General20
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St. Francis is a short but athletic team. Everybody on their A team (like us, their starting line up is different than their finishing line up) is between 6'2 and 6'6. St. Francis's calling card is an in your face defense that cuts off passing lanes (think Villanova), and their coach (a former St. John's assistant) is very familiar with our zone.
They have shown this year (with an upset of Miami) and in past years, that they have a style that can produce early season upsets, but I had an idea going into the game that their high pressure D might be easier for Syracuse's young guys to handle than zone's have been. This was, of course, not the case.
Syracuse's offensive struggles came from a lack of movement. Looking on this board after the game, I saw some people attributing this lack of movement to a lack of effort which is wrong (you don't put up the the record Syracuse has over the past five years including being as close to perfect against non-conference opponents as any program in the country, without putting forth the necessary effort). Syracuse's lack of movement came from being confused as to what to do.
St. Francis is smaller and quicker than Syracuse and used that quickness to overplay passing lanes with the idea that they could stifle ball movement and force Syracuse into well covered (bad) shots. It worked. Against a defense like this some level of misdirection is necessary. The ball handler (in this game almost always Ennis) has to beat his man off the dribble with an eye towards forcing specific defensive rotations that will open things up. This is easy to say but hard to do, especially when there's a defender in your face actively trying to take the ball and you have never been asked to do it before.
Remember, Syracuse only had ONE day to prepare for St. Francis after playing all season against less athletic more passive teams, and that lack of preparation looked like it played a big role in the game. All the athleticism and heart in the world means nothing if you don't know where you should be running. Syracuse was too stationary because they are still learning how to attack these kinds of teams, and their primary ball handler was the most confused of all, so the guy that could have made everybody else look better, instead made everybody else look worse.
There was also a lot of talk on this board about how Syracuse's lack of game experience is hurting them. And that seems, to me, like the correct thing to take from this game.
Syracuse's defense was far more upsetting than their offense. St. Francis (like the VAST majority of teams we will play this year) slowed the game down and tried to limit possessions, usually a losing proposition against Syracuse that involves turning down some okay shots in favor of worse shots later in the shot clock. In this game, St. Francis was able to run the clock down AND get good shots - including at least 5 lay ups with the clock running down - the ultimate basketball sin.
Boeheim was clearly groping for defensive continuity in the second half. That is why he sat Coleman. That is why he sat Ennis for a huge stretch. The problem was, nothing worked.
Syracuse's D was spread by a team of guards, leaving our center alone to guard a quicker 6'6 post player, and all three of our center's got abused in turns (with the exception of Keita seeming to figure out what he needed to do just before fouling out).
Everything I've said so far has been negative, and lets not kid ourselves, Syracuse is not as good as they need to be right now (I'm expecting at least one loss in Maui). However, the story is not all negative.
Here are some of the positives I saw:
Ennis had a terrible game but his problems were 100% mental, against close to major D1 competition he was not psychically outmatched in any way, in fact one of his problems was that he blew by his man only to miss the lay up on three different occasions. You have to think the mental stuff will be worked out.
Gbinije seemed fully competent against pressure (which quite frankly surprised me in a good way), like Ennis, his biggest problem was missing good shots when he got them.
Keita, Christmas, and Coleman as a unit have produced offensively and on the boards 100% of the time the opposition has played man D against us.
I have said before that I am of the belief that good teams generally perform at a high level early and continue to improve, and when you don't perform well early you put yourself in a hole that is hard to climb out of. We have seen enough from Syracuse to know they are obviously not performing at a high level right now. Yet, most of the individual attributes I look to as an indication of future success are actually coming along quite nicely.
Going into the year I though Cooney would be the player whose performance our season could swing on, and he looks great so far.
Ennis looks more than capable of handling the job (Syracuse has a long history of freshmen guards who actually play better in conference against better opposition than they do out of conference, because it takes a while to learn everything you need to know to lead a team) I think Ennis's season will unfold this way.
The big guys look improved from last year.
Fair and Grant are Fair and Grant.
Gbinije seems to be a solid contributor, giving us a strong bench all around.
In short, Syracuse seems to have all the pieces necessary to succeed in the ACC, yet their performances have been poor. I'm not quite sure how to feel about this. Would I feel better if, say, Syracuse was beating these cream puffs by 40 but showing holes that might burn them later in the year (like Ennis not being able to handle the ball against pressure, or Cooney not being able to shoot)? I'd like to hear other people's opinions on this issue.
One thing I will say, Syracuse has a week off, and plenty of good tape to dissect. Will a week be enough to correct everything that is wrong? Probably not, but it could go a lot of the way towards a solution. I can't forget last years game against Temple. It might have been the single worst defensive performance I have ever seen from a Syracuse team, yet last year's team was probably the best defensive team Syracuse has ever had by March. Things change.
Here are some player breakdowns:
Ennis - Played terrible. He did not understand the level of activity it takes to beat a defense like that. I have every hope he will learn from this lesson, and I see no physical attribute or skill stopping him from doing so.
Cooney - Had a fantastic game. Of all the players on the team, Cooney was the only one who seemed to have a set plan of attack. He stayed patient and found some openings to shoot despite being blanketed by St. Francis guards, and when he could not shoot he went hard to the basket with great results (two lay ups, one lay up that rolled around and fell out but was tipped back in by Coleman - and two times where we was all but tackled and for some reason did not get the call, but will get the call 99% of the time going forward). I also want to point out that Cooney had maybe the most important play of the game. A steal late, where he read the passers eye and moved out of his area (into Ennis's) to intercept the pass and get fouled. Syracuse was down four at the time. If St. Francis had scored and gone up by six they win that game. Instead Cooney hit a free throw and cut the lead to three. Cooney was subbed out defensively a few times down the stretch but this is no knock on his defense which is excellent. Boeheim did this to get Gbinije's length in the game, and he took out Cooney instead of Ennis (who is not as good) because he did not want to be stuck in a situation where St. Francis was pressing and our only point guard was on the bench.
Fair - His shot just wasn't falling. He missed a couple lay ups he never misses on top of his long range shot being off (which is going to happen sometimes). Fair is better when he catches the ball closer to the basket. If you remember last year, Fair went through some early season struggles because he was setting up too far away from the basket. The problem this year is Grant is going to operate most of the time where Fair wants to be, so Fair is going to have to be a little more efficient from further away. This was his only bad game, so, I dont think there is much to worry about long term here.
Christmas - Had some defensive lapses (he was not alone) and didn't get a chance to shine much offensively. Overall it was not a great game for Christmas, but he did man the middle admirably when Keita fouled out and we needed to close the game out strong to win.
Coleman - Apparently he likes pressure D. Who knew? He was handling the ball with confidence on the perimeter, and blew by his defender once for a lay up. If he can hit that mid range shot (big if, that's the toughest shot in basketball) he may be really good for us in the high post. He was also a beast on the boards, as he has been all season. Many people are wondering why he was pulled in the second half. Its because he made a glaring defensive error allowing a lay up late in the shot clock. In hind sight, Keita and Christmas made mistakes too, but when the game is that close Boeheim needs to go with the players he trusts most. Coleman has not earned that trust yet, but this game was a step in the right direction.
Gbinije - Had a good game. Attacked the basket with some aggression, and missed a couple, but made a couple too. Handled the pressure well and played some good D.
Grant - Was the hero of the game, no doubt. Yes, he hit two free throws to ice it, which we all like to see. But more importantly he got an offensive rebound and put back to tie the game late, and even more importantly than that he stole the ball and lead a fast break that gave us the lead on the very next play. Besides three of the four most important plays in the game, Grant also had one of the most impressive blocks you are ever going to see, coming from nowhere to reject an open lay up. Honestly, except for the fact that this game was against St. Francis, it might have been the best defensive game I have ever seen from a forward. I think Grant has a chance to become one of our best defensive forwards ever by the time he is done (at least on par with Billy Owens, who it would be almost impossible to outright top). If I had a complaint it would be that I wish more of the offense went through him.
Keita - Normally Keita is amazing against these small quick teams, but he just did not seem to have it today. By the time he figured out what he needed to do, he had fouled out. On the plus side he looked dead eye from the free throw line when it counted.
Nobody else played in this game which tells you a lot about our rotation at the moment. Only Roberson has a legit shot to change things.
They have shown this year (with an upset of Miami) and in past years, that they have a style that can produce early season upsets, but I had an idea going into the game that their high pressure D might be easier for Syracuse's young guys to handle than zone's have been. This was, of course, not the case.
Syracuse's offensive struggles came from a lack of movement. Looking on this board after the game, I saw some people attributing this lack of movement to a lack of effort which is wrong (you don't put up the the record Syracuse has over the past five years including being as close to perfect against non-conference opponents as any program in the country, without putting forth the necessary effort). Syracuse's lack of movement came from being confused as to what to do.
St. Francis is smaller and quicker than Syracuse and used that quickness to overplay passing lanes with the idea that they could stifle ball movement and force Syracuse into well covered (bad) shots. It worked. Against a defense like this some level of misdirection is necessary. The ball handler (in this game almost always Ennis) has to beat his man off the dribble with an eye towards forcing specific defensive rotations that will open things up. This is easy to say but hard to do, especially when there's a defender in your face actively trying to take the ball and you have never been asked to do it before.
Remember, Syracuse only had ONE day to prepare for St. Francis after playing all season against less athletic more passive teams, and that lack of preparation looked like it played a big role in the game. All the athleticism and heart in the world means nothing if you don't know where you should be running. Syracuse was too stationary because they are still learning how to attack these kinds of teams, and their primary ball handler was the most confused of all, so the guy that could have made everybody else look better, instead made everybody else look worse.
There was also a lot of talk on this board about how Syracuse's lack of game experience is hurting them. And that seems, to me, like the correct thing to take from this game.
Syracuse's defense was far more upsetting than their offense. St. Francis (like the VAST majority of teams we will play this year) slowed the game down and tried to limit possessions, usually a losing proposition against Syracuse that involves turning down some okay shots in favor of worse shots later in the shot clock. In this game, St. Francis was able to run the clock down AND get good shots - including at least 5 lay ups with the clock running down - the ultimate basketball sin.
Boeheim was clearly groping for defensive continuity in the second half. That is why he sat Coleman. That is why he sat Ennis for a huge stretch. The problem was, nothing worked.
Syracuse's D was spread by a team of guards, leaving our center alone to guard a quicker 6'6 post player, and all three of our center's got abused in turns (with the exception of Keita seeming to figure out what he needed to do just before fouling out).
Everything I've said so far has been negative, and lets not kid ourselves, Syracuse is not as good as they need to be right now (I'm expecting at least one loss in Maui). However, the story is not all negative.
Here are some of the positives I saw:
Ennis had a terrible game but his problems were 100% mental, against close to major D1 competition he was not psychically outmatched in any way, in fact one of his problems was that he blew by his man only to miss the lay up on three different occasions. You have to think the mental stuff will be worked out.
Gbinije seemed fully competent against pressure (which quite frankly surprised me in a good way), like Ennis, his biggest problem was missing good shots when he got them.
Keita, Christmas, and Coleman as a unit have produced offensively and on the boards 100% of the time the opposition has played man D against us.
I have said before that I am of the belief that good teams generally perform at a high level early and continue to improve, and when you don't perform well early you put yourself in a hole that is hard to climb out of. We have seen enough from Syracuse to know they are obviously not performing at a high level right now. Yet, most of the individual attributes I look to as an indication of future success are actually coming along quite nicely.
Going into the year I though Cooney would be the player whose performance our season could swing on, and he looks great so far.
Ennis looks more than capable of handling the job (Syracuse has a long history of freshmen guards who actually play better in conference against better opposition than they do out of conference, because it takes a while to learn everything you need to know to lead a team) I think Ennis's season will unfold this way.
The big guys look improved from last year.
Fair and Grant are Fair and Grant.
Gbinije seems to be a solid contributor, giving us a strong bench all around.
In short, Syracuse seems to have all the pieces necessary to succeed in the ACC, yet their performances have been poor. I'm not quite sure how to feel about this. Would I feel better if, say, Syracuse was beating these cream puffs by 40 but showing holes that might burn them later in the year (like Ennis not being able to handle the ball against pressure, or Cooney not being able to shoot)? I'd like to hear other people's opinions on this issue.
One thing I will say, Syracuse has a week off, and plenty of good tape to dissect. Will a week be enough to correct everything that is wrong? Probably not, but it could go a lot of the way towards a solution. I can't forget last years game against Temple. It might have been the single worst defensive performance I have ever seen from a Syracuse team, yet last year's team was probably the best defensive team Syracuse has ever had by March. Things change.
Here are some player breakdowns:
Ennis - Played terrible. He did not understand the level of activity it takes to beat a defense like that. I have every hope he will learn from this lesson, and I see no physical attribute or skill stopping him from doing so.
Cooney - Had a fantastic game. Of all the players on the team, Cooney was the only one who seemed to have a set plan of attack. He stayed patient and found some openings to shoot despite being blanketed by St. Francis guards, and when he could not shoot he went hard to the basket with great results (two lay ups, one lay up that rolled around and fell out but was tipped back in by Coleman - and two times where we was all but tackled and for some reason did not get the call, but will get the call 99% of the time going forward). I also want to point out that Cooney had maybe the most important play of the game. A steal late, where he read the passers eye and moved out of his area (into Ennis's) to intercept the pass and get fouled. Syracuse was down four at the time. If St. Francis had scored and gone up by six they win that game. Instead Cooney hit a free throw and cut the lead to three. Cooney was subbed out defensively a few times down the stretch but this is no knock on his defense which is excellent. Boeheim did this to get Gbinije's length in the game, and he took out Cooney instead of Ennis (who is not as good) because he did not want to be stuck in a situation where St. Francis was pressing and our only point guard was on the bench.
Fair - His shot just wasn't falling. He missed a couple lay ups he never misses on top of his long range shot being off (which is going to happen sometimes). Fair is better when he catches the ball closer to the basket. If you remember last year, Fair went through some early season struggles because he was setting up too far away from the basket. The problem this year is Grant is going to operate most of the time where Fair wants to be, so Fair is going to have to be a little more efficient from further away. This was his only bad game, so, I dont think there is much to worry about long term here.
Christmas - Had some defensive lapses (he was not alone) and didn't get a chance to shine much offensively. Overall it was not a great game for Christmas, but he did man the middle admirably when Keita fouled out and we needed to close the game out strong to win.
Coleman - Apparently he likes pressure D. Who knew? He was handling the ball with confidence on the perimeter, and blew by his defender once for a lay up. If he can hit that mid range shot (big if, that's the toughest shot in basketball) he may be really good for us in the high post. He was also a beast on the boards, as he has been all season. Many people are wondering why he was pulled in the second half. Its because he made a glaring defensive error allowing a lay up late in the shot clock. In hind sight, Keita and Christmas made mistakes too, but when the game is that close Boeheim needs to go with the players he trusts most. Coleman has not earned that trust yet, but this game was a step in the right direction.
Gbinije - Had a good game. Attacked the basket with some aggression, and missed a couple, but made a couple too. Handled the pressure well and played some good D.
Grant - Was the hero of the game, no doubt. Yes, he hit two free throws to ice it, which we all like to see. But more importantly he got an offensive rebound and put back to tie the game late, and even more importantly than that he stole the ball and lead a fast break that gave us the lead on the very next play. Besides three of the four most important plays in the game, Grant also had one of the most impressive blocks you are ever going to see, coming from nowhere to reject an open lay up. Honestly, except for the fact that this game was against St. Francis, it might have been the best defensive game I have ever seen from a forward. I think Grant has a chance to become one of our best defensive forwards ever by the time he is done (at least on par with Billy Owens, who it would be almost impossible to outright top). If I had a complaint it would be that I wish more of the offense went through him.
Keita - Normally Keita is amazing against these small quick teams, but he just did not seem to have it today. By the time he figured out what he needed to do, he had fouled out. On the plus side he looked dead eye from the free throw line when it counted.
Nobody else played in this game which tells you a lot about our rotation at the moment. Only Roberson has a legit shot to change things.
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