My Take

[AluminNV]

Brandon is clearly emerging as the team leader ... and the heart and soul of the team. He is not as demonstrative as Scoop was last year... but he leads by his constant workmanlike performance. I am sorry that so many fans under-rate him. Enjoy him while he is here for another few months.

Very good post. This team is lacking that leader (CJ, Big Game James, and MCW can all go cold at any given time...and if they are cold you don't want them to have to create their own shot against a team that has taken momentum) and it is automatically Brandon. Embrace him growing into the role since this team needs it to be him who can settle us down and get an easy bucket or two if we look rattled and the other team goes on a run.

Personality doesn't really matter just because the other guys have a little more talent than him. And he is the leader by default but he's playing next to 3 great players in MCW James and CJ they don't need a ra ra vocal leader just someone who gets an easy 2 to calm everyone down when thing aren't going great offensively.

I don't really like the Original POst its pretty damn negative. Why the do these kids have to show off at noon on the road against a sweet 16 team with their entire roster back?

Do we have to act like Kansas or UK fans and dig for things to criticize? Who cares MCW was ice cold his defense was phenomenal and he shut down a great point guard.

Keita is awesome and he needs to be a hard charger to be fully effective so I don't mind the foul trouble. A much smarter skinny Jeremy McNeal I'll take everything that kid gives us.

Crapping on Big East teams for being defensive and low scoring is dumb too. The people hating on USF/Gtown/Marquette probably love Stevens for doing the same thing at Butler. USF, GT and Marquette will likely be playing second weekend of the tourney. And I love that this team can win dirty dog fights against them. Last years team though rebounding was beneath them.

 

[Francis03]

"Really nice turnout by the SU fans of the Tampa area. Sounded like we had more fans than they did."

Loved it

 

[pearl31]

It seems we do more rotating in the zone than we ever have before. We have always slid and still do but when Coleman sits and we extend the weakside forward rotates up top the weakside guard sort of plays the FT circle while the strong side guard and forward try to trap from the FT line extended all the way to the corner. Then when the ball swings and goes oposite corner the the center covers that and everyone else rotates again. So much more movement than I ever remember before and when its working teams basically do nothing against us if they don't snag an offensive rebound.

As far as USF they will be tough at home all season in league play. Its a great first road win in conferencde play IMO.

Nice post. Agree with all points.

 

[SoBristol]

Brandon is clearly emerging as the team leader ... and the heart and soul of the team. He is not as demonstrative as Scoop was last year... but he leads by his constant workmanlike performance. I am sorry that so many fans under-rate him. Enjoy him while he is here for another few months.

Brandon has had two excellent games in a row -- and we are a much better team when he is active and aggressive on the offensive end. (Usually solid on defense and a strong finisher on the break.)
I doubt anyone under-rates him when he plays like he did against RU and USF and I hope he continues at that level. The room for skepticism, of course, is that BT has had great streaks before and not-so-great streaks. Can he continue to be assertive and confident?

 

[IthacaMatt]

Brandon is clearly emerging as the team leader ... and the heart and soul of the team. He is not as demonstrative as Scoop was last year... but he leads by his constant workmanlike performance. I am sorry that so many fans under-rate him. Enjoy him while he is here for another few months.

Brandon has been huge these past couple games. He has had streaks in pretty much every season at SU, where he is outstanding for a 6 game stretch. I hope he can keep it going this year and keep playing at this level. He has a world of experience, and when he can finish the drives at the rim, that's when he's really good. He's always been streaky from 3, but if he can convert those drives, he plays like an All-League player. The rest of his floor game is so solid.

 

[pfister1]

Thought the officiating was terrible today, not slanted, just let way too much contact go. Looked like they were trying to stage one last BE football game.

DCII's air ball from 3 feet on the first possession was downright disheartening. People question why MCW doesn't get the ball to our bigs, but that play is a big example of why more of his assists don't come on passes to the interior.

Overall felt like we were in control of the game once we went on the first half run to take the lead. I may have been as low as a 5 point margin in the second half, but I never felt like the game was in jeopardy. Maybe because our defense was giving them fits today as well.

USF had 4 starters play 36+ minutes, is it any wonder they want to play at a slower pace.

 

[BlueCurtain]

"Really disappointed with the defense early."

the wings are just way too high and the baseline is left basically unguarded. i saw one shot where fair had both feet beyond the 3 point line! teams are going to watch and exploit this and thus keita's fouls.

Pitino is licking his chops. No excuse for the wings to over-commit pretty much every time.

 

[Col. Bleep]

A nice road win agains a tough team.

But it shows again that we have some major offensive problems.
Most significantly: close to zero offense from the big guys (excluding CJ)

Other teams will follow Temple's blueprint: make MCW shoot until he proves he can score consistently.

It looks like when a crunch hits...option no. 1 will be Triche to the hoop.
He's good at getting there, but it's going to get tougher.

We're also going to be challenged when we face tough big bangers..
Good thing Chevy Troutman isn't around any more...he'd take us for at least 15 and 15 every game and make it look easy.

 

[realorange]

I seldom agree with Blue Curtain, but Louisvilles big men are going to be a huge problem because Siva and Smith are going to occupy the efforts of more than our guards.

 

[kcsu]

We are way over rated this year. This team lacks both an inside game and a go to G. D is carrying the D so far but this team doesnt have a prayer in heck of making the final 8

 

[Rossco123]

The the wings playing "too high" was a game specific adjustment. It totally shut down their zone offence and USF wasn't in the game after the change.

As usual Blue balls and his friends trot out their ignorance.

 

[bozophobe]

Good observation on the game-specific nature of the zone spread. It's hard to argue that it didn't change the entire momentum of the game.

***

Cooney's only 3 attempt looked like it wasn't going to drop in, anyway, because he obviously wasn't squared up. I hope the coaches caught that, and get on him to keep perfecting it. He might still master that unconscious shooter's form/shot, but it might take a while, like it did for A. Rautins.

 

[CuseFaninVT]

Pitino is licking his chops. No excuse for the wings to over-commit pretty much every time.

What's really frightening is the over-commit by the wings (except for Grant in his limited minutes - that kid has great instincts) leads to Keita then crashing to the corner to try to contest that shot. I've never seen him or anyone else (someone stated above that Christmas had gotten one or more - I've just never seen it) do anything to alter those shots. Anyway, even if it misses, there's no one there to rebound so it's an easy offensive rebound. Keita is the worst at it. He's a mess out there. I love his energy and the blocked shots, but he needs some more discipline to stay home.

EDIT - Should have waited and watched the whole game before posting that about not seeing Christmas block a three attempt from the corner. My bad.

 

[BlueCurtain]

The the wings playing "too high" was a game specific adjustment. It totally shut down their zone offence and USF wasn't in the game after the change.

As usual Blue balls and his friends trot out their ignorance.

It's not game-specific when it happens every game, little boy.

 

[Gabjon]

It is hard to understand how so many people can watch a basketball game and not understand what they are seeing. But put simply if the wings are playing high its because that is how JB wants them to play in that game in that situation. When you read people complaining about rebounding after we had more offensive rebounds than the opponent had defensive rebounds it makes you wonder what people are thinking. Do you think we are going to get EVERY rebound in the entire game? The wings played too high in a game where we gave up 44pts? Do you think they will play that high against a team with a low post scoring threat? Does anyone really think that we will lose because of 2-3 lob passes? Its basketball the other team will score, they will get a rebound, we shot the ball like crap as a team on the road and won by 11 that is defensive and rebounding.

 

[BlueCurtain]

What's really frightening is the over-commit by the wings (except for Grant in his limited minutes - that kid has great instincts) leads to Keita then crashing to the corner to try to contest that shot. I've never seen him or anyone else (someone stated above that Christmas had gotten one or more - I've just never seen it) do anything to alter those shots. Anyway, even if it misses, there's no one there to rebound so it's an easy offensive rebound. Keita is the worst at it. He's a mess out there. I love his energy and the blocked shots, but he needs some more discipline to stay home.

A smartly coached team will be instructed to pump fake when the center comes flying out to the wing. Then they can either draw the foul or drive uncontested to the hoop. Either way, once the wing over-commits, they are one-step behind. It's like a house cat trying to catch a laser pointer.

I'm not sure if it's an ill-conceived coaching strategy in an attempt to trade 3s for 2s, or not holding the wings accountable for over-pursuit.

 

[NineOneSeven]

The the wings playing "too high" was a game specific adjustment. It totally shut down their zone offence and USF wasn't in the game after the change.

As usual Blue balls and his friends trot out their ignorance.

People kept asking why we weren't rebounding and giving up so many second chance layups early. It was obvious if you were watching the game--

South Florida was hitting threes early. Our zone extended to take away the top of the arc look. Here is what started happening: When our guards extended, it forced the wings to play up as well to limit the space of open cutters to the foul line. When they swung the ball to the side of the top of the arc (typical against any zone) our wings were extending further to trap. Problem is South Florida had a shooter in the corner. When the ball went there, because our wing was caught so far out, it forced our big to rotate out to contest the shot. That leaves the center of the zone wide open. If happened a few times. Keita had to step out to contest an open shot and it left either Fair/Southerland alone under the basket to try to box out two players. Considering we have trouble boxing out one, I don't like our odds. To combat this we need the opposite wing (Fair/Southerland/Rak/Grant) to attack the paint and get a body on someone instead of trying to recover to the open corner where our center already ran out to. As always, guards need to crash, and Triche and MCW are typically very good at this.

We should get used to this, it happened last night and happened against Temple. Extending the zone takes away open threes at the top of the zone but if you trap overzealously ^^^ happens.

 

[BlueCurtain]

It is hard to understand how so many people can watch a basketball game and not understand what they are seeing. But put simply if the wings are playing high its because that is how JB wants them to play in that game in that situation.

It's not about the wings playing high -- it's the fact that they don't slide back when the guard has recovered. There's too much of a delay or lack of awareness on the wing's part where a shooter is wide open in the corner. A team that can make the quick pass will exploit that every time.

 

[Gabjon]

It's not about the wings playing high -- it's the fact that they don't slide back when the guard has recovered. There's too much of a delay or lack of awareness on the wing's part where a shooter is wide open in the corner. A team that can make the quick pass will exploit that every time.

They usually give the shot to the lesser shooter! If the guy at the top of the zone is the better shooter he is tagged even if it gives the guy in the corner a shot. There is a reason why our field goal defensive is usually as high as it is.

 

[CuseFaninVT]

It's not about the wings playing high -- it's the fact that they don't slide back when the guard has recovered. There's too much of a delay or lack of awareness on the wing's part where a shooter is wide open in the corner. A team that can make the quick pass will exploit that every time.

I think this is the problem. CJ may be the worst at this.

I also saw Baye try to trap in the corner at least once if not twice. That shouldn't be his play. It should be the guard and the wing with the center staying put to prevent the bail out pass to the middle of the lane.

 

[Gabjon]

I think this is the problem. CJ may be the worst at this.

I also saw Baye try to trap in the corner at least once if not twice. That shouldn't be his play. It should be the guard and the wing with the center staying put to prevent the bail out pass to the middle of the lane.

You can't throw a pass from the corner to the middle of the lane with a 6'10 guy closing on you! The defensive works! I need to stop following this thread :bang:

 

[NineOneSeven]

You can't throw a pass from the corner to the middle of the lane with a 6'10 guy closing on you! The defensive works! I need to stop following this thread :bang:

That's a very definitive word choice, huh?

BlueCurtain is spot on here with some of his points. Problem is many of you want to disagree because of who is saying it rather than what is being said.

 

[CuseFaninVT]

You can't throw a pass from the corner to the middle of the lane with a 6'10 guy closing on you! The defensive works! I need to stop following this thread :bang:

Why not? Pass around him. He doesn't have a guard's hands.

Are you serious about this? If so, maybe you should stop following this thread.

And another problem with Baye is that when he does 'close' on someone he rarely if ever stops in time and ends up plowing through the guy. At least two of his fouls in that game were closeouts on guards much shorter than him where he practically plowed through the player instead of stopping and throwing his arms up to contest any possible shot.

 

[Gabjon]

pass around him????? It can't be done unless he got out of the way for you! If you understand that he will physically be in the way of that pass I don't know what to say. It is physically impossible.

 

[Gabjon]

Go to a court stand in the corner and throw a ball to the middle of the key with someone running at you form the baseline. The guy could be 5'9 it's no possible. There is no passing lane. There is a reason why guys pass it out to the top of the key...it the only pass they can make.