sutomcat
No recent Cali or Iggy awards; Mr Irrelevant
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- Aug 15, 2011
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This was a really small crowd. Lots of people opted not to go and the student section was as empty for a regular season game as I have ever seen in the history of the Dome (when school is in session). They did make noise when the team made some good stands on defense late so all was not bad.
Iona mostly played SU using s 2-3 zone. I think the hope was Syracuse would settle for semi-contested 3 point shots most of the time and try to beat them in a 3 point shooting contest. But SU was able to get the ball inside in a variety of ways, from slashes by TB, FH and GT to a few passes to the low post, mostly to PC, to a bunch of iffensive rebounds.
PC got a ton of rebounds early. I believe he had 10 in the first half. First time I have seen him rebound like that. Unfortunately, it didn't continue in the second half. Also unfortunate that while he probably got the ball down low near the basket 10 times in the first half, he didn't even take a shot, or look at the basket 8 of those times. Still, he continues to make strides and continues to look vastly improved from last season. BS played less than PC and was not as effective. Think that was a first for this season. Still played okay but got burned loafing down the court a couple of times when his man beat him down the court for easy baskets. Still didn't play badly. The combined production from the big guys was excellent.
FH again shot it well from outside, again was good defensively, again was in me first score mode, again had a couple of bad turnovers. But it looked to me as though JB switched roles for Frank and Tyus at some point, where Tyus became the primary ball handler and Frank played off the ball on a wing, where I think he is better suited to contribute to this team.
TB was the best player on the court. Iona showed a lot of heart and veteran savviness. SU would get up by aboutv8band look like they were going to break the game open and bam! The Gaels would get a transition basket, a long 3 and hit a co7o,e FTs and get back to 1 or 2l then Tyus would make a couple great plays to get the lead back to about 8. Great game for him, and he also made plays on defense and passing it too. Impressive. Great leadership.
GT looked pretty good out there. Made a nice scoop shot in the paint, handled the ball well... But he didn't look to score much and continues to look tentative out there. Right now the offense doesn't seem to run well when he is in. He didn't play badly but I think he looks more time to find his role on the team.
MM got some rebounds but wasn't part of the offense. Teams don't have to cover him and Iona didn't. He has to get more aggressive here. He is okay on D but doesn't cover ground like the other forwards on the team.
OB played pretty well on offense, and reasonably well on defense too. He played almost exclusively on the perimeter though against a small team and when he tried, he struggled trying to take it inside. All that time on the perimeter kept his rebounds down.
We have talked about the challenges this team faces on offense. PC, MM and MD have rarely scored or even tried to score, and when you have 3 players in the rotation that are not threats to score, you have serious problems on offense. GT is close to being added to this list right now too...
Tonight, MD got his first heavy minutes in crunch time. The reason is surely because he is one of the best defenders on the team, and all things being equal, JB tends to play his best defenders. But MD did more than play defense. He got rebounds, when he got the ball near the basket, he attacked it and he hustled and scrapped all over the court. He is skinny, pretty weak right now and gets the ball knocked out of his hands quite easily, and doesn't have much in the way of moves or outside shooting. But he gets a lot if steals, makes good passes and his uber high BB IQ makes him someone we like to see out there on the court. Tonight might have been kind of a coming out party for him if it turns out he has moved into heavy rotation at the forward position.
For today anyway, he took minutes from MM and GT. It will be interesting to see how playing time gets split at the forward position the rest of the season. While JB has a reputation as an offensive wizard, he generally prefers to play guys who play the best defense, which bodes well for young MD.
I think Iona is a flawed, small team who is good, not great. But they are a veteran team who knows how to play and they will have a good season and likely play in the NCAA tournament again. This was a good win.
Iona mostly played SU using s 2-3 zone. I think the hope was Syracuse would settle for semi-contested 3 point shots most of the time and try to beat them in a 3 point shooting contest. But SU was able to get the ball inside in a variety of ways, from slashes by TB, FH and GT to a few passes to the low post, mostly to PC, to a bunch of iffensive rebounds.
PC got a ton of rebounds early. I believe he had 10 in the first half. First time I have seen him rebound like that. Unfortunately, it didn't continue in the second half. Also unfortunate that while he probably got the ball down low near the basket 10 times in the first half, he didn't even take a shot, or look at the basket 8 of those times. Still, he continues to make strides and continues to look vastly improved from last season. BS played less than PC and was not as effective. Think that was a first for this season. Still played okay but got burned loafing down the court a couple of times when his man beat him down the court for easy baskets. Still didn't play badly. The combined production from the big guys was excellent.
FH again shot it well from outside, again was good defensively, again was in me first score mode, again had a couple of bad turnovers. But it looked to me as though JB switched roles for Frank and Tyus at some point, where Tyus became the primary ball handler and Frank played off the ball on a wing, where I think he is better suited to contribute to this team.
TB was the best player on the court. Iona showed a lot of heart and veteran savviness. SU would get up by aboutv8band look like they were going to break the game open and bam! The Gaels would get a transition basket, a long 3 and hit a co7o,e FTs and get back to 1 or 2l then Tyus would make a couple great plays to get the lead back to about 8. Great game for him, and he also made plays on defense and passing it too. Impressive. Great leadership.
GT looked pretty good out there. Made a nice scoop shot in the paint, handled the ball well... But he didn't look to score much and continues to look tentative out there. Right now the offense doesn't seem to run well when he is in. He didn't play badly but I think he looks more time to find his role on the team.
MM got some rebounds but wasn't part of the offense. Teams don't have to cover him and Iona didn't. He has to get more aggressive here. He is okay on D but doesn't cover ground like the other forwards on the team.
OB played pretty well on offense, and reasonably well on defense too. He played almost exclusively on the perimeter though against a small team and when he tried, he struggled trying to take it inside. All that time on the perimeter kept his rebounds down.
We have talked about the challenges this team faces on offense. PC, MM and MD have rarely scored or even tried to score, and when you have 3 players in the rotation that are not threats to score, you have serious problems on offense. GT is close to being added to this list right now too...
Tonight, MD got his first heavy minutes in crunch time. The reason is surely because he is one of the best defenders on the team, and all things being equal, JB tends to play his best defenders. But MD did more than play defense. He got rebounds, when he got the ball near the basket, he attacked it and he hustled and scrapped all over the court. He is skinny, pretty weak right now and gets the ball knocked out of his hands quite easily, and doesn't have much in the way of moves or outside shooting. But he gets a lot if steals, makes good passes and his uber high BB IQ makes him someone we like to see out there on the court. Tonight might have been kind of a coming out party for him if it turns out he has moved into heavy rotation at the forward position.
For today anyway, he took minutes from MM and GT. It will be interesting to see how playing time gets split at the forward position the rest of the season. While JB has a reputation as an offensive wizard, he generally prefers to play guys who play the best defense, which bodes well for young MD.
I think Iona is a flawed, small team who is good, not great. But they are a veteran team who knows how to play and they will have a good season and likely play in the NCAA tournament again. This was a good win.
