I Thought They Were Over Confident

[Longtimesu]

I know there’s no sense in beating this topic to death, but I wanted to share something that may have some truth to it.

Between the Georgia Tech win and the Miami loss I read an article from either Mike or Donna at Syracuse.com, I forget which, a couple of players were being interviewed.

I’m paraphrasing but they mentioned that they knew they needed to beat Georgia Tech to make the tournament. They talked as if they secured a spot. At least that was the impression I got. It was then that even Boeheim talked about the team having lost on the road should not be a factor because most teams in the ACC had a bad away record as well.

I thought these were uncharacteristic remarks just before the tournament seedings by both Boeheim and the players. They seemed over confident. Usually, Boeheim takes a one at a time game approach and frowns on the players talking publicly about the tournament. He keeps quiet as well.

I told my wife and some friends after reading the article that I thought they were to confident that they were in the NCAA tournament. Could they have been…and that was their downfall in losing to Miami?

Ya, we now know that perhaps SU wasn’t even on the bubble, yet I think after the Georgia Tech win, they were over confident and that had something to do with the Miami loss.

 

[Brooky03]

I think they lost to Miami because Miami is a good basketball team and this Syracuse team showed time and time again that they could not play well away from the Dome. We didn't even play that poorly against Miami, they just played better.

I don't put a lot of stock into assessing the mental state of athletes going into a game. They're competitors and they're going to compete. Generally, having too much confidence is preferable to not having enough. If they did go into the Miami game over-confident, that would be a good thing. If you're saying over-confidence led to them not playing hard enough to win, then I disagree with that.

 

[orangenirvana]

If they were over-confident at 18-13 then that may help to begin to explain why they stunk so bad this season.

 

[OrangeAl]

It's always bad to go into a big game talking confidently about your fallback position.

 

[AZcuse77]

I think they lost to Miami because Miami is a good basketball team and this Syracuse team showed time and time again that they could not play well away from the Dome. We didn't even play that poorly against Miami, they just played better.

I don't put a lot of stock into assessing the mental state of athletes going into a game. They're competitors and they're going to compete. Generally, having too much confidence is preferable to not having enough. If they did go into the Miami game over-confident, that would be a good thing. If you're saying over-confidence led to them not playing hard enough to win, then I disagree with that.

^^^ This. The fact is Miami played a lot better than the first game at the dome and has a good tournament team. This years Cuse team is inconsistent and not better than Miami but capable of beating or losing to almost anyone on a given day. They are heavily reliant on having good shooting days from multiple players and the "good Gillon" because their D ranges from awful to mediocre.

It does not mean they don't care. It also means no matter how hard we "try" we probably will not win 5 in a row to win the NIT with our inconsistency unless several players stay hot that long.

 

[Longtimesu]

I think they lost to Miami because Miami is a good basketball team and this Syracuse team showed time and time again that they could not play well away from the Dome. We didn't even play that poorly against Miami, they just played better.

I don't put a lot of stock into assessing the mental state of athletes going into a game. They're competitors and they're going to compete. Generally, having too much confidence is preferable to not having enough. If they did go into the Miami game over-confident, that would be a good thing. If you're saying over-confidence led to them not playing hard enough to win, then I disagree with that.

Hell, I'd be the last one with the ability to assess the mental state of anyone. I have a difficult time assessing my own sanity. All I'm saying is that if your thinking you've already locked up a spot, you may not play as hard. I'm not taking anything away from Miami...good team. But, being over confident can lead to under achievement.

When I was young I boxed. And when I though I had my opponent beat before we stepped into the ring, then I got my ass kicked because I was over confident to the point that I was not on top of my game. I was too cocky. It taught me a life lesson. Confidence alone does not bring success. You still need to put in the effort.

 

[Marty McFly]

It taught me a life lesson. Confidence alone does not bring success. You still need to put in the effort.

I agree, It goes back further than the GT game, though. I think after the Duke game Donna wrote an article about players I want to say TT- who said that after the win he was very confident SU would be in the dance and the rest was gravy. I think that lends credence to the main issue with this team of lack of leadership. No one teaching the young guys to stay focused an keep hungry. No one to preach them to play for the SU brand. Who besides lydon and the seniors could do that? That was a big underlying issue with this team and i think the unspoken Achilles heal. Too bad DC didn't come back and attend practice or a few games and speak to the guys about what playing for Syracuse is all about. We needed a vocal presence and that never happened. That can lead to a lot of things and one is guys being way to over confident when it is unwarranted. If TT thought it, perhaps others did as well and we know if 1 or 2 guys are not playing with fire, then the team goes from mediocre to bad, and the defensive intensity was bad vs maimi. We didnt swarm, we didnt rotate well, we were very passive. For sure not a team hungry for a big W.