sutomcat
No recent Cali or Iggy awards; Mr Irrelevant
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- Aug 15, 2011
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Small crowd for a conference game. Lots of season ticket holders opted to stay home and watch the game on TV. Another poor turnout by the students, who have not been impressive supporting the team so far this season. I don't think there were even 20K actually in the Dome. The people that came were pretty quiet and dead as well. Maybe the Clemson game left everyone hung over?
Really nice acapella rendition of the NA by a group of singers. Good original arrangement. Was really well received. SU is botching the gameday experience in many ways but one place they have done well is in finding good singers for the NA.
Christian, the new BC HC, attacked SU in a most bizarre way, relying almost exclusively on outside shooting. This was really puzzling when Christmas got in foul trouble and CO had to come in for extended minutes. Even the most low budget scouting report should have said to attach Obokoh relentlessly when he came into the game but BC showed no interest in getting the ball into the paint, preferring to launch hopeless bricks as much as possible. They struggled to even hit the rim with many of their shots. Thank God Donohue was fired or BC could have easily won this game.
Props to Silent G, who bounced back from a disastrous effort against Clemson to have a solid game against the Eagles. He was especially important when Christmas was on the bench, as he was the only player left on the team who had the talent and guts to beat someone one on one to get a good shot off. He led the team in points, rebounds, and finished second in assists. Took control of a stagnant offense and got things rolling in both halves when we really needed him to do this. Good to see.
TC got off to a bad start but seemed to come out of his Clemson slump as the game progressed and was back to normal by the end. His struggles shooting FTs at crunch time continue though...very strange.
Joseph had by far the worst +/- of any Syracuse player, played poorly again on defense and continues to challenge Paul Harris for the record for most shots blocked in a season. It is remarkable how many layups he shoots flat footed with a big guy nearby that get blocked. I understand this didn't happen in HS and takes some time to adjust to but I haven't seen him show any signs of adjustment on this front to date. On the positive side, he is turning the ball over a lot less now and is running the half court offense much better. I have a lot more confidence in his decision making in the half court offense than in fast break situations, which is 100% against my expectations going into the season. 7 assists to 1 turnover is damn good though.
TR, like KJ, is being left open all game long and like Kaleb, is not making anyone pay for this. Looks like he is rushing the wide open jumpers he reluctantly takes, resulting in disturbingly bad shots. But he has great form and I think will consistently hit them if/when he ever relaxes a little. Didn't rebound the ball last night. Is showing signs of being a fine passer (3 assists). How I wish he would move to the basket hard whenever Christmas gets doubled (and he gets doubled everytime someone on Syracuse even looks to pass him the ball).
Christmas was great when he was out there, was headed for a 20 point, 12 rebound day without the foul trouble. Yes, some of the calls against him were bogus and yes, BC got away with a lot of physical play on him throughout the game, but he has to play smarter when he has 2 fouls in the 1st half and 3 fouls in the second half. Surprising that his +/- was -1 for the game. The offense actually ran better and was a lot more effective with him out. That won't happen much this season.
BJ looks afraid out there. He shows no signs of confidence and appears to be trying not to make a bad play instead of making good ones. He did play some decent defense and got a couple of rebounds while he was in. Hope he relaxes and gets things going soon. This team could really use him playing the way he is capable of playing.
Patterson had an amazing +/- of 16 in only 8 minutes of play. Didn't really do much while he was in but I think his perimeter defense is a lot better than KJ's right now, which surely accounts for some that impressive number.
Speaking of defense, BC had a good time early picking on TR and BJ, overloading their side of the zone and rotating the ball quickly to get easy open 3s. Both were taken out quickly after their defensive lapses, and played better after that. Though I am not 100% sure this was due more to bad shooting by BC players than to good defense by either player.
CO had his first extended and meaningful playing time. He didn't score and despite being largely ignored by the BC defense, rarely touched the ball (we played 4 on 5 on offense when he was in). But he rebounded the ball well and BC didn't take advantage of him inside either. Again, I can't believe they didn't even try to do this.
Good to see the team win a game with Christmas largely a non factor. Not sure if this is a reflection on SU is getting better or more about how bad BC is. Because they are quite awful.
Really nice acapella rendition of the NA by a group of singers. Good original arrangement. Was really well received. SU is botching the gameday experience in many ways but one place they have done well is in finding good singers for the NA.
Christian, the new BC HC, attacked SU in a most bizarre way, relying almost exclusively on outside shooting. This was really puzzling when Christmas got in foul trouble and CO had to come in for extended minutes. Even the most low budget scouting report should have said to attach Obokoh relentlessly when he came into the game but BC showed no interest in getting the ball into the paint, preferring to launch hopeless bricks as much as possible. They struggled to even hit the rim with many of their shots. Thank God Donohue was fired or BC could have easily won this game.
Props to Silent G, who bounced back from a disastrous effort against Clemson to have a solid game against the Eagles. He was especially important when Christmas was on the bench, as he was the only player left on the team who had the talent and guts to beat someone one on one to get a good shot off. He led the team in points, rebounds, and finished second in assists. Took control of a stagnant offense and got things rolling in both halves when we really needed him to do this. Good to see.
TC got off to a bad start but seemed to come out of his Clemson slump as the game progressed and was back to normal by the end. His struggles shooting FTs at crunch time continue though...very strange.
Joseph had by far the worst +/- of any Syracuse player, played poorly again on defense and continues to challenge Paul Harris for the record for most shots blocked in a season. It is remarkable how many layups he shoots flat footed with a big guy nearby that get blocked. I understand this didn't happen in HS and takes some time to adjust to but I haven't seen him show any signs of adjustment on this front to date. On the positive side, he is turning the ball over a lot less now and is running the half court offense much better. I have a lot more confidence in his decision making in the half court offense than in fast break situations, which is 100% against my expectations going into the season. 7 assists to 1 turnover is damn good though.
TR, like KJ, is being left open all game long and like Kaleb, is not making anyone pay for this. Looks like he is rushing the wide open jumpers he reluctantly takes, resulting in disturbingly bad shots. But he has great form and I think will consistently hit them if/when he ever relaxes a little. Didn't rebound the ball last night. Is showing signs of being a fine passer (3 assists). How I wish he would move to the basket hard whenever Christmas gets doubled (and he gets doubled everytime someone on Syracuse even looks to pass him the ball).
Christmas was great when he was out there, was headed for a 20 point, 12 rebound day without the foul trouble. Yes, some of the calls against him were bogus and yes, BC got away with a lot of physical play on him throughout the game, but he has to play smarter when he has 2 fouls in the 1st half and 3 fouls in the second half. Surprising that his +/- was -1 for the game. The offense actually ran better and was a lot more effective with him out. That won't happen much this season.
BJ looks afraid out there. He shows no signs of confidence and appears to be trying not to make a bad play instead of making good ones. He did play some decent defense and got a couple of rebounds while he was in. Hope he relaxes and gets things going soon. This team could really use him playing the way he is capable of playing.
Patterson had an amazing +/- of 16 in only 8 minutes of play. Didn't really do much while he was in but I think his perimeter defense is a lot better than KJ's right now, which surely accounts for some that impressive number.
Speaking of defense, BC had a good time early picking on TR and BJ, overloading their side of the zone and rotating the ball quickly to get easy open 3s. Both were taken out quickly after their defensive lapses, and played better after that. Though I am not 100% sure this was due more to bad shooting by BC players than to good defense by either player.
CO had his first extended and meaningful playing time. He didn't score and despite being largely ignored by the BC defense, rarely touched the ball (we played 4 on 5 on offense when he was in). But he rebounded the ball well and BC didn't take advantage of him inside either. Again, I can't believe they didn't even try to do this.
Good to see the team win a game with Christmas largely a non factor. Not sure if this is a reflection on SU is getting better or more about how bad BC is. Because they are quite awful.
