Looking Ahead to Houston

[sugrad68]

Syracuse 10 1/2 point underdog tomorrow. Neutral site to the #1 team. Not bad. I expect a lot of the questions we have regarding this year’s team will be soon answered. I’ll be interested to see Red’s substitution pattern.

 

[atlanticuse]

If the game is close, the big question is can Red make adjustments from the tactical perspective? Didn't really see it last year whatsoever but would love to see improvement on this front

No

 

[23Zone]

No

 

[tbonezone]

gonna be my first view of the team and a pretty good measuring stick. be sure to let y'all know.

 

[Sherman20]

Given the schedule make up and no promises in the conference slate 1-3 to me would just position us in a similar if not worse spot than 23-24 and require 12/13 wins in conference.

2-2 is a must as I see it but I’m still more in the camp we need to prove some things in these 4 games both to help this year and beyond.

My take is that the non-conference is gonna mean less for Cuse, as long as we’re competitive in these next four games. I think we’re gonna be one of those teams that improve a lot by conference play and will beat some of the better teams in the league, and also I think the ACC will be much improved as well, so more ACC teams will make the field. 12-6 in the league could be good enough. That said, it would be a lot better if we could go 2-2 over the next four games. But 1-3 would be acceptable if we can beat Kansas, Tennessee, or say a top 40 KenPom team like Alabama, Michigan, Auburn, Oregon, etc. in that third Vegas game. Kansas without Peterson could be a prime opportunity for us to nab a win.

 

[OrlandoCuse]

My take is that the non-conference is gonna mean less for Cuse, as long as we’re competitive in these next four games. I think we’re gonna be one of those teams that improve a lot by conference play and will beat some of the better teams in the league, and also I think the ACC will be much improved as well, so more ACC teams will make the field. 12-6 in the league could be good enough. That said, it would be a lot better if we could go 2-2 over the next four games. But 1-3 would be acceptable if we can beat Kansas, Tennessee, or say a top 40 KenPom team like Alabama, Michigan, Auburn, Oregon, etc. in that third Vegas game. Kansas without Peterson could be a prime opportunity for us to nab a win.

0-4 and we should be concerned. Looking like a bubble team at best
1-3 should not send people into crazy town, as long as we’re competitive in the losses
2-2 means we’re decent and with consistent improvement throughout the season we could be decent
3-1 and we should be getting excited as we’re back to our old standard
4-0 and we should be extremely excited as we’re could have something special with this team

 

[RedtheGOB]

My take is that the non-conference is gonna mean less for Cuse, as long as we’re competitive in these next four games. I think we’re gonna be one of those teams that improve a lot by conference play and will beat some of the better teams in the league, and also I think the ACC will be much improved as well, so more ACC teams will make the field. 12-6 in the league could be good enough. That said, it would be a lot better if we could go 2-2 over the next four games. But 1-3 would be acceptable if we can beat Kansas, Tennessee, or say a top 40 KenPom team like Alabama, Michigan, Auburn, Oregon, etc. in that third Vegas game. Kansas without Peterson could be a prime opportunity for us to nab a win.

I agree and have a similar take. Two years ago when we were sitting at 19 wins and a totally depleted roster the ACC was also just really bad. Louisville at home was a Q4 win for us ha. Won a good # of games but a bunch of Q3 crap.

That year we played 15 Q1-Q2 games. This year we’ll play 22 Q1-Q2 games. Finally cutting out the Q3 crap. Those are just useless games.

A lot more wiggle room down the stretch to make a run and lots of chances in ACC play.

 

[FrancoPizza]

As long as we don’t hand Houston a 6-0 lead before their offense even takes the court I’ll be good.

 

[tbonezone]

championship team wasn't ranked til january. gotta show improvement every game. lifting gets heavier. cupcakes tho delicious are empty calories .

 

[Orangezoo]

0-4 and we should be concerned. Looking like a bubble team at best
1-3 should not send people into crazy town, as long as we’re competitive in the losses
2-2 means we’re decent and with consistent improvement throughout the season we could be decent
3-1 and we should be getting excited as we’re back to our old standard
4-0 and we should be extremely excited as we’re could have something special with this team

It’s probably bias towards the good ole days but going into the second week of conference play and being in the tourney discussion to me is important as well. 1-3 while fattening up until Clemson then opening 3-0 vs Clemson , GT and Pitt to be at 13-3 with momentum is still critical to being very much in that discussion imho. Falling out too quickly and having to chase relevance in the tourney and bubble conversation is just too much of the same thing with the end of JB and then Red yr 1.

 

[DomeHolmes]

Here are Houston’s offensive results and the keys to the game as I see it:

-Houston is not near the team they were last year on offense (so far).
-they are only scoring 76 points a game playing 4 cupcakes plus Auburn.
-they are only 30% from 3 (vs. 40% last year). Again vs. mostly cupcakes.
-they only shoot 45% as a team (vs cupcakes) we shoot 52%.
-Against Auburn their 3 big returners Uzan, Tugler and Sharp shot I believe 11-34. They are also as a group only scoring 34 a game vs. 30 last year.
-The freshmen, Flemings and Cenac were out of their minds vs Auburn. (16-23 for 40 points).

-Here is the most amazing stat. In four games we have MADE as many Freethrows (54) , as they have even ATTEMPTED, in 5 games!!

Their clear advantages are Freethrow %, Offensive rebounding, and proven history of great defense in big games, (and belief they will win)

The keys:

-will we put our best wing defender, Kings on Flemings, and can he hold him to 15 or so?

Can we play better D than Auburn, and keep them in the 60s? In Cupcake vs Cupcake games we are 13 points better than Auburn on Defense.

Can we take care of the ball? Houston creates 10 steals per game.

So in a nutshell, I think it’s pretty simple, their statistical numbers are not overwhelming/intimidating at all. Just keep them to their season averages vs a weak schedule. 45%/30%, 11 free throws, 14 ORB (dare I dream), no more than 10 steals by them, and we will surely be in the game.

 

[Cusefan0307]

We need to be honest. If Red doesn’t win at least one game this week he’s likely getting canned unless we go on some crazy winning streak which includes beating Tennessee. There’s plenty of talent on this roster even with whoever is injured.

 

[sufan59]

We need to be honest. If Red doesn’t win at least one game this week he’s likely getting canned unless we go on some crazy winning streak which includes beating Tennessee. There’s plenty of talent on this roster even with whoever is injured.

I mean yeah. This isn’t football. Isn’t Syracuse Basketball in the top 5 in revenue generation? Like we can be a lot more impatient here especially since they have the resources and players now.

 

[Cusefan0307]

I mean yeah. This isn’t football. Isn’t Syracuse Basketball in top 5 in revenue generation? Like we can be a lot more impatient here especially since they have the resources and players.

We brought in a top 10-20 class this year. I don’t want anyone complaining we’re sisters of the poor. Win the friggin games. We should beat Kansas without Petersen especially. No excuses.

 

[Orangezoo]

We brought in a top 10-20 class this year. I don’t want anyone complaining we’re sisters of the poor. Win the friggin games. We should beat Kansas without Petersen especially. No excuses.

Exactly. Also there is no reason not to be in the game with Houston for 40 minutes. No crap like Maui two years ago where we were chasing from behind down 17 or only being in the game for 15 mins.

 

[sufan59]

Exactly. Also there is no reason not to be in the game with Houston for 40 minutes. No crap like Maui two years ago where we were chasing from behind down 17 or only being in the game for 15 mins.

I’ll be honest expecting the worst tomorrow. But ready to be hype if they duped us with the near collapse against Monmouth.

 

[Orangezoo]

I’ll be honest expecting the worst tomorrow. But ready to be hype if they duped us with the near collapse against Monmouth.

I’m with you. I also have never seen a game with so many blatant stoppages and bad calls. It was bad both ways but I’ve got 15 points in favor of Monmouth based on how it was called and that doesn’t include our missed FTs or additional points off of runs that were interrupted. Thus had that game been called properly it’s a 20 pt plus win.

That changes nothing for Houston of course.

My biggest fear is we don’t fight through the physicality and effort to create separation early just through that physicality and then they play to simply keep or add to that lead. That’s been the challenge under Red against good teams. Failure to punch first or play back and forth and find a run to take the lead.

 

[AlaskaSU]

For those that say don't worry, we will get better as the season goes on, what you mean is that we will get better better than other teams get better.