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Message: [QUOTE="Flacusian, post: 2058973, member: 264"] Well, one thing that has become abundantly clear is that many of us rushed to judgement on both John and Andrew. What we witnessed last night with both of those players is nothing short of remarkable. As was mentioned above. Gillon went up against a player that many have designated among the top 3, if not the top guard in the Nation and although Smith had his moments (triple double) Gillon held him to 13 points. I can't say I've ever seen anyone in a Syracuse uniform put on a shooting performance like John did last night. He put the entire program on his shoulders and carried us miraculously to overtime and then AW3 finished it off with a flourish both by putting the ball on the floor and driving to the hole and draining some contested shots in an incredibly hostile environment with the season on the line. JB was 100% correct in pointing to our inability to get it done defensively and if we have any hope of playing with the better teams in the conference we are going to have to get more substantive efforts from Roby and Battle. He gave credit where credit was due but immediately pivoted to what needs to change moving forward. Perhaps most enigmatic of all is the fact that we have all seen that both Roberson and Battle along with TT are capable of providing the level of play which we need to be more effective on defense. JB's characterization of the team as one that " Just can't stop anybody" is hitting the nail squarely on the head. What remains to be seen is whether there is something that can be done to mitigate the problem and I fear that from the tenor of JB's statement that he may have arrived at the conclusion that it is something which is outside of his ability to influence and it comes down to those players as individuals to play with more effort, focus, and efficiency. Certainly with TT and Battle you could make a case that they are young and just haven't adjusted / learned the nuances of their responsibilities playing the zone but Roberson has been here 4 years and that reasoning certainly does not apply to him. So as incredible as last night's performance was this teams ultimate destiny is going to largely be determined by whether they will be able to find a way to play better defensively for two full halves since it is completely unrealistic to think we are going to get performances offensively like we were treated to last night. My hope rests in the fact that we have seen them AT TIMES rise to the level that is needed. Roberson showed us last year that he can be as impactful defensively and on the boards as any player in America... The 34,500 question is can he start to bring some semblance of that player to each remaining game we have. I hope...that he does. [/QUOTE]

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