My Take | Syracusefan.com

My Take

sutomcat

No recent Cali or Iggy awards; Mr Irrelevant
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What a strange game. Brissett didn't show for the first half, Battle was a mess most of the game, Paschal got in foul trouble and largely failed trying to play with fouls. Sidibe was hampered by leg injuries and was a shadow of his normal self. How did we even keep it close?

The offense scored 24 points in the first half. Almost doubled that, scoring 45 in the second. Then scored 17 in the 5 minutes of overtime. That is a pace that would have provided 68 points if extended to 20 minutes.

Went from an awful offensive performance to a great one after halftime. I guess that is what happens when you have such an extreme difference in coaching experience. That and have Frank, Oshae and Tyus all go white hot for a while...

The Hoyas wanted to run and much of their limited success on offense came on fast breaks. The SU press didn't get a ton of turnovers but it sped the pace of the game up, and opened up space in the paint for the Syracuse players to penetrate.

Bottom line, at crunch time, the SU players, led by Battle, executed beautifully on offense. Georgetown did not. Govan was awful down the stretch, missing shots and getting stripped.

Hope Marek is okay. Was surprised he entered the game after getting slammed like he did.

Happy Matt got a lot of PT and played well.

This was a huge game for Frank, playing against a bunch of other p,Ayer from the D.C. Area. Bad job by Georgetown not really pounding on him like the UConn Whalers did. Looked like they tried to do it but unfortunately for them, the refs today didn't let them defend Howard that way. This might have been the first big game where Frank played well all game long. It wasn't perfect. Too much unforced turnovers, his outside shooting has disappeared and his defense defending against fast breaks was disturbingly suspect. But he made a bunch of big plays driving to the basket and either scoring or dishing. The alley oop to PC, the dish to Tyus in the corner for 3 and the steal and score late were huge.

Georgetown is not a great team. Govan is really good and they have some nice athletes around him but they do not appear to have outside shooters, don't pass it well and aren't going to finish in the top half of the BE and I don't see them getting an NCAA bid. Still, this was their biggest game, SU didn't play very well most of the game and was still able to come away with the win. That is a really good sign, and should show us all how a sound defensive team is capable of winning a lot of games, even when it is struggling on offense.

Two questions:

Never saw an assessment from people that were there: what was the breakdown of fans at MSG? The Boneyard had differing views but since some of them thought Syracuse had considerably more people there, I tend to believe that.

And for those at the game today, what was the breakdown of SU to Hoya fans? TV just showed the lower deck, which was dominated by Hoya fans (and appeared to be only 90% full).
 
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What a strange game.

Two questions:

Never saw an assessment from people that were there: what was the breakdown of fans at MSG? The Boneyard had differing views but since some of them thought Syracuse had considerably more people there, I tend to believe that.

And for those at the game today, what was the breakdown of SU to Hoya fans? TV just showed the lower deck, which was dominated by Hoya fans (and appeared to be only 90% full).

Always enjoy your takes, sutomcat. (Spellcheck changes sutomcat into stomach, BTW)

Saw in another thread by someone who was there that the crowd was 60% GU, 40% SU.
 
I was at MSG - 'Cuse fans were definitely louder which implied we had more people there. But walking through the concourses, etc. I saw more UConn gear. But while watching the game and the reactions during Cuse plays vs. UConn plays I'd say we had a 60/40 edge - last year was def closer to 50/50 if not more UConn fans.

As far as today - on TV it LOOKED like way more GTown fans - whether that was the angle CBS was showing, I'm not sure. 'Cuse fans got loud at times but GTown definitely seemed louder. All things considered it appeared on TV that GTown definitely had the edge, easily better than 60/40. CBS did show GTowns "student section" a lot.
 
Georgetown fans dominated the 100 level seats, which makes sense since those are season ticket holders. I thought Syracuse had more than half of the 200s and 300s, and dominated the 400s, which are darkened and never show up on TV. Overall, probably 60-40 Georgetown.
 
Georgetown is not a great team. Govan is really good and they have some nice athletes around him but they do not appear to have outside shooters, don't pass it well and aren't going to finish in the top half of the BE and I don't see them getting an NCAA bid.

I'm not sure what to make of G'town. I'm inclined to agree on your assessment but it mostly hinges on their backcourt. From what we saw today, Govan is a stud but I really liked Derrickson -- does a nice job using his big frame -- and thought the frosh Pickett looked promising. Obviously what we saw from Mosely today was an aberration but I think what they do will come down to those three guards -- Mosely, Blair and Mulmore. They'll have a tough time hanging with Nova and maybe the top teams but I wouldn't be surprised if they are a top half BE team. Will be interesting to see.
 
I'm not sure what to make of G'town. I'm inclined to agree on your assessment but it mostly hinges on their backcourt. From what we saw today, Govan is a stud but I really liked Derrickson -- does a nice job using his big frame -- and thought the frosh Pickett looked promising. Obviously what we saw from Mosely today was an aberration but I think what they do will come down to those three guards -- Mosely, Blair and Mulmore. They'll have a tough time hanging with Nova and maybe the top teams but I wouldn't be surprised if they are a top half BE team. Will be interesting to see.
Guess you mean by Mosely being an aberration is that he surpassed his usual production? Likely true, but he showed he's capable - maybe to himself too. Looked like a player, if he builds on that effort think they will be pretty good. Not Nova good, but bubblicious.
 
Guess you mean by Mosely being an aberration is that he surpassed his usual production? Likely true, but he showed he's capable - maybe to himself too. Looked like a player, if he builds on that effort think they will be pretty good. Not Nova good, but bubblicious.

He looked like a player to me -- I just meant that he had 46 points on the season coming into that game (against a complete cupcake sked) and then broke out for 20 against a pretty decent defensive team. Seems pretty unexpected. But, i agree, he certainly looked the part.
 
He looked like a player to me -- I just meant that he had 46 points on the season coming into that game (against a complete cupcake sked) and then broke out for 20 against a pretty decent defensive team. Seems pretty unexpected. But, i agree, he certainly looked the part.
Yep. Without bothering to research, guess that because he's their 6th man, he prolly wasn't needed or had much to do when he got in. Today he was, once Mulmore got in foul trouble, and finally had his shot at meaningful minutes. Completely changed the game in the 1st half just as we were about to take control. With Govan and Derrickson think they're very solid. This was a very good win that will look even better at the end of the year. Last year's losses to YouCon and GT cost us the tourney. This year - the opposite: they'll be the reason we get in.
 
Yeah, I think JOC44 had it about right.

100 level was probably 90% Hoyas fans. I was in 217 and I’d say the 200s were close to 50-50.

400s were damn near all Orange.

Last 5 minutes of regulation and all of overtime the Orange fans were LOUD. You could tell the players loved it when they were exiting the court. Moyer was pointing up at us with his usual enthusiasm.

What an experience. I think most Hoya fans still love the rivalry.
 
Too-- does a nice job using his big frame -- and thought the frosh Pickett looked promising. Obviously what we saw from Mosely today was an aberration but I think what they do will come down to those three guards -- Mosely, Blair and Mulmore. They'll have a tough time hanging with Nova and maybe the top teams but I wouldn't be surprised if they are a top half BE team. Will be interesting to see.[/QUOTE]

G'town has a strong inside game (Govan & Derrickson), plays good defense, gets out in transition, and has more depth and balance than we do. SU won, but G'town frustrated Battle & Brissett for the first half and looked like the better team for the first 30 minutes. Took a fabulous second half from our guys, and JB's coaching edge, to get that win. Makes them a decent team, right?
 
Frank didn't "guard" the fast break because he had 2 early fouls and could not pick up his third in the first half.
 
Glad I’m not the only one that thought Battle played poorly yesterday (aside from crazy late game shooting).

I don't know -- not sure what your version of Webster's has for the definition of "poorly", but if it means a career-high 29 points on a fantastic 6-11 from 3 point range, and a perfect 7-7 at the charity strip, then I hope Tyus plays "poorly" the rest of the season!
 
I don't know -- not sure what your version of Webster's has for the definition of "poorly", but if it means a career-high 29 points on a fantastic 6-11 from 3 point range, and a perfect 7-7 at the charity strip, then I hope Tyus plays "poorly" the rest of the season!
With four minutes to go in the game, he had not scored in the second half, and was 4 - 19 from the field. As bad as he was up to that point, he was great down the stretch, scoring 8 in OT and at least another 6 in the last 4 minutes.
 
I don't know -- not sure what your version of Webster's has for the definition of "poorly", but if it means a career-high 29 points on a fantastic 6-11 from 3 point range, and a perfect 7-7 at the charity strip, then I hope Tyus plays "poorly" the rest of the season!
Those stats don’t tell the whole story though. We count on him too much and he has to force too much in response but he was off yesterday. Box scores are deceiving.
 

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