sutomcat
No recent Cali or Iggy awards; Mr Irrelevant
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- Aug 15, 2011
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Sat courtside last night. Many thanks to cto for hooking me up.
Time is limited but some quick comments. Haven't read many posts on the game so if some of this is a repeat, I apologize.
The young lady who sang the NA was really good. The crowd noticed and gave her a really warm and loud ovation.
Nice senior day ceremonies for the cheerleaders, dance team, some student managers, including Big Red and Hima. It looked like the couple that took in when he went to HS was there with Hima. Nice. The male cheerleader with the classic 1970s mustache, who also always carries the giant S flag during the Running of the Flags, did the walk and it appears we have lost our 1970s mustache. I hope it becomes a tradition for a senior male cheerleader to grow a 1970s mustache and pay this gift forward.
I thought this game was Judah Mintz' finest hour. He was terrific all game long. Passed it well, limited his turnovers, played reasonably good defense and of course, drew a lot of fouls and scored a lot of points. A bunch happened late, when VT drew within 7 and threatened to steal the win. That comeback bid was largely extinguished by a series of big plays by Judah. Judah, if this was your final game at the dome, thank you. It has been a pleasure watching you play and I wish you great success*.
During the time VT went on its big run to draw within 7, Chris Bell made a series of bad plays on defense. Much like he did the game before against ND. Not sure if they showed it on TV but in the midst of this, there was a timeout (I think called by Coach Autry), and Coach Autry got in Bell's face and screamed at him for a long time. Maybe 20 seconds. He made some gestures as part of the dreaming down that appeared to be an imitation of a player taking their time going back on defense and not caring about getting beat. It was the first real in game dressing down I have seen him do.
Sometimes the head coach needs to go medieval on a struggling player. Especially when they repeat the same mistakes over and over. I think this was one of those times. Good for Coach Autry.
Q came over to Bell and consoled him afterwards. He tends to do a lot of instruction and communication with the other Syracuse players. He may not be the captain but he is acting more and more like one every passing game.
Thought Starling also had one of his best games. Yes, he was good on offense and slashed to the basket or hit some mid range jumpers a bunch of times. But he also passed the ball noticeably better than in recent games, made less careless turnovers and really did a nice job rebounding. We don't have a frontline that is going to win a lot of rebounding wars, so the guards need to rebound. He did this well and filled out his stat sheet nicely.
Q was classic Q last night. Made some bad unforced turnovers. Made some ghastly plays on defense to get VT easy baskets. But he also ripped up the VT defense, getting into the paint seemingly whenever he wanted. Made some great passes including at least 2 that should have been layups but for SU players not catching a pass thrown right at them. And at times, he also played stellar defense.
Maliq got burned on defense a lot. Allowed the VT big to get the ball down low in scoring position way too often.
He can and must to better here. It would help if he got some help when a VT center would slowly dribble to get into scoring position close to the basket. I understand not doubling DJ Burns, who is a great passer. But the VT guys don't appear to be good at passing.
Anyway, Maliq got some huge rebounds, kept the ball alive a few times to save possessions and made some big finishes for baskets as well. He has had a few games where he has really struggled to finish and that thankfully ended last night. Which was great to see. He remains my favorite player (though Q is right up there).
Jon Bol Ajak was at the game last night. Is he completing a grad degree right now or working in the Syracuse area now? I have seen him at a number of games this season now.
Kyle Cuffe and Justin Taylor contributed good minutes last night. With the ACC tournament looming, we need these guys to play well and make contributions if we are going to make any kind of a run in the ACCT. Both seem to be playing better just at the right time. Let's hope we see this continue through the rest of the season.
*=unless you transfer to Georgetown
Time is limited but some quick comments. Haven't read many posts on the game so if some of this is a repeat, I apologize.
The young lady who sang the NA was really good. The crowd noticed and gave her a really warm and loud ovation.
Nice senior day ceremonies for the cheerleaders, dance team, some student managers, including Big Red and Hima. It looked like the couple that took in when he went to HS was there with Hima. Nice. The male cheerleader with the classic 1970s mustache, who also always carries the giant S flag during the Running of the Flags, did the walk and it appears we have lost our 1970s mustache. I hope it becomes a tradition for a senior male cheerleader to grow a 1970s mustache and pay this gift forward.
I thought this game was Judah Mintz' finest hour. He was terrific all game long. Passed it well, limited his turnovers, played reasonably good defense and of course, drew a lot of fouls and scored a lot of points. A bunch happened late, when VT drew within 7 and threatened to steal the win. That comeback bid was largely extinguished by a series of big plays by Judah. Judah, if this was your final game at the dome, thank you. It has been a pleasure watching you play and I wish you great success*.
During the time VT went on its big run to draw within 7, Chris Bell made a series of bad plays on defense. Much like he did the game before against ND. Not sure if they showed it on TV but in the midst of this, there was a timeout (I think called by Coach Autry), and Coach Autry got in Bell's face and screamed at him for a long time. Maybe 20 seconds. He made some gestures as part of the dreaming down that appeared to be an imitation of a player taking their time going back on defense and not caring about getting beat. It was the first real in game dressing down I have seen him do.
Sometimes the head coach needs to go medieval on a struggling player. Especially when they repeat the same mistakes over and over. I think this was one of those times. Good for Coach Autry.
Q came over to Bell and consoled him afterwards. He tends to do a lot of instruction and communication with the other Syracuse players. He may not be the captain but he is acting more and more like one every passing game.
Thought Starling also had one of his best games. Yes, he was good on offense and slashed to the basket or hit some mid range jumpers a bunch of times. But he also passed the ball noticeably better than in recent games, made less careless turnovers and really did a nice job rebounding. We don't have a frontline that is going to win a lot of rebounding wars, so the guards need to rebound. He did this well and filled out his stat sheet nicely.
Q was classic Q last night. Made some bad unforced turnovers. Made some ghastly plays on defense to get VT easy baskets. But he also ripped up the VT defense, getting into the paint seemingly whenever he wanted. Made some great passes including at least 2 that should have been layups but for SU players not catching a pass thrown right at them. And at times, he also played stellar defense.
Maliq got burned on defense a lot. Allowed the VT big to get the ball down low in scoring position way too often.
He can and must to better here. It would help if he got some help when a VT center would slowly dribble to get into scoring position close to the basket. I understand not doubling DJ Burns, who is a great passer. But the VT guys don't appear to be good at passing.
Anyway, Maliq got some huge rebounds, kept the ball alive a few times to save possessions and made some big finishes for baskets as well. He has had a few games where he has really struggled to finish and that thankfully ended last night. Which was great to see. He remains my favorite player (though Q is right up there).
Jon Bol Ajak was at the game last night. Is he completing a grad degree right now or working in the Syracuse area now? I have seen him at a number of games this season now.
Kyle Cuffe and Justin Taylor contributed good minutes last night. With the ACC tournament looming, we need these guys to play well and make contributions if we are going to make any kind of a run in the ACCT. Both seem to be playing better just at the right time. Let's hope we see this continue through the rest of the season.
*=unless you transfer to Georgetown
