sutomcat
No recent Cali or Iggy awards; Mr Irrelevant
- Joined
- Aug 15, 2011
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First, props to the SU fans who showed and cheered the team on. On the TV broadcast, the crowd was far louder when good things happened for Syracuse than for BC. It looked like a bad crowd. I think the box score had a little over 5K.
What was up with the black uniforms BC wore with The Heights on them? Are they trying to be trendy? I will say if their goal was to wear the ugliest uniform possible, that goal was achieved. Yay.
Speaking of ugliness, what a brutal game before ours. Clemson and UNC were like two fat, old, exhausted boxers too tired to do anything but hang on to each other. How can a game go on for whatever it was, 20 minutes, and not ever go into overtime? And that guy on UNC with his head set up like a girl, who appeared to have been crying hysterically, ended up making the winning shot. Yuck.
So I missed a lot of the first half, relying on reading the game summary. Which seemed to just keep saying shot missed. Shot missed. Shot missed.
It was an ugly game. Roger Ayers was the lead ref and his specialty is ugly games with baffling calls and extreme inconsistency. He was money again. I think I actually prefer Ted Valentine to Ayers.
Is a flop warning a real thing?
Anyway, my time is limited so some quick thoughts:
Cole is a different player. Wow, what a change. He carried us for long stretches last night. I like seeing him seeing without hesitation. He is also improving on defense, in particular rotating down low, anticipating post passes much better. Getting lots of steals and breakups that way.
I looked it up. Portsmouth, RI is 62.5 miles from Boston. If the rumors are true and this is Cole's one and only year playing for Syracuse, this was it. His homecoming game. Really glad for him he played so well in it. Everyone got a big response when they scored for Syracuse but I thought Cole get the loudest cheers. Suspect he had a big contingent there to root for him.
Basketball is a strange game. Jesse played almost 30 minutes last game without a personal foul. And all he could do was make personal fouls last night. Most. maybe all were legit too. He has some bad habits and they are proving really hard to break.
Thought BC played a compressed style of man that looked like it was designed to prevent SU from getting to the basket. There was a lot of congestion in the paint. That eventually broke up some as SU destroyed the BC man with some good outside shooting but I think it made it harder for us to work the ball around the perimeter and we really didn't run our half court offense very well. Sy came in and got Cole going with a couple right looks but then quieted down some.
Frank had a great chance to show what he could do and l thought he largely blew it. Got beaten up on the board pretty bad by the BC bigs, especially Post. Allowed BC to drive to the basket way too much and did almost nothing on offense either. He wasn't awful but is capable of a lot more.
Benny played 6 minutes and did almost nothing with that time. I think he is playing good defense and is probably our best defender on a wing in the 2-3 and he is rebounding well but he really looks lost on offense and he looked that way all season. I keep hoping he makes adjustments, tries to get some offensive rebounds, set some screens, post up his guy down low...something different. But he just gets the ball, takes a nervous dribble or two and either throws up a brick or passes it. Some guys develop faster than others. Hope a light comes on soon for him.
Joe had some good and bad moments. Didn't do much good when he penetrated, which he was able to do pretty easily. Had some shots blocked, forced a couple, did a terrible job taking the last shot at the end of the first half. But he also made some nice passes, was strong with the ball (mostly) late, made his FTs and made some big shots when we really needed to score. That corner jumper might have been the biggest shot anyone on Cuse made last night and he hit another from the top of the key that was big too.
Buddy seemed to have problems dribbling from the start. Did not seem himself and took too many bad shots. He is so much more effective when he is looking for the double and able to find the guy left alone. I think he missed Jesse here. Frank wasn't getting into position for a pass when he saw Buddy start to drive (like Jesse does). That applies some to JB3, who also did not look to pass it last night like he has recently. JB3 did make a shot inside with his right hand, which was good to see.
If BC could shoot from the outside, this could have been a close game. I was impressed with that guy from Wisconsin with the receding hair line and the good outside shot. He is going to be good so he is probably going to transfer. That big kid from the Netherlands is not a good athlete but he hurt us on the boards, especially on the offensive end and he actually beat Frank down the court to get a couple of easy baskets. Frank needs to hustle and focus. Guys 20 or 30 pounds heavier than him should never beat him down the court.
Hopefully we can get everyone together and playing well for VT. That game will tell us a lot about what this team is made of. I suspect it is going to be a war. Props to the kids for not giving up and making this season interesting.
Let's get 'em Saturday.
What was up with the black uniforms BC wore with The Heights on them? Are they trying to be trendy? I will say if their goal was to wear the ugliest uniform possible, that goal was achieved. Yay.
Speaking of ugliness, what a brutal game before ours. Clemson and UNC were like two fat, old, exhausted boxers too tired to do anything but hang on to each other. How can a game go on for whatever it was, 20 minutes, and not ever go into overtime? And that guy on UNC with his head set up like a girl, who appeared to have been crying hysterically, ended up making the winning shot. Yuck.
So I missed a lot of the first half, relying on reading the game summary. Which seemed to just keep saying shot missed. Shot missed. Shot missed.
It was an ugly game. Roger Ayers was the lead ref and his specialty is ugly games with baffling calls and extreme inconsistency. He was money again. I think I actually prefer Ted Valentine to Ayers.
Is a flop warning a real thing?
Anyway, my time is limited so some quick thoughts:
Cole is a different player. Wow, what a change. He carried us for long stretches last night. I like seeing him seeing without hesitation. He is also improving on defense, in particular rotating down low, anticipating post passes much better. Getting lots of steals and breakups that way.
I looked it up. Portsmouth, RI is 62.5 miles from Boston. If the rumors are true and this is Cole's one and only year playing for Syracuse, this was it. His homecoming game. Really glad for him he played so well in it. Everyone got a big response when they scored for Syracuse but I thought Cole get the loudest cheers. Suspect he had a big contingent there to root for him.
Basketball is a strange game. Jesse played almost 30 minutes last game without a personal foul. And all he could do was make personal fouls last night. Most. maybe all were legit too. He has some bad habits and they are proving really hard to break.
Thought BC played a compressed style of man that looked like it was designed to prevent SU from getting to the basket. There was a lot of congestion in the paint. That eventually broke up some as SU destroyed the BC man with some good outside shooting but I think it made it harder for us to work the ball around the perimeter and we really didn't run our half court offense very well. Sy came in and got Cole going with a couple right looks but then quieted down some.
Frank had a great chance to show what he could do and l thought he largely blew it. Got beaten up on the board pretty bad by the BC bigs, especially Post. Allowed BC to drive to the basket way too much and did almost nothing on offense either. He wasn't awful but is capable of a lot more.
Benny played 6 minutes and did almost nothing with that time. I think he is playing good defense and is probably our best defender on a wing in the 2-3 and he is rebounding well but he really looks lost on offense and he looked that way all season. I keep hoping he makes adjustments, tries to get some offensive rebounds, set some screens, post up his guy down low...something different. But he just gets the ball, takes a nervous dribble or two and either throws up a brick or passes it. Some guys develop faster than others. Hope a light comes on soon for him.
Joe had some good and bad moments. Didn't do much good when he penetrated, which he was able to do pretty easily. Had some shots blocked, forced a couple, did a terrible job taking the last shot at the end of the first half. But he also made some nice passes, was strong with the ball (mostly) late, made his FTs and made some big shots when we really needed to score. That corner jumper might have been the biggest shot anyone on Cuse made last night and he hit another from the top of the key that was big too.
Buddy seemed to have problems dribbling from the start. Did not seem himself and took too many bad shots. He is so much more effective when he is looking for the double and able to find the guy left alone. I think he missed Jesse here. Frank wasn't getting into position for a pass when he saw Buddy start to drive (like Jesse does). That applies some to JB3, who also did not look to pass it last night like he has recently. JB3 did make a shot inside with his right hand, which was good to see.
If BC could shoot from the outside, this could have been a close game. I was impressed with that guy from Wisconsin with the receding hair line and the good outside shot. He is going to be good so he is probably going to transfer. That big kid from the Netherlands is not a good athlete but he hurt us on the boards, especially on the offensive end and he actually beat Frank down the court to get a couple of easy baskets. Frank needs to hustle and focus. Guys 20 or 30 pounds heavier than him should never beat him down the court.
Hopefully we can get everyone together and playing well for VT. That game will tell us a lot about what this team is made of. I suspect it is going to be a war. Props to the kids for not giving up and making this season interesting.
Let's get 'em Saturday.
