Flacusian
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- Aug 26, 2011
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Just prior to the start of this season many of us went about the task of filling in our predictions for how we thought this years edition of the Orange would fare as the season unfolded. There are a lot of pretty decent prognosticators who frequent this board and there is much evidence to substantiate that if you go and look at the predictions thread. It's uncanny how many people were very accurate with respect to how many wins this team would have both overall and in conference.
People generally thought that the team would have some modicum of success yet acknowledged the fact that we had some liabilities. And then there were several people who while recognizing we had some problems with the team also offered up the notion that JB often does his best job of coaching when he has less, rather than more.
There can be no argument about the fact that the team had some significant obstacles which would make it difficult for the team to achieve the standard that is typically held out as the mark of a successful season, that being a trip to the sweet sixteen. We had many question marks as to our bigs and we were going to try an experiment with G at the point and ostensibly were looking at having some of our best players playing out of their natural positions, not as a result of strategic planning but rather out of necessity.
There was also that exquisite little inconvenience of looking forward to JB being banned from any contact whatsoever in the formative portion of the schedule. Yet... here we are heading to Chicago and slightly favored to beat a team that is the lowest seed left standing going into this phase of the tournament.
There is often debate as to what extent players/ coaches are responsible for a teams success or failure. From a rational standpoint one would have to argue that it's a combination of both. At the same time I think it's safe to say that some coaches can coax more wins out of their teams than others. I believe that JB is one of those coaches that has the uncanny ability to get more out of less and this years team is a perfect example of that. For me, the quick interview that JB gave at halftime gave me a sense that everything was falling into place exactly the way that JB had hoped it would. He seemed to exude a very calm sense of certainty that made me believe that he knew exactly what adjustments he would make that would insure that this one would end up a "W".
While he did point out a few things that we needed to do he did so while addressing each area of our 1st half performance. He talked about how were clicking on offense early and how defensively we were doing a good job. It seems with JB that if the boys are getting it done defensively then all things become possible. But above all else I was struck by how utterly in control of the situation he seemed to be just by the few things he said. I would imagine being in that locker room and JB conveying in uber convincing fashion... "Here is what we need to do to take care of business" would be particularly reassuring to the team.
What ever it was that transpired in that locker room, after the initial mini run MTSU made at the start of the 2nd half, it clicked in and it was a thing of beauty to watch. MTSU couldn't buy a basket at all for what seemed like an eternity and you could see the confidence of our team grow with each passing minute. Everyone got in on the party.
People in the chat room were reluctant to relax... but it was over. There was no looking back and we were being treated to getting a glimpse of the team that we have all been hoping this team could be when we saw flashes of the promise in the Battle for Atlantis, and the Duke game, and the 2nd half against Fla. State when DC was suddenly like the Krakin released!
For me it was a pivotal moment in the long history of having been a fan of this program and for the first time in what seems like forever... I knew that all was well with the Syracuse Basketball Program and that JB had done it again. Now we are truly playing with "house money" and it will be exciting to see just how far this team can take us. All I know is that I've gotten more than I realistically could have hoped for only a week or so ago and this team has paid huge dividends to all of us and is a team that we can all be extremely proud of. They have repped us well!
People generally thought that the team would have some modicum of success yet acknowledged the fact that we had some liabilities. And then there were several people who while recognizing we had some problems with the team also offered up the notion that JB often does his best job of coaching when he has less, rather than more.
There can be no argument about the fact that the team had some significant obstacles which would make it difficult for the team to achieve the standard that is typically held out as the mark of a successful season, that being a trip to the sweet sixteen. We had many question marks as to our bigs and we were going to try an experiment with G at the point and ostensibly were looking at having some of our best players playing out of their natural positions, not as a result of strategic planning but rather out of necessity.
There was also that exquisite little inconvenience of looking forward to JB being banned from any contact whatsoever in the formative portion of the schedule. Yet... here we are heading to Chicago and slightly favored to beat a team that is the lowest seed left standing going into this phase of the tournament.
There is often debate as to what extent players/ coaches are responsible for a teams success or failure. From a rational standpoint one would have to argue that it's a combination of both. At the same time I think it's safe to say that some coaches can coax more wins out of their teams than others. I believe that JB is one of those coaches that has the uncanny ability to get more out of less and this years team is a perfect example of that. For me, the quick interview that JB gave at halftime gave me a sense that everything was falling into place exactly the way that JB had hoped it would. He seemed to exude a very calm sense of certainty that made me believe that he knew exactly what adjustments he would make that would insure that this one would end up a "W".
While he did point out a few things that we needed to do he did so while addressing each area of our 1st half performance. He talked about how were clicking on offense early and how defensively we were doing a good job. It seems with JB that if the boys are getting it done defensively then all things become possible. But above all else I was struck by how utterly in control of the situation he seemed to be just by the few things he said. I would imagine being in that locker room and JB conveying in uber convincing fashion... "Here is what we need to do to take care of business" would be particularly reassuring to the team.
What ever it was that transpired in that locker room, after the initial mini run MTSU made at the start of the 2nd half, it clicked in and it was a thing of beauty to watch. MTSU couldn't buy a basket at all for what seemed like an eternity and you could see the confidence of our team grow with each passing minute. Everyone got in on the party.
People in the chat room were reluctant to relax... but it was over. There was no looking back and we were being treated to getting a glimpse of the team that we have all been hoping this team could be when we saw flashes of the promise in the Battle for Atlantis, and the Duke game, and the 2nd half against Fla. State when DC was suddenly like the Krakin released!
For me it was a pivotal moment in the long history of having been a fan of this program and for the first time in what seems like forever... I knew that all was well with the Syracuse Basketball Program and that JB had done it again. Now we are truly playing with "house money" and it will be exciting to see just how far this team can take us. All I know is that I've gotten more than I realistically could have hoped for only a week or so ago and this team has paid huge dividends to all of us and is a team that we can all be extremely proud of. They have repped us well!
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