Miami Post Game

[phreddie]

I’m not sure why everyone is so enamored with us making the ACC tournament. We won’t win a game if we make it. It just makes the agony last for another week. We’ve never won two games in the ACC tournament in the same year since we joined this conference. We have never been a factor in the conference since we joined. Even the first year when we started 25-0 we ended up losing four of our last six regular season games. We’re a big reason why this conference is going down the crapper in basketball.

If we do make the ACC tourney, can we decline the invitation?

 

[orangecuse]

"There's no such thing as an off day defensively."
-Bryan Hodgson

On that premise, this is a quote from an from an NBA head coach (which I've posted before) whose defense had been the best the past two seasons. And, this year has a different and consistently bottom dweller team in the league, currently sitting in an above play-in game playoff spot.

"If you want to win and win in this league at the level that we hope to, you can't do it if you don't guard. And defense comes down to the effort you're willing to put in. The second effort, the third effort, the fourth effort that you're willing to put in. And right now, we don't have enough guys that are putting in the second, third and fourth effort."

Defense, first and foremost is mindset, just as Bulldog's post showing Frank Martin's comment on same. And, in regards to athleticism or lack thereof, a P4 level program, especially one of SU's stature, should rarely, if ever, make such an EXCUSE of it being a factor, let alone it being a significant one.

As several other posters have indicated, this has NOTHING to do with NIL. The usual suspects can continue to make these lame arse EXCUSES, just as the SAME did in blaming those sanctions of being the proximate cause of our issues back then.

 

[Dcuse]

My biggest concern is SU a desirable destination for portal kids? We will have to overwhelm with money to get a sniff. I’m not sure we can do that. They may target a bunch of players, but will any of them see Syracuse as a place they want to go play?

No, they will not. We should be happy with the history because we will never, ever be that again.

 

[Zelda Zonk]

In an environment like that, Reds only strength (his recruiting) would be less important. Give me the best Xs and Os + culture guy; recruiting be damned

I don't even know if recruiting is that great. Outside of Freeman (Straughn) and Sadiq (Straughn). Kiyan is a legacy recruit, and frankly, I think any coach at SU could have landed him. Last year's portal recruits were underwhelming and he missed on a bunch of them. Also missed on a bunch of PGs for 2026 including a pretty good one in our backyard.

“Red is a great recruiter.”
That is repeated so often here. Yes, we’ve gotten some higher-ranked kids than we were getting during JB’s sunset years. But still not the truly elite kids. Which is reasonable, considering the program’s recent records.

But, no matter how well Red relates to recruits and their parents, unless he transforms into some sort of cult leader, he won’t be able to continue at even his current level of salesmanship if his audience keeps seeing hapless teams on the floor and pitiful results. The people are not going to just ignore basic truths. Right?

 

[Eric15]

There are no easy road games in the ACC.

Miami lost to Drake, Charleston Southern and Mount St. Marys at home.

Miami was an easy road game. We just really, really suck.

 

[FrancoPizza]

Miami lost to Drake, Charleston Southern and Mount St. Marys at home.

Miami was an easy road game. We just really, really suck.

It was sarcasm

 

[IthacaMatt]

Miami lost to Drake, Charleston Southern and Mount St. Marys at home.

Miami was an easy road game. We just really, really suck.

And yet, somehow they looked like they were playing better than they have in a long time.

 

[SwagSocks]

Miami lost to Drake, Charleston Southern and Mount St. Marys at home.

Miami was an easy road game. We just really, really suck.

Barley pulling out wins against LeMoyne and Youngstown St. was a canary in the coal mine. This team flat out isn't good in any facet of the game

 

[BillSU]

And yet, somehow they looked like they were playing better than they have in a long time.

They played a decent game, look at the stats - they're almost even. Two bad teams and two badly coached teams. The worst team won.

 

[newmexicuse]

The talent is sub-par in terms of being ACC caliber.

Red has been unable to get this group to play above the mediocre talent level.

Last night, eg, Bell had a great first half. Why wasnt he rewarded with a second half start ? The sin was compounded when Cuffe came in ahead of him as the first second half sub. The prior game Moore was hot at the outset and got pulled never to return in the first half.

When you have mediocre talent to begin with and somebody actually gets hot, it is critical to keep riding the hot hand for as long as possible.

I actually think Lampkin is the only player who has improved through the course of the season...and he is a senior who should have had the least room for improvement.

Everybody else muddles between flashes of OK ball and sub-mediocrity.

JJ is our star, but I rarely see him take over games when they are close. Yesterday he was clearly outplayed by Cleveland. He got his 25 on 8 for 21 and many of the points were at the end when Miami had the game in hand. Truth be told, on a decent team, JJ should be a slightly above average player and not the pseudo star that he is here.

Taylor, Moore, and Davis COMBINED for 8 points. 8 points from THREE starters !!!

Most of the criticism Red gets is valid, but lets get real, other than Eddie and to some extent JJ, he cant predict how anybody else will play during a given game.

 

[AcAndAc]

The talent is sub-par in terms of being ACC caliber.

Red has been unable to get this group to play above the mediocre talent level.

Last night, eg, Bell had a great first half. Why wasnt he rewarded with a second half start ? The sin was compounded when Cuffe came in ahead of him as the first second half sub. The prior game Moore was hot at the outset and got pulled never to return in the first half.

When you have mediocre talent to begin with and somebody actually gets hot, it is critical to keep riding the hot hand for as long as possible.

I actually think Lampkin is the only player who has improved through the course of the season...and he is a senior who should have had the least room for improvement.

Everybody else muddles between flashes of OK ball and sub-mediocrity.

JJ is our star, but I rarely see him take over games when they are close. Yesterday he was clearly outplayed by Cleveland. He got his 25 on 8 for 21 and many of the points were at the end when Miami had the game in hand. Truth be told, on a decent team, JJ should be a slightly above average player and not the pseudo star that he is here.

Taylor, Moore, and Davis COMBINED for 8 points. 8 points from THREE starters !!!

Most of the criticism Red gets is valid, but lets get real, other than Eddie and to some extent JJ, he cant predict how anybody else will play during a given game.

Your post said it all. Player X is hot. Coach A takes Player X out of game for reasons other than fatigue, injury, or fouls. Coach A is not a good coach.

 

[JarHeadJim]

x.com

x.com

 

[IthacaMatt]

The talent is sub-par in terms of being ACC caliber.

Red has been unable to get this group to play above the mediocre talent level.

Last night, eg, Bell had a great first half. Why wasnt he rewarded with a second half start ? The sin was compounded when Cuffe came in ahead of him as the first second half sub. The prior game Moore was hot at the outset and got pulled never to return in the first half.

When you have mediocre talent to begin with and somebody actually gets hot, it is critical to keep riding the hot hand for as long as possible.

I actually think Lampkin is the only player who has improved through the course of the season...and he is a senior who should have had the least room for improvement.

Everybody else muddles between flashes of OK ball and sub-mediocrity.

JJ is our star, but I rarely see him take over games when they are close. Yesterday he was clearly outplayed by Cleveland. He got his 25 on 8 for 21 and many of the points were at the end when Miami had the game in hand. Truth be told, on a decent team, JJ should be a slightly above average player and not the pseudo star that he is here.

Taylor, Moore, and Davis COMBINED for 8 points. 8 points from THREE starters !!!

Most of the criticism Red gets is valid, but lets get real, other than Eddie and to some extent JJ, he cant predict how anybody else will play during a given game.

Lots of great points in here about rotations. One thing I will say in defense of Taylor and Davis starting is because they play defense, and maybe Red finally got tired of seeing us fall behind so quickly at the start of every game.

 

[Irishsecra1]

I think a legitimate question is what exactly does Red look for in a player?
If it was me, it would be a mixture of talent, will to succeed, willingness to learn, work ethic, toughness and tough defensive attitude.
I think it would be fair to say that Red looks for the talent, and really nothing else.
He does not care about work ethic, toughness, burning will to win or what Fran would call DART.
And his evaluation of talent itself leaves a lot to be desired.

The intangibles don't seem to matter to him and are not rewarded in any way on the court. (See Cuffe the human yo-yo.)

Developing players doesn't seem to matter to him (Moore who is another yo-yo who gets yanked around no matter how well he does, a freshman who is not given any chance to really develop and play)

Why he gives so much time to Bell who is nothing but a shooting prima dona I will never understand.
Even when he scores, he gives up as many points with his poor defense.
And his pouting attitude - if there is no crying in baseball then there should be no pouting in basketball.

We all know this is a lost year now for all intents and purposes so why not give the guys you hope are coming back a little more playing time.

I am an unapologetic Gerry fan who has watched him build a Siena team that reflects his mindset - never give up, work your ass off, harrass the opposing team on defense.
They are low on talent but still battling in the conference because of good coaching and those intangibles.
It is not lost on me that my favorite player last year (Maliq) had Gerry as his primary recruiter.
And my favorite player this year (not at SU) is Gavin Doty from Fulton who was recruited by Gerry at Siena.
Watch this kid - what a huge muff by Red, we even had an extra scholarship that we didnt use.

I am sick of watching this team run by Red.
I am sick of feeling a sense of hopelessness.

I want a coach who first can actually coach in the game and a coach who values in a player what I think is very important. Raw talent is important, but you need the whole package.

 

[baggerbob]

I haven't watched a game since January. Why waste my time?

I'm getting close to that point. End up mostly watching part of the game then shut it off and follow online.

 

[dbrave]

What is more depressing for me is that, from the miami POV, this was a perfectly winnable game. Our resume is not exactly scaring anyone, i think. So, we are really disappointed but we have been a mediocre team for 4 months and mediocre teams can be beaten everywhere. We just can wait and see what will happen. I’m sorry for the kids, i think they care but so it is for a lot a teams with negative record. Two months ago I would have been sure that Red is out coach next year.Now, I don’t know. Something seems broken in the system.

 

[kingtidge]

What is more depressing for me is that, from the miami POV, this was a perfectly winnable game. Our resume is not exactly scaring anyone, i think. So, we are really disappointed but we have been a mediocre team for 4 months and mediocre teams can be beaten everywhere. We just can wait and see what will happen. I’m sorry for the kids, i think they care but so it is for a lot a teams with negative record. Two months ago I would have been sure that Red is out coach next year.Now, I don’t know. Something seems broken in the system.

Mediocre?

How about really bad??

I would say we are in the conversation as the worst D1 basketball team in the P4 conferences (I actually thought that was Miami prior, LOL.)

 

[Zelda Zonk]

I think a legitimate question is what exactly does Red look for in a player?
If it was me, it would be a mixture of talent, will to succeed, willingness to learn, work ethic, toughness and tough defensive attitude.
I think it would be fair to say that Red looks for the talent, and really nothing else.
He does not care about work ethic, toughness, burning will to win or what Fran would call DART.
And his evaluation of talent itself leaves a lot to be desired.

The intangibles don't seem to matter to him and are not rewarded in any way on the court. (See Cuffe the human yo-yo.)

Developing players doesn't seem to matter to him (Moore who is another yo-yo who gets yanked around no matter how well he does, a freshman who is not given any chance to really develop and play)

Why he gives so much time to Bell who is nothing but a shooting prima dona I will never understand.
Even when he scores, he gives up as many points with his poor defense.
And his pouting attitude - if there is no crying in baseball then there should be no pouting in basketball.

We all know this is a lost year now for all intents and purposes so why not give the guys you hope are coming back a little more playing time.

I am an unapologetic Gerry fan who has watched him build a Siena team that reflects his mindset - never give up, work your ass off, harrass the opposing team on defense.
They are low on talent but still battling in the conference because of good coaching and those intangibles.
It is not lost on me that my favorite player last year (Maliq) had Gerry as his primary recruiter.
And my favorite player this year (not at SU) is Gavin Doty from Fulton who was recruited by Gerry at Siena.
Watch this kid - what a huge muff by Red, we even had an extra scholarship that we didnt use.

I am sick of watching this team run by Red.
I am sick of feeling a sense of hopelessness.

I want a coach who first can actually coach in the game and a coach who values in a player what I think is very important. Raw talent is important, but you need the whole package.

I think much of this is an oversimplification.

I hate that i'm defending Red, but...

Some of the players we have on the roster were acquired because of 'easy opportunities.' Some were from limited resources. Some were from limited effort to scour the country for better options. All of this seems to stem from the laziness of the end of the JB era, where we basically seemed to just get guys who were already known to us. Either because of some relationship or because of geography.

So, with Lampkin, i thought the supposition that was common here, that we were inspired by the big NC State center last year, was logical. We went out to find someone who could have that kind of effect/impact. Which turns out to maybe have been a lightning in a bottle example, and not a template.

Carlos was acquired to be a backup PG. And if we had landed a viable target starter, Carlos would probably have thrived, and wouldn't be seen as an (e-)scape goat. Not getting Leffew is more the problem than getting Carlos.

Bell... is emblematic of what i used to say about Buddy. When Buddy struggled and fans screamed about nepotism being the only reason why he was still getting so many minutes, i rationalized it as JB thinking that it was more likely that Buddy would hit 4 out of the next five, even if he had just missed five in a row. That was sometimes proven out, and sometimes not. With Bell, he's shown the ability to hit a lot of shots. So, 'riding' him is an opportunity to both let him work his way back to the mean, and a means of rebuilding confidence. I know nothing about any deals or arrangements or promises that might have been made to Bell or his family, so i'm not going there. But, again, you have a player who can shoot and is lacking in defense. That was Buddy, as well. Red may just be conditioned to acceptance of that kind of player.

The suggestion that we have players who don't want to play hard, or who don't have work ethic or toughness... I don't know. I'm not in practices. I don't see that. I do see players who are, at times, not going hard after loose balls (Bell is a major culprit), and guys who don't play with the kind of toughness we want (McLeod appears 'soft' quite often). I think we have too much of the 'nice guy' syndrome. McLeod's a gentle giant, not a killer. That's personality. I don't know that i could say that 'Red doesn't care' about such things. When scouting transfers or recruits, i think it's a practical matter than you can only be in touch with a certain number of kids. And assessing personality and 'intangibles' is a difficult matter. You see stats, limited video from high schools, and you see in person the performances that may be different because a coach is in the stands.

Yeah, the persistency of this kind of issue makes it seem like it's a consistent fault of the staff. But, again, i think we operate from small pools, don't always get prime targets, and then when they reach campus, we don't have the coaching or systems that instill the necessary drive. A combination of a lot of factors, not just Red being 'stupid or blind' [not your words].

Gerry seems to be doing things the right way. Brought in a big man with big man experience. Changed the culture and image of his team. Those things count. But, he's working on a different plane, and who knows if what he's doing would have translated to more success with our current roster. I don't think it could have been worse... but JB anointed Red as the Assistant Head Coach, and that sealed the line of succession.

We need new coaches. We need bigger NIL.