Lack of depth and thus lack of subs with game ready players

[NineOneSeven]

Means poor defense.

It's been downright poor this year. And the above factors are huge contributors.

UNC, Va Tech, Pitt. Teams are getting open looks and scoring the ball easier than I can remember. Pitt thrashed us for a good portion of the second half.

Props to our guys for again hanging tough. G and Rak in particular.

Rak- 23 [9-13], 12, and 6 blocks.
G- 23 [9-15], 4 steals.

Cooney had one of his worst games of the season, in my opinion, and we didn't get enough [although, I thought Kaleb played okay] from the role players to pull this one out. Cooney has the green light, I get it, but that doesn't mean shoot anything on the floor.

Have I mentioned how much I love Rakeem Christmas? What a player.

 

[dasher]

Means poor defense.

It's been downright poor this year. And the above factors are huge contributors.

UNC, Va Tech, Pitt. Teams are getting open looks and scoring the ball easier than I can remember. Pitt thrashed us for a good portion of the second half.

Props to our guys for again hanging tough. G and Rak in particular.

Rak- 23 [9-13], 12, and 6 blocks.
G- 23 [9-15], 4 steals.

Cooney had one of his worst games of the season, in my opinion, and we didn't get enough [although, I thought Kaleb played okay] from the role players to pull this one out. Cooney has the green light, I get it, but that doesn't mean shoot anything on the floor.

Have I mentioned how much I love Rakeem Christmas? What a player.

you've also mentioned Cooney before. He is it. We have three players that can score. He has to take those shots.

 

[Ghost]

Rak and G were outstanding most of the game.

Our forwards though, they're getting destroyed on the defensive boards of late - I get against UNC, they're big...but this was Pitt and they were all but useless out there. You can't have that - how many times does it look like Xmas is going one on 3 for the rebound? Far too often of late. I don't know if they're cheating out too much or what, but it's getting worse of late.

Cooney has moments where he becomes too interested in playing one-on-one. That stretch at the end of the first half was just odd - no clue what prompts him to do that when he's not hitting shots.

Overall, defense was crap.

 

[NineOneSeven]

you've also mentioned Cooney before. He is it. We have three players that can score. He has to take those shots.

He has to take step back fades with his foot on the line after we've had success in the paint?

Lol. No.

I get it- we need him to shoot. I don't disagree. And I rarely have an issue with it because, as you said, he has to. But don't tell me that just because someone needs to shoot, shot selection doesn't matter.

That's weak.

 

[longislandcuse]

I've really liked Cooneys game this year but today was a lot of hero ball when the ball needed to go to Rak.

 

[cliftonparksufan]

Means poor defense.

It's been downright poor this year. And the above factors are huge contributors.

UNC, Va Tech, Pitt. Teams are getting open looks and scoring the ball easier than I can remember. Pitt thrashed us for a good portion of the second half.

Props to our guys for again hanging tough. G and Rak in particular.

Rak- 23 [9-13], 12, and 6 blocks.
G- 23 [9-15], 4 steals.

Cooney had one of his worst games of the season, in my opinion, and we didn't get enough [although, I thought Kaleb played okay] from the role players to pull this one out. Cooney has the green light, I get it, but that doesn't mean shoot anything on the floor.

Have I mentioned how much I love Rakeem Christmas? What a player.

For the game we actually outshot Pitt. Too bad Cooney didn't shoot a little better. That and the one stretch where we were putrid shooting FT's really hurt us.

 

[tbonezone]

no interior defense and too many second chances down the stretch again.

 

[Briancuse]

I've really liked Cooneys game this year but today was a lot of hero ball when the ball needed to go to Rak.

Rak had 23 tonight, he can't score on every possession. When you have only three guys that can score, sometimes you have to put up some bad shots.

 

[CuseFaninVT]

I've really liked Cooneys game this year but today was a lot of hero ball when the ball needed to go to Rak.

And his defense has been consistently poor for so long now. I'm really tired to coming on here and reading about Kaleb's bad d. Cooney is almost as bad, and he's been playing this D for a lot longer. He rarely contests three point shots. Which is odd considering he's a 3-pt shooter.

The way he shot, his decisions, and his D accounted for one of his worst outings this year. Just bad.

 

[CuseFaninVT]

Rak had 23 tonight, he can't score on every possession. When you have only three guys that can score, sometimes you have to put up some bad shots.

I think he's talking about the possessions when Rak doesn't even get a glance.

 

[tbonezone]

rax put up 23 points on 13 shots. cooney only managed 12pts on 12 attempts

 

[Ghost]

Rak had 23 tonight, he can't score on every possession. When you have only three guys that can score, sometimes you have to put up some bad shots.

This reasoning is nonsense. Then why not have Rak take all the bad shots since he's the highest percentage shot?

Those shots were early in the shot clock quite often - G was playing fantastic on offense, we should be working the ball around.

 

[Briancuse]

This reasoning is nonsense. Then why not have Rak take all the bad shots since he's the highest percentage shot?

Those shots were early in the shot clock quite often - G was playing fantastic on offense, we should be working the ball around.

If I would have told you that rak and g would have had 23 each tonight, you have have said how many did we win by?

 

[rrlbees]

Means poor defense. It's been downright poor this year. And the above factors are huge contributors. UNC, Va Tech, Pitt. Teams are getting open looks and scoring the ball easier than I can remember. Pitt thrashed us for a good portion of the second half. Props to our guys for again hanging tough. G and Rak in particular. Rak- 23 [9-13], 12, and 6 blocks. G- 23 [9-15], 4 steals. Cooney had one of his worst games of the season, in my opinion, and we didn't get enough [although, I thought Kaleb played okay] from the role players to pull this one out. Cooney has the green light, I get it, but that doesn't mean shoot anything on the floor. Have I mentioned how much I love Rakeem Christmas? What a player.

Not disagreeing with you about Cooney but he only took a couple shots in the 2nd half. I hate that we don't run many specific plays for him with double screens or something. We could have used a couple of clean looks that 2nd half.

 

[DonLightfoot]

Are the excessive minutes hurting our defense and free throw shooting near the end of games? Are the starters just getting too tired? We seem to be a different team in the last five minutes or so. Granted, some of the replacements aren't performing that well when they are in there, but a few minutes here and there wouldn't make a big difference in the score during those stretches and our regulars may have a little more energy at the end. It is frustrating to see some of these games get away late. Just my very humble opinion.

 

[Ghost]

If I would have told you that rak and g would have had 23 each tonight, you have have said how many did we win by?

No, because even if Cooney scored 23 we might still end up with only 69 points!!

 

[OttoinGrotto]

He has to take step back fades with his foot on the line after we've had success in the paint?

Lol. No.

I get it- we need him to shoot. I don't disagree. And I rarely have an issue with it because, as you said, he has to. But don't tell me that just because someone needs to shoot, shot selection doesn't matter.

That's weak.

It's McNamara all over again, with the reasoning.

I'm hoping at some point Cooney figures out that taking bad shots doesn't help himself. McNamara never really did.

 

[tbonezone]

It's McNamara all over again, with the reasoning.

I'm hoping at some point Cooney figures out that taking bad shots doesn't help himself. McNamara never really did.

he's being coached by the master.

 

[SBU72]

With all the complaints, this team scored 78 pts. today. They are averaging 68 a game in the ACC. (including a 46 in one game) 82 over the last 3, two of which were away. This with only 3 guys who can reliably score.

 

[NineOneSeven]

Not disagreeing with you about Cooney but he only took a couple shots in the 2nd half. I hate that we don't run many specific plays for him with double screens or something. We could have used a couple of clean looks that 2nd half.

Pitt also went zone. I thought that was the time for some great looks. For some reason cooney was playing towards the corner while kaleb and g operated up top. I would have placed cooney up top because on ball reversals from kaleb is the perfect time for him to step into a 3. He rarely gets to do that.

 

[NineOneSeven]

With all the complaints, this team scored 78 pts. today. They are averaging 68 a game in the ACC. (including a 46 in one game) 82 over the last 3, two of which were away. This with only 3 guys who can reliably score.

The Original intent of this thread was to comment on the defense. Offense kept us in it, but the defense sputtered late.

 

[SBU72]

The Original intent of this thread was to comment on the defense. Offense kept us in it, but the defense sputtered late.

Didn't get that feel especially since you give both Rak's and G's stats and most of the comments were offense based.

 

[NineOneSeven]

Didn't get that feel especially since you give both Rak's and G's stats and most of the comments were offense based.

Haha, true. As I typed I figured I would just comment about some offensive numbers too instead of making another thread

 

[Col. Bleep]

Let's be honest and cut to the chase.
This is a VERY limited team.

We fade down the stretch.
We have only 4 people who are up to the standards we expect from Syracuse players (let alone starters).
And one of them is inconsistent (Cooney), one is a terrible foul shooter (Gbinije) and one is just a suitable role player (Roberson).

The fact that we can even keep games close should make us appreciate Rak all the more.
He is the only guy out there who would be a starter on some of the recent teams we've had.
He's playing 40 minutes and somehow going hard for all of them...putting up double-doubles while getting clobbered.

 

[TBCuse11]

Let's be honest and cut to the chase.
This is a VERY limited team.

We fade down the stretch.
We have only 4 people who are up to the standards we expect from Syracuse players (let alone starters).
And one of them is inconsistent (Cooney), one is a terrible foul shooter (Gbinije) and one is just a suitable role player (Roberson).

The fact that we can even keep games close should make us appreciate Rak all the more.
He is the only guy out there who would be a starter on some of the recent teams we've had.
He's playing 40 minutes and somehow going hard for all of them...putting up double-doubles while getting clobbered.

well said. Rak is having one of the best seasons in SU history. He better be 1st team All American.

Coon Dog has just become a chucker now. There is a huge middle ground between green light and what he did today.
Let it fly Trevor. Let it fly.