No sure who said it but...

[realorange]

We will beat Wisconsin by 20 plus

I'll take your money on that.

 

[Sgt Cuse]

There's more than one type of press. This is what the pre-season games are for, to show you what practice can't. Let's not ask for March 15 on November 22.

Furthermore, if Syracuse presses every game there's no surprise. Consider, the two great press driven turnarounds I can recall are '03 (Oklahoma State) and last year against Virginia. That's thirteen years apart. There's a reason these legendary successes are far apart: because they don't work very often, and surprise is critical. If either team knew we were "press monsters," they'd have prepped for it. Note, that doesn't mean we're all not goddam proud of that breath-taking win over Virginia.

You need at least 8 good athletes to press effectively, and we haven't often had that kind of depth. I think we need to get off the idea that the press is anything near a weapon of first resort. It's a life jacket. The only reason I ever ran a press was so I could run press break against it, and we never lost to pressing teams.

I disagree with most of this. It doesn't have to be a surprise to be effective. And we don't even have to have turnovers.

So far we have had the pace of the game in our favor. One reason is the press has baited the lesser teams into quicker shots.

We have the athletes to press. And we have the unusual luxury of 15=20 fouls at center. And we have great athletic depth this year.

I hope we press every game and get better at it. I would like to see some added adjustments and twists.

 

[OrangeFoo]

As a few others have pointed out... our O is very jumper heavy. There will come a night where the J's don't fall, then what? Gillon needs to prove he can finish against high-major length and athleticism and Howard has to prove he can run the offense against the same. Lydon needs to show that he can effectively operate out of the high post so we have a good zone offense that's not reliant on threes. It would also be nice if white with all of his size had some sort of back to the basket game we could ISO. I also think the movement and spacing on offense is off... I feel like they don't know how to play off each other yet. Hopefully the week off will help them focus but I am nervous that there is such a big gap before our first true test and road game to boot.

 

[upperdeck]

sloppy D and rebounding is still an issue. and like others have said, we look great when the jumpers are falling, lets see when they are not.. one nice thing is that we are getting a ton of open looks and from so many people that we may not have many nights when the whole team is shooting poorly.. Its nice to see TR making that jump sho because he has always had that open look and teams will have to honor it now

 

[orangefan13]

As a few others have pointed out... our O is very jumper heavy. There will come a night where the J's don't fall, then what?.

We have a little bit of advantage this year some years didn't.

1.One of the underrated things about jump shooting, is it only takes one player to shoot an entire team into the game sometimes. We have 5 threats from deep, and Thompson/Roberson/Dajuan to knock down a few jumpers.

2.Howard, Gillon, Lydon(post up), White and Battle all can get to the line. When in a jump shooting slump knocking down some free throws helps break the slump.

 

[dasher]

We will beat Wisconsin by 20 plus

Oh my. I don't see that. Wisky is tough and they are really tough at home. Plus, and maybe most important, we won't shoot the same on the road.

 

[dasher]

What's the point of having chukwu play goalie in the press if he has to cover his guy halfway down the court? This happened on numerous occasions where he wasn't able to recover to defend the basket. This man-to-man press is so fundamentally unsound that it makes me cry. You'd think JB would adopt some zone principles in his press coverage team like every other organized basketball team in the world.

Yeah, that press killed us against Virginia and the zags last year.

 

[Jeremy L.]

I'd say it's the strength on the inside besides DC2, and the speed of our defense on the wings/corners (so the 3 and 4). That along with the chemistry as stated by somebody else but other than that I don't see a REAL weakness.

 

[Jeremy L.]

We will beat Wisconsin by 20 plus

I don't see a 20+ win, but I do see a win in Madison. I say it's closer to the 10 point range.

 

[GooseMutt]

What is that? Some sort of reference about homos e xuals?

EDIT: its humorous that word gets semi censored.

One of the announcers covering the Kansas - Georgia game just said that Kansas was a very good team - a top 5 team but they, like every team in the top 5 team has an Achilles heel.

That got me to thinking - what is ours?

As of right now I can't think of one but we haven't played really tough competition yet. Perhaps toughness once smacked in the mouth? Inability to pressure effectively if we have an off night offensively?

I have noticed that our wings haven't been closing out on shooters as aggressively as I would hope and against great shooting teams this could spell trouble.

I honestly don't know what it might be but the fact that it isn't obvious as it has been in so many other years past is another sign for optimism.

This team has been very fun to watch thus far.

Foul shooting and keeping everyone happy with minutes played

 

[dasher]

Interior defense

Chukwu doesn't scare anyone. I think we'd be better off with Thompson at center.

Chukwu is tall. That alone bothers shooters. Thompson, if you listen to JB, hasn't been very good on defense.

 

[Cusefan0307]

We will beat Wisconsin by 20 plus

Robey/Lydon need to show up on the glass. Last year Hayes/Happ outrebounded them 27-6.

 

[orangenirvana]

Chukwu is tall. That alone bothers shooters. Thompson, if you listen to JB, hasn't been very good on defense.

He may be tall but unfortunately he has no natural shot-blocking instinct.

Thompson is obviously new to JB's 2-3 zone. He'll figure it out.

 

[SWC75]

We have a little bit of advantage this year some years didn't.

1.One of the underrated things about jump shooting, is it only takes one player to shoot an entire team into the game sometimes. We have 5 threats from deep, and Thompson/Roberson/Dajuan to knock down a few jumpers.

2.Howard, Gillon, Lydon(post up), White and Battle all can get to the line. When in a jump shooting slump knocking down some free throws helps break the slump.

This team uses the Twilight Zone, (between the paint and the arc) more than any team in recent memory. it's not enough for the oppoent to guard the perimeter and the basket. They'got to go wherever our players go to prevent open shots.

 

[AZOrange]

As a few others have pointed out... our O is very jumper heavy. There will come a night where the J's don't fall, then what? Gillon needs to prove he can finish against high-major length and athleticism and Howard has to prove he can run the offense against the same. Lydon needs to show that he can effectively operate out of the high post so we have a good zone offense that's not reliant on threes. It would also be nice if white with all of his size had some sort of back to the basket game we could ISO. I also think the movement and spacing on offense is off... I feel like they don't know how to play off each other yet. Hopefully the week off will help them focus but I am nervous that there is such a big gap before our first true test and road game to boot.

Jumper heavy? How many points did we score in the paint and at the line? This team takes good shots...

 

[AZOrange]

Oh my. I don't see that. Wisky is tough and they are really tough at home. Plus, and maybe most important, we won't shoot the same on the road.

I'm not impressed. Wisconsin better shoot a lot better than 22 percent from 3...

 

[SWC75]

What's the point of having chukwu play goalie in the press if he has to cover his guy halfway down the court? This happened on numerous occasions where he wasn't able to recover to defend the basket. This man-to-man press is so fundamentally unsound that it makes me cry. You'd think JB would adopt some zone principles in his press coverage team like every other organized basketball team in the world.

Fred Lewis played a zone press, just like John Wooden's UCLA teams when JB was a player. Why wouldn't a zone team use a zone press?

 

[SWC75]

I'm not impressed. Wisconsin better shoot a lot better than 22 percent from 3...

Even being out-rebounded by 26, last year's team led until the final minute and lost in OT. And I think, even early we may be a better team than we were last year.

 

[orangefog]

Do we have anyone who can consistently get his own shot against a tough defense. I think we have some good candidates -- Battle, Lydon, White -- but we'll need to see it.

White's step back jumper is crazy. The only way he gets defended on that is if he has someone much taller on him, and then that will free up someone like Lydon. There are so many offensive options on this team, it will come down to who has the biggest mismatch on any given possession.

 

[Widget24]

I'm not impressed. Wisconsin better shoot a lot better than 22 percent from 3...

Oof. They're only shooting 30% from 3 so far. I like that.

 

[RF2044]

I'm not impressed. Wisconsin better shoot a lot better than 22 percent from 3...

Agreed. Not impressed with them.

Obviously, playing on the road will be tough. I'll be very disappointed if we stub our toe in Madison. That's an opportunity to score a win over a highly ranked team.

 

[orangefan13]

Its a different year but wisconsins bigs weren't all that fast last year. Chuckwu should give wisconsins bigs some trouble, as they are not the type to fly by their man.

 

[GooseMutt]

What's the point of having chukwu play goalie in the press if he has to cover his guy halfway down the court? This happened on numerous occasions where he wasn't able to recover to defend the basket. This man-to-man press is so fundamentally unsound that it makes me cry. You'd think JB would adopt some zone principles in his press coverage team like every other organized basketball team in the world.

It seems obvious to me that Boeheim is teaching press during these real games initially to refine it and challenge his players with shorter quicker guys. It is going to be an ace in the hole down the road but not a norm I believe. When we start pressing guys that can't run the way these smaller teams do things will change for the better. There is nothing like game experience to fill the bucket to see where it leaks

 

[OttoMets]

Defense shouldn't matter this year. Passable is good enough.

Two weaknesses I see: chemistry (noted by RF) and potential lack of a go-to scorer.

On the second, we're a couple games in with a team of new faces; there's time for this to shake out. But it probably needs to be resolved for this to be a great team with a real chance to win it all. I'm still having flashbacks to Wes and company hanging out on the perimeter, content to watch our season end while Scoop dribbled and drove. Great teams need a guy who demands to take shots in a close game. Battle could be that guy. Maybe one of the point guards could. But we'll see.

 

[orangefog]

Defense shouldn't matter this year. Passable is good enough.

Two weaknesses I see: chemistry (noted by RF) and potential lack of a go-to scorer.

On the second, we're a couple games in with a team of new faces; there's time for this to shake out. But it probably needs to be resolved for this to be a great team with a real chance to win it all. I'm still having flashbacks to Wes and company hanging out on the perimeter, content to watch our season end while Scoop dribbled and drove. Great teams need a guy who demands to take shots in a close game. Battle could be that guy. Maybe one of the point guards could. But we'll see.

I agree with you, however, this team has potential to be a very good defensive team and I think they will be toward the end of the season. How scary is that? And with regard to the "go to scorer", we have so many options, it is hard to pick one guy to be THE GUY. It might be whoever is hot that night, or maybe Lydon says, I want the ball. But, even if the play is for him, he is smart enough to pass when something else presents itself. We could just give the ball to Frank (Mango) or Gillon and let them make something happen. White's step back is nearly unstoppable. So many freaking options.