Jim Boeheim and Staff deserve a lot of credit.

[Cusefan0307]

Yeah, I know some of you hate his press conferences talking about lottery tickets. I know some of you want us to use the bench more. I know some of you wish we played man to man.

Let's get real people, the staff deserves credit for the improvements we have made. Look at the job coach B and his staff have done from game 1 to game 12. Cooney and Gbinije look like completely different players since the opener. Roc's getting better and better. All three of them have the look like they could carry the team on offense if needed. The team looked completely lost on offense in early games. People had given up on the season. Our ball movement is better and we are making open shots. This team has the look of a team that can be a good offensive team. With CMAC and Joseph, not quite there yet, I know our ceiling is even higher than what we have shown.

Defense is the next thing that must improve. We are playing the worst defense so far this year since the "Dynasty" season. I think we have only played defense this year when we were close or behind, and that has cost us in a few of the games we have been ahead. It's probably why we almost blew the Iowa game. It is the reason we blew the Nova and Michigan games, and part of the reason we lost to St. Johns.

Right now I think we have three guys comfortable where they are in the zone. Roc, Cooney, and G. Joseph, Cmac, and the 3 sons still don't know exactly where they should be, or maybe it was so easy for them in high school they think they can take breaks. They can't. If one guy isn't in the right position in the zone, chances are one of the other guys is going to try to compensate for another mistake. This leads to foul trouble on Roc, and gets everyone else out of position, which leads to layups and open threes. If we want to reach our ceiling, we need to now improve the defense. I'm confident JB and the staff will fix this next.

 

[cuserulesall]

Yeah, I know some of you hate his press conferences talking about lottery tickets. I know some of you want us to use the bench more. I know some of you wish we played man to man.

Let's get real people, the staff deserves credit for the improvements we have made. Look at the job coach B and his staff have done from game 1 to game 12. Cooney and Gbinije look like completely different players since the opener. Roc's getting better and better. All three of them have the look like they could carry the team on offense if needed. The team looked completely lost on offense in early games. People had given up on the season. Our ball movement is better and we are making open shots. This team has the look of a team that can be a good offensive team. With CMAC and Joseph, not quite there yet, I know our ceiling is even higher than what we have shown.

Defense is the next thing that must improve. We are playing the worst defense so far this year since the "Dynasty" season. I think we play have only played defense this year when we were close or behind, and that has cost us in a few of the games we have been ahead. It's probably why we almost blew the Iowa game. It is the reason we blew the Nova and Michigan games, and part of the reason we lost to St. Johns.

Right now I think we have three guys comfortable where they are in the zone. Roc, Cooney, and G. Joseph, Cmac, and the 3 sons still don't know exactly where they should be, or maybe it was so easy for them in high school they think they can take breaks. They can't. If one guy isn't in the right position in the zone, chances are one of the other guys is going to try to compensate for anothers mistake. This leads to foul trouble Roc, and gets everyone else out of position, which leads to layups and open threes. If we want to reach our ceiling, we need to now improve the defense. I'm confident JB and the staff will fix this next.

Nice wright up . This team has got a ton of upside ! Whoever faces the Cuse in the NCAA's is going to shake in there boots .

 

[RF2044]

Agree 100%. A couple of games ago, it didn't seem like we had the tools to turn things around. JB was highly critical of the team / their execution, and justifiably so. But the team has really rounded into form of late, and has the upside to still improve. A lot.

Hats off to the coaching staff.

 

[rrlbees]

Can't disagree with anything you've said and the staff deserves credit. But a big change is the team just growing up and getting some experience together. This is a very very young team and you could see early on they just needed some time. Everyone was new, in a new role, or would be relied on much more than last year.

 

[Shenexon]

One of the joys of JB's reign has been groups of kids that became a team, showing well with good runs. JB & the coaches do their part in placing players and the kids are showing promise as a team. Hope the team keeps growing. They had fun this last game and it could help keep them inspired.

 

[jimsonjunction]

Not sure if this can be attributed to coaching, but I noticed an increased effort during yesterday's game. Both Cooney and Gbinije were on the floor for loose balls in the first half, and if I recall correctly, we won possession on both of those which helped shake off the sluggish start.

Again, not sure if this is the coaches lighting a fire, if it's the player's own will to win, or if it's a combination of both - but it's fun to see our guys playing with urgency and intensity.

 

[orangefan13]

I have alot of faith in this team but it has weaknesses. I don't believe cooney or gbinije can carry us. Not to they are a threat to bring a larger combination buckets from creating their own shots off the dribble or dishing quick,easy assists every night. We need joseph to join in also.

So far they are only at 1-4 over 80% of the time (6 points) with joseph giving another 4. Not enough. We need to be closer to 20 then 10 in tough gritty halfcourt offense outside of Rak. And thats outside of foul shots.

What we are seeing is gbinije and cooney getting some space to knock down some shots, but that is a recipe that can hit a wall and fast. Especially as defenses get better and more aggressive as the season goes along.

We should set that as a team goal. 20 percent of our offense from tough gritty halfcourt offense outside of Rak. We hit that and we can be VERY GOOD.

If I were teams I would put my best guard and forward defender to faceguard G, and Cooney all game, force Joseph to force shos like nova did in the second half and just play alittle physical d against roberson and mccullough. Thats why we need to double our tough halfcourt production outside of rak.

 

[Millhouse]

I have alot of faith in this team but it has weaknesses. I don't believe cooney or gbinije can carry us. Not to they have a combination of creating their own shots off the dribble or creating 5-8 easy quick assists possibly every night.

So far they are only at 1-3 over 80% of the time. And that isn't going to put them on the line much either.
What we are seeing is gbinije and cooney getting some space to knock down some shots, but that is a recipe that can hit a wall and fast.

carry us how far?

i think most of us have lowered expectations this year. i want to get to 20 and squeak out an NCAA bid. i don't think anyone can carry us much farther than that, but right, i'd take it

 

[SUalldway]

Nice wright up . This team has got a ton of upside ! Whoever faces the Cuse in the NCAA's is going to shake in there boots .

I want Nova again - neutral court and non-flunkie refs!

 

[jordoo]

I have alot of faith in this team but it has weaknesses. I don't believe cooney or gbinije can carry us. Not to they are a threat to bring a combination of creating their own shots off the dribble and creating 5.5 plus quick,easy assists every night.

So far they are only at 1-3 over 80% of the time. And that isn't going to put them on the line much either.
What we are seeing is gbinije and cooney getting some space to knock down some shots, but that is a recipe that can hit a wall and fast. Especially as defenses get better and more aggressive as the season goes along.

However we also have Joseph if all three can average 8-10 buckets off the dribble outside of layups, that would be just as good. We need to get 20% of our points minimum off the dribble/with defenders all over us in the halfcourt, and 0 of those to be from raks usual. We should set that as a team goal. We hit that and we can be VERY GOOD.

I'm not sure any one player on this squad can carry us by themselves. Its the emergence of MikeG as the 3rd guy to help Cooney and Christmas carry the load that will make it easier on everyone else. Its exponentially harder in bball to defend 3 legit scorers than 2. Especially when at least two can shoot and one is a post player that demands help defense.

 

[orangefan13]

Had to reword my post.

Its not so much we need to be carried as we need more tough halfcourt buckets. G and Cooney are 2 of the top 50 players in the country in transition imo, but that doesn't translate to wins against good defenses.

I have alot of faith in this team but it has weaknesses. I don't believe cooney or gbinije can carry us. Not to they are a threat to bring a larger combination buckets from creating their own shots off the dribble or dishing quick,easy assists every night. We need joseph to join in also.

So far they are only at 1-4 over 80% of the time (6 points) with joseph giving another 4-6 points. Not enough. We need to be closer to 20plus then 10 in tough gritty halfcourt offense outside of Rak, and foul shots.

What we are seeing is gbinije and cooney getting some space to knock down some shots, but that is a recipe that can hit a wall and probably will fast. Especially as defenses get better and more aggressive as the season goes along.

We should set that as a team goal. 20 percent of our offense from tough gritty halfcourt offense outside of Rak foul shots, and spot up jumpers. We hit that and we can be VERY GOOD.

If I were teams I would put my best guard and forward defender to faceguard G, and Cooney all game, force Joseph to force shots like nova did in the second half and just play alittle physical d against roberson and mccullough to limit them to less then 10 points combined. Thats why we need to double our tough halfcourt production buckets outside of rak and foul shots right now, to be a much better team.

Balence, 15 from your leader, 25 from spots ups/ transition/putbacks, a solid 75% plus from the free throw line on 14 plus attempts, and a quarter of your points from tough half court buckets against pressure d, . Multidimentionality is everything. You don't need a star, and we kinda have one in rak.

 

[jordoo]

Had to reword my post.

Its not so much we need to be carried as we need more tough halfcourt buckets. G and Cooney are 2 of the top 50 players in the country in transition imo, but that doesn't translate to wins against good defenses.

I have alot of faith in this team but it has weaknesses. I don't believe cooney or gbinije can carry us. Not to they are a threat to bring a larger combination buckets from creating their own shots off the dribble or dishing quick,easy assists every night. We need joseph to join in also.

So far they are only at 1-4 over 80% of the time (6 points) with joseph giving another 4. Not enough. We need to be closer to 20 then 10 in tough gritty halfcourt offense outside of Rak. And thats outside of foul shots.

What we are seeing is gbinije and cooney getting some space to knock down some shots, but that is a recipe that can hit a wall and fast. Especially as defenses get better and more aggressive as the season goes along.

We should set that as a team goal. 20 percent of our offense from tough gritty halfcourt offense outside of Rak. We hit that and we can be VERY GOOD.

If I were teams I would put my best guard and forward defender to faceguard G, and Cooney all game, force Joseph to force shos like nova did in the second half and just play alittle physical d against roberson and mccullough. Thats why we need to double our tough halfcourt production outside of rak.

I'm not 100% sure about the stats but I understand the point and unfortunately we might not have that guy to get us 1on1 half court buckets this year. We will have to do it by moving the ball and getting good spacing. I agree that Joseph can help here. Its not the end of the world though as I recall a team in 09/10 that didn't really have any iso players either but had multiple options when they needed to score in the half court which made them hard to defend.

 

[orangefan13]

rautins and wes could pull up from a standstill with a defender in their face any given night. Big difference from mike and cooney shaking their man some games and many other games never.

 

[jordoo]

rautins and wes could pull up from a standstill with a defender in their face big difference then mike and cooney shaking their man.

True but Trevor has begun to make them off the dribble and both he and Mike may well be more dangerous than either Wes or Andy were off the bounce by seasons end. We also have a post in Rak that can make FT's (.723) so you can go to him late which was an issue with AO and Big Rick. That said its highly unlikely this squad ever reaches the lofty offensive highs of one of our best squads ever. I'm just saying scheme wise we are closer to that style than say when we had Melo or Jonny.

 

[orangefan13]

True but Trevor has begun to make them off the dribble and both he and Mike may well be more dangerous than either Wes or Andy were off the bounce by seasons end.

If so we should be competing for a 5 seed minimum late in the season and imo thats because we are in a very tough league this year, and drop a seed for the early season woes.

 

[jordoo]

If so we should be competing for a 4 seed minimum late in the season imo.

I'm not saying that but remember Wes was very weak off the bounce and although Andy had a strong handle he mostly used his drive to set up other guys and rarely scored himself off it.

 

[orangefan13]

But they could pullup from a standstill against any defender. Rautins wasn't bothered by it and wes would create alittle room to do so. Thats a rare quality for one guy to have and to have 2 is real rare. Gmac didn't even have that, but he could pull up off the dribble so well like kemba walker could. Cooney is getting there and extending his dribble drive this year could be the recipe to become more in that mold. Devendorf showed a bit of a standstill pullup under pressure as well.

Agree though cooney and gbinije have potential, I just think in conclusion, We need to double our production of tough halfcourt buckets outside of rak, to get to the next level without any doubts.

 

[OttoMets]

A quibble: this team is already playing better defense than the 2009 team. There are weak spots, but they'll only improve from here.

 

[jordoo]

But they could pullup from a standstill against any defender. Rautins wasn't bothered by it and wes would create alittle room to do so. Thats a rare quality for one guy to have and to have 2 is real rare. Gmac didn't even have that, but he could pull up off the dribble so well, Devendorf showed a bit of a standstill pullup.

Aren't these two different things. pullup is off the dribble on the move. Standstill is basically a jump shot. I will give you that Wes could shoot over almost anyone from a standstill and Rautins has a sickly quick trigger on catch and shoot but he wasn't elevating over guys from a standstill very often although he certainly made them with guys in his grill.

 

[jordoo]

A quibble: this team is already playing better defense than the 2009 team. There are weak spots, but they'll only improve from here.

Wasn't that the shut it down season where we just killed teams early in games with turnovers and runnouts?

I will say this that 09/10 team turned it over much more than the teams we have had since until this current squad.

 

[orangefan13]

Agree on rautins not elevating like wes. I always felt rautins also welcomed alittle tighter defense then wes to shoot over though, wes would make alittle bit more space then rautins imo. reguardless wes was also good with alittle pump fake like rautins.

Rautins and wes would recieve aball against the best faceguard defenders in the country and still make a shot over them one on one. I just haven't seen that at all from cooney and gbinije this year. But alittle dribble drive pullup can always compensate for that.

 

[orangefan13]

yeah i felt scoop was very good in 09-10 and got better as the season progessed but it really wasn't to 2 years later that he could run a true no high post up man offense with the best of them. His speed and fluidity really jumped from his soph to senior year imo

 

[orangefan13]

and cooney and gbinije are upperclassmen now with strength similar to scoop. They are starting to utilize their strength more like rak is. Love to have three strong bodied upperclassmen who are learning to use thier bodys more. Especially as we tend to lack strongbodied pf's these days.

 

[jordoo]

and cooney and gbinije are upperclassmen now with strength similar to scoop. They are starting to utilize their strength more like rak is. Love to have three strong bodied upperclassmen who are learning to use thier bodys more. Especially as we tend to lack strongbodied pf's these days.

I think its the strength combined with decisiveness. They aren't getting knocked off their line much without getting fouled and they seem quicker because they are playing with conviction. It is nice to have players that are physically developed to go with some game experience.

Was Rick the last legit strong PF we had?

 

[orangefan13]

I think its the strength combined with decisiveness. They aren't getting knocked off their line much without getting fouled and they seem quicker because they are playing with conviction. It is nice to have players that are physically developed to go with some game experience.

Was Rick the last legit strong PF we had?

agree and it keeps us underated. And joseph is starting to show flashes of dancing in the halfcourt instead of always being chased, only a matter of time to it clicks, and it could be this year.