Losing Onuaku was much worse than losing Melo

[armory]

Does anyone think we couldn't have beaten Butler without Onuaku in 2010? Because a win over Butler would have essentially equated to a trip to the title game.

I'd argue that Onuaku was a much bigger loss for the 2010 team than Melo is to this team, and this team was arguably better than the 2010 team at full strengths too. And our depth is 100x better since we just feed Melo's minutes to Xmas/BMK, rather than 2010 where we had to shift everyone's position moving RJax to the 5 while playing Riley for essentially his first college minutes of his career!

We have lost a smaller piece of a bigger pie than we did in 2010. Gotta have faith.

(I can't believe I am being one of few optimists right now)

 

[dasher]

Did you watch the 3 games we played without him?

 

[CorduroyG]

Did you watch the 3 games we played without him?

we beat 2 tournament teams, 1 on the road, and 1 we just lost to with fab.

i actually agree, i think AO was a bigger loss.

 

[Tony DeFranco]

He is a beast defensively and entirely changes the complexion - not only do we have no presence we r gonna be weak and frail along the front line - u think Rak, Joseph and Fair and Southerland can rebound with the likes of a Drummond? get real - Boeheim is gonna have to come up with something

 

[jekelish]

This is worse because we literally have no one who can slide over and give us bulk in the middle. We just lost an incredible defensive presence. In 10, Ricky was just as big as AO and a better shotblocker and at least as good a rebounder.

Fab was the only player on this team we can't replace.

 

[jdubs30]

No, it wasn't. Not even close really.

 

[syr14]

I agree. This is a similar situation to 2010. We almost beat Butler...and frankly should have beat them. We had a lead late in that game.

We'll be OK. There is no reason to panic just yet. Yes it sucks but we are OK.

 

[bpo57]

Does anyone think we couldn't have beaten Butler without Onuaku in 2010? Because a win over Butler would have essentially equated to a trip to the title game.

I'd argue that Onuaku was a much bigger loss for the 2010 team than Melo is to this team, and this team was arguably better than the 2010 team at full strengths too. And our depth is 100x better since we just feed Melo's minutes to Xmas/BMK, rather than 2010 where we had to shift everyone's position moving RJax to the 5 while playing Riley for essentially his first college minutes of his career!

We have lost a smaller piece of a bigger pie than we did in 2010. Gotta have faith.

(I can't believe I am being one of few optimists right now)

I don't agree with that. I think Melo is the one guy we can ill afford to lose. There are replacements for the other players. The dropoff is severe after Melo. His presence in the middle is huge and makes the zone work very well. We are going to need every other player to step up in a huge way.

 

[themorey]

This team was a shadow of itself without Melo (and hasn't really been the same since he returned). The offense stagnated, the defense floundered, and rebounding was non-existent.

 

[pearl31]

Offensively, losing AO was bigger. Defensively, losing Fab is bigger.
Can we win 6 games by outscoring teams?

 

[jdubs30]

I think Waiters would be a bigger loss than Fab; but he's 2nd definitely.

 

[jdubs30]

Offensively, losing AO was bigger. Defensively, losing Fab is bigger.
Can we win 6 games by outscoring teams?

We have the weapons to do this, absolutely. But the zone was so good with him we could win when we were bad offensively; now we have to be very good on offense from here on out. Good thing it only has to be for 6 games, not 30.

 

[dollarbill44]

He is a beast defensively and entirely changes the complexion - not only do we have no presence we r gonna be weak and frail along the front line - u think Rak, Joseph and Fair and Southerland can rebound with the likes of a Drummond? get real - Boeheim is gonna have to come up with something

Actually, when those guys played last Thursday, we stretched the lead to 8 points. I understand your point, but that was the wrong example.

 

[dollarbill44]

This is worse because we literally have no one who can slide over and give us bulk in the middle. We just lost an incredible defensive presence. In 10, Ricky was just as big as AO and a better shotblocker and at least as good a rebounder.

Fab was the only player on this team we can't replace.

But our offense in 201o relied much more on RJ and AO playing together. We looked inside first for our scoring which opened up the outside game. We have not used Melo in the same way on offense that we used AO and RJ.

 

[HakAttack]

Losing AO was a much bigger deal. That team had ZERO big man depth. Now, we start X-Mas, have Keita back him up and have J-South back up Fair. (Who will need to do one thing and one thing only for us to win - CRASH THE BOARDS).

 

[bpo57]

Offensively, losing AO was bigger. Defensively, losing Fab is bigger.
Can we win 6 games by outscoring teams?

No

 

[jdubs30]

Losing AO was a much bigger deal. That team had ZERO big man depth. Now, we start X-Mas, have Keita back him up and have J-South back up Fair. (Who will need to do one thing and one thing only for us to win - CRASH THE BOARDS).

Rick Jackson doesn't count as big man depth to you?

 

[Upstate]

What's good is that this doesn't hurt the offense as much as losing AO did. If Xmas rebounds the way he did in the BET, he could be as effective as Melo on the boards. Melo isn't a double digit rebounder, even at 7'0"...that's not very good for someone his size. He should be getting around 9 and gets around 6. His shot-blocking/altering frame and girth is what the team will miss. Axe's callers are talking about JS at the 5. There is no chance that happens ever.

 

[SWC75]

AO was huge on the offensive end, underated but not great on the defensive end. With Fab it's the opposite. The problem is that we had other options on offense, where as our other options on defense this year are Rak and Baye. They are not completely incapable but there's quite the gap.

 

[jdubs30]

What's good is that this doesn't hurt the offense as much as losing AO did. If Xmas rebounds the way he did in the BET, he could be as effective as Melo on the boards. Melo isn't a double digit rebounder, even at 7'0"...that's not very good for someone his size. He should be getting around 9 and gets around 6. His shot-blocking/altering frame and girth is what the team will miss. Axe's callers are talking about JS at the 5. There is no chance that happens ever.

Rak is a lot more active on the boards and won't take chances blocking as much as Fab did; less goaltends too. But the intimidation factor obviously is not there.

 

[HakAttack]

Rick Jackson doesn't count as big man depth to you?

Not when he started at the 4. Besides RJ and AO, who did the 10' team have? NOBODY.

 

[Garbs]

since melo has been back he has not been all that great, I just wish he never came back, Xmas would be much more prepared

 

[HoustonCuse]

I'll say this much; when Fab went out the first time - our defense looked ok, but a shadow of its former self. Our gaurds couldn't gamble up anymore and steals dropped off, causing transition points to drop off. But those problems never went away when he came back. Plus he seems like his shotblocking has waned as well. Rak is more bouncy for sure and can rebound no doubt. But Fab's greatest strength of late was staying out of foul trouble. Can Rak do that? Probably not, then its the BMK show. He was reasonably good last year but terrible this year.

 

[pearl31]

But Fab's greatest strength of late was staying out of foul trouble. Can Rak do that? Probably not, then its the BMK show.

This is where JB is gonna need to be real proactive and creative with minutes/substitutions - especially in first halves.

 

[joct]

In my opinion...The 2010 team was driven by sound defense, good rebounding, and a great half-court offense with several shooters and passers.. AO hurt for sure, but he wasn't an identity player like Fab is on defense.

This team is defense driven, with the defense leading to transitions where they are awesome. The half-court offense is average at times...their D leads to their best offense. Their D has shut teams down for long stretches, and Melo's ability in the middle changes the complexion completely. They now will not be able to chase 3-point shooters as well, and gamble for steals as much on the perimeter. They will also have to pack it in more for defensive rebounding, which limits the guards ability to leak out on breaks. This changes their D completely, and imo the team's stongest area.