i am worried

[HakAttack]

i guess its all a matter of perspective.

i had very high hopes for this year 2 weeks ago. i thought we were underrated at 8.

now... i think we are a top 15ish team. so i guess its not really reason to worry, just not what i thought we would be.

Going into the BET tourney on the heels of a 20+ point loss to GT last year...anyone on this forum would be lying if they said we'd get to the Final Four.

Moral of the story...don't have extremely high or extremely low expectations. You know a few things are more than likely going to be true about this year...

• We will win at least 20 games.
• We will be ranked in the top 25 most of if not all of the year.
• We will be anywhere from a 1-5 seed come tourney time.

This is NO different than any year in the last 25+ of Syracuse basketball. We will be good with a chance to be elite this year. No different than any other year.

Enjoy the consistency of the program without worrying about whether or not we're going to be elite. It makes the years where we ARE elite that much more exciting...like 2010 and from March on, 2013.

 

[CusefanATL]

Im not predicting anything for the season... all i said was that i am worried.

we have played 3 very average games vs below average teams.

our half court offense looks completely lost

we are shooting 60% from free throws

our 2-3 is prob the worst it has been in 5 years

there are reasons to WORRY. I am not PANICKED, like some of you are assuming... like i said, i was thinking we would be top 3-5 - now, not so much.

I am excited and eager to watch the season unfold.

 

[kirbivore]

On previous posts I expressed my concern of a developing trend of giving up way too many 3's at the top of the zone, particularly by the starters (not suggesting a line-up change). I am also not suggesting a defensive system change, but to put things in perspective as I see it, teams like Duke and Louisville that play an attacking/pressing style defense tend to blow-out inferior teams like Cornell and Colgate because they force more turnovers and prevent a lot of 3 point shot opportunities. On the contrary, Syracuse sits back in the zone and allow these teams to move the ball around until they get a good look for a 3 point shot. They tend to take a lot more 3's and make about a third of them whereas teams with attacking style defense disrupt their flow and allow fewer opportunities. Perhaps against these inferior teams Coach JB can experiment with some M-2-M and some pre-emptive attack style defense.

Well they did press very early in the Colgate game.

 

[Sgt Cuse]

Well they did press very early in the Colgate game.

I wonder if we will see more of this.

Seems like this team may have the makeup to do this regularly. We have 3 centers which will could help mitigate the usual downfall of fouls picked up by the anchor of the zone if the apposing team attacks. And we have the ability to run out a lot of guards which can help offset the physical toll of using this type of strategy.

It can fluster and tire the opponent while speeding up the pace of the game. Seemed to work well against Colgate.

 

[br801]

I wonder if we will see more of this.

Seems like this team may have the makeup to do this regularly. We have 3 centers which will could help mitigate the usual downfall of fouls picked up by the anchor of the zone if the apposing team attacks. And we have the ability to run out a lot of guards which can help offset the physical toll of using this type of strategy.

It can fluster and tire the opponent while speeding up the pace of the game. Seemed to work well against Colgate.

Good thoughts, Sarge. You just wouldn't want to see Ennis or Cooney pick up fouls trying to implement this. But I do think JB may be more open to this as a regular strategy, especially against teams looking to milk the shot clock. I'd be fine with 4 minutes of hell per game.

 

[Dave85]

I think the Orange look okay for this time of the year. There is no question the team has a lot of work to do. But a team like Michigan State has a lot of returning upper class men who already know how to run their offense. I think the Orange offense will need the entire season to be ready for March.

What I found interesting was how effective Michigan State's packed-match-up zone stifled Kentucky. Check out the picture and the score. And I will even bet the zone is something Mich St doesn't even practice that much! Kentucky may have great athletes, but basketball is team sport. If Kentucky goes back to the NIT the one-and-done argument will be put to death.

That is really packing in the zone and forcing Kentucky to make outside shots.

 

[Eric15]

3 games. 3 absolute duds.

i see so many flaws right now.

hopefully we can pull through this, but we are certainly not the team i thought we were 2 weeks ago.

I wonder how many posters in this thread will apologize to you and say "my bad, you were right."

 

[LennX6]

If we lost three in Maui, that would probably mean we would have lost to Chaminade in the 7th place game. You can pencil me in for the "worried group" if that happened.

Think North Carolina is worried after Belmont?

 

[samspann1]

I wonder how many posters in this thread will apologize to you and say "my bad, you were right."

very few, is my guess.

 

[cuseguy]

If you weren't worried about this team BEFORE tonight, you weren't paying attention.

 

[SaltLakeOrange]

We'll see next week, won't we?

 

[moqui]

so, what's the problem?

 

[DoctorBombay]

I wonder how many posters in this thread will apologize to you and say "my bad, you were right."

Not necessarily. The dynamics haven't changed- we have a young team that's looking to find its way.
When all is said and done, I for one am confident they WILL find themselves and have a good-to-great season.
Its not logical to expect smooth sailing as we've all been spoiled to expect these last few seasons.
On to Maui and we'll go from there.
GReat, gritty, gutty win tonite!

 

[Eric15]

When all is said and done, I for one am confident they WILL find themselves and have a good-to-great season.

Nobody wants you to be right more than me, but I think this team has a laundry list of fundamental weaknesses that I pray can be corrected as the season goes by. Dropping these winnable November/December games are what cost us tourney bids in 2007 and 2008 - we were unbelievably fortunate to escape tonight.

 

[cuseguy]

Fortunately the ACC is weak this year. Some of our toughest games, outside of Duke, may be against former BE teams St. John's, Nova and Pitt (now of the ACC).

 

[Cusefan0307]

Notre dame lost, Michigan lost, Michigan st beat Columbia by 9 and struggled tonight. I think we are fine.

 

[bballbeadle]

3 games. 3 absolute duds.

i see so many flaws right now.

hopefully we can pull through this, but we are certainly not the team i thought we were 2 weeks ago.

CusefanATL, I am worried, too! Count me on the worried team. We have now had four uninspiring games.

 

[CusefanATL]

I wonder how many posters in this thread will apologize to you and say "my bad, you were right."

ehh... I'd only want an apology from the posters who thought I was writing off the season.

I'm still not writing off the season, but I am still worried about our performances so far. Hopefully we come out strong in Maui.

 

[edowd26]

Was it over when the Germans bombed pearl harbor?

Y'all are defeatist. We will improve. And we will do well.

 

[Cusefan0307]

The Germans bombed Pearl Harbor?

 

[DoctorBombay]

The Germans bombed Pearl Harbor?

Forget it he's rolling.

 

[Capt. Tuttle]

From what I saw, I was impressed w SF. Nice team. Good D. Ran their stuff.

Sent from my SCH-I200 using Tapatalk 2

 

[kirbivore]

Fortunately the ACC is weak this year. Some of our toughest games, outside of Duke, may be against former BE teams St. John's, Nova and Pitt (now of the ACC).

The flip side of that is you won't have the RPI heft in conference to make up for a OOC upset