Musings

[sutomcat]

This has been a fun team to watch. It seems like we have been a slow, methodical, one on one based, highly broken offense for so long now.

Every year I convince myself this is the year it is going to change and every year I end up disappointed. But it looks like I am finally going to get my wish. It is great to see us pushing the ball up the court and trying to get transition baskets. It is even greater to see us working the ball around, making multiple excellent passes. We have so many good passers on this team, and everyone, to a man, seems unselfish. That makes for good basketball.

Perhaps the biggest revelation is Elijah and his passing ability. I have been wowed repeatedly by his great passing. Right now he is leading the team in assists by a large margin and I am doubtful anyone is going to catch him here. He is of course going to lead the team in scoring. And he isn’t that far from leading the team in rebounds as well.

While we have had a number of great passing forwards (Leo and Dale come to mind), I don’t think anyone in the modern era of Syracuse basketball has led the team in scoring rebounding and assists. Elijah has a real chance, especially if Marek and Bourama get into continuous foul trouble against good opponents. I don’t think he is going to make it but it is something to monitor.

Look forward to the games today and the game tomorrow. It is a good weekend to be a Cuse fan. Go Orange! War Damn Otto! Looking forward to some monster dunks this afternoon!

 

[pfister1]

It will be interesting to see how Elijah's stats change as (if) Quincy is fed more minutes.

 

[Trueblue25]

i was skeptical but, so far, having a playmaking guard in Girard is making ALL the difference.

 

[Cheriehoop]

I know it’s early in the season but a great stat for this team has been their assist to turnover ratio. Elijah has a 2.5 assist/to ratio (25 to 10)but actually 4 of our 5 starters have not only more assists than turnovers but great ratios too. There is Marek (12/3) or 4.0, Buddy (14/4) or 3.5 and Joe Girard (18/10) or 1.8.

Last year Tyus, Frank and Marek were all tied with an annual 1.4 assist/turnover ratio and the entire team ended up with more turnovers than assists for the year. Hopefully this year sharing the ball, passing and ball movement keeps up.

 

[cuseinseattle]

I know it’s early in the season but a great stat for this team has been their assist to turnover ratio. Elijah has a 2.5 assist/to ratio (25 to 10)but actually 4 of our 5 starters have not only more assists than turnovers but great ratios too. There is Marek (12/3) or 4.0, Buddy (14/4) or 3.5 and Joe Girard (18/10) or 1.8.

Last year Tyus, Frank and Marek were all tied with an annual 1.4 assist/turnover ratio and the entire team ended up with more turnovers than assists for the year. Hopefully this year sharing the ball, passing and ball movement keeps up.

Great stuff. You must have been excited today because you butt dialed me and left a 3 minute voicemail. In my mind you were jumping up and down and having the time of your life with Mr. Cheriehoop.

 

[oTTo113445]

I love all of the above thoughts, and am fully convicted that Elijah, Girard, and Buddy will make us a very good offense. Buddy, Hughes, and Girard will have plenty of time to show off.

The question is can Dolezaj, Guerrier, and Sidibe make us Great? Perhaps Edwards or Braswell(posting up against smaller guys) can also help. Dolezaj and Quincy need to bump closer in some games. Today was a perfect example of when the drive wasn't working for our two Pf's, and they really really really needed to bump in closer. That is why Sidibe and Edwards beat them on the offensive end.

We should fight hard to get our big 5 up to something like 13, 12.5, and 9 ppg. This is one of those rare cases, where we should overwork something. Otherwise we are going to have 6-7 cold shooting nights for 25 minutes, and another 10 games where we don't get to the line. Worst of all those games are going to lack the ball movement and bring only half of the 25 assists we are praising today. Which is ok if we want to be average and make a run.

Perhaps a big part of it is we are missing the returning seasoned offensive Big as a leader which is leaving all 5 of our bigs in doubt of what shots they should make. Even worse it is leaving our bigs in doubt on how aggressive they should be. I remember someone once saying we underused a Jr. Rakeem Christmas and shouldn't have. Is it Truth or wishful rhetoric to say "While we might not have a Senior Rick Jackson, Rakeem Christmas, or Tyler roberson, we certainly have three halves of them"?

 

[Cheriehoop]

Great stuff. You must have been excited today because you butt dialed me and left a 3 minute voicemail. In my mind you were jumping up and down and having the time of your life with Mr. Cheriehoop.

OMG so sorry. That is funny - had absolutely no clue (not a new thing for me).

You are right - that game did make me happy - I realize it was Bucknell and more athletic teams with better defenses and ball handling will take away many of those turnover and fast break opportunities but SU showed what they want to do when everything is clicking.

 

[asj410]

I've only been able to see the condensed game clips on YT thus far since I have Uverse, but this team is starting to remind me a little bit of the '09-10 team - our last good passing team (IMO). Unselfish, likeable players, great ball movement leading to good shots, plenty of assists every game, and a debacle of a first game (granted '09 was an exhibition) to provide some motivation. I don't think this year's team will be anywhere near as good as '09, but if everyone stays for another year, next year might be special.

 

[AZOrange]

Fun to watch...would be nice just to be able to watch...

 

[Orangefan1]

I think this coming week will tell me a lot about this team

 

[Toronto Cuse]

We have a high character, high IQ, unselfish team who can really shoot it and pass it. Should be easy to cheer for this group. Biggest question is who can beat their man off the dribble and create shots for our shooters and how good of a job can we do keeping the ball out on the perimeter defensively. I think this team has a chance to be sneaky good. No fear that we will be BAD and no dreams of being GREAT. But I genuinely think this will be a fun year with more highs than lows. I'm excited to watch it all unfold. And I find myself liking this group of kids quite a bit more than any team since Ennis/Grant year.

 

[Cheriehoop]

NCAA stats wrong? Both Marek at 4.0 (12/3) and Buddy at 3.5 (14/4) should be listed in the top 50. According to the NCAA site they are for games through yesterday too. Boo. They include someone with only 11 assists so it can’t be because SU players didn’t meet the threshold for assists either. Hmm

NCAA turnover to assist leaders to date:

NCAA College Men's Basketball DI current individual Stats | NCAA.com

Discover the current NCAA Division I Men's Basketball leaders in every stats category, as well as historic leaders.

www.ncaa.com

SU stats to date below:

2019-20 Men's Basketball Cumulative Statistics

The official 2019-20 Men's Basketball cumulative statistics for the Syracuse University Orange

cuse.com

 

[jdubs30]

NCAA stats wrong? Both Marek at 4.0 (12/3) and Buddy at 3.5 (14/4) should be listed in the top 50. According to the NCAA site these a for games through yesterday too. They include someone with only 11 assists so it can’t be because SU players didn’t meet the threshold for assists either. Hmm

NCAA turnover to assist leaders to date:

NCAA College Men's Basketball DI current individual Stats | NCAA.com

Discover the current NCAA Division I Men's Basketball leaders in every stats category, as well as historic leaders.

www.ncaa.com

SU stats to date below:

2019-20 Men's Basketball Cumulative Statistics

The official 2019-20 Men's Basketball cumulative statistics for the Syracuse University Orange

cuse.com

KenPom (which still has some of last years stats in his formula) currently has assisting on 67.2% of our makes this year, which is good for 9th best in the country.