sutomcat
No recent Cali or Iggy awards; Mr Irrelevant
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- Aug 15, 2011
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Couldn't watch the game live but I caught the first 3 quarters last night before I had to crash.
First, have to add the standard disclaimer: this was not a real game, the opposition was not good, the team has only had a couple practices and heck, it is August and the game was played in a sweat box in Canada. It is really dangerous to make snap judgements or conclusions based on this.
That being said, here are a few comments...
CJ Fair looked great in his first game as the go to guy. I think when that McGill kid dove at his legs and hurt him, CJ was outscoring McGill 15-4. Something like that. There was a real chance he would have outscored them all by himself had he played the whole game. Inside, outside, standstill jumpers, jumpers off the dribble, you name it, he did it. Showed a very mature, full featured game. He has added some additional muscle, looks better off the dribble and was clearly the best player on the court.
If I didn't know better, I would have thought Tyler Ennis was a junior or a senior, and the 2nd most experienced player on the Syracuse team. Thought he showed an extraordinary maturity and basketball IQ for a true frosh playing his first college game. Made almost no mistakes, was under control almost all the time. Finished well in the paint, but I thought his passing was really solid. I suspect his assist to turnover ratio over his career is going to be impressive. My biggest quibble with him is on his defense; he wasn't as aggressive defending on or off the ball as I would like but I suspect he will improve here significantly over time.
Thought Jerami Grant did a fine job, especially after CJ went out. Attacked the rim really well, rebounded and defended well, even hit some shots from the outside. Hard to believe he is coming off a bout with mono, looked to be in excellent shape.
Was very impressive with Silent G. No question he will be the first choice as the backup PG, looked very servicable there. I think right now he is by far our best defender at the top of the zone, anticipates well, has excellent closing speed and looked very much like MCW out there on defense. Like his ball handling, passing, mid range game, ability to score and get rebounds in the paint, heck, I liked everything about him except, and this is pretty big for a guy who is expected to mostly play SG, his outside shot. Thought his form was not very good and I think his outside shot takes too long to get off. Small sample size, maybe this isn't fair. But my first impressions are that he is a fine player who can do everything except consistently shoot from the outside.
Speaking of outside shooters, let's talk about TC. No question about it, he had an awful day shooting from the outside. Also had a couple bad turnovers, got out of control too often, didn't play defense as well as he is capable of and I think he missed every shot he took. Almost every one of them was on target but badly short. My guess is that he is rushing his shot. Don't know what the problem is but he has had it from day one and it was not good to see him continuing to struggle shooting against a team of short and small players who do not defend well.
Thought DCII had some good moments. Got his shot blocked by a smaller player at least once, lost a couple of balls he should have had, but he still rebounded well and I was pleased to see him shooting his FTs with more accuracy than he had last season.
BMK has been basically the same player for 4 years now. Wish I could report he had added 20 pounds of muscle but that is never going to happen for him. He played good defense, rebounded adequately, hustled his butt off and made some contributions on offense. Still has almost no game with his back to the basket, even against little Canadians.
Thought RC played harder and with more passion than last season, which was great to see. Had a nice move, was a man amongst boys in the paint, showed good restraint when that one goofy McGillian held him throughout a drive to the paint. Liked the intense stare he put on him after that. He just might be improved.
Thought Buss looked okay in limited minutes. He played PG the last minute or so of the first half. Did not look nearly as effective or comfortable as Silent G there. Didn't think he looked like much of an outside shooter, not sure he has the athletic ability to score inside. I think he is going to be more of a defensive specialist than anything else, at least for the early part of his career at Syracuse.
That leaves BJ. He looked tight, made a couple mental errors, didn't really get a chance to see him shoot. He looked athletic and was in the right spot at the right time a couple of times. I think he is going to be a fine player for Syracuse, it is just a question of when. Definitely could be stronger, right now he is going to get man handled by stronger players when he goes inside or tries to rebound against the big boys. But you can see the promise there.
To me, this looks like a fine team that has everything needed to be a top ten team except a reliable outside shooter. CJ will help here, but his bread and butter is mid range jumpers and playing more inside. We really need a guard to step up and make some 3s to open up things inside.
TC is the logical guy to do this. My guess is that JB has known this a while and is going to try and give TC every opportunity to play his way out of his funk and be our go to guy from the outside. Hopefully Silent G is going to be at least decent from the outside and I could see a scenario where BJ gets a surprising amount of PT this season if he shows he can hit open jumpers and TC continues to struggle.
Props to the McGill kids for playing really hard. They didn't have a lot of talent or size but they gave it their all. Thought they ran some nice plays against the 2-3, got some good looks inside on backdoor plays, and got a bunch of nice open looks from the outside. Unfortunately, they struggled to convert on good scoring opportunities.
Wow, Leo Rautins looks good for his age.
Looking forward to watching the team play in person Friday night.
First, have to add the standard disclaimer: this was not a real game, the opposition was not good, the team has only had a couple practices and heck, it is August and the game was played in a sweat box in Canada. It is really dangerous to make snap judgements or conclusions based on this.
That being said, here are a few comments...
CJ Fair looked great in his first game as the go to guy. I think when that McGill kid dove at his legs and hurt him, CJ was outscoring McGill 15-4. Something like that. There was a real chance he would have outscored them all by himself had he played the whole game. Inside, outside, standstill jumpers, jumpers off the dribble, you name it, he did it. Showed a very mature, full featured game. He has added some additional muscle, looks better off the dribble and was clearly the best player on the court.
If I didn't know better, I would have thought Tyler Ennis was a junior or a senior, and the 2nd most experienced player on the Syracuse team. Thought he showed an extraordinary maturity and basketball IQ for a true frosh playing his first college game. Made almost no mistakes, was under control almost all the time. Finished well in the paint, but I thought his passing was really solid. I suspect his assist to turnover ratio over his career is going to be impressive. My biggest quibble with him is on his defense; he wasn't as aggressive defending on or off the ball as I would like but I suspect he will improve here significantly over time.
Thought Jerami Grant did a fine job, especially after CJ went out. Attacked the rim really well, rebounded and defended well, even hit some shots from the outside. Hard to believe he is coming off a bout with mono, looked to be in excellent shape.
Was very impressive with Silent G. No question he will be the first choice as the backup PG, looked very servicable there. I think right now he is by far our best defender at the top of the zone, anticipates well, has excellent closing speed and looked very much like MCW out there on defense. Like his ball handling, passing, mid range game, ability to score and get rebounds in the paint, heck, I liked everything about him except, and this is pretty big for a guy who is expected to mostly play SG, his outside shot. Thought his form was not very good and I think his outside shot takes too long to get off. Small sample size, maybe this isn't fair. But my first impressions are that he is a fine player who can do everything except consistently shoot from the outside.
Speaking of outside shooters, let's talk about TC. No question about it, he had an awful day shooting from the outside. Also had a couple bad turnovers, got out of control too often, didn't play defense as well as he is capable of and I think he missed every shot he took. Almost every one of them was on target but badly short. My guess is that he is rushing his shot. Don't know what the problem is but he has had it from day one and it was not good to see him continuing to struggle shooting against a team of short and small players who do not defend well.
Thought DCII had some good moments. Got his shot blocked by a smaller player at least once, lost a couple of balls he should have had, but he still rebounded well and I was pleased to see him shooting his FTs with more accuracy than he had last season.
BMK has been basically the same player for 4 years now. Wish I could report he had added 20 pounds of muscle but that is never going to happen for him. He played good defense, rebounded adequately, hustled his butt off and made some contributions on offense. Still has almost no game with his back to the basket, even against little Canadians.
Thought RC played harder and with more passion than last season, which was great to see. Had a nice move, was a man amongst boys in the paint, showed good restraint when that one goofy McGillian held him throughout a drive to the paint. Liked the intense stare he put on him after that. He just might be improved.
Thought Buss looked okay in limited minutes. He played PG the last minute or so of the first half. Did not look nearly as effective or comfortable as Silent G there. Didn't think he looked like much of an outside shooter, not sure he has the athletic ability to score inside. I think he is going to be more of a defensive specialist than anything else, at least for the early part of his career at Syracuse.
That leaves BJ. He looked tight, made a couple mental errors, didn't really get a chance to see him shoot. He looked athletic and was in the right spot at the right time a couple of times. I think he is going to be a fine player for Syracuse, it is just a question of when. Definitely could be stronger, right now he is going to get man handled by stronger players when he goes inside or tries to rebound against the big boys. But you can see the promise there.
To me, this looks like a fine team that has everything needed to be a top ten team except a reliable outside shooter. CJ will help here, but his bread and butter is mid range jumpers and playing more inside. We really need a guard to step up and make some 3s to open up things inside.
TC is the logical guy to do this. My guess is that JB has known this a while and is going to try and give TC every opportunity to play his way out of his funk and be our go to guy from the outside. Hopefully Silent G is going to be at least decent from the outside and I could see a scenario where BJ gets a surprising amount of PT this season if he shows he can hit open jumpers and TC continues to struggle.
Props to the McGill kids for playing really hard. They didn't have a lot of talent or size but they gave it their all. Thought they ran some nice plays against the 2-3, got some good looks inside on backdoor plays, and got a bunch of nice open looks from the outside. Unfortunately, they struggled to convert on good scoring opportunities.
Wow, Leo Rautins looks good for his age.
Looking forward to watching the team play in person Friday night.
