My Take | Syracusefan.com

My Take

sutomcat

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Sorry this is late. It is going to be short too. Got a lot going on.

I admit it. Was concerned after the two exhibition games. I still am. But after watching the Lehigh game, I feel a lot better about this team.

I thought I read Lehigh was picked to finish second in the Patriot. That seems unlikely. They aren't that good. A good Patriot team should give us a really good fight. That didn't.

But they clearly have talent and are well coached. And they have some good outside shooters.

I imagine those shooters had this game circled in red all summer. I am pretty sure they were ready to throw up a ton of 3s and destroy our 2-3. Pretty sure they practiced to beat it for the last couple of weeks.

And then a funny thing happened. We didn't play it.

They looked confused and uncomfortable. When they got 3s, they were contested.

At the end of the half, I believe SU was up 44-26 and Lehigh was 1-10 from the 3 point circle.

If JB needed a game to get him to believe that man is going to work this year, this was that game. Lehigh was a mess on offense and most astonishing of all, we were not in foul trouble. Not even Jesse, who always is in foul trouble. We finished the game with 10 personal fouls. That is really encouraging given how little we have played man.

That is my biggest takeaway from the game. We might actually be a decent man team defensively.

Was happy seeing Judah acting a lot more like a PG than in the exhibitions. He still took a lot of shots and only had 3 assists but I thought he ran the offense a lot better this game. Actually executed some pick and rolls to Jesse. Had a couple careless turnovers but he was generally good with the ball.

I think we all know this team is going to be at least somewhat offensively challenged and given Judah is going to be one of the best guys on the team getting a good shot on his own, he is going to be asked to score and going to be needed to score. But he still needs to look for others and make good passes when players are open. I think it should be noted that he is already a good defensive player, perhaps our best man defender even as a true frosh. We haven't had a defensive player that dares to get in his man's grill extended from the basket like Judah does in a long time. That can be a weapon, especially against inexperienced point guards.

He played last night very much like I want him to play this year.

It looked like JB told the team to focus the offense on getting it to Jesse in scoring position and for perhaps the first time in his college career, we really did feature Jesse most of the first half. And Jesse did a really nice job of getting open. He worked the pick and roll he is so comfortable with (looking better at it with each passing game) but he also moved well without the ball and even posted his smaller man down low several times. He also hit the boards hard, which he does some games and doesn't do some other games. And he stayed out of foul trouble. It was really nice to see him playing like a leader and a senior and I hope we see more of this approach the rest of the season.

JGIII played like the savvy veteran he is. He is making noticeably more drives into the paint this season so far and I suspect it is by design. Kind of taking that role from Buddy to some extent. So far so good. But it is going to be a lot harder to draw fouls and not get blocked when we start playing the big boys. But I thought he played smart, good shot selection, passed it well and handled it well. His man defense was actually quite good IMHO.

Chris Bell still seems unsure of what to do, like he is feeling out his role. He really isn't getting into the offense much. A lot of standing around the perimeter waiting for someone to pass it to him. Doesn't seem to be comfortable under the basket contending for rebounds much. Had a nice steal. Looks quite good defensively. No doubt he is a fine athlete but I think he needs to be a lot more aggressive if he is going to be a big part of this team.

Benny Williams seemed a bit out of control. Threw up some bad shots. One 3 in particular that he air balled was disturbing and caught JB's attention. Seems too tight out there. He isn't afraid to shoot at all but maybe he should be. Got a couple of rebounds but was not a force out there last night. His defense was good. No concerns there. He is another guy who doesn't seem comfortable right now.

Thought Symir was really solid. Maybe the best athlete out there, was all over the court playinf defense, getting boards, making nice passes. Impressed with his shooting early this season. He is even making his FTs. Always feel like he deserved more playing time. But I know it is tough to find minutes with all the guards on the roster.

I like Maliq Brown more even time I see him play. He knows how to play. He seems to be in the right spot consistently. Looks like one of our best defenders to me already. When he gets the ball in scoring position, he doesn't panic; he stays smooth and finds a way to get the ball in the basket. He does a lot of things well.

If Chris Bell is on one end of the aggression bell curve, Quadir is one the other end. When he gets the ball, he is almost always going to try and make a play. It might be good and it might be bad. But something is going to happen. You can bank on it. Yes he is a gifted passer and yes, he telegraphed some passes and I think opposing teams already know to overplay the pass. I think he is underrated with his athletic ability. Don't think he has really played point yet, would like to see what happens when he plays there. Reminds me of Z quite a bit. High ceiling but he already shoots better than Z did, at least early in his career. My big issue with Quadir is that I think he is a horrendous man defender (and not much better playing zone). My guess is that he has ADD and struggles to focus for the 10-20 seconds needed to play good defense. He can finish and he can hit a mid range jumper and he can pass it really well. JB needs to find a way to get him to defend better. That looks like it is going to be a real challenge.

Justin Taylor rebounded it well. Defended well. Looked smooth. You can see he also knows how to play and how to position himself. Right now, he is playing tight and missing a lot of shots. That is the thing he needs to overcome. Some guys need a year. Some need a couple of games. Let's see how he handles things from here forward. If he can knock down his shots, he has a chance to play more at forward than anyone else.

Mounir Hima looks like a solid player to me. I think he is a step up from Frankie and am pretty excited to see how he does against top flight competition. He is a legit shot blocker. Maybe a better shot blocker than Jesse. And I think he is going to be okay on offense. If he gets it in scoring position, I think he will make some shots. Needs to be tough and rebound and keep the big strong guys out of the paint. It remains to be seen if he can do this. But I like what I see from him so far.

Pete and John looked okay but I don't think this is their year. If Pete gets up to 225 or so, he is going to be a problem. If he can't put on weight, that is going to be a problem.

Encouraging first game. I think we played some zone in the second half and Lehigh played better against it. We might have played some zone in the first half too but I didn't notice it. I think we pressed some as well without much success. We look bad pressing so far this year, which is kind of surprising given the length and athletic ability many on the team have. But we are really inexperienced too and that does not help matters.
 
Sorry this is late. It is going to be short too. Got a lot going on.

I admit it. Was concerned after the two exhibition games. I still am. But after watching the Lehigh game, I feel a lot better about this team.

I thought I read Lehigh was picked to finish second in the Patriot. That seems unlikely. They aren't that good. A good Patriot team should give us a really good fight. That didn't.

But they clearly have talent and are well coached. And they have some good outside shooters.

I imagine those shooters had this game circled in red all summer. I am pretty sure they were ready to throw up a ton of 3s and destroy our 2-3. Pretty sure they practiced to beat it for the last couple of weeks.

And then a funny thing happened. We didn't play it.

They looked confused and uncomfortable. When they got 3s, they were contested.

At the end of the half, I believe SU was up 44-26 and Lehigh was 1-10 from the 3 point circle.

If JB needed a game to get him to believe that man is going to work this year, this was that game. Lehigh was a mess on offense and most astonishing of all, we were not in foul trouble. Not even Jesse, who always is in foul trouble. We finished the game with 10 personal fouls. That is really encouraging given how little we have played man.

That is my biggest takeaway from the game. We might actually be a decent man team defensively.

Was happy seeing Judah acting a lot more like a PG than in the exhibitions. He still took a lot of shots and only had 3 assists but I thought he ran the offense a lot better this game. Actually executed some pick and rolls to Jesse. Had a couple careless turnovers but he was generally good with the ball.

I think we all know this team is going to be at least somewhat offensively challenged and given Judah is going to be one of the best guys on the team getting a good shot on his own, he is going to be asked to score and going to be needed to score. But he still needs to look for others and make good passes when players are open. I think it should be noted that he is already a good defensive player, perhaps our best man defender even as a true frosh. We haven't had a defensive player that dares to get in his man's grill extended from the basket like Judah does in a long time. That can be a weapon, especially against inexperienced point guards.

He played last night very much like I want him to play this year.

It looked like JB told the team to focus the offense on getting it to Jesse in scoring position and for perhaps the first time in his college career, we really did feature Jesse most of the first half. And Jesse did a really nice job of getting open. He worked the pick and roll he is so comfortable with (looking better at it with each passing game) but he also moved well without the ball and even posted his smaller man down low several times. He also hit the boards hard, which he does some games and doesn't do some other games. And he stayed out of foul trouble. It was really nice to see him playing like a leader and a senior and I hope we see more of this approach the rest of the season.

JGIII played like the savvy veteran he is. He is making noticeably more drives into the paint this season so far and I suspect it is by design. Kind of taking that role from Buddy to some extent. So far so good. But it is going to be a lot harder to draw fouls and not get blocked when we start playing the big boys. But I thought he played smart, good shot selection, passed it well and handled it well. His man defense was actually quite good IMHO.

Chris Bell still seems unsure of what to do, like he is feeling out his role. He really isn't getting into the offense much. A lot of standing around the perimeter waiting for someone to pass it to him. Doesn't seem to be comfortable under the basket contending for rebounds much. Had a nice steal. Looks quite good defensively. No doubt he is a fine athlete but I think he needs to be a lot more aggressive if he is going to be a big part of this team.

Benny Williams seemed a bit out of control. Threw up some bad shots. One 3 in particular that he air balled was disturbing and caught JB's attention. Seems too tight out there. He isn't afraid to shoot at all but maybe he should be. Got a couple of rebounds but was not a force out there last night. His defense was good. No concerns there. He is another guy who doesn't seem comfortable right now.

Thought Symir was really solid. Maybe the best athlete out there, was all over the court playinf defense, getting boards, making nice passes. Impressed with his shooting early this season. He is even making his FTs. Always feel like he deserved more playing time. But I know it is tough to find minutes with all the guards on the roster.

I like Maliq Brown more even time I see him play. He knows how to play. He seems to be in the right spot consistently. Looks like one of our best defenders to me already. When he gets the ball in scoring position, he doesn't panic; he stays smooth and finds a way to get the ball in the basket. He does a lot of things well.

If Chris Bell is on one end of the aggression bell curve, Quadir is one the other end. When he gets the ball, he is almost always going to try and make a play. It might be good and it might be bad. But something is going to happen. You can bank on it. Yes he is a gifted passer and yes, he telegraphed some passes and I think opposing teams already know to overplay the pass. I think he is underrated with his athletic ability. Don't think he has really played point yet, would like to see what happens when he plays there. Reminds me of Z quite a bit. High ceiling but he already shoots better than Z did, at least early in his career. My big issue with Quadir is that I think he is a horrendous man defender (and not much better playing zone). My guess is that he has ADD and struggles to focus for the 10-20 seconds needed to play good defense. He can finish and he can hit a mid range jumper and he can pass it really well. JB needs to find a way to get him to defend better. That looks like it is going to be a real challenge.

Justin Taylor rebounded it well. Defended well. Looked smooth. You can see he also knows how to play and how to position himself. Right now, he is playing tight and missing a lot of shots. That is the thing he needs to overcome. Some guys need a year. Some need a couple of games. Let's see how he handles things from here forward. If he can knock down his shots, he has a chance to play more at forward than anyone else.

Mounir Hima looks like a solid player to me. I think he is a step up from Frankie and am pretty excited to see how he does against top flight competition. He is a legit shot blocker. Maybe a better shot blocker than Jesse. And I think he is going to be okay on offense. If he gets it in scoring position, I think he will make some shots. Needs to be tough and rebound and keep the big strong guys out of the paint. It remains to be seen if he can do this. But I like what I see from him so far.

Pete and John looked okay but I don't think this is their year. If Pete gets up to 225 or so, he is going to be a problem. If he can't put on weight, that is going to be a problem.

Encouraging first game. I think we played some zone in the second half and Lehigh played better against it. We might have played some zone in the first half too but I didn't notice it. I think we pressed some as well without much success. We look bad pressing so far this year, which is kind of surprising given the length and athletic ability many on the team have. But we are really inexperienced too and that does not help matters.
We have a nice collection of players this year for JB to work with. In his presser JB said that Mintz was a scorer which is exactly what we need him to do. He will play best off of Sy. Joe is playing well. Not forcing and doing everything to help the team be its best. Couldnt ask for more from him at this point.
I like Brown better than any of the other big forwards and like Hima a ton. Guys a stud that is going to help us. Nice to see the kids take a step forward.
 
Sorry this is late. It is going to be short too. Got a lot going on.

I admit it. Was concerned after the two exhibition games. I still am. But after watching the Lehigh game, I feel a lot better about this team.

I thought I read Lehigh was picked to finish second in the Patriot. That seems unlikely. They aren't that good. A good Patriot team should give us a really good fight. That didn't.

But they clearly have talent and are well coached. And they have some good outside shooters.

I imagine those shooters had this game circled in red all summer. I am pretty sure they were ready to throw up a ton of 3s and destroy our 2-3. Pretty sure they practiced to beat it for the last couple of weeks.

And then a funny thing happened. We didn't play it.

They looked confused and uncomfortable. When they got 3s, they were contested.

At the end of the half, I believe SU was up 44-26 and Lehigh was 1-10 from the 3 point circle.

If JB needed a game to get him to believe that man is going to work this year, this was that game. Lehigh was a mess on offense and most astonishing of all, we were not in foul trouble. Not even Jesse, who always is in foul trouble. We finished the game with 10 personal fouls. That is really encouraging given how little we have played man.

That is my biggest takeaway from the game. We might actually be a decent man team defensively.

Was happy seeing Judah acting a lot more like a PG than in the exhibitions. He still took a lot of shots and only had 3 assists but I thought he ran the offense a lot better this game. Actually executed some pick and rolls to Jesse. Had a couple careless turnovers but he was generally good with the ball.

I think we all know this team is going to be at least somewhat offensively challenged and given Judah is going to be one of the best guys on the team getting a good shot on his own, he is going to be asked to score and going to be needed to score. But he still needs to look for others and make good passes when players are open. I think it should be noted that he is already a good defensive player, perhaps our best man defender even as a true frosh. We haven't had a defensive player that dares to get in his man's grill extended from the basket like Judah does in a long time. That can be a weapon, especially against inexperienced point guards.

He played last night very much like I want him to play this year.

It looked like JB told the team to focus the offense on getting it to Jesse in scoring position and for perhaps the first time in his college career, we really did feature Jesse most of the first half. And Jesse did a really nice job of getting open. He worked the pick and roll he is so comfortable with (looking better at it with each passing game) but he also moved well without the ball and even posted his smaller man down low several times. He also hit the boards hard, which he does some games and doesn't do some other games. And he stayed out of foul trouble. It was really nice to see him playing like a leader and a senior and I hope we see more of this approach the rest of the season.

JGIII played like the savvy veteran he is. He is making noticeably more drives into the paint this season so far and I suspect it is by design. Kind of taking that role from Buddy to some extent. So far so good. But it is going to be a lot harder to draw fouls and not get blocked when we start playing the big boys. But I thought he played smart, good shot selection, passed it well and handled it well. His man defense was actually quite good IMHO.

Chris Bell still seems unsure of what to do, like he is feeling out his role. He really isn't getting into the offense much. A lot of standing around the perimeter waiting for someone to pass it to him. Doesn't seem to be comfortable under the basket contending for rebounds much. Had a nice steal. Looks quite good defensively. No doubt he is a fine athlete but I think he needs to be a lot more aggressive if he is going to be a big part of this team.

Benny Williams seemed a bit out of control. Threw up some bad shots. One 3 in particular that he air balled was disturbing and caught JB's attention. Seems too tight out there. He isn't afraid to shoot at all but maybe he should be. Got a couple of rebounds but was not a force out there last night. His defense was good. No concerns there. He is another guy who doesn't seem comfortable right now.

Thought Symir was really solid. Maybe the best athlete out there, was all over the court playinf defense, getting boards, making nice passes. Impressed with his shooting early this season. He is even making his FTs. Always feel like he deserved more playing time. But I know it is tough to find minutes with all the guards on the roster.

I like Maliq Brown more even time I see him play. He knows how to play. He seems to be in the right spot consistently. Looks like one of our best defenders to me already. When he gets the ball in scoring position, he doesn't panic; he stays smooth and finds a way to get the ball in the basket. He does a lot of things well.

If Chris Bell is on one end of the aggression bell curve, Quadir is one the other end. When he gets the ball, he is almost always going to try and make a play. It might be good and it might be bad. But something is going to happen. You can bank on it. Yes he is a gifted passer and yes, he telegraphed some passes and I think opposing teams already know to overplay the pass. I think he is underrated with his athletic ability. Don't think he has really played point yet, would like to see what happens when he plays there. Reminds me of Z quite a bit. High ceiling but he already shoots better than Z did, at least early in his career. My big issue with Quadir is that I think he is a horrendous man defender (and not much better playing zone). My guess is that he has ADD and struggles to focus for the 10-20 seconds needed to play good defense. He can finish and he can hit a mid range jumper and he can pass it really well. JB needs to find a way to get him to defend better. That looks like it is going to be a real challenge.

Justin Taylor rebounded it well. Defended well. Looked smooth. You can see he also knows how to play and how to position himself. Right now, he is playing tight and missing a lot of shots. That is the thing he needs to overcome. Some guys need a year. Some need a couple of games. Let's see how he handles things from here forward. If he can knock down his shots, he has a chance to play more at forward than anyone else.

Mounir Hima looks like a solid player to me. I think he is a step up from Frankie and am pretty excited to see how he does against top flight competition. He is a legit shot blocker. Maybe a better shot blocker than Jesse. And I think he is going to be okay on offense. If he gets it in scoring position, I think he will make some shots. Needs to be tough and rebound and keep the big strong guys out of the paint. It remains to be seen if he can do this. But I like what I see from him so far.

Pete and John looked okay but I don't think this is their year. If Pete gets up to 225 or so, he is going to be a problem. If he can't put on weight, that is going to be a problem.

Encouraging first game. I think we played some zone in the second half and Lehigh played better against it. We might have played some zone in the first half too but I didn't notice it. I think we pressed some as well without much success. We look bad pressing so far this year, which is kind of surprising given the length and athletic ability many on the team have. But we are really inexperienced too and that does not help matters.
Played zone out of inbounds under out basket first half
 
Lehigh being surprised and struggling vs mtm I think is more likely than they were a poor team. They took the ball at Jesse a lot - and tried to be really physical with us which is two things that were major issues for us last year on defense. Mtm certainly through a monkey wrench into their plans but so did all the help D and blocks.

They play very similar to how Colgate plays. Their slower guys couldn't get open looks though with the mtm. Colgate for example buried us with wide open 3s from guys who are slow as molasses against our zone.

Last night Lafayette- ( predicted last in Patriot) took Miami to the wire with the margin 6 at the 4 minute mark. The league as a whole had a better night than most low majors.
 
On JG: I am a fan, but after he made that bucket falling out of bounds on the baseline, you could see his determination to see just how hot he was, and it resulted in back to back turn overs.
 
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Sorry this is late. It is going to be short too. Got a lot going on.

I admit it. Was concerned after the two exhibition games. I still am. But after watching the Lehigh game, I feel a lot better about this team.

I thought I read Lehigh was picked to finish second in the Patriot. That seems unlikely. They aren't that good. A good Patriot team should give us a really good fight. That didn't.

But they clearly have talent and are well coached. And they have some good outside shooters.

I imagine those shooters had this game circled in red all summer. I am pretty sure they were ready to throw up a ton of 3s and destroy our 2-3. Pretty sure they practiced to beat it for the last couple of weeks.

And then a funny thing happened. We didn't play it.

They looked confused and uncomfortable. When they got 3s, they were contested.

At the end of the half, I believe SU was up 44-26 and Lehigh was 1-10 from the 3 point circle.

If JB needed a game to get him to believe that man is going to work this year, this was that game. Lehigh was a mess on offense and most astonishing of all, we were not in foul trouble. Not even Jesse, who always is in foul trouble. We finished the game with 10 personal fouls. That is really encouraging given how little we have played man.

That is my biggest takeaway from the game. We might actually be a decent man team defensively.

Was happy seeing Judah acting a lot more like a PG than in the exhibitions. He still took a lot of shots and only had 3 assists but I thought he ran the offense a lot better this game. Actually executed some pick and rolls to Jesse. Had a couple careless turnovers but he was generally good with the ball.

I think we all know this team is going to be at least somewhat offensively challenged and given Judah is going to be one of the best guys on the team getting a good shot on his own, he is going to be asked to score and going to be needed to score. But he still needs to look for others and make good passes when players are open. I think it should be noted that he is already a good defensive player, perhaps our best man defender even as a true frosh. We haven't had a defensive player that dares to get in his man's grill extended from the basket like Judah does in a long time. That can be a weapon, especially against inexperienced point guards.

He played last night very much like I want him to play this year.

It looked like JB told the team to focus the offense on getting it to Jesse in scoring position and for perhaps the first time in his college career, we really did feature Jesse most of the first half. And Jesse did a really nice job of getting open. He worked the pick and roll he is so comfortable with (looking better at it with each passing game) but he also moved well without the ball and even posted his smaller man down low several times. He also hit the boards hard, which he does some games and doesn't do some other games. And he stayed out of foul trouble. It was really nice to see him playing like a leader and a senior and I hope we see more of this approach the rest of the season.

JGIII played like the savvy veteran he is. He is making noticeably more drives into the paint this season so far and I suspect it is by design. Kind of taking that role from Buddy to some extent. So far so good. But it is going to be a lot harder to draw fouls and not get blocked when we start playing the big boys. But I thought he played smart, good shot selection, passed it well and handled it well. His man defense was actually quite good IMHO.

Chris Bell still seems unsure of what to do, like he is feeling out his role. He really isn't getting into the offense much. A lot of standing around the perimeter waiting for someone to pass it to him. Doesn't seem to be comfortable under the basket contending for rebounds much. Had a nice steal. Looks quite good defensively. No doubt he is a fine athlete but I think he needs to be a lot more aggressive if he is going to be a big part of this team.

Benny Williams seemed a bit out of control. Threw up some bad shots. One 3 in particular that he air balled was disturbing and caught JB's attention. Seems too tight out there. He isn't afraid to shoot at all but maybe he should be. Got a couple of rebounds but was not a force out there last night. His defense was good. No concerns there. He is another guy who doesn't seem comfortable right now.

Thought Symir was really solid. Maybe the best athlete out there, was all over the court playinf defense, getting boards, making nice passes. Impressed with his shooting early this season. He is even making his FTs. Always feel like he deserved more playing time. But I know it is tough to find minutes with all the guards on the roster.

I like Maliq Brown more even time I see him play. He knows how to play. He seems to be in the right spot consistently. Looks like one of our best defenders to me already. When he gets the ball in scoring position, he doesn't panic; he stays smooth and finds a way to get the ball in the basket. He does a lot of things well.

If Chris Bell is on one end of the aggression bell curve, Quadir is one the other end. When he gets the ball, he is almost always going to try and make a play. It might be good and it might be bad. But something is going to happen. You can bank on it. Yes he is a gifted passer and yes, he telegraphed some passes and I think opposing teams already know to overplay the pass. I think he is underrated with his athletic ability. Don't think he has really played point yet, would like to see what happens when he plays there. Reminds me of Z quite a bit. High ceiling but he already shoots better than Z did, at least early in his career. My big issue with Quadir is that I think he is a horrendous man defender (and not much better playing zone). My guess is that he has ADD and struggles to focus for the 10-20 seconds needed to play good defense. He can finish and he can hit a mid range jumper and he can pass it really well. JB needs to find a way to get him to defend better. That looks like it is going to be a real challenge.

Justin Taylor rebounded it well. Defended well. Looked smooth. You can see he also knows how to play and how to position himself. Right now, he is playing tight and missing a lot of shots. That is the thing he needs to overcome. Some guys need a year. Some need a couple of games. Let's see how he handles things from here forward. If he can knock down his shots, he has a chance to play more at forward than anyone else.

Mounir Hima looks like a solid player to me. I think he is a step up from Frankie and am pretty excited to see how he does against top flight competition. He is a legit shot blocker. Maybe a better shot blocker than Jesse. And I think he is going to be okay on offense. If he gets it in scoring position, I think he will make some shots. Needs to be tough and rebound and keep the big strong guys out of the paint. It remains to be seen if he can do this. But I like what I see from him so far.

Pete and John looked okay but I don't think this is their year. If Pete gets up to 225 or so, he is going to be a problem. If he can't put on weight, that is going to be a problem.

Encouraging first game. I think we played some zone in the second half and Lehigh played better against it. We might have played some zone in the first half too but I didn't notice it. I think we pressed some as well without much success. We look bad pressing so far this year, which is kind of surprising given the length and athletic ability many on the team have. But we are really inexperienced too and that does not help matters.

On TV they showed them picked 3rd preseason.

Colgate was 1...
 
I am sure Colgate's preparation for us next week just got a lot more difficult for them knowing they now have to prepare to work against both a m2m and zone. No more bombs away from beyond the three point line!.
Agree on this.

One wonders how much that disastrous game with Colgate last season played in JAB's new found enthusiasm for man defense.

I expect we will play man exclusively all game long.

I believe JAB wants this one very badly.
 
Agree on this.

One wonders how much that disastrous game with Colgate last season played in JAB's new found enthusiasm for man defense.

I expect we will play man exclusively all game long.

I believe JAB wants this one very badly.
Playing m2m is no guarantee of shutting down your opponent's 3-point success. Most everybody plays a man defense, and yet high pct. 3-point shooting still occurs.
 
we will beat these guys hands down
 
Playing m2m is no guarantee of shutting down your opponent's 3-point success. Most everybody plays a man defense, and yet high pct. 3-point shooting still occurs.
That is true.

But I saw how Colgate attacked (and destroyed) the Syracuse 2-3 last year. And I saw how small and slow the Colgate players were. They used classic attack techniques against a zone defense and they executed them almost perfectly.

I also saw how Syracuse defended a similar team to Colgate (not quite as good but quite close) in Lehigh Monday.

Colgate was 18-43 from the 3 point circle last year. They launched a shot from the 3 point circle more than once a minute.


With a different defensive approach and a different set of players defending, we are taking away Colgate's bread and butter.

I don't see them replicating their performance from last season. But if they do, I will be the first to congratulate you on your basketball acumen.
 
That is true.

But I saw how Colgate attacked (and destroyed) the Syracuse 2-3 last year. And I saw how small and slow the Colgate players were. They used classic attack techniques against a zone defense and they executed them almost perfectly.

I also saw how Syracuse defended a similar team to Colgate (not quite as good but quite close) in Lehigh Monday.

Colgate was 18-43 from the 3 point circle last year. They launched a shot from the 3 point circle more than once a minute.


With a different defensive approach and a different set of players defending, we are taking away Colgate's bread and butter.

I don't see them replicating their performance from last season. But if they do, I will be the first to congratulate you on your basketball acumen.
Tom, my big mistake was posting in response to your comment. :)

I meant to make a general point that lots of m2m defenses also get lit up from behind the arc.
 
That is true.

But I saw how Colgate attacked (and destroyed) the Syracuse 2-3 last year. And I saw how small and slow the Colgate players were. They used classic attack techniques against a zone defense and they executed them almost perfectly.

I also saw how Syracuse defended a similar team to Colgate (not quite as good but quite close) in Lehigh Monday.

Colgate was 18-43 from the 3 point circle last year. They launched a shot from the 3 point circle more than once a minute.


With a different defensive approach and a different set of players defending, we are taking away Colgate's bread and butter.

I don't see them replicating their performance from last season. But if they do, I will be the first to congratulate you on your basketball acumen.

Also got killed on long rebounds - should be better on that front, too.
 
Tom, my big mistake was posting in response to your comment. :)

I meant to make a general point that lots of m2m defenses also get lit up from behind the arc.
Good post. I assumed all along your post was directed to my post not Tomcat. It was also not my intent that m2m would shut down the 3 point attack but rather I was simply commenting on how easy and often Colgate bombed away from beyond the 3 point line last year with our slow to react zone. We are all on the same page. Just too bad we couldn't have showed the m2m against Colgate for the first time rather a week earlier against Lehigh. I had forgot they had made 18 threes against us. I just remember the 100 points. LGO!!
 
Good post. I assumed all along your post was directed to my post not Tomcat. It was also not my intent that m2m would shut down the 3 point attack but rather I was simply commenting on how easy and often Colgate bombed away from beyond the 3 point line last year with our slow to react zone. We are all on the same page. Just too bad we couldn't have showed the m2m against Colgate for the first time rather a week earlier against Lehigh. I had forgot they had made 18 threes against us. I just remember the 100 points. LGO!!
I completely blocked that game from my memory and I have not enjoyed being reminded of it now.
 
Playing m2m is no guarantee of shutting down your opponent's 3-point success. Most everybody plays a man defense, and yet high pct. 3-point shooting still occurs.
Any team can have a hot shooting night vs any defense, man , zone, or otherwise but I’d argue even if teams shoot a high percentage against man, they’d be hard pressed to equal the sheer volume of threes they could comfortably loft up against a zone.
 
Sorry this is late. It is going to be short too. Got a lot going on.

I admit it. Was concerned after the two exhibition games. I still am. But after watching the Lehigh game, I feel a lot better about this team.

I thought I read Lehigh was picked to finish second in the Patriot. That seems unlikely. They aren't that good. A good Patriot team should give us a really good fight. That didn't.

But they clearly have talent and are well coached. And they have some good outside shooters.

I imagine those shooters had this game circled in red all summer. I am pretty sure they were ready to throw up a ton of 3s and destroy our 2-3. Pretty sure they practiced to beat it for the last couple of weeks.

And then a funny thing happened. We didn't play it.

They looked confused and uncomfortable. When they got 3s, they were contested.

At the end of the half, I believe SU was up 44-26 and Lehigh was 1-10 from the 3 point circle.

If JB needed a game to get him to believe that man is going to work this year, this was that game. Lehigh was a mess on offense and most astonishing of all, we were not in foul trouble. Not even Jesse, who always is in foul trouble. We finished the game with 10 personal fouls. That is really encouraging given how little we have played man.

That is my biggest takeaway from the game. We might actually be a decent man team defensively.

Was happy seeing Judah acting a lot more like a PG than in the exhibitions. He still took a lot of shots and only had 3 assists but I thought he ran the offense a lot better this game. Actually executed some pick and rolls to Jesse. Had a couple careless turnovers but he was generally good with the ball.

I think we all know this team is going to be at least somewhat offensively challenged and given Judah is going to be one of the best guys on the team getting a good shot on his own, he is going to be asked to score and going to be needed to score. But he still needs to look for others and make good passes when players are open. I think it should be noted that he is already a good defensive player, perhaps our best man defender even as a true frosh. We haven't had a defensive player that dares to get in his man's grill extended from the basket like Judah does in a long time. That can be a weapon, especially against inexperienced point guards.

He played last night very much like I want him to play this year.

It looked like JB told the team to focus the offense on getting it to Jesse in scoring position and for perhaps the first time in his college career, we really did feature Jesse most of the first half. And Jesse did a really nice job of getting open. He worked the pick and roll he is so comfortable with (looking better at it with each passing game) but he also moved well without the ball and even posted his smaller man down low several times. He also hit the boards hard, which he does some games and doesn't do some other games. And he stayed out of foul trouble. It was really nice to see him playing like a leader and a senior and I hope we see more of this approach the rest of the season.

JGIII played like the savvy veteran he is. He is making noticeably more drives into the paint this season so far and I suspect it is by design. Kind of taking that role from Buddy to some extent. So far so good. But it is going to be a lot harder to draw fouls and not get blocked when we start playing the big boys. But I thought he played smart, good shot selection, passed it well and handled it well. His man defense was actually quite good IMHO.

Chris Bell still seems unsure of what to do, like he is feeling out his role. He really isn't getting into the offense much. A lot of standing around the perimeter waiting for someone to pass it to him. Doesn't seem to be comfortable under the basket contending for rebounds much. Had a nice steal. Looks quite good defensively. No doubt he is a fine athlete but I think he needs to be a lot more aggressive if he is going to be a big part of this team.

Benny Williams seemed a bit out of control. Threw up some bad shots. One 3 in particular that he air balled was disturbing and caught JB's attention. Seems too tight out there. He isn't afraid to shoot at all but maybe he should be. Got a couple of rebounds but was not a force out there last night. His defense was good. No concerns there. He is another guy who doesn't seem comfortable right now.

Thought Symir was really solid. Maybe the best athlete out there, was all over the court playinf defense, getting boards, making nice passes. Impressed with his shooting early this season. He is even making his FTs. Always feel like he deserved more playing time. But I know it is tough to find minutes with all the guards on the roster.

I like Maliq Brown more even time I see him play. He knows how to play. He seems to be in the right spot consistently. Looks like one of our best defenders to me already. When he gets the ball in scoring position, he doesn't panic; he stays smooth and finds a way to get the ball in the basket. He does a lot of things well.

If Chris Bell is on one end of the aggression bell curve, Quadir is one the other end. When he gets the ball, he is almost always going to try and make a play. It might be good and it might be bad. But something is going to happen. You can bank on it. Yes he is a gifted passer and yes, he telegraphed some passes and I think opposing teams already know to overplay the pass. I think he is underrated with his athletic ability. Don't think he has really played point yet, would like to see what happens when he plays there. Reminds me of Z quite a bit. High ceiling but he already shoots better than Z did, at least early in his career. My big issue with Quadir is that I think he is a horrendous man defender (and not much better playing zone). My guess is that he has ADD and struggles to focus for the 10-20 seconds needed to play good defense. He can finish and he can hit a mid range jumper and he can pass it really well. JB needs to find a way to get him to defend better. That looks like it is going to be a real challenge.

Justin Taylor rebounded it well. Defended well. Looked smooth. You can see he also knows how to play and how to position himself. Right now, he is playing tight and missing a lot of shots. That is the thing he needs to overcome. Some guys need a year. Some need a couple of games. Let's see how he handles things from here forward. If he can knock down his shots, he has a chance to play more at forward than anyone else.

Mounir Hima looks like a solid player to me. I think he is a step up from Frankie and am pretty excited to see how he does against top flight competition. He is a legit shot blocker. Maybe a better shot blocker than Jesse. And I think he is going to be okay on offense. If he gets it in scoring position, I think he will make some shots. Needs to be tough and rebound and keep the big strong guys out of the paint. It remains to be seen if he can do this. But I like what I see from him so far.

Pete and John looked okay but I don't think this is their year. If Pete gets up to 225 or so, he is going to be a problem. If he can't put on weight, that is going to be a problem.

Encouraging first game. I think we played some zone in the second half and Lehigh played better against it. We might have played some zone in the first half too but I didn't notice it. I think we pressed some as well without much success. We look bad pressing so far this year, which is kind of surprising given the length and athletic ability many on the team have. But we are really inexperienced too and that does not help matters.
Gotta give Frank some credit, dropped 11 and 4 the other night for Georgia, he also had 5 TOs but nobody is perfect!
 

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