sutomcat
No recent Cali or Iggy awards; Mr Irrelevant
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- Aug 15, 2011
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Gotta be quick. Better be quick anyway...
Sat in courtside seats again. Thank you cto and OrangeXtreme.
I think this was the first one with the students and band there. The band is in fine form. They have a guitarist and a bassist so the sound is a little different. Some new tunes have been added. Love me some SSS.
I was sitting next to a father and a little boy. He was probably 6 or 7. Otto came by before tip off, when the teams were shooting around, and the dad directed the kid to Otto in hopes of getting a picture. Otto understood what was going on immediately, found the dad, gave the kid a big hug and a high five and then posted for the pic with the very thrilled kid.
Then just before tipoff, the ref, a guy I have not seen ref SU games before, walked over to the kid and gave him the gameball. Told him to rub it up for 'good mojo'. The kid looked a little scared, glanced at dad, who gave him a thumbs up, and the kid gave the ball a good rub.
There might have been some magic in that kid because Syracuse played well. Very well.
Oakland threw everything at us defensively except the kitchen sink but one thing they did not do was play in your face extended in your face man defense. That is the defense that has been our achilles heel. Thought that was a little strange but from what I could see, Oakland doesn't have the best athletes and probably did not have the horses to pull this off.
Anyway, it was a good learning experience for Judah to see Oakland change defenses so much. The thing is, it really didn't matter what they did. Jesse was so much bigger than anyone on Oakland (looked to me as though their tallest players were around 6'6), it was easy to get it to him inside and last night, when Jesse got it near the basket, he finished.
The best plays of the game to me were the jumpers Jesse made. He faced the basket and threw up a jumper not one, not two but three times. The first two were from 5 feet or so but this is a big step in his development (scoring facing the basket). Later, he made a jumper from maybe 7 or 8 feet. This really wasn't needed against Oakland but it will be against teams with bigger centers and this has been a part of Jesse's game that needed to become more developed.
Also saw Joe and Judah working together to set each other up for maybe the first time all season. Both guys are scorers who can pass. That is no surprise. Have been a little disappointed in that when they pass, they rarely look to set up the other with a basket. Maybe JB said something. Not sure. But I was glad to see them passing it to each other, and glad to see better passing from everyone. Symir made a bunch of nice passes, as usual. Benny had some good ones and Maliq, who I know is a great passer, also made a nice one. A lot of that was set up by better movement without the ball by pretty much everyone. I miss watching a well executed offense. This was fun to watch.
Our defense was again the 2-3 all game long and again, it was good. #4 for Oakland scored maybe 14 or their first 18 points and was able to keep them in the game pretty much by himself. He found seams in the zone and mostly operated towards the middle of the paint. Then we realized he was good and made some adjustments. Move Jesse up some and had people pinch in towards him whenever he had the ball.
That was pretty much the end of the game as they really struggled to find ways to score with #4 neutralized. He woke from a long sleep early in the second half and score 5 quick ones and then got shut down again. Good player, undersized but strong and smart.
This might have been the first game I could see that the forwards were really trying to get rebounds. Not so much on the offensive side, where we always seem to concede rebounds and focus on getting back on defense ASAP. But a lot of our forwards were good rebounding on the defensive end. I assume JB has been making this a focus for a while but it looks like he finally got through to the guys.
JBA continues to help the team in small ways. Setting picks, helping on defense, getting boards...he is doing a lot more than I thought he was capable of. Still isn't scoring much but all our forwards have weaknesses.
Nice to see Maliq get a lot of run and it was nice to see him take advantage of it. I think he is our most complete forward. Not saying he is a complete forward but for our team, I think (he hasn't played a ton) he can do the most things. He seems to understand the game and make a lot of good decisions. I was expecting that would eventually get him a lot of PT but so far it has not. It will be interesting to see what happens from here.
Bell is the best athlete and maybe the best outside shooter (Justin might disagree). He can shoot off the dribble a bit and I think he generally plays good defense. Rebounding is a big issue. He looks like he does not want contact. Nice to see him throw down a dunk with a body close by. He needs to make open jumnpers consistently if he wants to play consistently.
Taylor seems to also be pretty savvy in how to play and I love his shooting form. He is not afraid to bang inside but isn't as long as most of our forwards. Seems hesitant to shoot most games (except Bryant). He needs to be more assertive if he wants to play a lot.
Benny can pass, he can make midrange jumpers, his defense is passable and he can rebound. Sometimes. Looks like he is a reliable shooter up to15 or 16 foot and for now, anyway, he should avoid taking long shots. Makes some silly fouls, takes some silly shots, makes some careless turnovers. He needs to play smarter but still be aggressive. I voted him second most likely to make JAB's head explode.
Quadir Copeland is an interesting player. He seems to have unlimited confidence, and at times he seems to be incapable of touching the ball and not trying to do something spectacular (usually a pass). He has talent but his judgement is not great right now. Sometimes he really reminds me of Lazarus Sims. Great passer. Way too wild for prime time. It took Z 3 years to learn how to play under control. I hope Q learns this skill faster than Z did. I voted most likely to make JAB's head explode.
Though Joe had a fine game. Oakland let him move around with the ball and he was able to get off good shots pretty easily. Shot it well too. And made a lot of good passes. Played like a senior. Happy for him.
Judah was more wild but he played under control a lot more than some earlier games. Not shooting well from the outside yet. Thought he looked to pass it more and passed it before than most games and didn't make as many awful forced shots that had no chance of going in or drawing a foul. It appears he is learning how to run a college offense. Oakland threw a lot at him and he did well.
So did Symir who probably deserved a bit more PT but did well with what he got.
The walk-ons were a disappointment and are pretty bad. Was hoping one of them could play. I miss Paddy Casey terribly.
Ketchup won the race. He missed 3 layups first. But Mustard missed 4 layups (he was the yellow, weak kind). Hotdog can't see in that damned outfit and is never going to win. That is my hot take for this post.
Good win. I don't know how Oakland became so bad but I am grateful they did. Adam Weitsman attended the game, by himself, against a stinger opponent. Respect.
Link to the ref who was cool to the kid and made me a fan for life.
Sat in courtside seats again. Thank you cto and OrangeXtreme.
I think this was the first one with the students and band there. The band is in fine form. They have a guitarist and a bassist so the sound is a little different. Some new tunes have been added. Love me some SSS.
I was sitting next to a father and a little boy. He was probably 6 or 7. Otto came by before tip off, when the teams were shooting around, and the dad directed the kid to Otto in hopes of getting a picture. Otto understood what was going on immediately, found the dad, gave the kid a big hug and a high five and then posted for the pic with the very thrilled kid.
Then just before tipoff, the ref, a guy I have not seen ref SU games before, walked over to the kid and gave him the gameball. Told him to rub it up for 'good mojo'. The kid looked a little scared, glanced at dad, who gave him a thumbs up, and the kid gave the ball a good rub.
There might have been some magic in that kid because Syracuse played well. Very well.
Oakland threw everything at us defensively except the kitchen sink but one thing they did not do was play in your face extended in your face man defense. That is the defense that has been our achilles heel. Thought that was a little strange but from what I could see, Oakland doesn't have the best athletes and probably did not have the horses to pull this off.
Anyway, it was a good learning experience for Judah to see Oakland change defenses so much. The thing is, it really didn't matter what they did. Jesse was so much bigger than anyone on Oakland (looked to me as though their tallest players were around 6'6), it was easy to get it to him inside and last night, when Jesse got it near the basket, he finished.
The best plays of the game to me were the jumpers Jesse made. He faced the basket and threw up a jumper not one, not two but three times. The first two were from 5 feet or so but this is a big step in his development (scoring facing the basket). Later, he made a jumper from maybe 7 or 8 feet. This really wasn't needed against Oakland but it will be against teams with bigger centers and this has been a part of Jesse's game that needed to become more developed.
Also saw Joe and Judah working together to set each other up for maybe the first time all season. Both guys are scorers who can pass. That is no surprise. Have been a little disappointed in that when they pass, they rarely look to set up the other with a basket. Maybe JB said something. Not sure. But I was glad to see them passing it to each other, and glad to see better passing from everyone. Symir made a bunch of nice passes, as usual. Benny had some good ones and Maliq, who I know is a great passer, also made a nice one. A lot of that was set up by better movement without the ball by pretty much everyone. I miss watching a well executed offense. This was fun to watch.
Our defense was again the 2-3 all game long and again, it was good. #4 for Oakland scored maybe 14 or their first 18 points and was able to keep them in the game pretty much by himself. He found seams in the zone and mostly operated towards the middle of the paint. Then we realized he was good and made some adjustments. Move Jesse up some and had people pinch in towards him whenever he had the ball.
That was pretty much the end of the game as they really struggled to find ways to score with #4 neutralized. He woke from a long sleep early in the second half and score 5 quick ones and then got shut down again. Good player, undersized but strong and smart.
This might have been the first game I could see that the forwards were really trying to get rebounds. Not so much on the offensive side, where we always seem to concede rebounds and focus on getting back on defense ASAP. But a lot of our forwards were good rebounding on the defensive end. I assume JB has been making this a focus for a while but it looks like he finally got through to the guys.
JBA continues to help the team in small ways. Setting picks, helping on defense, getting boards...he is doing a lot more than I thought he was capable of. Still isn't scoring much but all our forwards have weaknesses.
Nice to see Maliq get a lot of run and it was nice to see him take advantage of it. I think he is our most complete forward. Not saying he is a complete forward but for our team, I think (he hasn't played a ton) he can do the most things. He seems to understand the game and make a lot of good decisions. I was expecting that would eventually get him a lot of PT but so far it has not. It will be interesting to see what happens from here.
Bell is the best athlete and maybe the best outside shooter (Justin might disagree). He can shoot off the dribble a bit and I think he generally plays good defense. Rebounding is a big issue. He looks like he does not want contact. Nice to see him throw down a dunk with a body close by. He needs to make open jumnpers consistently if he wants to play consistently.
Taylor seems to also be pretty savvy in how to play and I love his shooting form. He is not afraid to bang inside but isn't as long as most of our forwards. Seems hesitant to shoot most games (except Bryant). He needs to be more assertive if he wants to play a lot.
Benny can pass, he can make midrange jumpers, his defense is passable and he can rebound. Sometimes. Looks like he is a reliable shooter up to15 or 16 foot and for now, anyway, he should avoid taking long shots. Makes some silly fouls, takes some silly shots, makes some careless turnovers. He needs to play smarter but still be aggressive. I voted him second most likely to make JAB's head explode.
Quadir Copeland is an interesting player. He seems to have unlimited confidence, and at times he seems to be incapable of touching the ball and not trying to do something spectacular (usually a pass). He has talent but his judgement is not great right now. Sometimes he really reminds me of Lazarus Sims. Great passer. Way too wild for prime time. It took Z 3 years to learn how to play under control. I hope Q learns this skill faster than Z did. I voted most likely to make JAB's head explode.
Though Joe had a fine game. Oakland let him move around with the ball and he was able to get off good shots pretty easily. Shot it well too. And made a lot of good passes. Played like a senior. Happy for him.
Judah was more wild but he played under control a lot more than some earlier games. Not shooting well from the outside yet. Thought he looked to pass it more and passed it before than most games and didn't make as many awful forced shots that had no chance of going in or drawing a foul. It appears he is learning how to run a college offense. Oakland threw a lot at him and he did well.
So did Symir who probably deserved a bit more PT but did well with what he got.
The walk-ons were a disappointment and are pretty bad. Was hoping one of them could play. I miss Paddy Casey terribly.
Ketchup won the race. He missed 3 layups first. But Mustard missed 4 layups (he was the yellow, weak kind). Hotdog can't see in that damned outfit and is never going to win. That is my hot take for this post.
Good win. I don't know how Oakland became so bad but I am grateful they did. Adam Weitsman attended the game, by himself, against a stinger opponent. Respect.
Link to the ref who was cool to the kid and made me a fan for life.
