Kansas Pre Game Thoughts | Page 2 | Syracusefan.com

Kansas Pre Game Thoughts

rrlbees said:
The big win vs Maryland makes this game all gravy.
Expand...

You make a good point. I really thought this team would be JB's worst record in his career. I'm very happy to be proven wrong!
 
rrlbees said:
The big win vs Maryland makes this game all gravy.
Expand...

It put us in a good position obviously. KU is a huge opportunity for a signature win. Maryland was a good win but we will see how that looks in March. I think they take their lumps at times this year. It will probably look like a win over a peer team on Selection Sunday but the Big 10 is a little down this year. Those wins help but are not close to signature wins. We could use a few of those too.
 
For us to win the defense has to be stellar. I like the neutral location. Hopefully the lighting will be such our team does well sinking 3s.

I think what will be the difference is the character of our team. I think this team plays up to their competition. I think they stepped it up for Maryland. Now they have to take another step up to play Kansas. I think the talent is there. Once they are challenged I think our boys are going to shine! ORANGE SHINE!
 
Frank is the key Saturday. Will he step up and remain confident even if he struggles a little or will he blink. Gotta expect the new guys to be a little nervous. We need Frank and Battle to keep the ship moving.
 
Newhouser said:
Frank is the key Saturday. Will he step up and remain confident even if he struggles a little or will he blink. Gotta expect the new guys to be a little nervous. We need Frank and Battle to keep the ship moving.
Expand...
Tbh, I don't expect Oshae, Marek or Sidibe to be nervous.

We need to block shots in the paint and not let them collapse the D to get open looks from three.

On offense, we actually need to hit some threes.

Interested to see if we can still execute the high pick n roll against them. Frank has been deadly off that.
 
The good thing about the Kansas game is they have one of the lowest free throw rates of any Power 5 team. They also are the one of the smaller P5 teams we will face this year. We on the other hand are the tallest team in the country which directly correlates to having the 3rd highest 2 point percentage against, highest block rate, and 3rd highest steal rate in the country. We are also a considerably better rebounding team. Whether or not we have a chance comes down to if we can slow their offense with our size and continue to dominate the glass.
 
I really like Graham as a player. Kid can do a lot and as a senior, he's got a pile of big-game experience. He's struggled a bit at 3pt line this season and I hope he doesn't have a 6/7 game or something to bring his season average back in line with his career average.

This is going to be a tough game. Choo and Boo fouling out by the 30 minute mark seems pretty possible. If forwards are in a talent+experience deficit against another team, fouls go way up.

I do have faith that this team won't quit and are going to fight to the bitter end, which makes anything possible.
 
My only observation is that Kansas is destroying teams that we didnt destroy.
 
Dave85 said:
You make a good point. I really thought this team would be JB's worst record in his career. I'm very happy to be proven wrong!
Expand...

(You havent been proven wrong yet) <----- NOT a prediction of any kind. just posting an absolute fact.
 
We beat maryland shooting 3 for 18 from distance. Any chance against kansas starts with improving that stat significantly.

We would also need ty at 100%.

The d will have to hold up.

We would also need some decent minutes from thorpe.

Not predicting a w here, but if we get the above we just might have a halfway decent shot.
 
Cusefan0307 said:
That doesn’t mean much. We destroyed Monmouth last year and South Carolina had to beat them in overtime. How did that turn out?
Expand...

I think 3 games of transitive property is a bit more of an indication. But sports have generally proven that the TP theory does not apply.
 
I agree. One game is not a significant indicator. Three games is a lot more significant. Time will tell.
 
Cusefan0307 said:
The good thing about the Kansas game is they have one of the lowest free throw rates of any Power 5 team. They also are the one of the smaller P5 teams we will face this year. We on the other hand are the tallest team in the country which directly correlates to having the 3rd highest 2 point percentage against, highest block rate, and 3rd highest steal rate in the country. We are also a considerably better rebounding team. Whether or not we have a chance comes down to if we can slow their offense with our size and continue to dominate the glass.
Expand...
We are the tallest team in the country? I thought Duke was.
 
Kansas should pick up frank with full court pressure. That's really where he struggled last year and led to a lot of bad turnovers. Seems more composed this year but you never know.

Imperative we keep crashing the boards and we need more than 3 threes.
 
bballbeadle said:
We are the tallest team in the country? I thought Duke was.
Expand...

Not sure which team is the 'tallest', but we're certainly one of them, which is good.
But so is Kansas - no smurfs there either.

That may not matter much against Kansas, who plays 6.5 guys, and 5.5 of them are killer 3pt shooters who need to be guarded, and the other 1 is a beast, who is much bigger than anybody on our team.
4 of them are averaging 50% or better on 3's so far this season. <jaw drops>
The other 1.5 are both 30%+... which means one of them goes off against us, as is the custom.

Conversely, we only have 2 guys shooting 3's above 30% - Tyus and Frank.

We need to get their big into foul trouble, which means not settling for jumpers and driving it often.
They aren't really an elite shot blocking team (like we are), so we need to capitalize on that.
Also need to somehow stay out on all their shooters, which is hard when they have 4 of them on the floor at all times.
 
Cusefan0307 said:
The good thing about the Kansas game is they have one of the lowest free throw rates of any Power 5 team. They also are the one of the smaller P5 teams we will face this year. We on the other hand are the tallest team in the country which directly correlates to having the 3rd highest 2 point percentage against, highest block rate, and 3rd highest steal rate in the country. We are also a considerably better rebounding team. Whether or not we have a chance comes down to if we can slow their offense with our size and continue to dominate the glass.
Expand...

So no issues you think with us running our offense against them? Just another walk in the park?
 
SoBeCuse said:
So no issues you think with us running our offense against them? Just another walk in the park?
Expand...

I didn’t say anything about our offense. I know what Kansas advantages are. They will be favored by around 11 due to an incredible offense and solid defense.

I am pointing out our advantages according to Kenpom to offset the people who say we have no chance, but don’t say why. We have about a 20% chance to win. We need to slow the game down and we have a chance.

Unlike you, I hope they put Vick on Battle. Battle is taller and outweighs him by 30 pounds. I also think Oshae is going to have a big matchup advantage due to his size and athleticism. We are bigger at every position 1-4. We have to use our size to our advantage. This is all factual information spit out by Ken Pomeroy who is much smarter than me.
 
bballbeadle said:
We are the tallest team in the country? I thought Duke was.
Expand...


I forgot this: 12/14/68 Kansas 71 Syracuse 41. My description of that game in "From the Mists of Time":

"After a loss to Fordham came the trip to Kansas to play Kansas State and Kansas on successive nights. Both were national powers in those days. The Wildcats had no problem with SU, winning 68-88. But the real embarrassment came the next night when SU took on the Jayhawks for the first time ever. They were led by their star, Jo Jo White. Danforth decided the only way SU could stay in this game was with the stall. NC State had famously upset Duke in the ACC tournament the previous March by carrying the stall to its absurd end in a 12-10 win:
On March 8, 1968... - StateFans Nation

The thing is, they couldn’t even execute that properly. White and his teammates destroyed it with defensive pressure, running away from SU 41-71 while the crowd booed the Orange’s unwillingness to play normal basketball as well as their ineptitude at even executing their chosen strategy. This was the first of several games in this period that would contend for “The Bottom”- the time when the situation was as bad as it could be, with nowhere to go but up."
 
Off of last year, it seems the committee pays more attention to your losses than your wins. A great win doesn't seem to negate the bad losses. We don't want to get blown out but what we do in the subsequent non-conference games may be more important.

 
You must log in or register to reply here.

Forum statistics

Threads
169,632
Messages
4,842,515
Members
5,981
Latest member
SYRtoBOS

Share this page

Online statistics

Members online
177
Guests online
777
Total visitors
954
Totals may include hidden visitors.


...
Top Bottom