sutomcat
No recent Cali or Iggy awards; Mr Irrelevant
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- Aug 15, 2011
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You could tell it was going to be a smallish crowd driving to the Dome, where the roads were close to empty 60 minutes before the game. 9 PM starting times on a weekday are really bad, especially when the weather locally is questionable. Thankfully, it wasn't bad last night; just kind of cold.
Props to the people who came. They made a surprising amount of noise given their small numbers. I would estimate there were actually 12K in the seats, but the ones that came did not give up on the team, stayed to the end and tried their best to help fuel what turned out to be a most remarkable rally.
The NA was sung by a plus size woman from Albany. She had a strong, clear voice, a simple approach and hit a home run, getting a big ovation when she finished. I might be crazy, but I think the crowd has increasingly come to appreciate the NA singers and gives a lot more love in recent years when someone does a nice job.
Thought Buzz had a good game plan. He had his undersized, under talented team play SU extremely physical from the start of the game. Rak in particular was targeted, with #1 spending most of his time fronting Rak, bodying him, scratching, pulling, pushing...doing whatever he could to bother him. #21, the only real center on the VT team, usually positioned himself behind Rak and assaulted him from behind all game long.
The refs weren't IMHO anti-Syracuse, they were just incompetent. They let the Gobblers beat on Rak all game long unless Rak fought back with 1 push against their 20, upon which they would immediately call a foul on Christmas. In general, they let a ton of body contact go, which was perfect for V Tech and awful for this relatively athletic and finesse oriented Syracuse team. To their credit, they were consistent and when Syracuse finally got desperate enough to slap on a press in the last 6 minutes of the game, their reluctant to call fouls helped fuel SU's comeback.
I don't understand why Rak is getting so little respect or protection from the refs. He is a senior, has been through the wars and has proven himself. Players in his situation got better treatment than true frosh in the old days of the Big East. Corbett is an old BE ref. The other two might have come from a CYO league...they were bad, especially the really fat one, who might be the fattest ref to call a game in the Dome this decade. He missed a startling number of calls. But again, the refs weren't biased...I just think the way they called the game encouraged poor play, ugliness and made both teams look very Virginia Tech like.
Rak started the year missing a lot of relatively easy shots, then made some adjustments they made his floor shooting percentage improve markedly. A big part was getting a little better position down low; his shooting percentage deteriorates drastically from outside of 3 or 4 feet. Last night he was a little off, missed a lot of relatively easy shots, but give some credit to VT for limiting his looks from inside 5 feet. He was doubled almost all game long and when he got the ball, he was consistently tripled. He has had some good games passing when he is doubled or tripled but VT was able to get close enough to him to prevent this for the most part. It didn't help that almost no one on the SU team was able to make a shot.
Kaleb had another spectacularly awful night on defense. I am not shocked or in disbelief over his struggles playing at the top of the 2-3 but I increasingly disturbed by the utter lack of improvement in his defense since the season started. He might be playing defense worse now than early in the season. Just is out of position all the time, shows no instincts or common sense out there. Appears to be unfamiliar with the concept of using your body to stop someone on a break from getting to the hoop; he is like a bull fighter out there. And he doesn't get the strips and steals an SU PG typically gets just being alert and athletic. I think he is going to be okay on offense down the road. Not so sure on the defensive side. He has a lot of Mookie Jones in him.
Patterson and Trevor aren't great defenders up top by any means but they look tremendous in comparison. Patterson has some amazing lapses in judgement and because his lack of shooting ability is now so legendary that no one is covering him, when he is in, we play 4 on 5 on offense (it really makes it easy to double Rak or double the ball). Props to him for being our best defender when we pressed and props to him for doing a good job finishing. He has struggled here in recent games, which is a big deal because he can't play if he is a complete non-contributor in the half court offense and can't help in transition either.
BJ got another chance to play himself out of the horrific slump he has been in. Had a good moment when he faked a 3, then dove to the basket and dunked (and almost hurt himself landing). But he is another guy that defenses just ignore now. When he and Patterson were both in at the same time, it was bizarre to see them both standing wide open on the perimeter, their men busy covering 3 basketball players SU had on the court who could actually score. He had another nice sequence where he got a good rebound, got in transition and had a wide open 3 that could have given Syracuse a big lift and really got the crowd going. But he missed it. That was a big shot for him, and might have been his last chance to establish himself in the rotation this season. On defense, he overplayed way too much up top, and was viciously abused by VT while he was in. He was unfortunately a big part of that stretch of 6 straight 3s they made. Hate to see a talented kid lose their confidence and struggle like this. Especially when he is so desperately needed.
Thought Trevor played a fine game. From where I sat, it looked like he was sick and as the game wore on, he physically broke down and was running on fumes the last 10 minutes of the game. With all the focus on stopping Rak, he had a lot of open looks from the 3 point circle but missed almost all of them late, consistently short on all of them. Gutty performance. I am sure it would have helped him to get some rest but with Kaleb and Patterson struggling, that just wasn't possible.
Silent G continues his wildly erratic roller coaster of a season, having stretches of excellent play followed by some of the worst and most bizarre unforced turnovers you will ever see. His ability to get in the paint and draw a foul, make a pass for an easy basket or finish for a basket was a huge key for this tepid Syracuse half court offense and he hit a couple big 3s too. Props to him for taking over late. He seemed really reluctant to take big shots most of the year but he showed no fear today.
Not a good game for Roberson, who had a lot of chances to score...they really didn't cover him until he was within 8 feet of the basket. He was also abused in the zone, as they overloaded his side and he took the bait and overplayed too much. Love his unselfishness and passing ability but if he wants to be a good player, he needs to make better decisions on when to shoot. Keeps passing up a wide open 12 footer to drive into the lane and force a highly contested 6 footer. Needs to start using fakes to draw fouls too. And needs to play more physically; he was pushed around by little guys all game long.
This is a highly flawed team that does not play good defense and really struggles to score. They have no depth and with CMac out, they are not very good rebounding either. The next two games, against Pitt and BC, both on the road, are going to be really important to set up the rest of the season. Win both and things get interesting. Split and all is not lost. Lose both and the rest of the season is going to be a death match.
I hope they are up to the task.
Props to the people who came. They made a surprising amount of noise given their small numbers. I would estimate there were actually 12K in the seats, but the ones that came did not give up on the team, stayed to the end and tried their best to help fuel what turned out to be a most remarkable rally.
The NA was sung by a plus size woman from Albany. She had a strong, clear voice, a simple approach and hit a home run, getting a big ovation when she finished. I might be crazy, but I think the crowd has increasingly come to appreciate the NA singers and gives a lot more love in recent years when someone does a nice job.
Thought Buzz had a good game plan. He had his undersized, under talented team play SU extremely physical from the start of the game. Rak in particular was targeted, with #1 spending most of his time fronting Rak, bodying him, scratching, pulling, pushing...doing whatever he could to bother him. #21, the only real center on the VT team, usually positioned himself behind Rak and assaulted him from behind all game long.
The refs weren't IMHO anti-Syracuse, they were just incompetent. They let the Gobblers beat on Rak all game long unless Rak fought back with 1 push against their 20, upon which they would immediately call a foul on Christmas. In general, they let a ton of body contact go, which was perfect for V Tech and awful for this relatively athletic and finesse oriented Syracuse team. To their credit, they were consistent and when Syracuse finally got desperate enough to slap on a press in the last 6 minutes of the game, their reluctant to call fouls helped fuel SU's comeback.
I don't understand why Rak is getting so little respect or protection from the refs. He is a senior, has been through the wars and has proven himself. Players in his situation got better treatment than true frosh in the old days of the Big East. Corbett is an old BE ref. The other two might have come from a CYO league...they were bad, especially the really fat one, who might be the fattest ref to call a game in the Dome this decade. He missed a startling number of calls. But again, the refs weren't biased...I just think the way they called the game encouraged poor play, ugliness and made both teams look very Virginia Tech like.
Rak started the year missing a lot of relatively easy shots, then made some adjustments they made his floor shooting percentage improve markedly. A big part was getting a little better position down low; his shooting percentage deteriorates drastically from outside of 3 or 4 feet. Last night he was a little off, missed a lot of relatively easy shots, but give some credit to VT for limiting his looks from inside 5 feet. He was doubled almost all game long and when he got the ball, he was consistently tripled. He has had some good games passing when he is doubled or tripled but VT was able to get close enough to him to prevent this for the most part. It didn't help that almost no one on the SU team was able to make a shot.
Kaleb had another spectacularly awful night on defense. I am not shocked or in disbelief over his struggles playing at the top of the 2-3 but I increasingly disturbed by the utter lack of improvement in his defense since the season started. He might be playing defense worse now than early in the season. Just is out of position all the time, shows no instincts or common sense out there. Appears to be unfamiliar with the concept of using your body to stop someone on a break from getting to the hoop; he is like a bull fighter out there. And he doesn't get the strips and steals an SU PG typically gets just being alert and athletic. I think he is going to be okay on offense down the road. Not so sure on the defensive side. He has a lot of Mookie Jones in him.
Patterson and Trevor aren't great defenders up top by any means but they look tremendous in comparison. Patterson has some amazing lapses in judgement and because his lack of shooting ability is now so legendary that no one is covering him, when he is in, we play 4 on 5 on offense (it really makes it easy to double Rak or double the ball). Props to him for being our best defender when we pressed and props to him for doing a good job finishing. He has struggled here in recent games, which is a big deal because he can't play if he is a complete non-contributor in the half court offense and can't help in transition either.
BJ got another chance to play himself out of the horrific slump he has been in. Had a good moment when he faked a 3, then dove to the basket and dunked (and almost hurt himself landing). But he is another guy that defenses just ignore now. When he and Patterson were both in at the same time, it was bizarre to see them both standing wide open on the perimeter, their men busy covering 3 basketball players SU had on the court who could actually score. He had another nice sequence where he got a good rebound, got in transition and had a wide open 3 that could have given Syracuse a big lift and really got the crowd going. But he missed it. That was a big shot for him, and might have been his last chance to establish himself in the rotation this season. On defense, he overplayed way too much up top, and was viciously abused by VT while he was in. He was unfortunately a big part of that stretch of 6 straight 3s they made. Hate to see a talented kid lose their confidence and struggle like this. Especially when he is so desperately needed.
Thought Trevor played a fine game. From where I sat, it looked like he was sick and as the game wore on, he physically broke down and was running on fumes the last 10 minutes of the game. With all the focus on stopping Rak, he had a lot of open looks from the 3 point circle but missed almost all of them late, consistently short on all of them. Gutty performance. I am sure it would have helped him to get some rest but with Kaleb and Patterson struggling, that just wasn't possible.
Silent G continues his wildly erratic roller coaster of a season, having stretches of excellent play followed by some of the worst and most bizarre unforced turnovers you will ever see. His ability to get in the paint and draw a foul, make a pass for an easy basket or finish for a basket was a huge key for this tepid Syracuse half court offense and he hit a couple big 3s too. Props to him for taking over late. He seemed really reluctant to take big shots most of the year but he showed no fear today.
Not a good game for Roberson, who had a lot of chances to score...they really didn't cover him until he was within 8 feet of the basket. He was also abused in the zone, as they overloaded his side and he took the bait and overplayed too much. Love his unselfishness and passing ability but if he wants to be a good player, he needs to make better decisions on when to shoot. Keeps passing up a wide open 12 footer to drive into the lane and force a highly contested 6 footer. Needs to start using fakes to draw fouls too. And needs to play more physically; he was pushed around by little guys all game long.
This is a highly flawed team that does not play good defense and really struggles to score. They have no depth and with CMac out, they are not very good rebounding either. The next two games, against Pitt and BC, both on the road, are going to be really important to set up the rest of the season. Win both and things get interesting. Split and all is not lost. Lose both and the rest of the season is going to be a death match.
I hope they are up to the task.
