Observations through Beer Goggles

[IthacaMatt]

OK, Dion seems to be the starting SG, now that DeJuan Coleman has been signed. Brandon forced the issue badly later in the second half, and Dion, honestly, looked like a star in the making out there. Let's just hope we can avoid drama this season.

Fab Melo looks great. Baye Keita looks great. We have a legitimate Center combo for the season. We will be fine in the post.

Christmas will be in the rotation at F this season. I love Fair, but he's splitting time this year between 3 1/2 and 4. Christmas will see time. This may be one of the first years in a while I recall JB being willing to play a player based on potential early in the year, thinking about March. That guy is Christmas, who could be Terrance Roberts as a junior by January.

Scoop looked really good. MCW is going to be a star in whatever league we are playing in next year. Holy crap, he and Dion in the backcourt together was the best pair we had out there tonight. Not so much in high pressure games at this point, but JB played the backcourt of the future together a lot tonight. They looked potentially dominating together.

The biggest worry to me this year will be Kris's knee. He had some good moments, but compared to all the other players, the only guy among the first 11 who had a weaker game tonight was Brandon.

 

[HoustonCuse]

I thought Dion looked pretty blah. He was forcing things like crazy. Had a couple nice dunks but thats it. MCW was a wash. Couple OK plays, several dumb freshman plays.

 

[MyMeloMyMan]

Brandon and Kris still have no explosion going to the hole. S-L-O-W

 

[stuckinbig11]

I thought Dion took a cue from last year's version of his cousin.

 

[rrlbees]

OK, Dion seems to be the starting SG, now that DeJuan Coleman has been signed. Brandon forced the issue badly later in the second half, and Dion, honestly, looked like a star in the making out there. Let's just hope we can avoid drama this season.

This board is gonna be fun this year.

First, Coleman coming to SU had nada, zero, zip to do with Triche. The JD pipeline maybe a little, but he didn't come here because of Triche.

Second, did Triche play well? Nope. Other than being excited about Melo's play, CJ having a 3 as a threat now and Cooney being a great shooter (but will likely redshirt), nobody looked particularly good and they went through the motions and were sloppy. But Dion looked like a star in he making based on tonight? What impressed you? The me first play as was noted by everyone around me, especially the first half? Maybe the forced 3 for an airball? Maybe it was the 3 dunks he had when someone else stole the ball and he was up top playing defense and thus broke down court ahead of everyone (as he should)? Perspective man.

Like I said, this board will be fun especially when people make things up.

 

[Marsh01]

This board is gonna be fun this year.

First, Coleman coming to SU had nada, zero, zip to do with Triche. The JD pipeline maybe a little, but he didn't come here because of Triche.

Second, did Triche play well? Nope. Other than being excited about Melo's play, CJ having a 3 as a threat now and Cooney being a great shooter (but will likely redshirt), nobody looked particularly good and they went through the motions and were sloppy. But Dion looked like a star in he making based on tonight? What impressed you? The me first play as was noted by everyone around me, especially the first half? Maybe the forced 3 for an airball? Maybe it was the 3 dunks he had when someone else stole the ball and he was up top playing defense and thus broke down court ahead of everyone (as he should)? Perspective man.

Like I said, this board will be fun especially when people make things up.

I thought dion was very mediocre tonight as well. Nothing has changed with him IMO. Triche stunk as well. Only play he made was the steal at mid court and that was after botching a 3 on 2 fast break. I hope he just had a bad night.

Melo and cooney were the only bright spots tonight.

 

[rrlbees]

I thought dion was very mediocre tonight as well. Nothing has changed with him IMO. Triche stunk as well. Only play he made was the steal at mid court and that was after botching a 3 on 2 fast break. I hope he just had a bad night.

Melo and cooney were the only bright spots tonight.

Ditto on all that as I said above also. Although I thought CJ's corner 3 showed he might be a threat out there now too.

 

[jordoo]

I'd add Scoop to the bright spots!. Lots of assists in limited minutes. And he scored a few quick ones to start the second half and give the message that Cal St as going to lose.

Dion and Brandon were both not very good IMO. Brandon was more aggressive but missed his shots even if most were good ones. Dion looks the same as last season but in better shape.

 

[bevosu]

Melo, Keita..and a little Cooney. That's about it.

Didn't expect much and didn't get much..except Melo looked much improved.

 

[Marsh01]

Cj was fine. I never worry about him because he isn't a me first type of player. The fact that he has worked on his jumper is going to make him just a solid player as he continues his career.

 

[SkanSU]

I'm with you Bees. I was really not impressed with much of what I saw tonight. .. except Fab.Much more active under the board and definitely runs the floor better. Shows he has a shot as well... 12 pts 8 rebs. Can't say I was impressed with much of any play in the back court ... at the 1/2 we were shooting 33%? It couldn't have been much better for the game.
Someone said that Dion and MCW were going to be a dynamite duo ... was I watching the same game? MCW very freshman-like ... but that's OK ... he's a freshman. Ditto Rak. M2M looked totally blah. I hope we get some shooting from that back court sometime b/c when crunch comes to shove I see Fab and BMK getting more fouls as others sag in on them when there is no shooting. CJ looked like CJ ... that is good. Hustle and garbage pick ups. Loved the 3. I think KJo working a 1/2 speed ... hoping he is protecting that injury.

Of course I was impressed with Cooney ... I could have sworn that other one was a 3 ... my eyesight is going. 7 points in short time ain't bad. ... and he didn't look bad on defense ,,, at least he was trying not to say everybody else wasn't. The game seemed like it was in slomo almost the entire time. It was just rusty,sloppy,slow.

BTW as a side note: I know Fab is down to about 144 ... he looks thin IMO. No muscle as I watched him in post-game interview. I think he needs time in the weightroom to build up the body muscle.

 

[SkanSU]

Sorryjust 1 other point ... did anyone else think James looked totally lost out there ... but I guess they all did with a couple of exceptions.

 

[rrlbees]

I'd add Scoop to the bright spots!. Lots of assists in limited minutes. And he scored a few quick ones to start the second half and give the message that Cal St as going to lose.

Dion and Brandon were both not very good IMO. Brandon was more aggressive but missed his shots even if most were good ones. Dion looks the same as last season but in better shape.

Yes, Scoop was fine and only had 1 What play. But I kind of expect Scoop to play well this year so I was more exited by the play of Melo and the shooting of Cooney. During warm-ups Cooney showed the best form on a jump shot I've seen from a kid here in a long time. Give him a couple seasons and I think he will be a big time scorer.

 

[rrlbees]

Sorryjust 1 other point ... did anyone else think James looked totally lost out there ... but I guess they all did with a couple of exceptions.

Yep. I don't see James playing this year unless there is an injury or serious foul trouble. We have the tarting 5 then CJ, Keita and Dion as 6/7/8. MCW will likely be 9 but only time will tell if JB goes 9 deep on a regular basis.

 

[Ghost]

Yep. I don't see James playing this year unless there is an injury or serious foul trouble. We have the tarting 5 then CJ, Keita and Dion as 6/7/8. MCW will likely be 9 but only time will tell if JB goes 9 deep on a regular basis.

Yeah, I was hoping to see something from James to show he took a step forward, no indication of that last night. Nobody showed much outside of Melo though that set them apart from who they were last year. Scoop was decent, Fair was decent, XMas and Cooney looked okay for the frosh. Everyone else looked like they did last year in one of their subpar games. I guess Baye had a couple nice moves.

 

[IthacaMatt]

I thought Dion looked pretty blah. He was forcing things like crazy. Had a couple nice dunks but thats it. MCW was a wash. Couple OK plays, several dumb freshman plays.

He got to the rim whenever he wanted, and finished with a bunch of dunks. He may have missed his 3's, but nobody could guard him last night.

 

[rrlbees]

He got to the rim whenever he wanted, and finished with a bunch of dunks. He may have missed his 3's, but nobody could guard him last night.

They were breakaway dunks.

 

[orange79]

They were breakaway dunks.

Exactly. Big difference from breaking down your man and driving the lane.

 

[cortacuse]

If Dion impressed you last night than you should lay off of the dome foam.... looked like the exact same player as last year... good old black hole...
his dunks were impressive though...

 

[SkanSU]

If Dion impressed you last night than you should lay off of the dome foam.... looked like the exact same player as last year... good old black hole...
his dunks were impressive though...

I agree. I wasn't necessarily impressed with Dion's overall play... offense or defense. The dunks were nice but uncontested. Of course I don't think his play was much different from most of the others. An awful lot of "clunks" from outside shooting ... worrisome.

 

[Shermthegeneral]

I have no clue where the observation of Dion being a star in the making comes from. Maybe a Deshaun Williams in the making... I'm actually very concerned about this team and was saying to myself last night that this isn't a top 5 team at this point and the teams in teh late 80's that were ranked top 5 would have beat this team 110-56. They played a division II school last night and let them hang around for most of the first half and didn't really dominate anything except the boards where we had a huge height advantage. I didn't see any chemistry in terms of ball movement that stood out, no inside out passes, no hi low passing, just stand around and wait until the ball comes to you type of game. It actually looked like a pick-up game with very poor shooting! I also didn't see any kind of leadership from Scoop or Kris. I don't want to be negative about the team but for all the hype the only thing that impressed me was Melo...and he's a looooong way away at this point.

 

[Dick_in_MI]

Yep. I don't see James playing this year unless there is an injury or serious foul trouble. We have the tarting 5 then CJ, Keita and Dion as 6/7/8. MCW will likely be 9 but only time will tell if JB goes 9 deep on a regular basis.

Yep, that's the rotation. Despite the annual "we're so deep that JB will have to go with 10 guys" speculation, we will have a solid 8 and MCW can slowly develop with whatever extra minutes are available. In many games, he won't play at all.

Just because we have 12 bodies, it doesn't mean that JB won't let the cream rise to the top and play his best 8. That's his style...that's the style of most coaches. If #8 is better than #10, #10 is going to ride the pine even if he's sorta good.

Cooney is intriguing but his very limited minutes last night told me a lot about what JB is thinking. James? Nope. We have our 3 forward rotation. Mookie? Nope

 

[NYCSUGrad]

I think you're being overly pessimistic. We played man all game and still won by 20+. As opposed to the Lemoyne game. That team turned out pretty good despite the loss. This team has lots of upside as discussed by many. So relax.