I actually saw a lot I liked tonight | Syracusefan.com

I actually saw a lot I liked tonight

dasher

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Back to back games will be very tough for this group. But I thought the two games in NY
we were better than I thought we would look. Any kind of game from Joe G and we win easily.
Jesse has to stay on the floor but our back up didn't really hurt us other than missing a bunny that
we ended up really needing at the end. I need to look at the stats but it seemed to me that Bell
and Benny were okay tonight. Something we can work on. We have to have a better option at the
end of the game than what we ended up with. The last guy we wanted shooting, shot the ball.
That really can't happen. But overall, we might not be as terrible as I thought we would be.
 
We had a shot to win in regulation. Liked very much what I saw these last two games. Fantastic effort from underclassmen. Joe was great (scoring wise) in the 1st game. This game, he was the worst I have seen in his 4 years at SU. We all wanted this win. It was like the Big East of old. I had flashbacks to the games of old. I want more of these games to watch and hope Joe G can rinse this game and go strong rest of the season. Johnnies are a tough out.

Go CUSE.
 
Bell needs to do more then just stand on the perimeter. Benny needs to find ways to score other than his jumper… he was hot in the first half and cold in the second and had no other way to score.

I was 2nd most disappointed with Jesse… if he is 1:1 inside he needs to demand the ball and that did not happen tonight. The offense needs to run through him.

Lots of interesting pieces on this team but I don’t see either enough offense or a strong enough defense for this group to win many games. Any team that has multiple shooters (hello Notre Dame) or enough athletes to lock down JG3 (most ACC teams) is going to be a problem.

Right now this team is likable and seems to be building something for next year if we can keep them happy. I just hope that during the dog days of February the losing doesn’t get to this team and we see chemistry issues.
 
Back to back games will be very tough for this group. But I thought the two games in NY
we were better than I thought we would look. Any kind of game from Joe G and we win easily.
Jesse has to stay on the floor but our back up didn't really hurt us other than missing a bunny that
we ended up really needing at the end. I need to look at the stats but it seemed to me that Bell
and Benny were okay tonight. Something we can work on. We have to have a better option at the
end of the game than what we ended up with. The last guy we wanted shooting, shot the ball.
That really can't happen. But overall, we might not be as terrible as I thought we would be.
Really? I just don’t see it
 
I think St John’s just might be a bad basketball team. Would love to be wrong.
I think they are a good TEAM. Lots of hustle. But LOW on real talent. I don’t expect that loss to look good come March.
 
Agree with Dasher that these two games exceeded my expectations. But those expectations were very low.

Dasher said last night that part of Jesse’s struggles came from the departure of spread-the-floor shooting options. Agree with that.

But the same applies to Joe. Richmond last night was a bit of fool’s gold. He will be marked out by any good team we play this year.
 
Agree with Dasher that these two games exceeded my expectations. But those expectations were very low.

Dasher said last night that part of Jesse’s struggles came from the departure of spread-the-floor shooting options. Agree with that.

But the same applies to Joe. Richmond last night was a bit of fool’s gold. He will be marked out by any good team we play this year.
Going to OT with Richmond and losing to St. John’s is exceeding expectations, that’s where this program is…..
 
Back to back games will be very tough for this group. But I thought the two games in NY
we were better than I thought we would look. Any kind of game from Joe G and we win easily.
Jesse has to stay on the floor but our back up didn't really hurt us other than missing a bunny that
we ended up really needing at the end. I need to look at the stats but it seemed to me that Bell
and Benny were okay tonight. Something we can work on. We have to have a better option at the
end of the game than what we ended up with. The last guy we wanted shooting, shot the ball.
That really can't happen. But overall, we might not be as terrible as I thought we would be.
I totally agree. I think this team has a lot to build on and they’re only gonna get better. I’m hopeful and have been for a couple of weeks. But what a heartbreaker to lose that. St John’s plays ugly and chaotic but is gonna make noise in the Big East. Still, we really should have won that damn game, but Jesse got in foul trouble and the offense stagnated and Joe was a virtual no-show and no one was helping free up Judah with some screening. But we still had a chance to win at the end of regulation and I thought we’d pull it out. I don’t know why we get so little offensive movement at times. We run all these screening actions and then we stop doing it and stagnate. I also think Benny and Bell, who had solid first 30 minutes, started deferring and hesitating on offense instead of trying to attack and make something happen. Anyhow, I think this team has a chance to improve a lot. And I LOVE Judah Mintz. Watching him play has been a joy. And he’s only going to get better.
 
No moral victories this was Richmond and St John’s not Duke and Kansas. 1-1 is a massive failure.

It's who we are right now. You've seen all these games, right?
We had a losing record last year, and lost 3 of our 5 best players from that team. We have 7 freshman and a couple sophomores out there.

Remember when Judah Mintz played 2 games without seemingly throwing a single pass? He's fixed that. Remember the first couple games when we thought Benny wouldn't be any better than he was last year? These last couple games he has made big improvements, mostly in effort, but he's been more confident in his shot, too.

Chris Bell was terrible in his first 4 games (including the 2 exhibitions), but was much better in Brooklyn. Mina was good. He may have played more minutes tonight than Jesse did. Had about 4 blocks, altered shots, blocked out, rebounded.

When your worst 3 players tonight were your 3 seniors, you're doing OK.
 
I totally agree. I think this team has a lot to build on and they’re only gonna get better. I’m hopeful and have been for a couple of weeks. But what a heartbreaker to lose that. St John’s plays ugly and chaotic but is gonna make noise in the Big East. Still, we really should have won that damn game, but Jesse got in foul trouble and the offense stagnated and Joe was a virtual no-show and no one was helping free up Judah with some screening. But we still had a chance to win at the end of regulation and I thought we’d pull it out. I don’t know why we get so little offensive movement at times. We run all these screening actions and then we stop doing it and stagnate. I also think Benny and Bell, who had solid first 30 minutes, started deferring and hesitating on offense instead of trying to attack and make something happen. Anyhow, I think this team has a chance to improve a lot. And I LOVE Judah Mintz. Watching him play has been a joy. And he’s only going to get better.
We may get better but our competition gets much better too. Our track record of player progression hasn’t been great the past 5 years, there’s no guarantee.
 
It's who we are right now. You've seen all these games, right?
We had a losing record last year, and lost 3 of our 5 best players from that team. We have 7 freshman and a couple sophomores out there.

Remember when Judah Mintz played 2 games without seemingly throwing a single pass? He's fixed that. Remember the first couple games when we thought Benny wouldn't be any better than he was last year? These last couple games he has made big improvements, mostly in effort, but he's been more confident in his shot, too.

Chris Bell was terrible in his first 4 games (including the 2 exhibitions), but was much better in Brooklyn. Mina was good. He may have played more minutes tonight than Jesse did. Had about 4 blocks, altered shots, blocked out, rebounded.

When your worst 3 players tonight were your 3 seniors, you're doing OK.
Guess it depends on your time horizon. This isn’t a tournament team - any tournament- this year.

Could 2023 be better if some of these guys stay around? Absolutely
 
Back to back games will be very tough for this group. But I thought the two games in NY
we were better than I thought we would look. Any kind of game from Joe G and we win easily.
Jesse has to stay on the floor but our back up didn't really hurt us other than missing a bunny that
we ended up really needing at the end. I need to look at the stats but it seemed to me that Bell
and Benny were okay tonight. Something we can work on. We have to have a better option at the
end of the game than what we ended up with. The last guy we wanted shooting, shot the ball.
That really can't happen. But overall, we might not be as terrible as I thought we would be.
Good analysis, but I have one critique. Mounir Hima has played well enough to be referred to by name...rather than "our back up" :)

I agree with you there was a lot to like tonight from our VERY, VERY young team!
 
Bell needs to do more then just stand on the perimeter. Benny needs to find ways to score other than his jumper… he was hot in the first half and cold in the second and had no other way to score.

I was 2nd most disappointed with Jesse… if he is 1:1 inside he needs to demand the ball and that did not happen tonight. The offense needs to run through him.

Lots of interesting pieces on this team but I don’t see either enough offense or a strong enough defense for this group to win many games. Any team that has multiple shooters (hello Notre Dame) or enough athletes to lock down JG3 (most ACC teams) is going to be a problem.

Right now this team is likable and seems to be building something for next year if we can keep them happy. I just hope that during the dog days of February the losing doesn’t get to this team and we see chemistry issues.
Building for next year? If Mintz stays healthy, he’s gone. That was an entertaining two games, especially after Colgate. The bar has been lowered. We used to feast on the preseason schedule.
 
We may get better but our competition gets much better too. Our track record of player progression hasn’t been great the past 5 years, there’s no guarantee.
Isn’t St John’s better than at least half the ACC this year? Richmond might be too.

We have no shot against Illinois or the top 3-4 in the ACC. But I think we will win a decent amount of games this year, more than I thought coming into the year
 
Back to back games will be very tough for this group. But I thought the two games in NY
we were better than I thought we would look. Any kind of game from Joe G and we win easily.
Jesse has to stay on the floor but our back up didn't really hurt us other than missing a bunny that
we ended up really needing at the end. I need to look at the stats but it seemed to me that Bell
and Benny were okay tonight. Something we can work on. We have to have a better option at the
end of the game than what we ended up with. The last guy we wanted shooting, shot the ball.
That really can't happen. But overall, we might not be as terrible as I thought we would be.
I like this breakdown.
The problem I have is though are we trying to be a team that gets discussed as a contender or the bar is so low we are looking for positives and having a winning season?

This year’s nonconference schedule isn’t particularly strong. A developmental season would be fine if that was actually what is happening but it appears Coach is still doing his 7.5 routine and behaving like the previous 7 seasons haven’t happened.

Enough has to eventually be enough. Being better than truly awful shouldn’t be enough. Stockholm syndrome shouldn’t be taking over the smart part of the fanbase. Coach is just not doing a good job anymore.
 
Some of you question how good St. Johns is. Great, no, but good, yes.

If you watched the game or looked at the box score you'll see numbers not many teams have with three players.

Soriano==This guy is a load for any team. Last night 19 and 14

Jones===18-13 and 6

Curbelo====23-3 and 6

And they play an aggressive style that is going to frustrate a lot of opponents.

We arguably played our best game of the year with two freshmen starters and Benny who is still learning what he needs to do.
 
I am very optimistic with what I saw last night. Benny showed he can make a mid range shot. Bell can hit the 3. Judah…..kid can ball. Hima brings a lot of energy and can lock down the middle for 10-15 minutes a game. The jump from game 1/2 to last night is impressive. Joe and Jesse laid eggs for most of the game and we still had a shot to win.
 

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