Jurrasic Times.....

[newmexicuse]

I gotta say that our old dino coach is doing a great job with this group this season.

In the end, the lack of bodies may well do us in, but Jimmy has this group maximizing their potential at least for the time being.

The team has found it's identity. Our big three are in general playing to their max. I think there is room for improvement from Roberson and Joseph. Roberson is showing he is a terrific glass eater. I think he can be more consistent offensively, and we will need him to do that because sooner or later one of our big three will have an off night and somebody will have to pickup the slack. KJ has really come on in his ball handling and improving the dime to TO ratio. He has got to get back to taking and making his pullup Js. Big thing for him may well be just to improve his D.

Unfortunately, the bench is awful thin, so at least we can't criticize Jimmy for not using it. It is hard to expect great things game in and game out from Buss, BJ, or Chino, but at least once in awhile we need one of them to get hot & save a game.

Anyways, we are getting close to the time of the season when we often suffer mid-season swoons and we are also close to having the schedule toughen up. But for my money, I never would have thought we would have spent any time atop the ACC this season, so kudos to Jimmy for finding the formula to at least make this season interesting. Duke now looks beatable at least on a given night, so the important thing is that there is no reason we cannot at least be in the mix.

 

[bballbeadle]

We were predicted to be 5th in the ACC with McCullough. Now we are fighting for our tournament lives. My Carolina and Duke friends don't understand how vulnerable we are. They just see 4 - 0. We ARE vulnerable, but one of the things that is developing before our eyes is the stamina of this team. These guys are in terrific shape! Yes, I know, we worry that they will be worn down to nubs by the end of the season, but right now they have fire in their eyes and bellies. I am heartened by Christmas playing with more awareness about fouling. He knows he's the MAN.

Before the season started, we wrote about watching the team develop. We knew it would be rough, but the actual experiencing of it shook most of us up. In particular, that game against California - ow! But the Old Man has done it. We are now in position to be contenders. If we end up being 5th in the ACC, I would feel well satisfied.

 

[SoBristol]

Of that bench, Patterson has separated himself from Chino & BJ. At this point, he is our bench -- and JB is willing to go with him over Joseph in key stretches of games. That improves the defense, and moves Gbinije into the main role of initiating the offense.

No question that JB is doing a great job, maxing out what we have. And, to keep an even keel, we are coming off a tense, exciting, high scoring win -- so fans are feeling bullish. We are beating teams we expected to beat.

 

[br801]

Anyways, we are getting close to the time of the season when we often suffer mid-season swoons and we are also close to having the schedule toughen up.

Gee, might there be a correlation?

 

[RF2044]

It really has been a fine job by Boeheim and staff, getting this team to improve. A lot of people aren't going to like reading that, because of the groundswell of disgruntlement over JB's comments in press conferences, etc. But the fact of the matter is he took a group of largely inexperienced players who didn't have a clue how to play together at the beginning of the season, and he's shaped them into a functional offense.

Think of how inept we were at the beginning of the year offensively. I cringe thinking back to the Cal game, where everything was one-on-one, zero execution of half court offensive sets, congenital inability to hit jump shots, etc.

And then think of where we are today. Nobody's claiming that we're Loyala-Marymount in terms of scoring, but to go from "inept" to "solidly average" is a huge improvement, and a sign of the great job our coaching staff has done up to this point.

 

[SoBristol]

Yes, it all looked better on offense in a high-scoring game against Wake, but not so much putting up 46 on GT or 68 against VaTech.
I am not sure we know where we are today (somewhere between Wake and GT?), but for sure JB has made maximum use of his 4th year guys, and filled in around them.

 

[Alsacs]

How do NBA scout view Rak as an NBA prospect? Chad Ford said NBA analytics people are skeptical of 4th year Senior guys who make giant leaps. I think Rak will be a 2nd round pick who has a shot make a roster.

Simple goal for this team scrap enough wins to make March. Winning a game in the NCAA would be gravy.

 

[newmexicuse]

How do NBA scout view Rak as an NBA prospect? Chad Ford said NBA analytics people are skeptical of 4th year Senior guys who make giant leaps. I think Rak will be a 2nd round pick who has a shot make a roster.

Simple goal for this team scrap enough wins to make March. Winning a game in the NCAA would be gravy.

I have a neighbor who is an NBA scout. He recently went to Atlanta to scout us for the GT game. He was mostly interested in looking at McC. he said McC was no ways ready, but that at least (pre-injury) he thought somebody would take him at the end of the first round. I asked about Rak. My friend was impressed with his improvement, but wasn't thrilled by his quickness. He projected him into mid to late second round. It will be interesting to see if his opinion of Rak's draft position changes as the season progresses if Rak can continue to improve.

 

[moqui]

But the fact of the matter is he took a group of largely inexperienced players who didn't have a clue how to play together at the beginning of the season, and he's shaped them into a functional offense.

I agree that this has been one of JB's finest coaching jobs - even in a long career full of fine coaching jobs, this stands out - but I have to dispute your characterization of how he did it. I had anticipated the team getting better by JB coaching up the young players, but the fact is that he has largely abandoned giving them any major role in the offense and has instead leaned almost entirely on the upperclassmen. In conference play, Christmas/Cooney/Gbinije are providing about 70% of the FG attempts and nearly 80% of the scoring; the motion offense does look much more fluid, but for the most part the underclassmen are an afterthought.

that said, I do expect him to try and get more out of them going forward. I doubt that their total percentage of shots attempted will increase, but I do expect them to learn to take better shots & therefore their share of total points should increase.

 

[llandz]

I am not surprised. This is where JB always shines. Even 2003 was like this to an extent. Bringing the 1996 team to the Final Four.

 

[TBCuse11]

honestly though, we have 13 schollies. coleman and MCC are out. thats 11 left in theory. why do we have no bodies?

It's the Cuse way...

 

[moqui]

honestly though, we have 13 schollies. coleman and MCC are out. thats 11 left in theory. why do we have no bodies?

It's the Cuse way...

we only have 10 scholarship players on the roster . . . there is a theory out there that it is a self-imposed scholarship reduction that could impact the severity of the penalties

 

[CuseFaninVT]

honestly though, we have 13 schollies. coleman and MCC are out. thats 11 left in theory. why do we have no bodies?

It's the Cuse way...

I think we actually have only 11 scholarship players right now including those two who are out. That leaves us with 9 (unless Nasser is a walk-on).

 

[cuseguy]

honestly though, we have 13 schollies. coleman and MCC are out. thats 11 left in theory. why do we have no bodies? It's the Cuse way...

Some truth, but they never expected to lose both Grant and Ennis.

 

[TheCusian]

honestly though, we have 13 schollies. coleman and MCC are out. thats 11 left in theory. why do we have no bodies? It's the Cuse way...

Waiting patiently for the list of HOF coaches who play every guy on scholarship, every game.

JB's not the only coach to only play guys when the are ready. You could make the case that his longevity in coaching might be related to his ability to discern when a guy is ready or not.

 

[TBCuse11]

Waiting patiently for the list of HOF coaches who play every guy on scholarship, every game.

JB's not the only coach to only play guys when the are ready. You could make the case that his longevity in coaching might be related to his ability to discern when a guy is ready or not.

this has nothing to do with my comment. zip. the point is, we wont even have bodies (ready or not) to play if we have 3 guys foul out. we would be playing walk ons. that is not normal, regardless of how u want to spin it.

 

[TBCuse11]

Some truth, but they never expected to lose both Grant and Ennis.

i suppose. not complaining, just curious.

 

[cuseguy]

i suppose. not complaining, just curious.

We expect to have 13 on the roster next year, but it will probably be less and only 7-8 will play.

 

[RF2044]

I agree that this has been one of JB's finest coaching jobs - even in a long career full of fine coaching jobs, this stands out - but I have to dispute your characterization of how he did it. I had anticipated the team getting better by JB coaching up the young players, but the fact is that he has largely abandoned giving them any major role in the offense and has instead leaned almost entirely on the upperclassmen. In conference play, Christmas/Cooney/Gbinije are providing about 70% of the FG attempts and nearly 80% of the scoring; the motion offense does look much more fluid, but for the most part the underclassmen are an afterthought.

that said, I do expect him to try and get more out of them going forward. I doubt that their total percentage of shots attempted will increase, but I do expect them to learn to take better shots & therefore their share of total points should increase.

I'll in turn disagree with your characterization somewhat [lol]. The coaches altered the original offensive concept that we have every year, and instead have allowed the offense to flow through two wings [Cooney and Gbinije], who are both handling the ball a lot more than a 2's and 3's usually do, with the initiation of our half court offensive sets flowing through Gbinije. That's a wrinkle, and a fine coaching adjustment by JB and the staff. And kudos to those two players for rising to the occasion and helping to offset some of the current state deficiencies of our starting PG.

Agree 100% that the offense is completely based around 3 players scoring right now. That will have to change if we are to maximize the team's potential.

 

[CuseFaninVT]

I'll in turn disagree with your characterization somewhat [lol]. The coaches altered the original offensive concept that we have every year, and instead have allowed the offense to flow through two wings [Cooney and Gbinije], who are both handling the ball a lot more than a 2's and 3's usually do, with the initiation of our half court offensive sets flowing through Gbinije. That's a wrinkle, and a fine coaching adjustment by JB and the staff. And kudos to those two players for rising to the occasion and helping to offset some of the current state deficiencies of our starting PG.

Agree 100% that the offense is completely based around 3 players scoring right now. That will have to change if we are to maximize the team's potential.

Is that adjustment because the others were good at it, or because our 1 wasn't so great?

 

[Cusefan0307]

I'll in turn disagree with your characterization somewhat [lol]. The coaches altered the original offensive concept that we have every year, and instead have allowed the offense to flow through two wings [Cooney and Gbinije], who are both handling the ball a lot more than a 2's and 3's usually do, with the initiation of our half court offensive sets flowing through Gbinije. That's a wrinkle, and a fine coaching adjustment by JB and the staff. And kudos to those two players for rising to the occasion and helping to offset some of the current state deficiencies of our starting PG.

Agree 100% that the offense is completely based around 3 players scoring right now. That will have to change if we are to maximize the team's potential.

I don't think any other team in the ACC has a top three as good as us, but I'm not sure any other ACC school has a roster weaker after the top 3.

 

[RF2044]

Is that adjustment because the others were good at it, or because our 1 wasn't so great?

I think the latter. Could be wrong obviously, but the way I see it--look at how both Cooney / Gbinije were performing at the beginning of the season. Both of them were shooting poorly, neither one of them scoring consistently, etc. I know that the coaches had faith in Cooney especially, but it wasn't like he'd done anything to this point in his career to demonstrate that he was a complete triple threat guard like he's shown since La Tech.

So I think it was much more of an adjustment than just a reprioritization of who takes shots. And both Gbinije and Cooney have elevated their games, to their credit. And "elevated" is probably selling them both short.

 

[TheCusian]

this has nothing to do with my comment. zip. the point is, we wont even have bodies (ready or not) to play if we have 3 guys foul out. we would be playing walk ons. that is not normal, regardless of how u want to spin it.

Sorry. Thought you were banging the "JB's short rotation adversely affects our depth" drum.

Carry on.

 

[HoustonCuse]

You're saying he's progressed past the Jurassic! Great news!

I can picture igor now... Wearing an orange t-shirt with a Boeheim face on the front, 2-3 zone diagram on the back that says "CRETACEOUS D"