My Take

[SUMinistry]

Who would be second or third? And why not Cole?

Cole very well could be second or third, wasn't trying to say he couldn't be. I just think he's going to be more of a streaky type player for us (just kind of a personal hunch) where he has some huge games and then some games where he scores 4-8 points when he isn't hitting from deep. I hope his mid-range game continues to develop and he can consistently score in the lane. That being said, I think most believe Buddy will be No. 1. After that, I could see Joe, Benny, Jimmy, Cole or even Jesse as the second or third options statistically speaking depending on the opponent and how each player is running on a given night. Any of those players can score between 10-15+ on a given night and any of those players can struggle. My personal guess (which likely will be very wrong) on a statistical basis, I'll go Buddy, Jimmy, Joe, Cole and then Benny for point production this year.

 

[cuseattle]

(cataracts? personal experience...)

Getting one done next week! Hopefully ending a five month journey from retinal detachment to somewhat normal vision again. And now I have to worry about glare???

 

[the villager]

Cole should be the happiest player in America. He could not have landed in a better place to play.The zone keeping him in the game defensively and the presence of two other high percentage shooters to get him good looks in the games. Hallelujah!

 

[Zelda Zonk]

Cole very well could be second or third, wasn't trying to say he couldn't be. I just think he's going to be more of a streaky type player for us (just kind of a personal hunch) where he has some huge games and then some games where he scores 4-8 points when he isn't hitting from deep. I hope his mid-range game continues to develop and he can consistently score in the lane. That being said, I think most believe Buddy will be No. 1. After that, I could see Joe, Benny, Jimmy, Cole or even Jesse as the second or third options statistically speaking depending on the opponent and how each player is running on a given night. Any of those players can score between 10-15+ on a given night and any of those players can struggle. My personal guess (which likely will be very wrong) on a statistical basis, I'll go Buddy, Jimmy, Joe, Cole and then Benny for point production this year.

I hope he's not 'streaky.' I'm kinda thinking that his game can be more well-rounded than that of just a 3-pt bomber. If he's not 'on' from deep, he'll move around and work inside. I think he's reasonably versatile, plus he's experienced, and he has Jimmy's game to observe for crafty ways to play all over the court. Plus, he's maybe the most incentivized to make an impression with scouts, and that's why i think he'll be more assertive in scoring.

I kinda hope Joe isn't second, just because i don't love his efficiency. He's great when he's hitting from deep, but i don't like his percentages, and he's not going to shoot effectively from anywhere else. I think Benny is blocked a bit by Jimmy, but he could come on pretty quickly and impress us. Maybe he is a star sooner than i expect. I see Jesse in the 12 ppg range, which i don't think is high enough for second on the team.

But, whatever. All complete speculation. It will be interesting to see how these opinions, early assessments and estimations play out over the course of a season. These will be fun posts to look back on in March.

 

[0.2 YNdeeR]

I was surprised by how well we moved the ball. 26 assists on 30 made baskets I think. Guys seemed comfortable with each other in the half court and the traps showed promise with all those tall bodies. There were some sloppy moments, of course. But this edition of the JB framework - a distributor, 2 wing shooters, a rebounder-glue guy and a rim protector - has a higher ceiling than most. Cole surprised me - with his poise, his excellent shooting form, his ability to hit the mid-range jumper or floater off the dribble-drive, and his defense at the top of the zone (as SG). Hope to see more of that.

Our center combination also looks promising. Both can block shots and rebound pretty well, although Edwards is clearly better offensively. He can run the P/R, hit the lob pass and protect the rim - exactly what we need from a center in the zone. Same for Anselem just a little earlier on the development curve.

The distributor role is still a WIP. ST seems confident with the ball (no TO's in 21 minutes). His offensive game is limited so his value will be getting in the paint and kicking out or connecting with JE inside (which he did twice). JG3 also ran the P/R a couple times and had 6 assists to 3 TO's, not bad. His shot volume was low (6), which is appropriate. And I didn't mind the turnaround (which he missed). But I wasn't a fan of 24 foot jumpers.

I agree with Tom on Benny ... NRFPT. But ... sooner or later the light's going to go on and when it does watch out. He moves well for a very long player (looked to be 6-9). Even in his first college game coming off the bench for 21 minutes, he was a stat-stuffer: 7 points; team-high 9 rb's; 2 steels; and 3 assists. He defended well, and on offense, showed that he can hit the MR shot and drive inside. He's tentative (of course) but already has good court vision and a high BBIQ. What's missing are .. confidence/range on his jumper, strength and experience. Really fun player to watch.

Buddy is Buddy. Wow ... 4 years have flown by. Looks poised for a big year.

It was also cool to see all the different lineups - one of the most enjoyable parts of early season. I haven't seen a plus minus but hopefully the PS will post one - those are helpful. I didn't think much of Jimmy at the 5 - they immediately lobbed him and against bigger teams I think he represents a step backwards in the middle that we don't need to take - with 2 true centers and hopefully Sid coming back in a few weeks.

 

[Mareiniss]

... What i do like about [Symir] though, is his speed. He's really quick with the ball, and seemingly without being out of control. But, it so far is not a 'useful' speed. Meaning, he pushes it, but then reaches a point on the court where he then doesn't go further, so the speed doesn't translate to buckets for himself or plays for others. Not sure our starters are fast enough to run with him anyway. But, at some point, i expect the team to capitalize on his quickness. ...

I noticed the same thing. There were several times when he brought the ball up very quickly, only to get across half court and notice that the rest of the team hadn't caught up. However, I do think that pushing the ball up quickly, instead of walking it up, will leave the offense with more time on the 30-second clock.

 

[bballbeadle]

(cataracts? personal experience...)

There was a huge glare on the floor from the new lighting! We all saw it. It wasn’t just me! My daughter saw it. It was distracting.

Miff.

 

[GoSU96]

If the rotations last night are similar all year, what are people going to complain about?

Skilled team with older guys and good size. Loved to ball movement, no more iso ball please. Really good interior passing. It would be great if the centers can be legit pick and roll options.

 

[Orangezoo]

If the rotations last night are similar all year, what are people going to complain about?

Skilled team with older guys and good size. Loved to ball movement, no more iso ball please. Really good interior passing. It would be great if the centers can be legit pick and roll options.

Joe and Kadary

 

[IthacaMatt]

I have a lot going on right now but I wanted to jot something down on the game.

Hope Buddy is okay. Once he went down early in the second half, JB moved Cole Swider up top in the zone, moved Buddy to a wing and we played defense like that for a long time. 8 or 9 minutes I think. Cole looked surprisingly at home up there. That was interesting.

Thought JGIII really played well running the offense. He didn't get a lot of points but this team doesn't need him to score a lot. He needs to be the guy who gets the ball to teammates in places they can score. And he did that last night. Looked like a point of emphasis was to get the ball to Jesse in good position down low. Joe had at least 4 excellent passes to Jesse that were all immediately converted to baskets.

Just my opinion, but I think when Joe is taking a lot of long 3s early in possessions, we lose efficiency as an offense and get in trouble. If Joe wants to get some shots off, he almost has to take them early, while the defense is off him. Really don't want to see this happen. Joe is going to be best for this team facilitating.

Cole has great form and he gets his shot off quickly. When you are 6'9 and have a quick trigger, you are going to get a lot of easy baskets. In the ACC, they will probably end up trying to cover him with 6'4 uber quick and athletic guards, and he is going to need to show he can post them up.

Pace really did a nice job attacking the zone. They had patience and found a guy open with than 5 seconds on the clock quite a bit. Seemed like our zone was good for 15-20 seconds but often screwed up in the last 4 or 5 seconds of possession. Hope they learn from this.

Jesse was really aggressive defensively. Got out to mid range jumper range on Pace players a number of times. He blocked a bunch and affected a bunch more. This is the first time I am seeing a clear intimidation factor (with the exception of a few games late last season) since we had Pascal. Really good to see.

Thought we passed the ball as a team really well. A lot of one extra pass happening where we went from a good shot to a great shot. I like the unselfishness last night. A lot.

Torrence struggled some last night. He is mostly just passing it around the perimeter. Rarely pushes the pace, didn't get out on the fast break, and rarely tried to penetrate and pass. Or penetrate and shoot. When he does shoot, the form is not good and it looks like he is really tight and lacking confidence.

Was most impressed with Benny's rebounding. He has a high hoops IQ, found himself in the right place a lot. Made a lot of good decisions. Good passer. His defense was surprisingly solid for a young player.

He is not going to be a big star as a true frosh but he will contribute from day one and I think could be an all conference level player his sophomore season. Yes, I expect he will be here at least 2 years.

Frankie had kind of a quiet day. Jesse does a better job presenting himself to get the ball and is a lot more aggressive on defense. I think he will do better against bigger players. He looked more comfortable battling for position and rebounds with Jesse than the smaller Pace players.

One other thing: Jimmy played center for a few minutes in the second half. Looked okay there. We will not want to do this against ACC opponents.

Really need more stats more often if you sit on the movable stands (123, 124) east of the court. Talking individual stats here. They started to show them some in the northwest corner. Need more of that. Should have room for points, rebounds, assists, blocks and steals. Hope to get this every timeout.

You can see the stands are noticeably darker than they were in past years. It has been weird seeing them in uber bright light forever and it will take a while to get used to this. Gotta see what it is like to sit in darkened stands in the dome.

4 crew cuts on the team. When was the last time that happened? 1962?

This team, on very scant evidence, looks a lot like one of Mike Brey's better Notre Dame teams, from 10-15 years ago. Lots of size at F, lots of shooting all over the floor, an athletic big guy or two to guard the rim and offer some interior offense.

If I had to guess before the game, "who would be the 4th guard if somebody gets hurt?", I don't think anybody would have said Cole Swider. I thought he did a commendable job, actually. He's not a terrible dribbler. Benny can get into the lane off the bounce, too.

I'm not sure how much we are going to see from Symir. He brings something different from Joe, but he has to use his speed to challenge the defense, and try to create something on the fast break. If we can just get him to be the guy who runs the break and attacks the rim, that would make this a better team for it.

 

[Cheriehoop]

Getting one done next week! Hopefully ending a five month journey from retinal detachment to somewhat normal vision again. And now I have to worry about glare???

Ouch, that hurts. Glad to hear it’s improved. Long uncomfortable recovery period.

 

[Consigliere]

Just a couple of additional points:

We have always thrived with the corner trap, but this year it will be especially lethal. Both centers are very quick to geo out to the corners and when they double with a 6’9” forward it is an almost impossible challenge for the offensive player.

Yes, Symir is Uber-quick and had 0 turnovers but he did not play aggressively. He seemed to get a step on his defender countless times and rather than drive to the hole he stopped and backed out. I imagine this will be a coaching point of emphasis.

 

[Red Holzman]

...to me we look like a team that can beat essentially 95 pct of the teams in the country to where last year it was more like 90 pct. Now that 5 pct from 100 is that difference between the glory version of SU vs a better version of where we have been the past 6 years.

NOT FAIR -impossible for the forum to debate this take!
5% improvement = win 1/2 more games, BUT which teams represent the "5%"?
If we lose MORE games, were they against the "5%"?
100% JK!

 

[CardiacCuse]

watched the highlights of the game...and I have to remind myself that the opponent is D3...which matters a lot...

but my initial reaction is that this team is clearly better than last year.

the players that left were good and mostly more athletic (though not as tall)...but their replacements are less limited offensively and have better BBIQ...in some cases by a lot. this is going to be a "YMCA" type team that beats teams with skill and smarts...which is a good thing, imo. Last seasons players who left mostly struggled with the stuff between the ears and figuring it out on the court...with key limitations that this year's team doesnt have.

depth at guard is an issue and kadary leaving will likely hurt at some point.

other than that, defense and team speed is going to be the obstacle, imo...but with all of that height I cant see it being too big of a problem.

overall, this team just seems to "get it" better than recent editions of the orange.

26 assists on 30 buckets is the thing that encourages me most.

 

[IthacaMatt]

watched the highlights of the game...and I have to remind myself that the opponent is D3...which matters a lot...

but my initial reaction is that this team is clearly better than last year.

the players that left were good and mostly more athletic (though not as tall)...but their replacements are less limited offensively and have better BBIQ...in some cases by a lot. this is going to be a "YMCA" type team that beats teams with skill and smarts...which is a good thing, imo. Last seasons players who left mostly struggled with the stuff between the ears and figuring it out on the court...with key limitations that this year's team doesnt have.

depth at guard is an issue and kadary leaving will likely hurt at some point.

other than that, defense and team speed is going to be the obstacle, imo...but with all of that height I cant see it being too big of a problem.

overall, this team just seems to "get it" better than recent editions of the orange.

26 assists on 30 buckets is the thing that encourages me most.

If you don't like the Early 2000s Notre Dame comparison, you could also say that this is a Gonzaga type of team - tall, lots of shooters, a few athletes to make sure you can match up.

 

[Mareiniss]

If you don't like the Early 2000s Notre Dame comparison, you could also say that this is a Gonzaga type of team - tall, lots of shooters, a few athletes to make sure you can match up.

Except our coach doesn't drink