Level headed discussion

[Lawrinson14]

Although this loss was a little tough to take, it really isn't that big a deal in the grand scheme of things. However, if you can take your orange glasses off for a second, let's have a level headed discussion here.

So my question I pose to you is this: is this team as good as we have all pegged them to be?

I know, I know you probably think I'm just a pessimistic fan babling after a loss. But hear me out. The big east is very wated down this year. Battling against our conference foes has usually been a good barometer as to where we stand as a team. This year, the BE is so ass backward that it really might have skewed this barometer. Whereas other top teams have faced another 1 or 2 seed already to see where they stack up, the truth is we have not.

I for one think we have had an amazing year and will have a great run in the tournament. After all, 31-2 is 31-2.
I'm just afraid we all used a crooked measure stick when setting our lofty expectations.

 

[cusetiger10]

I want to see a non Big East team play a zone as well as Cincy did tonight AND shoot almost 70% in 1 half AND have 1/2 our team have off nights. Run on sentence, but I just don't see it.

 

[hoopsupstate]

You have to give Cincy credit. They made some plays to win the game. What I'll remember from this game that really hurt us are:
Triche's two missed free throws. Those two shots would have really tightened the noose against Cincy. Triche also had two absolutely, incredibly, awful passes. I can't believe he made those two passes. Melo's two bricks from the line. KJ for the upteenth time this year playing stupid defense on the wing. Coming up when the guard is already there and giving up wide open threes in the corner. He has done that so many times this year. His focus at time is unreal. I almost forgot Scoops horrible turnover near midcourt. Despite many wasted opportunities, we found a way to stay in the game.

Where in the world are our senior leaders? Scoop and Joseph have been pretty awful in the last two games.

How many just misses did we have on the press tonight? Dion was unreal. He just made himself a lot of money tonight. Unfortuately, he made a foul shot when he needed to miss it. Southerland came back to earth with a 1-7 night.

In the long run, this game showed us a lot. We fought like hell and almost pulled it off. It might be good to taste what a loss is without ending you season. As a team, we settled way too much tonight. Way too many threes. I think we took 29 threes. I hope Dion doesn't forget that he has to attack the rim and not just settle for threes. He is not going to go 6-7 very often. I still think Melo needs more touches on the block. It opens the floor up for us.

I just hope Cincy wins the whole thing. I can't stand ND or Louisville.

 

[Upstate]

I want to see a non Big East team play a zone as well as Cincy did tonight AND shoot almost 70% in 1 half AND have 1/2 our team have off nights. Run on sentence, but I just don't see it.

The run-on sentence was pretty much a euphemism for Cincy's first half. It made sense, but it's far from what is supposed to be there.

 

[Ghost]

I was pretty upset most of the game, but I have to admit I wasn't that upset at the end. I was happy to see us fight back, and if we catch a couple breaks (like Karl Hess and his crew having a goaltending call explained to them) maybe we win.

Dion was a beast.

I think we lost the missed goaltending call war 5-2 today. They clearly set a record in that regard. Simple an amazing performance.

 

[PoppyHart]

Although this loss was a little tough to take, it really isn't that big a deal in the grand scheme of things. However, if you can take your orange glasses off for a second, let's have a level headed discussion here.

So my question I pose to you is this: is this team as good as we have all pegged them to be?

I know, I know you probably think I'm just a pessimistic fan babling after a loss. But hear me out. The big east is very wated down this year. Battling against our conference foes has usually been a good barometer as to where we stand as a team. This year, the BE is so ass backward that it really might have skewed this barometer. Whereas other top teams have faced another 1 or 2 seed already to see where they stack up, the truth is we have not.

I for one think we have had an amazing year and will have a great run in the tournament. After all, 31-2 is 31-2.
I'm just afraid we all used a crooked measure stick when setting our lofty expectations.

You are correct. The NCAA Tournament is ALL that matters. It would have been nice to have a 39-1 season. But the ONLY thing that matters, if you want to be considered a great team and a great program, is to win in the NCAA tourney. Hopefully, hopefully, the BE conference is good this year and we are adequately prepared for the real test to come.

 

[Zelda Zonk]

I think the issue is not that we lost and only have two losses on the season, but that this was an indicator game. We haven't played well, consistently, for a long stretch of games. We haven't shot well in back to back MSG/BET games. We're not hot. And, going into the NCAAs, and likely to face a hot team, we've got some issues.

Our problems are glaring. We're 31-2, but not playing like a 31-2 team. That's the scary bit. The other scary bit is that i'm not seeing 'end of college career' play from Joseph or Jardine, and Melo seems to have some unwarranted confidence - in both his passing and his jumper. Oh, and the defense has been less than impactful. But, that's all.

Credit to Cincy. Cronin's zone had more of an impact on us than ours had on them. And, they neither play it much nor do they play it with all the great 'length' we supposedly need... Credit to Cincy for scheming and executing

Demerits to SU. We always seem to take so much for granted. We don't play 'hard' until we get pushed. Tonight, we didn't have enough. It's just so frustrating to see us try to 'turn it on.' It should have been 'on' from the jump. Nothing is a given, and everyone else 'wants it' more than we do.