This one really will be short.
Another strange game in a very strange season.
Syracuse looked terrific early in the first half. Cornell looked a bunch of guys recruited from the library to fill in for their basketball team.
Then something happened. Something bad for Syracuse and good for the Big Red. And a giant lead amost completely evaporated. Alarmingly quickly. I think they put on full court pressure and they played a role in the comeback. I know we committed turnovers about as quickly and about as creatively as I have ever seen a Syracuse team do,
Not a great game for JGIII, who made a bunch of bad decisions, but others also contributed. Part of it was JB playing 3 subs at the same time coming back to burn him again. Really surprised he is making this mistake over and over; he has always been good about learning from his mistakes and making adjustments. I guess he really wants to play the bench right now, even to the point where he is willing to put what could be easy wins into question. This might have been his last good chance to play the bench and in the end, it all worked out, so I won't harp on this a lot.
Jimmy made a couple more good passes inside. Yay! Was really worried when he got hurt late in the first half. He looked in great pain. I think he got an elbow to a bicep but the broadcast blew the replay and I didn't see it when it was finally shown during halftime. He looked fine in the second half. Thought he played a solid overall game. Good to see him outjump some opponents for that long ball near the basket and good to see him avoid making foolish turnovers or forcing some bad shots, as he has done at times this season. That little hook he does has been damned reliable. And he continues to rebound better with a beard.
Thought Buddy had another good game. Still not shooting great from outside but when it got close, it seemed like he took things over and played a big role in extending it again. I think he could have scored a lot more if need be. Good to see Cole playing well and I was encouraged to see him contributing to the win in a variety of ways: yes he shot well from the outside, but he also did well rebounding, got some steals and deflections on defense, drove with the ball better and made a couple of mid range pull up shots. If he can score in more ways than from outside the 3 point circle, he becomes a lot more valuable.
Don't know what was up with Joe. This game was out of character for him. It reminded me of some games he played shortly after he had COVID last season where he lacked focus and was a mess in general. Guessing he didn't feel well for whatever reason. Hope he is back to normal, which has been very solid this season, for that UVa game. That game is so important for setting up the conference part of the schedule.
Thought Jesse was a huge factor on defense. Only credited with 2 blocks but the Big Red was afraid to shoot in the paint and made very few baskets inside due to his presence. Thought he rebounded pretty well but still could have gotten a few more. Looked good at times on offense, flashing to the basket for dunks. But he missed more bunnies, which is becoming a habit, he shot poorly again from the FT line, which is a big change for him, not in a good way, and he had several plays where he got the ball down low in great position and just totally screwed up what should have been easy scores. Cornell players were flying at him late and it looked like he got spooked by this. I think he just needs to take his time when he gets it that close to the basket, keep it high and try to dunk as hard as he can. One of these games it is all going to come together for him and he is going to score 25. I really believe that.
Bad game for the bench. Symir had some bad turnovers. Benny is running around out of control over and over. Frank is a mess. Looks like all are trying too hard, desperately trying to do too much in the PT they get. All of them got some decent PT and none really took advantage. You can really see our interior defense weaken when Frank is in. I will say Symir seems to get better on defense with each game and I now consider him our best guard defender by a good margin. It also looks like Benny's defense is improving game by game. Pretty sure he is going to eventually be a terrific defender for us.
Let's talk more now about the Cornell basketball team. When I said it looked like they were recruited from a library early in the game, well, they all looked like people who hang out in libraries the whole game. Eventually, it became clear most of them could play and I appreciated and was fascinated by them attempting to play fast against us. It was completely against what has become standard for SU vs Cornell (at least since 1973). With all their pressing, manic ball movement, quick shooting and heavy reliance on 3 point shots, they looked like a male version of the SU women's basketball team. Has the Cornell HC been watching Vonn Read and the SU women?
I doubt it but there were some parallels for sure.
If you get ratings for appearance only, Cornell would surely be ranked the worst team SU plays all season. That includes exhibition games. What a motley crew of nerdy looking ectomorphs. Though there were a couple of chubby guys too, especially the one with the shaved head, head band and no game. I was trying to think of who he reminded me of but couldn't come up with anything. Then my wife said he reminded her of the Pillsbury Dough Guy. Bang. That was it.
Most of the Big Red players had ugly black sneakers on. The kind overweight security guards working the late shift wear. And black socks, which helped complete the geek look. Accessories are so important.
To complete the look, I do not believe a single player on the Cornell team had any muscle definition. They either had chubby arms or skinny nerd arms. And chubby or skinny legs.
Yet some of these geeks were surprisingly athletic, very aggressive on defense and very aggressive and tough on the boards (we were a lot taller and got out rebounded). And a few of them could really shoot from the outside. Especially Big Red on the Big Red, who had a red beard, high topped black shoes and a nice stroke from the corner.
I think the funky style of play for Cornell is going to lead to a lot of victories in the Ivy League. Will be interested to see how they do as the season progresses. If it progresses...
