My Take | Syracusefan.com

My Take

sutomcat

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In my head, I started to write this post early in the second half. I was going to talk about how disappointed I was with the team in general. About how I wouldn’t be that upset if I didn’t know they were capable of so much more than they have accomplished this season. That it was a season of inconsistencies and lost opportunities.

And even after that remarkable comeback...one of the best Syracuse comebacks in the last couple of decades, I feel compelled to point out the lack of consistency with this team. They can be a surprisingly good defensive team (apparently only only 10-20 minute blocks) and are capable of putting up a startling number of points in a short period of time.

How the hell did Syracuse win this game? Completely lost on offense, the 2-3 zone was ripped to shreds...how the hell did this happen?

Part of it was the press. It did cause a few turnovers...ND kept inbounding the ball into the corners, which made it easy for Syracuse to double team the ball. Mapp isn’t a great ball handler and there really wasn’t another ball handler on the team. While the turnovers helped, I think the press helped Syracuse more by getting the team running, getting them some transition baskets, which often turned out to be transition 3s. When Buddy gets hot, he can go white hot and this was one of those games where he took things over for a while. Marek had another game where he was huge in the second half, getting big baskets, making great passes, hitting his FTs and playing good defense. Senior things you hope and pray you get from your senior.

Kadary again struggled some. Only scored 6 points, no blocks, only 1 rebound and 1 assist. He has been looking for his shot a lot more in the last few games and while we have been struggling to score and the points have helped, I think we might be better if he played more like the point guard like he was doing earlier in the season. His defense was maybe the worst he played all season in the first half (he was repeatedly out of position, which gave ND a few easy transition baskets) and his zone covererage was shaky as well. He was much better defensively in the second half.

The whole team was much better defensively in the second half. ND ended up with only 21 points in the second half. A key was JB’s decision to bend his Alan, who was horrific on defense in the first half (and not great on offense). Braswell was not very good offensively but he rebounded his position capably and played excellent defense. He was a big reason why all those wide open 3s ND had in the first half went away. Lastly, Q went crazy on the boards and seemed to get almost every miss ND had (there were a lot of missed ND shots in that second half).

Durham got in some foul trouble (mostly Q and Marek) and Brey replaced him with Wertz. Wertz is a good shooter but he is not a good defensive player. Made it a lot easier to SU to score. Props to Marek for being Uber aggressive with the ball in the second half. He went hard to the basket almost every time he touched it, and good things happened when he elected to drive.

JGIII only ended up playing 21 minutes and probably deserves more PT. But against a good outside shooting team, he is a liability on defense and if we were to win, it was going to be through our defense.

Q had another bad game on offense. Durham really bothered him. He is having problems finishing shot shots down low and has been for a few games now. He did draw some big fouls and he was absolutely huge rebounding, which was really important with Marek playing almost the whole game at center and Alan out or in a funk most of the way.

Alan has been up and down all season. I think his base instinct is to play on the perimeter and just launch 3s and JB does not want him to play that way. I was hoping Alan was buying into his role in the offense but it didn’t really look like it today. That said, his offense wasn’t that bad. Even his rebounding wasn’t bad. But his defense was a mess. Out of position all the time. He let a ball off him go run out of bounds and just didn’t seem to be in the game mentally. Hope he does better next game.

We have won every game we have out rebounded the other team and lost all by one of the games we were out rebounded. It is such a big key for this team. Thank God Q was a monster down low today and props to Marek and Braswell for fighting hard to get rebounds as well.

Duke is next. This will be a war. Some might same it is an elimination game for the NCAA tournament. I hope the team is ready. It will be another big one for this team.
 
In my head, I started to write this post early in the second half. I was going to talk about how disappointed I was with the team in general. About how I wouldn’t be that upset if I didn’t know they were capable of so much more than they have accomplished this season. That it was a season of inconsistencies and lost opportunities.

And even after that remarkable comeback...one of the best Syracuse comebacks in the last couple of decades, I feel compelled to point out the lack of consistency with this team. They can be a surprisingly good defensive team (apparently only only 10-20 minute blocks) and are capable of putting up a startling number of points in a short period of time.

How the hell did Syracuse win this game? Completely lost on offense, the 2-3 zone was ripped to shreds...how the hell did this happen?

Part of it was the press. It did cause a few turnovers...ND kept inbounding the ball into the corners, which made it easy for Syracuse to double team the ball. Mapp isn’t a great ball handler and there really wasn’t another ball handler on the team. While the turnovers helped, I think the press helped Syracuse more by getting the team running, getting them some transition baskets, which often turned out to be transition 3s. When Buddy gets hot, he can go white hot and this was one of those games where he took things over for a while. Marek had another game where he was huge in the second half, getting big baskets, making great passes, hitting his FTs and playing good defense. Senior things you hope and pray you get from your senior.

Kadary again struggled some. Only scored 6 points, no blocks, only 1 rebound and 1 assist. He has been looking for his shot a lot more in the last few games and while we have been struggling to score and the points have helped, I think we might be better if he played more like the point guard like he was doing earlier in the season. His defense was maybe the worst he played all season in the first half (he was repeatedly out of position, which gave ND a few easy transition baskets) and his zone covererage was shaky as well. He was much better defensively in the second half.

The whole team was much better defensively in the second half. ND ended up with only 21 points in the second half. A key was JB’s decision to bend his Alan, who was horrific on defense in the first half (and not great on offense). Braswell was not very good offensively but he rebounded his position capably and played excellent defense. He was a big reason why all those wide open 3s ND had in the first half went away. Lastly, Q went crazy on the boards and seemed to get almost every miss ND had (there were a lot of missed ND shots in that second half).

Durham got in some foul trouble (mostly Q and Marek) and Brey replaced him with Wertz. Wertz is a good shooter but he is not a good defensive player. Made it a lot easier to SU to score. Props to Marek for being Uber aggressive with the ball in the second half. He went hard to the basket almost every time he touched it, and good things happened when he elected to drive.

JGIII only ended up playing 21 minutes and probably deserves more PT. But against a good outside shooting team, he is a liability on defense and if we were to win, it was going to be through our defense.

Q had another bad game on offense. Durham really bothered him. He is having problems finishing shot shots down low and has been for a few games now. He did draw some big fouls and he was absolutely huge rebounding, which was really important with Marek playing almost the whole game at center and Alan out or in a funk most of the way.

Alan has been up and down all season. I think his base instinct is to play on the perimeter and just launch 3s and JB does not want him to play that way. I was hoping Alan was buying into his role in the offense but it didn’t really look like it today. That said, his offense wasn’t that bad. Even his rebounding wasn’t bad. But his defense was a mess. Out of position all the time. He let a ball off him go run out of bounds and just didn’t seem to be in the game mentally. Hope he does better next game.

We have won every game we have out rebounded the other team and lost all by one of the games we were out rebounded. It is such a big key for this team. Thank God Q was a monster down low today and props to Marek and Braswell for fighting hard to get rebounds as well.

Duke is next. This will be a war. Some might same it is an elimination game for the NCAA tournament. I hope the team is ready. It will be another big one for this team.
Kadary struggled on both ends but Joe should’ve gotten more minutes. What game were you watching?
 
Especially when JB said, after the game, "I thought Kadary came in for Joe and did a good solid job"
Joe is a role player. Nothing wrong with that.

Kadary’s defense was like a strong safety in football destroying an opponent. He shutdown his side of the zone. ND could only attack on the other side and our guys on that side were in position.
Plus Buddy was on fire offensively.
It was a perfect combo.
Kadary didn’t need to score to be one of our top 3 players this game.
He came in and Nd only scored 12 points in the last 13.5 minutes.
 
If Duke doesn't beat UVA tonight I don't see how it's a play in game for them for the NCAAs. They would be 9-9 overall and essentially their shot is blown. Tonight is make or break for them. If UVA rolls them it should hopefully be cleaning up leftovers at Cameron on Monday.

15-7 is a good place to be going into the ACCT. Obviously 16 or 17-6 would be much better.
 
One of the things that has really struck me about this year's team is the ability to adjust defensively at the half and completely flip the script in the final 20 minutes. Not sure if this is a function of exceptional coachin, or the fact that with so many missed practices things that should be intuitive at this point require some reinforcement at halftime. it has happened several times this year, but today was certainly the most impactful example,
 
This will be an unpopular thought but while I am thrilled Buddy came alive and the team turned things around, I feel like Buddy being the hero isn't going to help chemistry if the inconsistency and some players falling off a cliff for minutes is chemistry related. I would be thrilled to be 1000 pct wrong with that comment too.
 
If Duke doesn't beat UVA tonight I don't see how it's a play in game for them for the NCAAs. They would be 9-9 overall and essentially their shot is blown. Tonight is make or break for them. If UVA rolls them it should hopefully be cleaning up leftovers at Cameron on Monday.

15-7 is a good place to be going into the ACCT. Obviously 16 or 17-6 would be much better.
I'm hoping for a hard-fought Duke loss this evening that devastates their morale.
 
In my head, I started to write this post early in the second half. I was going to talk about how disappointed I was with the team in general. About how I wouldn’t be that upset if I didn’t know they were capable of so much more than they have accomplished this season. That it was a season of inconsistencies and lost opportunities.
And even after that remarkable comeback...one of the best Syracuse comebacks in the last couple of decades, I feel compelled to point out the lack of consistency with this team. They can be a surprisingly good defensive team (apparently only only 10-20 minute blocks) and are capable of putting up a startling number of points in a short period of time.
How the hell did Syracuse win this game? Completely lost on offense, the 2-3 zone was ripped to shreds...how the hell did this happen?
Part of it was the press. It did cause a few turnovers...ND kept inbounding the ball into the corners, which made it easy for Syracuse to double team the ball. Mapp isn’t a great ball handler and there really wasn’t another ball handler on the team. While the turnovers helped, I think the press helped Syracuse more by getting the team running, getting them some transition baskets, which often turned out to be transition 3s. When Buddy gets hot, he can go white hot and this was one of those games where he took things over for a while. Marek had another game where he was huge in the second half, getting big baskets, making great passes, hitting his FTs and playing good defense. Senior things you hope and pray you get from your senior.
Kadary again struggled some. Only scored 6 points, no blocks, only 1 rebound and 1 assist. He has been looking for his shot a lot more in the last few games and while we have been struggling to score and the points have helped, I think we might be better if he played more like the point guard like he was doing earlier in the season. His defense was maybe the worst he played all season in the first half (he was repeatedly out of position, which gave ND a few easy transition baskets) and his zone covererage was shaky as well. He was much better defensively in the second half.
The whole team was much better defensively in the second half. ND ended up with only 21 points in the second half. A key was JB’s decision to bend his Alan, who was horrific on defense in the first half (and not great on offense). Braswell was not very good offensively but he rebounded his position capably and played excellent defense. He was a big reason why all those wide open 3s ND had in the first half went away. Lastly, Q went crazy on the boards and seemed to get almost every miss ND had (there were a lot of missed ND shots in that second half).
Durham got in some foul trouble (mostly Q and Marek) and Brey replaced him with Wertz. Wertz is a good shooter but he is not a good defensive player. Made it a lot easier to SU to score. Props to Marek for being Uber aggressive with the ball in the second half. He went hard to the basket almost every time he touched it, and good things happened when he elected to drive.
JGIII only ended up playing 21 minutes and probably deserves more PT. But against a good outside shooting team, he is a liability on defense and if we were to win, it was going to be through our defense.
Q had another bad game on offense. Durham really bothered him. He is having problems finishing shot shots down low and has been for a few games now. He did draw some big fouls and he was absolutely huge rebounding, which was really important with Marek playing almost the whole game at center and Alan out or in a funk most of the way.
Alan has been up and down all season. I think his base instinct is to play on the perimeter and just launch 3s and JB does not want him to play that way. I was hoping Alan was buying into his role in the offense but it didn’t really look like it today. That said, his offense wasn’t that bad. Even his rebounding wasn’t bad. But his defense was a mess. Out of position all the time. He let a ball off him go run out of bounds and just didn’t seem to be in the game mentally. Hope he does better next game.
We have won every game we have out rebounded the other team and lost all by one of the games we were out rebounded. It is such a big key for this team. Thank God Q was a monster down low today and props to Marek and Braswell for fighting hard to get rebounds as well.
Duke is next. This will be a war. Some might same it is an elimination game for the NCAA tournament. I hope the team is ready. It will be another big one for this team.
 
One of the things that has really struck me about this year's team is the ability to adjust defensively at the half and completely flip the script in the final 20 minutes. Not sure if this is a function of exceptional coachin, or the fact that with so many missed practices things that should be intuitive at this point require some reinforcement at halftime. it has happened several times this year, but today was certainly the most impactful example,
Could be a function of finally playing our best guard on defense. Who happens to be a freshman.
 
We have Benny coming in next year with other great front court talent here. We don’t want Jimmy on n

We have Benny coming in next year with other great front court talent here. We don’t want Jimmy on the roster.
As long as at least two return out of Marek, QG, AG, Bras and Woody then you right, no need for a grad transfer at forward.
 

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