Is it possible

[storange]

With Freeman and company starting to elevate their games, we could become competitive come mid January. Sorry , I know optimism is frowned on at this board , I’ll shut up. (With JJs return )

 

[cusefan88]

It's very possible but only if they learn to play defense better.

 

[General20]

If Starling comes back as the same player who left. Count on it.

 

[Dcuse]

With Freeman and company starting to elevate their games, we could become competitive come mid January. Sorry , I know optimism is frowned on at this board , I’ll shut up. (With JJs return )

Take your damn optimism elsewhere. Only haters need apply here.

 

[Blanko97]

With Freeman and company starting to elevate their games, we could become competitive come mid January. Sorry , I know optimism is frowned on at this board , I’ll shut up. (With JJs return )

anything is possible. If Bell starts shooting 50% from 3 we will probably look much better

 

[MikeSU02]

With Freeman and company starting to elevate their games, we could become competitive come mid January. Sorry , I know optimism is frowned on at this board , I’ll shut up. (With JJs return )

Possible? Sure. No one can tell you not to have hope.

Likely? No. Schedule will be harder and unfortunately, as I wrote in another post just now, the time to turn around the season would be these upcoming games that IthacaMatt pointed out, but JJ will be out.

The upside would be Donnie and Moore. With Jyare getting more run. However, I just can't see it with how bad our defense is (even if our D got better, it would still be bad). Our schedule will never have as many terrible teams as we had to start the season and Jaquan Carlos is still our PG. There are 8 guys that have played over 100 mins this year, two are under 10 PER: Lucas and JC. Only two with a negative BPM with that same caveat, also Lucas and JC. But we have JC playing 30mpg.

If you told me that Eddie's back and body would be magically fixed tomorrow, I would have more hope. But what I want to really see, because I don't think we'll come close to the tourney, is to enjoy watching Donnie and Moore (the latter my fave player on the team) and hopefully see in game coaching improvement from Red.

 

[CuseTG2003]

It's possible. The pieces are there. Can Red find the right lineups and rotation and get the necessary buy-in and effort on D and hold guys accountable?

Donnie, Choppa, and Jyare need to be on the floor and the main options on offense. This'll hopefully take pressure of Chris and help him find his stroke again. I'd move Carlos to the bench if and when JJ's back and let JJ and Choppa share ballhandling duties. Not ideal, but Carlos ain't it.

The rest of the season's in Red's hands. He's either up to the task or not. I view competitive as .500 or better.

 

[NineOneSeven]

Competitive, in what way?

 

[Dcuse]

Possible? Sure. No one can tell you not to have hope.

Likely? No. Schedule will be harder and unfortunately, as I wrote in another post just now, the time to turn around the season would be these upcoming games that IthacaMatt pointed out, but JJ will be out.

The upside would be Donnie and Moore. With Jyare getting more run. However, I just can't see it with how bad our defense is (even if our D got better, it would still be bad). Our schedule will never has as many terrible teams as we had to start the season and Jaquan Carlos is still our PG. There are 8 guys that have played over 100 mins this year, two are under 10 PER: Lucas and JC. Only two with a negative BPM with that same caveat, also Lucas and JC. But we have JC playing 30mpg.

If you told me that Eddie's back and body would be magically fixed tomorrow, I would have more hope. But what I want to really see, because I don't think we'll come close to the tourney is to enjoy watching Donnie and Moore (the latter my fave player on the team) and hopefully see in game coaching improvement from Red

Now that's more like it.

 

[HyattsCuse]

It's possible. The pieces are there. Can Red find the right lineups and rotation and get the necessary buy-in and effort on D and hold guys accountable?

This is where I'm really having a hard time believing it's possible. I want to believe, but I think at this point, Red must be getting close to trying every possible combination of 5 guys we have to play together.

We have a lot of nice pieces, but they don't all connect in the same puzzle especially on defense. I don't see how we improve our defense much this year. I feel like we've had so many times this year where 4 out of the 5 guys are playing pretty well on D, but the other team has been able to exploit the weak link. Going under screens, bad switches, just losing a guy (how we lost Shrewsberry multiple times for wide open 3's still baffles me), isolating the weak defender on the court (e.g. Bell) for an easy blow by, etc. A lot of holes to patch.

 

[sufan59]

I think it’s only a matter of time before we really play a complete game. The only thing is when we hit the peak performance of the team which I think wins many more games than it losses, if that can be sustained through the end of the year. We’ve dug too big of a hole to fall into another slump this season.

 

[hoopsupstate]

anything is possible. If Bell starts shooting 50% from 3 we will probably look much better

My bigger concern with Bell is he’s just not getting many looks from three. He has to have a quicker trigger. He seems to getting around three shots a game from three. If he takes 8-9, he will make 3-4.

 

[Sbucketball]

This group could have been a bubble team. For whatever reason they won't get there. If we're going to hope, we can hope to get hot during the ACC tournament like NC State did last year. I can see similarities there.

 

[MikeSU02]

One other post, since I would guess I'm probably perceived around here on a spectrum that goes from "realist" to "he hates Syracuse and may be the devil incarnate".

Here is what I would do if I were Red:

** I would do load management for Eddie. I would find the games he can miss (he needs to take off games). Games he can play in. And have him come off the bench when there is a clear match up he can exploit for five min bursts and run the O through him and his passing and interior scoring.

** I would run 3-4 plays for Chris Bell in the first few tv to blocks to see if he has it. If he does, tell him he's letting it fly a lot. If he doesn't. I'd tell him to do the one thing he has improved on this year and get to the line. Pump, dribble, get your guy in the air, always take the hit if you do.

** I would start JJ, Moore, Bell, Donnie and Jyare when JJ is back. I guess JC can start until then but he has to have a narrowed scope of his responsibilities. Very narrowed.

** I would tell Donnie that he has to continue to board and play D because that will stand out more to NBA scouts than anything. But his motor for boards and D has to rise up, because once it does, he'll really start getting press because his ability on O will naturally get better through the year with his innate talent.

** I would put in the pack line D on defense. Give up threes, but nothing at the rim. We have given up so many left-handed layups this year, I am astounded. Our zone isn't good. But I think we can do an on-the-fly pack line attempt that can't be any worse than what we have. If it fails, who cares?

** Finally, if I were Red, I'd tell the guys to have fun. Remind them that the pressure is off. We basically have to have an out of body experience to make the NCAAT. Get out there.

We have so many deficiencies and have put ourselves in such a hole that there is no reason to pretend. Let's be honest with ourselves. Get Red some better reps as coach. Feature our young guys. But let's at least have some fun.

 

[Scooch]

With Freeman and company starting to elevate their games, we could become competitive come mid January. Sorry , I know optimism is frowned on at this board , I’ll shut up. (With JJs return )

Anything is possible. No need to be so passive aggressive.

The challenge, of course, will be that every team we play will also have players who are elevating their games as the season progresses as well. So needless to say, we need to elevate at a higher rate than them.

I hope we do. Maybe Starling’s absence will be a blessing in disguise, in that it will force some guys to step up more than they otherwise would have.

All that being said, personally I’m not interested in being “competitive”. I’m expecting this team to win.

 

[storange]

Anything is possible. No need to be so passive aggressive.

The challenge, of course, will be that every team we play will also have players who are elevating their games as the season progresses as well. So needless to say, we need to elevate at a higher rate than them.

I hope we do. Maybe Starling’s absence will be a blessing in disguise, in that it will force some guys to step up more than they otherwise would have.

All that being said, personally I’m not interested in being “competitive”. I’m expecting this team to win.

My post may be passive aggressive, it’s better the some of the things said about Coach Autry…… I guess I could call them aggressive aggressive.

 

[SanDiegoCuse]

My biggest fear is Bell spent his entire offseason trying defensively, learning to dribble a bit more to the hoop and occasionally try for a rebound but stopped practicing his shooting. His shot looks lost.

 

[UpstateSM]

My bigger concern with Bell is he’s just not getting many looks from three. He has to have a quicker trigger. He seems to getting around three shots a game from three. If he takes 8-9, he will make 3-4.

I think the issue is less to do with the quickness of his draw and more to do with the lack of creativity or scheme in our offense. He is great at one thing on the basketball court and very little seems to be done by the coaching staff to put him in a position to do that one thing.

 

[baggerbob]

It's possible. The pieces are there. Can Red find the right lineups and rotation and get the necessary buy-in and effort on D and hold guys accountable?

Donnie, Choppa, and Jyare need to be on the floor and the main options on offense. This'll hopefully take pressure of Chris and help him find his stroke again. I'd move Carlos to the bench if and when JJ's back and let JJ and Choppa share ballhandling duties. Not ideal, but Carlos ain't it.

The rest of the season's in Red's hands. He's either up to the task or not. I view competitive as .500 or better.

Eddie is a nice person but a back doesn't suddenly get better, especially carrying extra weight .
If Eddie makes it all the way through the season without taking time off we will be lucky.

 

[Scott11]

My biggest fear is Bell spent his entire offseason trying defensively, learning to dribble a bit more to the hoop and occasionally try for a rebound but stopped practicing his shooting. His shot looks lost.

I have no fear that Bell spent a lot of time this off-season getting ready to play defense.

 

[SanDiegoCuse]

I have no fear that Bell spent a lot of time this off-season getting ready to play defense.

Haha fair

 

[miamicuse]

When dry rub gets wet, watch out!

 

[CardiacCuse]

they can still make the big dance

 

[NineOneSeven]

they can still make the big dance

 

[SanDiegoCuse]

they can still make the big dance