I gotta say this again how freaking great is it to have a good offense again

[Alsacs]

I mean after the past 5 years of awful/mediocre offense we have such a good offense.
The only weakness we have on offense is post scoring. I hope Lydon at 5 as our Golden State death lineup is being saved when we play a good team.

 

[RF2044]

I mean after the past 5 years of awful/mediocre offense we have such a good offense.
The only weakness we have on offense is post scoring. I hope Lydon at 5 as our Golden State death lineup is being saved when we play a good team.

I don't even view that as much of a weakness, to be honest. We certainly don't have a featured guy that we attempt to pound the ball into, a la Rak two years ago. But we have several players who've shown that they can finish inside--Roberson, Lydon, Coleman, and Thompson. We will have much better inside scoring this season than we did in 2012, which is a team our current squad gets compared to a lot.

Plus, we're going to get out in transition a LOT more this season than the previous two, so I'd expect us to get some easy scoring opportunities that we haven't gotten in recent years.

 

[MSOrange]

I don't even view that as much of a weakness, to be honest. We certainly don't have a featured guy that we attempt to pound the ball into, a la Rak two years ago. But we have several players who've shown that they can finish inside--Roberson, Lydon, Coleman, and Thompson. We will have much better inside scoring this season than we did in 2012, which is a team our current squad gets compared to a lot.

Plus, we're going to get out in transition a LOT more this season than the previous two, so I'd expect us to get some easy scoring opportunities that we haven't gotten in recent years.

I love that we found a transition game again. Scoring baskets doesn't have to be as hard as we've made it look at times in the past couple seasons.

 

[OttoMets]

Every Syracuse fan should wake up every morning extremely thankful that we're using skilled offensive players again. This is a night-and-day difference from the last four years (especially the last two).

Though I still have my doubts about our prospects against a zone. If shots are falling, great. If not, could be trouble; it still appears that the program known for zone defense doesn't know how to operate against one. (This is a shame, because Tyler Lydon would be the result if someone tried to design the perfect high post player to dismantle a zone defense.)

 

[dasher]

People are going to be really surprised around the country when they see how good we are.

 

[RF2044]

People are going to be really surprised around the country when they see how good we are.

Agree 100%. That starts this Saturday.

 

[asj410]

Would love to see us have a coming out party in Madison like we did in November 2009 at MSG against Cal and UNC

 

[Jasoncuse]

Let's hold off until we play somebody good. I think our half court offense is still way too stagnant with limited movement. Far too often, I've seen our guys settle for a 3 or deep jumper as the shot clock ticks under 10 seconds. And we haven't seen much of it yet, but do we have anybody that can beat their defender and get to the rim consistently? Gillon seems solid, but I'm not sure he'll be finishing those against ACC competition. Battle hasn't really had the opportunity to showcase his skills yet, but I hope he can do it. Frank and AW can do it when the D is sagging off, but I'm concerned they won't be able to as much against stiff man to man. When we've had the opportunity to run, it's been a lot of fun with a great deal of success. That needs to continue.

Luckily, it looks like we have a legit 5 players capable of hitting 3's consistently and with volume. Gillon, Lydon, AW, Battle and Frank have all looked great from 3 either in a few games, or in all 4. I still want more of the TL/PG pick and pop 3's we saw a ton of last year.

Taurean and Robey have been excellent in their roles. I've been impressed with how both, as well as DC, have shown the ability to knock down 15 footers. That'll be huge come January.

 

[Jack Hall]

the ball movement so far has been vastly superior to the last 3-4 years imo. When we can dribble drive and make plays with guys like Howard and Gillon at point (hopefully Battle too if we face defenses that we can space out) OR we can swing it via the pass to one of many good shooters, makes us tough to defend. then you throw in the fast break...,

 

[jordoo]

Let's hold off until we play somebody good. I think our half court offense is still way too stagnant with limited movement. Far too often, I've seen our guys settle for a 3 or deep jumper as the shot clock ticks under 10 seconds. And we haven't seen much of it yet, but do we have anybody that can beat their defender and get to the rim consistently? Gillon seems solid, but I'm not sure he'll be finishing those against ACC competition. Battle hasn't really had the opportunity to showcase his skills yet, but I hope he can do it. Frank and AW can do it when the D is sagging off, but I'm concerned they won't be able to as much against stiff man to man. When we've had the opportunity to run, it's been a lot of fun with a great deal of success. That needs to continue.

Luckily, it looks like we have a legit 5 players capable of hitting 3's consistently and with volume. Gillon, Lydon, AW, Battle and Frank have all looked great from 3 either in a few games, or in all 4. I still want more of the TL/PG pick and pop 3's we saw a ton of last year.

Taurean and Robey have been excellent in their roles. I've been impressed with how both, as well as DC, have shown the ability to knock down 15 footers. That'll be huge come January.

As we start playing legit P5 teams I think our guards are going to surprise you by how well they beat there man off the bounce or use the ball screen to drive and create. I expect Frank, John and Tyus to have good games in that respect against Wisci. They are going to be playing against bigger players who will get out and guard them. So far this year we've played against small quick teams that wanted to keep us out of the paint even if it meant giving up jumpers.

 

[Jack Hall]

As we start playing legit P5 teams I think our guards are going to surprise you by how well they beat there man off the bounce or use the ball screen to drive and create. I expect Frank, John and Tyus to have good games in that respect against Wisci. They are going to be playing against bigger players who will get out and guard them. So far this year we've played against small quick teams that wanted to keep us out of the paint even if it meant giving up jumpers.

I agree, i think we are going to see better spacing against the likes of duk and unc for ex. Altho it will be offset by the fact they have superior athletes. I dont know about wisc. Last year i remember they just dropped back and walled us off on D, playing us to drive. I dont think we shot it well that game. Will they try to wall us off this year on D, with our shooters AW, TL, JG, TB, FH? I dont know

 

[jordoo]

I agree, i think we are going to see better spacing against the likes of duk and unc for ex. Altho it will be offset by the fact they have superior athletes. I dont know about wisc. Last year i remember they just dropped back and walled us off on D, playing us to drive. I dont think we shot it well that game. Will they try to wall us off this year on D, with our shooters AW, TL, JG, TB, FH? I dont know

I remember when we played them in that S16 game when Scoop, Brandon and Dion killed them off the bounce. They go whatever they wanted all game long. Last year the plan seemed to be to pack it in unless we got hot from outside which we never did. I wouldn't be shocked to see that be the plan again this year but they are going to start scouting us after they play UNC. If they do the same thing as last year we will force them to adjust IMO and then our guards should be able to get by theirs from what I have seen.