Ok, after cooling down I have to say one thing

[Flacusian]

I have read a lot of posts here since the final buzzer yesterday and one of the recurring themes is the complete inexplicable change of direction of this team after having compiled a 25-0 record. At the same time there have been many, Coach JB among them, who have pointed out that there were many of those 25 games that we just as easily could have been on the losing end. Well, obviously there is some merit to that but the fact of the matter is that the team possessed something during that period of time that enabled them to do what they had to do to win them. Get a stop, make a play, score a basket, do something as a team or have an individual step up and do what was needed to get the win.

Then, after that Duke game, something changed. Instead of a team with swagger and what seemed like a tightly knit group of kids who all relied upon each other, they were suddenly no longer playing to win but instead, cautiously playing not to lose. The shooting, while it hadn't been great by any stretch of the imagination, became scary bad. Everyone knows what I'm talking about. It just seemed like many of the shots that were taken had little or no chance of going in and some of the misses were so far from the hoop that they resembled errant passes more than shots at the hoop.

Why?

A team that is 25-0 is not all "fluke". This team played some inspired basketball and was fundamentally sound as a team. Here is what I think is at the center of our problem.

This program is not committed at the highest level to perform well at the end of the season and places too much emphasis on winning games at the early part of the season. As a result we completely stifle the development of talented players, we limit our depth, we compromise the confidence of young players by not allowing them to make mistakes and learn and in doing so we fragment the team into two diverse camps. Those who are anointed to play minutes to the point of exhaustion and burn out and who will be given the nod in spite of making mistakes or playing poorly, and those who get little or no chance to play and are pulled from the game immediately after making a mistake and may not be used again for God only knows how long a period of time. All one need do is observe Tyler Roberson's case this year. The kid obviously has some confidence issues.

That was abundantly apparent to anyone who watched his interviews when he committed to the team. Roberson could have helped this team. He wasn't given enough of a chance in my opinion. The same is true for Patterson. I'm not going to buy into anyone telling me that those kids couldn't have shot at least as well as the rest of this team as it did over the past month or so.

And so, the starters were played to the point of exhaustion from the stress of being undefeated, ranked #1 , and playing too many minutes.

How important is it to be 25-0 and ranked number one if in the end we as Syracuse fans are the recipients of snarky comments about epic collapse and being over rated etc? Obviously 25-0 is fools gold. A team which is physically, mentally, and emotionally exhausted is not going to perform well. I respect the accomplishments of JB and he is without doubt one of the greatest basketball minds and coaches of our generation... but, and in my opinion, he is sorely wrong in his strategy of development of the players on the team and in his commitment to winning games early to the detriment of developing the team toward the goal of performing well when it matters most... The END OF THE YEAR.

 

[rhcuse]

Agree. Goes hand in and with historically weak non-conf scheduling. Afraid to play the blue bloods in favor of getting them to execute well against lesser competition. Every year KU, MSU, UNC, Duke, UK have 2 or 3 December losses because they beat up on each other. But they usually peak in March.

Its not football, 1 or 2 losses does not ruin your chance at a national championship. Long term perspective and the willingness to lose if it means learning and improving is needed.

 

[Madbiker]

I have read a lot of posts here since the final buzzer yesterday and one of the recurring themes is the complete inexplicable change of direction of this team after having compiled a 25-0 record. At the same time there have been many, Coach JB among them, who have pointed out that there were many of those 25 games that we just as easily could have been on the losing end. Well, obviously there is some merit to that but the fact of the matter is that the team possessed something during that period of time that enabled them to do what they had to do to win them. Get a stop, make a play, score a basket, do something as a team or have an individual step up and do what was needed to get the win.

Then, after that Duke game, something changed. Instead of a team with swagger and what seemed like a tightly knit group of kids who all relied upon each other, they were suddenly no longer playing to win but instead, cautiously playing not to lose. The shooting, while it hadn't been great by any stretch of the imagination, became scary bad. Everyone knows what I'm talking about. It just seemed like many of the shots that were taken had little or no chance of going in and some of the misses were so far from the hoop that they resembled errant passes more than shots at the hoop.

Why?

A team that is 25-0 is not all "fluke". This team played some inspired basketball and was fundamentally sound as a team. Here is what I think is at the center of our problem.

This program is not committed at the highest level to perform well at the end of the season and places too much emphasis on winning games at the early part of the season. As a result we completely stifle the development of talented players, we limit our depth, we compromise the confidence of young players by not allowing them to make mistakes and learn and in doing so we fragment the team into two diverse camps. Those who are anointed to play minutes to the point of exhaustion and burn out and who will be given the nod in spite of making mistakes or playing poorly, and those who get little or no chance to play and are pulled from the game immediately after making a mistake and may not be used again for God only knows how long a period of time. All one need do is observe Tyler Roberson's case this year. The kid obviously has some confidence issues.

That was abundantly apparent to anyone who watched his interviews when he committed to the team. Roberson could have helped this team. He wasn't given enough of a chance in my opinion. The same is true for Patterson. I'm not going to buy into anyone telling me that those kids couldn't have shot at least as well as the rest of this team as it did over the past month or so.

And so, the starters were played to the point of exhaustion from the stress of being undefeated, ranked #1 , and playing too many minutes.

How important is it to be 25-0 and ranked number one if in the end we as Syracuse fans are the recipients of snarky comments about epic collapse and being over rated etc? Obviously 25-0 is fools gold. A team which is physically, mentally, and emotionally exhausted is not going to perform well. I respect the accomplishments of JB and he is without doubt one of the greatest basketball minds and coaches of our generation... but, and in my opinion, he is sorely wrong in his strategy of development of the players on the team and in his commitment to winning games early to the detriment of developing the team toward the goal of performing well when it matters most... The END OF THE YEAR.

Very well stated. Many feel this way but I'm sure it won't change. If we had 13 McD AA's only the 7 best would play.

 

[jec1521]

Completely agreed. Unfortunately, there hasn't been much improvement over the course of a season in any of the past few years. What makes it even harder to deal with is the past few seasons we have had some of our best teams, talent wise. So some improvement shoulda/coulda/woulda propelled us to the level that we needed to be at in March.

 

[Toga]

Our best played game (Duke) was one where we Went After It offensively. Then we reverted to slow ball where we squeezed a shot off with non-shooters not in the best positions to make shots. And no bench with game experience. All we needed yesterday was one guy off the bench who could make a shot. One guy. One shot.

 

[CU44SE]

Said this same thing several weeks ago, it's apparent the kids were run into the ground. One of the first things Fatigue and tired legs effects is jump shooting and we haven't shot well in forever. Also, the lack of an offensive identity doesn't help. Everything is ISO and without a reason. It's like a glorified pickup offense. Jimmy needs to look at the offense this offseason because our defense has been historically good the last several years but we continue to be held back offensively.

 

[Eagles20]

Our best played game (Duke) was one where we Went After It offensively. Then we reverted to slow ball where we squeezed a shot off with non-shooters not in the best positions to make shots. And no bench with game experience. All we needed yesterday was one guy off the bench who could make a shot. One guy. One shot.

Mike G made 4 shots for 8 points... We needed grant, fair, and cooney to make a few more shots to win. This team went slow ball, because they didn't have great offensive players and couldn't find a good shot.

 

[Toga]

Mike G made 4 shots for 8 points... We needed grant, fair, and cooney to make a few more shots to win. This team went slow ball, because they didn't have great offensive players and couldn't find a good shot.

One more guy. We had G and then Keita (who obviously isn't taking shots).

 

[swish7]

Mike G made 4 shots for 8 points... We needed grant, fair, and cooney to make a few more shots to win. This team went slow ball, because they didn't have great offensive players and couldn't find a good shot.

Hell, if G has his usual game, then we would have lost by 8 or more. At two points during the game, G was the only keeping us in it.

 

[OrangePA]

Good Post.

 

[Statesman1]

I have read a lot of posts here since the final buzzer yesterday and one of the recurring themes is the complete inexplicable change of direction of this team after having compiled a 25-0 record. At the same time there have been many, Coach JB among them, who have pointed out that there were many of those 25 games that we just as easily could have been on the losing end. Well, obviously there is some merit to that but the fact of the matter is that the team possessed something during that period of time that enabled them to do what they had to do to win them. Get a stop, make a play, score a basket, do something as a team or have an individual step up and do what was needed to get the win.

Then, after that Duke game, something changed. Instead of a team with swagger and what seemed like a tightly knit group of kids who all relied upon each other, they were suddenly no longer playing to win but instead, cautiously playing not to lose. The shooting, while it hadn't been great by any stretch of the imagination, became scary bad. Everyone knows what I'm talking about. It just seemed like many of the shots that were taken had little or no chance of going in and some of the misses were so far from the hoop that they resembled errant passes more than shots at the hoop.

Why?

A team that is 25-0 is not all "fluke". This team played some inspired basketball and was fundamentally sound as a team. Here is what I think is at the center of our problem.

This program is not committed at the highest level to perform well at the end of the season and places too much emphasis on winning games at the early part of the season. As a result we completely stifle the development of talented players, we limit our depth, we compromise the confidence of young players by not allowing them to make mistakes and learn and in doing so we fragment the team into two diverse camps. Those who are anointed to play minutes to the point of exhaustion and burn out and who will be given the nod in spite of making mistakes or playing poorly, and those who get little or no chance to play and are pulled from the game immediately after making a mistake and may not be used again for God only knows how long a period of time. All one need do is observe Tyler Roberson's case this year. The kid obviously has some confidence issues.

That was abundantly apparent to anyone who watched his interviews when he committed to the team. Roberson could have helped this team. He wasn't given enough of a chance in my opinion. The same is true for Patterson. I'm not going to buy into anyone telling me that those kids couldn't have shot at least as well as the rest of this team as it did over the past month or so.

And so, the starters were played to the point of exhaustion from the stress of being undefeated, ranked #1 , and playing too many minutes.

How important is it to be 25-0 and ranked number one if in the end we as Syracuse fans are the recipients of snarky comments about epic collapse and being over rated etc? Obviously 25-0 is fools gold. A team which is physically, mentally, and emotionally exhausted is not going to perform well. I respect the accomplishments of JB and he is without doubt one of the greatest basketball minds and coaches of our generation... but, and in my opinion, he is sorely wrong in his strategy of development of the players on the team and in his commitment to winning games early to the detriment of developing the team toward the goal of performing well when it matters most... The END OF THE YEAR.

I think you've nailed it. I nominate you to run this post by Boeheim and Hopkins, and for good measure Gross. They obviously haven't a clue how to work a rotation and develop players. Clearly you see something they don't see from their perch at practice all season, and sitting court side during games doesn't help their perspective any either. Get in there and coach 'em up!

 

[OrangeBeer]

over the past few seasons, we have had that one guy coming off the bench who could hit a shot: Southerland, MCW, Waiters, Rautins etc. having a strong 6th man has been part of JBs formula for quite awhile. This year we lacked that element and it showed. I'm a strong JB supporter, but I'm not sure why he would recruit 3 scholarship players who weren't good enough to earn ANY playing time once conference play started. Seems like at least one of them would be able, on talent alone, to contribute at least a little.

 

[anomander]

Dead on. Very well said.