My Take | Syracusefan.com

My Take

sutomcat

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Not a fan of 9 PM starts. If the game had started at 7 PM, I might well have gone. Hope it gets scheduled for a weekend next year. If the ACC wants this series to become a rivalry, they should try and get the games played on weekends as often as possible...in this conference, there are few chances to drive to an away game, so why not encourage this when possible?

Not going to spend a lot of time breaking the game down, work calls. on defense, BC did what I think most ACC schools have done/are going to do: put 4 guys in the paint, cover TC, double Fair whenever he got the ball and hope for the best (our slashers scare these schools to death).

TC got face guarded again but did a much better job of taking advantage of it last night by driving to the hoop, where he consistently converted a layup or got fouled. He continues to do an excellent job of anticipating passes to the high post (as does TE). Those passes are a common way to try and beat the 2-3 and there are going to be opportunities to jump the lane and get some easy transition baskets. I don't know what was up with the weird face he made in the 2nd half after another tough basket; it looked like he was imitating Elvis, but whatever it was, I liked it.

Thought BC did a good job really spacing themselves out and forcing SU to cover a lot of ground in the 2-3. They opened up space for Hanlon to drive and once he got into the lane, good things tended to happen for them. We did do a good job on him from the perimeter, so he was not a factor shooting the ball from outside.

Anderson got the ball a lot in the high post. I thought he needed to hit a few more midrange jumpers from there but he passed the ball well from there and even drove inside successfully a few times. He does a good job given his athletic ability and large belly.

JB went to a new starting lineup with BMK and RC in and JG on the bench. I think he really likes to talk to JG about the game and prep him for action and this tactic allows him to do it. After the game, JB said DC2's knee was bothering him to the point he was unable to practice on Sunday; hence he did not play. Not good news.

A number of teams have had success covering CJ with a guard over the years and this happened again last night. So much of his game is based on beating his man with a quick first step but that doesn't work with a quick little guard. JB tried to run isolation plays with CJ posting up down low a number of times but this team is not good at getting the ball to players on the low post, and this was largely unsuccessful. CJ looked really frustrated and at one point showed it by passing the ball hard to BMK (that is something that should never be done under any circumstances). If TE has a weakness right now as a PG, it is in this area; he needs to do a better job getting the ball to players posting up. Christmas was open and had great position a number of times when TE had the ball but Tyler didn't really give him a look.

We struggled on offense for most of the game and could have even lost if not for a great stretch of the 2nd half. We finally started to score regularly...I think BC might have gotten a little tired (their starters played tons of minutes, maybe even more than our starters and their bench was worthless), but we started getting the ball in the paint consistently towards the middle of the 2nd half and Fair and Grant in particular did some damage. Got some offensive rebounds, TE hit a couple jumpers, TC continued his stellar play and in a few minutes, the game was over.

RC had a bit of a relapse with foul trouble again handicapping his ability to make an impact. It is a shame because he had a mismatch inside all the time he was in. BMK did not have a particularly good day; he is almost a non-factor on offense when the defense packs inside like they did last night and he rarely gets a defensive rebound. But he did get some offensive rebounds, and he played good defense, really bothering Anderson when he got the ball on the high post and hustling to double shooters in the corners (BC BTW did a great job when we trapped and rarely turned it over).

When JG does something, he goes all in. Thought his block on Anderson was clean and thought it was hilarious how Anderson reacted; he stumbled backwards and fell really awkwardly like a bad boy on a box trying to get to the cookie jar. And I am not 100% sure about this, but I think the height JB got on his missed dunk attempt in the first half might have set an all time record for hangtime. It was quite amazing. I continue to be impressed by his improvement rebounding...he is easily our best rebounder at this time.

BC gave it a great effort. Props to the Superfans for keeping that special tradition going (looks like they have about 20 of them still remaining). Hanlan is a player. Good to get back to beating BC again in all sports (nice call Sean Keeley). It feels...right.
 
Great post Tom...And you're right on the missed dunk. I thought the ball was never going to come down.

On posting up CJ...I think Tyler has to get better at recognizing these mismatches and making the opponent pay. I'm confident he'll get there!
 
Tom, glad to see someone else expressing my concern about not being able to drive to any away games anymore. I probably would have tried to make the game from Connecticut if it was at 7. Hope they play the BC game on a Saturday in the future. You know my take on this. Hope to see you this weekend.
 
...Hope it gets scheduled for a weekend next year. If the ACC wants this series to become a rivalry, they should try and get the games played on weekends as often as possible...in this conference, there are few chances to drive to an away game, so why not encourage this when possible?.

I think this is a very valid point and something you might want to pass on to Dr. Gross' office as we all know he's not afraid to ask for what he wants/needs.

At the very least, if each team could have its two or three closest rivals (in miles) play on weekends, I'd suspect attendance across the conference would go way up.

No doubt, there's enough Saturdays in the season for SU to play Pitt, BC, UVA, and /or VPI on the weekend - even if they still wanna schedule Duke, UNC & Louisville on weekend dates for TV purposes.
 
Do we really want BC to become a rivalry? I know the ACC has partnered us with BC. But I could care less about them and they have been irrelevant as a basketball program since moving to the ACC. I see our biggest rivals being Pittsburgh and Louisville to start off (once they come next year) and building rivalries with Duke and North Carolina. Although, it's tough to build a great rivalry with 2 teams whose own rivalry will always surpass any we build with them. They will always be 2 big games on our schedule because of who they are. As much as I hate UConn, we would have had an intense rivalry with them if they were in the league rather than BC. But that ship has sailed.
 
Duke almost always has 9:00 games and has for years. Duke fans don't like it either. Let the middle of the country have the late slot!
 
Do we really want BC to become a rivalry? I know the ACC has partnered us with BC. But I could care less about them and they have been irrelevant as a basketball program since moving to the ACC. I see our biggest rivals being Pittsburgh and Louisville to start off (once they come next year) and building rivalries with Duke and North Carolina. Although, it's tough to build a great rivalry with 2 teams whose own rivalry will always surpass any we build with them. They will always be 2 big games on our schedule because of who they are. As much as I hate UConn, we would have had an intense rivalry with them if they were in the league rather than BC. But that ship has sailed.
I don't think it is about recognizing BC as a rival. It is about making the best of a bad situation where there are few drivable games for the somewhat local fans of ACC schools in the Northeast...
 
JB went to a new starting lineup with BMK and RC in and JG on the bench. I think he really likes to talk to JG about the game and prep him for action and this tactic allows him to do it. .
Was this ever clarified? Before the game it was said there was a scorekeeping error/miscommunication, and that's the only reason BMK found himself in the starting lineup and why he was pulled less than a minute into the game. I don't recall seeing an explanation for what actually happened with this "scorekeeping error."
 
Was this ever clarified? Before the game it was said there was a scorekeeping error/miscommunication, and that's the only reason BMK found himself in the starting lineup and why he was pulled less than a minute into the game. I don't recall seeing an explanation for what actually happened with this "scorekeeping error."

Each team is required to submit a lineup card to the official scorer before each game. The scorer then enters all the names in the scorebook in the same order in which they're listed on the card. The first 5 names on the card are always the starters (since they're the top 5 names in the book).

Somehow I think there was a screw up, and Baye's name was listed ahead of Grant's.

So, either Baye had to start, or SU would be hit with a bench technical foul for an illegal lineup.

It happens at the HS level, and even MLB managers screw up from time to time.
 
Was this ever clarified? Before the game it was said there was a scorekeeping error/miscommunication, and that's the only reason BMK found himself in the starting lineup and why he was pulled less than a minute into the game. I don't recall seeing an explanation for what actually happened with this "scorekeeping error."
Here was an article that OE posting in today's articles from the Daily Orange

http://dailyorange.com/2014/01/keita-starts-for-syracuse-due-to-apparent-miscommunication/
 
Not a fan of 9 PM starts. If the game had started at 7 PM, I might well have gone. Hope it gets scheduled for a weekend next year. If the ACC wants this series to become a rivalry, they should try and get the games played on weekends as often as possible...in this conference, there are few chances to drive to an away game, so why not encourage this when possible?
I don't think they care if this becomes a rivalry. The only reason they designated it as such is so they could do the same with Duke-vs-UNC and maintain their home-and-home tradition. There is one rivalry in ACC basketball, everything else is on the periphery.
 
I wouldn't mind when Louisville joins next year giving Virginia our home/home with Pittsburgh and having Louisville be a home/home with Boston College.

Boston College is our new Providence game.

Boston College played well last night and they are a real good offense team their problem is defending. They made their run in the 2nd half not when SU was missing its shots, but was turning the ball over. Once we stopped turning the ball over and clamped their shooters we took over the game. I have come the conclusion this Syracuse team isn't a power pitcher a la Randy Johnson or Pedro Martinez, but its a terrific strike thrower efficient pitcher a la Greg Maddux. SU isn't going to overpower teams, but their intelligence will always put in the a spot to win. I am okay being Maddux as we are going to win a lot and we just need our stuff to be their in March and we can a NC.
 
I think you're 100% right about TE getting the ball into the paint to our big men. On the other hand, that may be why his turnovers are so rare. May not be terribly productive to try and get it down low with most teams daring us to shoot from the perimeter.

Saw that look on Cooney's face as well but I kind of had a similar one after that shot he made. That was a difficult shot on a night where nothing was falling for the Orange -- Trevor wasn't just hot, he was making whatever he wanted from wherever he wanted.
 
SU isn't going to overpower teams, but their intelligence will always put in the a spot to win. I am okay being Maddux as we are going to win a lot and we just need our stuff to be their in March and we can a NC.

These stats are amazing considering we are unbeaten and #2 in the country:
POINTS PER GAME
72.8 168th OVERALL
REBOUNDS PER GAME
35.4 192nd OVERALL
ASSISTS PER GAME
13.2 160th OVERALL
FIELD GOAL PCT
.459 105th OVERALL
 
These stats are amazing considering we are unbeaten and #2 in the country:
POINTS PER GAME
72.8 168th OVERALL
REBOUNDS PER GAME
35.4 192nd OVERALL
ASSISTS PER GAME
13.2 160th OVERALL
FIELD GOAL PCT
.459 105th OVERALL
But as of of this morning, you have these numbers:

Opponent Points Per Game 58.4 (8th)
Opponent Turnovers 269 (4th)
Offensive Rebounds 234 (18th)
Steals 164 (5th)
 
But as of of this morning, you have these numbers:

Opponent Points Per Game 58.4 (8th)
Opponent Turnovers 269 (4th)
Offensive Rebounds 234 (18th)
Steals 164 (5th)

Yeah, I know ESPN has those national stat rankings on the team pages but some are ridiculous. What will # of assists tell you comparatively? And at that, some of these stats would be really well combined with those above. For instance:

Opponent Points Per Game 58.4 (8th)
POINTS PER GAME 72.8 (168th)
 
But as of of this morning, you have these numbers:

Opponent Points Per Game 58.4 (8th)
Opponent Turnovers 269 (4th)
Offensive Rebounds 234 (18th)
Steals 164 (5th)
Absolutely. Since we are not setting the world on fire with our offensive stats it's with our defense that has led us to our #2 ranking. But, to quote Alsacs, we aren't going to overpower anyone.
 
I think this is a very valid point and something you might want to pass on to Dr. Gross' office as we all know he's not afraid to ask for what he wants/needs.

At the very least, if each team could have its two or three closest rivals (in miles) play on weekends, I'd suspect attendance across the conference would go way up.

No doubt, there's enough Saturdays in the season for SU to play Pitt, BC, UVA, and /or VPI on the weekend - even if they still wanna schedule Duke, UNC & Louisville on weekend dates for TV purposes.


I had to give you a "Like" on this post. You were sitting at "666" likes and that can't be good...
 
I guess I've been selfish with these 9pm starts. They are perfect for me up in the far west Yukon. But you're right, how many more fans could we have had at the game if it was a 7pm game. That being said, it sounded like we represented pretty well on TV
 
Great post Tom...And you're right on the missed dunk. I thought the ball was never going to come down.

On posting up CJ...I think Tyler has to get better at recognizing these mismatches and making the opponent pay. I'm confident he'll get there!
It was tough to get CJ the ball in the post and when they were successful, BC sent a designated forward to double him. BC was willing to take a chance letting one of our other bigs beat them. Conversely, they never sent TC's or TE's man to double because of their shooting prowess.

During our first few possessions it looked like JB game-planned to get the ball to Rak as much as possible. Early foul trouble blew that plan up.

This is a fun team to watch. Incredible heart and determination.
 
My Take: I think the Refs Stunk... especially the one when Grant was in a headlock on a put back (No Call) and on the ensuing play SU is called for a "Phantom Call" ,worse refed game of the year and that is saying a Lot.

I hope the Coaching staff got on Baye about his " Flying Eagle imitation" on the way down the court ,that spells nothing but trouble (Ejection/Technical etc) and if you want to win a NC Tyler Ennis must become a more consistent free throw shooter...
 
These stats are amazing considering we are unbeaten and #2 in the country:
POINTS PER GAME
72.8 168th OVERALL
REBOUNDS PER GAME
35.4 192nd OVERALL
ASSISTS PER GAME
13.2 160th OVERALL
FIELD GOAL PCT
.459 105th OVERALL

I think the first 3 would move up significantly if it was normalized to number of possessions per game.
 
Yeah, I know ESPN has those national stat rankings on the team pages but some are ridiculous. What will # of assists tell you comparatively? And at that, some of these stats would be really well combined with those above. For instance:

Opponent Points Per Game 58.4 (8th)
POINTS PER GAME 72.8 (168th)
And our style of defense certainly affects our offensive numbers. How many times are teams jacking up some horrible shot as the shot clock is about to run out? Teams don't get good early looks against us so there are fewer possessions for both teams.
 
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My Take: I think the Refs Stunk... especially the one when Grant was in a headlock on a put back (No Call) and on the ensuing play SU is called for a "Phantom Call" ,worse refed game of the year and that is saying a Lot.

I hope the Coaching staff got on Baye about his " Flying Eagle imitation" on the way down the court ,that spells nothing but trouble (Ejection/Technical etc) and if you want to win a NC Tyler Ennis must become a more consistent free throw shooter...
I hope they didn't, kids gotta have some fun out on the road. If stuff like that leads to ejections then I don't even know what to say.
 

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