My Take | Syracusefan.com

My Take

sutomcat

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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.
 
nice post. I thought it was hilarious when they announced 22K for attendance. I think 12K is about spot on. I also agree that the crowd that was there was pretty loud given the numbers. I didnt see swarms of people leaving at the under 4 timeout with us down 8 or whatever it was. Crowd that showed gets an A- or better.

Va Tech just completely unraveled. I havent seen anything like it in some time. They would jack a quick three or make a terrible pass and honestly they lost that game much more than we won it (opposite of the Nova game). But last night was why you make that cold walk to the dome at 9pm on a week day. Sports are unscripted and u never know when a classic game will happen. These are two bad teams, but it was still fun to see a 13 point comeback and a semi-buzzer beater. Fun times and these kids battle. I do think, however, this might be the worst team Jim has ever had. We are going to really struggle to win 3 more games IMO.

Gutty win though, nice job crowd...
 
I had an epiphany last night watching G drive and get into the lane at will late in the game. Why doesn't he press the issue earlier in the game and take advantage more? Then I realized, like Rak, if G gets called for an offensive foul or 2 and has to sit out due to foul trouble we would be utterly useless on offense. Bus or BJ snapping out of their funk would mean so much more to the team then some bench points and rest. It would open up G to potentially take games over earlier. The light flickered on for both in moments last night. Perhaps we should press more with them on the court since they, and kj seem better suited to run vs play half court sets? Any rest in game for C and G would be most welcome.
 
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.

I am 99% sure that ESPN sound production drowned out the crowd. The game on TV was really odd, all we could hear were the announcers and the squeaking.

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.

His complaining all season about ticky tack fouls probably did not earn him any points with the refs.
 
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.

Overall I agree with most of this write-up, but just can't understand not calling out G for being terribly out of position as well. And getting abused. He's out above our two guards at some points.

And Trevor's defense is poor now as well. He steals passes, yes, but is bad at getting out and contesting shooters.

I really really really wanted BJ's three pointer on the break to go down. That was a huge shot, and I thought it was a good shot as well. Those will fall at some point.
 
I can't recall a player (G) who threw so many passes out of bounds that don't even touch another guy...
Awful, warn't it? So demoralizing for team and fans.

My daughter now has a job where she works 7 - 3:30. She considered not attending the game because it was on so late, but then thought, "My team needs me!" Was she ever happy she made that decision!
 
Overall I agree with most of this write-up, but just can't understand not calling out G for being terribly out of position as well. And getting abused. He's out above our two guards at some points.

And Trevor's defense is poor now as well. He steals passes, yes, but is bad at getting out and contesting shooters.

I really really really wanted BJ's three pointer on the break to go down. That was a huge shot, and I thought it was a good shot as well. Those will fall at some point.
I wouldn't give anyone on this team high marks for their play in the 2-3. Even Rak's play inside has deteriorated significantly since CMac went down and it became imperative for him to stay out of foul trouble. Other teams are challenging him all the time and he either backs off or gives a weak challenge that often gets him called for a foul anyway. The days when he would aggressively challenge anyone who dared to attack the paint while he was in are largely gone. We lost a lot when Chris got hurt but that might have been the biggest loss of all.

I think Silent G is okay on defense, has good range but lacks the shot blocking and rebounding attributes our best wings in the zone have had. But IMHO, other teams pick on the other side of the zone a lot more than on his side. He is not close to being our biggest problem on defense.
 
Perhaps they already do this, but I think Red and GMac need to be screaming for fouls against Rac. Even if the refs call them out on it, calls attention to it and at some point you might get them to pay attention. It really is amazing what they have been allowed to do -- don't follow the ball, just look at the post for a few possessions, especially longer ones.
 
nice post. I thought it was hilarious when they announced 22K for attendance. I think 12K is about spot on. I also agree that the crowd that was there was pretty loud given the numbers. I didnt see swarms of people leaving at the under 4 timeout with us down 8 or whatever it was. Crowd that showed gets an A- or better.

Va Tech just completely unraveled. I havent seen anything like it in some time. They would jack a quick three or make a terrible pass and honestly they lost that game much more than we won it (opposite of the Nova game). But last night was why you make that cold walk to the dome at 9pm on a week day. Sports are unscripted and u never know when a classic game will happen. These are two bad teams, but it was still fun to see a 13 point comeback and a semi-buzzer beater. Fun times and these kids battle. I do think, however, this might be the worst team Jim has ever had. We are going to really struggle to win 3 more games IMO.

Gutty win though, nice job crowd...

The crowd that's going to show up for a 9PM start with a 14-7 team against VT by definition has to be the diehards.
 
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.

Not sure you would have been able to see it, but late in the first half he took a pretty brutal hip check from a VT player literally right in front of one of the referees. Of course no call, but his shot wasn't the same after that.
 
Totally agree about Kaleb's problems on defense. In fact, IMO he may be the worst defensive guard to play at the top of the zone. He still doesn't know the rotations and is frequently out of position. Shows no instinct to know where the good 3 pt shooters are and to know when to stay out on them vs. falling back into the paint. Never puts his hands up to contest a jump shot. Rarely does he ever anticipate and jump the passing lanes for steals. Cooney, who isn't as quick, gets steals because he is good at anticipating and jumping into the passing lanes. Hoping he'll improve with more experience...but wow. G has the ability to manufacture a shot off the bounce (maybe the only player on the team who can) but I think his poor FT shooting constrains him from penetrating more and drawing the foul. If he improved from the line, maybe he would have the confidence to draw more fouls.
 
Not sure you would have been able to see it, but late in the first half he took a pretty brutal hip check from a VT player literally right in front of one of the referees. Of course no call, but his shot wasn't the same after that.
Yep. He was hurt. I am sure it tightened up at half time
 
Totally agree about Kaleb's problems on defense. In fact, IMO he may be the worst defensive guard to play at the top of the zone. He still doesn't know the rotations and is frequently out of position. Shows no instinct to know where the good 3 pt shooters are and to know when to stay out on them vs. falling back into the paint. Never puts his hands up to contest a jump shot. Rarely does he ever anticipate and jump the passing lanes for steals. Cooney, who isn't as quick, gets steals because he is good at anticipating and jumping into the passing lanes. Hoping he'll improve with more experience...but wow. G has the ability to manufacture a shot off the bounce (maybe the only player on the team who can) but I think his poor FT shooting constrains him from penetrating more and drawing the foul. If he improved from the line, maybe he would have the confidence to draw more fouls.
I think Kaleb and BJ are non-committal to the effort it takes to play defense. Sometimes Roberson plays that way as well.
 
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Not sure you would have been able to see it, but late in the first half he took a pretty brutal hip check from a VT player literally right in front of one of the referees. Of course no call, but his shot wasn't the same after that.

you mean the play where not only was the ref standing right there and didnt call a foul he actually helped him up and looked like he told him to get moving. Again, was last night a football game or basketball game? I couldn't tell. and it only gets worse on Saturday when the definition of clutch and grab takes to the court. I think it really sad when basketball players have to wear rib protectors and thigh pads to help prevent injury
 
Not sure you would have been able to see it, but late in the first half he took a pretty brutal hip check from a VT player literally right in front of one of the referees. Of course no call, but his shot wasn't the same after that.
That cheap shot should have actually been called an intentional it was so bad. Soon after that ref and Cooney were discussing something near mid-court and I'm sure given the gestures of the ref he had a BS explanation of why it wasn't even called a normal foul. I was really p!ssed and then watching Cooney limp through the rest of the game just infuriated me more and more. There's less contact in football that gets flagged.

There now, I feel a little better and hope the bruise heals quickly for Cooney.
 
That cheap shot should have actually been called an intentional it was so bad. Soon after that ref and Cooney were discussing something near mid-court and I'm sure given the gestures of the ref he had a BS explanation of why it wasn't even called a normal foul. I was really p!ssed and then watching Cooney limp through the rest of the game just infuriated me more and more. There's less contact in football that gets flagged.

There now, I feel a little better and hope the bruise heals quickly for Cooney.

Honestly, I think the ref was apologizing to him for not calling that one.
 
The fat lady sang and the game was not over. It hadn't even started! :cool:
 
Not sure you would have been able to see it, but late in the first half he took a pretty brutal hip check from a VT player literally right in front of one of the referees. Of course no call, but his shot wasn't the same after that.

I mentioned that in another thread - you could see it on TV as well. He blew him UP.
 

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