My Take | Syracusefan.com

My Take

sutomcat

No recent Cali or Iggy awards; Mr Irrelevant
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I had to walk the dog, then read articles and watch interviews, and watch the UH-RU game, so I didn't have time to make a post yesterday.

I don't have much to say. That was a great effort against a legitimate top 10 team. WVU was impressive. They never gave up and made a lot of great plays to get back into the game. It would have been so easy to fall apart after the Mountaineers took the lead and most teams in our position would have, but this team, from tjhe start of the season, has shown a lot of mental toughness and resiliency and they responded very well to adversity.

It is nice they have 6 days to recover from the games this weekend. I am sure there are a lot of bruises, cuts and soreness from all the pounding that went on out there. It seems like Q's knee is getting worse with every game and I hope like hell it holds up for a few more.

Plus, Marek has to recover from eating pizza made in Indianapolis. Some people never do. ;)

Nice to see so many contributing to the team right now. Bras and Kadary both made huge plays down the stretch. Robert had a giant offensive rebound and put back and Kadary somehow got the ball over the halfcourt line and to Buddy, fighting against what seemed like a dozen frantic Eers. Kadary also had a couple huge baskets. JGIII carried the team for a while in the first half and keeps finding a way to pile up a bunch of assists with few turnovers. Our PG tandem presents a lot of problems to opponents and their varied skill sets make adjustments on the go all the more challenging.

In the end, Buddy was not going to let us lose this game. Marek was huge again in so many ways We wondered how we were going to replace Elijah...well, it turned out Marek and Buddy did this together, and we were for the better with those guys filling the 'go to' roles. Even Alan had some good moments. His enthusiastic support for his teammates is good to see. I hope he has one or two more good games in him before this run is over. I believe he does.

For those that want to know more about the Cougars, here is a good article. Their offense and defense are both rated extremely highly. They might have played in a scrub conference but their stats are top notch.

The part about them struggling to defend 3s this season has to be music to Buddy's ears. And JGII and Alan. Maybe even Q. Hope they can get the ball inside some too and get their bigs in foul trouble.

 
Alan has had a rough go of it. I thought he got deflated when he had that nice drive to the hoop early on what should have been a three point play, instead the ref called an o foul. He didn't look confident after that.
 
Alan has had a rough go of it. I thought he got deflated when he had that nice drive to the hoop early on what should have been a three point play, instead the ref called an o foul. He didn't look confident after that.
I hope he finds some confidence early next game. He can be incredibly impactful when he’s playing his A game. But you’re right, he seems to be down a bit.

An early dagger 3 and a big block/steal would be a great start for him
 
That was Quincy, unless it happened to Alan too.
Nantz said it was Alan but it was Quincy so it made it confusing.

To the rest.

JB has adjusted to using the bench.
Braswell played 29 Minutes.
His defense was outstanding.

Jesse is legit in the rotation.

Kadary is hurt but when Joe plays well like he has these 2 games then sit Kadary.

We aren’t rolling with 6 guys now we are going the perfect 8 deep.
The bench is gave us 11 points.
That is huge.

Girard carried the first half.
Buddy carried the second half.

We are going to need Alan one game if we want to go really far but he has to play more intense defense.
Braswell is killing it on his side and allowing better spacing.
 
That was Quincy, unless it happened to Alan too.
Well, if it was Q, it sure did not slow him down. Anybody out there know for sure if it was Alan or Q ??? I have certainly been known to make mistakes.

EDIT - Thx to Alsacs for clarifying. I thought I was going crazy !!!
 
Well, if it was Q, it sure did not slow him down. Anybody out there know for sure if it was Alan or Q ??? I have certainly been known to make mistakes.

EDIT - Thx to Alsacs for clarifying. I thought I was going crazy !!!

It was Q. Announcer said Griffin
 
Nantz said it was Alan but it was Quincy so it made it confusing.

To the rest.

JB has adjusted to using the bench.
Braswell played 29 Minutes.
His defense was outstanding.

Jesse is legit in the rotation.

Kadary is hurt but when Joe plays well like he has these 2 games then sit Kadary.

We aren’t rolling with 6 guys now we are going the perfect 8 deep.
The bench is gave us 11 points.
That is huge.

Girard carried the first half.
Buddy carried the second half.

We are going to need Alan one game if we want to go really far but he has to play more intense defense.
Braswell is killing it on his side and allowing better spacing.

I'm waiting on the Alan game to be the Billy/McNeil 2003 Oklahoma St game.
 
Great stuff. My favorite part of this tourney is that Buddy came into the tourney really having carried us offensively at the end of the regular season. He then kept us alive the first 10 minutes of the SDSU game. Then all of the sudden he gets two fouls. Since that time his teammates have gone on a 13-0 run vs SDST and put a 6 pt halftime lead on WVU. These are the kind of contributions and depth of contribution that is seen with 1-4 seeds not an 11 seed.

WVU was a damn good team. They have their own game breakers on offense and yet we went deeper. The late game panic was hard to swallow but what I saw more importantly was a team that took a hell of a counter punch and then reset, took control and pushed the lead to 9 with a minute to play. Gotta finish better after that but to get to that point was impressive on many levels.

On to Houston- they rely on their big 3 perimeter guys to hit big shots. Sasser in the lane, Grimes from 3 and Jerreau off the bounce and from deep. It tends to be a lot of hero ball which resembles Sampson's Oklahoma teams that were tough , physical and had 3 guards who did most of the damage. Rebounding is the concern but I don't see a team that is designed for beating a zone.
 
Nantz said it was Alan but it was Quincy so it made it confusing.

To the rest.

JB has adjusted to using the bench.
Braswell played 29 Minutes.
His defense was outstanding.

Jesse is legit in the rotation.

Kadary is hurt but when Joe plays well like he has these 2 games then sit Kadary.

We aren’t rolling with 6 guys now we are going the perfect 8 deep.
The bench is gave us 11 points.
That is huge.

Girard carried the first half.
Buddy carried the second half.

We are going to need Alan one game if we want to go really far but he has to play more intense defense.
Braswell is killing it on his side and allowing better spacing.


i dont know if we see jesse yesterday if not for foul trouble. jb said postgame that hes not ready for this level of competition, he was getting pushed around. i think marek plays the full 40 against houston if he stays out of foul trouble.
 
i dont know if we see jesse yesterday if not for foul trouble. jb said postgame that hes not ready for this level of competition, he was getting pushed around. i think marek plays the full 40 against houston if he stays out of foul trouble.
We need Jesse more this game than any of the first 2.
Houston plays like North Carolina.

They crash the offensive boards hard. Jesse, Marek, Quincy will need to crash the boards.
Houston is a tough team that has only a few shooters.
 
Nantz said it was Alan but it was Quincy so it made it confusing.

To the rest.

JB has adjusted to using the bench.
Braswell played 29 Minutes.
His defense was outstanding.

Jesse is legit in the rotation.

Kadary is hurt but when Joe plays well like he has these 2 games then sit Kadary.

We aren’t rolling with 6 guys now we are going the perfect 8 deep.
The bench is gave us 11 points.
That is huge.

Girard carried the first half.
Buddy carried the second half.

We are going to need Alan one game if we want to go really far but he has to play more intense defense.
Braswell is killing it on his side and allowing better spacing.
Yeah I heard people saying he kept mixing them up. Honestly I did not hear it even once but that is probably because I zone in on the game and don't really listen much to the announcers. I know what I am seeing, and who I am seeing.
 
Great stuff. My favorite part of this tourney is that Buddy came into the tourney really having carried us offensively at the end of the regular season. He then kept us alive the first 10 minutes of the SDSU game. Then all of the sudden he gets two fouls. Since that time his teammates have gone on a 13-0 run vs SDST and put a 6 pt halftime lead on WVU. These are the kind of contributions and depth of contribution that is seen with 1-4 seeds not an 11 seed.

WVU was a damn good team. They have their own game breakers on offense and yet we went deeper. The late game panic was hard to swallow but what I saw more importantly was a team that took a hell of a counter punch and then reset, took control and pushed the lead to 9 with a minute to play. Gotta finish better after that but to get to that point was impressive on many levels.

On to Houston- they rely on their big 3 perimeter guys to hit big shots. Sasser in the lane, Grimes from 3 and Jerreau off the bounce and from deep. It tends to be a lot of hero ball which resembles Sampson's Oklahoma teams that were tough , physical and had 3 guards who did most of the damage. Rebounding is the concern but I don't see a team that is designed for beating a zone.
Do they have the multi-dimensional guy who can flash to the key and turn to pass, shoot, or drive? WVU’s big guy struggled in that role early in the first. Dolejaz was great at stepping up or dropping back, and the guy didn’t know what to do.
 
AG looks like he’s overthinking on the defensive end and it’s impacting his confidence on the offensive end. Early in the year, AG was dribbling the ball into space. It looks like now if he doesn’t have an open shot at the catch, he’s not quite sure what to do with the ball.
 
Do they have the multi-dimensional guy who can flash to the key and turn to pass, shoot, or drive? WVU’s big guy struggled in that role early in the first. Dolejaz was great at stepping up or dropping back, and the guy didn’t know what to do.

The backup big did a better job but the best guy would have been Mcbride but as the point he was always on the perimeter. I was floored how gunshy Mcbride was given he has been the straw that stirs the drink for them. McNeil was the only guy who forced his will on us and made it a game. The early charges completely took Culver out of the game mentally.

The skillset Dolezaj brings is uncommon. He really is a skinny Draymond Green minus the 3 pt shot. He alone has really wrecked the pressure defense approach of the teams we have seen. As expected WVU did put a smaller guy on him and put Culver on QG but even then the smaller guy made no difference. It's rare for an 11 seed to have a unicorn.

I said at the beginning of the year I hoped MD could be this year's JDub. I was off and will eat crow of being critical of MD mid season. MD is exactly this year's JDub just a different version. He is a complete mismatch and teams have no idea what to do with him defensively.
 
i dont know if we see jesse yesterday if not for foul trouble. jb said postgame that hes not ready for this level of competition, he was getting pushed around. i think marek plays the full 40 against houston if he stays out of foul trouble.
He may not be "ready" but he did some good things. Our rebounding was better with him in the game, and when MD slides to wing and Griffin goes out, the defense is so different.
 
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houston is the opp of UNC.. they rebound with athletes not big bodies.. much like WVU does.. if we rebound well we will be fine.
They don’t have the size of UNC but they play like them.
They crash the boards and get a ton of second chance points.
They only have one great shooter in Grimes.
The rest of the team plays tough defense and give effort on offensive glass.
 
i dont know if we see jesse yesterday if not for foul trouble. jb said postgame that hes not ready for this level of competition, he was getting pushed around. i think marek plays the full 40 against houston if he stays out of foul trouble.

He was pushed around but they also looked to really crowd him when he got the ball to force a turnover. He did ok in limited minutes minus the missed rebound and the turnover. As a developmental big he is going to show the ups and downs , especially against a team like WVU that has their hands all over you daring the refs to call it.
 
Funny that two heights dominate the Houston roster, either 6-8 or 6-5. Trivia: as of 1030 24 teams left in the tourney and 16 west of the Mississippi, 75%. A lot of folks don't know us. Today's action only ONE eastern team left...Maryland.
 
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I had to walk the dog, then read articles and watch interviews, and watch the UH-RU game, so I didn't have time to make a post yesterday.

I don't have much to say. That was a great effort against a legitimate top 10 team. WVU was impressive. They never gave up and made a lot of great plays to get back into the game. It would have been so easy to fall apart after the Mountaineers took the lead and most teams in our position would have, but this team, from tjhe start of the season, has shown a lot of mental toughness and resiliency and they responded very well to adversity.

It is nice they have 6 days to recover from the games this weekend. I am sure there are a lot of bruises, cuts and soreness from all the pounding that went on out there. It seems like Q's knee is getting worse with every game and I hope like hell it holds up for a few more.

Plus, Marek has to recover from eating pizza made in Indianapolis. Some people never do. ;)

Nice to see so many contributing to the team right now. Bras and Kadary both made huge plays down the stretch. Robert had a giant offensive rebound and put back and Kadary somehow got the ball over the halfcourt line and to Buddy, fighting against what seemed like a dozen frantic Eers. Kadary also had a couple huge baskets. JGIII carried the team for a while in the first half and keeps finding a way to pile up a bunch of assists with few turnovers. Our PG tandem presents a lot of problems to opponents and their varied skill sets make adjustments on the go all the more challenging.

In the end, Buddy was not going to let us lose this game. Marek was huge again in so many ways We wondered how we were going to replace Elijah...well, it turned out Marek and Buddy did this together, and we were for the better with those guys filling the 'go to' roles. Even Alan had some good moments. His enthusiastic support for his teammates is good to see. I hope he has one or two more good games in him before this run is over. I believe he does.

For those that want to know more about the Cougars, here is a good article. Their offense and defense are both rated extremely highly. They might have played in a scrub conference but their stats are top notch.

The part about them struggling to defend 3s this season has to be music to Buddy's ears. And JGII and Alan. Maybe even Q. Hope they can get the ball inside some too and get their bigs in foul trouble.

That pizza looked awful!
 
Yeah I heard people saying he kept mixing them up. Honestly I did not hear it even once but that is probably because I zone in on the game and don't really listen much to the announcers. I know what I am seeing, and who I am seeing.
Yeah he did it multiple times. Mixed up the offensive foul on Q(said it was Griff) and then the next foul that was on Griffin, he said was on Q. It's actually weird how many times all season the announcers have mixed them up.
 

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