If I'm JB...

[RF2044]

We're fans, we can overreact. And I don't think being concerned about things is overreacting anyway.

Really? You're the one who started a thread entitled "If I'm JB..." and suggesting changes to a formula that has gotten us the best regular season in program history. We had a bad game. That's it. You learn from it and move on--you don't make wholesale changes or change the way you play. That isn't what coaches do. That's exactly what overreactionary fans suggest--which is why they aren't coaches.

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.

I always love transitive property arguments. I'll play along. If you take away Dion's 7 three pointers, then let's also take away Sean Kilpatrick from Cinci. If he doesn't make his seven threes, we don't get "blown out of the building," and Cincinnati doesn't build up a big early lead, and we probably overcome the early smaller deficit the same way we have all season long. All. Season. Long.

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.

I don't share your concern about losing in the first round--that's for damn sure. This team has tremendous poise. We had a bad game. First time all year that we didn't answer the bell and get the job done. Think about that for a second. And that was getting nothing scoring wise from CJ, KJ, and Scoop--who have been consistent key contributors all season long.

Doesn't mean that I'm happy about how we played last night.

 

[orange03]

I apologize for not seeing things like you apparently do. I don't care what we did all season long--what we did a week ago let alone months ago does absolutely nothing in regards to playing our next game. Nothing. I never said losing in the first round, I said any game after round 1. And if we play like that we probably will lose.

Again, I just don't see how anybody with an iota of basketball knowledge isn't concerned about our lack of flow in a half court offense, or are insistence in shooting 3 pointers, or are obvious lack of rebounding and getting to 50/50 balls.

We're pretty good at winning ugly/close games, but those are the game we seem to always lose in the tournament. I'm not trying to rag on JB, I'm much more disappointed in the players than I am the scheme.

 

[RF2044]

I apologize for not seeing things like you apparently do. I don't care what we did all season long--what we did a week ago let alone months ago does absolutely nothing in regards to playing our next game. Nothing. I never said losing in the first round, I said any game after round 1. And if we play like that we probably will lose.

Again, I just don't see how anybody with an iota of basketball knowledge isn't concerned about our lack of flow in a half court offense, or are insistence in shooting 3 pointers, or are obvious lack of rebounding and getting to 50/50 balls.

We're pretty good at winning ugly/close games, but those are the game we seem to always lose in the tournament. I'm not trying to rag on JB, I'm much more disappointed in the players than I am the scheme.

And I apologize for apparently not having an iota of basketball knowledge, according to you, because I'm not on the verge of hysterical panic.

That you don't care what we did all season long speaks volumes. Feel free to wring your hands. I plan on attending games in Boston / New Orleans.

 

[orange03]

And I apologize for apparently not having an iota of basketball knowledge, according to you, because I'm not on the verge of hysterical panic.

That you don't care what we did all season long speaks volumes. Feel free to wring your hands. I plan on attending games in Boston / New Orleans.

lol I forgot that if you have a different opinion than your own you must be wrong. Clearly you're a basketball expert. Just wondering if you ever played the game outside of middle school--I doubt it. The regular season is over, if we flame out early do you really care that we went 31-2? Winning in December thru February is nice and all, but I'm more concerned how we do in March.

 

[RF2044]

lol I forgot that if you have a different opinion than your own you must be wrong. Clearly you're a basketball expert. Just wondering if you ever played the game outside of middle school--I doubt it. The regular season is over, if we flame out early do you really care that we went 31-2? Winning in December thru February is nice and all, but I'm more concerned how we do in March.

LOL--you couldn't be more wrong about the middle school thing. Just like the basis of this thread couldn't be more wrong.

Glad to hear that you are more concerned about how we do in March--what a novel concept. It's pretty silly that JB doesn't share that concern, and is more concerned with amassing wins between December thru February.

You've convinced me--time to switch up everything that's made us successful this year. None of that matters. Give the ball to Dion and everyone else get out of the way. Kris--you're first team all BE, but time to take a back seat.

 

[orange03]

LOL--you couldn't be more wrong about the middle school thing. Just like the basis of this thread couldn't be more wrong.

Glad to hear that you are more concerned about how we do in March--what a novel concept.

You've convinced me--time to switch up everything that's made us successful this year. None of that matters. Give the ball to Dion and everyone else get out of the way. Kris--you're first team all BE, but time to take a back seat.

Single elimination tournament my dude. If Scoop, Brandon, and Kris play like they did last night--then yes I want the ball in Dion's hands. Kris--you're a first team all Big East guy, go ahead and play like a zombie because clearly you earned it.

And everybody and their mother keeps bringing up we're 31-2. Does it matter at this point? Really?

 

[SarasotaPaul]

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.

Philosophy is the entirety of our differing opinions. Yours is prevalent on the playground as to who is scoring at any given moment. Mine is in defense which requires hustle. We won during your sad spell (pretty much the entire year minus 2 games) by getting turnovers and running. We came back yesterday as much on defense as on Dion getting hot. You've soured the best season SU ever had for yourself it seems. What a shame.

I am in full agreement with lighting a fire under their butts. But they have stated all year, and JB as well, that the NC is their goal. I have great faith in their dedication and determination from here on out. They may not win it all, but if they show heart, desire and hustle for 40 minutes every time out, I will be proud to wear my Orange.

 

[RF2044]

Single elimination tournament my dude. If Scoop, Brandon, and Kris play like they did last night--then yes I want the ball in Dion's hands. Kris--you're a first team all Big East guy, go ahead and play like a zombie because clearly you earned it.

And everybody and their mother keeps bringing up we're 31-2. Does it matter at this point? Really?

Well, not that I have an iota of basketball knowlege of anything, but I'd prefer seeing the team collectively play well offensively than let someone with a propensity to get out of control try to play one on five. But that's just me.

And here's another idea--I want to see us do a better job of turning the ball over, leading to easy scoring opportunities in transition that have helped mask our lack of inside scoring balance all season long.

And I want to see some combination of Scoop / Brandon / Southerland regain their shooting touch--because we are essentially unbeatable when we get complimentary contributions from multiple shooters.

And I want to see Syracuse avoid turning the ball over indiscriminantly, like they did for the first job all season last night.

And I want to see CJ not be sick, so he can return to being the key contributor rounding out our lineup--as both his mid range game and ability to take it to the rack have become integral elements of our offensive flow.

And I want KJ to not have a sprained thumb, because--I don't know--maybe we're better offensively with a first team all conference scorer doing his thing instead of not putting the ball in the basket.

And I want to see us find Fab in transition, thereby giving us the quasi-inside scoring that has been so important to the 31-2 record that you so quickly discount.

These are the things that need to happen for us to cut down the nets. This is how we've played most of the year. And I'm pretty confident that the team went home last night with a bitter taste in their mouths, and will use this week constructively to get back to doing these things and playing Syracuse basketball.

But that's just me. If all else fails, I guess Boeheim could follow your advice and give it to Dion and let him play 1 on 5.

Lastly, yes it !@#$! does matter. We played all season to earn preferentially seeding / location in the postseason championship tournament. Last night's outcome notwithstanding, we are strongly positioned to earn tremendously preferentially advantages on both factors. That doesn't mean we'll be handed anything, but it sure is going to make our path a bit easier. Hence, it matters.

 

[SarasotaPaul]

Single elimination tournament my dude. If Scoop, Brandon, and Kris play like they did last night--then yes I want the ball in Dion's hands. Kris--you're a first team all Big East guy, go ahead and play like a zombie because clearly you earned it.

And everybody and their mother keeps bringing up we're 31-2. Does it matter at this point? Really?

Guess not. Cue the selection committee.

 

[orange03]

Well, not that I have an iota of basketball knowlege of anything, but I'd prefer seeing the team collectively play well offensively than let someone with a propensity to get out of control try to play one on five. But that's just me.

And here's another idea--I want to see us do a better job of turning the ball over, leading to easy scoring opportunities in transition that have helped mask our lack of inside scoring balance all season long.

And I want to see some combination of Scoop / Brandon / Southerland regain their shooting touch--because we are essentially unbeatable when we get complimentary contributions from multiple shooters.

And I want to see Syracuse avoid turning the ball over indiscriminantly, like they did for the first job all season last night.

And I want to see CJ not be sick, so he can return to being the key contributor rounding out our lineup--as both his mid range game and ability to take it to the rack have become integral elements of our offensive flow.

And I want KJ to not have a sprained thumb, because--I don't know--maybe we're better offensively with a first team all conference scorer doing his thing instead of not putting the ball in the basket.

And I want to see us find Fab in transition, thereby giving us the quasi-inside scoring that has been so important to the 31-2 record that you so quickly discount.

These are the things that need to happen for us to cut down the nets. This is how we've played most of the year. And I'm pretty confident that the team went home last night with a bitter taste in their mouths, and will use this week constructively to get back to doing these things and playing Syracuse basketball.

But that's just me. If all else fails, I guess Boeheim could follow your advice and give it to Dion and let him play 1 on 5.

I also would like all those things to happen, I'm just not so sure they will. But you convinced me broham. I'm no longer worried about our poor rebounding, or our collective outside shooting. Or the fact that our half court zone offense is to try to shoot 3's over it--something JB claims is the wrong way to attack a zone btw.

If you need me I'll be making snow angels outside because I no longer have a care in the world.

Here's hoping they step their games up and prove me wrong. I'll gladly eat crow.

 

[RF2044]

I also would like all those things to happen, I'm just not so sure they will. But you convinced me broham. I'm no longer worried about our poor rebounding, or our collective outside shooting. Or the fact that our half court zone offense is to try to shoot 3's over it--something JB claims is the wrong way to attack a zone btw.

Here's hoping they step their games up and prove me wrong. I'll gladly eat crow.

I'm not sure why I'm bothering with this exchange anymore--seems pointless, but I'll make one more try. You keep talking about these things popping up in the last month. Where the hell have you been, broham? Except for the outside shooting, those have been the primary bugaboos / weaknesses of the team all season long.

We're not a good rebounding team. We've made up for that all year with exceptional defense.

We're not a superior three point shooting team, but we have a lot of good shooters who can get hot.

We don't have a single dominant scorer, but we have better depth than anyone, and 8 players all capable of getting double figures or more every single game.

We don't have a dependable low post scorer to balance our offense, but we make up for that by scoring in transition, hitting Fab on alley oops off of penetration, and by having our bigs run the floor and hit the offensive boards, giving us quasi-inside scoring.

Lastly, our half court offense isn't trying to shoot threes--we've settled for that by having poor execution in half-court sets instead of doing a better job at what we do well. On this point: I got nervous when we were down big and we responded by taking threes--because I knew that we wouldn't be able to get back in the game that way. To Dion's credit, he was en fuego and we needed every bit of his torrid shooting. But I felt like we got baited into a three point shooting contest, which is not our forte.

What made this team great this year was our DEFENSE, not offense. Yesterday was much more of a defensive letdown than an offensive issue--that's true despite how poorly as we played on offense. We let a shitty rebounding team hold their own on the glass against us, and a shitty shooting team shoot the lights out. We show with more defensive intensity against Cinci, and we'd be playing tonight. CJ picked the wrong weekend to get sick and KJ picked the wrong weekend to jam his thumb.

This team needs to get back to basics. And they will. I'd hate to play us next weekend, either game.

 

[orange03]

This seems pointless, but I'll make one more try. You keep talking about these things popping up in the last month. Where the hell have you been, broham? Except for the outside shooting, those have been the primary bugaboos / weaknesses of the team all season long.

We're not a good rebounding team. We've made up for that all year with exceptional defense.

We're not a superior three point shooting team, but we have a lot of good shooters who can get hot.

We don't have a single dominant scorer, but we have better depth than anyone, and 8 players all capable of getting double figures or more every single game.

Lastly, our half court offense isn't trying to shoot threes--we've settled for that by having poor execution in half-court sets instead of doing a better job at what we do well. On this point: I got nervous when we were down big and we responded by taking threes--because I knew that we wouldn't be able to get back in the game that way. To Dion's credit, he was en fuego and we needed every bit of his torrid shooting. But I felt like we got baited into a three point shooting contest, which is not our forte.

This team needs to get back to basics. And they will. I'd hate to play us next weekend, either game.

All kidding aside, I think my concerns are valid and I'm sorry if they offend you. Everybody knows about the rebounding issue--yes we've overcome for the most part, but by the skin of our teeth.

I've said all along if Triche and Southerland knock down shots we become a championship caliber team. They're definitely capable (along with Kjo/DW/scoop) but for the most part we've struggled shooting the ball all year. Not something I think we can rely on going forward. Triche especially has missed a ton of WIDE OPEN shots the last few weeks. Can't have that going forward.

In regards to our half court offense--way too much dribbling on the perimeter and not enough finding the holes. I expect to see a lot of zone defense against us the first few rounds and we're a bad shooting game away from potentially getting bounced way too early. We don't have a guy we can throw it to on the blocks, but Joseph and Fair should be getting the ball in the middle of the zone on every possession. They often don't.

I really wouldn't be surprised if we won the whole thing or get bounced the 2nd round. Just too inconsistent on offense to be overly confident. At least for me.