My Take | Syracusefan.com

My Take

sutomcat

No recent Cali or Iggy awards; Mr Irrelevant
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This has to be quick if I need to go to bed soon. Please note that I am using dictation, and I am into much of a hurry to proofread much, so expect some bizarre interpretations. You have been warned.

Not sure you can make any major conclusions playing a team as weak as Adrian. However, I will try.

Really really small crowd. Another poor turnout by the students, and a bad turn out by the normal fans as well.The national anthem was sung by a woman from Cicero New York, and I must say she hit a homerun. Very nice voice.

Syracuse got off to a sloppy start. They did not shoot well and didn't play particularly good defense either. Props to Adrian for playing very hard, hustling their butts off, and staying relatively close the entire first half.

But pluck, grit, and determination can only take you so far in life, as Adrian found out in the second half. Much as they did in the second half against Carleton, Syracuse came out in the second half and played excellent pressure defense. Adrian repeatedly struggled to even get off a shot. I believe they had at least four shot clock violations called on them in the first 10 minutes of the second half.

Meanwhile, Syracuse got hot from the field, got some easy transition baskets, and pulled away in startling fashion. At one point, I believe they outscored Adrian 27 to 0 in the second half. Adrian did not score in the second half until about 8 1/2 minutes were left in the game. It was a gruesome dismemberment of the poor Bulldogs.

It looked to me as though Adrian brought a cheerleading team and perhaps their tumbling team. They came to the game in uniforms, and we were hoping they would perform at halftime, but it didn't happen. What a shame.

Some disjointed comments……

Patterson continues to impress unlimited minutes. When he comes in, he makes things happen. He's playing with great confidence right now, and he looks like he may be a designated spark plug off the bench.

In my humble opinion, the player who changed himself the most physically during the off-season was Silent G. He is noticeably stronger now, and is using that added strength to great effect on the court. Looks extremely confident and smooth. Just passing the ball really well, rebounding well, getting a bunch of steals, doing a little bit of everything that needs to be done. He looks much improved.

Great to see BJ get involved in the flow and get some shots off. Also great to see him make some. His shooting stroke is silky smooth, and he is probably our best outside shooter.

Trevor again had trouble shooting, but played good defense and provided his usual hustle. He made a couple threes late, let's hope it's the start of something big.

Rak dominated play inside, getting a lot of blocks and looking like a man among boys. He still is in rebounding the way he should playing against little people. But he is playing smart, and is looking very much like a leader.

CMAC got 16 rebounds, and could have easily had 20. I like his instincts on the boards, but he could really use a little more upper body strength. Maybe that shortcoming will keep him in orange for a second season.I doubt it. The kid is a traffic athlete, he moves so well his ceiling is really high. That being said, he missed a lot of bunnies tonight, did not go strong to the hoop,and looks very much like a freshman in some ways.

Kaleb with a K had another very impressive outing. He continues to make good decisions with the ball, shoots it well, and made a lot of good passes. A bad night shooting from the outside held his assist total down from what I could have been. He is very impressive for a freshman.

CO played limited minutes, did not look comfortable with the ball on offense at all. He did however rebound the ball very impressively and his defense was adequate. Kind of surprised he didn't get more minutes. He could use them.

That leaves TR, who had a better outing tonight. Was a little more assertive on offense. Still would like him to demand the ball down low on offense and rebound better. But his defense looked a little better, and he at least looked to score at times. Baby steps.

I continued to be surprised and impressed with the quality defense this team is capable of playing so early in the season. Yes the quality of the opponent was not good, but still, holding a team scoreless for 11 1/2 minutes is very very impressive. It bodes well for the future.
 
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Tomcat, do you ever NOT like a singer who does the national anthem? You seem quite promiscuous in your passion for those singers! I can't recall your ever giving one a thumbs down. (I thought tonight's was just so-so, although she was only 16 and did have a lovely tone to her voice.)
 
I like that you specified Kaleb with a "k" from the CJ reference the last game. Also I missed the fact that he makes good decisions with the BAR. But I did catch that Rak was getting a lot of blacks as opposed to blocks.
thank you for doing this quick recap!!!
 
Tomcat, do you ever NOT like a singer who does the national anthem? You seem quite promiscuous in your passion for those singers! I can't recall your ever giving one a thumbs down. (I thought tonight's was just so-so, although she was only 16 and did have a lovely tone to her voice.)
Well, first off, I want to be clear that I have NOT slept with all of the people that have sung the NA at the Dome. You would think that the promise of a nice 'My Take' review would carry a lot of weight with these people but I have found this to rarely be the case.

It is a really tough song to sing, so maybe I am a little too sympathetic to the people who have the courage to give it a try. If I think someone really did a bad job, I usually elect to not mention it at all. But I do think the support staff is doing a good job finding qualified candidates these days.
 
Patterson is 5 Hour Energy. For as athletic as Cooney is I'm surprised on how poorly he functions near the basket. I like seeing BJ pump fake and would love to see him do this more along with a dribble or two after and hit that J...such a nice touch. Raks pass to Cooney is what I like after being double teamed and getting it out quickly and with snap. The game seems to be slowing down for him finally but we'll see when he's facing more athletic 6' 9" guys. Hope Silent G doesn't play point guard and pass to himself thinking he's playing the 3 at the same time! Props to this young man for multi-tasking especially with such a young team and it being needed. I think Joseph will do a fine job of running the break and his quick pull up jumper is very good. TR is Boeheims quick hook guy this year.
 
Great post as always, love how we held them scoreless for the first 12 minutes of the second half.
4 quick thoughts.

#1. Buss and Gbinije are starting to look more like pure SG's with their jumpshot. Wouldn't be surprised to see a lineup of Buss, Cooney, Gbinije for atleast 4-5 minutes a game, especially when BJ isn't in.

#2. Can't say enough about McCulloughs arc on his shot and his freethrows, Think he was 9 for 9 from the line today. Needs to practice on
-finishing strong in the lane
- working his way in or shooting over the mismatch he had a 3-4 inch mismatch tonight would have liked to see him just drain 3-4 jumpers over his man.

#3 I don't think I am alone when I say this teams jumpshooting is confusing, I wouldn't be suprised to see us put up around 30 three point shots on a few nights, which could be good confidence for march, and fun to watch. Hard to tell when we will start finishing shots off the dribble more.

#4. Rak and Chris are the two guys so far who need big minutes imo, but I would expect Gbinije and Cooney to catch up.
 
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Well, first off, I want to be clear that I have NOT slept with all of the people that have sung the NA at the Dome. You would think that the promise of a nice 'My Take' review would carry a lot of weight with these people but I have found this to rarely be the case.

It is a really tough song to sing, so maybe I am a little too sympathetic to the people who have the courage to give it a try. If I think someone really did a bad job, I usually elect to not mention it at all. But I do think the support staff is doing a good job finding qualified candidates these days.
I judge singers of the National Anthem by their pronunciation of "perilous." If I hear "pairalis" instead of "pairilus," I write them off.
 
Well, first off, I want to be clear that I have NOT slept with all of the people that have sung the NA at the Dome. You would think that the promise of a nice 'My Take' review would carry a lot of weight with these people but I have found this to rarely be the case.

It is a really tough song to sing, so maybe I am a little too sympathetic to the people who have the courage to give it a try. If I think someone really did a bad job, I usually elect to not mention it at all. But I do think the support staff is doing a good job finding qualified candidates these days.

I'm still am recalling the Marvin Gaye edition from the Dion thread. This board can have an influence on me at times.
 

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