Notes from last night for our asst coaches to gnaw on

[Dave85]

It's funny we compare NCAA tournament results and lament that our results aren't as good as some. When you throw in the difference in caliber of recruits, is it a mystery as to why our NCAA results don't keep up with Duke and Kentucky? Are K and Calipari great coaches because they are able to win with superior talent or are JB and others superior because they do more with less.

This is great commentary! I tend to think JB does really well against teams with supposedly better talent.

Our problem the last few years has always been one player away from dominating. Can you imagine if James Southerland was able to play like he did at Arkansas with just a little more consistency? We are so close sometimes it hurts!

 

[tbonezone]

did one final four team play exclusive zone ? one great eight ? how about one sweet 16 ? speaks volumes. our coach is out of touch with reality.

 

[OrangeFoo]

JB once said when a man-to-man team gets scored on no one yells out "go zone". And it's a good point. However, just like when we press on the inbound, JB needs to think playing man-to-man is like pressing the offense on visitors side of the court. During our sencond Duke game they ran 4 minutes off the clock because no one came out of the zone. Five minutes into the second half playing man-to-man would have really disrupted their offense patterns. JB used to do this in the 90s and early 00's. But his only practice zone philosophy has resulted in 100% only playing 2-3 zone for 3 or 4 years now. I'm mixed about it. When we are winning I don't care. When we are losing I think about it.

Regardless, our problems the last few years have on the offensive end of the court. Just one of these years I would like to have one player who consistently shoots 40% from three.

I'd argue the two are connected. The teams who do well in college hoops have really good points who can shoot and control a game. Our points are trending toward long and lanky and can play the zone... shooting seems to come second. I also question if our coaches think a best offense is a good defense and rely on the zone to get us into a transition game. I really can't identify our strategy on offense anymore. This past year Rak forced the issue by blowing up but other years we don't seem to have a plan on offense.

 

[two3zone]

hakim was a 2 star; Gerry 3. how did their pro careers go

Gerry was a 4 star and Hakim was higher than a 2...

 

[Dave85]

I'd argue the two are connected. The teams who do well in college hoops have really good points who can shoot and control a game. Our points are trending toward long and lanky and can play the zone... shooting seems to come second. I also question if our coaches think a best offense is a good defense and rely on the zone to get us into a transition game. I really can't identify our strategy on offense anymore. This past year Rak forced the issue by blowing up but other years we don't seem to have a plan on offense.

I think the strategy on offense changes every year based on our players. I would like to see not so much set plays but much better off the ball movement. When you watch Wisconsin or ND it just looked like the players off the ball knew when and where to go to be open on offense or be in a position to break down the defense.

 

[HoustonCuse]

Hak played 8 years in the NBA and made 21.2 million. I think he did just fine.

Isn't that the same amount Ricky Bobby made in his first full year driving the Wonderbread car? I seem to remember that number being thrown out in a thanks prayer to little 8 lb 4 oz baby Jesus.

 

[Cusefan0307]

interesting that Izzo's name has not come up. He doesn't seem to recruit that much better than us but his teams always peak at the end of the year. What's interesting is he plays strictly man to man and almost no zone. In a way he is the anti-JB. I still argue it's because the zone will give up more wide open shots against good teams than man so we are more likely to get beat by an inferior team who can execute.

Yeah we gave up a ton of open shots in the 2013 NCAA tournament. Same for Dayton. When we lose in the tournament recently, you can't blame our Defense.

 

[orangefan13]

We haven't had a good ball pressure guard defender up top all that often. And if we do its always only one.
imagine if mcw, and rautins or dion were up top in the zone defensively together, like ville had a few years back when they won.

Oh and we just got rid of buss, everyone bashed (even our nba star) however he was our best guard defender and will be the best guard defender of anyone on syracuse's current roster and our current future commits.

In this day and age teams that ball pressure and play aggressive win, and even if they lose a close one its alot more heartbreaking because they really pushed and wanted it. I get tired of watching the smart ball, especially when you aren't shooting the eyes out of the basket, it just puts so much pressure when the offense isn't on fire and your not getting transition baskets(which teams can play offense to not give up nowadays).

dont get me wrong I like the zone, I just think one of the most important aspects along with weakside rebounding, a good anchor, and some strength in the backline(which we lack sometimes) is good pressure guard defense uptop. Its the last one we lack all to often (like the last 2 years).

tipped balls, traps, passing lanes, blocks, and doubling in the paint are a given we get those every year reguardless.

 

[Oakland]

I read somewhere that Duke had 9 mickie dees on its roster this past season. I would guess that is close to the amount SU has had in total.

My point stands though, Duke generally has more talent than we do. And part of that could be because, among other things, JB has limited his recruiting geography substantially. Duke clearly recruits nationally so I don't accept the idea that our recruiting zone is equivalent to theirs. It isn't. (Who is from Tennessee by the way, I can't think of who is from there, plus also you left off Delaware for us).