Reply to thread

Message

[QUOTE="malpearl31, post: 2968069, member: 6520"]
Buddy did start the first 2 games of the season over Jalen, which takes a little bit away from your argument, but I get what you’re saying.

Looking back at it, I think the Georgia Tech game (right before Duke) was the turning point In the Jalen/Buddy story. Jalen was terrible against GT (4 turnovers in 12 minutes), while Buddy helped keep us somewhat in the game with three 3-pters (a season high for him at that point). When Jalen followed that up with an equally miserable performance the next game against Duke (another 3 turnovers in just 7 minutes), Boeheim benched him the next time out (vs Pitt) and Buddy stepped in with four 3-pters and a season-high 13 points. From that point forward, Buddy was clearly ahead in the rotation.

The other thing that hardly ever gets talked about (because most of us really don’t know) is how much practice factors into all of this. If Jalen struggled to take care of the ball and knock down open jumpers in practice, you could see Boeheim deciding to have a short leash on him during game action. Obviously I am speculating here (I am not an insider by any means), but it just doesn’t make sense to me that a guy like Jalen would be dominating or even playing well in practice but Boeheim just doesn’t play him. I think all Jim cares about is getting Ws, and he’ll play whoever he thinks gives him the best chance to do so. I also think it’s very fair to be critical of Boeheim for failing to develop bench guys at times - I think that ties back into his desire to win the game that’s right in front of him...
[/QUOTE]

Verification

What is a Syracuse fan's favorite color?