Reply to thread

Message: [QUOTE="RF2044, post: 1190616, member: 40"] There are an alarming number of truisms in your post. The real issue was that the team offensive concept was flawed as a function of its individual parts, and that impacted the overall offensive production. Cooney's inconsistency was a part of that, but it wasn't the only reason and it certainly wasn't a function of him being incapable. Nobody disputes that Cooney was inconsistent, nor that his performance tapered off over the course of last season. Categorizing him as D2 caliber is absurd, as is suggesting that he can't shoot. Cooney's mean average, as you point out, was not a problem statistically. Shooting ~38% from three is beyond "not bad," it's beyond him being relegated to the bench for not being able to cut it. For perspective, it is actually a very solid average that has only been surpassed by a handful of players in program history. The reasons why Cooney's shooting dropped off are multi-dimensional, and not all about him--which is what many posters utterly fail to recognize. In no particular order: [LIST] [*]Our offense as a whole was anemic. [/LIST] [LIST] [*]Complimentary shooting was suspect. [/LIST] [LIST] [*]Our senior--who'd lit it up from three the previous year--dropped to a tremendously pedestrian 28% his senior year. That compromised the offense spacing the floor / making the defense pay for overplaying Cooney. [/LIST] [LIST] [*]We had no inside scoring, which also affected floor spacing and enabled defenses to cheat. [/LIST] [LIST] [*]He was also a first time starter, playing in the ACC for the first time, etc. [/LIST] [LIST] [*]I'd be surprised if he struggles in the same way this season. Not saying that it couldn't happen, but it is not what I expect. [/LIST] Cooney will benefit from having a group of players who can shoot this year. Gbinije, Patterson, Joseph, and even McCullough / Roberson / BJ all have the ability to stretch the floor. Joseph is far more of a penetrator than Ennis was--which means that kick out opportunities will be more abundant this year than they were last year. Perhaps most importantly, the offense isn't going to rely 100% on him to provide three point shooting due to team personnel limitations. Cooney is a fine athlete, but appears to be more of a complimentary offensive player [just like GMac should have been]. That's great on a team like in 2003, when GMac was the 3rd or 4th scoring option, and torched teams because of it. It was a problem in subsequent years when he got featured a little too much, and his percentages suffered as a function of the extra defensive attention. Cooney is cut from the same cloth. And his production will demonstrate that this year, with a more potent offense around him to mask his flaws. And much like with the 2012 team, it will be nice to have depth / options -- if a player isn't cutting it this year or has a poor game any given night, JB has more reliable options to turn to, whereas that wasn't the case last year. What's funny about this thread is that I'm not a Cooney zealot. I root for him equally the same as the rest of the team. [/QUOTE]

Verification: What is a Syracuse fan's favorite color?