Is .500 in serious jeopardy?

[AZOrange]

Thanks. I did mean Jimy and have fixed it.

If you are going to pull a couple of shooters to fix the defense I don't think you'd pull either of the Boeheims.

“If” we had to do it I would. Joe is a superior shooter to Buddy this season and Jimmy and Cole are a wash (you give up rebounding and “some” d putting Jimmy in over Cole too)

 

[Cusefan0307]

I really don’t understand the Swider signing at all. We would have been better off with Jimmy and Benny as the starting forwards.

 

[Fly Rodder]

It’s easy to avoid fouling out if you don’t play defense.

This a flawed .500 team. I won’t be surprised if they win their next three. That’s what .500 teams do. I do think their loss to Miami wasn’t particularly close. SU scored 11 points in the last 30 seconds because Miami knew they had the advantage and stopped playing aggressively to avoid giving SU free throws.

 

[SWC75]

“If” we had to do it I would. Joe is a superior shooter to Buddy this season and Jimmy and Cole are a wash (you give up rebounding and “some” d putting Jimmy in over Cole too)

But they are double-teaming Buddy and Jimmy is a far more versatile scorer than Cole. If you have Joe or Cole in there without Jimmy or Buddy we get an awful lot easier to defend.

 

[Alsacs]

But they are double-teaming Buddy and Jimmy is a far more versatile scorer than Cole. If you have Joe or Cole in there without Jimmy or Buddy we get an awful lot easier to defend.

Whose guy is doubling Buddy?

If he was being doubled so often with spacing JB talks about we should be getting open shots.
Buddy gets doubled when he does back down and teams swarm from his blind side. That should result in passing the ball.
Buddy doesn’t pass a lot of times he is doubled.

Our offense is missing people who can get their own shots in the halfcourt.
James is probably the best player we have at getting his own shot.
That is our major problem.

 

[CardiacCuse]

I really don’t understand the Swider signing at all. We would have been better off with Jimmy and Benny as the starting forwards.

hes a deadeye in practice...they just thought it would carry over to games but hes a bit gunshy

 

[AZOrange]

But they are double-teaming Buddy and Jimmy is a far more versatile scorer than Cole. If you have Joe or Cole in there without Jimmy or Buddy we get an awful lot easier to defend.

JB says Buddy is getting doubled but if you watch the game closely he only picks up the double when he forays into the lane. There’s no need to double him straight up outside

 

[kcsu]

Our issue is that we dont have any starter that can beat his man off the bounce.
We are incapable of getting to the rack and we dont use Jesse nearly as well as we should. We are a perimeter shooting team that is easy to defend. If Symir could shoot he would really help us but he might be the worse shot on the team.

 

[Sherman20]

I really don’t understand the Swider signing at all. We would have been better off with Jimmy and Benny as the starting forwards.

Jimmy and Braswell or Jimmy and Q.

 

[Xanadu]

I've just read through this thread and have a few observations.

- Even Sal Maneen, (who hung up on me a couple seasons back for suggesting that the winning season streak might be in jeopardy would have to agree that it's an issue this time.

- I don't think looking at the schedule and deciding who we can beat is the right approach. We just lost to Miami by a point and then they beat #2 Duke by two points. We can beat anybody remaining on our schedule and we can lose to any of them. The issue is: can we beat enough of them? The wins could come anywhere. We need 9 more of them in 16 games to guarantee the streak against any post-season results. That's going to be tough.

- Many times over the years I've heard people say that the NCAA tournament "is all that counts. But in this thread, our NCAA runs have be described as 'band aids' that perpetually optimistic fans put on mediocre seasons. Can we all admit that we'd like to feel good about our team for four months before we find out what happens in March?

- Somebody said that the issue with this team "involves Boeheim's own sons". Buddy and Jimmy are our two most consistent and versatile players. they are not the problem.

- The biggest problem is that our traditionally tough zone defense isn't there. Our late season improvements and post-season runs have been because of our defense. Having four shooters surrounding a young pair of centers isn't the formula to turn this around.

- What could turn things around is the further development of the centers, Benny Williams and Symir Torrance. They could improve the defense and give the offense some more dimensions. But it better start happening soon.

Jimmy and Buddy are not the problem? They are the two worst defenders (and least athletic) we’ve had in at least a decade. Sure they can score (be it streaky) but when you shoot 50%+ and still lose the defense is the issue and they’re atrocious.

It’s kind of ironic that they’re JB’s kids. Defensive talent must have skipped a generation.

 

[CuseFaninVT]

JB says Buddy is getting doubled but if you watch the game closely he only picks up the double when he forays into the lane. There’s no need to double him straight up outside

He also gets doubled outside if he's trying to go around a pick while dribbling with the ball. The big will hedge and his man will easily get around the pick (typically because our big is running away too quickly) and swarm him.

 

[SWC75]

Jimmy and Buddy are not the problem? They are the two worst defenders (and least athletic) we’ve had in at least a decade. Sure they can score (be it streaky) but when you shoot 50%+ and still lose the defense is the issue and they’re atrocious.

It’s kind of ironic that they’re JB’s kids. Defensive talent must have skipped a generation.

Are Cole and Joe any better? Any best lineup from this roster would have to include Jimmy and Buddy. If Benny and Symir develop, they should be cutting into Cole and Joe's time, unless they are hot.

 

[BomberOrange]

hes a deadeye in practice...they just thought it would carry over to games but hes a bit gunshy

Not surprising. So is every shooter we play against. Not hard to make shots vs this team.

 

[Cusefan69]

To confirm this would be JBs first losing season in 45 years of coaching?

 

[Scooch]

I really don’t understand the Swider signing at all. We would have been better off with Jimmy and Benny as the starting forwards.

We recruited Swider a few years ago, right? So, he was familiar and available, which is the criteria JB was using for the portal this past off-season.

Needless to say, there was not a lot of care given to how these pieces actually fit.

 

[cuseincincy]

Are Cole and Joe any better? Any best lineup from this roster would have to include Jimmy and Buddy. If Benny and Symir develop, they should be cutting into Cole and Joe's time, unless they are hot.

I kind of agree that Buddy and Jimmy are this teams best players. And that is the problem. It's not that they are bad or even that they shouldn't start. It's that they aren't good enough all around to be our 2 best players. Jesse is the only starter that plays passable defense and he gets tired too easily and starts to reach. Agree 100% on Joe and Cole.

 

[SWC75]

To confirm this would be JBs first losing season in 45 years of coaching?

..and our first since 1968-69. We were 12-12 in 1969-70 and have had winning seasons every year since, 51 in a row. The record is 54 in a row by UCLA. Kansas is #2 on the current list with 38 in a row.

 

[phil77]

Again nobody on this team should be playing over 30 minutes we have a roster full of flawed players and time should be split accordingly.

 

[UpstateSM]

JB said Buddy gets doubled? When he does his backdown from half court a guy comes from his blindside and gets an easy steal but I can’t recall any actual double teams. I’m sure it’s happened but it’s irrelevant to how we’ve ran our offense.

 

[MikeSU02]

He also gets doubled outside if he's trying to go around a pick while dribbling with the ball. The big will hedge and his man will easily get around the pick (typically because our big is running away too quickly) and swarm him.

This. It's not like he's doubled when he just gets the ball. its in screening action and he's a terrible passer out of it.

Joe is actually much, much better in this regard.

That double comes not because Buddy is an all american, it's because Buddy has serious issues getting out of it and we don't have a draymond to pass to to make the defense pay for doubling.

 

[MikeSU02]

Are Cole and Joe any better? Any best lineup from this roster would have to include Jimmy and Buddy. If Benny and Symir develop, they should be cutting into Cole and Joe's time, unless they are hot.

I think your comment goes to the bigger issue of overall talent.

I will say, Buddy (by a large margin) and Jimmy are the highest volume shooters on our team that is 7-8. They clearly have the most plays run for them and are the centerpieces of a team that is not a good team.

Buddy is having an off year, for him. He has fine aggregate stats, but he is not an efficient player this year. And, because he's shooting 16x a game, that is the where the gravity of our offense is and we have Joe playing out of position. I mean, I believe Buddy is 24th in FGA per game out of all the schools in D1. That is insane with his %s right now.

Again, I would start Sy, bump Joe to 2G, have Buddy play the 3 and then play the best guy on the day for the 4 (whether that be Jimmy/Cole/Benny) and have Jesse at the 5 with Frank backing him up.

Not sure what else to do. We cannot break down defenses off the dribble, our D is atrocious and Buddy, our supposed best player, is a black hole right now.

 

[SWC75]

I think your comment goes to the bigger issue of overall talent.

I will say, Buddy (by a large margin) and Jimmy are the highest volume shooters on our team that is 7-8. They clearly have the most plays run for them and are the centerpieces of a team that is not a good team.

Buddy is having an off year, for him. He has fine aggregate stats, but he is not an efficient player this year. And, because he's shooting 16x a game, that is the where the gravity of our offense is and we have Joe playing out of position. I mean, I believe Buddy is 24th in FGA per game out of all the schools in D1. That is insane with his %s right now.

Again, I would start Sy, bump Joe to 2G, have Buddy play the 3 and then play the best guy on the day for the 4 (whether that be Jimmy/Cole/Benny) and have Jesse at the 5 with Frank backing him up.

Not sure what else to do. We cannot break down defenses off the dribble, our D is atrocious and Buddy, our supposed best player, is a black hole right now.

Buddy has 16 assists in the three games we've lost since the conference schedule really began.

 

[MikeSU02]

Buddy has 16 assists in the three games we've lost since the conference schedule really began.

Not all assists are equal. Also, he's played 40, 35 and 44 minutes in each of those games. And, his usage % is 26%. If he didn't have that many assists it would be awful as a guard with having the ball that much.

If you feel Buddy isn't a black hole, we can agree to disagree. I respect your opinion, just don't agree with it.

A few games ago, Joe got blitzed on the screening action, side stepped and made a 25 foot pass across the paint to Jesse and hit him in his catching pocket. It was a thing of beauty. It led to two easy points (if Im remembering correctly).

Buddy cannot functionally make that same pass and that is the pass he needs to be able to make to fundamentally change the way teams defend us because of the usage he has with the ball.

Again, all good if we disagree, I just don't think Buddy is elevating the team with how much he has the ball.

 

[Alsacs]

Buddy has 16 assists in the three games we've lost since the conference schedule really began.

What about the rest of point.
Buddy shouldn’t have to be the best player on this team but he is.

 

[MikeSU02]

What about the rest of point.
Buddy shouldn’t have to be the best player on this team but he is.

Yeah, btw, I'm not even knocking the players when I say this stuff. The team is what it is.

Guys are just trying to do things that really can't do, or at least can't do consistently.