Observations | Syracusefan.com

Observations

kcsu

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There is so much to like about this team but the one thing that really sticks out is how many different combinations JB has available. Its also obvious that we are going to be very hard to defend. Play zone and we have shooters. Man to man we can beat you off the dribble. Other than a lack of true physicality inside i dont see any true weaknesses. JB made a good analogy in his post game presser regarding our point guard situation that was excellent and on point basically that its impossible to practice properly when you are missing the QB of your team. That without a true point guard for the last month it has really hampered our ability to practice playing as the team we are going to be. With that said i felt that it really showed last night yet we have so much talent that it didnt matter. Poibt is that if we stay healthy this team as they gel, and as JB fine tunes his combinations is going to be scary good in March.
 
Agree about the combinations, and the Frank Howard factor. Frank is a key ingredient.

Do we have shooters? Maybe. Can't prove it by last night.

We have a good zone and a new element - a press that can provide some easy baskets when those shooters are struggling.
 
Hughes is scary smooth from what I’ve seen. Not sure I’ve seen a freshman with upside like Carey’s since Dion either.

That being said I’ve only watched about 48 mins of this team playing. Excited to get to see where they are 15 games in.
 
Looked to me like the shooting last night was just first regular season game nerves.
I like to think that as well. It was a little discouraging to watch. But we shall get better and I believe will become an extremely good team.
 
1. in the EWU game - 5-10 times a player passed up an open shot to dribble into and miss a worse one - obviously going to happen once in a while but should never happen that frequently.
2. team needs to learn how to work together to score. passing and moving together. several times it seemed like a player just decided he was going to drive/shoot before he even got the ball and ended up making a bad play. i don't think it is just a matter of having a PG or not - it's awareness and being in the moment and knowing how to play TOGETHER and not just a group of 1 on 1 players standing around the perimeter - weird to me considering the team works together so well on defense - why cant it translate to offense as well?
3. the press is going to be a monster - hope it is used early and often.
 
My take is... we have an abundance of talent... but this team has a long long way to go in learning how to play together with all the parts. Carey impressed me greatly. Buddy Boy will need time to adjust to this level of play but in time should pay nice dividends. I agree that Frank needs to be the straw that stirs the drink. We have seen his uncanny ability to pass the ball... and this years team should benefit greatly if Frank focuses on being the facilitator... With Osahe, Tyus, and Hughes... and our 2 Bigs... the sky is the limit... but look for a few stinkers along the way... especially early on when we are tested by another ranked team.
 
2. team needs to learn how to work together to score. passing and moving together. several times it seemed like a player just decided he was going to drive/shoot before he even got the ball and ended up making a bad play.
My take is... we have an abundance of talent... but this team has a long long way to go in learning how to play together with all the parts. Carey impressed me greatly. Buddy Boy will need time to adjust to this level of play but in time should pay nice dividends. I agree that Frank needs to be the straw that stirs the drink. We have seen his uncanny ability to pass the ball... and this years team should benefit greatly if Frank focuses on being the facilitator... With Osahe, Tyus, and Hughes... and our 2 Bigs... the sky is the limit... but look for a few stinkers along the way... especially early on when we are tested by another ranked team.

Well, yeah...that is what we are all waiting to see, with popcorn in hand.

We saw last year how Boeheim was able to get his collection of young talent to play better and better together as the season unfolded, eventually becoming a powerful enough team in the NCAA tournament to defeat MSU and take Duke to the wire.

That's what Boeheim does, why he is so successful year after year. All of my optimism about this year is based on The Boeheim Factor. The man is a teacher of basketball innovation, of enhanced court awareness, to all the young men who come under his wing.

The Boeheim Factor is why I am tempted to predict that the biggest story of this season will be Syracuse's development as a powerful offensive force...only I expect the number one story that will capture the most headlines will be Syracuse's fearsome defensive dominance of any and all opponents who are matched up against them.

I feel that's the one thing I can count on this season: Boeheim's ability to get a group of young men with 'second-tier' talent to play together in a way that enables them to take down the nation's elite talent-recruiting schools.
 
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This is going to be a team that may frustrate a bit early on while they gel. I can see already they probably won't distance themselves far enough vs UConn and the game forces a few early season over bitten fingernails. Followed hopefully by a 2k classic win that propels us forward. We will have closer non conference games than we want.

The big thing is this team will not take as long to get once healthy given the overall experience and the fact we have a legit pile of shooters. We also have a team full of good passers. Once the machine gets rolling the Wes Johnson and then Fab Melo second year type of ceiling will really start to show.
 
I'm hoping we get to play Oregon in the 2K final. Want to see Bol Bol and see if our centers can contain him. 23 points, 12 rebounds, 4 blocks in win over EWU. I remember his father who was 7'7" and weighed about 150 (exaggeration).
 
This is going to be a team that may frustrate a bit early on while they gel. I can see already they probably won't distance themselves far enough vs UConn and the game forces a few early season over bitten fingernails. Followed hopefully by a 2k classic win that propels us forward. We will have closer non conference games than we want.

The big thing is this team will not take as long to get once healthy given the overall experience and the fact we have a legit pile of shooters. We also have a team full of good passers. Once the machine gets rolling the Wes Johnson and then Fab Melo second year type of ceiling will really start to show.

Agreed and I don’t think they have as much firepower as some people think. The offense was SO bad last year and now the additions make it a level playing field more without having to rely so much on defense. But it is fantastic that we have so many capable options. There are going to be games where Buddy will be a total non-factor. Cooney was a more athletic guy and I think Buddy will have games where he can’t shake free and/or create anything on his own in the ACC.

This Buffalo game will be TOUGH. That team and coach went on record after the game last year saying (paraphrasing) that they should have won that game. They are going to come in fired up. Cue the UB plays dirty crowd, lol...
 
My take is... we have an abundance of talent... but this team has a long long way to go in learning how to play together with all the parts. Carey impressed me greatly. Buddy Boy will need time to adjust to this level of play but in time should pay nice dividends. I agree that Frank needs to be the straw that stirs the drink. We have seen his uncanny ability to pass the ball... and this years team should benefit greatly if Frank focuses on being the facilitator... With Osahe, Tyus, and Hughes... and our 2 Bigs... the sky is the limit... but look for a few stinkers along the way... especially early on when we are tested by another ranked team.

Yeah agree with much of this. My brief thoughts echo much of the above (and previous posts), but I'll put them here anyway:

Tyus isn't a PG and looks really frustrated
Not trying to make a huge deal out of this since, afterall, he's not going to be the PG. But as Francis mentioned in his latest pod, we have to have Tyus off-ball. He just struggles with that role. To have just one assist with more talent and the ball in your hands all game is ... no bueno. Love Tyus but interested to see what type of year he'll have b/c I believe the challenge will be playing more efficiently and making more plays for others. I'm sure he'll do well, but it has been interesting thus far.

HW is a PG
Thought Washington played well in limited minutes. I know he's facing an uphill battle for minutes this year and next at a minimum, but I'm intrigued to see him the next few weeks if he's healthy. Seems to have a really nice feel for the game.

Carey is going to be a good one
Kid has some quick twitch athleticism. Looks a little like J-Hart physically but with more quickness (and probably nowhere near the defensive acumen). But 7 points, 6 rebs a steal and an assist is a lot of activity for a kid coming off an ankle injury and playing his first collegiate game. He also missed four FTs, so he could have had more. Needs to make those FTs though.

Marek looks smooth with the J
It's early and small sample but Marek looks confident with the J

Wonder what our best lineups are?
Feel like we have yet to really know this but it almost felt watching it like the HW/JC/MD/Bras/Sidibe lineup was better than the starters in game 1. Don't expect that to hold but interesting to see. The best player on the floor, of course, was Brissett, but it'll be interesting to see where everyone settles in. Some real nice depth.

I don't know, I have others but want to see them play a couple times first. Very interesting team without question.
 
Agreed and I don’t think they have as much firepower as some people think. The offense was SO bad last year and now the additions make it a level playing field more without having to rely so much on defense. But it is fantastic that we have so many capable options. There are going to be games where Buddy will be a total non-factor. Cooney was a more athletic guy and I think Buddy will have games where he can’t shake free and/or create anything on his own in the ACC.

This Buffalo game will be TOUGH. That team and coach went on record after the game last year saying (paraphrasing) that they should have won that game. They are going to come in fired up. Cue the UB plays dirty crowd, lol...

Yeah -- there was some pushback when I said I'd be surprised if they were drastically different offensively but I agree, I don't know that we're loaded as much as much deeper and very solidly talented. That should equal more wins and a really tough tourney squad but I'd still be surprised if it equaled 80+ ppg.
 
Thing with last years struggles though...the inexperience was a huge part of that. We were really young and guys just weren’t ready to be counted on to that degree offensively.

Marek and Brissett look noticeably better offensively. Marek will be selective, but he looks to have legit 3 point range now. Those 3’s he’s hit so far have looked smooth. O’Shea is more polished and will be much more efficient. Those two factors right there make a huge difference even if every other returner doesn’t improve an ounce. Throw in Hughes and Carey, who bring missing elements to the team...

I’m not saying we’ll be 2003 or 2010 level offense. But it could be 2012 level. With elite defense.
 
Thing with last years struggles though...the inexperience was a huge part of that. We were really young and guys just weren’t ready to be counted on to that degree offensively.

Marek and Brissett look noticeably better offensively. Marek will be selective, but he looks to have legit 3 point range now. Those 3’s he’s hit so far have looked smooth. O’Shea is more polished and will be much more efficient. Those two factors right there make a huge difference even if every other returner doesn’t improve an ounce. Throw in Hughes and Carey, who bring missing elements to the team...

I’m not saying we’ll be 2003 or 2010 level offense. But it could be 2012 level. With elite defense.

For sure and EVERYBODY played too many minutes. I still marvel at the conditioning of the team last year. I just think we’ll be easy tp defend still with certain lineups in there and still maintain we’re more long than quick with certain lineups deployed. But, nice to have solid options for sure! I really hope Bourama improves, catches up, and gets stronger. He really doesn’t look close to go time, IMO.
 
For sure and EVERYBODY played too many minutes. I still marvel at the conditioning of the team last year. I just think we’ll be easy tp defend still with certain lineups in there and still maintain we’re more long than quick with certain lineups deployed. But, nice to have solid options for sure! I really hope Bourama improves, catches up, and gets stronger. He really doesn’t look close to go time, IMO.


I’m interested to see what our best offensive lineup is. I’d like to see Carey, Howard, Battle, Hughes, Brissett, AND Marek all out there and I’m not sure which one to leave out in a “best offensive lineup” I guess that’s a good thing?
 
Dont worry about our shooting we will be solid. Buddy OB Frank Tyus Hughes are all above average

Statistically, no, our leading returning guys are not. Last year they all shot about 32-33% from three.
We hope they will all improve to around 37% or so. If they do, we will be fine. Conceptually, with more options, they should get better shots. But I said at the beginning of the year, not all three of them are likely to all improve the same amount.

I'm a little disappointed with Buddy getting the yips these past 2 games. He seemed so cool in the scrimmages. Carey has just started playing. He and Frank are going to be fine.

Buddy will start hitting again, but maybe he won't shoot 45% from this year; maybe that's next year. But we need him to do better than 1-11 and 1-5. And he will. He's got a great stroke. He knows the Dome, he knows the guys, he knows the zone, he knows everything there is to know about the program. He has the talent. C'mon, Buddy. You got this.

I agree that Hughes has been better than expected. He has a lot to offer this team. Glad he has an extra year, too. He could be a Ryan Blackwell type of leader for us next year.
 
1. in the Morehead state game - team had 11 assists and 14 turnovers?! am i reading the boxscore right? yikes. team needs to practice and diversify passing patterns.

chukwu/sidibe combined for 6 of 9 on field goals - they need more shots.

Buddy has struggled shooting but one thing I like about his game - and it might seem unworthy of praise - is that he PASSES THE BALL INTO THE POST. Like, he merely passes the ball to players that are posted up down low - unlike most of the team.

These passes often lead to good things - either a made short-range shot or a pass that unsettles the defense and leads to a good shot. plus it keeps the bigs engaged and into the game.

passing the ball around the perimeter until someone goes 1 on 1 is not a good offense. its what all the nba teams do so its probably what the players subconsciously just do...

But when you have the size advantage Syracuse does over opponents - more post-up play should be a no-brainer...even someone like battle at 6-6 is likely going to be several inches taller than whomever is guarding him on the opposing team b/c most NCAA teams don't start 4 or more players over 6-6.

when battle and brissett shoot short-range they often have to work themselves into position off the dribble which increases the degree of difficulty on the shot - they are good enough to still score on those plays but it isn't easy to beat a man and make a contested shot no matter how far from the rim.

I' think more passes to the forwards and battle (and howard when he is healthy -he's taller than most point guards too) when they are already posted up on the block - and then either a good post move or a pass out of the post to unsettle the defense will be a good recipe for better offense...and more wide open 3s.

I know the team wants the bigs to crash the offensive boards and if they post up that takes that away kinda but i think being more diversified and unpredictable on offense will be even better - and on plays when there isnt a post-entry pass then the bigs can still crash - and even when there is the other bigs can crash weakside anyway so I don't see it as a post-up/offensive rebound conundrum.

2. also - heard khris middleton of the bucks talking about offensive approach this season and he said they dont pass up open shots b/c if you do it can lead to worse shots in the end - this is a good lesson for syracuse too.
 

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