JB's Presser

[arbitragegls]

JB was almost meloncholy for this presser. He was very calm, quiet, and not in much of mood to answer some questions about playing time. Key points I took away from the presser after listening three times:

1. Fab's 2 FTs were big
2. Fair was terrific in first half
3. Scoop played a very good game...made a couple of shots toward the end that were big...expect that from a senior guard
4. Waiters is struggling...and that struggle has been in at least 2 or 3 games
5. Rebounding continues to be a problem
6. Team lets other teams back in (JB did not say this as bluntly but certainly hinted we do not put teams away)
7. We played better beginning and middle of year so far...last few games not so much
8. Never mentioned Triche at all...

The biggest note was his refusal to answer question about playing depth and who plays...His answer was simply game dynamics cause him to play who he wants...(no other comment) except he mentioned played well in Louisville game and will get more time (believe that was Triche)

I do have a few feelings about this game and the last couple that I want to point out (and of course I am pro Triche--just wanted everyone to know this)
1. Scoop can be dynamite and he can be bad Scoop but either way JB is going to ride this horse
2. I have noticed that Scoop and cousin Dion like to pass to each other...sometimes at cost of passing to others
3. Dion has not played especially well in last couple of games but JB continues to play him
--said previously that Waiters can break out at any time
--said tonight that Waiters is struggling
Question then is why Triche is being held on bench for most of second half...a couple of games...not saying Triche is better...but Waiters now has missed a bunch of drives without finishing..has not been sinking FTs...and has no 3 pt shot at all...so why isnt Triche or for that matter MCW getting some time...

Box Score (ESPN from tonight)
Waiters 27 minutes 7 pts(2-7), 50%FT, 2 asst, 3 TOs , 0 st
Triche 16 minutes 5 pts(2-4) 50% FT, 1 asst, 2 TOs, 1 st

This is a surprising finding since JB had tried most of season to give all 3 guards nearly equal time...and in fact, pulled Triche in a couple of games when he was hot to give Dion more time...

I want 'Cuse to win...doesnt really matter which player gets the most time or credit...but JB seems to be narrowing down his rotation and playing time significantly in last few games...and I do not believe Triche should be losing as much time to Waiters--the good news if there is any out of this is that Waiters has all but shed his oppty for NBA next year...he will most likely come back and that is good for 'Cuse...Just hope he gets back his swag before the NCAA this year.

 

[shermstheman]

JB was almost meloncholy for this presser. He was very calm, quiet, and not in much of mood to answer some questions about playing time. Key points I took away from the presser after listening three times:

1. Fab's 2 FTs were big
2. Fair was terrific in first half
3. Scoop played a very good game...made a couple of shots toward the end that were big...expect that from a senior guard
4. Waiters is struggling...and that struggle has been in at least 2 or 3 games
5. Rebounding continues to be a problem
6. Team lets other teams back in (JB did not say this as bluntly but certainly hinted we do not put teams away)
7. We played better beginning and middle of year so far...last few games not so much
8. Never mentioned Triche at all...

The biggest note was his refusal to answer question about playing depth and who plays...His answer was simply game dynamics cause him to play who he wants...(no other comment) except he mentioned played well in Louisville game and will get more time (believe that was Triche)

I do have a few feelings about this game and the last couple that I want to point out (and of course I am pro Triche--just wanted everyone to know this)
1. Scoop can be dynamite and he can be bad Scoop but either way JB is going to ride this horse
2. I have noticed that Scoop and cousin Dion like to pass to each other...sometimes at cost of passing to others
3. Dion has not played especially well in last couple of games but JB continues to play him
--said previously that Waiters can break out at any time
--said tonight that Waiters is struggling
Question then is why Triche is being held on bench for most of second half...a couple of games...not saying Triche is better...but Waiters now has missed a bunch of drives without finishing..has not been sinking FTs...and has no 3 pt shot at all...so why isnt Triche or for that matter MCW getting some time...

Box Score (ESPN from tonight)
Waiters 27 minutes 7 pts(2-7), 50%FT, 2 asst, 3 TOs , 0 st
Triche 16 minutes 5 pts(2-4) 50% FT, 1 asst, 2 TOs, 1 st

This is a surprising finding since JB had tried most of season to give all 3 guards nearly equal time...and in fact, pulled Triche in a couple of games when he was hot to give Dion more time...

I want 'Cuse to win...doesnt really matter which player gets the most time or credit...but JB seems to be narrowing down his rotation and playing time significantly in last few games...and I do not believe Triche should be losing as much time to Waiters--the good news if there is any out of this is that Waiters has all but shed his oppty for NBA next year...he will most likely come back and that is good for 'Cuse...Just hope he gets back his swag before the NCAA this year.

I think it comes down to how tentative Triche is. He fakes or stops on almost even possession he has when he should just let it rip. That's clearly not the case with Dion. You need to be aggressive to earn PT. I love Triche too- you can see how great he can be and he has shown flashes. But if he's not going to be aggressive then he's not going to get the time of the other two.

 

[iommi]

I agree with a lot of this...I just think that JB has a tendency to think that Dion is ready to break out at any time. Maybe he knows Brandon will be okay long-term but JB keeps playing Dion in the hopes that he'll get his "swag" back. To me, this can't be helping Brandon's already fragile psyche. As others have said, we need better production from the 2-guard spot than we've been getting lately. I love how much space we have between games in the regular season going forward. Plenty of time to practice and work out some kinks.

 

[JLine]

I believe that JB is doing what he thinks needs to be done to get us ready for March. And for us to go far, Dion needs to regain his confidence. I think he knows he can trust Triche to play his game regardless of his playing time but Dion needs the minutes to get back into the rhythm he had earlier in the year. Brandon's game is what it is. He's solid all around but he's not a dynamic player like Waiters. Dion carried us in the Marquette game in the tourney last year even though we didn't win and we're going to need that play making again. Triche will get plenty of time in the big games if he's playing well and Scoop or Dion are really struggling. He got plenty of minutes against Louisville when Scoop wasn't playing well.

 

[stuckinbig11]

JB answered your question: game dynamics. He obviously felt that Dion was a better call than Brandon under the circumstances. Southerland did not get much time, but with Fair playing as he did, the coach thought he should stay in. That does not mean that Southerland played poorly.

 

[Madbiker]

For SU to play at the explosive high level they did early in the season they need Dion to be productive again. His fall off is the biggest reason we are not the same high powered team. JB is trying to get him going again. Triche has not been shooting well for the last 6 games...he has missed 13 of his last 15 three point attempts. Triche is a solid player...Dion is an explosive player. To make a deep run we need Dion to get hot again.

 

[br801]

I agree with a lot of this...I just think that JB has a tendency to think that Dion is ready to break out at any time. Maybe he knows Brandon will be okay long-term but JB keeps playing Dion in the hopes that he'll get his "swag" back. To me, this can't be helping Brandon's already fragile psyche. As others have said, we need better production from the 2-guard spot than we've been getting lately. I love how much space we have between games in the regular season going forward. Plenty of time to practice and work out some kinks.

I've seen no evidence that Triche has a "fragile psyche." Please elaborate on that point, and don't tell me his demeanor is indicative of that.

If JB is dealing with a fragile psyche, it may be Dion's. For much of the season everything was coming easy for him and he was dominating, especially against weaker competition. So far, JB is giving him every opportunity to play his way out of this recent funk because he knows Dion's upside can take this team far. If he starts giving Dion the quick hook, he could lose him mentally and never get him back.

 

[triplethrea]

I've see no evidence that Triche has a "fragile psyche." Please elaborate on that point, and don't tell me his demeanor is indicative of that.

If JB is dealing with a fragile psyche, it may be Dion's. For much of the season everything was coming easy for him and he was dominating, especially against weaker competition. So far, JB is giving him every opportunity to play his way out of this recent funk because he knows Dion's upside can take this team far. If he starts giving Dion the quick hook, he could lose him mentally and never get him back.

I agree with this. Triche seems more "stable" than everybody else. Think of how many times he gets benched yet you never hear him bitch. He just goes out there and plays. Waiters is very high maintenance and WILL bring problems if he is unhappy. Boeheim knows this from last year and 30 something other years of experience. There has to be harmony and harmony in March is more important than a few losses in February.

If you ever read Bill Simmons he talks about "The Secret" and that secret is pretty much in order to win championships players must value teamwork over everything else. Everyone needs to know their roles, be happy with what they get, does not whine about contracts and playing time and so on. If anybody has the potential to disrupt the teamwork and chemistry of the team it is Dion. Everyone knows that.

Fingers crossed he starts playing better, otherwise things will go downhill fast on and off the court.

 

[br801]

I agree with this. Triche seems more "stable" than everybody else. Think of how many times he gets benched yet you never hear him bitch. He just goes out there and plays. Waiters is very high maintenance and WILL bring problems if he is unhappy. Boeheim knows this from last year and 30 something other years of experience. There has to be harmony and harmony in March is more important than a few losses in February.

I'll take a team full of those guys that never bitch and just go out there and play.

 

[44cuse]

Absolutely. But if any poster on this site said those things...they'd get run out of "town". (?) What's the right phrase for being run off a message board? Our admins are good enough not to ban alternate viewpoints, so you won"t get booted. But you will get ridiculed by the head in the sands.

44cuse

 

[STEVEHOLT]

Maybe just maybe coach realizes that they need waiters to win it all. they need good waiters that is. they need good waiters to come back and the only way that could happen is by letting bad waiters run around until good waiters intervenes.

on the other hand..brandon is brandon. he is what he is. he is okay. but he is not this diamond in the rough that is playing under his abilities due to some lack of confidence or aggression. he's simply not that good and coach knows it. when he starts a drive to the basket, you can literally go to the kitchen for a snack and get back before he is at the rim. i dont think he really provides us with anything other than the three point shot and really we are not going to that shot in our sets much in these types of games.

 

[SarasotaPaul]

Maybe just maybe coach realizes that they need waiters to win it all. they need good waiters that is. they need good waiters to come back and the only way that could happen is by letting bad waiters run around until good waiters intervenes.

on the other hand..brandon is brandon. he is what he is. he is okay. but he is not this diamond in the rough that is playing under his abilities due to some lack of confidence or aggression. he's simply not that good and coach knows it. when he starts a drive to the basket, you can literally go to the kitchen for a snack and get back before he is at the rim. i dont think he really provides us with anything other than the three point shot and really we are not going to that shot in our sets much in these types of games.

Waiters is what he is, he can drive to the basket and throw up a prayer before you get back from the kitchen. This is a very important stat for those that actually don't know much about BB except for the occasional highlight real stat, time to and from the kitchen and ignore defense, team play and ball security. Did I even mention hitting free throws yet?

 

[jtorange]

--the good news if there is any out of this is that Waiters has all but shed his oppty for NBA next year...he will most likely come back and that is good for 'Cuse...Just hope he gets back his swag before the NCAA this year.

We'll see ... but I doubt it.

 

[310Pigpen]

Is Dions hand worse now than what it was a month ago? Not saying this is the issue with him just wondering if its almost 100% yet or he just likes the tape.

 

[tipphill]

I've seen no evidence that Triche has a "fragile psyche." Please elaborate on that point, and don't tell me his demeanor is indicative of that.

If JB is dealing with a fragile psyche, it may be Dion's. For much of the season everything was coming easy for him and he was dominating, especially against weaker competition. So far, JB is giving him every opportunity to play his way out of this recent funk because he knows Dion's upside can take this team far. If he starts giving Dion the quick hook, he could lose him mentally and never get him back.

you sir, are totally correct. at the game yesterday i thought in the last 4-5 minutes triche should have been in . i believe he came back in with 1+minute left. but yeah jb is letting dion play through his slump. triche is as stable as a rock as is scoop

 

[Ghost]

2. I have noticed that Scoop and cousin Dion like to pass to each other...sometimes at cost of passing to others


Box Score (ESPN from tonight)
Waiters 27 minutes 7 pts(2-7), 50%FT, 2 asst, 3 TOs , 0 st
Triche 16 minutes 5 pts(2-4) 50% FT, 1 asst, 2 TOs, 1 st

#2 is nonsense. People pushed this a lot last year with a certain person ignoring Triche (maybe some validity tbh), but where are you coming up with this now? Just to throw out one example you can go rewatch, and then you can counter with all the examples of Scoop/Dion ignoring everyone else, on KJo's last 3, Scoop had Dion wide open to his left, but ignored him, drove in and drew KJo's man into the lane for help and kicked it up top for the open 3. You're grasping at straws, but whatever.

Dion ignores everyone at times. It is what it is.

Quit using the 2-4 (50%) like Triche had a hot hand yesterday before he was pulled. He had an alley-oop from Scoop, and a breakaway. Otherwise, he shot 0% from the field (on just 2 shots - that's not a knock on Triche, just your stats. It's not like he knocked down a couple nice jumpers.

Throw me in the camp that thinks BT could have gotten a little run yesterday (and a couple of other recent ones) during the second half considering Dion's play, but with the way our guards are playing I wouldn't pitch a fit if MCW got a little run as well as long as we're playing a team that doesn't apply a ton of defensive pressure. At the end of the day though I'm not all that concerned either way - I think JB knows what he's doing.

 

[anglerman]

you sir, are totally correct. at the game yesterday i thought in the last 4-5 minutes triche should have been in . i believe he came back in with 1+minute left. but yeah jb is letting dion play through his slump. triche is as stable as a rock as is scoop

The real problem is that we shouldn't be having this debate. This team has 4 very good guards that should play in every game. The strength of this team was it's depth. SU was able to wear teams down earlier because the second group of players was as good as the first the truth is that coach has taken away the greatest attribute this team has by not fully utilizing the bench.

 

[chakka3421]

The real problem is that we shouldn't be having this debate. This team has 4 very good guards that should play in every game. The strength of this team was it's depth. SU was able to wear teams down earlier because the second group of players was as good as the first the truth is that coach has taken away the greatest attribute this team has by not fully utilizing the bench.

JB is a great coach and we obviously don't see what he sees. But if I were to ever point out a weakness in his coaching ability it's his lack of full utilization of his bench. We really don't have a superstar like Carmelo this year so the NC game will be elusive because he's not using all the weapons he has - we will see if this changes but I doubt it and we will end up with another sweet 16 team but no farther again frustrating everyone.

 

[SoBristol]

The real problem is that we shouldn't be having this debate. This team has 4 very good guards that should play in every game. The strength of this team was it's depth. SU was able to wear teams down earlier because the second group of players was as good as the first the truth is that coach has taken away the greatest attribute this team has by not fully utilizing the bench.

Three observations about our coach:
He isn't playing now (in mid Feb) to get ready for March. He is playing to win each game on the schedule, plain & simple.
He isn't working on anyone's psyche.
He has usually shortened the rotation this time of the year, and in the last 10 minutes of close games.

 

[billsin01]

I am pro Triche--just wanted everyone to know this)

1. Scoop can be dynamite and he can be bad Scoop but either way JB is going to ride this horse

2. I have noticed that Scoop and cousin Dion like to pass to each other...sometimes at cost of passing to others
3. Dion has not played especially well in last couple of games but JB continues to play him
--said previously that Waiters can break out at any time
--said tonight that Waiters is struggling

Question then is why Triche is being held on bench for most of second half...a couple of games...not saying Triche is better...but Waiters now has missed a bunch of drives without finishing..has not been sinking FTs...and has no 3 pt shot at all...so why isnt Triche or for that matter MCW getting some time...

Box Score (ESPN from tonight)
Waiters 27 minutes 7 pts(2-7), 50%FT, 2 asst, 3 TOs , 0 st
Triche 16 minutes 5 pts(2-4) 50% FT, 1 asst, 2 TOs, 1 st

I absolutely agree that Waiters is not playing well right now and I wouldn't mind seeing a bit more of Triche especially since Waiters' attitude can be an issue. But, I have a bunch of qualms with this post. For example:

-- The idea that anyone is "pro-Triche" or "anti-Triche" or any other player is crazy. I mean, if you like Triche's game, great. But I think it's pretty clear that basically all these guys can play.

-- Scoop is a really good player. We have to stop putting qualifiers on this and talking about good scoop vs. bad scoop. I mean, he can make maddening turnovers or take a few too many shots from time to time. But outside of FT shooting, the kid is putting together a terrific senior season. At the end of the day, he is going to be ranked among GMac/Autry/Pearl (3rd-6th) on the all-time assist list with 1200+ points and a total of somewhere around 15 losses in three years as the primary ball-handler for the Orange.

-- If Scoop and Dion have good chemistry, it wouldn't be a surprise, but I think your assertion is based largely on being "pro-Triche" as opposed to any sort of metric. Plus, Scoop LOVES finding Melo/KJ/CJ for alley-oops. As far as I know he's not related to any of those three.

-- And finally, one game isn't a trend. For the year, Waiters and Triche are averaging almost an identical number of minutes a game. I wouldn't be shocked to see this continue to be pretty even with slight skews in one direction from time to time.

 

[iommi]

My point on BT is that he seems to get down on himself and perhaps lacks confidence.

 

[anglerman]

JB has ta

Three observations about our coach:
He isn't playing now (in mid Feb) to get ready for March. He is playing to win each game on the schedule, plain & simple.
He isn't working on anyone psyche.
He has usually shortened the rotation this time of the year, and in the last 10 minutes of close games.

ken away the strength of this team playing 7 guys just isn't going to work with this group. Earlier we constantly had fresh bodies inthe gam with no drop-off in quality. Wecoukd wear the other team down. We can't do that with 7 guys
No one can deny that this I the deepest most talented team SU has ever had. The media was constantly talking about how we had too many answers for the other team. You can't continue to be as good by limiting the options that you have availble. The people who are going to say that JB is right no matter what are wrong here.

 

[SoBristol]

JB has ta
ken away the strength of this team playing 7 guys just isn't going to work with this group. Earlier we constantly had fresh bodies inthe gam with no drop-off in quality. Wecoukd wear the other team down. We can't do that with 7 guys
No one can deny that this I the deepest most talented team SU has ever had. The media was constantly talking about how we had too many answers for the other team. You can't continue to be as good by limiting the options that you have availble. The people who are going to say that JB is right no matter what are wrong here.

I am not saying JB is right (although he usually is) -- the point is that you can't expect our veteran HOF coach to change how he approaches tight games. He is going to ride his best horses, the ones he thinks are best for that game, and he is going to shorten the rotation as he always has.
Expect to see a lot of CJ, Scoop, Fair & Melo -- 30 minutes plus in any game that is closely contested -- and Dion is part of that equation (but more like 24 mins). It works, we get wins, JB won't be changing his approach.

If we fall behind and need to press, different story.
If we get a comfortable lead, different story.
Foul trouble for Kris or Melo, different story.
When the other team needs to foul in the backcourt, . . .
If BT hits his shots in the first five minutes of the game or the second half, different story. (Or if Scoop is off his game, as we saw at Louisville.)

 

[Flacusian]

I think it's great that we have continued to win, especially the recent close games which we've had. I'm just hoping that in addition to the reduction in the minutes to some players that there aren't some chemistry issues brewing. We have players who aren't playing as well as they have in the past and frankly having all 9 or 10 making positive contributions clearly makes this a better team.
Dion certainly isn't bringing it like he was earlier and hopefully will find his swag again. MCW? since the blow up on the bench has been nowhere to be seen. I'm hoping that their best play is still ahead of them as we head into the final stretch of the season.

 

[SoBeCuse]

I want James to get going. Dion will snap out of this. He can be such a willing passer but then he'll make a What play when he ignored Scoop in the corner yesterday and elected to attempt that crazy drive. Dion needs to play though. He and Scoop are the only guys who can penetrate and break down a defense right now.