute consistently (shots, handling, ball movement, defense, etc). We forced turnovers and made shots tonight. That will give you a chance every time.
 
Tyus and Frank are two SGs out there that end up pounding the ball into the ground for 20 seconds. Hopefully the better ball movement continues with Tyus back. Tyus may try to take over too much at times. Nothing wrong with that at the end of the clock, but need to try to run an offense the first 20 seconds.
 
longislandcuse said:
I have literally no clue how Frank goes from barely playable to absolutely dominating one of the top defensive guards in CBB.

One game against Pitt could’ve been a fluke. This, tonight, was a statement.
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How does he go from being totally passive and hesitant to pushing tempo and being uber aggressive all night? It’s like a switch was flipped. With this Frank and a healthy Battle we are number 4 in the ACC.
 
Our guards were very weak on the ball in the first half, Frank wasn't strong and Buddy was flat out weak. We got pummeled on the perimeter for probably 14-16 TO points. Jalen was the only one who Jones couldn't bully, but in the half-court was afraid to shoot or drive, just like he has been for about 25 games or so.
 
longislandcuse said:
I have literally no clue how Frank goes from barely playable to absolutely dominating one of the top defensive guards in CBB.

One game against Pitt could’ve been a fluke. This, tonight, was a statement.
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I am so happy for him! Except for that little *cough cough* incident . . .
 
bballbeadle said:
I am so happy for him! Except for that little *cough cough* incident . . .
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Sorry. This was prolly discussed in the game thread, but i avoid it like the plague. Prefer to concentrate on the game ;)

Thought it was completely overblown by Jay Will (and even Seth?) and accidental. From what i saw FH was screened and didn’t see the Mt Zion move clearly. Tried to step in front by, yeah, moving his leg (that’s how humans step, ya kbow ;))). Realized he was late. Pulled the leg back and waved his hand apologetically. No contact (of note) even occurred. Z didn’t even notice it or gave him a stare. But yep, that was cause for ejection? Such sensationalizing from ESPN. What a surprise. Do fhey give em game scripts? Clearly Z and anything related was the number one priority of the cast. Helped he was great as always, but seriously- have some self respect. Granted they did give us props for hanging in, but most outsiders watching wouldn’t even know we were missing our best player or even his name. Pure Zionism as usual ;)))
 
He must have known n both games he had the green light and JB had to use him 90% without Battle. It was Frank on the Highway. He knew and he got behind the wheel
 
OrangeFoo said:
The last two games have been totally different from much of the season. And our best player, on paper, didn’t even play.

Loved the ball movement, the aggression and the toughness. We got beat by an NBA all-pro... no shame in that.

But seriously, where was this team all year? Were they all waiting on Battle to do something? Did Frank get a new foot? Did Brissett go see a sports psychologist? The only bummer of the night for me was that Hughes didn’t really play well.

If this team shows up in the dance I’ll take our chances against any team outside of the ACC top 3. The question is how do they reintegrate Battle into the offense. I actually think Hughes should sit so Buddy can start as Buddy is playing much better right now. Hughes could be a potent weapon off the bench.

I am officially excited for next year as I think it will have more basketball skills than this year and will have the best shooting we have seen in a long time.
Expand...

Wait, didn’t we beat Duke at Duke?
 
Who was the guy here a few weeks ago that said JB was “saving” Frank for March?
 
Frank was excellent from a scoring perspective not so much from a facilitating offense for others. He had 6 turnovers, only 3 assists which is the evidence of what I saw on the court. We had moments of good ball movement, but still lots of stagnant offense, weak passes that get intercepted or turn into scrums to hold onto the ball. If Duke hadn't been even more sloppy with the ball then we were, that would have been a 30 point blow out. I'm not 100% sure that what we saw from Frank tonight will translate into great team play when Tyus is back, but we'll see. At a minimum is willingness to get into the lane and try to get to the basket was encouraging. Don't feel like I've seen any of that since last year.
 
[QUOTE="OrangeFoo, post: 2954623, I am officially excited for next year as I think it will have more basketball skills than this year and will have the best shooting we have seen in a long time.[/QUOTE]

Ohhh boy!

Reminiscent of the post-Battle returning euphoria that swept the board last year.

Let’s see who actually shows up in November and how they play together in December. Seems to me that some should learn the lesson of high expectations after this season. But, maybe not.
 
OrangeFoo said:
The last two games have been totally different from much of the season. And our best player, on paper, didn’t even play.

Loved the ball movement, the aggression and the toughness. We got beat by an NBA all-pro... no shame in that.

But seriously, where was this team all year? Were they all waiting on Battle to do something? Did Frank get a new foot? Did Brissett go see a sports psychologist? The only bummer of the night for me was that Hughes didn’t really play well.

If this team shows up in the dance I’ll take our chances against any team outside of the ACC top 3. The question is how do they reintegrate Battle into the offense. I actually think Hughes should sit so Buddy can start as Buddy is playing much better right now. Hughes could be a potent weapon off the bench.

I am officially excited for next year as I think it will have more basketball skills than this year and will have the best shooting we have seen in a long time.
Expand...

This is the same team that it has been all year.

When we shoot the ball well, we can play / compete with anyone.

When we don't, the offense devolves into an unpleasant scrum.

Last night, we shot the ball pretty well, and got diversified contributions from some others [like Brissett, who had a terrific second half attacking the basket]. Too bad we didn't shoot a little bit better from the line, otherwise it might have gone down to the wire.
 
hungrychuck said:
In all seriousness, beware of small sample sizes.

We are a much better team with Tyus and let’s wish him a fast recovery.
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Can't really disagree with either point. However, I've seen several games this year in which a first half lead was pissed away because players didn't want to give up the ball knowing it wasn't going to come back.
 
hungrychuck said:
In all seriousness, beware of small sample sizes.

We are a much better team with Tyus and let’s wish him a fast recovery.
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Small sample sizes are one of the best things we have going for us right now.
 
Orangemen said:
Small sample sizes are one of the best things we have going for us right now.
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if not for small sample sizes, uconn would only have 2 titles
 
Think if the game plan to feed lobs to our bigs and take advantage of Javin being their only quality big was not disrupted by refs, game would of had a different outcome. I thought it was evident early we were going to try and take advantage of Chukwu's size and force Duke to sag off up top and help more down low, which would have opened up some shots for our backcourt. But those early fouls onmour bigs ruined that plan.
 
If Buddy played this well in December as Franks replacement we would have been undefeated in the OOC. He did nothing against UConn, Oregon, ODU and Buffalo.
 
I'm really wondering what Frank's career would have been if he was a SG from day 1 and not shoehorned into PG.
 
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