I think Boeheim is taking the easy way out too much

[Millhouse]

he's figured out the easiest way to win 80% of the time. recruit a bunch of guys with ridiculous wingspans and inseams and put them in a 2-3 with hands and arms taking up the whole court.

he's sacrificing something though. ball handling and or shooting. can't have it all.

other teams start with ball handling and shooting, sacrifice some length, and their coaches try to will them into playing strong man to man pressure defense. It's riskier than boeheim's approach. Boeheim knows he's going to have a good defense without having to worry. get players long enough, park them in the right spots, teach them the simple cues for when to swarm.

Would Boeheim recruit McNamara now? He was key to the national championship but would boeheim not like his size in the zone today? The last 4 years were more consistent than GMacs. What's boeheim's goal?

I'm not anxious for a return to Janulis type shooting guards but at least he made the big shot in a sh!tshow tournament game when we needed it

as horrible as cooney's been, it's not just him. other teams have forwards who can dribble the ball

 

[BostonOrange]

he's figured out the easiest way to win 80% of the time. recruit a bunch of guys with ridiculous wingspans and inseams and put them in a 2-3 with hands and arms taking up the whole court.

he's sacrificing something though. ball handling and or shooting. can't have it all.

other teams start with ball handling and shooting, sacrifice some length, and their coaches try to will them into playing strong man to man pressure defense. It's riskier than boeheim's approach. Boeheim knows he's going to have a good defense without having to worry. get players long enough, park them in the right spots, teach them the simple cues for when to swarm.

Would Boeheim recruit McNamara now? He was key to the national championship but would boeheim not like his size in the zone today? The last 4 years were more consistent than GMacs. What's boeheim's goal?

I'm not anxious for a return to Janulis type shooting guards but at least he made the big shot in a sh!tshow tournament game when we needed it

We did go to he final four last year. And the elite 8 he year before. Largely in my opinion because jh recruited great zone guys - big guards, lanky skinny forwards. Given our success I doubt he sees any reason to change. But you are right on the trade offs. Can't play little quick guards (certainly not more than one of them). Can't have undersized power forwards. Can't play 3 guard lineups. Look at Louisville last year - siva, Russ smith, and Hancock were on the court together all the time. That couldn't happen here. Napier, kemba, and lamb when uconn won their last title - that wouldn't work here. And - guess who stays in school? Little guards and undersized pf's. so yeah, I do wonder whether the trade offs are really worth it sometimes, but it is hard to argue with the overall results.

 

[OttoinGrotto]

Maybe something has changed. I remember Troy Weaver saying that he had to adjust a bit to Boeheim's preferences - at the time, he was really in to "skill players" and would sacrifice some athleticism in favor of guys with more refined ball handling, shooting, passing, etc. That does sound a little different from the profile now.

I think the 2015 class is something the be excited about, since we seem to be getting length and shooting.

 

[Marsh01]

We just need scorers. Every team that has won this weekend has guys who can score. Guys who can make shots. We just didnt have that this year and were on borrowed time with the success we had early on

 

[Millhouse]

We did go to he final four last year. And the elite 8 he year before. Largely in my opinion because jh recruited great zone guys - big guards, lanky skinny forwards. Given our success I doubt he sees any reason to change. But you are right on the trade offs. Can't play little quick guards (certainly not more than one of them). Can't have undersized power forwards. Can't play 3 guard lineups. Look at Louisville last year - siva, Russ smith, and Hancock were on the court together all the time. That couldn't happen here. Napier, kemba, and lamb when uconn won their last title - that wouldn't work here. And - guess who stays in school? Little guards and undersized pf's. so yeah, I do wonder whether the trade offs are really worth it sometimes, but it is hard to argue with the overall results.

winning 80% of your games gets you to regional finals and final 4s. they've been good. 28 and 6 doesn't suck

i'm more partial to more volatile outcomes. maybe lose some of the consistency for that one amazing reward.

ending the season twice in a row not approaching 60 pts sticks in my craw

 

[Millhouse]

We just need scorers. Every team that has won this weekend has guys who can score. Guys who can make shots. We just didnt have that this year and were on borrowed time with the success we had early on

my point is that it's really hard to find scorers who are tailor made for a plug and play zone.

when you recruit zone first and say all we need are scorers, we're saying we need incredible length, ball handling and shooting

 

[NineOneSeven]

We just need scorers. Every team that has won this weekend has guys who can score. Guys who can make shots. We just didnt have that this year and were on borrowed time with the success we had early on

winning 80% of your games gets you to regional finals and final 4s. they've been good. 28 and 6 doesn't suck

i'm more partial to more volatile outcomes. maybe lose some of the consistency for that one amazing reward.

ending the season twice in a row not approaching 60 pts sticks in my craw

System players are great, but the purpose of this game is to outscore the other opponent. Every game, it's about points.

 

[Jasoncuse]

I totally agree with this. For as good as our defense has been the past few years, the offense has been equally bad much of the time.

Seems like we've recruited far more long athletes with upside than average height with great hoops skills. Maybe it's finally time to start recruiting offensive options more often? I don't see why we couldn't succeed slightly smaller, more athletic kids that also can drive and shoot. It seems like every other good/great team has multiple options that can do this.

 

[KaiserUEO]

my point is that it's really hard to find scorers who are tailor made for a plug and play zone.

when you recruit zone first and say all we need are scorers, we're saying is incredible length, ball handling and shooting

problem is...that in the end, only 1 team wins.

not sure what youre prescribing would increase the odds of that happening any better.

if anything, it might increase the odds of a lot more dec-feb losses, which would infuriate everyone now accustomed to pushing 30 wins each year.

 

[Millhouse]

problem is...that in the end, only 1 team wins.

not sure what youre prescribing would increase the odds of that happening any better.

if anything, it might increase the odds of a lot more dec-feb losses, which would infuriate everyone now accustomed to pushing 30 wins each year.

it involves risk. i would take a worse record in december to have some honest to goodness shooters and scorers and hope the zone is good enough

 

[Forloveoforange]

I think the recruiting has been great for 6 years. Wouldn't want to change a thing. Except it would have been nice to have Waiters, Melo, and MCW still on the team this year.

 

[KaiserUEO]

it involves risk. i would take a worse record in december to have some honest to goodness shooters and scorers and hope the zone is good enough

this team had 1 'scorer'...fair.

and Mr All ACC, Mr All American and Mr All Wooden...in the biggest game of the season, didnt hit a shot over 5 feet.

not disputing your point, just wanted to say that about this years epilogue...

thank you.

 

[Millhouse]

this team had 1 'scorer'...fair.

and Mr All ACC, Mr All American and Mr All Wooden...in the biggest game of the season, didnt hit a shot over 5 feet.

not disputing your point, just wanted to say that about this years epilogue...

thank you.

i thought he'd be better this year.

 

[cuseguy]

Saw McCullough play recently. Thought the best player on the floor was a kid named Eric Paschall, a 6-6 swingman who is going to Fordham. Paschall hustles, rebounds and is a good shooter, the type of player we see when we play teams like Dayton and wonder where they get recruits like that.

JB definitely recruits length over skill in many cases.

On the other hand, Joseph is very skilled, but he's probably only a hair over 6 feet.

 

[Marsh01]

i thought he'd be better this year.

The problem is he is not a #1 scoring option and that was the role he played this year. He should be the third option and if he was on a team that had 2-3 guys that could make three point shots he would have flourished.

You could see it early in the conference schedule. teams figured out both he and grant and their moves to the basket. Hell when I know what they are going to do before they do it sitting in my seat other teams sure as hell know and defended them well.

 

[KaiserUEO]

i thought he'd be better this year.

i was hoping he would, didnt really see a jump.

but against a mid-major in the tourny, looking to help his draft status go from 2nd to late 1st...i wouldve guessed we wouldve seen more than 4-14.

 

[Mano22]

I totally agree with this. For as good as our defense has been the past few years, the offense has been equally bad much of the time.

Seems like we've recruited far more long athletes with upside than average height with great hoops skills. Maybe it's finally time to start recruiting offensive options more often? I don't see why we couldn't succeed slightly smaller, more athletic kids that also can drive and shoot. It seems like every other good/great team has multiple options that can do this.

This. Right now we recruit mostly long athletic types who will be sick in the zone but who are obviously limited offensively. I would love to trade like some of this zone skill (length/athleticism) for an increase in shot making ability. I feel like this would take our zone from say a 9 to an 8, but increase our offense from like a 5 to a 7.5, which would overall build a much better team.

 

[Millhouse]

Saw McCullough play recently. Thought the best player on the floor was a kid named Eric Paschall, a 6-6 swingman who is going to Fordham. Paschall hustles, rebounds and is a good shooter, the type of player we see when we play teams like Dayton and wonder where they get recruits like that.

JB definitely recruits length over skill in many cases.

On the other hand, Joseph is very skilled, but he's probably only a hair over 6 feet.

maybe boeheim feels somewhat burned by undersized guys that couldn't shoot a lick. Josh Wright, Paul Harris. he might think i'm too old to roll the dice on these knuckleheads, give me some tall guys guy with long arms and we'll win enough.

 

[KaiserUEO]

maybe boeheim feels somewhat burned by undersized guys that couldn't shoot a lick. Josh Wright, Paul Harris. he might think i'm too old to roll the dice on these knuckleheads, give me some tall guys guy with long arms and we'll win enough.

1000 Wins.

2 years away.....

 

[Millhouse]

The problem is he is not a #1 scoring option and that was the role he played this year. He should be the third option and if he was on a team that had 2-3 guys that could make three point shots he would have flourished.

You could see it early in the conference schedule. teams figured out both he and grant and their moves to the basket. Hell when I know what they are going to do before they do it sitting in my seat other teams sure as hell know and defended them well.

i don't know about this option 1 option 2 stuff

teams should know how to guard him no matter what option he is

he stopped hitting open threes. maybe he got fewer this year but when he had them, he missed them

 

[swish7]

Good post. If JB could select from any of these guys succeeding at midmajors (before knowing how their careers would turn out), would he do it? If we had recruited that blond Clark Kent looking dude from WSU would he come here? How about Early?

What I want to know is how did those guys learn to play ball so well?

When evaluating our recruits, we need to take the presence of an offensive skillset and what CoachOrange calls "situational awareness" more seriously. We need to develop it more seriously as well. In 4-5 years of "development" Keita still cannot catch a pass. Seriously? And Fair was mismanaged this year as well.

This whole season sticks in my craw. I am still trying to decide on which side I fall: "JB made them over-achieve" or "they underachieved and missed an opportunity". The bracket could not have broken any better for them.

 

[Millhouse]

1000 Wins.

2 years away...

eddie sutton would trade a lot of wins for a title.

this is just me, but if i were boeheim, i'd be all in on getting a second title and not even thinking about total wins. he's already got enough of those. i'd be taking chances to get out of that herd of guys who have one once.

 

[sandman525]

While Boeheim has seemingly recruited more lanky, athletic guys for the zone, I wouldn't call Cooney or DC2 the best fits for the zone. And Gbinije is only a good fit if he's playing on the front line of the zone. Contrary to popular belief, Boeheim doesn't just recruit for the zone. We can question the coaching/offensive philosophy, but there's no doubt that guys like Fair, Grant and even Christmas have some or a decent amount of offensive ability.

 

[Marsh01]

i don't know about this option 1 option 2 stuff

teams should know how to guard him no matter what option he is

he stopped hitting open threes. maybe he got fewer this year but when he had them, he missed them

True but they can also double him and risk another defender helping out because he knows that there isnt a guy they can kick it out too that will make a shot.

We also are playing 4 on 5 every offensive possession and have been all season. God forbid we recruit a center who can actually score. I would cut off my pinky for Otis Hill on this team

 

[EnnisEnvy]

If I'm recruiting top HS kids against JB I simply say "Well, y'know, Syracuse's offense doesn't really utilize the big men very much and the NBA doesn't play 2-3 zone. We work on post offense and man defense here which is what they predominantly play at the next level. My job is to get you ready for the NBA and I can do that better than SU."

I just can't help but think that the zone is a detriment to recruiting high quality big men. It doesn't develop them at all for the NBA.

Also, all you have to look at is how we never use big men in the offense. JB's big thing is to have big men that can run the zone and block shots, any offensive benefits are an afterthought.