sutomcat
No recent Cali or Iggy awards; Mr Irrelevant
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- Aug 15, 2011
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Wow. Really strange game. UC, known as a great man defense team, played a 2-3 zone for most of the game. Syracuse, which had experimented early in the season with a 1 guard lineup, responded by playing 3 guards.
UC spent most of the first half executing an offensive strategy of holding the ball for 30 seconds, throwing a brick up on the rim and rushing the offensive boards. They shot the ball terribly, but had great success getting offensive rebounds and extending possessions and milking time.
They ended up with 18 points in the 1st half, and I thought they were fortunate to get that.
In the second half, they changed things up, got the ball to the high post with remarkable consistency, and from there, went high low for an easy basket or a foul, or kicked it outside for a wide open 3. I thought they executed their offense against our 2-3 really well, and played an almost perfect first 15 minutes or so of the 2nd half.
I almost feel sorry for the UC fans. They have to be crushed. In all the time UC has been playing in the Dome, I have never seen a UC fan there, but today, there were 2 in our section, sitting dangerously close to my crew. Yes, some trash was exchanged. But at the end, I was silent. Much respect for anyone who comes to a place to go 2 against 24K.
BE refs continue to let the players play. I think it might be more physical this year than ever before. I am not a big fan of allowing the really physical play...it is ugly to watch, the beauty of the game is diminished and, worst of all, I worry about SU getting accustomed to this style of play, and then getting hosed in the NCAA tournament when refs from say the Missouri Valley Conference call a game really closely.
Anyway, back to the game. Something really strange and different happened with the national anthem. It was sung by, get this, the student section. They did a passable job. Got a little rambunctious on the Oh, but overall, it was sung with enthusiasm and respect, and I enjoyed it a lot. Seems to me that they are playing more canned music than ever. The SSS barely had a chance to play today. And it seems to me that the music is louder than it ever has been. I hate these changes to the game experience. SU is doing an awful job with it. IMHO, people do not go to college basketball games to hear recordings of bad songs made by bad bands in the 1980s. I hate the fact that I catch myselfing wincing each time a timeout is called. Not because I miss the basketball action (I do). I wince because I hate the canned music. I am a college band fan. To me, college football and college basketball are far superior to the pro versions, in part due to the extra emotion and in part due to the bands. Maybe I am the only one that feels this way.
I thought SU had a good chance to break the game wide open in the first half but a complete failure on the part of SU to get defensive rebounds (or conversely a great job by the UC players hitting the offensive boards) kept the Bearcats in the game. BMK does a good job playing defense and he is an excellent rebounder on the offensive end, but he rarely gets the job done on the defensive end, especially against a good offensive rebounding team. CJ apparently is still playing sick and didn't look 100%.
Christmas had a horrific game, was a spectator for most of it, sadly including most of the time he was on the court playing. DC2 barely played, though given he is easily our best defensive rebounder, he probably should have gotten more minutes. This was a rare awful game for our centers, who have quietly been putting up some pretty good combined numbers. But not today.
Even Grant struggled rebounding, getting shots off, making things happen.
Credit to UC for playing very good physical defense. If the refs allow it, do it and they took advantage of the way the game was being called. They also rebounded the ball like ravenous wolves. And in the 2nd half, their execution of their half court offense against our 2-3 was textbook. Very impressive.
Wright was coming off an injury and had not played in 6 days. It showed. If he shot the ball the way he normally does, UC surely wins this game. But I really liked the way they went after our zone. Their centers in partcular passed the ball really well.
And their 2-3 was quite good as well. We have a really good driving team but had a tough time getting the ball into the paint. UC packed in their zone big time, and basically took away our inside game, telling SU if they wanted to score against their 2-3, it was going to have to be by shooting from the outside. This drove JB's decision to bring in TC and play 3 guards, so he could have his best outside shooting team against their zone. With JS remaining out, I think we can expect to see more zone the rest of the year in conference. Even UConn is going to 2-3 us...watch and see. Somewhere, Hank Iba is spinning in his grave.
Though BT had another fine game, got SU off to a good start and carried the team for much of the 1st half. Thought MCW had another wildly inconsistent game, with some terrible turnovers, some really poor defense, along with some big rebounds, great passes and some big plays for points in crunch time. CJ was, I think, still under the weather. He played passably well but was not up to his usual standards. Hope he will be 100% by Saturday.
TC did some good and bad things...like almost all frosh, he is inconsistent but the overall trend with him is positive and I can glad he is getting some playing time and contributing now. It will pay off later this year and definitely next season.
JG was also a bit wild, a little out of control but still made some big contributions. Whoa, what was he doing taking that wild drive/shot at the end of the game? We were really fortunate CJ got the basket on the crazy bounce. And we were fortunate MCW hit the big 3 the possession before. He has a little Scoop in him...another fearless guy who maybe should not be so fearless at crunch time, especially from the 3 point circle. At least at this point in his career.
But the bottom line is, he made some big plays to help win the game two games in a row now. The dunk in the 1st half was pretty special. Maybe he is as good as he thinks he is (JB had a funny line about that, Top Chef and his own cooking ability in the presser after the game).
6-0 in conference play now. At the end of the game, you could almost hear a collective groan from the rest of the conference as it became clear SU was going to win again. The home court winning streak continues. This is the best sustained run of excellence in the history of the Big East. Enjoy it, savor it because it will never happen again. At least not in the Big East.
A couple other things: the crowd was terrific. Announced at 24K, actually had maybe 22K there. They were excited, loud and enthusiastic all game long. The students had a great turnout, and were wonderful, set the stage for the rest of the crowd, in marked contrast to what we have seen in the earlier games of the season. Maybe the big win over UL has some people pumped up now. Bravo Syracuse!
UC spent most of the first half executing an offensive strategy of holding the ball for 30 seconds, throwing a brick up on the rim and rushing the offensive boards. They shot the ball terribly, but had great success getting offensive rebounds and extending possessions and milking time.
They ended up with 18 points in the 1st half, and I thought they were fortunate to get that.
In the second half, they changed things up, got the ball to the high post with remarkable consistency, and from there, went high low for an easy basket or a foul, or kicked it outside for a wide open 3. I thought they executed their offense against our 2-3 really well, and played an almost perfect first 15 minutes or so of the 2nd half.
I almost feel sorry for the UC fans. They have to be crushed. In all the time UC has been playing in the Dome, I have never seen a UC fan there, but today, there were 2 in our section, sitting dangerously close to my crew. Yes, some trash was exchanged. But at the end, I was silent. Much respect for anyone who comes to a place to go 2 against 24K.
BE refs continue to let the players play. I think it might be more physical this year than ever before. I am not a big fan of allowing the really physical play...it is ugly to watch, the beauty of the game is diminished and, worst of all, I worry about SU getting accustomed to this style of play, and then getting hosed in the NCAA tournament when refs from say the Missouri Valley Conference call a game really closely.
Anyway, back to the game. Something really strange and different happened with the national anthem. It was sung by, get this, the student section. They did a passable job. Got a little rambunctious on the Oh, but overall, it was sung with enthusiasm and respect, and I enjoyed it a lot. Seems to me that they are playing more canned music than ever. The SSS barely had a chance to play today. And it seems to me that the music is louder than it ever has been. I hate these changes to the game experience. SU is doing an awful job with it. IMHO, people do not go to college basketball games to hear recordings of bad songs made by bad bands in the 1980s. I hate the fact that I catch myselfing wincing each time a timeout is called. Not because I miss the basketball action (I do). I wince because I hate the canned music. I am a college band fan. To me, college football and college basketball are far superior to the pro versions, in part due to the extra emotion and in part due to the bands. Maybe I am the only one that feels this way.
I thought SU had a good chance to break the game wide open in the first half but a complete failure on the part of SU to get defensive rebounds (or conversely a great job by the UC players hitting the offensive boards) kept the Bearcats in the game. BMK does a good job playing defense and he is an excellent rebounder on the offensive end, but he rarely gets the job done on the defensive end, especially against a good offensive rebounding team. CJ apparently is still playing sick and didn't look 100%.
Christmas had a horrific game, was a spectator for most of it, sadly including most of the time he was on the court playing. DC2 barely played, though given he is easily our best defensive rebounder, he probably should have gotten more minutes. This was a rare awful game for our centers, who have quietly been putting up some pretty good combined numbers. But not today.
Even Grant struggled rebounding, getting shots off, making things happen.
Credit to UC for playing very good physical defense. If the refs allow it, do it and they took advantage of the way the game was being called. They also rebounded the ball like ravenous wolves. And in the 2nd half, their execution of their half court offense against our 2-3 was textbook. Very impressive.
Wright was coming off an injury and had not played in 6 days. It showed. If he shot the ball the way he normally does, UC surely wins this game. But I really liked the way they went after our zone. Their centers in partcular passed the ball really well.
And their 2-3 was quite good as well. We have a really good driving team but had a tough time getting the ball into the paint. UC packed in their zone big time, and basically took away our inside game, telling SU if they wanted to score against their 2-3, it was going to have to be by shooting from the outside. This drove JB's decision to bring in TC and play 3 guards, so he could have his best outside shooting team against their zone. With JS remaining out, I think we can expect to see more zone the rest of the year in conference. Even UConn is going to 2-3 us...watch and see. Somewhere, Hank Iba is spinning in his grave.
Though BT had another fine game, got SU off to a good start and carried the team for much of the 1st half. Thought MCW had another wildly inconsistent game, with some terrible turnovers, some really poor defense, along with some big rebounds, great passes and some big plays for points in crunch time. CJ was, I think, still under the weather. He played passably well but was not up to his usual standards. Hope he will be 100% by Saturday.
TC did some good and bad things...like almost all frosh, he is inconsistent but the overall trend with him is positive and I can glad he is getting some playing time and contributing now. It will pay off later this year and definitely next season.
JG was also a bit wild, a little out of control but still made some big contributions. Whoa, what was he doing taking that wild drive/shot at the end of the game? We were really fortunate CJ got the basket on the crazy bounce. And we were fortunate MCW hit the big 3 the possession before. He has a little Scoop in him...another fearless guy who maybe should not be so fearless at crunch time, especially from the 3 point circle. At least at this point in his career.
But the bottom line is, he made some big plays to help win the game two games in a row now. The dunk in the 1st half was pretty special. Maybe he is as good as he thinks he is (JB had a funny line about that, Top Chef and his own cooking ability in the presser after the game).
6-0 in conference play now. At the end of the game, you could almost hear a collective groan from the rest of the conference as it became clear SU was going to win again. The home court winning streak continues. This is the best sustained run of excellence in the history of the Big East. Enjoy it, savor it because it will never happen again. At least not in the Big East.
A couple other things: the crowd was terrific. Announced at 24K, actually had maybe 22K there. They were excited, loud and enthusiastic all game long. The students had a great turnout, and were wonderful, set the stage for the rest of the crowd, in marked contrast to what we have seen in the earlier games of the season. Maybe the big win over UL has some people pumped up now. Bravo Syracuse!
