If I'm JB...

[orange03]

I give the keys to Dion and tell him to go. And if Joseph, Triche, and Jardine are going to play like that--tell them to get out of his way.

Triche needs to see a shrink before the tournament starts, maybe Tony Robbins or something. I can't count the number of WIDE OPEN jumpers he's missed lately. The FT's last night might have broken an already fragile psyche. Despite our starting guards horrible play, I'm more disappointed in Joseph. I don't care what accolades he's gotten--his legacy will be determined the next couple weeks.

 

[zhanjuzi]

Sorry dude, he missed shots but played his heart out. That miss and follow was amazing. He rushed his free throws .. it happens. It was a pace we have never been forced to play at for so long. He will be fine .. we need to move on ..

 

[orange03]

Sorry dude, he missed shots but played his heart out. That miss and follow was amazing. He rushed his free throws .. it happens. It was a pace we have never been forced to play at for so long. He will be fine .. we need to move on ..

But will he be fine? If our starting guard can't hit open jumpers and doesn't offer much at getting to the rim, then we have a big problem. I love that he plays his ass off, but this at this level we need a bit more if we want to make a serious run at it. A good Brandon Triche makes us a real threat for the Final 4. Last night's Brandon Triche could spell another 2nd round KO. That Cincy team is just the type of team we'll see in the 2nd round.

 

[arbitragegls]

Lets everyone take a deep breath. Scoop played poorly. KJ played poorly. Dirty missed his 3s. Fair seemed to play sleepy. Triche played with assertiveness but did not make his shots nor FTs...
Boy do we stink. Of course, with all that smelling on the court we lost by 3 f..kin points and had the game to win after coming back from 17 points down. Here are some stats to consider may never ever happen again:
1. Scoop and KJ had 9TOs and 3 assts
2. KJ had no rebounds in 33 minutes
3. Triche was 0-2 on FT and he is an 84% FT
4. Dirty was 1-7 from field
5. Fair scored 2 points and seemed not physical on offenses (got 11 boards though)

So, Scoop, KJ, Dirty, and Triche all played poorly yet 'Cuse lost by 3 and could have won...all is not lost but Scoop now has 2 games in a row where he hasnt played well. And why he got the call after team game back for tme in 2nd half is difficult to know...

 

[RF2044]

If I'm JB, I'm not changing anything. We're 31-2.

Let's not overreact. The coaches now have fodder to ride the hell out of the players all week in practice, and the team should be foaming at the mouth for the NCAA tournament.

 

[TinyManInside]

The only thing that Triche does as a 'plus' level is shoot free throws, and last night he didn't do that either.

I love Dion, but last night was an aberration. Once in a season type of game - he got super hot but I can't see him consistently shooting like that going forward. We need a total team effort to make the F4.

 

[orange03]

Lets everyone take a deep breath. Scoop played poorly. KJ played poorly. Dirty missed his 3s. Fair seemed to play sleepy. Triche played with assertiveness but did not make his shots nor FTs...
Boy do we stink. Of course, with all that smelling on the court we lost by 3 f..kin points and had the game to win after coming back from 17 points down. Here are some stats to consider may never ever happen again:
1. Scoop and KJ had 9TOs and 3 assts
2. KJ had no rebounds in 33 minutes
3. Triche was 0-2 on FT and he is an 84% FT
4. Dirty was 1-7 from field
5. Fair scored 2 points and seemed not physical on offenses (got 11 boards though)

So, Scoop, KJ, Dirty, and Triche all played poorly yet 'Cuse lost by 3 and could have won...all is not lost but Scoop now has 2 games in a row where he hasnt played well. And why he got the call after team game back for tme in 2nd half is difficult to know...

Nobody said we stink first of all. But sorry if I'm a little alarmed at how bad we look on offense at this point in the season. Without going into too much detail, if Triche and/or Southerland don't hit shots--we're not going to the final 4. I expect to see a whole lot of zone from here on out, and our zone offense is pretty GD bad--a team that isn't all that great at shooting seems to shoot a lot of of jumpers. Can't expect DW to shoot like he did last night, he needs help. We've escaped all year being a poor rebounding team but if we run into a team that actually hits a few 3's like Cincy did last night, we can't afford to give them second chances all game.

Are we capable of making a run at the title?--Absolutely, but if we play like that again we won't get close enough to sniff it.

 

[orange03]

If I'm JB, I'm not changing anything. We're 31-2.

Let's not overreact. The coaches now have fodder to ride the hell out of the players all week in practice, and the team should be foaming at the mouth for the NCAA tournament.

31-2 means nothing at this point. I hate too sound like SourShoes or BlueCurtain, but if you aren't a little wary of how we've played for the last month of the season then you must be watching a different team than I am.

Sure we've won a lot of close games and they should be commended for pulling those games out, but just like last night at some point somebody is going hit a bunch of 3's on us and I'm not sure we're good enough on offense to keep up. Do you expect DW to have another 7 3pointer game? I don't. If Triche and Southerland continue to struggle with open jumpers we're not going to advance very far. I obviously hope I'm wrong, but just don't get how so many of you think we're going to waltz through the tournament.

 

[chakka3421]

I'm glad your not JB

 

[orange03]

I'm glad your not JB

Me too. It must suck to go home to Juli every night. You're entitled to you opinion, I just don't feel as confident as most of you do. On the other hand, if our shots are falling we probably beat everybody. That just doesn't happen often enough to rely on it.

 

[CusefanATL]

the game was won (and lost, and almost lost) with 2 things ft shooting and rebounding.

i dont care about cincy's 8/10 start. shockingly they started missing, just like JB knew they would.

Our 3 best ft shooters, dion, kris, and triche were horrificly bad. they had a missed ft or 2 or 3 at crucial times. this team is too good not to understand how important each point is.

fab may have had 8 rebounds according to the box score - but yancy gates made him look like a child today. in the midst of our comeback, we couldnt put together our 'run' because of their second chance (sometimes 3rd chance) points.

Kris had 0 rebounds. ZERO. "a dead man lying under the basket could get 1"

They beat us to every loose ball.

The good news to all of this - is that it is effort and concentration. Sometimes when you go 31-1 you lose that. I am going to take it as a good thing that this loss happened now. because honestly, i have seen this effort a lot over the last 7 or 8 games only to be able to survive games.

hopefully this teaches them the lesson that they arent invisible and they move one and start winning games the way they should. we started the season on a 20 game win streak, then had an 11 game win streak. now all we need is a 6 game win streak.

Sounds to me like we are on to the easy part. lets do it!

All in (cant believe i just said that)

 

[SarasotaPaul]

Me too. It must suck to go home to Juli every night. You're entitled to you opinion, I just don't feel as confident as most of you do. On the other hand, if our shots are falling we probably beat everybody. That just doesn't happen often enough to rely on it.

The sky is falling. 2 losses already. We shouldn't even show up. How often does winning like we did this year slip past your memory? Losers mentality is to always lose confidence at each and every opportunity. Thank god our players don't do that or we would probably only have two wins instead of only 2 loses.

 

[chakka3421]

KJs defense, if that's what you call it, was awful - he should have been on the bench with scoop.

 

[orange03]

The sky is falling. 2 losses already. We shouldn't even show up. How often does winning like we did this year slip past your memory? Losers mentality is to always lose confidence at each and every opportunity. Thank god our players don't do that or we would probably only have two wins instead of only 2 loses.

You're right, everything is peaches.

 

[SoBristol]

the game was won (and lost, and almost lost) with 2 things ft shooting and rebounding.

i dont care about cincy's 8/10 start. shockingly they started missing, just like JB knew they would. ......

)

I agree with most of your post (parts I didn't copy), but hope JB looks hard at how Cincy got fast starts in both games against us (and USF at the Dome). If Cincy doesn't have a great first 8 or 10 minutes in each of those games, we win the first handily and prevent the loss last night.
He isn't going to tinker with the starting line-up (with CJ already in), but the team has to bring defensive intensity (and get some boards) right from the start.
Not the end of the world by any stretch --

 

[longislandcuse]

This loss absolutely could be a blessing in disguise. This team could
Very well have gone into the tourney thinking oh well, we can just turn it on at anytime and win. At least thats how theyve been playing lately. Kjo, Scoop and Triche need to step up. Its a disgrace that the 3 most inconsistent and at times, worst players in the rotation are 2 seniors and a junior.

 

[Nicknack]

31-2 means nothing at this point. I hate too sound like SourShoes or BlueCurtain, but if you aren't a little wary of how we've played for the last month of the season then you must be watching a different team than I am.

Sure we've won a lot of close games and they should be commended for pulling those games out, but just like last night at some point somebody is going hit a bunch of 3's on us and I'm not sure we're good enough on offense to keep up. Do you expect DW to have another 7 3pointer game? I don't. If Triche and Southerland continue to struggle with open jumpers we're not going to advance very far. I obviously hope I'm wrong, but just don't get how so many of you think we're going to waltz through the tournament.

Who has said that we are going to waltz through the tournament? Don't be foolish; no one here is that naive. I do agree with you about the last month of play. In fact, I would go back even farther... ever since Melo was out I don't believe we've played the same. However, I still believe we are a dangerous team and one that could go very far in the tourney. While having Southerland hit some baskets would be very helpful for us, he is not the key to our success. Last night was more of Triche, KJo, Scoop, and Fair playing poorly. I find it difficult to fathom all four guys playing that bad again ALL at the same time.

 

[ajcuse]

Win some lose some. Bottom line is - they came back and had a chance to win after being down 17 due to the ridiculous 3-point shooting by Cincy in the 1st half. *Triche's 0-2 at the line really took the wind out of the comeback.

Going forward - Cuse can't keep starting games having to come from behind, and if they can't somehow improve on getting rebounds on both sides of the floor, it will be hard to run the table.

 

[albanyorange]

I can think of at least 3 games this season if it wasnt for triche we would be 28 and 5 so please calm down . You guys turn so fast on someone it is ridiculous . Stop the woah is me crap and get back to they needed a kick in the butt and this is it no more complacency .

 

[SarasotaPaul]

You're right, everything is peaches.

I would guess you have never seen a peach. All you see are pits.

Which Dion are you giving the keys to? The one who couldn't shoot his way out of the barn and was a turnover machine? Of course not you're giving it to the one that had a single great game in a row. Too many attention short term memory posters since the loss yesterday. The reason they are 31 and 2 is they have more than one guy on the court. A lot of options and as good as Dion can be he is not always "on".
I'll stand by the team fighting through what they can't do well by doing what they do do well. I didn't see any quit in them yesterday and that's the biggest factor for me. Perhaps its just my philosophy but I hate hiding under the bed expecting something bad to happen.

 

[Flacusian]

To villanize Brandon is just wrong. He was playing with more hustle and passion than everyone else with the exception of Dion. Last nights game as the confluence of several factors which are highly unlikely to line up again simultaneously. Bad games by KJ,Scoop, and Dirty not being able to hit anything. I can certainly see positives coming from the fact that we lost yesterday in that it will illuminate the things we need to do and to avoid moving forward.

 

[orange03]

I would guess you have never seen a peach. All you see are pits.

Which Dion are you giving the keys to? The one who couldn't shoot his way out of the barn and was a turnover machine? Of course not you're giving it to the one that had a single great game in a row. Too many attention short term memory posters since the loss yesterday. The reason they are 31 and 2 is they have more than one guy on the court. A lot of options and as good as Dion can be he is not always "on".
I'll stand by the team fighting through what they can't do well by doing what they do do well. I didn't see any quit in them yesterday and that's the biggest factor for me. Perhaps its just my philosophy but I hate hiding under the bed expecting something bad to happen.

Your philosophy or mine is irrelevant in regards to how they play. I don't like the overall basketball we played the last month or so of the season, sorry. To say I'm concerned about our half court offense would be an understatement. Hopefully this lights a fire under their asses and they play with a purpose from here on out.

 

[pfister1]

Couple of observations:

-Syracuse 15 turnovers - Cincy 14. All year one of our strengths has been a big + margin in turnovers, not last night.
-29 attempts from beyond the arc, only 28 from inside the arc. 10 total points on FGs from inside the arc, that includes the fast break layups.

While Cincy hit more 3s that I'd like we actually hit 3 more than they did - neutralizing that as an advantage. We are not that good a three point shooting team, if we have 3 more than our opponent than our oppoent's threes are normally not going to be a problem. Problem last night was that in order to get our 13 made threes we almost gave up entirely on scoring from inside the arc.
-Our defense just wasn't very good in the first half, we failed to find shooters and make them take tough 3s.
-Fab was basically a non-presence on defense on the inside. 0 blocks, 1 charge, 0 fouls and a couple of goaltends.

All of these things are correctable. Will we get them corrected when we face our next tough opponent? Only time will tell.

 

[RF2044]

31-2 means nothing at this point. I hate too sound like SourShoes or BlueCurtain, but if you aren't a little wary of how we've played for the last month of the season then you must be watching a different team than I am.

Sure we've won a lot of close games and they should be commended for pulling those games out, but just like last night at some point somebody is going hit a bunch of 3's on us and I'm not sure we're good enough on offense to keep up. Do you expect DW to have another 7 3pointer game? I don't. If Triche and Southerland continue to struggle with open jumpers we're not going to advance very far. I obviously hope I'm wrong, but just don't get how so many of you think we're going to waltz through the tournament.

The point is, there's no need to overreract.

Do YOU think that some team is going to go 8-10 from three against us to start the game? As shitty as we played last night--as poorly as we shot from the line, as much as we uncharacteristically turned the ball over last night--we still cut the lead to 1 and had a chance to win.

31-2 means that we were definitely watching a different team this past month, if you're ready to push the panic button. The sky isn't falling.

 

[orange03]

The point is, there's no need to overreract.

Do YOU think that some team is going to go 8-10 from three against us to start the game? As shitty as we played last night--as poorly as we shot from the line, as much as we uncharacteristically turned the ball over last night--we still cut the lead to 1 and had a chance to win.

31-2 means that we were definitely watching a different team this past month, if you're ready to push the panic button. The sky isn't falling.

We're fans, we can overreact. And I don't think being concerned about things is overreacting anyway. No, and I don't expect Dion to hit 7's 3's in a game the rest of his life either. Take him away and we get blown out of the building--it's not a good thing when all your upperclassmen play so poorly.

Our 31-2 season is over. We're now 0-0 with everybody else. I've had these concerns for awhile, not just because we lost a game. I think we can absolutely make a run at it, but if we get the type of performance after round 1 we'll probably be going home.