My Take | Syracusefan.com

My Take

sutomcat

No recent Cali or Iggy awards; Mr Irrelevant
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Hating all the weird times for games this season. I have never been a nap kind of guy and losing a couple of hours of sleep in the middle of the work week is not a good thing.

Also hated seeing this Syracuse team go down to UNC last night. They were ripe for the taking. All we needed was a player or two to rebound with Quincy and the game was ours.

JB gave the keys to the offense, at least against man defenses, to Griff at the start of the season. So far, he has not been a very good driver, figuratively and literally. It is hard to be asked to be the man. It often takes some time to get comfortable in the role. Sometimes, some asked to fill the role are not up to the task. Yes, I am talking about Todd Burgan. But I digress.

Alan had a forgettable game. He makes unforced turnovers at an alarming rate. When he is covered, he also makes them. Maybe the game is moving too fast for him right now. I would have replaced him with Braswell in the second half as well, but when you start benching a key player on your team, you can destroy their confidence and run the risk of losing them completely. For now, JB is standing by his man. I hope AG rewards that loyalty with better play.

Forget his struggles to play his man one on one or all the turnovers. He was attacked relentlessly on defense for most of the game and many of the easy baskets UNC got went through him. Stanek? saw how clueless he was and just camped out in his corner and got it inside everytime he tried. Alan was also in position for at least 5 rebounds that he did not get. I know he is only 6'5 and going against guys 5 or 6 inches taller than he is, but you can try and use your body and you can try and use your superior quickness and agility. Didn't really see that.

I think his defense did get a little better late in the second half but wow, his floor game was a disaster. He looked like a true frosh in his first varsity game. He is so much better than he played last night.

Very disappointed in Marek as well. Seniors aren't supposed to play afraid, defer constantly and completely stop trying to get rebounds (when the ball came to him, he would just tap it out to the UNC guards near the top of the key). I know he is a bony kid. I know he is giving around 40 or 50 pounds to those fat bruisers in baby blue. I know he got hit hard in the face a couple of days ago and is probably still shaken up about it. But still...it looked like he didn't even want the ball on offense. When he got it, he wouldn't even look at the basket. I think him getting 2 fouls again almost immediately again played a big role in making him tentative and super gun shy. But he is a senior. We need him to play like he is a senior. He is so much more agile and athletic than those fatties they had covering him. I think he was scared of getting charging calls so he just wouldn't try and beat his guy. Almost ever.

That stretch late in first half when we came back from a big deficit to tie it up and briefly even take the lead (second game in a row we closed the first half well) was special and shows what this team is capable of when operating on all cylinders. Buddy can go off on anyone and Quincy is a warrior. Some of the other guys had nice moments as well.

In the second half, it looked to me as though UNC changed their defensive approach and extended their man defense in a major way. Like what Rutgers did. That is the way to play this Syracuse team and once they did that, JGIII was effectively taken out of the game. Buddy became a turnover prone mess with pressure right in his face. We had 5 guys with players in their faces and with rare exceptions, none of them, none of them could or would beat their guy and get to the basket, or even inside the paint. We stopped working the ball around the perimeter, went in one on one mode except we couldn't beat anyone one on one. Not good.

This is where you need a good point guard to take control, beat his man, go to the hoop and get baskets with 2 on 1s. But we didn't have that.

Kadary helped some but he is playing a lot more cautiously the last couple of games. I am pretty sure he wants to play and pretty sure he is reluctant to do something bad that will get him pulled. So he isn't doing much of anything in the half court offense.

It would help if we even even one player on the team capable of setting a screen.

Thought Edwards did surprisingly well in limited PT. No, he still has weak hands and a weak upper body and if he is breathed on, a rebound in his hands is going to pop lose. But he positioned himself well on defense and even made a good pass on offense. Again, too tentative.

We are going to see extended man to man pretty much the rest of the season. We are going to have teams sending 3 or 4 players to the offensive boards pretty much the rest of the season. All the coaches in the ACC have film and brains in their heads. Hope we can find someone to rebound with Quincy. Hope we can find a PG who can make his man, run the half court offense with pressure man and get us some decent looks at the basket. This team has some players who can shoot and score but it isn't going to happen with our guys going iso most of a half. We are crappy at iso ball and that is not going to change.

I still think our best chance to win games this year is to turn the reins of the offense over to Kadary and give him the freedom to slash and create. If we do that, it might destroy JGIII's confidence but at this point, the way I am thinking, JGIII is unlikely to ever be a really successful starting PG at the ACC level. He can still be an important part of the team and get a lot of meaningful minutes at PG and SG but I think it is time to give Kadary a chance.

One thing we might want to think about to help address the dire problems we have rebounding the ball (doesn't sound like Bourama or Frank are coming in to save the day anytime soon) is to experiment with playing backup forward (Bobby or Woody) some with Quincy, and sitting AG a little, or give him some time at SG, where he would go from a liability rebounding to an asset. Not sure Bobby or Woody would be better at rebounding than Alan. Woody in particular might. They are both a few inches taller, which can't hurt when we are getting abused in the paint like we were most of last night.

There is a lot of potential on this team. I believe they are more than capable of beating anyone on the schedule. Especially this year, when the ACC appears to be extremely weak at the top. Hope the guys keep playing hard and I hope Bourama's knee starts feeling a lot better soon. Every year we seem to have a player or two with lingering injuries that last all season. I am not sure we are handling player injuries very well.
 
So playing the best 7 becomes we have to play the best players not because we are trying win but we don’t want to risk their confidence?

That would be terrible coaching if the HC who only cares about the individual game is thinking about the future confidence and then doesn’t go all-in to win the individual game.

I don’t think that is it.
I think he doesn’t think Braswell is better than Griffin when the player doesn’t have to be better but can be playing better in that individual matchup.

Coaching has been a problem in these in-games.
I don’t blame the players when if a team that has scouted our defense knows that they can volleyball us every time we play.
This isn’t something new anyone with a brain knew if we play like we do 100% all they do is not turn the ball over and their best offense was a missed shot.

Their isn’t a lot of potential for this team. This team can win games if they make shots. We are what we are.
Make jump shots and win.
Miss jump shots and lose.
It’s a make or miss team.
 
JB has been bad this year. In other seasons we didn’t have the talent, but our late game execution and terrible substitution patterns are costing us and on the coaching. We’ve had leads in every game.
 
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what about my confidence in Girard?

that was shattered a long time ago.

does that count for anything?

i see him on the court and i shudder knowing...here comes either an ill advised 3 from the parking lot, a dribble to nowhere, or he will lose the ball trying to bail himself out.

followed up by bringing the Tavern to Tavern League defense.

JB has ruined many kids hopes and dreams by pointing out reality, many of those kids came from power class AA programs in the Cities...not from class D schools in the sticks.

do what needs to be done JB.
 
Griffin dribbles the ball like its temperature goes up a thousand degrees as soon he starts pounding it. He is not replacing Eli in any facet that I have seen.

We need to run our offense thru Q. We need to ride the backcourt that is playing better at the time. Buddy was great in the 1st half but I thought he should have been pulled in the 2nd after some bad turnovers. Joe was pulled.

I agree Kadary seems to be playing scared. Best moment for me last night was when he added to much mustard to a simple pass and it was a TO. Thought for sure JB was going to yank him but he didn't. We need to let him play thru some bumps and get his minutes close to Joe's and Buddy's.

Finally - I know - he weighs 135 pounds, hasn't played a lot of basketball overall, doesn't understand the Rubik's cube complexity of JB's vaunted zone - but every time Edwards gets run he doesn't look out of place and seems to make a pass or play that is a positive. He should not get a ton of minutes but he was not worse than Marek last night.
 
JB has been bad this year. In other seasons we didn’t have the talent, but our late game execution and terrible substitution patterns are costing us and on the coaching. We’ve had leads in every game.
that bugs me too.

JB is always $$ under 4, hasnt been the case as much this year.
 
what about my confidence in Girard?

that was shattered a long time ago.

does that count for anything?

i see him on the court and i shudder knowing...here comes either an ill advised 3 from the parking lot, a dribble to nowhere, or he will lose the ball trying to bail himself out.

followed up by bringing the Tavern to Tavern League defense.

JB has ruined many kids hopes and dreams by pointing out reality, many of those kids came from power class AA programs in the Cities...not from class D schools in the sticks.

do what needs to be done JB.
I wouldn't expect you to think Joe shoots those long 3's without the staffs permission. That's why he is playing. Has he started to hit them yet? No. But a coach will always give a shooter that he believes in a lot of rope before he tells them to stop. There are very few players who have long range ability.
 
Griffin dribbles the ball like its temperature goes up a thousand degrees as soon he starts pounding it. He is not replacing Eli in any facet that I have seen.

We need to run our offense thru Q. We need to ride the backcourt that is playing better at the time. Buddy was great in the 1st half but I thought he should have been pulled in the 2nd after some bad turnovers. Joe was pulled.

I agree Kadary seems to be playing scared. Best moment for me last night was when he added to much mustard to a simple pass and it was a TO. Thought for sure JB was going to yank him but he didn't. We need to let him play thru some bumps and get his minutes close to Joe's and Buddy's.

Finally - I know - he weighs 135 pounds, hasn't played a lot of basketball overall, doesn't understand the Rubik's cube complexity of JB's vaunted zone - but every time Edwards gets run he doesn't look out of place and seems to make a pass or play that is a positive. He should not get a ton of minutes but he was not worse than Marek last night.
If they are going to play Edwards, they need to let him shoot some mid-rage jumpers, which will clear out the paint and allow him to pass to guys cutting to the basket which he does very well. If he has a decent mid-range shot, that is.
 
Hating all the weird times for games this season. I have never been a nap kind of guy and losing a couple of hours of sleep in the middle of the work week is not a good thing.

Also hated seeing this Syracuse team go down to UNC last night. They were ripe for the taking. All we needed was a player or two to rebound with Quincy and the game was ours.

JB gave the keys to the offense, at least against man defenses, to Griff at the start of the season. So far, he has not been a very good driver, figuratively and literally. It is hard to be asked to be the man. It often takes some time to get comfortable in the role. Sometimes, some asked to fill the role are not up to the task. Yes, I am talking about Todd Burgan. But I digress.

Alan had a forgettable game. He makes unforced turnovers at an alarming rate. When he is covered, he also makes them. Maybe the game is moving too fast for him right now. I would have replaced him with Braswell in the second half as well, but when you start benching a key player on your team, you can destroy their confidence and run the risk of losing them completely. For now, JB is standing by his man. I hope AG rewards that loyalty with better play.

Forget his struggles to play his man one on one or all the turnovers. He was attacked relentlessly on defense for most of the game and many of the easy baskets UNC got went through him. Stanek? saw how clueless he was and just camped out in his corner and got it inside everytime he tried. Alan was also in position for at least 5 rebounds that he did not get. I know he is only 6'5 and going against guys 5 or 6 inches taller than he is, but you can try and use your body and you can try and use your superior quickness and agility. Didn't really see that.

I think his defense did get a little better late in the second half but wow, his floor game was a disaster. He looked like a true frosh in his first varsity game. He is so much better than he played last night.

Very disappointed in Marek as well. Seniors aren't supposed to play afraid, defer constantly and completely stop trying to get rebounds (when the ball came to him, he would just tap it out to the UNC guards near the top of the key). I know he is a bony kid. I know he is giving around 40 or 50 pounds to those fat bruisers in baby blue. I know he got hit hard in the face a couple of days ago and is probably still shaken up about it. But still...it looked like he didn't even want the ball on offense. When he got it, he wouldn't even look at the basket. I think him getting 2 fouls again almost immediately again played a big role in making him tentative and super gun shy. But he is a senior. We need him to play like he is a senior. He is so much more agile and athletic than those fatties they had covering him. I think he was scared of getting charging calls so he just wouldn't try and beat his guy. Almost ever.

That stretch late in first half when we came back from a big deficit to tie it up and briefly even take the lead (second game in a row we closed the first half well) was special and shows what this team is capable of when operating on all cylinders. Buddy can go off on anyone and Quincy is a warrior. Some of the other guys had nice moments as well.

In the second half, it looked to me as though UNC changed their defensive approach and extended their man defense in a major way. Like what Rutgers did. That is the way to play this Syracuse team and once they did that, JGIII was effectively taken out of the game. Buddy became a turnover prone mess with pressure right in his face. We had 5 guys with players in their faces and with rare exceptions, none of them, none of them could or would beat their guy and get to the basket, or even inside the paint. We stopped working the ball around the perimeter, went in one on one mode except we couldn't beat anyone one on one. Not good.

This is where you need a good point guard to take control, beat his man, go to the hoop and get baskets with 2 on 1s. But we didn't have that.

Kadary helped some but he is playing a lot more cautiously the last couple of games. I am pretty sure he wants to play and pretty sure he is reluctant to do something bad that will get him pulled. So he isn't doing much of anything in the half court offense.

It would help if we even even one player on the team capable of setting a screen.

Thought Edwards did surprisingly well in limited PT. No, he still has weak hands and a weak upper body and if he is breathed on, a rebound in his hands is going to pop lose. But he positioned himself well on defense and even made a good pass on offense. Again, too tentative.

We are going to see extended man to man pretty much the rest of the season. We are going to have teams sending 3 or 4 players to the offensive boards pretty much the rest of the season. All the coaches in the ACC have film and brains in their heads. Hope we can find someone to rebound with Quincy. Hope we can find a PG who can make his man, run the half court offense with pressure man and get us some decent looks at the basket. This team has some players who can shoot and score but it isn't going to happen with our guys going iso most of a half. We are crappy at iso ball and that is not going to change.

I still think our best chance to win games this year is to turn the reins of the offense over to Kadary and give him the freedom to slash and create. If we do that, it might destroy JGIII's confidence but at this point, the way I am thinking, JGIII is unlikely to ever be a really successful starting PG at the ACC level. He can still be an important part of the team and get a lot of meaningful minutes at PG and SG but I think it is time to give Kadary a chance.

One thing we might want to think about to help address the dire problems we have rebounding the ball (doesn't sound like Bourama or Frank are coming in to save the day anytime soon) is to experiment with playing backup forward (Bobby or Woody) some with Quincy, and sitting AG a little, or give him some time at SG, where he would go from a liability rebounding to an asset. Not sure Bobby or Woody would be better at rebounding than Alan. Woody in particular might. They are both a few inches taller, which can't hurt when we are getting abused in the paint like we were most of last night.

There is a lot of potential on this team. I believe they are more than capable of beating anyone on the schedule. Especially this year, when the ACC appears to be extremely weak at the top. Hope the guys keep playing hard and I hope Bourama's knee starts feeling a lot better soon. Every year we seem to have a player or two with lingering injuries that last all season. I am not sure we are handling player injuries very well.
spot on. I want to see this team go to a more physical lineup. Kadary needs the keys. He make the team so much better as he has the ability to take his man off the bounce and create for others. Joe doesnt do anything to initiate the offense and the 2 or so threes he makes a game isnt worth the lack of penetration and the trade off between him and Kadary on D. In short Joe is a liability on O and D. He needs to sit.
I like Bras and Kadary over Griff and Joe. They bring so much more on D and Bras can shoot. Griff needs to see plenty of time but at the 2. I know it will never happen but it should. Our best players at this point are Marek, Bras, Griff, Buddy, Kadary and of course Q. When we play meat we need to throw some on the court. Kadary and Bras bring a physicality that Joe and Griff lack. Last point play Frank and Edwards. They need court time and cant do any worse than Market at the 5 Size matters is the point.
 
Hating all the weird times for games this season. I have never been a nap kind of guy and losing a couple of hours of sleep in the middle of the work week is not a good thing.

Also hated seeing this Syracuse team go down to UNC last night. They were ripe for the taking. All we needed was a player or two to rebound with Quincy and the game was ours.

JB gave the keys to the offense, at least against man defenses, to Griff at the start of the season. So far, he has not been a very good driver, figuratively and literally. It is hard to be asked to be the man. It often takes some time to get comfortable in the role. Sometimes, some asked to fill the role are not up to the task. Yes, I am talking about Todd Burgan. But I digress.

Alan had a forgettable game. He makes unforced turnovers at an alarming rate. When he is covered, he also makes them. Maybe the game is moving too fast for him right now. I would have replaced him with Braswell in the second half as well, but when you start benching a key player on your team, you can destroy their confidence and run the risk of losing them completely. For now, JB is standing by his man. I hope AG rewards that loyalty with better play.

Forget his struggles to play his man one on one or all the turnovers. He was attacked relentlessly on defense for most of the game and many of the easy baskets UNC got went through him. Stanek? saw how clueless he was and just camped out in his corner and got it inside everytime he tried. Alan was also in position for at least 5 rebounds that he did not get. I know he is only 6'5 and going against guys 5 or 6 inches taller than he is, but you can try and use your body and you can try and use your superior quickness and agility. Didn't really see that.

I think his defense did get a little better late in the second half but wow, his floor game was a disaster. He looked like a true frosh in his first varsity game. He is so much better than he played last night.

Very disappointed in Marek as well. Seniors aren't supposed to play afraid, defer constantly and completely stop trying to get rebounds (when the ball came to him, he would just tap it out to the UNC guards near the top of the key). I know he is a bony kid. I know he is giving around 40 or 50 pounds to those fat bruisers in baby blue. I know he got hit hard in the face a couple of days ago and is probably still shaken up about it. But still...it looked like he didn't even want the ball on offense. When he got it, he wouldn't even look at the basket. I think him getting 2 fouls again almost immediately again played a big role in making him tentative and super gun shy. But he is a senior. We need him to play like he is a senior. He is so much more agile and athletic than those fatties they had covering him. I think he was scared of getting charging calls so he just wouldn't try and beat his guy. Almost ever.

That stretch late in first half when we came back from a big deficit to tie it up and briefly even take the lead (second game in a row we closed the first half well) was special and shows what this team is capable of when operating on all cylinders. Buddy can go off on anyone and Quincy is a warrior. Some of the other guys had nice moments as well.

In the second half, it looked to me as though UNC changed their defensive approach and extended their man defense in a major way. Like what Rutgers did. That is the way to play this Syracuse team and once they did that, JGIII was effectively taken out of the game. Buddy became a turnover prone mess with pressure right in his face. We had 5 guys with players in their faces and with rare exceptions, none of them, none of them could or would beat their guy and get to the basket, or even inside the paint. We stopped working the ball around the perimeter, went in one on one mode except we couldn't beat anyone one on one. Not good.

This is where you need a good point guard to take control, beat his man, go to the hoop and get baskets with 2 on 1s. But we didn't have that.

Kadary helped some but he is playing a lot more cautiously the last couple of games. I am pretty sure he wants to play and pretty sure he is reluctant to do something bad that will get him pulled. So he isn't doing much of anything in the half court offense.

It would help if we even even one player on the team capable of setting a screen.

Thought Edwards did surprisingly well in limited PT. No, he still has weak hands and a weak upper body and if he is breathed on, a rebound in his hands is going to pop lose. But he positioned himself well on defense and even made a good pass on offense. Again, too tentative.

We are going to see extended man to man pretty much the rest of the season. We are going to have teams sending 3 or 4 players to the offensive boards pretty much the rest of the season. All the coaches in the ACC have film and brains in their heads. Hope we can find someone to rebound with Quincy. Hope we can find a PG who can make his man, run the half court offense with pressure man and get us some decent looks at the basket. This team has some players who can shoot and score but it isn't going to happen with our guys going iso most of a half. We are crappy at iso ball and that is not going to change.

I still think our best chance to win games this year is to turn the reins of the offense over to Kadary and give him the freedom to slash and create. If we do that, it might destroy JGIII's confidence but at this point, the way I am thinking, JGIII is unlikely to ever be a really successful starting PG at the ACC level. He can still be an important part of the team and get a lot of meaningful minutes at PG and SG but I think it is time to give Kadary a chance.

One thing we might want to think about to help address the dire problems we have rebounding the ball (doesn't sound like Bourama or Frank are coming in to save the day anytime soon) is to experiment with playing backup forward (Bobby or Woody) some with Quincy, and sitting AG a little, or give him some time at SG, where he would go from a liability rebounding to an asset. Not sure Bobby or Woody would be better at rebounding than Alan. Woody in particular might. They are both a few inches taller, which can't hurt when we are getting abused in the paint like we were most of last night.

There is a lot of potential on this team. I believe they are more than capable of beating anyone on the schedule. Especially this year, when the ACC appears to be extremely weak at the top. Hope the guys keep playing hard and I hope Bourama's knee starts feeling a lot better soon. Every year we seem to have a player or two with lingering injuries that last all season. I am not sure we are handling player injuries very well.

Really good assessment. Just that.
 
AG is auditioning. He's a good player in terms of raw talent, but he dips in and out, to put it lightly, when he wants to be part of the team on offense. I'm fully on the bandwagon for more Bras here.

I've posted it 3x, as of yesterday, Kadary was the best perimeter defender in the ACC (not by me saying so, but by actual metrics). If you put two JGIIIs on the court at the same time, so we could play with six players, the two JGIIIs would still not be as good a defender as Kadary.

JGIII is going to continue to get swallowed up whole against ACC teams when he's bringing the ball up the floor. He's not an ACC-caliber starting point guard. I've shared my thoughts on him, everyone knows where I stand on him and Kadary.

Buddy can get hot after he gets a rest (or at the start of a game). He was hot to start, got hot after he sat and then just came down to Earth when he played in the 2H. I keep saying this, but if he plays a tick less, he'll be more efficient for the full game. So happy to see him going NBA Jam on fire during the first half. I like when he plays with an edge and isn't scared to take a smaller defender into the lane and bully ball him a bit.

If our centers can't play, should Q be the center? Marek just isn't a center. At all. Nothing against him, I love Marek, but he can't play that role. At least Q has some beef and is a good rebounder.

Finally, the swap out of Kadary for JGIII at the end of the game was a terrible coaching move by JB. This is on top on JB insisting that we be a shooting team. We are 175th in FG% and 203rd in 3PT% (btw, we are 34th in 3PTs attempted).

This isn't advanced stats. This is just basic math. If we are insistent on jump shooting with the team we have, we're going to have a lot of issues and likely lose our legs a lot in the second half, so I think we'll mimic a lot of what we saw. Maybe AG or Buddy get hot in the 1H and we just lose steam in the 2H.
 
AG is auditioning. He's a good player in terms of raw talent, but he dips in and out, to put it lightly, when he wants to be part of the team on offense. I'm fully on the bandwagon for more Bras here.

I've posted it 3x, as of yesterday, Kadary was the best perimeter defender in the ACC (not by me saying so, but by actual metrics). If you put two JGIIIs on the court at the same time, so we could play with six players, the two JGIIIs would still not be as good a defender as Kadary.

JGIII is going to continue to get swallowed up whole against ACC teams when he's bringing the ball up the floor. He's not an ACC-caliber starting point guard. I've shared my thoughts on him, everyone knows where I stand on him and Kadary.

Buddy can get hot after he gets a rest (or at the start of a game). He was hot to start, got hot after he sat and then just came down to Earth when he played in the 2H. I keep saying this, but if he plays a tick less, he'll be more efficient for the full game. So happy to see him going NBA Jam on fire during the first half. I like when he plays with an edge and isn't scared to take a smaller defender into the lane and bully ball him a bit.

If our centers can't play, should Q be the center? Marek just isn't a center. At all. Nothing against him, I love Marek, but he can't play that role. At least Q has some beef and is a good rebounder.

Finally, the swap out of Kadary for JGIII at the end of the game was a terrible coaching move by JB. This is on top on JB insisting that we be a shooting team. We are 175th in FG% and 203rd in 3PT% (btw, we are 34th in 3PTs attempted).

This isn't advanced stats. This is just basic math. If we are insistent on jump shooting with the team we have, we're going to have a lot of issues and likely lose our legs a lot in the second half, so I think we'll mimic a lot of what we saw. Maybe AG or Buddy get hot in the 1H and we just lose steam in the 2H.

Good post but not sure about Q at center. He's foul prone enough that I'd worry how long he'd be out there. But I see your point that he is more physically suited to the role than Marek at least
 
Frustrating loss.

You can't give up offensive rebounds so indiscriminately to a team like UNC. We had them, just needed to haul in some caroms.
Also frustrated to see Girard play down the stretch, which [like Pitt] seems to be when we squander leads. Might be time to try something different.
 
Good post but not sure about Q at center. He's foul prone enough that I'd worry how long he'd be out there. But I see your point that he is more physically suited to the role than Marek at least

Yeah, I'm definitely grasping at straws for a solution at the 5. I'm just not sure what else there is to do.
 
When Joe can catch and shoot he’s significantly better. Made 2 threes last night off those plays. That’s exactly what I was expecting from him before he even got to campus. There is a clear role for him and it is not crossing over guards 40 feet from the basket.
 
Yeah, I'm definitely grasping at straws for a solution at the 5. I'm just not sure what else there is to do.
Maybe Frank is in covid protocol or has an injury, but he could be a partial answer.
 
Maybe Frank is in covid protocol or has an injury, but he could be a partial answer.

Not this year.

He's got all of the physical tools, but is too raw to play this year. This is a developmental year for Anselem.
 
Maybe Frank is in covid protocol or has an injury, but he could be a partial answer.
No offense but the players who have gotten Covid are known and it’s kept off discussion for a reason.
Don’t speculate on that.
 
Not this year.

He's got all of the physical tools, but is too raw to play this year. This is a developmental year for Anselem.
Will he redshirt?
 
AG is auditioning. He's a good player in terms of raw talent, but he dips in and out, to put it lightly, when he wants to be part of the team on offense. I'm fully on the bandwagon for more Bras here.

I've posted it 3x, as of yesterday, Kadary was the best perimeter defender in the ACC (not by me saying so, but by actual metrics). If you put two JGIIIs on the court at the same time, so we could play with six players, the two JGIIIs would still not be as good a defender as Kadary.

JGIII is going to continue to get swallowed up whole against ACC teams when he's bringing the ball up the floor. He's not an ACC-caliber starting point guard. I've shared my thoughts on him, everyone knows where I stand on him and Kadary.

Buddy can get hot after he gets a rest (or at the start of a game). He was hot to start, got hot after he sat and then just came down to Earth when he played in the 2H. I keep saying this, but if he plays a tick less, he'll be more efficient for the full game. So happy to see him going NBA Jam on fire during the first half. I like when he plays with an edge and isn't scared to take a smaller defender into the lane and bully ball him a bit.

If our centers can't play, should Q be the center? Marek just isn't a center. At all. Nothing against him, I love Marek, but he can't play that role. At least Q has some beef and is a good rebounder.

Finally, the swap out of Kadary for JGIII at the end of the game was a terrible coaching move by JB. This is on top on JB insisting that we be a shooting team. We are 175th in FG% and 203rd in 3PT% (btw, we are 34th in 3PTs attempted).

This isn't advanced stats. This is just basic math. If we are insistent on jump shooting with the team we have, we're going to have a lot of issues and likely lose our legs a lot in the second half, so I think we'll mimic a lot of what we saw. Maybe AG or Buddy get hot in the 1H and we just lose steam in the 2H.

I agree with most of this. Girard looks like he is playing pickup at the Y. Dribbles ball down court to take a Steph Curry 3 point bomb. Enough. Girard would be better suited playing off the ball 10-15 min a night and shooting 3's with his feet set. Too slow to be a starting pg in the ACC. I absolutely love Kadary's defense at the top of the zone and his pure pg abilities. He will need to develop that outside shot though or teams will just let him take it.

Buddy got shut down in the 2nd half because UNC decided that Buddy was not going to beat them. This is when they started getting Guerrier more involved. As you noted, I'm really enjoying watching him take the smaller defender inside for a good shot.
 
Buddy did his Job.
He kept us in the game and in the second half drew so much coverage it opened up and the offense for others.

Kadary and Girard need to be splitting minutes evenly.
5’11 vs. 6’5 I mean c’mon JB.
 

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