louisville board is pretty funny

[CorduroyG]

I am not impressed with Louisville. Their gaurds are erratic for the most part. They play great defense but that's the only thing they do really well. We limit turnovers we win. They will be in a rude awakening if they think " we don't have the guns" to run with them. Lol

i think thats the biggest key of the game, even more important than rebounding. louisville will struggle against us in the half court, we saw it last year and they have basically the same guys. they are not a good 3 pt shooting team (although smith will probably go off against us), so we gotta avoid turning it over and giving them easy fast break points.

 

[cusetown1]

i think thats the biggest key of the game, even more important than rebounding. louisville will struggle against us in the half court, we saw it last year and they have basically the same guys. they are not a good 3 pt shooting team (although smith will probably go off against us), so we gotta avoid turning it over and giving them easy fast break points.

Bottom line.

 

[Sufran]

They aren't impressed by us, they shouldn't we haven't played well in a long time. I am so ready for a good game. MCW has to step it up and BT has to play well. I have a feeling CJ will have a rough game, hope I am wrong.

 

[OttoMets]

i think thats the biggest key of the game, even more important than rebounding. louisville will struggle against us in the half court, we saw it last year and they have basically the same guys. they are not a good 3 pt shooting team (although smith will probably go off against us), so we gotta avoid turning it over and giving them easy fast break points.

Turnovers or no turnovers, transition defense is key. Smith and Siva finish well and make good decisions on the break (kind of like Syracuse's guards were known for the past three years). UConn gave up a lot of free points in transition last night.

Rebounds, turnovers, made baskets - Syracuse's guards can't turn their backs to the play. We have to stop the ball and make Louisville earn every basket in the half-court.

 

[orangefog]

They aren't impressed by us, they shouldn't we haven't played well in a long time. I am so ready for a good game. MCW has to step it up and BT has to play well. I have a feeling CJ will have a rough game, hope I am wrong.

I have not watched Louisville this year, but they play a zone, right? CJ's midrange game could be very effective. If our guards can draw their guards out past the three point line and give CJ some space to work at the free throw line, he could shoot or drive. A little head fake could get Deing (sp?) in the air and possibly into foul trouble. CJ is an excellent passer and could dictate the offense from the free throw line (triple threat). If they are not playing a ton of zone then disregard this post.

 

[Madbiker]

I expect a low scoring defensive battle. Our zone will force them into perimeter shots and they aren't a great shooting team. We can't allow them to get tons of offensive rebs for 2nd chance points. But Pitino is playing a lot of 2-3 zone which will also limit what we get inside. It will take away CJ and MCW drives to the rim. If we have another stinker shooting game it could get real ugly. Not having JS for this game really hurts since he is always a threat to go off. BT, MCW, and TC will have a tough time staying in front of their guards, those guys are jets. They made UConn's guards look slow.

 

[br801]

It seems few people here or elsewhere are expecting SU to win Saturday, especially if Southerland is out, but these games aren't decided on paper. Realistically, this game doesn't make or break the season, or really decide anything. We're playing with house money, in a hostile environment, and I'd give us a 1 in 3 chance of winning.

 

[OttoMets]

I have not watched Louisville this year, but they play a zone, right? CJ's midrange game could be very effective. If our guards can draw their guards out past the three point line and give CJ some space to work at the free throw line, he could shoot or drive. A little head fake could get Deing (sp?) in the air and possibly into foul trouble. CJ is an excellent passer and could dictate the offense from the free throw line (triple threat). If they are not playing a ton of zone then disregard this post.

You're right, they do play quite a bit of 2-3. The way our games have been officiated, I wouldn't count on getting Dieng, Siva, or anyone else in foul trouble. I'm cautiously optimistic that C.J. has space to score and puts up good numbers again, though.

 

[OttoMets]

It seems few people here or elsewhere are expecting SU to win Saturday, especially if Southerland is out, but these games aren't decided on paper. Realistically, this game doesn't make or break the season, or really decide anything. We're playing with house money, in a hostile environment, and I'd give us a 1 in 3 chance of winning.

Yep.

We've dropped dozens of worse games than this one. Playing the #1 team on the road without our second-leading scorer? House money indeed. Worst-case, we put ourselves in a hole for the regular-season championship (which I really want this season).

This does look a little like the Pittsburgh game from 2011; we were both ranked top-five, Joseph was concussed, we got down 17 or 18 to nothing, we lost. Trouble was, we tightened up and lost three more in a row after that. Can't let that happen next week. Play hard on Saturday, stay healthy, move on.

 

[br801]

Play hard on Saturday, stay healthy, move on.

This is all anyone should care about, win or lose.

 

[Knicks411]

I dunno, it's not like this board didn't have their fair share of comments like that last year when we were rolling through the league. That's the nature of message boards, I think.

As for the game, i really think it comes down to turnovers. Louisville forces a ton of them (second in the country) and feeds off them. if we can take care of the ball, we should have a chance, because I think we will get a lot of stops on them. But if we can't control the ball, it'll be tough to score enough to win on them.

 

[Alsacs]

No need to be bothered by their comments. They have a good team and are playing us without our 2nd leading scorer at their place. Syracuse has struggled with Louisville except for last year when we snuck out a 1 pt win game in the 50s at their place on Big Monday and smoked them on Sr. Day at the Dome. Right now we are a wounded animal going on the road to one of the few places in the Big East where SU fans can't give the team much support and it will be a true road game. If we play good defense this game will be a low scoring game and maybe we can sneak one out, but I highly doubt we will win this game. The most annoying part of this game nobody has mentioned is that Louisville has the most annoying PA announcer EVER every time Louisville hits a 3 pt shot. I am planning to watch the game on mute unless Sean, Raf, and Bilas are calling the game because of the UL PA guy.

 

[Gabjon]

I dunno, it's not like this board didn't have their fair share of comments like that last year when we were rolling through the league. That's the nature of message boards, I think.

As for the game, i really think it comes down to turnovers. Louisville forces a ton of them (second in the country) and feeds off them. if we can take care of the ball, we should have a chance, because I think we will get a lot of stops on them. But if we can't control the ball, it'll be tough to score enough to win on them.

Agreed last year their guards struggled with the size and strength of our guards. I think they will struggle with our size and strength again. Now Scoop was so good against the press that Ricky didn't even try it. That won't be the case this year. MCW's TO stat will be key IMO 4 TOs or higher and I think we lose. Also I think JS plays JB was clearly putting on a full court press of his own yesterday and one thing we can all agree on JB wins a heck of a lot more than he loses.

 

[Jaka]

I think we win. Time for the team to man up.

 

[Cheriehoop]

Both our guards, MCW and BT love to rebound. If we don't control the boards and quell their fastbreaks, it will be a long night. I really wonder how effective our press would be against them if we do get behind and/or need to jump start the offense. The Cards have lots of answers. I like that Chane Behanon's game. Tough task but great experience for our young freshman..

 

[CorduroyG]

Yep.

We've dropped dozens of worse games than this one. Playing the #1 team on the road without our second-leading scorer? House money indeed. Worst-case, we put ourselves in a hole for the regular-season championship (which I really want this season).

This does look a little like the Pittsburgh game from 2011; we were both ranked top-five, Joseph was concussed, we got down 17 or 18 to nothing, we lost. Trouble was, we tightened up and lost three more in a row after that. Can't let that happen next week. Play hard on Saturday, stay healthy, move on.

i was thinking exactly of that game too, very similar situations. didnt we score like 16 in a row or something after we fell behind 18-0? what a wacky game

 

[Orangezoo]

My biggest concern is that Pitino is going to come out without the pressure- forcing us to be efficient on offense. This is going to mandate CJ getting a good start, using his mid range game and ability to use the shot fake and get to the rim when the ville collapses on him. If we start efficiently, we won't be down 5-10 points when Pitino puts the press on.

On defense we have to stop penetration from Siva/Smith. Let them toss it to Dieng/Behanan etc in the middle all day. Give them that jumper before an easy kickout out three or dumpdown into the post. Last year we let whoever they wanted catch the ball at the FT line and they didn't have the player to make us pay. Im not sure they have that player this year either.

When they go into the press.. we have to attack the hell out of it and score - almost every time. Get out on the break, draw a foul and finish at the rim. Don't slow it up and take a somewhat too early jumper that will be out of the flow. MCW can cut his turnovers if he keeps moving and gives it up quickly. If he gets into his stop and slow down in no man's land - the cards will turn him into a human turnover machine.

I always have faith - and we still owe the cards a few from the run they had on us for a while but I don't think we have the horses in this one. Smith is playing lights out and Siva is shooting the ball well. We really need to keep both of them quiet to win. Keeping Smith in check maybe is the higher priority but I'm not so sure.

Finally - MCW/Triche have to crash the defensive boards on long misses. Do not let them get 4 straight offensive rebounds so they only need to go 1/4 from the 3pt line to get 3 pts on a possession. It will be good to see what MCW is made of against a top flight opponent. I think he was ill-prepared for Temple thinking they would lay down easy. Hopefully a hard week of practice and focus, and a little of channeling his inner Dion for this big game will give us a good idea of how far this team can go.

 

[JohnCuse44]

In the Denny Crum era, he usually took a few losses early in the season. He wasn't afraid to schedule aggressively or experiment with lineup variations. He wasn't afraid to take some losses to develop players. Pretty much the opposite of how JB thinks.

This Louisville team is good but I'd hardly call it their best. I'm not too worried about Dieng because we haven't really tried to venture in the post except for MCW and he's been mostly missing anyways. Have to do a great job on the boards. Fair has to be tremendous. They rely a ton on Russ. If we can get a hand up and force him to shoot quicker than he wants we can make this a game. I don't expect to win on the road but we should put a scare in them.

Are you going to the game?

 

[OrangeYaGladi]

If I recall correctly from last year's game @ LOU, what changed the tide was a second half defensive adjustment. LOU was using Dieng at the high post, and our guys were collapsing on him, leaving shooters open at the wings. It seemed like JB directed our guys not to crash on Dieng, to stay at home, and give him the mid range jumper. He missed a few shots, and Cuse got back in the game. Now obviously there is a counter to this; Pitino could use a guard in high post. Also, in last year' s matchup, we had Fab protecting the rim if Dieng chose to drive instead of shoot. But the strategy could be similar.

 

[Knicks411]

They definitely left Dieng in the second half of the game last year, and he struggled. You'll probably see the same thing this year.

When they go into the press.. we have to attack the hell out of it and score - almost every time. Get out on the break, draw a foul and finish at the rim

This times a million. They need to break the press to score, not just to break it and set up an offensive set.

 

[cusetown1]

They definitely left Dieng in the second half of the game last year, and he struggled. You'll probably see the same thing this year.



This times a million. They need to break the press to score, not just to break it and set up an offensive set.

This is the game that MCW could really make the biggest impact. With that press if he can get through it he can choose to dish or finish strong at the hole, just limit turnovers. He could get them in foul trouble. I cannot wait for this game!

 

[jordoo]

I haven't read all for pages but to me we need to:

Limit TO's and get back on defense to stop them from getting easy points which is what they thrive on. we have struggled at times with transition D and Smith can be a one man break.

Also we need to get out on shooters while also keeping their gaurds from penetrating too much. Sounds easy enough but its very hard to do against Siva and Smith.

That being said we are do for a good shooting game and we present some problems for them as well.

 

[CuseFaninVT]

If Louisville goes man, I'd like to see us get the ball to the guards in the post - either Brandon or MCW. We have too much size, but we definitely need to make sure to rotate one of the wings back to make sure they don't get a runout.

 

[Gabjon]

This is the game that MCW could really make the biggest impact. With that press if he can get through it he can choose to dish or finish strong at the hole, just limit turnovers. He could get them in foul trouble. I cannot wait for this game!

Let's hope he is smart enough to pass the ball and not try and dribble through the press. We are taller 1-4 pass over the top and attack the rim.

 

[OttoMets]

i was thinking exactly of that game too, very similar situations. didnt we score like 16 in a row or something after we fell behind 18-0? what a wacky game

Yep, had a great run to almost even it up. Fair had a very Fair-like game.