Niagara Postgame

[STEVEHOLT]

Uh… what? Any team can fall in a “trap game” so long as the other team is less talented. If Niagara played a d2 team before playing Syracuse that could be a trap game for them.

Niagara cannot have a trap game unless they were playing Sparks

 

[Cuseball]

Eh usually I'm with that, but this close to conference play, with our thin margins for error...game was disappointing.

Agreed. Big disappointment and a lot of things need to improve very quick. Games like this will get you 10-10 in the ACC and no NCAA’s

 

[billsin01]

Mcleod is sooooooo slooooooow

Yeah, and I'm sure he's a bright kid but he often seems a little slow to process the plays as well. Not sure how playable he is against good teams. Did think he handled a couple pick-and-rolls better tonight than he had in the first 11 games.

Other thoughts:
-- The starting lineup with mcleod, jj, judah, bell, taylor is a very one-demensional group if Bell or JJ aren't knocking down looks. I mean, I guess you could say that about any lineup but Taylor is still very much figuring out how to score (let alone score efficiently) at this level, mcleod isn't going to score and, tonight at least, JJ and Bell were no bueno either. It's an OK group defensively, but not terrific on that end either. Will be interesting to see how minutes shake out headed to ACC games.

-- 1 official turnover for copeland after two in 32 minutes (I think) against oregon. Three in 58 minutes is great news for us because he does a lot of other things. Still gets a little wild at times, but another nice game for him.

-- Cuffe is a solid defender and brings energy. Major luxury being able to bring he and Q off the bench.

-- Nice game from Benny, generally. 12 pretty active minutes. Needs to move the ball on a runout and still gets a little lost defensively from time to time, but was pretty solid in those 12.

-- Judah, not his best game. Before people completely eviscerate him over a rough final few minutes, he still managed to get a transition layup and then hit brown for an alley-oop to ice it and finished with 18, 4 and 4 with two steals. I think the little things are still where he could improve (occasionally making a pass to an open shooter, being more consistent with his effort defensively, etc. But when your bad game is one with those numbers, I mean, that's pretty good.

-- Still need to work on our communication defensively and our movement offensively, but take the W and hope we can learn a few things from it.

 

[FrancoPizza]

Some opponents will fight hard because they were playing Syracuse and in the dome.

and sometimes we just don’t show up.

 

[Red Holzman]

We are going to have a loss at home to a bottom of the barrel ACC team because we just aren't going to show up. You can just tell this group is going to sleepwalk into a game they game afford to sleepwalk into.

Agree that's possible-
Big reason: this team doesn't have an Alpha leading by example and holding teammates accountable.
As Red noted while expressing his disappointment in the presser -the youth shows.

 

[Orange315]

Felt like Red kind of held them back a little with the lineups and minutes. I don't like to see the 4 player substitution that happened in the 1st half. Also, I hate to harp on the same thing every time I post but I can't believe Maliq can't spend 1 minute on the floor with a center. I really hoped the time of playing a key player out of position 100 percent of the time was over.

 

[CardiacCuse]

no team wins by blowout every game...was kinda predictable after big wins lately that this one might be close

 

[5OutFred]

This game is the last game everyone should be complaining about. They played sloppy and won by double digits - who cares if they win by 22 or 13? Makes absolutely zero difference. Play crappy and win and it’s fine. It was never in question and was an easy win. Let’s take it please

Unfortunately this isn't the case with the NET rankings - point differential is weighed quite heavily, and there's a trend of 'average' teams manipulating their NET rank significantly by blowing out inferior opponents by as many points as possible. With how it's currently set up, running up the score matters.

 

[Cusefan0307]

This game is the last game everyone should be complaining about. They played sloppy and won by double digits - who cares if they win by 22 or 13? Makes absolutely zero difference. Play crappy and win and it’s fine. It was never in question and was an easy win. Let’s take it please

I don’t know about that. Red certainly wasn’t happy. Our best player who’s aspiring to be an NBA draft pick almost single-handedly let Niagara back into it down the stretch.

 

[boog7]

I'm feeling a little spicy tonight in general, so...

"lazy defense" might be the most overused basketball platitude in board history... just because at times players play poor defense, or make bad defensive decisions, doesn't equate to being "lazy." It's ridiculous.

Syracuse had 8 turnovers... for the entire game. Yet, the analysis from some comes across like we hit a 20 spot on turnovers. Is your expectation 0 turnovers? it's ridiculous.

It was a 5:00 PM game in a student-less game against Niagra. Could we have played better? Sure. Did we win by double digits? Yep. Was the game EVER in doubt? Nope.

I swear, when it comes to the anti-flash, anti-enjoyment of basketball in general on here sometimes, I genuinely think this is what some folks wish it looked like. Basketball is fun! Enjoy some amazing, athletic, exciting, "risky" plays from time to time... let these young men thrive & grow. It's like the team is expected to be robots or something.

Solid win! I loved seeing Brown again play well & get some points up for the effort. Copeland continues playing the way he should be, another killer spin move & finish. Seeing Taylor hit a run of buckets in the 2nd half was important for his confidence. The Cuffe vertical block was a thing of beauty... he's just solid & trustworthy no matter how many minutes he plays. When J.J. shoots, I'm starting to expect it to go in, which is awesome.

1000%. This team is fun to watch. Imperfect? Yep. But they compete, play with confidence & swag - and most importantly, they're growing and winning, which is the objective. Now it's time to make some noise in league play and I'm certain they will.

 

[upperdeck]

I'm feeling a little spicy tonight in general, so...

"lazy defense" might be the most overused basketball platitude in board history... just because at times players play poor defense, or make bad defensive decisions, doesn't equate to being "lazy." It's ridiculous.

Syracuse had 8 turnovers... for the entire game. Yet, the analysis from some comes across like we hit a 20 spot on turnovers. Is your expectation 0 turnovers? it's ridiculous.

It was a 5:00 PM game in a student-less game against Niagra. Could we have played better? Sure. Did we win by double digits? Yep. Was the game EVER in doubt? Nope.

I swear, when it comes to the anti-flash, anti-enjoyment of basketball in general on here sometimes, I genuinely think this is what some folks wish it looked like. Basketball is fun! Enjoy some amazing, athletic, exciting, "risky" plays from time to time... let these young men thrive & grow. It's like the team is expected to be robots or something.

Solid win! I loved seeing Brown again play well & get some points up for the effort. Copeland continues playing the way he should be, another killer spin move & finish. Seeing Taylor hit a run of buckets in the 2nd half was important for his confidence. The Cuffe vertical block was a thing of beauty... he's just solid & trustworthy no matter how many minutes he plays. When J.J. shoots, I'm starting to expect it to go in, which is awesome.

back in the day where the dribble rules were actually a thing.. much harder when you cant carry/palm the ball every like todays guys do.

 

[M2MPrinciples]

Red spent a lot of his presser harping on how much we let up in the last 4 minutes and I agree. But some of the issues were present in the other 36 minutes too; Some guys are still too slow in transition, we aren't getting offensive rebounds, JT doesn't bring much to the table if he's just camping out in the wing or corner and guys aren't looking for him, as awesome as Maliq's been refs are paying more attention to his reach-ins, etc.

Every team is still ironing things out, but our issues seem to be more self-inflicted. On the plus side, that means they ought to be fixable, but they're still frustrating. But they got a double-digit win and there were some positives. We had one of our best games handling the ball, assisting on 2/3 of our makes and cutting our turnovers down significantly from what we had been doing, Cuffe and Benny gave valuable contributions, and Maliq notched a double-double and flashed some range. So lots of good to take away but plenty of room for improvement.

 

[AlaskaSU]

Was he promised a starting spot? Because something needs to change.

We could sure use Mt. Hima if he was healthy. Is he chronic or in recovery? Imagine Brown at PF, Benny at SF, Cope at shooting guard. JJ as Judah's backup. A bench with multiple 3 pt. Fire power.

 

[Cusefan0307]

We could sure use Mt. Hima if he was healthy. Is he chronic or in recovery? Imagine Brown at PF, Benny at SF, Cope at shooting guard. JJ as Judah's backup. A bench with multiple 3 pt. Fire power.

We are headed to game 13. It’s safe to say that’s never happening. Brown isn’t playing PF and JJ is not coming off the bench.

 

[Orangezoo]

This game gets a big pass for me.

Before the season, I said 7-4 OOC, so I'm thrilled we went 9-2

Yeah, some of the games were easier than we thought they'd be and no great wins, but no G'Town or Bryant type losses either.

The season starts next Sat.
I'll start over analyzing then.

Game right before holidays, boring opponent at a weird timeslot and they had a guy play the game of his life. Intensity has to be top notch starting conference play and I expect it will. Not worth reading a thing into this game.

 

[Fly Rodder]

We could sure use Mt. Hima if he was healthy. Is he chronic or in recovery? Imagine Brown at PF, Benny at SF, Cope at shooting guard. JJ as Judah's backup. A bench with multiple 3 pt. Fire power.

Chronic. He's got potato knees.

 

[Orangezoo]

Was he promised a starting spot? Because something needs to change.

At this point he should be the hired gun big man to go up vs the bigs left on the schedule and play 12–15 per game. I’ve noticed the coaches talking a ton to Carey and Patterson on the bench when Naheem isn’t playing well. Brown is fully healthy and playing well just isn’t the rim protector you need in certain matchups.

Honestly as long as we find a way to start games better I don’t care who starts at the 5. We know McLeod isn’t getting big minutes and honestly can’t at this point.

 

[Cusefan0307]

McLeod is basically playing the token starter role JB used to have for freshmen year Fab, Rak and Dajuan Coleman. Red just gives him a little longer than 90 seconds.

 

[M2MPrinciples]

I'm not bothered by Naheem starting aside from it being frustrating that Carey still isn't ready and Hima is so limited, but I don't see that getting fixed this season so we may just have to ride it out. I think the staff is doing its best to put Naheem in a position to succeed with the impact being minimal if he doesn't.

It also helps keep Maliq from having to carry even more of the load, so if nothing else there's some benefit there.

 

[Fly Rodder]

but they need to stop playing to the level of the opponents, imo

Sure, but it's college sports. These guys sophomores and are still developing with a new head coach. Watching Red pace the sidelines all game, it looks like he's got about 13 ulcers. He wears his emotions on his sleeve a lot more than JAB did.

It was basically a scrimmage, they were trying new things. Some worked out, some didn't.

 

[GardenOrange]

I guess attempting utterly unmakeable shots that are blocked by the underside of the backboard or the rim are not turnovers or Copeland would have had about 7. This game showcased what an undisciplined bunch our kids are. Hope they regain some focus for Pitt and the rest of the ACC. To make the NCAAs they will need it along with the some will to stop dribble penetration.

 

[two3zone]

Yeah, and I'm sure he's a bright kid but he often seems a little slow to process the plays as well. Not sure how playable he is against good teams. Did think he handled a couple pick-and-rolls better tonight than he had in the first 11 games.

Other thoughts:
-- The starting lineup with mcleod, jj, judah, bell, taylor is a very one-demensional group if Bell or JJ aren't knocking down looks. I mean, I guess you could say that about any lineup but Taylor is still very much figuring out how to score (let alone score efficiently) at this level, mcleod isn't going to score and, tonight at least, JJ and Bell were no bueno either. It's an OK group defensively, but not terrific on that end either. Will be interesting to see how minutes shake out headed to ACC games.

-- 1 official turnover for copeland after two in 32 minutes (I think) against oregon. Three in 58 minutes is great news for us because he does a lot of other things. Still gets a little wild at times, but another nice game for him.

-- Cuffe is a solid defender and brings energy. Major luxury being able to bring he and Q off the bench.

-- Nice game from Benny, generally. 12 pretty active minutes. Needs to move the ball on a runout and still gets a little lost defensively from time to time, but was pretty solid in those 12.

-- Judah, not his best game. Before people completely eviscerate him over a rough final few minutes, he still managed to get a transition layup and then hit brown for an alley-oop to ice it and finished with 18, 4 and 4 with two steals. I think the little things are still where he could improve (occasionally making a pass to an open shooter, being more consistent with his effort defensively, etc. But when your bad game is one with those numbers, I mean, that's pretty good.

-- Still need to work on our communication defensively and our movement offensively, but take the W and hope we can learn a few things from it.

 

[IthacaMatt]

Yeah, and I'm sure he's a bright kid but he often seems a little slow to process the plays as well. Not sure how playable he is against good teams. Did think he handled a couple pick-and-rolls better tonight than he had in the first 11 games.

Other thoughts:
-- The starting lineup with mcleod, jj, judah, bell, taylor is a very one-demensional group if Bell or JJ aren't knocking down looks. I mean, I guess you could say that about any lineup but Taylor is still very much figuring out how to score (let alone score efficiently) at this level, mcleod isn't going to score and, tonight at least, JJ and Bell were no bueno either. It's an OK group defensively, but not terrific on that end either. Will be interesting to see how minutes shake out headed to ACC games.

-- 1 official turnover for copeland after two in 32 minutes (I think) against oregon. Three in 58 minutes is great news for us because he does a lot of other things. Still gets a little wild at times, but another nice game for him.

-- Cuffe is a solid defender and brings energy. Major luxury being able to bring he and Q off the bench.

-- Nice game from Benny, generally. 12 pretty active minutes. Needs to move the ball on a runout and still gets a little lost defensively from time to time, but was pretty solid in those 12.

-- Judah, not his best game. Before people completely eviscerate him over a rough final few minutes, he still managed to get a transition layup and then hit brown for an alley-oop to ice it and finished with 18, 4 and 4 with two steals. I think the little things are still where he could improve (occasionally making a pass to an open shooter, being more consistent with his effort defensively, etc. But when your bad game is one with those numbers, I mean, that's pretty good.

-- Still need to work on our communication defensively and our movement offensively, but take the W and hope we can learn a few things from it.

Nice post. Largely agree with you.

I kind of like that he brings Maliq, Benny and Cope off the bench, and then Cuffe.

Changes our lineup, gives everybody a chance to get off the mark in the game, and then in the 2nd Half, you play who has played best.

 

[billsin01]

Nice post. Largely agree with you.

I kind of like that he brings Maliq, Benny and Cope off the bench, and then Cuffe.

Changes our lineup, gives everybody a chance to get off the mark in the game, and then in the 2nd Half, you play who has played best.

Yeah I don’t love it but it’s probably a good call. There will be nights where bell hits 6 or 7 threes or Taylor hits a couple big shots and does his thing on defense and on the glass. I almost wonder if you could steal a couple more possessions for that group by mixing in a 1-3-1 or something like it. Keep McLeod near the basket, let Judah harass ball-handlers up top. Could be decently effective at least for short stretches.

 

[IthacaMatt]

Yeah I don’t love it but it’s probably a good call. There will be nights where bell hits 6 or 7 threes or Taylor hits a couple big shots and does his thing on defense and on the glass. I almost wonder if you could steal a couple more possessions for that group by mixing in a 1-3-1 or something like it. Keep McLeod near the basket, let Judah harass ball-handlers up top. Could be decently effective at least for short stretches.

Nice call on the defense. Even for 4 or 8 minutes, it's another look that teams would have to prepare for, and would make better use of MacLeod to keep him close to the basket on defense.