Nine wins

[MSOrange]

I wasn;t able to see the game last night, but whatever happened must have been devastating because the board is in full on meltdown. Not just a this year meltdown, but existential meltdown. This after one our weaker teams (well acknowledged by our fans, or so I thought) dropped a 7 point game on the road to the #3 team in the country. What happened? Were we up 61 to nothing with 8 minutes left or something??

I'm disappointed with last night because Virginia wasn't unbeatable. I'm still very frustrated with ND - that was just a flat out horrible loss

 

[20Plus]

I think we might have trouble getting to 5 wins let alone 9. We have a very limited team. They are scrappers. The more I see of battle the more Im reminded of Todd Burgan.

If you think battle is not a far superior talent to Burgan I don't know what to tell you

 

[upperdeck]

I really dont think Battle is better than Burgan.. Didnt he almost lead a team to a title all by himself?

 

[hungrychuck]

I really dont think Battle is better than Burgan.. Didnt he almost lead a team to a title all by himself?

Yeah, if only that annoying John Wallace guy hadn't gotten in his way.

 

[OrangeDW]

I really dont think Battle is better than Burgan.. Didnt he almost lead a team to a title all by himself?

No. He did play great in the final four though.

I think Burgan’s game was more conducive to being the 2nd-3rd best player on a team. He couldn’t carry the scoring load like Battle has had to this year. He couldn’t score in as many ways. He was a solid all around player though IMO.

 

[cuseinseattle]

No. He did play great in the final four though.

I think Burgan’s game was more conducive to being the 2nd-3rd best player on a team. He couldn’t carry the scoring load like Battle has had to this year. He couldn’t score in as many ways. He was a solid all around player though IMO.

I’m not sure if it was the best game of his career but he was really good against UK in the title game. I think people just took that game and thought he was going to be this player he could never be

 

[STEVEHOLT]

If you think battle is not a far superior talent to Burgan I don't know what to tell you

far superior? I don't see it.

 

[STEVEHOLT]

I’m not sure if it was the best game of his career but he was really good against UK in the title game. I think people just took that game and thought he was going to be this player he could never be

Battle is carrying the scoring load because he is allowed to shoot whenever from wherever. It's not translating to wins. Michael Edwards could score 25 pts a game if you let him shoot enough. Was listening to Kenny Smith the other night on TNT and he said his high school coach used to say " every team has a 17 point scorer." It means nothing in and of itself.

 

[Brooky03]

Battle is carrying the scoring load because he is allowed to shoot whenever from wherever. It's not translating to wins. Michael Edwards could score 25 pts a game if you let him shoot enough. Was listening to Kenny Smith the other night on TNT and he said his high school coach used to say " every team has a 17 point scorer." It means nothing in and of itself.

Battle is not an inefficient scorer, though. Yes, he puts up a ton of shots because there aren't other options, but he's efficient with those shots.

 

[Knicks411]

Battle is carrying the scoring load because he is allowed to shoot whenever from wherever. It's not translating to wins. Michael Edwards could score 25 pts a game if you let him shoot enough. Was listening to Kenny Smith the other night on TNT and he said his high school coach used to say " every team has a 17 point scorer." It means nothing in and of itself.

This is basically the same idea behind how MCW won ROY for the sixers. Someone has to put up numbers on every team

 

[SUOrangeSU]

We will win one of the games we aren't supposed to.

 

[Brooky03]

We will win one of the games we aren't supposed to.

and we will probably lose one of the games we're supposed to win.

 

[Cusefan0307]

Battle is not an inefficient scorer, though. Yes, he puts up a ton of shots because there aren't other options, but he's efficient with those shots.

He's shot 40% or lower 5 out of the past ten games. If that was Howard people would want to take him to the guilotine.

 

[Brooky03]

He's shot 40% or lower 5 out of the past ten games. If that was Howard people would want to take him to the guilotine.

You could selectively find stats like that for any good player we've had. What significance does the last 10 games have? How'd he do in the last 17.2 games? Or the last 4.6 games? Or the second half of games against teams that start with R?

 

[Waltdods]

far superior? I don't see it.

Burgan shot 39% as a junior and 40% as a senior, from the field, on teams with much more offensive options than this year's team. He, too, had a sub-1.0 assist/turnover ratio, was not nearly the defender Battle is, and could not dribble more than three consecutive times. Battle, despite his crazy usage rate and the fact that he is generating almost all of his scoring opportunities on his own is shooting better this year than Burgan did in any year (other than his freshman season when he barely played).

Burgan was great on the Final Four team, when he was flanked by an All-American, a hoss inside, a 5th-year point guard who played the position as well (that year) as anyone in Syracuse history, and a pair of sweet-shooting wings to spread the court. When he was asked to do more as a junior, he was mostly incapable (and compounded the challenges by earning a suspension to start the year). He put together a good year as a senior, as Battle certainly would if he stuck around for two more years, though there too he was helped by the excellent players around him.

 

[OrangeDW]

He's shot 40% or lower 5 out of the past ten games. If that was Howard people would want to take him to the guilotine.

I think that’s bound to happen any time you have one of these teams where one guy is expected to carry the scoring load to that degree though.

 

[Cusefan0307]

You could selectively find stats like that for any good player we've had. What significance does the last 10 games have? How'd he do in the last 17.2 games? Or the last 4.6 games? Or the second half of games against teams that start with R?

Battle can score. Great.

I expected him to shoot better than 42% overall and 32% from 3. I also expect a lot more than less than 2 assists and 3 rebounds per 40 minutes.

I'm not hating on him. I just thought we were getting a lot more when he signed here.

 

[OrangeDW]

Battle can score. Great.

I expected him to shoot better than 42% overall and 32% from 3. I also expect a lot more than less than 2 assists and 3 rebounds per 40 minutes.

I'm not hating on him. I just thought we were getting a lot more when he signed here.

The lack of rebounding puzzles me. At 6’6 and on a team that doesn’t run(it’s not like he’s leaking out early) it seems like he’d be able to get 4-5 per game just as a function of being on the court that much.

 

[Cusefan0307]

I think that’s bound to happen any time you have one of these teams where one guy is expected to carry the scoring load to that degree though.

That's true. I'm mainly calling out the people who guaranteed he'd be a lottery pick and our best player since Melo.

 

[Knicks411]

You could selectively find stats like that for any good player we've had. What significance does the last 10 games have? How'd he do in the last 17.2 games? Or the last 4.6 games? Or the second half of games against teams that start with R?

Well you could argue we've played tougher competition over the last ten than the full season.

But he hasn't been that efficient. Effective field goal% lower than the national average, for instance.

 

[HoustonCuse]

and we will probably lose one of the games we're supposed to win.

I would argue that we've already done that. Twice. Hopefully it is behind us! Clearly though this team has worn down. Maybe the little break here will help them get their legs back.

 

[Brooky03]

Battle can score. Great.

I expected him to shoot better than 42% overall and 32% from 3. I also expect a lot more than less than 2 assists and 3 rebounds per 40 minutes.

I'm not hating on him. I just thought we were getting a lot more when he signed here.

Fair enough, I'd like him to have more assists, too. But you have to look at effective FG% when talking about guys who shoot threes. And TS% helps to factor in guys who get to the line.


Here's Battle's numbers for the last 10 games:

Probably not as bad as you thought, right?

 

[Brooky03]

Well you could argue we've played tougher competition over the last ten than the full season.

But he hasn't been that efficient. Effective field goal% lower than the national average, for instance.

Perhaps lower than the national average (idk what the national average is) but anything near/above 50% is good and about where our top scorers the past decade or two have found themselves.

 

[two3zone]

Fair enough, I'd like him to have more assists, too. But you have to look at effective FG% when talking about guys who shoot threes. And TS% helps to factor in guys who get to the line.


Here's Battle's numbers for the last 10 games:

View attachment 119922

Probably not as bad as you thought, right?

Worse than I thought.

 

[Knicks411]

Perhaps lower than the national average (idk what the national average is) but anything near/above 50% is good and about where our top scorers the past decade or two have found themselves.

He's at 49.2, national average is 50.8%. It's pretty close to average but I wouldn't say it's all that efficient.

Going back the last few years:
2017: Lydon was 55%, Battle 53.6%, White 56.5%
2016: Mike G was 55.4%, Lydon 57.2%
2015: Rak 55.2%, Mike 54.2%
2014: CJ 45.3%, Ennis 45.3%. (Woof)
2013: CJ 50.2%, MCW 43.8%, Southerland 56.7%