JB's Presser after St Johns | Page 6 | Syracusefan.com

JB's Presser after St Johns

I think JB thought what he saw on paper for this team was a winning formula: two 5th year grad transfers with experience to make up for the losses of Cooney and G; three players who were good shooters (Lydon, White and Gillon); a more experienced Howard who could run the point; exceptional speed in Gillon; two good freshmen who could contribute; a 5th year senior at center; a rising star in Lydon; a 7-2 shot-blocker to anchor the zone; and a tenacious rebounder in Robo who finally came around in last year's tournament.

What he now sees, however, is: two 5th year grad transfers whose experience wasn't formed in JB's system; shooters who have proven to be streaky and unreliable; a more experienced Howard who is nevertheless prone to lapses and is not totally ready for the pressure of directing the offense; speed in Gillon that tries to do too much; two good freshmen who contribute sporadically at the moment; a 5th year senior at center who has stone hands and misses bunnies; a rising star who has trouble taking an aggressive role; a 7-2 center on IR; and a fragile senior (Robo) whose performance is unreliable. No cohesiveness, no chemistry, no leadership, no growth through the ranks that it evidently takes to play JB's game; and no Keita or Scoop on the floor to direct traffic and encourage younger players.

So if the grad transfer experiment was made as a way for SU to match the UK/Duke/UNC one-and-done recruiting, it doesn't look as if it's going to work. SU needs to continue to home-grow second-tier talent (read: players who know better than to jump to the draft in 1-2 years) if it's going to play the way it has in the past. SU has 8-player depth this year, but only on paper, which is the real punishment of the NCAA's ban -- JB doesn't have the 13 players he needs to extract the 7 best, play them, and either red-shirt some of the rest or leave them on the bench to better mesh with a future team. He just doesn't have that option now, and this "paper team" is crumpling before our eyes. To paraphrase Robin Williams' Alladin: Unlimited aptitude . . . itty-bitty achievement.-VBOF
 
Townie72 said:
Booing college kids on their home court is always wrong. It's behavior you'd expect from morons. I haven't been in those arenas, but I have been in many, many others in the Big East, in the ACC, at Big Five games in Philly. I have never heard the home team booed.
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Totally agreed that booing college kids on their home court is always wrong. Unless it's a punk named Grayson Allen tripping/kicking an opponent for the THIRD time.
 
suttree said:
Totally agreed that booing college kids on their home court is always wrong. Unless it's a punk named Grayson Allen tripping/kicking an opponent for the THIRD time.
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Allen vs draymond green, falls count anywhere no DQ Match at wrestlemania
 
Townie72 said:
When the game was out of reach, things broke down. When Coleman took that ridiculous 3 pt shot, it was hardly noticed. But it was more desperation and lack of discipline that quitting at least until things got completely out of hand.
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When TT fouled out, the game was already uptempo and Coleman and White couldn't get up and down the court. SJU has quickness at every position. I don't think the team quit but individual players made errors and showed poor effort at times. It seemed to me that their desperation eventually led to exhaustion mentally as much as physically.
 
I think people booed when howard couldn't inbound the ball, and we took a timeout. then, after the timeout we exactly the same play and couldn't inbound the ball resulting in a turnover. a lot of announcers talk about how good coaches run great plays out of timeouts. we don't even do that anymore.
 
VaBeachOrFan said:
I think JB thought what he saw on paper for this team was a winning formula: two 5th year grad transfers with experience to make up for the losses of Cooney and G; three players who were good shooters (Lydon, White and Gillon); a more experienced Howard who could run the point; exceptional speed in Gillon; two good freshmen who could contribute; a 5th year senior at center; a rising star in Lydon; a 7-2 shot-blocker to anchor the zone; and a tenacious rebounder in Robo who finally came around in last year's tournament.

What he now sees, however, is: two 5th year grad transfers whose experience wasn't formed in JB's system; shooters who have proven to be streaky and unreliable; a more experienced Howard who is nevertheless prone to lapses and is not totally ready for the pressure of directing the offense; speed in Gillon that tries to do too much; two good freshmen who contribute sporadically at the moment; a 5th year senior at center who has stone hands and misses bunnies; a rising star who has trouble taking an aggressive role; a 7-2 center on IR; and a fragile senior (Robo) whose performance is unreliable. No cohesiveness, no chemistry, no leadership, no growth through the ranks that it evidently takes to play JB's game; and no Keita or Scoop on the floor to direct traffic and encourage younger players.

So if the grad transfer experiment was made as a way for SU to match the UK/Duke/UNC one-and-done recruiting, it doesn't look as if it's going to work. SU needs to continue to home-grow second-tier talent (read: players who know better than to jump to the draft in 1-2 years) if it's going to play the way it has in the past. SU has 8-player depth this year, but only on paper, which is the real punishment of the NCAA's ban -- JB doesn't have the 13 players he needs to extract the 7 best, play them, and either red-shirt some of the rest or leave them on the bench to better mesh with a future team. He just doesn't have that option now, and this "paper team" is crumpling before our eyes. To paraphrase Robin Williams' Alladin: Unlimited aptitude . . . itty-bitty achievement.-VBOF
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Guard play is what has to improve. Ball handling is ridiculous. Frank Howard has no offensive game when it comes to shooting. He needs to pass the ball to the shooters and work the ball into the middle. John Gillon has real good speed but leaves most of his teammates behind. His penetration ability reminds me of Kaleb Joseph constantly going into the trees and getting rejected. I rather seem him drive to the foul line and dish off or shoot it from that area or from the 3 pt area.

We need the rest of the team to help Battle and White and Gillon get open for shots. The team is constantly setting a pick for the point guard. We need to open the floor for the shooters. Set picks for them. Once the shooters start hitting, that will open up the inside for Lyndon and Thompson, even Coleman.

There were too many 1 shot and done instances tonight. I also feel that we do not move the ball fast enough. Too often, the ball is in the point guard's hands when the shot clock is 7 seconds or less. Howard is not the person that Should be taking those shots. Have Lyndon and White, Battle or Gillon take the shot.

Howard needs to mature quick. He is making too many stupid fouls and dumb plays. I could not believe his fouls in the first half and the number of timeouts used in the first half.
 
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orangehomer said:
I think people booed when howard couldn't inbound the ball, and we took a timeout. then, after the timeout we exactly the same play and couldn't inbound the ball resulting in a turnover. a lot of announcers talk about how good coaches run great plays out of timeouts. we don't even do that anymore.
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That was a brutal and unacceptable sequence. Does what he draws up just not work anymore? I don't get it.
 
orangehomer said:
I think people booed when howard couldn't inbound the ball, and we took a timeout. then, after the timeout we exactly the same play and couldn't inbound the ball resulting in a turnover. a lot of announcers talk about how good coaches run great plays out of timeouts. we don't even do that anymore.
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Not being able to inbounds the ball isn't on the coach or the play, it is on a player. This is about the simplest play in basketball.
 
SoBeCuse said:
That was a brutal and unacceptable sequence. Does what he draws up just not work anymore? I don't get it.
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I don't have a great memory, but in both cases I think the play was for Andrew white to come off a double screen. he just isn't good at running off screens. or dribbling. or catching the ball, or passing it. or rebounding it. or playing defense for that matter.
 
Firstly, IMO, booing is just a stupid reaction to Anything. Think about what you're actually doing. Yelling 'booooooo.' Stupid.

Booing your own team? A group of teenagers? Stupid x2.

Nothing to do with whether they can 'take it.' It's just a moronic thing that has become normal.

Quit? The players started to jack up threes in a failed effort to recover points in a hurry. Individualistic efforts which put the rest of the team off-balance and out of position, and that led to run outs and dunks and that discouraged them and then they came back and needed to make up more points so they jacked up more threes... and so on and so on. It was a cascading failure. Just like how super bowl blowouts happen. Snowball effect that doesn't really exemplify the character or the talent involved. The kids reacted badly, but at least they didn't react with poor sportsmanship issues.

It was embarrassing. Made worse by not having timeouts to settle things down. Timeouts wouldn't have stopped the deluge, but they prolly would have slowed it.

What to do? The zone is no good this year. The staff has not shown an ability to teach man... for years. It's Team Meeting time. I think JB needs to overhaul himself: choose a starting 5, and sub the others for CAUSE, not penalty. Let them play and not be concerned with the Hook just because the other team scores. The zone is ALWAYS going to have defenders out of position, because the ball moves faster than the defenders, and because the other coach always knows where the defender is going to be. JB has a conniption every time the other team scores, and maybe it's just his team's makeup that has it getting down on itself each time it gets berated for giving up 2 points. These players are clearly better, individually, than they have shown, so there is something mental at work, which affects the physical. JB needs to change the mental game.
 
Cowtown said:
No offense to you, but the coach isn't the one playing. They need to look at themselves in the mirror, long and hard. They're the ones playing like this.
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For sure. I just am not sure I have faith in that what is being drawn up is working with this cast of characters. These guys have NO IDEA what they are doing out there. Still! It can't be all them.
 
Zelda Zonk said:
Snowball effect that doesn't really exemplify the character or the talent involved. The kids reacted badly,
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This sums up what I saw at the dome tonight (for my dad's birthday )
They need to get right with each other and come out like a squad and when they get punched they need to punch back together.

Zelda Zonk said:
I think JB needs to overhaul himself: choose a starting 5, and sub the others for CAUSE, not penalty.
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I like how you put that. The quick pull strategy obviously isn't working. Lydon is really the only guy with a sound game on both ends so we don't have that luxury. Coach is going to have to live with some mistakes for the sake of team chemistry/confidence. DC Should be held to 8-10min imo.

Zelda Zonk said:
These players are clearly better, individually, than they have shown, so there is something mental at work, which affects the physical. JB needs to change the mental game.
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Definitely better and certainly better/bigger/stronger than their SJU counterparts. This might be one of his most challenging jobs in his career.
 
SoBeCuse said:
For sure. I just am not sure I have faith in that what is being drawn up is working with this cast of characters. These guys have NO IDEA what they are doing out there. Still! It can't be all them.
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No worries, man. It wasn't a shot at you. :)
 
two3zone said:
“We’ve got everything, we’ve got depth, we’ve got shooters, and we’ve got size. This is the best team we’ve had in a long time.” Jim Boeheim talking to ESPN’s Jeff Goodman
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So what? That was months ago and he was wrong. I'm pretty sure that is his frustration. He has said several times this year he doesn't know why he made such an optimistic statement so early.
 
cuseguy said:
JB isn't nearly as driven as a recruiter as he once was. It happens. He isnt as visible on the trail as he once was.
He's letting his assistants do the leg work and it may be hurting us in terms of judging players and being seen. His lame duck status has probably also played a factor. His last game for SU could be in the first round of the ACC tourney. Tough to imagine.
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This may be correct, but has anyone mentioned (I haven't scoured through all of the posts) that the sanctions have created a jigsaw puzzle approach to recruiting?

There used to be a clear strategy to get mostly guys who would stay for a few years, plus one or two five stars. Now, the coaching staff has to get whomever is available and is ranked highly, even if they don't fit into any system. Gillon AND White? How does this square with trying to develop Howard and start Battle, who were the original recruits. It is almost like the two grad transfers became available and the staff took them simply because they could, not because they fit into the roster---especially given the previous general reluctance to use transfers. In other words they were filling the open scholarships with desperate players wanting to showcase themselves in a bigger spotlight. Not a recipe for a great, unselfish team.
 

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