My Take

[sutomcat]

The crowd was not a great one. The students have apparently gone home which didn't help. Props to the Baldwinsville high school band for filling in for the SSS.

The national anthem was sung by an a cappella all-male group which had an interesting arrangement. Props to them for trying something different.

I don't have the time or the inclination to do a detailed player by player breakdown, so here are some somewhat disjointed thoughts on the game.

I have thought I've seen signs that T Rob was beginning to acclimate to the college game in recent games. He really played well tonight, and was a key part of the victory. Without him having his career game,we surely would have another loss.

Trevor Cooney has shown he has the ability to carry your team on his back, but only in limited sample sizes. Tonight was one of those games, he was absolutely terrific down the stretch. And pretty damn good the rest of the game as well.

Great to see him attacking the basket with confidence and handling the ball so well. Especially given the ball handling problems of young Kaleb Joseph.

Yes Kaleb Joseph showed some awful judgment and created turnovers more rapidly than a world-class bakery. But he shot the ball well, and was very impressive at scoring inside the paint. Hope to see more of this in the future. And best of all, his defense was improved. Not great,not even good. But I'll give him a solid mediocre. Which is a huge improvement from recent games.

Great to see Tyler rebound the ball so well. Also good to see him playing solid defense, perhaps for the first time in his young career. Is rebounding in particular was a huge key, because we didn't get much there's from Christmas or CM today.

With Silent G out with the injury, BJ had to play a lot of minutes. He wasn't great out there, and looked like the young inexperienced player that he is. But he, like Joseph, was fearless out there. He played hard, and did a good job on defense. He desperately needs to get stronger, and needs to learn to pick his spots better on offense.but his Ratone is undeniable. He has a high ceiling, but is going to need some playing time to get to where he is capable of.

Given the injury to Silent G, the very substandard game for Chris McCullough, and the problems of Joseph and Johnson, it's pretty amazing that Syracuse found itself up 10 with four minutes to go. Louisiana Tech is a veteran team with some find players, and it is encouraging to see this team able to get a victory while not playing close to its best basketball.

Let's hope the injury to Silent G is not serious. This team can't afford to lose another player.

 

[jekelish]

Good take, tomcat. I have to disagree about one thing though - BJ's defense. In fairness to BJ, I thought that all of our wings were pretty dismal with their rotations today, so it wasn't just him. They had decent moments with stepping into some passing lanes, but overall I thought our wings were really pretty subpar defensively today.

 

[cto]

Tom, I can usually read through your "interesting" auto-corrects, but one here stumped me. What is BJ's "Ratone?"

 

[jekelish]

Tom, I can usually read through your "interesting" auto-corrects, but one here stumped me. What is BJ's "Ratone?"

I'm guessing "potential"...that's a word that fits, and shares enough letters that autocorrect could drunkenly make that leap.

 

[bballbeadle]

As usual, I have to wait to come to the board after a game to find out what the heck was happening out there. We all wondered about Gbinije. I am disheartened to hear he may have an injury, but that was the best of all possible reasons he wasn't playing. I'd rather an injury than an attitude problem.

To be at the game was like being on a giant roller coaster ride, not knowing where you're going, and not completely understanding where you've been. When we were up ten with four minutes left, I kept wishing, "Please let us win by 15. PLEASE." And then it all went to hell. Joseph scared the pants off me (metaphorically, not like that Indiana fan). He just seemed so lost, but I did notice he had some good offense. But for us to lose the lead at the end like that was terrifying. I will have to watch the game again to see what happened.

I saw Trevor putting the game on his back. We all saw it. The crowd got very into it at various points, but got into it the most when Trevor hit the threes.

Tom, I applaud you for writing something even halfway coherent. I, too, want to know what you mean by "Ratone." It was even capitalized!

 

[ORANGEsPHK]

One thing that I believe affected our play tonight, perhaps more than already has been mentioned, is that Rak didn't play in about 1/2 the game due to foul trouble. Rak has been our most consistent offensive player and demands attention from the opposing D when he's in there. Rak is also our most experienced center and holds down the zone. Without him in there, the players are playing more out of position due to the lack of our bench.

 

[cuseguy]

One thing that I believe affected our play tonight, perhaps more than already has been mentioned, is that Rak didn't play in about 1/2 the game due to foul trouble. Rak has been our most consistent offensive player and demands attention from the opposing D when he's in there. Rak is also our most experienced center and holds down the zone. Without him in there, the players are playing more out of position due to the lack of our bench.

We could use DC2 in a few weeks.

 

[stuckinbig11]

We could use DC2 in a few weeks.

we really miss Baye

 

[RealSUFan]

Your mission:
Assign a meaning to the new word "Ratone."

Here's my go:

Ra·tone noun
1. The quality of appearing to hold great promise.
Even in the loss, the youngster's Ratone was undeniable.

2. Courage, flair, or moxie.
What they lacked in technical ability, they made up for in Ratone.

 

[TDTOrange]

I will say this. If Gbinije was going to be down with an injury, at least he waited until Roberson was healthy enough to play significant minutes. I'd hate to see what would have happened if they were both out. Roberson had a great game by the numbers. He may not have done anything that stood out, but was pretty solid and gave great effort on the offensive boards. Hopefully he can keep his level of play up going into the conference season.

 

[llandz]

SUtomcat, besides defining RATONE, could you please let me know what type of turnovers that world class bakery makes? Loved that analogy. Also Bballbeadle I am glad your pants were not scared off like those of the Indiana fans were. Overall a fun thread to read.

 

[Forza Azzurri]

Your mission:
Assign a meaning to the new word "Ratone."

Here's my go:

Ra·tone noun
1. The quality of appearing to hold great promise.
Even in the loss, the youngster's Ratone was undeniable.

2. Courage, flair, or moxie.
What they lacked in technical ability, they made up for in Ratone.

Rat-on-a noun
A poster who relentlessly and mercilessly criticizes a player, coach and/or team and then is nowhere to be found when said player, coach and/or team does well.
Like a ratone sinking ship, when Cooeny had a great game, several posters were nowhere to be found.

 

[CusefanATL]

how about the foul on Chris Mccollough... our ball up 4 with 1:55 left.

He gets a clean rebound, they call loose ball foul - and get 2 shots. Goes from our ball with a clean shot clock to CM being out and shooting 2 with 1:55 left.

Awful awful awful call. The game ends up much different with out that bogus call.

 

[tee1222]

how about the foul on Chris Mccollough... our ball up 4 with 1:55 left.

He gets a clean rebound, they call loose ball foul - and get 2 shots. Goes from our ball with a clean shot clock to CM being out and shooting 2 with 1:55 left.

Awful awful awful call. The game ends up much different with out that bogus call.

Yup. We were hosed on that call, which brings me to a point. Why oh why does it seem like visiting teams get home cooking...in the dome? That's two games in a row now. Unbelievable. In our gym.

 

[Cheriehoop]

Yup. We were hosed on that call, which brings me to a point. Why oh why does it seem like visiting teams get home cooking...in the dome? That's two games in a row now. Unbelievable. In our gym.

Can visiting teams bring their own conference refs? Just wondering.

 

[TexanMark]

Can visiting teams bring their own conference refs? Just wondering.

Those refs covered a mishmash of games last year...I don't think they were ACC or CUSA refs.

 

[sutomcat]

As usual, I have to wait to come to the board after a game to find out what the heck was happening out there. We all wondered about Gbinije. I am disheartened to hear he may have an injury, but that was the best of all possible reasons he wasn't playing. I'd rather an injury than an attitude problem.

To be at the game was like being on a giant roller coaster ride, not knowing where you're going, and not completely understanding where you've been. When we were up ten with four minutes left, I kept wishing, "Please let us win by 15. PLEASE." And then it all went to hell. Joseph scared the pants off me (metaphorically, not like that Indiana fan). He just seemed so lost, but I did notice he had some good offense. But for us to lose the lead at the end like that was terrifying. I will have to watch the game again to see what happened.

I saw Trevor putting the game on his back. We all saw it. The crowd got very into it at various points, but got into it the most when Trevor hit the threes.

Tom, I applaud you for writing something even halfway coherent. I, too, want to know what you mean by "Ratone." It was even capitalized!

I used the infamous iPhone diction software to make the post, which generally does a good job.

I find it is just good enough so when I take a quick look to see if anything crazy is in the post, I don't see anything amiss. It is unfortunately always bad enough that my quick assessment that all is well is also never ever true.

Ratone is what the iPhone heard when I said 'raw talent'. C'mon Siri. That wasn't even close.

I like the alternative definitions as well.

 

[tee1222]

Can visiting teams bring their own conference refs? Just wondering.

Clearly, they do