Looking Ahead to Houston

[Orangezoo]

Even if they end up being awful (unlikely), I'll take any win out of the Players Era on a neutral floor.

That’s fair. I would take a hard fought loss vs Houston , beating a limping Kansas and then finding one more win. I really think we need to come out of this 2-1 at worst to set the table for a turn around season.

Obviously 3-0 would be an amazing but 2-1 however we get it is what I think we need to jump start this year. Then find a way to beat Tenn at home , get fat on more cupcakes and then lock in to take advantage of a fairly friendly conference schedule.

 

[Cusefan0307]

There’s no Kansas thread but Peterson is missing all 3 games for them which makes that matchup nice now

Was looking forward to seeing him play. FWIW Kiyan scored 23 against him the in HS quarterfinals last winter in an OT loss.

 

[Nicknack]

I think the treatment towards the troll was pretty mild and well warranted. I've seen a lot worse on this board.

As for Peterson being out, what I found interesting is that in the article, Self was quoted as saying "But he hasn't quite done enough to put him in position to go out and play multiple games in a short span like that". I wonder what was meant by him not doing enough. In any event, I don't wish injuries on anyone, but I'm also not sad he won't be playing against us.

 

[Orangezoo]

Kansas sort of hung around with Duke without him but Duke also doesn’t have great rim protection. They average 5 bpg but most of that was one game vs Indiana St. With them needing to go inside more the matchup works in our favor a lot.

 

[SanDiegoCuse]

Someone just needs to bust Red's substitution teleprompter, so he's forced to go off-script.

 

[Nicknack]

I don't care to read Houston message boards but I wonder what they're saying about us. I wonder if they're a cocky bunch that is massively overlooking us or understand that we're a much different team than the last few years. Against them, I just want to compete and come away with some positives and then kick Kansas' a**. I have a lot of despise towards that school. It's personal.

 

[baggerbob]

I don't care to read Houston message boards but I wonder what they're saying about us. I wonder if they're a cocky bunch that is massively overlooking us or understand that we're a much different team than the last few years. Against them, I just want to compete and come away with some positives and then kick Kansas' a**. I have a lot of despise towards that school. It's personal.

I would suspect after the pathetic defensive and offensive display last game, they have already marked this as a win.

 

[RedtheGOB]

There’s no Kansas thread but Peterson is missing all 3 games for them which makes that matchup nice now

Was just seeing who else saw this.

I’m telling you hooligans that we need to run 10 guys against Houston and Kansas. We may not win, we may not be close day 1 and it may suck to watch Suare or Fennell or Zephyr getting punked but it will pay off the next 2 days.

Our guys are just not good enough in the half court sets and in games that are slow paced slogs. They’re not polished and they’re not yet making the right decisions all the time. That means we need to press all 3 games and push the ball up the court every possession and go at a blistering pace all game. Thats for all 3 days in Vegas and then 5 days later against Tennessee.

To do that all our starters need to be fresh. Said in the other thread that Donnie, JJ and Kiyan were gassed playing more mins than usual against Monmouth. Houston will likely just grind us down late and that’s ok. What’s not ok is if that happens the next 3 games after.

Just a reminder for people We play the top team game 1 and Kansas plays the worst or almost worst team in the tourney their game 1. We’re going to pay a price for every basket and defensive stop against Houston and Kansas may very well win by 30 against ND. It may not matter much either but we’re also getting fleeced a few hours on the start time game 2. Kansas plays the 3:30 game twice. We play Houston late then Kansas earlier.

 

[Col. Bleep]

Four troubling issues with Houston:

Rebounding.
They hit the glass hard EVERY shot.
The Orange have yet to show any consistent such desire.
Big trouble for SU

Turnovers.
The Orange do it way too often.
Houston doesn't

Shooting.
The Orange must get good shots and hit free throws.
Houston gets good shots almost every single trip.

Defense
Houston hounds opponents unmercifully.
We'll see how good the SU defense really is.

 

[Nicknack]

Four troubling issues with Houston:

Rebounding.
They hit the glass hard EVERY shot.
The Orange have yet to show any consistent such desire.
Big trouble for SU

Turnovers.
The Orange do it way too often.
Houston doesn't

Shooting.
The Orange must get good shots and hit free throws.
Houston gets good shots almost every single trip.

Defense
Houston hounds opponents unmercifully.
We'll see how good the SU defense really is.

As for shooting, I hope we see attack mode from Donnie (no turnaround fade-aways). We have several guys who can drive and create fouls so hopefully we see that. This could make a big difference if Donnie, JJ, George do this.

Edit: Oh yeah, but driving creates fouls, which creates free throw attempts

 

[Niastri]

Too bad the Golden State Warriors and Boston Celtics were not available as exhibition games.

It's kind of embarrassing how shameless we were when we ducked the Celtics...

 

[Dcuse]

Four troubling issues with Houston:

Rebounding.
They hit the glass hard EVERY shot.
The Orange have yet to show any consistent such desire.
Big trouble for SU

Turnovers.
The Orange do it way too often.
Houston doesn't

Shooting.
The Orange must get good shots and hit free throws.
Houston gets good shots almost every single trip.

Defense
Houston hounds opponents unmercifully.
We'll see how good the SU defense really is.

Sounds like you don’t expect us to win.

 

[bballbeadle]

Four troubling issues with Houston:

Rebounding.
They hit the glass hard EVERY shot.
The Orange have yet to show any consistent such desire.
Big trouble for SU

Turnovers.
The Orange do it way too often.
Houston doesn't

Shooting.
The Orange must get good shots and hit free throws.
Houston gets good shots almost every single trip.

Defense
Houston hounds opponents unmercifully.
We'll see how good the SU defense really is.

Oh dear.

 

[Sbucketball]

I don't care to read Houston message boards but I wonder what they're saying about us. I

Couple good ones. They copy pasted Niastri’s post about how good the program is. But here is a post I like from that board:

Don’t sleep on Syracuse! Yall can laugh at them all you want but that is still a storied program with rumblings of waking up. Gotta focus and kick butt!

 

[Sbucketball]

A small part of me is holding out hope everything clicks and we run them off the court. I want so badly to be that program again.