Louisville Postgame Thoughts

[br801]

Yeah I meant for next year in general not so much that anything is changing this group as it sits

Got you. Personally, I think Red will be fine, but if he wants to do something like that, he should go for it.

 

[OttoinGrotto]

What did he say that seemed self aware? I heard mostly echoed coaches speak... I did like that he was more proud of his rebounds and block than his 8 made threes.

What stood out to you?

His acknowledgement that he needs to make plays other than scoring ones and he's receptive to the coaches.

 

[Sbucketball]

No one's mentioned it, but JJ hit a pretty deep 3 late in the shot clock with 5:25 left while down 6 points. That gave us momentum and we got a stop and then a quick And 1 to tie it up. If JJ missed that shot, I think there's a very solid chance Louisville may have put the game out of reach.

 

[OptimusOtto]

If this was Duke vs Carolina that goaltending call would be all over ESPN.Still don’t know what they were looking at to decide that was a goaltending.

Feels like one of those things where they looked and saw if they got it right on the floor Maliq dunks it anyway so they kept it.

Akin to when the ball goes out of bounds because of a non-call foul and they don’t change the possession.

 

[Cuse181]

As usual you move the goalposts.

How so? Before last night I said Syracuse should be win this game by double digits by just showing up because Louisville is garbage. My expectation didn't change there.

Beyond that, if you go back to my posts early in the season, I said I wanted to see them compete with good teams. I believed that it would show that this team was better than they were last season which was the reason for the move away from JB. Is the record pretty? Sure, if you ignore the nuance. But what win this season would you point to and say "see, this is the progress we were missing last year." Colgate because they didn't lose despite being down 24? Oregon who had 7 players? Miami who was down their best payer at Syracuse's weakest position? Maybe Pitt? idk, I don't think any of those wins make up for the 20+ point losses.

 

[Red2003]

How so? Before last night I said Syracuse should be win this game by double digits by just showing up because Louisville is garbage. My expectation didn't change there.

Beyond that, if you go back to my posts early in the season, I said I wanted to see them compete with good teams. I believed that it would show that this team was better than they were last season which was the reason for the move away from JB. Is the record pretty? Sure, if you ignore the nuance. But what win this season would you point to and say "see, this is the progress we were missing last year." Colgate because they didn't lose despite being down 24? Oregon who had 7 players? Miami who was down their best payer at Syracuse's weakest position? Maybe Pitt? idk, I don't think any of those wins make up for the 20+ point losses.

You do realize things have happened that change the trajectory of the season. Just little things like a starting center out for season, Chance never playing a minute, Hima has a broken back, Benny kicked off the team.

 

[OptimusOtto]

My postgame thoughts are if it wasn’t for honoring Jimmy I would’ve sold my ND tickets by now

 

[Cuse181]

You do realize things have happened that change the trajectory of the season. Just little things like a starting center out for season, Chance never playing a minute, Hima has a broken back, Benny kicked off the team.

Hima has always been broken, it was evident during midnight madness that he wasn't going to be healthy, and evident through his career he isnt an impact player. Chance's injury was before the season and red had plenty of time to account for that, not to mention we have no idea what he is, he has played 105 total minutes of college basketball and doesn't solve Syracuse biggest issue in spreading the floor. As for McLeod and Benny, both were active for multiple blow outs, I cant think of a single game they played post McLeod where his status would've somehow solved this team's issues? Maybe BC he could've helped?

 

[Cuse181]

No. He. Didn’t. He was handed most of it. He had time to get 1 frosh. A transfer who hasn’t played, and he appears to have missed on Cuffe. The sophs are all on JB. Collectively, they are the result of years of lethargic recruiting by JB.
Red’s first class has a HS AA, rated as highly as 10th.
He will do well with the portal this year, I would think.

He recruited these guys, he coached these guys, he chose to keep these guys and not solve the biggest issues from last year through portal. He had an entire portal period to push out guys who couldn't compete and bring in better talent. Not a single part of that is on JB. The JB excuse would've worked before the portal, not anymore.

 

[Red2003]

My postgame thoughts are if it wasn’t for honoring Jimmy I would’ve sold my ND tickets by now

I'm sure he'll be honored by your dedication to the program. Boeheim always said he appreciated the forums and callers to the radio show more than people showing up to the dome.

 

[Newhouser]

Few more things on the roster:
-Q is taking over as the leader even off the bench. He will more and more every game from here on out. He's got to improve and work but He's the only one with the personality needed. I think Red hoped JJ or Judah would be better floor captains but they don't seem to have the awareness / energy needed consistently. Just listening to Q's postgame comments it's clear he's the heart of the team right now.
-Bell made a pretty loud statement last night that he is not folding. A few days ago I thought portal bound, now not so sure. Can he keep the intensity going or on the road. We'll see.
-Judah is struggling. This is probably the most adversity he's faced his whole career not just cuz of losing games, tourney hopes or Benny. He is now coming to terms that he withdrew from the draft last year and is going to end up worse off when he tests the waters again. If this was your career it'd be like showing back up to the same place a year later and finding out you didn't perform and taking a big pay cut. That crushes confidence. Still alot of games left but he has to show more.
-Brown is the engine. Just a monster. Him and Freeman next year are going to make each other even better.
-JJ solid but needs to be more aggressive. Defense especially.
-Taylor is Taylor. He's basically just out there passing the ball around so some of the other guys have fresher legs late in the game.

I will back the Bell statement when he contributes when his shot isn't falling.

 

[Niastri]

What is ball washing?

I'm kind of regretting using such a term.

You'll need to Google it or just use the gif in this thread.

 

[atlanticuse]

I'm kind of regretting using such a term.

You'll need to Google it or just use the gif in this thread.

LeBron?

 

[CardiacCuse]

I know the zone stinks, but we haven’t played good man defense mostly since the Miami game. I think part of Reds plan for the zone was to keep Maliq out of foul trouble. He’s the one guy that we can’t have sit or we are screwed.

if they try and play zone again they will lose. 100%

 

[br801]

You do realize things have happened that change the trajectory of the season. Just little things like a starting center out for season, Chance never playing a minute, Hima has a broken back, Benny kicked off the team.

I realize every team has to deal with injuries and off-court issues, but this team has had to deal with a lot, and has effectively lost one-third of its anticipated top 12 players. I truly believe Red intended to settle into a nine or ten-man rotation that would have allowed him to mix up the offensive and defensive looks he could run out there, and keep his key players fresh. Obviously, that's out the window now.

 

[Cusefan0307]

if they try and play zone again they will lose. 100%

We played man against BC and Wake. Those teams combined to shoot about 65% against us. I don’t think it matters.

 

[Niastri]

He. Built. This. Team.

Not true at all.

The only guys that were brought in entirely on Red's watch were:

Westry, McLeod, Starling and Cuffe. The first three were very high potential with low floors along with injury risk. We knew they weren't perfect coming in. But even then, nobody really anticipated Westry being out of the season, that McLeod would have a season ending injury and that Starling's shot would be off for much of the season. I haven't seen enough of Cuffe to say... He's played in 22 games, but is averaging 3 minutes. He's been good and bad, but also is coming off two years of injury. Red's fault?

Everybody else on the roster is from JB, even though Red was the lead recruiter, the recruits were JB's final choice in the end.

As for the holdovers:

It's hard to say if Red blew it with Williams, but maybe it was time to find a replacement last season? I personally was very excited that he stayed, I thought he was going to turn the corner and become a star. Is that on Williams or Red Autry? We won't know till we see him with 10 more difficult players. Right now Williams is a sample of one.

If Red deserves blame for Williams, he deserves credit for the amazing evolution of Brown's game. Brown's play is absolutely the highlight of this season.

Red has done a pretty good job with Bell, Mintz, and Copeland. They are all better versions of themselves this season. All flawed, but doing pretty well for who they are... This team would be really good if Copeland and Mintz could shoot and if Bell were a lockdown defender/rebounder. But those players are all top 10 recruits if their flaws didn't exist. Is it Red's fault we couldn't recruit top 10 recruits? I don't know, it's looking like he recruited a top 20 one in Freeman in his first attempt.

Taylor's shooting is busted... He had a reputation as a shooter in high school, now he's an undersized PF who isn't asked to shoot. Is that the player's limitations or bad coaching? I suspect they figured out that Taylor couldn't ever get his flatfooted push shot off and tried a higher release jump shot. Maybe Taylor eventually starts making shots.

Hard to know what's going to happen with Carey. Redshirt last year, injury the year before that, COVID the year before that. And he's shown flashes of being good. We'll see. Red's fault?

Hima can barely move. Red's fault?

Patterson was recruited to be a redshirt. We have no knowledge of what he can eventually be. I'm glad Red didn't run him off, even if he doesn't think he can ever play. You shouldn't do that to a guy before he even gets here.

I think Red's biggest failures may have been running off Girard and failing to keep Edwards.

If we had Girard in the rotation instead of Cuffe, how many more games do we win? Girard had some frustrating moments, but he's a good to great shooter who could help handle the ball.

Edwards goes without saying. Trade him for McLeod and we'd have been competitive in Maui and a lock to be top half of the ACC (assuming he didn't get injured here, a big if).

 

[Millhouse]

Not true at all.

The only guys that were brought in entirely on Red's watch were:

Westry, McLeod, Starling and Cuffe. The first three were very high potential with low floors along with injury risk. We knew they weren't perfect coming in. But even then, nobody really anticipated Westry being out of the season, that McLeod would have a season ending injury and that Starling's shot would be off for much of the season. I haven't seen enough of Cuffe to say... He's played in 22 games, but is averaging 3 minutes. He's been good and bad, but also is coming off two years of injury. Red's fault?

Everybody else on the roster is from JB, even though Red was the lead recruiter, the recruits were JB's final choice in the end.

As for the holdovers:

It's hard to say if Red blew it with Williams, but maybe it was time to find a replacement last season? I personally was very excited that he stayed, I thought he was going to turn the corner and become a star. Is that on Williams or Red Autry? We won't know till we see him with 10 more difficult players. Right now Williams is a sample of one.

If Red deserves blame for Williams, he deserves credit for the amazing evolution of Brown's game. Brown's play is absolutely the highlight of this season.

Red has done a pretty good job with Bell, Mintz, and Copeland. They are all better versions of themselves this season. All flawed, but doing pretty well for who they are... This team would be really good if Copeland and Mintz could shoot and if Bell were a lockdown defender/rebounder. But those players are all top 10 recruits if their flaws didn't exist. Is it Red's fault we couldn't recruit top 10 recruits? I don't know, it's looking like he recruited a top 20 one in Freeman in his first attempt.

Taylor's shooting is busted... He had a reputation as a shooter in high school, now he's an undersized PF who isn't asked to shoot. Is that the player's limitations or bad coaching? I suspect they figured out that Taylor couldn't ever get his flatfooted push shot off and tried a higher release jump shot. Maybe Taylor eventually starts making shots.

Hard to know what's going to happen with Carey. Redshirt last year, injury the year before that, COVID the year before that. And he's shown flashes of being good. We'll see. Red's fault?

Hima can barely move. Red's fault?

Patterson was recruited to be a redshirt. We have no knowledge of what he can eventually be. I'm glad Red didn't run him off, even if he doesn't think he can ever play. You shouldn't do that to a guy before he even gets here.

I think Red's biggest failures may have been running off Girard and failing to keep Edwards.

If we had Girard in the rotation instead of Cuffe, how many more games do we win? Girard had some frustrating moments, but he's a good to great shooter who could help handle the ball.

Edwards goes without saying. Trade him for McLeod and we'd have been competitive in Maui and a lock to be top half of the ACC (assuming he didn't get injured here, a big if).

He went and got big name recruit clone of the guy he thought he might lose and we are sitting here today wanting the ball to be taken out of their hands for copeland.

Everyone just shrugs and says you haaave to take starling. I like starling. But given mintz, he's the last guy you need.

It all goes back to mintz, I didn't know why people liked him from the start

 

[rrlbees]

I think Red's biggest failures may have been running off Girard and failing to keep Edwards.

Red did not run off Girard nor did he have anything to do with Edwards father and the financial negotiations.

 

[Cusefan0307]

He went and got big name recruit clone of the guy he thought he might lose and we are sitting here today wanting the ball to be taken out of their hands for copeland.

Everyone just shrugs and says you haaave to take starling. I like starling. But given mintz, he's the last guy you need.

It all goes back to mintz, I didn't know why people liked him from the start

I don't think they are that similar actually. JJ isn't a ball stopper and is clearly better from deep.

 

[CardiacCuse]

We played man against BC and Wake. Those teams combined to shoot about 65% against us. I don’t think it matters.

if they play majority of zone for any game for the rest of the season - it will be a loss.

lousiville just sucks

from reds presser it seems hes going to try more zone

IT WILL NOT WORK.

but yeah the roster is flawed - so nothing might work...zone wont for sure though.

 

[FrancoPizza]

You do realize things have happened that change the trajectory of the season. Just little things like a starting center out for season, Chance never playing a minute, Hima has a broken back, Benny kicked off the team.

Just because mediocre players get injured or kicked off the team doesn't automatically mean the trajectory changes that much. Chance? who knows if he makes a difference? We're just hoping and praying, but it's lazy to make excuses and say we just had bad luck. Every team has some unlucky breaks at some point.

 

[Orangezoo]

I don't think they are that similar actually. JJ isn't a ball stopper and is clearly better from deep.

Quite a bit different in how they play and attack. JJ can fit in a lot easier with different backcourt mates than can Judah.

 

[FrancoPizza]

if they play majority of zone for any game for the rest of the season - it will be a loss.

lousiville just sucks

from reds presser it seems hes going to try more zone

IT WILL NOT WORK.

but yeah the roster is flawed - so nothing might work...zone wont for sure though.

It's concerning that he thinks this is some sort of band-aid. Louisville had a clean look at 3 to win the game. The bigger issue is that these kids can't be coached to play decent man and/or they have no desire to do so.

 

[Cusefan0307]

if they play majority of zone for any game for the rest of the season - it will be a loss.

lousiville just sucks

from reds presser it seems hes going to try more zone

IT WILL NOT WORK.

but yeah the roster is flawed - so nothing might work...zone wont for sure though.

I'm sure we will play man to start on Saturday for the fear of JG3 going nuts, but i guarantee whoever Maliq is on(Hall or Schefflin) will be getting the ball in the post to start just to get him in foul trouble.