If we want to avoid the NIT this year | Page 2 | Syracusefan.com

If we want to avoid the NIT this year

RF2044 said:
Agreed.

On the other hand, while I'm generally one of the more consistently optimistic posters on this forum, I do fear that our record is going to have us swirling at the center of bubble talk all year long.
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Which is why this win would be sooooooo huge. It puts us firmly in the NCAA's and as long as we then perform well in the first half of the ACC schedule we'd be well on our way. It would also indicate that we have a good chance to perform well at least against the bottom 2/3rds of the ACC.
 
One thing to add about Nova. Although they are a good team its still pretty early in the season and with their schedule its hard to say exactly how good they are.

-Beating Michigan in a close one on a neutral court is not looking so good these days however we lost to that same Mich team even if that was a road game for us.

-The VCU win to me was pretty impressive but that was an ugly shooting game for both teams and more about Nova breaking VCU's style and making them pay for pressing before they could get reorganized in the half court. Nova consistently attacked after getting into the half court with a 3on2 or 4on3 advantage situation. (great coaching by Jay and of course he has the guards to do that)

-Illinois is probably the next most impressive victory they have. A team that also lost to Miami and Oregon but defeated Baylor.

The one thing I would say about Nova that has really distinguished them is that they have a lot of experienced guards who Jay can deploy in different ways to get the job done. Also they have really taken care of business in a majority of their games and won relatively handily most of the way. That said have they beaten a clear NCAAT team as of yet? VCU beat Tenn and Oregon while losing to Nova, Virginia and Old Dominion. Not a clear NCAAT team as of yet IMO.

Just some food for thought before we build our opponent up to much and I think we clearly have more talent on our roster than Nova does.
 
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Knicks411 said:
I'd say instead of Nova being the second best team we're gonna play this year (possible, tough call between Lville and UVA and them) this should be the second toughest game of the year because it's on the road and Lville and UVA come here.
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It is an away game, but have you ever been to a Nova game at the Wells Fargo Center? Not exactly intimidating.
 
Considering how badly we lost to unranked St John's, my biggest fear is that unbeaten Nova beats us so badly that this board will be pondering if the team is strong enough to even get an invite to the NIT.

Of course our team should get stronger as the season goes, so there will be many more chances to prove we belong in the NCAA tournament, but unless we get respectable 3 PT shooting, I don't see that happening.
 
orange2win said:
Considering how badly we lost to unranked St John's, my biggest fear is that unbeaten Nova beats us so badly that this board will be pondering if the team is strong enough to even get an invite to the NIT.

Of course our team should get stronger as the season goes, so there will be many more chances to prove we belong in the NCAA tournament, but unless we get respectable 3 PT shooting, I don't see that happening.
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The St. Johns game was a lot closer than people give it credit for. We were up 3 with 3 and a half minutes to go. The end of the game distorted the score quite a bit. By the way, St. Johns is in the top 20 now.
 
Cusefan0307 said:
The St. Johns game was a lot closer than people give it credit for. We were up 3 with 3 and a half minutes to go. The end of the game distorted the score quite a bit. By the way, St. Johns is in the top 20 now.
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Yes they have only lost to Gonzaga who has only lost to Arizona in overtime.
 
Knicks nailed it. This is the second hardest game on our schedule. @Nova is harder than UVA and UL at the Dome. If we win this game honestly short of having a losing record in ACC play we should be a lock for the tournament.

I don't think we will win this game, I just want to see us knock the turnovers down and play hard.
 
orangecuse said:
Nope...but I've been to the First Union and Wachovia Centers... :);) There always seems to be a pretty solid contingent of 'Cuse fans when we play in Philly.
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I had to double take before I got this obvious one. Must be time for a 2nd cup of coffee.
 
GoHamSU said:
Guard defense up top. Caleb has been terrible so far, in my opinion.
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I generally agree with this, but I thought he did a much better job of cutting off penetration and getting out on shooters in the 2nd half of La Tech - hopefully that carries forward on a consistent basis
 
jec1521 said:
It is an away game, but have you ever been to a Nova game at the Wells Fargo Center? Not exactly intimidating.
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I have, and I'll be there tomorrow, but it's worse than a home game.

I'll bet tomorrow is the second most points we'll be getting from Vegas all year.
 
Cusefan0307 said:
The St. Johns game was a lot closer than people give it credit for. We were up 3 with 3 and a half minutes to go. The end of the game distorted the score quite a bit. By the way, St. Johns is in the top 20 now.
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Spoken like a true fan.:)

Look, we lost to St. John's by 12 at home, we have no PG (yet), we are dead last in the nation in 3 PT shooting. Teams with that sort of resume don't get invited. I know Rak and McC are fabulous, but that doesn't change things. Kentucky and its bevy of superstars were NIT just 2 years ago. Today they are #1. It happens.

I will be happy if these kids can surprise me this year, but looking at a 9 game sample, I am not expecting it.
 
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Again, it is this current Syracuse team Villanova is playing. Every major conference team as well as VCU is nowhere near as raw as us. Very little fundamentals on this team and a turnover machine. We probably have the worst collection of guards (certainly PG) that they will have faced. Very little experience except for Rak/Cooney. That's just how it is. I also agree that this is the second most difficult matchup on the schedule because of the road game and how good/physical their guards are. Ochefu isn't Michigan's C either.
 
Given the way we've played so far I don't expect a win vs Nova. But maybe Cooney and Rak play the game of their lives. You never know that's why they play the games.
 
Its not about winning or resume right now its about getting better. This will be a different team in feb, and the comittee will factor that in.

Gbinije, Cooney, Rak our 3 returning players have all changed their game drastically, We start 2 freshmen, and bring 2 sophmores off the bench. This is a very young team, with a freshmen pg as well. Not one guy who can create their shot last year returning our scorers are stepping into new roles. We have alot of defensive assignments being missed early on.
The commitee will factor all that in. Better to be us then a senior team losing this early.


Two things that I think can make this team special.
1.Xmas and McCullough are going to lead the way and be consistant 1st/2nd scoring options, they will have very few bad games, a rare skillset for syracuse go to guys.

2. The smoothness to Gbinije's, Cooney's and Kaleb's games makes them closer to breaking out for 10 then settling in for a hard 6.5. They have multidimentional skillsets they are not classic bangers with one skill that you can slow down.
 
orangefan13 said:
Its not about winning or resume right now its about getting better. This will be a different team in feb, and the comittee will factor that in.

Gbinije, Cooney, Rak our 3 returning players have all changed their game drastically, We start 2 freshmen, and bring 2 sophmores off the bench. This is a very young team, with a freshmen pg as well. Not one guy who can create their shot last year returning our scorers are stepping into new roles. We have alot of defensive assignments being missed early on.
The commitee will factor all that in. Better to be us then a senior team losing this early.
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I feel like they've been pretty consistent in the idea that it's the whole body of work thing. Think back to last year, a lot of people were convinced with the way we finished we were a 4 and out of Buffalo.
 
Nova is probably one of the worst possible match ups for SU at this point in the season. I feel that their guards will pick our zone apart and will be hitting the three which puts us down big early similar to last year. I'm not very optimistic about this game I'm just hoping that this team will create an identity for itself and 1 or 2 leaders will emerge.
To me, this team at this stage of the year is one of the worst teams in 40 years we have ever had. Having said that it is also a team that needs to replace a majority of its primary scores and hopefully by mid season everything startsto gel. If it doesn't I don't think were making the NIT
 
Cooney and Rak need to go off if we are going to pull this one out. Also we need to stay below 15 turnovers. Do that and I think we have a good shot.
 
we have a shot but containing them from 3 will be pivotal. I put the # at 7. We can't give up more than 7 3 's and win
 
I don't look at games as if you have to do this or that to win, even against the top 3 teams in the country. All you have to do is respond to stay close, or when you have momentum keep the foot on the gas.

Just play smart ball, and finish with more points down the stretch to win.
 
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