sutomcat
2024 Iggy Award (ACC Tournament Record)
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- Aug 15, 2011
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Really small crowd. Poor turnout by the season ticket holders and the students. Maybe 18K actually at the game. The crowd did become a factor late in the game when things got pretty loud. We suffered a serious setback when the guy behind Bees, who probably has the loudest voice in the Dome (I will bet the hearing in Bee's left ear is worse than in his right ear), suffer what sounded like a sprained vocal cord midway through the 2nd half. He may need to be sedated until conference play.
A freshman girl from West Genesee HS named Caitlin Barry did a terrific job with the NA. Check it out below. She has skills and got a big ovation from the crowd when she was done.
Thought St Francis played great defense. They played man all game long. It was really aggressive. Each defender tried to deny the ball getting to his man. We had a hard time even finding someone to pass the ball to at times. White in particular did a good job, early on Ennis and later on CJ. Our players never made good adjustments to it (would have loved to have seen us try and post up with our bigs) or set more screens but this team is not very good at that kind of thing.
Ennis needs to do a better job getting open when someone on SU gets in trouble and needs to give the ball up. There were a number of times when we almost lost the ball because there was no one to get the ball too. BMK did lose the ball once because of this.
Our defense in the first half was again pretty uninspired. St Francis was patient, worked the ball around and regularly got open 3s from shooters or good shots inside, often just before the shot clock went off. They had one good outside shooter and we left him wide open too often. At this point, the zone is not doing a good job taking away the biggest threats on the other team.
But you can see this team is close to being good,even very good on defense. Even in the first half they forced a number of shot clock violations or really bad shots as the clock was close to zero. This might be the best rebounding team SU has had in a long time. We continue to do a good job on the defensive boards and while was have significant issues on offense, our ability to get rebounds on the offensive boards has helped to mask that weakness quite a bit.
In the second half, the defense was significantly better, especially late in the game, when St Francis struggled to even get a shot off against a swarming pride of long armed, quick footed Orangemen.
Not a real strong crew of refs. They missed a lot of calls on both sides of the court and were noticeably more lenient regarding hand checking and what you could get away with on defense.
On offense, we continue to do a poor job getting fast break points. Ennis does not push the ball up court like an MCW or a Dion and we don't release our forwards early like we have done in the past. Makes us a better rebounding team but the lack of easy transition baskets hurts given our problems scoring with our half court offense.
Regarding the half court offense, like last year, when we have RC at forward and DCII or BMK at C, we have 2 players in the lineup that are almost no threat to score. Their defenders are cheating on the 3 others, making it harder for them to get quality shots. Don't think we can afford to do this against a quality man to man defense.
CJ continues to have some problems in his new role as the go to guy. Give credit to St Francis who had a man in his face all game long. He doesn't like that. They also overplayed his left hand, which really limits his ability to get the ball to, or close to the hoop. Good scouting by St Francis who must have seen the Gtown game where Otto Porter had a lot of success doing this. Screens will help him somewhat but he isn't like TC; he doesn't have the ability to run to a spot and launch a 3 off a screen. Which is why he shoots 3s so rarely, at least against good man defense. CJ did get a big steal late in the game though that really helped to ice the game.
JG is the better cutter to the basket right now. He is doing a good job getting good position on the baseline and slashing close to the rim, where his quickness and leaping ability allow him to score or draw a foul very consistently. Good to see him hitting his FTs too. He is going to get a lot of them this season. At this point, he is our best one on one player, again showed he has the courage and ability to make big plays in crunch time and might end up as our go to guy down the stretch (along with TE) in conference play.
JB experimented a little with Silent G at the forward position last night. Not good news for Roberson, or Johnson for that matter either. It wasn't a good day for sons in general, as Patterson also got a DNP, as JB shortened the bench considerably do to the closeness of the game.
Getting a little concerned about TE maybe getting a little too selfish out there, maybe looking for his points a little too much. He is a good finisher and one of our best scorers but he is also by far our best passer and when he is in me mode, it makes this team a lot easier to defend. I remember one play in particular when he drove into the lane in transition and took a highly contested shot, ignoring TC, who was wide open on the wing for what would have been an uncontested 3. Not good. Tyler is also struggling somewhat on defense. All this is to be expected from a true frosh PG, though with his stellar play earlier this season, it is a little surprising to see.
Thought TC played well. His defense was good. He needs someone to get him the ball on offense, sometimes doesn't get the help he needs there but he took the outside shot when he had it and when they over played him (which was often), he went hard to the hole and made the shot or drew a foul.
He probably deserved more PT but Silent G continues to do good things in the minutes he gets. Also plays good defense, looks a lot more confident and assertive playing the 2 or the 3, and his height caused problems for St Francis last night. He isn't great at going to the hole hard, and unless he improves here a lot, is going to get a lot of shots blocked in the paint, but he was able to draw some big fouls last night and made some big plays on both sides of the ball late.
DCII got off at a great start, was great on the boards again, especially on the offensive boards, but his play on defense was not good. St Francis doesn't have a traditional center, so DCII was matched up in the paint against a forward, and was not quick enough to handle this...St Francis took advantage of this mismatch as much as they could. RC was not much better on defense, was a non factor on offense but did get some rebounds. BMK also struggled covering the quick St Francis forwards. Despite not entering the game until 9 minutes and some seconds were left in the 1st half (really late for him), he fouled out. Got some rebounds and made some plays on defense, hit a couple big FTs but he, like RC, was not able to score much against a much smaller defender.
Was surprised we didn't use the press until late in the game. It has been effective most of the year and St Francis did not appear to have good ball handlers to break it. When it was deployed, it was good. St Francis struggled to even get the ball in bounds, didn't get any easy baskets against it and it was a big factor in the 10-0 run SU had at the end of the game to win it.
Hope this game was a wake up call for the team. With this game on film, you can bet we are going to see aggressive man defense in the future. That kind of defense can lead to a ton of fouls if you attack it. We didn't do that at all in the first half. Got better at this in the second, when some of St Francis' best players got in foul trouble. We better continue to improve on this or thew dream of playing for a Final Four spot in MSG is not going to happen.
A freshman girl from West Genesee HS named Caitlin Barry did a terrific job with the NA. Check it out below. She has skills and got a big ovation from the crowd when she was done.
Thought St Francis played great defense. They played man all game long. It was really aggressive. Each defender tried to deny the ball getting to his man. We had a hard time even finding someone to pass the ball to at times. White in particular did a good job, early on Ennis and later on CJ. Our players never made good adjustments to it (would have loved to have seen us try and post up with our bigs) or set more screens but this team is not very good at that kind of thing.
Ennis needs to do a better job getting open when someone on SU gets in trouble and needs to give the ball up. There were a number of times when we almost lost the ball because there was no one to get the ball too. BMK did lose the ball once because of this.
Our defense in the first half was again pretty uninspired. St Francis was patient, worked the ball around and regularly got open 3s from shooters or good shots inside, often just before the shot clock went off. They had one good outside shooter and we left him wide open too often. At this point, the zone is not doing a good job taking away the biggest threats on the other team.
But you can see this team is close to being good,even very good on defense. Even in the first half they forced a number of shot clock violations or really bad shots as the clock was close to zero. This might be the best rebounding team SU has had in a long time. We continue to do a good job on the defensive boards and while was have significant issues on offense, our ability to get rebounds on the offensive boards has helped to mask that weakness quite a bit.
In the second half, the defense was significantly better, especially late in the game, when St Francis struggled to even get a shot off against a swarming pride of long armed, quick footed Orangemen.
Not a real strong crew of refs. They missed a lot of calls on both sides of the court and were noticeably more lenient regarding hand checking and what you could get away with on defense.
On offense, we continue to do a poor job getting fast break points. Ennis does not push the ball up court like an MCW or a Dion and we don't release our forwards early like we have done in the past. Makes us a better rebounding team but the lack of easy transition baskets hurts given our problems scoring with our half court offense.
Regarding the half court offense, like last year, when we have RC at forward and DCII or BMK at C, we have 2 players in the lineup that are almost no threat to score. Their defenders are cheating on the 3 others, making it harder for them to get quality shots. Don't think we can afford to do this against a quality man to man defense.
CJ continues to have some problems in his new role as the go to guy. Give credit to St Francis who had a man in his face all game long. He doesn't like that. They also overplayed his left hand, which really limits his ability to get the ball to, or close to the hoop. Good scouting by St Francis who must have seen the Gtown game where Otto Porter had a lot of success doing this. Screens will help him somewhat but he isn't like TC; he doesn't have the ability to run to a spot and launch a 3 off a screen. Which is why he shoots 3s so rarely, at least against good man defense. CJ did get a big steal late in the game though that really helped to ice the game.
JG is the better cutter to the basket right now. He is doing a good job getting good position on the baseline and slashing close to the rim, where his quickness and leaping ability allow him to score or draw a foul very consistently. Good to see him hitting his FTs too. He is going to get a lot of them this season. At this point, he is our best one on one player, again showed he has the courage and ability to make big plays in crunch time and might end up as our go to guy down the stretch (along with TE) in conference play.
JB experimented a little with Silent G at the forward position last night. Not good news for Roberson, or Johnson for that matter either. It wasn't a good day for sons in general, as Patterson also got a DNP, as JB shortened the bench considerably do to the closeness of the game.
Getting a little concerned about TE maybe getting a little too selfish out there, maybe looking for his points a little too much. He is a good finisher and one of our best scorers but he is also by far our best passer and when he is in me mode, it makes this team a lot easier to defend. I remember one play in particular when he drove into the lane in transition and took a highly contested shot, ignoring TC, who was wide open on the wing for what would have been an uncontested 3. Not good. Tyler is also struggling somewhat on defense. All this is to be expected from a true frosh PG, though with his stellar play earlier this season, it is a little surprising to see.
Thought TC played well. His defense was good. He needs someone to get him the ball on offense, sometimes doesn't get the help he needs there but he took the outside shot when he had it and when they over played him (which was often), he went hard to the hole and made the shot or drew a foul.
He probably deserved more PT but Silent G continues to do good things in the minutes he gets. Also plays good defense, looks a lot more confident and assertive playing the 2 or the 3, and his height caused problems for St Francis last night. He isn't great at going to the hole hard, and unless he improves here a lot, is going to get a lot of shots blocked in the paint, but he was able to draw some big fouls last night and made some big plays on both sides of the ball late.
DCII got off at a great start, was great on the boards again, especially on the offensive boards, but his play on defense was not good. St Francis doesn't have a traditional center, so DCII was matched up in the paint against a forward, and was not quick enough to handle this...St Francis took advantage of this mismatch as much as they could. RC was not much better on defense, was a non factor on offense but did get some rebounds. BMK also struggled covering the quick St Francis forwards. Despite not entering the game until 9 minutes and some seconds were left in the 1st half (really late for him), he fouled out. Got some rebounds and made some plays on defense, hit a couple big FTs but he, like RC, was not able to score much against a much smaller defender.
Was surprised we didn't use the press until late in the game. It has been effective most of the year and St Francis did not appear to have good ball handlers to break it. When it was deployed, it was good. St Francis struggled to even get the ball in bounds, didn't get any easy baskets against it and it was a big factor in the 10-0 run SU had at the end of the game to win it.
Hope this game was a wake up call for the team. With this game on film, you can bet we are going to see aggressive man defense in the future. That kind of defense can lead to a ton of fouls if you attack it. We didn't do that at all in the first half. Got better at this in the second, when some of St Francis' best players got in foul trouble. We better continue to improve on this or thew dream of playing for a Final Four spot in MSG is not going to happen.
