Our Best Lineup

[orangefan13]

Cooneys really settled into a nonagressive role this season. Hes not taking aggressive chances, and thats not going to make him a go to leader on the court, but it could help the team stats and the team win with some in control basketball play as well. Hes gone from shaky potatoes to fork in the road.

Cooney is what I like to call a 4th scoring option, who pushed into a 3rd during the michigan game. Last year he was good enough to be 2nd scoring option pushing 1st scoring option many games, until he went into his slump and fell back to a third/forth. I don't think I can remember a player ever going in that direction in the last 15 years probably, ever. Maybe Triche, but that was not a exactly a good team in 10-11, and he didn't change the speed of his play as a jr/senior as identifiable as cooney has.


All the above being said... 99.9% of the time would point to "when the going gets tough cooney will be more aggressive for the team if they need him to like jeckyl and hyde" but it hasn't.


If patterson kaleb and bj/Roberson with gbinije at guard, can score in different ways, while playing some solid defense we could cut down cooneys minutes to 25-30 and use him
1.as speed off the bench, or
2.for speed spurst moments he is in.

Right now I think the coaches are
1.hoping kaleb, or our sophs are being pushed to help G become 3rd scoring options instead or
2.we are coserving cooney for his aggressive play later in the season instead.

We are one 3rd not even 2nd, scoring option shy right now from possibly being 7/8 wins to 0-1 losses. Above average teams want two 1st-2nd scoring options with two 3rd options that can become 2nd at times. Thats the minimum to strive for offensively. I Wonder what the coaches hopes for that are.

Kaleb could learn alot from working with Gbinije/Buss being physical against him in practice.

 

[Eagles20]

G at the 1, Buss at the 2, BJ at the 3, Chris at the 4, Rak at the 5. If Jim ever stuck with this, over time it would be our best. Not even worth arguing Bout Cooney anymore. It's clear he is what he is. How can he never, ever get open? Even Ron was open a ton. And don't even try to say defensive focus on him. That ridiculous premise is long gone...

We aren't going anywhere this year anyways, we have to give Buss and BJ run

maybe he was open all day because they left him open..seems pretty easy to understand. He was a huge upgrade defensively over Joseph thats for sure and he was valuable on defense. Cooney isn't great, but its very clear that teams do game plan to defend him and he is the only threat from the outside. It seems other coaches continue to add that every time they play Syracuse that they have to be aware of Cooney. If he got more shots consistently I think his percentage would go up. One shot every 7 minutes of game time isn't enough to get a player into a rhythm. What is sad is that the other players are so bad that Cooney is playing 40 minutes now a game.

 

[Eagles20]

I frankly don't care at this point. They've all been bad.

As long as Malachi starts next year from day 1.

He starts getting the get yanked and get blamed for everything treatment, while the same old same old is going on out there for the 3rd year in a row...then I'll have a problem.

So now we just hand players minutes before they even step on campus? I have yet to see Malachi play against D1 teams but he is generting a hell of buzz. I hope he doesn't tank early in the year or people might need to direct themselves away from tall buildings next year.

 

[tbonezone]

we basically play man defenses. cooney draws one man. he's never been double teamed. he can't get open. draw attention?

 

[Bayside44]

Alright bud. That wasn't even what I was saying in that post.

And here's one for you.

Whats the difference between Cooney missing a lot of shots and BJ missing a lot of shots?

BJ rebounds, moves the ball and adds more to our offense. Period.

Cooney's not some brick wall defender either. BJ's got a lot of learning to do but Cooneys not exactly earning his PT.

BJ -
19.4/6.4/5.7/1.0/0.6/0.3/0.7

Cooney

34.3/9.9/2.3/2.3/1.4/0.0/1.1/.371

37% from the field. 37%. Two assists a game is pretty poor as well.

The difference is that Cooney's shots are contested, while BJ's are pretty open because his defender is sagging down low.

I've never been a bandwagon TC guy but he's clearly one of our better options.

 

[rrlbees]

we basically play man defenses. cooney draws one man. he's never been double teamed. he can't get open. draw attention?

Don't believe Lavin?

 

[Trueblue25]

The difference is that Cooney's shots are contested, while BJ's are pretty open because his defender is sagging down low.

I've never been a bandwagon TC guy but he's clearly one of our better options.

I agree but I'm starting to think that it's less about the opposing team defending Cooney incredibly, and more of Cooney inability to get open.

I think he's really gotta reshape his approach to the basket. He's been throwing some shots up that Carmelo and Kobe would think twice about.

Not trying to bash him, just speaking my mind.

 

[two3zone]

I agree but I'm starting to think that it's less about the opposing team defending Cooney incredibly, and more of Cooney inability to get open. I think he's really gotta reshape his approach to the basket. He's been throwing some shots up that Carmelo and Kobe would think twice about. Not trying to bash him, just speaking my mind.

Did you read the article about Lavin stating that one of his main objectives was ice Cooney out of the game? Shadow him so he couldn't even get the ball and let the rest of SUs perimeter players beat them? There is a reason why he he talk half the shots Buss did in double the minutes and it's not because Buss is getting more open than Cooney.

Cooney isn't Lebron James and isn't going to get the ball and make incredible plays every time he gets the ball. He's a shooter that can penetrate a little bit. That would be exactly what this team needs if the other players around him did anything. It's very easy to freeze a player out of the game, unfortunately because we have one legit threat from the outside it's going to be Cooney.

 

[dollarbill44]

I'm guessing you didn't see the game yesterday? The defender never ever left Cooney. Not for a second. No help defense on others, nothing. That and they had their other defenders cheat off others and sag on Rak and CMac. Those are the 3 they focused on. They let Buss, BJ and G shoot all they wanted from outside. Turn on your DVR.

Actually, I spent a good bit of time watching just Cooney on offense. He wasn't even guarded at times. When he was, all he did was run around the half court in a big circle, regardless of where the ball was, so it didn't appear that it was designed for him to rotate. Even so, you have to make a move and a hard cut if you're being guarded closely. He just doesn't move well in yhe halfcourt without the ball. He's pretty good at finding openings in the break, but they are starting to not pass to him.

 

[Ghost]

Did you read the article about Lavin stating that one of his main objectives was ice Cooney out of the game? Shadow him so he couldn't even get the ball and let the rest of SUs perimeter players beat them? There is a reason why he he talk half the shots Buss did in double the minutes and it's not because Buss is getting more open than Cooney.

Cooney isn't Lebron James and isn't going to get the ball and make incredible plays every time he gets the ball. He's a shooter that can penetrate a little bit. That would be exactly what this team needs if the other players around him did anything. It's very easy to freeze a player out of the game, unfortunately because we have one legit threat from the outside it's going to be Cooney.

I think some are exaggerating how easy it is to "freeze" a player out of a game at this point. If it was that easy you would have a whole lot of good shooting two guards that seemingly went for anywhere from 18 to 2 points on any given night.

Cooney's shooting ability helps open things up a bit, but seemingly, at this point, Cooney needs a perfect storm from everyone else on the team just to be a capable shooting guard. You'd hope your 4th year Junior (second year starting) two guard could alleviate some of the pressure on your Frosh point guard, not the other way around. TC and Joseph are what we have though at this point.

Honestly, it's not like they're scheming to stop Cooney, they're telling their players, "hey, mark that kid tight - he's their only shooter." And voila, you've just figured out the magic trick to shutting down TC. Guard him tight. It's not like coaches are having sleepless nights pondering how you stop our wunderkind.

Is he as bad as some are saying? Certainly not. Ultimately, on this team, his shooting is incredibly important, so either the coaches need to figure out a way to get this kid open more often (even when he's been open going back to the exhibitions he's not hitting a good percentage of threes), or he needs to exploit the overplay when he does get touches. Which, thus far, he seems mostly unable to do.

I think everyone knows what he offers though, you just have to hope he can continue to progress off the bounce - he's never going to be much of a creator on offense though. If he can get to the rim, or hit some mid-range jumpers, it will hopefully open up his game a bit. I don't know...PG-SG-SF...we don't have a good mix going right now. None of them compliment the others very well. Oh well.

 

[CaptainJ]

I like Cuse Hulk's lineup.

 

[jekelish]

Our best lineup would be 5 Ditkas, and you all know it.

 

[TBCuse11]

I'm guessing you didn't see the game yesterday? The defender never ever left Cooney. Not for a second. No help defense on others, nothing. That and they had their other defenders cheat off others and sag on Rak and CMac. Those are the 3 they focused on. They let Buss, BJ and G shoot all they wanted from outside. Turn on your DVR.

sigh. this argument has gotten old, fast. Cooney was owned by Harrison. He cant get open. Help defense? who cares. A starting 2 guard in the ACC needs to be able to shed his man once in a while. I am sorry your standards are apparently so low on this..

 

[TBCuse11]

we basically play man defenses. cooney draws one man. he's never been double teamed. he can't get open. draw attention?

exactly. i dont get how people cant see this. oh well, moot point anyways... Trevor will play 38 mins a game this season, period. He deserves about 15-20...

 

[rrlbees]

sigh. this argument has gotten old, fast. Cooney was owned by Harrison. He cant get open. Help defense? who cares. A starting 2 guard in the ACC needs to be able to shed his man once in a while. I am sorry your standards are apparently so low on this..

Lavin agrees with me. Remember when it was crazy to think a team game plans for Cooney? You know what would help Cooney the most? Hitting 3's from the guys left open. The General has said this many times also. But he nor Lavin understand basketball.

 

[TBCuse11]

Lavin agrees with me. Remember when it was crazy to think a team game plans for Cooney? You know what would help Cooney the most? Hitting 3's from the guys left open. The General has said this many times also. But he nor Lavin understand basketball.

bottom line is Tyler Ennis made people think Trevor is more than he is. He knew how to set people up. Trevor is nothing more than an average spot up shooter. With no point guard, he is almost useless. We dont have one, and wont have one this year who can facilitate, so Trevor becomes expendable. This is fact, not opinion.

I get that you guys who defend Trevor to the end of the earth will not bend, but he is hurting SU hoops this year... not helping it.

(and again, this is all SO FAR... anything can change over time)

 

[Bayside44]

I agree but I'm starting to think that it's less about the opposing team defending Cooney incredibly, and more of Cooney inability to get open.

I think he's really gotta reshape his approach to the basket. He's been throwing some shots up that Carmelo and Kobe would think twice about.

Not trying to bash him, just speaking my mind.

He catches too many curls moving away from the basket, but that's the design, or so it seems.

 

[rrlbees]

bottom line is Tyler Ennis made people think Trevor is more than he is. He knew how to set people up. Trevor is nothing more than an average spot up shooter. With no point guard, he is almost useless. We dont have one, and wont have one this year who can facilitate, so Trevor becomes expendable. This is fact, not opinion. I get that you guys who defend Trevor to the end of the earth will not bend, but he is hurting SU hoops this year... not helping it. (and again, this is all SO FAR... anything can change over time)

Really surprised coaches game plan for a player that's useless.

The only one stating facts is the Lavins and JBs. Yours are opinions. Maybe I missed that you too, were a college coach.

 

[longislandcuse]

There's only one answer to save this season..

Platoons.

 

[djdan]

Best lineup IMO is the one Hulk posted.

Rak
Cm
G
Coon
Kaleb


To everybody screaming for minutes for everybody else doesn't make sense to me.

Buss: McCrosky type shooter, except worse. Look at the numbers. I don't know how people can say he needs to play when it's painfully obvious that he is by far a worse shooter then the guys you want him to replace. He defense is solid, but Cooney's is better. I saw him get blown by a couple of times. Stop, Buss had done NOTHING to earn more minutes that he was getting before yesterday and did nothing yesterday to show he should be playing 10+ a game.

BJ: Again, not an upgrade over G. Shooting isn't good at all, but he has looked solid on the boards. Defense is suspect and like everybody else is saying, he's not strong enough. I think he had shown more than Roberson and Buss, but he doesn't deserve many minutes either.

Roberson: He looks like a frightened dog when he has the ball. He's not good. I'm not saying he'll never be but he looks the weakest out of the three, which is saying a lot because Buss has no business being on the floor. Unless Roberson can be a Rodman type player on defense he is borderline useless and shouldn't be taking minutes from anybody especially G.

These guys are just not that good, at least not yet. All the bashing is going on Cooney and Joseph, but you know what, they're still not playing as bad as the sophomores and it's not only the eye test, it's the stats backing it up as well.

I basically agree with every sentence of this post. Just like the most popular athlete in every NFL city is the backup quarterback, there will always be those who insist the guys at the end of the bench should play more than the starters independent of reality.

The reality is this. We have two skilled big men and that's essentially it. Hopefully we'll win enough games by virtue of their presence to make the tournament but I'll be far from shocked if that doesn't happen. Lastly, the idea that Boeheim is to blame for assembling this roster is absurd. All three of Ennis, Grant, and Coleman are supposed to be on this team. If that was the case, Joseph would be a quality back-up guard, Cooney would see some open looks, and the three sophomores would continue to develop until ready to contribute. And we'd be in the top 10.

 

[SU2NASA]

No chance. Bryant and Richardson coming off the bench. No way !!!'

Hypothetically, and i hate looking towards next season 8 games into this season

C- Bryant
PF- Roberson
SF- Richardson
SG- Cooney
PG- Joseph
_______

I agree with Bees

and Diagne to start off, could be one of the better backup big men we have had come along in this scenario.

Swap out Cooney with Air Bud and I agree.

 

[jordoo]

Its so funny that most seasons I read that you have to play those bench guys and develop them but now that we see how some of these bench players play as freshman and sophmores its pretty easy to understand why JB was sticking with the experienced guys and why some guys just never really emerge until their junior and senior seasons.

I think our best lineup today is one without a PG. I know that Joseph will get better however and he will also be the PG next season. We aren't going anywhere this year without a PG so for me I want Joseph to play 30 minutes a game and develop for this season and next. I also want BJ and Tyler to continue to get chances and chunks of minutes because those 3 and Cooney are going to be what's left to go with next years class.

 

[CuseHulk]

Swap out Cooney with Air Bud and I agree.

Case in point. Juvenile Post. In regards to one of the two whipping boys on this board.

Saying a Basketball Playing Golden retriever (IN A MOVIE) is better than a D1 basketball player.

 

[SU2NASA]

Case in point. Juvenile Post. In regards to one of the two whipping boys on this board.

Saying a Basketball Playing Golden retriever (IN A MOVIE) is better than a D1 basketball player.

Did you ever see Air Bud miss or turn the ball over? I think not.

 

[AZOrange]

He catches too many curls moving away from the basket, but that's the design, or so it seems.

Totally agree