JB's reaction

[GoSU96]

We know JB is a hoops junkie and he had an oh moment Tuesday night, not that he didn't know what UK had.

There's a lot of good to say from a fan perspective about playing poorly and still beating a ranked rival, but right now SU is trying to play in a league of about 4 to 6 teams. And in that league, going 10 deep isn't a trump card that beats all hands.

 

[dasher]

I think if kentucky plays their A game every night in the NCAA it will be very difficult to see them losing. But better teams have lost in the NCAA.

 

[longislandcuse]

I think if kentucky plays their A game every night in the NCAA it will be very difficult to see them losing. But better teams have lost in the NCAA.

UK still hasnt gone up against a defense like ours. We obviously have to shoot better and rebound better to beat them but with our defense, I think we're the last team UK wants to see in the tourney.

 

[cusetown1]

Would really like for UK to lose to Vandy I could read ESPN and CBS articles again.

 

[MyMeloMyMan]

UK still hasnt gone up against a defense like ours. We obviously have to shoot better and rebound better to beat them but with our defense, I think we're the last team UK wants to see in the tourney.

You know how bad they could bully us on the glass? There is no way they would be scared of trying to grab 2nd chance boards over KJo and CJ Fair. They also stroke it well from the outside... so, Im not so sure you can zone Kentucky right now and think you are going to slow them.

 

[longislandcuse]

Would really like for UK to lose to Vandy I could read ESPN and CBS articles again.

I think UK's dismantling of UF made things worse for us because OSU and UNC all have issues like us but right now UK playing in the garbage SEC is looking invincible.

 

[cusetown1]

I think UK's dismantling of UF made things worse for us because OSU and UNC all have issues like us but right now UK playing in the garbage SEC is looking invincible.

How is UK and Florida in rivalry week? Is the SEC that bad they can't find anybody worth of playing UK?

 

[longislandcuse]

You know how bad they could bully us on the glass? There is no way they would be scared of trying to grab 2nd chance boards over KJo and CJ Fair. They also stroke it well from the outside... so, Im not so sure you can zone Kentucky right now and think you are going to slow them.

Oh, right now I completely agree. We have to get better to beat them, its just I think we can and will. Will we beat them if we face them, who knows...but I do think we will get alot better down the stretch. Also this was my worry all along of not playing Xmas at the 4 for more than 5 min a game...CJ will get owned downlow against UK. I dont even want to envision him throwing up his weak a$$ leaners in the lane against Davis.

 

[Guinness]

How is UK and Florida in rivalry week? Is the SEC that bad they can't find anybody worth of playing UK?

It is better than the UK vs. Vandy matchup they are calling a rivalry this weekend.

 

[Knicks411]

UK has played some really bad teams so far, their schedule was back loaded. But we also played some pretty bad teams to kick off our BE season.

Kentucky has also played Kansas, who is currently #3 in the country in defensive efficiency. (We're 14th). They played Louisville, who is 8th in the country, and Alabama, who is 10th in the country.

I'm sure you can quibble a bit with some of the ratings, but all of those teams rank higher than us. (Defensive rebounding is part of defense.) So I don't think you can say UK hasn't played a defense as good as ours. It's more appropriate to say that we haven't played a defense as good as theirs.

 

[General20]

We know JB is a hoops junkie and he had an oh moment Tuesday night, not that he didn't know what UK had.

There's a lot of good to say from a fan perspective about playing poorly and still beating a ranked rival, but right now SU is trying to play in a league of about 4 to 6 teams. And in that league, going 10 deep isn't a trump card that beats all hands.

Boeheim's reaction to the GTown game had nothing to do with Kentucky. Coaches dont think like fans. His statement had everything to do with UConn and getting his guys ready for the next game.

Boeheim knows that Georgetown is not a very good rebounding team and that UConn is one of the best rebounding teams in the Big East. He also knows that UConn is not likely to score very much against us unless they hit the boards very hard. He was getting his guys ready by making that comment. Its what coaches do.

I expect to see a better rebounding game from SU against UConn, even though they are better at grabbing boards than GTown, simply because they wont be able to spread us out as far as GTown could. The more the zone gets spread out, the harder it is to rebound out of. Remember how we dominated the boards against St. John's? Who, not coincidentally could not shoot the ball. UConn will be similar to that. I expect them to out rebound us, simply because they are a better rebounding team, but I dont expect the difference will be as big as it was against GTown.

 

[AZOrange]

How often does the best team going into the NCAAs actually win the thing?

 

[Knicks411]

How often does the best team going into the NCAAs actually win the thing?

Definitely less often than you'd think.

2011-no
2010-Duke was actually #1 in the Pomeroy ratings, but I don't think they were the favorite
2009- I think assuming Lawson was healthy, UNC was the favorite
2008- I actually can't remember, all 4 one seeds made the fianl four.
2007: Think most people had either UF or OSU as the top team
2006: definitely not
2005: yes
2004: UConn was a 2 seed, so I'm thinking they weren't the favorite
2003: no
2002: Think Duke was the favorite?
2001: yes?

 

[BlueCurtain]

Defensive rebounding is part of defense. So I don't think you can say UK hasn't played a defense as good as ours. It's more appropriate to say that we haven't played a defense as good as theirs.

It's incredibly convenient that some want to disassociate rebounding effectiveness from the system and personnel. You play that game 10 times we lose 5 or 6. Rebound like that vs Kentucky we lose 100 out of 100. I don't want to hear JB sound distraught when there are at least 2 strategic options to shore up the team's glaring weakness.

 

[NKR1978]

if we get to play kentucky, I will be the happiest person in the world because it means we're in the Final Four.

Anything can happen in the tournament. Selection Sunday is one of my favorite days of the year, but the tournament is nothing but stress. It's so miserable and wonderful at the same time.

 

[NKR1978]

Definitely less often than you'd think.

2011-no
2010-Duke was actually #1 in the Pomeroy ratings, but I don't think they were the favorite - I think KY was the favorite.
2009- I think assuming Lawson was healthy, UNC was the favorite Correct even though Louisville was the 1 see.
2008- I actually can't remember, all 4 one seeds made the fianl four. Kansas and Memphis were, and KU won.
2007: Think most people had either UF or OSU as the top team UF
2006: definitely not Agreed
2005: yes Agreed
2004: UConn was a 2 seed, so I'm thinking they weren't the favorite
2003: no
2002: Think Duke was the favorite? Duke was, their loss to Indiana was pretty shocking
2001: yes? Duke/Arizona from what I remember

 

[OttoMets]

Oh, right now I completely agree. We have to get better to beat them, its just I think we can and will. Will we beat them if we face them, who knows...but I do think we will get alot better down the stretch. Also this was my worry all along of not playing Xmas at the 4 for more than 5 min a game...CJ will get owned downlow against UK. I dont even want to envision him throwing up his weak a$$ leaners in the lane against Davis.

I know - he managed to get one of them blocked by the white kid last night. Davis would've blocked that with his elbow.

Darn shame that Christmas (didn't/wouldn't/wasn't allowed to) develop this year and we'll be relying on the slight 6'6" guy to play power forward. If we win it'll be in spite of that and not because of it.

 

[OttoMets]

Boeheim's reaction to the GTown game had nothing to do with Kentucky. Coaches dont think like fans. His statement had everything to do with UConn and getting his guys ready for the next game.

Don't discount the fact that it was a milestone win and Boeheim's not comfortable being fawned over. I think he was displeased with the rebounding but would have been a bit more measured had that been his 870th career win. He wanted to preempt all the 880 talk.

 

[AZOrange]

I know - he managed to get one of them blocked by the white kid last night. Davis would've blocked that with his elbow.

Darn shame that Christmas (didn't/wouldn't/wasn't allowed to) develop this year and we'll be relying on the slight 6'6" guy to play power forward. If we win it'll be in spite of that and not because of it.

"Christmas wasn't allowed to develop this year" is a funny statement in many ways. My guess is you probably said the same thing about Melo last year.

 

[AZOrange]

Definitely less often than you'd think.

2011-no
2010-Duke was actually #1 in the Pomeroy ratings, but I don't think they were the favorite
2009- I think assuming Lawson was healthy, UNC was the favorite
2008- I actually can't remember, all 4 one seeds made the fianl four.
2007: Think most people had either UF or OSU as the top team
2006: definitely not
2005: yes
2004: UConn was a 2 seed, so I'm thinking they weren't the favorite
2003: no
2002: Think Duke was the favorite?
2001: yes?

The tourney has NOTHING to do with being the best team going in...thats my point.

 

[OttoMets]

"Christmas wasn't allowed to develop this year" is a funny statement in many ways. My guess is you probably said the same thing about Melo last year.

I gave other options; I won't pretend to know why he's not out there. But he's not, and we're worse for it.

 

[pfister1]

Boeheim's reaction to the GTown game had nothing to do with Kentucky. Coaches dont think like fans. His statement had everything to do with UConn and getting his guys ready for the next game.

Boeheim knows that Georgetown is not a very good rebounding team and that UConn is one of the best rebounding teams in the Big East. He also knows that UConn is not likely to score very much against us unless they hit the boards very hard. He was getting his guys ready by making that comment. Its what coaches do.

I expect to see a better rebounding game from SU against UConn, even though they are better at grabbing boards than GTown, simply because they wont be able to spread us out as far as GTown could. The more the zone gets spread out, the harder it is to rebound out of. Remember how we dominated the boards against St. John's? Who, not coincidentally could not shoot the ball. UConn will be similar to that. I expect them to out rebound us, simply because they are a better rebounding team, but I dont expect the difference will be as big as it was against GTown.

I hope JB's reaction was more a response to our overall deficiency than prep for the UConn game. The UConn game in and of itself is not that important. Correctly our rebounding deficiency is.

We are absolutely dreadful on the glass and have been all season. It wasn't as apparent early on because we were playing teams that couldn't defend to save their lives and also couldn't do anything with the additional opportunities. Now that we are playing better teams the rebounding inadequacies are having a greater impact on the margins in the game.

For the season we are -0.5 in rebound margin
In conference we are -4.0 in rebounding margin

Going back to Florida:
Florida +7.0
Marshall -13.0
GW -4.0
NC St. -2.0
Bucknell +6.0
Tulane -5.0
Seton Hall -6.0
DePaul +3.0
Providence -1.0
Marquette +7.0
Nova +3.0
Prov. - 4.0
Pitt -12.0
N.D. -13.0
Cincy even
WVU -19.0
St. Johns +11.0
Georgetown -17.0


We are what we are and we are not a good rebounding team. We need to make a more concerted effort to get at least a little bit better. We may beat UConn rebounding like this, because they have their own very significant problems, but I don't like our chances against Louisville if they are all over us on the glass. I also don't like our chances to get very far once the tournament rolls around if we are continually getting beaten by double digits on the glass.

 

[Knicks411]

The tourney has NOTHING to do with being the best team going in...thats my point.

Definitely not, even the best team is going to have what, like a 10-15% chance of winning the whole thing?

 

[AZOrange]

I gave other options; I won't pretend to know why he's not out there. But he's not, and we're worse for it.

REally? You dont know why he isnt out there? Did you see him in the 3 minutes he was in there? JB doesnt play guys to feel good about themselves. He plays guys to win. Rak aint helping us win.

 

[SoBeCuse]

This isn't a Georgetown game problem. We have gotten creamed on the boards for the most part this season. I don't consider playing even on the boards with really weak teams a victory given that we trying to make a case for being among the country's elite teams.

We are absolutely dreadful on the glass and have been all season. It wasn't as apparent early on because we were playing teams that couldn't defend to save their lives and also couldn't do anything with the additional opportunities. Now that we are playing better teams the rebounding inadequacies are having a greater impact on the margins in the game.

For the season we are -0.5 in rebound margin
In conference we are -4.0 in rebounding margin

Going back to Florida:
Florida +7.0
Marshall -13.0
GW -4.0
NC St. -2.0
Bucknell +6.0
Tulane -5.0
Seton Hall -6.0
DePaul +3.0
Providence -1.0
Marquette +7.0
Nova +3.0
Prov. - 4.0
Pitt -12.0
N.D. -13.0
Cincy even
WVU -19.0
St. Johns +11.0
Georgetown -17.0


We are what we are and we are not a good rebounding team. We need to make a more concerted effort to get at least a little bit better. We may beat UConn rebounding like this, because they have their own very significant problems, but I don't like our chances against Louisville if they are all over us on the glass. I also don't like our chances to get very far once the tournament rolls around if we are continually getting beaten by double digits on the glass.

Right. This UConn game will be interesting. Those guys cannot shoot and score. Their only offense is second chances lately. Hopefully we can clean the rebounding up.

Louisville is playing really well and hard. Dieng/Benehan/Swopshire (Porter-like frame), even Kuric could have a field day in the paint cleaning up.