My Take

[sutomcat]

A mysterious benefactor afforded me an opportunity to watch the game tonight very close to the action. Thank you for that again. Here is what I saw:

Bernie's seat was taken by a young red headed kid. Strange sight indeed.
GMac dressed like a grown up in a suit and tie. Still looks really young and out of place in a man suit.
NA sung by an SU student. Not up to the quality of some of the recent singers. But a fine effort nonetheless.
The biggest ovation of the night might have been when JB was introduced at the end of the player intros. Spontaneous explosion of applause. This town loves our coach. Looked like JB was touched by it, but only for a moment. Not one to show much emotion.

EMU zoned us all game long. We had open 3s whenenver we wanted them. To our credit, we often passed them up to make one more pass and get a really good shot. This can be a very good passing team. Especially when Brandon is playing PG. The half court offense continues to improve with each game. We are becoming a very difficult team to defend.

We opened in man. JB is using it more than normal. Might just use it against Florida. We also played some zone and pressed some. Again, all 3 were successful. Nice to have the ability to play effective defense 3 different ways. Hope this continues. Want to give special credit to Scoop for playing perhaps the most inspired man defense of his career tonight against #34 of EMU, an undersized PG with excellent speed and a good outside shot. He just abused MCW when MCW was assigned to cover him but when Scoop was on him, he was shut down. Excited to see this kind of determination from Scoop on the defensive side of the ball. His recent lack of PT appears to be inspiring changes in the way he plays. He made some mistakes on offense but made a lot of good plays too. He appears to be off the snide and hopefully is ready to be Good Scoop for the rest of the season.

Another game where pretty much everyone played well. The subs did badly in the first half but played great in the 2nd. CJ had a quiet game and had some problems finishing. I think a lot of that is due to the EMU zone. He is definitely better against man defenses.

Thought Triche really played well in limited minutes. He is our best at getting the ball inside and is developing a nice chemistry with Melo. He is a lot more effective with the ball in his hands running the point and looks a lot more confidence running the offense right now. Hope this continues.

MCW also does a fine job getting the ball inside when he is playing the point. He is going to have a lot of assists before he is done here.

Keita is a fine athlete and a gifted shotblocker but he is alarmingly light and is going to have a hard time getting playing time in conference play. Would not be surprised to see Christmas play most of the time as Melo's backup at center once we hit conference play and the bench shrinks. Rakim looks a lot more comfortable and is a lot more effective on offense with his back to the basket right now.

Baye is going to have to play really hard to get some minutes. One thing you can bank on...that kid will hustle and give 100% effort every minute he is out there. He is an easy player to like.

Love JS covering the inbounds man when we press. He is great at it. Seems like he is a player who blows hot or cold, but rarely anywhere in between. He was certainly on today. He is playing defense much better this year; a light when on somewhere on that side of the ball. And he is showing signs of rebounding better too. When he is on, he can score points faster than anyone else on the team. Just wish he was a tad more consistent after going scoreless in MSG last week.

Dion continues to abuse these undersized untalented teams with his size and strength inside, but I wonder if he will be able to get baskets this way against good teams that play solid defense. That is ultimately going to determine how successful he is this season. Right now he is playing with a lot of confidence and making things happen with alarming consistency. Good to see.

Fab isn't finishing as well as I would like, isn't rebounding quite as well as I would like, especially on the defensive end (though a lot of that is because he is being so aggressive going out and trying to block shots). But he contributes and does good things everytime he is out there and makes a big impact on the game even without scoring much or running up big numbers rebounding. Doing a better job staying out of foul trouble now. I think he is just going to get better and better as the season progresses.

Right now the chemistry on the team appears to be excellent. Looks like everyone is playing really hard in an effort to win playing time given how aggressively JB is subbing right now. So the 10 player rotation is working...for now anyway.

Another fun game to watch, another game where the team played very good defense. There is much to like about these guys so far. And best of all, it gives us a chance to talk basketball on this board, which is a real breath of fresh air. Looking forward to Friday already.

 

[stuckinbig11]

I wasn't in THE seats, but watching on TV, I thought Baye had a real good game. I don't think he will have trouble getting minutes. He has experience against conference teams; as nicely as Christmas is coming along, he does not have that experience. Meanwhile, I think Southerland is becoming my favorite player to root for.

 

[IthacaMatt]

A mysterious benefactor afforded me an opportunity to watch the game tonight very close to the action. Thank you for that again. Here is what I saw:

Bernie's seat was taken by a young red headed kid. Strange sight indeed.
GMac dressed like a grown up in a suit and tie. Still looks really young and out of place in a man suit.
NA sung by an SU student. Not up to the quality of some of the recent singers. But a fine effort nonetheless.
The biggest ovation of the night might have been when JB was introduced at the end of the player intros. Spontaneous explosion of applause. This town loves our coach. Looked like JB was touched by it, but only for a moment. Not one to show much emotion.

EMU zoned us all game long. We had open 3s whenenver we wanted them. To our credit, we often passed them up to make one more pass and get a really good shot. This can be a very good passing team. Especially when Brandon is playing PG. The half court offense continues to improve with each game. We are becoming a very difficult team to defend.

We opened in man. JB is using it more than normal. Might just use it against Florida. We also played some zone and pressed some. Again, all 3 were successful. Nice to have the ability to play effective defense 3 different ways. Hope this continues. Want to give special credit to Scoop for playing perhaps the most inspired man defense of his career tonight against #34 of EMU, an undersized PG with excellent speed and a good outside shot. He just abused MCW when MCW was assigned to cover him but when Scoop was on him, he was shut down. Excited to see this kind of determination from Scoop on the defensive side of the ball. His recent lack of PT appears to be inspiring changes in the way he plays. He made some mistakes on offense but made a lot of good plays too. He appears to be off the snide and hopefully is ready to be Good Scoop for the rest of the season.

Another game where pretty much everyone played well. The subs did badly in the first half but played great in the 2nd. CJ had a quiet game and had some problems finishing. I think a lot of that is due to the EMU zone. He is definitely better against man defenses.

Thought Triche really played well in limited minutes. He is our best at getting the ball inside and is developing a nice chemistry with Melo. He is a lot more effective with the ball in his hands running the point and looks a lot more confidence running the offense right now. Hope this continues.

MCW also does a fine job getting the ball inside when he is playing the point. He is going to have a lot of assists before he is done here.

Keita is a fine athlete and a gifted shotblocker but he is alarmingly light and is going to have a hard time getting playing time in conference play. Would not be surprised to see Christmas play most of the time as Melo's backup at center once we hit conference play and the bench shrinks. Rakim looks a lot more comfortable and is a lot more effective on offense with his back to the basket right now.

Baye is going to have to play really hard to get some minutes. One thing you can bank on...that kid will hustle and give 100% effort every minute he is out there. He is an easy player to like.

Love JS covering the inbounds man when we press. He is great at it. Seems like he is a player who blows hot or cold, but rarely anywhere in between. He was certainly on today. He is playing defense much better this year; a light when on somewhere on that side of the ball. And he is showing signs of rebounding better too. When he is on, he can score points faster than anyone else on the team. Just wish he was a tad more consistent after going scoreless in MSG last week.

Dion continues to abuse these undersized untalented teams with his size and strength inside, but I wonder if he will be able to get baskets this way against good teams that play solid defense. That is ultimately going to determine how successful he is this season. Right now he is playing with a lot of confidence and making things happen with alarming consistency. Good to see.

Fab isn't finishing as well as I would like, isn't rebounding quite as well as I would like, especially on the defensive end (though a lot of that is because he is being so aggressive going out and trying to block shots). But he contributes and does good things everytime he is out there and makes a big impact on the game even without scoring much or running up big numbers rebounding. Doing a better job staying out of foul trouble now. I think he is just going to get better and better as the season progresses.

Right now the chemistry on the team appears to be excellent. Looks like everyone is playing really hard in an effort to win playing time given how aggressively JB is subbing right now. So the 10 player rotation is working...for now anyway.

Another fun game to watch, another game where the team played very good defense. There is much to like about these guys so far. And best of all, it gives us a chance to talk basketball on this board, which is a real breath of fresh air. Looking forward to Friday already.

A "man suit" - Love it !!

On the basketball side, I think that his refusal to play man in NYC means that he doesn't trust it yet. That would be a shame, because I think we are a better team when Christmas and James get meaningful minutes. It wears other teams down, much like a long drive on the ground in football.

I think our familiarity with Florida is a good sign that we take care of business on Friday. I think NC State on the road will be a tougher test.

 

[rrlbees]

i wonder how many noticed that triche played a lot of pg even when he was with scoop. good, bad, or indifferent, triche has always been a better basketball player as a pg.

 

[SoBristol]

i wonder how many noticed that triche played a lot of pg even when he was with scoop. good, bad, or indifferent, triche has always been a better basketball player as a pg.

When will people stop labeling Triche as PG? In reality, we have 3 combo guards with blended skills, who are learning to share the ball (MCW might be a true PG). Triche's only scoring last night came on spot-up jump shots from the high wing -- exactly where Andy Rautins made his living. BT at this point looks like our best spot-up shooter; and less effective than the other two at making his own shot off a dribble or dribble driving to draw a defender. His attempted assists were on alley-opps to the bigs, something Andy also did, but without telegraphing it so much. Triche is good at passing it around the perimeter, sometimes finding KJ. Dion and Scoop are both better at penetrating and dishing to the bigs (or kicking it out), when they don't take it to the rim themselves. At the end of a shot clock (against man defense), you aren't as likely to see Triche with the ball up top, trying to make a play. BT can be a distributor, especially against zones, but he is not more responsible for "running the offense" than his backcourt mates. If your point is that it helps Triche's confidence (and the team) when he shares some of the ball handling responsibilities at the top of the key, interchanging with Scoop or Dion in that role -- I agree. If you are forcing an idea about who is a PG and who is a SG, I don't see it.

 

[sutomcat]

When will people stop labeling Triche as PG? In reality, we have 3 combo guards with blended skills (MCW might be a true PG, but he is going to get 4th guard minutes this year). Triche's only scoring last night came on spot-up jump shots from the high wing -- exactly where Andy Rautins made his living. BT at this pointlooks like our best spot-up shooter; and less effective at making his own shot off a dribble or dribble driving to draw a defender. His attempted assists were on alley-opps to the bigs, something Andy also did, but without telegraphing it so much. Triche is good at passing it around the perimeter, sometimes finding KJ. Dion and Scoop are both better at penetrating and dishing to the bigs, when they don't finish inside. You aren't as likely to see Triche with the ball up top, trying to make a play at the end of a shot clock. If your point is that it helps Triche to share more of the ball handling responsibilities at the top of the key, interchanging with Scoop or Dion in that role -- I agree.

I think we are pretty much on the same page. Agree Triche is a combo guard...he certainly is capable of playing both positions. Scoop is a PG period...he has shown me no sign he can play SG effectively. Dion can play PG if the game is fast paced but I haven't seen him run a half court offense effectively. Yes, he needs the ball to be effective but that doesn't make him a PG.
I think the half court offense flows better with BT playing the point. He isn't great there but he has a better idea of how to run the half court offense than the other 2 do (MCW is going to be a great PG for us down the road). I agree Dion and Scoop are both good ball handers and passers as well and they all share some of the duties of a PG while they are in.
I agree BT is our best spot up outside shooter and is our best SG in half court situations.

JS is an excellent shooter but his notoriously slow release makes him irrelevant as an outside shooter against good defensive teams. I don't see him hitting 3s on the move, off the dribble, running to a spot and shooting simultaneously. These are all things BT can do, and BT gets his jumper off a lot quicker...he has made major strides here since he was a frosh. I think there are some parallels between him and Rautins. I hope he finishes his career like Andy finished his.

Dion and Scoop are not good outside shooters but again, both take a long time to get their shots off, neither really even has a jumper and I don't see them making 3s except when they have a lot of time to pull the trigger.

KJ has done a great job of improving his outside shooting accuracy and cutting down the time it takes him to get shots off but I think at this point, he is still only a stand still outside shooter.

In short, we have a bunch of guys that can shoot 3s when they are open and have time to get shots off but you rarely have the luxury to take your time when you enter conference play. That is why our half court offense is going to change significantly in conference play and we at times will struggle to score points.

Glad to see KJ and JS taking some mid range jumpers (and hitting them). That is a shot they can get in BE play quite often. Though KJ is good enough driving to the hoop that he will still get a lot of chances to shoot 3s even against solid defensive teams.

 

[rrlbees]

When will people stop labeling Triche as PG? .

Because he is a PG. Just because he can shoot doesn't not make him one. He is better with the ball in his hands than he is just standing on the wing. He has been playing PG 90% of the time when he has been in the game the past few games.

 

[SkanSU]

Generally a good report Tomcat... if I may there are some concerns that I have.
First, and most important to me, is the game-to-game slow starts we have been having. Almost every team so far this year has been in the game almost to the half ... no different last night. This may come back to bite us big time ... especially when we play a very good team (i.e. #10 Florida) who could take full advantage of a slow start and put us in a hole we can't get out of. We have all seen that in the past. To be very good SU has to be more than a 2nd half team. Now one could say that it was b/c of the 2nd string not playing so well in the 1st half last night ... but that doesn't explain both the VT and Stanford games. We have just been starting too slow ... We need toput these teams backon their heels early on.

Now (and I know I'm going to get blasted) my concern with James. I agree that James is a great shooter and I agree that he has shown definite improvement on defense and rebounding ... but against much lesser teams. He has real problems shooting when the other team is playing in-your-face defense (i.e. VT and Stanford). And with better teams he looks like the old James. The kid needs more confidence.

I think Dion is going to be an absolute monster. What surprised me last night, late in the 2nd half, I looked up at the scoreboard and saw he only had 3 points... Wow ...Now that would be a bad" thing normally ... but he was so active throughout the game (haven't checked the box scores yet) he seemed to have had a million assists. He is becoming a real team player ... even dishing off when he had a clear slam bang. My best memory is the oops missed dunk ... I really wanted to grab my neighbors binoculars to see JB's face ... but I have a feeling he would have been laughing (if he ever does that)

It was great to see Scoop playing well last night!! We are really going to need Good Scoop.

 

[SkanSU]

Oops ... one last thought from last night. Rak looks very good and much more comfortable at the 5. He really plays well with his back to the basket ... at the 4 he looks a little like a fish out of water. If he keeps playing the 5 well Baye may be in trouble for pt.

 

[SoBristol]

Because he is a PG. Just because he can shoot doesn't not make him one. He is better with the ball in his hands than he is just standing on the wing. He has been playing PG 90% of the time when he has been in the game the past few games.

I like a lot of your posts; but this is off-base. Of course, "just standing on the wing" isn't good for much (though you will see Triche there, more than Scoop), but he gets his points (as last night) from spot up shooting -- from the wing. He shares the top spot (PG if you must) some of the time, against zones. Boeheim has said we have "guards" -- trying to diminish this debate over labeling BT's role.

 

[tbonezone]

Because he is a PG. Just because he can shoot doesn't not make him one. He is better with the ball in his hands than he is just standing on the wing. He has been playing PG 90% of the time when he has been in the game the past few games.

he (triche) can dribble ,pass and he can shoot but both dion and scoop are better drivers .agree?

 

[arbitragegls]

I happen to agree with Bees and Sutomcat. It appears clear to me, that BT is much more comfortible with the ball in his hands...and in half court sets, he and Waiters are a much better combination than Triche-Scoop; or Scoop-Waiters. The primary reason is that Triche passes the ball quicker, less time, than Scoop...and Waiters does the same...seems like many more touches for different players when Triche-Waiters are in. Perhaps because Triche does not pound the ball or circle as much as Scoop...when Triche gets the ball he releases it to another quickly...whether we call Triche a PG, SG, or combo guard I do not care...all I know is that JB is playing him more in close games than Scoop.

Last night Scoop played well...7 assts, 1 TO and some really good defense...very pleased with his game...Triche 4 assts, 1 TO...both had a steal and Waiters had 3 assts, 1 TO and 3 steals...all good....

There is reason for all three to play and play a lot of minutes, but I believe in crunch it is going to be Triche with Waiters...

 

[longislandcuse]

I just hope Christmas keeps getting playing time. Dude is legit and has back to the basket moves as well as rebounding and shot blocking talent. I really like Fair, but with an improving Christmas I dont see how too many teams can beat us. Rak looked like a beast at certain points last night and makes us a wayyyyyy better team if he continues to improve rather than giving those minutes to Fair...just my opinion.

 

[rrlbees]

I like a lot of your posts; but this is off-base. Of course, "just standing on the wing" isn't good for much (though you will see Triche there, more than Scoop), but he gets his points (as last night) from spot up shooting -- from the wing. He shares the top spot (PG if you must) some of the time, against zones. Boeheim has said we have "guards" -- trying to diminish this debate over labeling BT's role.

The teams in NYC played mostly M2M and he played PG most of the time when paired with Dion but not wioth Scoop. Last night was the first game I have seen where Triche has been at PG when paired with Scoop.

 

[rrlbees]

he (triche) can dribble ,pass and he can shoot but both dion and scoop are better drivers .agree?

Dion yes, scoop not so much.

 

[elkeed]

Who was the red head in Bernie's seat?

 

[mark79]

I just hope Christmas keeps getting playing time. Dude is legit and has back to the basket moves as well as rebounding and shot blocking talent. I really like Fair, but with an improving Christmas I dont see how too many teams can beat us. Rak looked like a beast at certain points last night and makes us a wayyyyyy better team if he continues to improve rather than giving those minutes to Fair...just my opinion.

As I put in another post, at the 17 minute mark of the second half Christmas was a key component of one of the top 10 "zone-breaking" plays I have ever seen Syracuse execute. Ball entered into to Christmas, who immediately sent it out to Kris, who swung it immediately to Scoop, who swung it immediately to Triche for a wide-open step-in three. Don't know how you guard that, especially if Christmas can develop a few inside moves. He seems to have the anticipatory passing skills.

 

[rrlbees]

Who was the red head in Bernie's seat?

He is a manager that has taken on the role of tracking the stats that Fine used to. They must be stats that JB wants instant access to since like Fine, he also sat next to JB. That pretty much tells me Fine sat next to JB because of the stats he tracked not because he did any coaching during the game.

 

[longislandcuse]

He is a manager that has taken on the role of tracking the stats that Fine used to. They must be stats that JB wants instant access to since like Fine, he also sat next to JB. That pretty much tells me Fine sat next to JB because of the stats he tracked not because he did any coaching during the game.

So now we find out that nobody liked Bernie and he did nothing on the team...lol

 

[rrlbees]

So now we find out that nobody liked Bernie and he did nothing on the team...lol

Not during the game. He did work with the big men in practice.

 

[longislandcuse]

Not during the game. He did work with the big men in practice.

Thats debatable, but I know. The big men hes coached all loved him so he must have been able to put on a really good front to cover up the sociopathic freak side.

 

[RoysRunts]

IMO Lets see what Xmas/Keita/Fab can do against the Big East Teams .Seton Hall with Pope/L'ville/Cincy and UCONN.
My feeling is SU will be in Foul trouble because of inexperience and strenght (Keita). Granted theirs 15 Fouls there but the timing of the fouls is the key. I like the group it has a great upside, but top 10 teams with a inside presence that challenge these 3 will be the key to success or failure in the Post Season

 

[SBU72]

A mysterious benefactor afforded me an opportunity to watch the game tonight very close to the action. Thank you for that again. Here is what I saw:

Bernie's seat was taken by a young red headed kid. Strange sight indeed.
GMac dressed like a grown up in a suit and tie. Still looks really young and out of place in a man suit.
NA sung by an SU student. Not up to the quality of some of the recent singers. But a fine effort nonetheless.
The biggest ovation of the night might have been when JB was introduced at the end of the player intros. Spontaneous explosion of applause. This town loves our coach. Looked like JB was touched by it, but only for a moment. Not one to show much emotion.

EMU zoned us all game long. We had open 3s whenenver we wanted them. To our credit, we often passed them up to make one more pass and get a really good shot. This can be a very good passing team. Especially when Brandon is playing PG. The half court offense continues to improve with each game. We are becoming a very difficult team to defend.

We opened in man. JB is using it more than normal. Might just use it against Florida. We also played some zone and pressed some. Again, all 3 were successful. Nice to have the ability to play effective defense 3 different ways. Hope this continues. Want to give special credit to Scoop for playing perhaps the most inspired man defense of his career tonight against #34 of EMU, an undersized PG with excellent speed and a good outside shot. He just abused MCW when MCW was assigned to cover him but when Scoop was on him, he was shut down. Excited to see this kind of determination from Scoop on the defensive side of the ball. His recent lack of PT appears to be inspiring changes in the way he plays. He made some mistakes on offense but made a lot of good plays too. He appears to be off the snide and hopefully is ready to be Good Scoop for the rest of the season.

Another game where pretty much everyone played well. The subs did badly in the first half but played great in the 2nd. CJ had a quiet game and had some problems finishing. I think a lot of that is due to the EMU zone. He is definitely better against man defenses.

Thought Triche really played well in limited minutes. He is our best at getting the ball inside and is developing a nice chemistry with Melo. He is a lot more effective with the ball in his hands running the point and looks a lot more confidence running the offense right now. Hope this continues.

MCW also does a fine job getting the ball inside when he is playing the point. He is going to have a lot of assists before he is done here.

Keita is a fine athlete and a gifted shotblocker but he is alarmingly light and is going to have a hard time getting playing time in conference play. Would not be surprised to see Christmas play most of the time as Melo's backup at center once we hit conference play and the bench shrinks. Rakim looks a lot more comfortable and is a lot more effective on offense with his back to the basket right now.

Baye is going to have to play really hard to get some minutes. One thing you can bank on...that kid will hustle and give 100% effort every minute he is out there. He is an easy player to like.

Love JS covering the inbounds man when we press. He is great at it. Seems like he is a player who blows hot or cold, but rarely anywhere in between. He was certainly on today. He is playing defense much better this year; a light when on somewhere on that side of the ball. And he is showing signs of rebounding better too. When he is on, he can score points faster than anyone else on the team. Just wish he was a tad more consistent after going scoreless in MSG last week.

I think that when JS comes in the team HAS to press for a couple of trips. Last night like in NYC, when JS cam him he missed his first shot or 2 but then when they put the press on, he was able to get going. In NYC he came in and SU never pressed and it looked like JS wasn't ready to play. It was like the effort to put pressure on gets him warmed up/sweated up and the jucies going.

 

[OttoMets]

I think Dion is going to be an absolute monster. What surprised me last night, late in the 2nd half, I looked up at the scoreboard and saw he only had 3 points... Wow ...Now that would be a bad" thing normally ... but he was so active throughout the game (haven't checked the box scores yet) he seemed to have had a million assists. He is becoming a real team player ... even dishing off when he had a clear slam bang. My best memory is the oops missed dunk ... .

That's not what I saw last night. In a short span, he missed a dunk after choosing not to pass on a three-on-one break, then missed a lay-up after not passing on a two-on-one. He did end up with the 3:1 assist-to-turnover last night (which we all love), but he was playing "get mine" ball out there more than he has since last season.

Not saying he took a step back last night, but that game sure wasn't evidence that he's become an unselfish player.

 

[OttoMets]

I just hope Christmas keeps getting playing time. Dude is legit and has back to the basket moves as well as rebounding and shot blocking talent. I really like Fair, but with an improving Christmas I dont see how too many teams can beat us. Rak looked like a beast at certain points last night and makes us a wayyyyyy better team if he continues to improve rather than giving those minutes to Fair...just my opinion.

Yes. A thousand times over, yes.

After New York, I'm resigned to the fact that Boeheim doesn't see it that way, though.