JB Would Rather Lose His Way...

[syrcuse]

Yeah, but he was the asst Olympic coach. He also was nice enough to take Hop with him for the end of last summer. How many priority recruits committed early?? I still think someone should have been tending to the new team on campus and recruiting instead of the Olympic boondoggle. This team is heading the way of the football team. Two runs up the middle, incomplete 3rd down pass and punt. We are going to play a field position game and hope for the best...lol I vote for change.

 

[dasher]

Of course not. Your comment though is a bit obtuse in all candor though. JB is as stubborn as an ox and it has bled profusely relative to results of the court this year. Even Dino G in the studio mentioned something is terribly wrong with this team, no fight, desire, heart. Additionally, Cory Alexander during commentary mentioned that you can't change your team during the season (a la the NBA) via trades, etc. So, you have to adapt and play to your players strengths, and obviously playing zone (this year) is just a complete horror show and debacle. Evident by how yet again another team (and player) torched the zone. JB's stringent stubbornness to play zone at all costs and is rigid position not to adapt from it is incredibly stunning to say the least. Even Amish (play by play guy and SU alum and homer) acknowledged that BC was getting wide open looks all day long with nothing contested. The 'ol adage if it ain't broke don't fix it certainly doesn't apply here as it is completely shattered.

Just a thought but perhaps jb thinks that the teams best chance for improvement is to continue to play the zone and get better at it. I know that Cory Alexander and Dino both know more than JB, if Dino didn't, he wouldn't be in the booth would he .And keep in mind, I am a man to man proponent. But me thinks that this team would suck in any defense. There is something wrong with this team.

 

[dasher]

Yeah, but he was the asst Olympic coach. He also was nice enough to take Hop with him for the end of last summer. How many priority recruits committed early?? I still think someone should have been tending to the new team on campus and recruiting instead of the Olympic boondoggle. This team is heading the way of the football team. Two runs up the middle, incomplete 3rd down pass and punt. We are going to play a field position game and hope for the best...lol I vote for change.

Well, that does it. We should fire jb immediately.

 

[skurey]

I do think it was stupid we play zone all the time but I agree this year I think we would be just as terrible in man.

 

[syrcuse]

Yeah, but he was the asst Olympic coach. He also was nice enough to take Hop with him for the end of last summer. How many priority recruits committed early?? I still think someone should have been tending to the new team on campus and recruiting instead of the Olympic boondoggle. This team is heading the way of the football team. Two runs up the middle, incomplete 3rd down pass and punt. We are going to play a field position game and hope for the best...lol I vote for change.

 

[Jack Hall]

The zone is not the problem imo. The players quitting on the team is the bigger problem. The only fault i can put on JB is he been able to do nothing about the players quitting on the season

 

[jdubs30]

The zone is not the problem imo. The players quitting on the team is the bigger problem. The only fault i can put on JB is he been able to do nothing about the players quitting on the season

What do you do? Bench everyone? Make them run sprints?

As a competitor, if you actively quit on your team, the problem starts with you.

 

[Jack Hall]

What do you do? Bench everyone? Make them run sprints?

As a competitor, if you actively quit on your team, the problem starts with you.

I agree with you. Look at what the greatest coaches would have done: for ex K would have had two choices with this team- A) open up a can of duke is an elite program that does not accept mediocrity whoop ass on his players. B) claim a back injury and go home for the season. Those are about JBs two choices right now imo, good luck

 

[orangecuse]

Just a thought but perhaps jb thinks that the teams best chance for improvement is to continue to play the zone and get better at it. I know that Cory Alexander and Dino both know more than JB, if Dino didn't, he wouldn't be in the booth would he .And keep in mind, I am a man to man proponent. But me thinks that this team would suck in any defense. There is something wrong with this team.

Implying Dino and Cory know more than JB is a bit myopic also. They both have a lot of knowledge of the game and coached as well. I wouldn't simply dismiss their knowledge and credibility.

JB is stubborn and in his rigidness in adapting to change based upon (this year's) personnel is again, quite stunning. You can't put a square peg in a round hole...and that's what JB is insisting on doing here with this team. Honestly, it's just brutal to watch...from the players attempting to play it to JB's stringent insistence to not adapt in any way, shape or form.

 

[g kushner]

Girls team and boys team very similar. Both coaches frozen into the zone and either can't or won't adjust. The girls have the best guard combo in the country and little else (wait til you see next years class) and when the other team is shooting poor to fair from the outside they win. Same with the boys. When the other team is hot from outside (and they can then get offensive rebounds and put backs) Syracuse losses. Se recent men's games - St Johns and BC and girls against Louisville. Girls had large lead until about 5 minutes remained in the first half and then were destroyed after that. One girl on Louisville scored 36 with 34 in the 2nd half. We appear to have every other asset needed on both the girls and boys except flexible coaching

 

[Jack Hall]

Implying Dino and Cory know more than JB is a bit myopic also. They both have a lot of knowledge of the game and coached as well. I wouldn't simply dismiss their knowledge and credibility.

JB is stubborn and in his rigidness in adapting to change based upon (this year's) personnel is again, quite stunning. You can't put a round peg in a square hole...and that's what JB is insisting on doing here with this team. Honestly, it's just brutal to watch...from the players attempting to play it to JB's stringent insistence to not adapt in any way, shape or form.

Hes trying to adapt. Ie how many diff starting lineups this year? 4-5? But none of them have worked

 

[syrcuse]

Well, that does it. We should fire jb immediately.

finish the season...

 

[Zelda Zonk]

You can blame the coach, but the players have been unable to make plays. It's been sloppy.

How much of that is coaching though? We can't finish, for example. If your coach believes, going into the season, that he has a super talented team, maybe he's taking too much for granted, and they didn't work on certain fundamentals they thought were already covered. To me, even though we are getting blasted by huge, unprecedented numbers, the problems are in the small things. We just don't do the solid, little things, and comprehensively, those little things have a larger, cumulative effect.

The defense HAS been an atrocity. With anyone else, you say, change it. Do something else. But our m2m has given up points in bunches to D2 schools in recent years. So, somehow, either JB forgot how to coach it or hasn't invested enough in it. Earlier this season, I said it would be worse to try it this year. I now think we don't have a choice, and it doesn't even matter if it's not good, since we have no chance of success this season. We need a way to have each defender fully invested at every moment and a way to recognize personal responsibility, rather than having players seeming to give up points only because of a breakdown somewhere else on the court.

 

[orangecuse]

Hes trying to adapt. Ie how many diff starting lineups this year? 4-5? But none of them have worked

The starting line up has more to do with our offensive woes than defense imo. Hence, the reason inserting TT into the starting lineup, certainly it's not because of his prowess on D. JB himself has said on a few occasions this year he is a gifted 'offensive' player.

I'm strictly referring to JB's stubbornness to stay in the zone at all cost...no matter what. Again, with this personnel (2 grad transfers, including a 5'9" guy at the top of the zone that never played it until coming to SU) it's quite stunning to watch. BC, for all intents and purposes, put up a friggin C spot against us!

 

[Eric15]

Who, when looking back in history sits there and dissects how duke wins there titles, or anybody else, and says, yeah but coach k had to get lucky to beat so and so in the sweet 16 ? Nobody.

Tourney results are what we ultimately root for and celebrate, but they aren't a thoughtful way to evaluate the true strength or weakness of a program. There is simply too much randomness involved.

 

[syrcuse]

How much of that is coaching though? We can't finish, for example. If your coach believes, going into the season, that he has a super talented team, maybe he's taking too much for granted, and they didn't work on certain fundamentals they thought were already covered. To me, even though we are getting blasted by huge, unprecedented numbers, the problems are in the small things. We just don't do the solid, little things, and comprehensively, those little things have a larger, cumulative effect.

The defense HAS been an atrocity. With anyone else, you say, change it. Do something else. But our m2m has given up points in bunches to D2 schools in recent years. So, somehow, either JB forgot how to coach it or hasn't invested enough in it. Earlier this season, I said it would be worse to try it this year. I now think we don't have a choice, and it doesn't even matter if it's not good, since we have no chance of success this season. We need a way to have each defender fully invested at every moment and a way to recognize personal responsibility, rather than having players seeming to give up points only because of a breakdown somewhere else on the court.

Our game plan (or lack thereof) allows every s#it team the opportunity to prepare for us. IMO, it's just lazy coaching by JB. Nothing changes.

 

[ssbriefcase]

Tourney results are what we ultimately root for and celebrate, but they aren't a thoughtful way to evaluate the true strength or weakness of a program. There is simply too much randomness involved.

And another way it isn't thoughtful and full of randomness, is saying the ships sinking in the big picture and leaving out how many players we had leave early, and sanctions. Now, that's not to say JB isn't at fault for some things, but there's a ton of randomness contributing to what we're experiencing, this season.

 

[Zelda Zonk]

Our game plan (or lack thereof) allows every s#it team the opportunity to prepare for us. IMO, it's just lazy coaching by JB. Nothing changes.

Offensively, we limit ourselves. Defensively, even if the zone sometimes is the world's greatest weapon, it stands to reason that over time, it will gradually be less and less of a 'mystery' for the opposition. A few more teams play it these days, so there's a bit more exposure to it and prep for it.

I don't know how related this is, but I thought it was funny to see the pregame stats. In particular, the three point against stat. So often, that's touted by us as justification for the zone. Something the zone does well, even in the face of observation/the eyeball test, where we routinely see some nobody go off for career bests against us. So, we were defending the 3 at 29%. Seems pretty good, right? BC was also defending at 29%, and they were a team at 7-6 with losses to Hartford, Fairfield, and Harvard? So, what does that stat mean? And of course, we gave up an insane shooting day to another player...

"Lazy coaching by JB?" But isn't Hopkins running the practices? How do you know who's being lazy?

 

[Eric15]

And another way it isn't thoughtful and full of randomness, is saying the ships sinking in the big picture and leaving out how many players we had leave early, and sanctions. Now, that's not to say JB isn't at fault for some things, but there's a ton of randomness contributing to what we're experiencing, this season.

After starting 25-0 in 2014, we finished 3-6. Then we lost 13 games in 2015, and then 14 games in 2016. We will most likely lose more than 14 games this season.

You wouldn't categorize this as a sinking ship?

 

[Cusefan0307]

After starting 25-0 in 2014, we finished 3-6. Then we lost 13 games in 2015, and then 14 games in 2016. We will most likely lose more than 14 games this season.

You wouldn't categorize this as a sinking ship?

Battle, Lydon, and Thompson will be here next year. That's 3 guys we should be able to win with. Now we have no PG, but the cupboard isn't completely bare.

 

[Zelda Zonk]

And another way it isn't thoughtful and full of randomness, is saying the ships sinking in the big picture and leaving out how many players we had leave early, and sanctions. Now, that's not to say JB isn't at fault for some things, but there's a ton of randomness contributing to what we're experiencing, this season.

Some of that makes sense. But we only lost one player from last year as a surprise, and we replaced him with a guy who shoots a better percentage.

Saying the ship is not/sinking reminds me of the Climate Change debate. Some people will say it's a downward trend, and others will say it's a small sample size, affected by many random, non-predictive factors...

But, this is an unprecedented level of suck. Like getting hit by a tsunami and having to acknowledge, "Hey, it's a tsunami. Does it matter what caused it?"

 

[syrcuse]

Offensively, we limit ourselves. Defensively, even if the zone sometimes is the world's greatest weapon, it stands to reason that over time, it will gradually be less and less of a 'mystery' for the opposition. A few more teams play it these days, so there's a bit more exposure to it and prep for it.

I don't know how related this is, but I thought it was funny to see the pregame stats. In particular, the three point against stat. So often, that's touted by us as justification for the zone. Something the zone does well, even in the face of observation/the eyeball test, where we routinely see some nobody go off for career bests against us. So, we were defending the 3 at 29%. Seems pretty good, right? BC was also defending at 29%, and they were a team at 7-6 with losses to Hartford, Fairfield, and Harvard? So, what does that stat mean? And of course, we gave up an insane shooting day to another player...

"Lazy coaching by JB?" But isn't Hopkins running the practices? How do you know who's being lazy?

The boss is the guy for the wins and losses. Has anyone ever quoted Hop's asst coaching record??? Nope...win or loose (and we have been doing tooo much of the latter), the lazy coaching opinion of mine goes on JB. He's the captain of the ship. He gets the glory...he gets the grief.

 

[Killdozer]

Hes trying to adapt. Ie how many diff starting lineups this year? 4-5? But none of them have worked

Yeah...4-5 different lineups with a total of 7 players in the lineup change. JB doesn't use a bench and doesn't change from the zone. He will never change that philosophy because he is like all old people......status quo is the best direction. Old people hate change on any daily functions.

 

[Eric15]

Battle, Lydon, and Thompson will be here next year. That's 3 guys we should be able to win with. Now we have no PG, but the cupboard isn't completely bare.

I respect your optimism and I would love to be wrong, but that feels like a 16-13 type team again.

 

[pfister1]

The garbage FF argument for validating the horrendous job JB has done this year is weak. That FF has nothing to do with where we stand currently as a program. Will potentially finish last in the ACC this year and have two recruits. Boeheim has done a complete crap job this year. Zero adjustments. Nothing new. No concepts on offense. EVERYONE on this team stinks right now.

That is flat out false. He has made all kinds of adjustments, just not the biggest one that people want to see; put effort into seeing if this team can play man to man defense better than it can zone.