Kansas Can, SU Couldn't Postgame Thread

[Sherman20]

This is a great point. With 5min left, we were down by 2pts and had Kyle on the bench for some reason. We had a very disjointed possession with 3 Timeouts left. You can chalk this up to either inexperience or poor coaching. It's very frustrating to watch Kansas go on a run to close out the game. You can knock Kyle's free throw shooting, but we need his defense and rebounding.

Freeman would help with rebounding and spacing. We really drop off when Kyle isn't in the game. There was no flow on offense today against a much softer defense. Very frustrating game...

Kansas has a top 10 defense, per KenPom. They’re not soft.

 

[Cusefan0307]

This is what I can’t figure though. “A lack of quickness on the perimeter” but yet we’re fine defensively. Like how can the two ends of the court be so far apart? The athleticism is there on defense yet offense it’s like well what do we now, lost.

On paper from everything we know from last year is that except for Kyle and Sadiq this team should be BETTER offensively than defensively. Yet so far it’s the opposite. I just don’t get it.

He’s just saying things because that’s what he does. We got in the paint fine we just can’t shoot and run nothing on offense.

 

[NineOneSeven]

Need players to make better decisions in transition & by better decision I mean pull it back and execute an offensive set.

I actually think we need to score more in transition. The offensive sets are where we end up going 1v1 or settling for a long 3.

 

[swish7]

I don’t think hyperbole and glibness is helpful here. But, yes, we barely got any ball movement and not enough off ball screening actions. When we did they were poorly executed. Autry and the staff need to do a better job at working on the offense and getting the players to execute. He can’t just rely on high ball screens or revert to iso ball when that doesn’t work.

What we write here doesn't change the performance.

I don't feel its hyperbole. We don't shoot good shots. Its as if the 2nd or 3rd guy who touches it is gonna shoot.

Its not exactly like judah mintz hero ball, but its close.

Off some action could potentially generate better shots, open & in rhythm shots for certain. However, we aren't running any action. I am not sure what we are running.

Shots aren't falling bc they aren't good shots.

Meanwhile, Kansas took whatever the defense eventually gave them.

Overall better than recent years, but not good enough for March Madness at this rate.

 

[gmoney44]

I still don't understand why so many seem so happy we lost

No one is happy about losing but most sane people kind of expected it. We can have all the money in the world to buy players it won’t matter until we get a big boy coaching staff.

 

[gmoney44]

What we write here doesn't change the performance.

I don't feel its hyperbole. We don't shoot good shots. Its as if the 2nd or 3rd guy who touches it is gonna shoot.

Its not exactly like judah mintz hero ball, but its close.

Off some action could potentially generate better shots, open & in rhythm shots for certain. However, we aren't running any action. I am not sure what we are running.

Shots aren't falling bc they aren't good shots.

Meanwhile, Kansas took whatever the defense eventually gave them.

Overall better than recent years, but not good enough for March Madness at this

We are flawed team. Have fixed some glaring issues from prior years but have regressed with free throws and amazingly become worse shooting from 3pt line. I don’t feel confident with one person on this team to shoot ft, maybe Donnie? Our best shot to win games is tempo from start to finish. We will lose games trying to burn clock.

Unfortunately uptempo teams tend to get fouled a lot. That isn’t a winning strategy for a team that air balls free throw shots.

 

[MSOrange]

I still don't understand why so many seem so happy we lost

Can you point me to examples where people are "happy" we lost?

 

[Red Holzman]

Just happy to finally see an SU team that again:
- Goes toe to toe with the best, instead of getting boat raced.
- Plays Big Boy Ball -strong players that hold their own instead of pushed all over the floor.
- Plays Tenacious D.
- Shows fight and plays with emotion.

Not yet where we want to be-
But a loooong way from what we've watched for quite a while.

Sure- painful losing due to abysmal FT shooting and poor FG%.
But these new guys come to play, and potential for improvement over the season provides hope.
So again- just happy to again be able to watch the entire game against top teams vs. turning it off to preserve my sanity.
They can't shoot, but I'll ride with these guys b/c they get after it and the shooting HAS to come around LOL!

 

[swish7]

Just happy to finally see an SU team that again:
- Goes toe to toe with the best, instead of getting boat raced.
- Plays Big Boy Ball -strong players that hold their own instead of pushed all over the floor.
- Plays Tenacious D.
- Shows fight and plays with emotion.

Not yet where we want to be-
But a loooong way from what we've watched for quite a while.

Sure- painful losing due to abysmal FT shooting and poor FG%.
But these new guys come to play, and potential for improvement over the season provides hope.
So again- just happy to again be able to watch the entire game against top teams vs. turning it off to preserve my sanity.
They can't shoot, but I'll ride with these guys b/c they get after it and the shooting HAS to come around LOL!

Agree somewhat, but again, its the shot selection & what leads up to the shot selection, that is killing this team, at the moment.

The low FG% is secondary to the main issue - too many dudes shooting bad shots while being defended well and too early in the clock. Also not a fan of JJ trying to outrace 4 dudes that have a head start on him.

 

[MSOrange]

Agree somewhat, but again, its the shot selection & what leads up to the shot selection, that is killing this team, at the moment.

The low FG% is secondary to the main issue - too many dudes shooting bad shots while being defended well and too early in the clock. Also not a fan of JJ trying to outrace 4 dudes that have a head start on him.

Agree and I think the shot selection goes back to problems with the whole offensive system, as you allude to.

 

[hoopsupstate]

Yes...JJ, Kiyan and Betsey were a combined 9 of 38.
Bad shooting and some bad shots.

But the real issue was REBOUNDING.
49-29.

True, some of that margin was Kansas rebounding bad shots.
But with that disparity the Orange could prevail in turnovers 15-2...and it meant very little.
Typically that margin would mean the ballgame.

And free throws will haunt this team all season.
It's embarrassing...and should be.
And Kyle will have to come out down the stretch of some close games.

Betsy was 4-10. Nothing wrong with that.

 

[JKinUtah]

Can you point me to examples where people are "happy" we lost?

There’s posters openly happy with each loss thinking it’s one more nail in the coffin for Autry and the staff

There’s posters who are more concerned with being right about pointing out the flaws in this team than they are with actually winning games.

And there’s a certain portion of posters who just enjoy it more when things aren’t going well and they can complain incessantly. It’s just not fun for them when we play well.

 

[hoopsupstate]

We looked disjointed on offense yesterday. We didn’t move the ball and our shot selection was awful. All of our perimeter players just squared up their man and went iso. You get to the basket with ball movement creating angles to drive. You don’t just by facing up your man thirty feet from the basket. That’s all Kiyan and JJ did yesterday. George has to get the ball moving and stop all the dam dribbling. That’s all this team does it dribble. Very disappointed yesterday. Our offense was just horrible. None of our shots were created by flow or tempo. Red needs to take a look at Fennell today. We need someone who can shoot and maybe make an extra pass once in a while.

 

[MSOrange]

There’s posters openly happy with each loss thinking it’s one more nail in the coffin for Autry and the staff

There’s posters who are more concerned with being right about pointing out the flaws in this team than they are with actually winning games.

And there’s a certain portion of posters who just enjoy it more when things aren’t going well and they can complain incessantly. It’s just not fun for them when we play well.

I won't argue that being right on the internet is way more important than it should be to some people. But most of what I have read, or at least that's stuck with me, is people mad as heck at the product we've put on the court this week with some of the same issues from last year when we're being asked to support the program facilities, infrastructure and now paying players.

 

[Red Holzman]

Agree somewhat, but again, its the shot selection & what leads up to the shot selection, that is killing this team, at the moment.

The low FG% is secondary to the main issue - too many dudes shooting bad shots while being defended well and too early in the clock. Also not a fan of JJ trying to outrace 4 dudes that have a head start on him.

Can agree-
Generally, was just saying "HAPPY to again/FINALLY see players capable of beating ranked opponents".

Red, and his schemes:
That's another topic LOL.

 

[Cusefan0307]

I saw a fresh team that played well against a top 5 team yesterday and despite a ton of errors (bad free throw shooting) they still almost pulled out a win.

I saw a team that didn’t bring the same energy level today. They played worse and lost, even though they had a chance to take the lead with under 5 minutes to go. Other than limiting turnovers, there wasn’t a lot of good play from the team. Bad shooting, bad rebounding.

Additionally, we didn’t have our best player.

I see a team that hasn’t played its best game. A team that hasn’t had its full complement of players. I see a team with lots of potential. Significantly more than the last several seasons of Syracuse basketball.

I think the problem is Syracuse fans have been stuck in the doldrums having watched bad basketball for nearly a decade they are desperate for a great team again. Desperate for wins against top teams. I get it. I want the same. I think this team finds a way to fix or hide their flaws and puts together a competitive season making the NCAAT.

I don’t know if energy is an excuse. We played mostly fine defensively. Kansas shot 31% from 3 and turned the ball over 12 more times than us. We just cannot score.

 

[OrangeFoo]

I'll reserve final judgement until after Tennessee but my summarised thoughts on this season are this... Coming into the season we didn't know whether Autry could put together a roster and whether he could coach that roster or not.

Roster - I give Autry an B for roster development. It goes 11 deep in legit players and there are a lot of complementary pieces. This is a good team with a high floor. It's clear that Autry has a vision for what he wants his teams to look like and how they should play and most importantly can execute that vision from a recruitment perspective. Also many bonus points for improving the strength and conditioning of the team and the general intensity. Unfortunately, he couldn't control the injury to Donnie. The only reason this isn't an A is that there is no legit elite game breaking talent on the team

Coaching - I give Autry a solid C for coaching... for the record last year he was the later after E and before G so a C is huge improvement. Most importantly for me, the team clearly is buying into what he wants to do and is trying their hardest to execute it. This is a well coached team... they know what they want to do and they execute it. Also I did see Autry yank JJ for bad play on O and on D so he is trying to hold them accountable. But when the team literally can't score... he needs his best offensive threats in the game so I get why JJ was in. I also disagree with those who say the rotation doesn't make sense... I think generally it does, although I do agree that the Zephir subs when you need offense is weird. Generally speaking this is a fun team that plays hard and is a pleasure to support.

On defense Autry gets an B. We will be one of the best defensive teams in Syracuse history and I think one of the the better teams in the country. Last year the D strategy was stay in front of your man and if that didn't work it was an easy path to the basket because there was absolutely no rotations or secondary help strategy that I can see. This year there is still the tight man to man emphasis, but there are also fun traps and hedges thrown in and the is a secondary help strategy. Most importantly, Autry has recruited really good players for his system. Only reasons this isn't a B is that I don't like the token full court pressure approach... either do it or not. I think they should do it to get much needed easy baskets. The other issue is the rebounding stinks.

On offense Autry gets a D. As man have pointed out the offensive strategy does not get guys shots in rhythm. It's basically a vanilla offensive strategy predicated on beating your man... much like the D was last year. I think because the lack of a strategy proven guys like George and Kingz are not looking great. They didn't just all of the sudden forget how to play offense. Unfortunately the lack of offense is going to tank the team unless this gets fixed. I think the easiest fix to push the tempo so they avoid the half court sets at all costs... I'm not sure why Autry doesn't do this more.

What does this mean for Autry? As of now I say bring him back. If we see the same improvement on O next year that we saw on D and roster construction this year we will have a really strong coach. Should we have paid Autry 3mm a year to learn on the job? Probably not. But I don't think we should burn it all down... I see the vision and I see the strategy. He needs to prove he can execute.

I'm excited to see what the rest of the year brings and I can honestly say that's the first time I could say that in a 5+ years.

 

[OrangeFoo]

holy moly I can't post the letter that comes after E and before G in a post without it getting edited out?

 

[RedtheGOB]

We looked disjointed on offense yesterday. We didn’t move the ball and our shot selection was awful. All of our perimeter players just squared up their man and went iso. You get to the basket with ball movement creating angles to drive. You don’t just by facing up your man thirty feet from the basket. That’s all Kiyan and JJ did yesterday. George has to get the ball moving and stop all the dam dribbling. That’s all this team does it dribble. Very disappointed yesterday. Our offense was just horrible. None of our shots were created by flow or tempo. Red needs to take a look at Fennell today. We need someone who can shoot and maybe make an extra pass once in a while.

If only we knew why. Must be Autry ha. Maybe. OR maybe it's the leading scorer and best player on the team not playing. AND a Kansas team that got a chance to sit back and watch our Houston game from the blackjack table after beating up a weak ND team. They took us out of the paint and it worked, we didn't adapt. yea it's on the players and coaches.

If we weren't on a such a terrible many year long skid of pain with hoops this wouldn't even be a blip on the radar on November 26th.

Quick Edit. *Anyone said that we would make the tourney without Donnie Freeman is lying. Yet here we are playing the big dawgs without him.

 

[rocklloyd]

Unfortunately uptempo teams tend to get fouled a lot. That isn’t a winning strategy for a team that air balls free throw shots.

Well, playing half court basketball is not an option, so keep getting fouled until other team gets into foul trouble. Either way we’re in trouble.

 

[Fly Rodder]

I won't argue that being right on the internet is way more important than it should be to some people. But most of what I have read, or at least that's stuck with me, is people mad as heck at the product we've put on the court this week with some of the same issues from last year when we're being asked to support the program facilities, infrastructure and now paying players.

Last decade plus. I stopped shelling out $2k a year for seats. If the school isn’t going to make an effort, I’m not going to subsidize them. I’ve got eggs to buy.

 

[OrlandoCuse]

I don’t know if energy is an excuse. We played mostly fine defensively. Kansas shot 31% from 3 and turned the ball over 12 more times than us. We just cannot score.

Bad legs lead to missed shots

 

[swish7]

Can agree-
Generally, was just saying "HAPPY to again/FINALLY see players capable of beating ranked opponents".

Red, and his schemes:
That's another topic LOL.

100%

 

[wiCuse]

Kansas has a top 10 defense, per KenPom. They’re not soft.

Sherm, for some perspective we had the #1 defense a few games ago. I'm willing to bet that Houston has better defensive numbers than KU. My point was, we're coming off the Houston game and you'd expect things to slow down and be more efficient on offense.

 

[Cusefan0307]

If only we knew why. Must be Autry ha. Maybe. OR maybe it's the leading scorer and best player on the team not playing. AND a Kansas team that got a chance to sit back and watch our Houston game from the blackjack table after beating up a weak ND team. They took us out of the paint and it worked, we didn't adapt. yea it's on the players and coaches.

If we weren't on a such a terrible many year long skid of pain with hoops this wouldn't even be a blip on the radar on November 26th.

Quick Edit. *Anyone said that we would make the tourney without Donnie Freeman is lying. Yet here we are playing the big dawgs without him.

Kansas was missing their best player too. It’s not an excuse for the offense we are running. You’re making me think you are in fact Red Autry himself posting here.