Paschal Chukwu

[longislandcuse]

He is what he is. Good, consistent center play is a bonus in Boeheim's system. He takes up a lot of space and blocks some shots.

Nobody plays that way anymore, except apparently us. How many teams do you out there with two Centers you don’t even have to defend? That’s really the issue many of us have. Nothing personal towards Chukwu.

OSU was just letting him roll off his picks, knowing full well we wouldn’t pass him it, and if we did, he probably won’t catch and/or be able to perform a basketball move.

Nobody here dislikes him personally or thinks he isn’t trying. Clearly he brought needed value to close out the game. Props to him for battling and giving us that, but c’mon, can we please join modern basketball?... this is beyond frustrating with our Center rotation.

Im so jealous of Teske for Michigan right now and he isn’t even that great.

 

[SoBeCuse]

Nobody plays that way anymore, except apparently us. How many teams do you out there with two Centers you don’t even have to defend? That’s really the issue many of us have. Nothing personal towards Chukwu.

OSU was just letting him roll off his picks, knowing full well we wouldn’t pass him it, and if we did, he probably won’t catch and/or be able to perform a basketball move.

Nobody here dislikes him personally or thinks he isn’t trying. Clearly he brought needed value to close out the game. Props to him for battling and giving us that, but c’mon, can we please join modern basketball?... this is beyond frustrating with our Center rotation.

Im so jealous of Teske for Michigan right now and he isn’t even that great.

Totally. Teske is light years better than either of them even though he isn’t great. His screens are great, he rolls hard, and is a threat to roll. UNC has to stick with him. Baby steps I guess for us.

 

[Cheriehoop]

As a sophomore. In his second year of college. Unlike the other guy who is in his fifth year of college.

Are you really trying to win some invisible internet message board ‘king’ award while sitting in front of a computer by dissing a player after a great win? Thank God we had him tonight and he came through.

 

[kirbivore]

this isn't PC's fault, but I'd really like for the guards to never throw him a lob again.

 

[CuseFaninVT]

Are you really trying to win some invisible internet message board ‘king’ award while sitting in front of a computer by dissing a player after a great win? Thank God we had him tonight and he came through.

No. Not at all. I simply am confused by what others see. And sometimes I also like to push buttons.

 

[Cheriehoop]

. And sometimes I also like to push buttons.

I think you nailed it.

 

[shu 49]

On the tip off, saw him not go after the ball aggressively. That's the moment JB called Sid off the bench. If he's hurt, fine.

He is defeinatly hurt. Pulled groin which kills the sliding stuff but up and down not terrible needs a good week off or more.

 

[MikeDamone]

Nope. And that’s what dakich said also, that it didn’t touch it.

The first replay foom halfcourt view it looked like a good block. Replay from underneath showed it hit the board first. It was one of the few calls that went our way

 

[MikeDamone]

Sidibe fouled out in 12 minutes and did next to nothing tonight in any phase tonight.

Almost broke Dirty's record of fouling out in 11 mins against OSU

 

[Lucid]

It's pretty clear that our best, most effective lineup, when matchups permit, does NOT include Chukwu (or Sidibe either, for that matter).

Most of the criticism of Chukwu in this thread is accurate, but so is most of the praise. He's got limited skills because he's got limited experience, compared to the guys he's playing against. But he's also got a ton of heart, and, by the way, he's pretty tall.

 

[MSOrange]

Are you really trying to win some invisible internet message board ‘king’ award while sitting in front of a computer by dissing a player after a great win? Thank God we had him tonight and he came through.

I have him on ignore since the Morehead State game but I knew who was going to derail this thread. He gets triggered anytime someone mentions anything remotely positive about Chukwu and sadly even seems to be proud of it. I have players I like more than others over the years but as long as they aren't a total goof off the court, I at least try to be fair and acknowledge the good and the bad.

I have no problem admitting Chukwu has not played well this season except for Morehead State and various spurts. But he made some big plays at the end when he was obviously gimpy and that's all this thread was trying to point out.

Oh well, thank goodness for the ignore function.

 

[br801]

It's pretty clear that our best, most effective lineup, when matchups permit, does NOT include Chukwu (or Sidibe either, for that matter).

Most of the criticism of Chukwu in this thread is accurate, but so is most of the praise. He's got limited skills because he's got limited experience, compared to the guys he's playing against. But he's also got a ton of heart, and, by the way, he's pretty tall.

As painful as it may be for some to acknowledge, our best defensive and rebounding lineup will include Chukwu.

 

[CuseFaninVT]

I have him on ignore since the Morehead State game but I knew who was going to derail this thread. He gets triggered anytime someone mentions anything remotely positive about Chukwu and sadly even seems to be proud of it. I have players I like more than others over the years but as long as they aren't a total goof off the court, I at least try to be fair and acknowledge the good and the bad.

I have no problem admitting Chukwu has not played well this season except for Morehead State and various spurts. But he made some big plays at the end when he was obviously gimpy and that's all this thread was trying to point out.

Oh well, thank goodness for the ignore function.

:rolling::bat:

 

[FRANKIEFAN]

Man I'm just glad last years Chukwu showed up after Sid and Marek fouled out. It was bad early.

Credit to Sidibe and PC for playing well after the brutal start both had some really big defensive plays in the 2H.

 

[Fat tire 13]

No one is saying he is Bol Bol, or even 5% as good. I see a guy who was blessed with 7'2" height but had zero natural basketball talent. He literally started at square one. But he has worked, and has improved. I remember seeing his first couple games where he seemed completely lost. Now we have a guy is capable of the following
- Play 40 minutes at center (last year when we were beat up)
- Can stand up at the FT line late, and not scare everyone (after shooting like 5% early last year)
- Challenge guys down low, and not afraid of contact
- Rebound decently well
- Show occasional signs of offensive ability (this was last year, but have to think it is possible again)

All those are new skills. It is not a Rakeem Christmas trajectory, but I think still commendable. And we will need him to continue to improve if we are going to do anything great this year

 

[DoctahLexus]

One of the low points of the game yesterday was in the second half when Howard beat his man and passed to a completely wide open Chukwu right under the hoop and with nobody within a mile of him. He somehow (SOMEHOW) did not handle the pass and somehow (SOMEHOW) thought he did not have enough time to dunk it once he controlled it, and he just stood there for a couple seconds and passed it out, and I don't think we got any points on that possession. Trained circus elephants could have dunked the ball in the amount of time he had. Still gotta love him though, in spite of it all. He is certainly fighting out there.

 

[AZOrange]

JB noted again in the presser how bad the centers are playing. Sid is an enigma but to me he looks like a guy that doesn’t trust his knee yet. PC is what he is. Reminds me of Forth to a degree. People keep waiting for a Rak-like moment and it’s not gonna happen. They’re not Rak...and that’s ok. They have a role and so long as he does it well so be it.

 

[SoBeCuse]

No one is saying he is Bol Bol, or even 5% as good. I see a guy who was blessed with 7'2" height but had zero natural basketball talent. He literally started at square one. But he has worked, and has improved. I remember seeing his first couple games where he seemed completely lost. Now we have a guy is capable of the following
- Play 40 minutes at center (last year when we were beat up)
- Can stand up at the FT line late, and not scare everyone (after shooting like 5% early last year)
- Challenge guys down low, and not afraid of contact
- Rebound decently well
- Show occasional signs of offensive ability (this was last year, but have to think it is possible again) All those are new skills. It is not a Rakeem Christmas trajectory, but I think still commendable. And we will need him to continue to improve if we are going to do anything great this year

I said it before that the kid’s conditioning is incredible. Last year was insane with the minutes played especially with how often he had to run back and forth setting those high ball screens. Often as an emergency to not stall out the offense. It will be baby steps with him with offense/IQ but it’s quite remarkable he has come this far. Sidibe has to get his act together. This kid has played way more ball than Paschal and shouldn’t be making these kinds of mistakes. We are going to need him.

 

[SoBeCuse]

JB noted again in the presser how bad the centers are playing. Sid is an enigma but to me he looks like a guy that doesn’t trust his knee yet. PC is what he is. Reminds me of Forth to a degree. People keep waiting for a Rak-like moment and it’s not gonna happen. They’re not Rak...and that’s ok. They have a role and so long as he does it well so be it.

They gotta pick it up though. Simply unacceptable to be playing like this collectively at this level of college basketball. Both O and D. I’m sure JB would say the same. Most of it is awareness kind of stuff which drives ya crazy as these are things they should have more of handle/grasp of certainly by now.

 

[Cusefan0307]

Sid is getting healthier for sure. He looks better every time i see him. I can't get to upset with him yesterday because they called him for some horse crap on both a clean block and a rebound. I hope he continues to progress to steal Chukwu's minutes.

A lot of people thought Pascal was going to turn a corner, but he still can't finish alley oops and he robbed Frank of 2 points last night due to goaltending. He looks worse than he did at the end of last year.

 

[General20]

Please. That's why JB pulled him in less than a minute to start the game.

I know you've already been rebuked a bunch of times on this thread, and normally I don't like piling on ... but I want to actually answer this question, because nobody has and its important to note.

Chukwu got the freshman year Fab Melo token start in this game because he's hurt with a groin injury, so you can't blame muscle development like you did in some other post, unless you can think of a good groin work out he should try (who is going to make this joke I'm setting everybody up for?).

Boeheim started Chukwu so Ohio St would have to prepare for him, but he had no intention of playing Chukwu for more than a few minutes. I know this, because Chukwu hardly played at all until both Sidibe and Dolezaj fouled out, even though the only reliable scoring Ohio St was getting was throwing the ball down to their 300 pound center, having him throw a shoulder or elbow into a Syracuse player, and letting the official inexplicably call a foul on the Syracuse player who fell down.

That 300 pound center got 14 foul shots this way (all of them bullshit).

The funny thing is, even though Chukwu was not in the gameplan, and even though he was clearly playing hurt, that bullshit stopped when he got in the game. It stopped because when that 300 pound Ohio St center dropped his shoulder against Chukwu, he was able to stand his ground.

You try holding your ground against a 300 pound man pushing you around when you have a groin injury.

I think Chukwu's defense going down the stretch was every bit as important as Battle's offense was. I was extremely impressed with his strength and his high threshold for pain. He might be skinny but to my eyes he looked like the strongest guy on the court by a pretty wide margin.

And has anybody else noticed that Chukwu seems to play his best when his SU's back is against the wall? You've got to like that.

 

[SoBeCuse]

I know you've already been rebuked a bunch of times on this thread, and normally I don't like piling on ... but I want to actually answer this question, because nobody has and its important to note.

Chukwu got the freshman year Fab Melo token start in this game because he's hurt with a groin injury, so you can't blame muscle development like you did in some other post, unless you can think of a good groin work out he should try (who is going to make this joke I'm setting everybody up for?).

Boeheim started Chukwu so Ohio St would have to prepare for him, but he had no intention of playing Chukwu for more than a few minutes. I know this, because Chukwu hardly played at all until both Sidibe and Dolezaj fouled out, even though the only reliable scoring Ohio St was getting was throwing the ball down to their 300 pound center, having him throw a shoulder or elbow into a Syracuse player, and letting the official inexplicably call a foul on the Syracuse player who fell down.

That 300 pound center got 14 foul shots this way (all of them bullshit).

The funny thing is, even though Chukwu was not in the gameplan, and even though he was clearly playing hurt, that bullshit stopped when he got in the game. It stopped because when that 300 pound Ohio St center dropped his shoulder against Chukwu, he was able to stand his ground.

You try holding your ground against a 300 pound man pushing you around when you have a groin injury.

I think Chukwu's defense going down the stretch was every bit as important as Battle's offense was. I was extremely impressed with his strength and his high threshold for pain. He might be skinny but to my eyes he looked like the strongest guy on the court by a pretty wide margin.

And has anybody else noticed that Chukwu seems to play his best when his SU's back is against the wall? You've got to like that.

Some valid points but we just don’t know about the intentions of JB with regards to Chukwu’s playing time. Certainly not as a proclamation as you indicated. I mean JB was sure irate at Chukwu’s opening sequence. I don’t believe for one second that he planned on playing him for only a couple of minutes. Just my opinion. He was moving fine all game especially when he ran full speed the length of court to challenge that fast break. It was impressive and, as I’ve stated before, I marvel at his conditioning.

 

[General20]

Some valid points but we just don’t know about the intentions of JB with regards to Chukwu’s playing time. Certainly not as a proclamation as you indicated. I mean JB was sure irate at Chukwu’s opening sequence. I don’t believe for one second that he planned on playing him for only a couple of minutes. Just my opinion. He was moving fine all game especially when he ran full speed the length of court to challenge that fast break. It was impressive and, as I’ve stated before, I marvel at his conditioning.

Chukwu played 18 minutes in that game. The last 8 were by necessity because he was the only center left on the roster. Do you think he only played 10 minutes the whole game before that point (when the other centers were getting literally bowled over) because Boeheim was so upset he made one mistake on the first play of the game?

 

[SoBeCuse]

Chukwu played 18 minutes in that game. The last 8 were by necessity because he was the only center left on the roster. Do you think he only played 10 minutes the whole game before that point (when the other centers were getting literally bowled over) because Boeheim was so upset he made one mistake on the first play of the game?

I think he was so pissed at Chukwu then Sidibe messed up. I think he then realized we needed to score also so Marek in there helped regardless of the fouls.

Also, how else would you coach the wide kid at OSU to play? We have tall and thin guys who are all stilts and little torso. These much shorter and physical centers like him or a Perkins on UB when getting their derrieres into our guys to box out or root them out will naturally be getting low on them. It’s just physics and where else are they going to impact them? Just like how in football how it is tough to hit low on a Darren Sproles type guy or Riley because they are so low to the ground.

 

[pearl31]

I think he was so pissed at Chukwu then Sidibe messed up. I think he then realized we needed to score also so Marek in there helped regardless of the fouls.

Also, how else would you coach the wide kid at OSU to play? We have tall and thin guys who are all stilts and little torso. He or a Perkins on UB when getting their derrieres into our guys to box out or root them out will naturally be getting low on them. It’s just physics and where else are they going to impact them? Just like how in football how it is tough to hit low on a Darren Sproles type guy or Riley because they are so low to the ground.

Do you ever find yourself wishing you rooted for another team?