Pitt Postgame Thoughts

[Waltdods]

The defense won the game but I did want to throw in a few words about the half court offense in the second half.

First, and maybe most notably, it existed.

Second, loved to see the quick adjustment when Pitt went zone.

Third, the ball movement leading to good shots most of the time is even more impressive given that there were, to a first approximation, zero perimeter threats on the floor. Despite that the team was able to get good shots more often than not, and not simply by having mintz attack the basket. Williams, in particular, has shown himself to be a heady and smart passer, which has been a big boon. Brown, of course, is always in the right place.

 

[swish7]

Grit.

Huge win. Exactly the type of L we used to accumulate. But, down 11 with nothing falling & Pitt making everything difficult & we grind back into it & win going away.

The only downside is the lack of depth. We have 9 players, but only 5 are bringing the spark. Hopefully Red figures out what to do w Taylor, Bell, Cuffe, & Naheem besides benching them for whole halves.

 

[GoSU96]

Judah needs to be told that he is nowhere near as good as Copeland and Brown are at slapping the ball away and he can get more steals being less aggressive. He clearly wants the stats those two rack up. Hes fouling and/or getting blown by at bad times.

That said hes still a good defender overall and is a big part of us being able to drive teams nuts with the press hes just not Cope or Brown who are next level amazing at it.

Mind reader huh?

That’s where your pithy contributions come from?

 

[Sbucketball]

Yeah. That's what he's there for.

Exactly. Red is probably telling him to shoot like that. And if he’s cold he sits, but sometimes he’s hot.

 

[Cusefan0307]

Grit.

Huge win. Exactly the type of L we used to accumulate. But, down 11 with nothing falling & Pitt making everything difficult & we grind back into it & win going away.

The only downside is the lack of depth. We have 9 players, but only 5 are bringing the spark. Hopefully Red figures out what to do w Taylor, Bell, Cuffe, & Naheem besides benching them for whole halves.

I don’t see why he wouldn’t. He’s managed the rotation beautifully all year.

 

[baggerbob]

What an effort from the Maliq/Q/Benny today. If they play like that our best 5 is obvious.

I do worry about our lack of shooting and overall size - but there’s a lot to be excited about

Red knows what he’s doing

The second half lineup 6'9, 6-8 ,6-6,6-4 ,6-4. Decent size. Copeland, and Brown play bigger then their size. And Benny if he plays like that does also.

 

[GoSU96]

The defense won the game but I did want to throw in a few words about the half court offense in the second half.

First, and maybe most notably, it existed.

Second, loved to see the quick adjustment when Pitt went zone.

Third, the ball movement leading to good shots most of the time is even more impressive given that there were, to a first approximation, zero perimeter threats on the floor. Despite that the team was able to get good shots more often than not, and not simply by having mintz attack the basket. Williams, in particular, has shown himself to be a heady and smart passer, which has been a big boon. Brown, of course, is always in the right place.

That wrap around bounce pass was great, drew two, got Brown coming down the lane in the first.

 

[baggerbob]

I think the board is a bit preoccupied with lineups and who plays. I think Red is doing a great job playing guys game to game and he’s playing everyone. A far cry from 6 man rotations.

It's not who starts, but who finishes the game. Havilcek made a HOF career out of coming off the bench.

 

[Mstumpy50]

We had 52 bench points today. That has to be in the vicinity of a program record.

Earlier this season I thought I remember seeing 44 bench points. Not sure if 52 is a program record but you have to be dead on with saying it has to be within the vicinity of being so. Something I find comical and the old 7.5 man rotation was Cuse played in a 6 overtime game back in 2009 and scored 127 points. The bench of 2.5 grew to 4.0 after 4 other guys fouled out and put up 24.

There is energy in the program again and it is fun to watch however I am cautiously optimistic they are 2 years away from making a big tourney run. That could change if the portal brings a two-way "Big" present(ce) next season.

 

[Cusefan0307]

We had 52 bench points today. That has to be in the vicinity of a program record.

We had 55 against DePaul in the season finale of 2011. I only knew this because I remember the game being an absolute dunk fest where we played about 15 guys including the walkons.

 

[syrBossHogg]

Strong 2nd half outside of the last minute haha

We have a bench again and Red's not afraid to use it

Passed a good test today, we've got a tough January coming up but a lot of chances to solidify the tourney resume. We're gonna know where we stand by the end of the month.

 

[cusefan88]

Copeland plays with such joy and happiness. Can't help but root for him. Love players that are having fun. At the end of the day it's a game.

 

[Eric15]

I consider the Duke game on Tuesday a “house money” game, it that it would be amazing to win but not completely necessary. And if we do win, Top 25 or close to it is very possible.

 

[OrangeFoo]

More credit needs to be given to Red here.

when Pitt went zone, the team was perfectly coached on how to beat it and got multiple layups out of it.

hope the folks that were loud to start the season about him are just as loud when credit is deserved

I'm telling you... it's all because of that assistant-HC we hired after Maui.

 

[AlaskaSU]

Re: the starters.

It doesn’t really matter who starts the game. We know at least 9 guys will get minutes. We know McLeod, Taylor and Bell need minutes. Our depth enables Red to keep up the intensity throughout the whole game.

You don’t have to start your best 5, but you should finish with them

You know McLeod, Taylor and Bell need minutes? Do we need a handicap?

 

[djcon57]

I consider the Duke game on Tuesday a “house money” game, it that it would be amazing to win but not completely necessary. And if we do win, Top 25 or close to it is very possible.

I think it’s important not to get blown out. Just to keep positive momentum.

 

[Cusefan0307]

You know McLeod, Taylor and Bell need minutes? Do we need a handicap?

I’m not a big McLeod guy, but the other two
have helped us win games this year. There will be games in the future where they finish on the court. We also used to complain about 6 man rotations and now we want to go back to that?

More recency bias.

 

[23Zone]

Please no more Bell and Taylor simultaneously! Big liability. Need a ton more of Q and Malik (and Benny if he is in proper mind)

 

[HoustonCuse]

Absolutely great to see them take Pitt out by the barn and put them down like a rabid animal.

 

[OrangeFoo]

Here is where I am at...
- This team has found its identity with the in your shorts, extended m2m D. Pitt didn't try to backdoor cut them or get a lot of movement off the ball which played into Cuse's hands.
- The team is a perimeter threat away from being a top-25 team
- Red waited too long in the first half to get Taylor and Bell out of the game
- When this team starts to lose momentum it feels like things snowball on D and on O... we really need a stopper who can take over the game when needed.
- Red is doing a great job of mixing and matching different pieces to see what works and going with that
- We are finally starting to see some full on screens on offense... not just fake a screen and dive to the rim
- Loved the execution against the different defenses Pitt tried
- we will upset people when the three is dropping and we will lose games we shouldn't when the three is not dropping

Last but not least... Syracuse basketball is FUN again and is appointment viewing again.

 

[Sbucketball]

I said a while ago this game would tell us if this team has a puncher’s chance at raising to the top of the middle of the acc and make the tourney. It’s even more important to win this pitt game at home because there was a very real chance of this team losing this game and getting down on itself and sliding for 5 or so tough games over the next few weeks. Good win at home, now put it to Duke, UNC and Miami with confidence. Also have Pitt again in two weeks, and a BC team that’s not as much of a pushover as years’ past.

 

[OptimusOtto]

I consider the Duke game on Tuesday a “house money” game, it that it would be amazing to win but not completely necessary. And if we do win, Top 25 or close to it is very possible.

It would be so nice to bank a signature win like this early as we build our resume.

 

[OrangeinDC]

Here is where I am at...
- This team has found its identity with the in your shorts, extended m2m D. Pitt didn't try to backdoor cut them or get a lot of movement off the ball which played into Cuse's hands.
- The team is a perimeter threat away from being a top-25 team
- Red waited too long in the first half to get Taylor and Bell out of the game
- When this team starts to lose momentum it feels like things snowball on D and on O... we really need a stopper who can take over the game when needed.
- Red is doing a great job of mixing and matching different pieces to see what works and going with that
- We are finally starting to see some full on screens on offense... not just fake a screen and dive to the rim
- Loved the execution against the different defenses Pitt tried
- we will upset people when the three is dropping and we will lose games we shouldn't when the three is not dropping

Last but not least... Syracuse basketball is FUN again and is appointment viewing again.

Really good post! I would only disagree on one point, and it's not a right or wrong thing. I think he pulled them for the game right about right.

 

[BlackSquirrels]

Salute to Copeland for another great game. I was down on the team after the first 6-8 games and one of the main reasons was that I didn’t see a sophomore leap from one of the many sophomores on the team. Copeland might be making his leap now.

Salute to Autry. I want to call out the solid plan on offense at the start of the game. It looked like plays were called for McLeod and Bell to try to get them involved, in addition to some attacks by Starling and Mintz. I thought McLeod played pretty well today, but Brown was too good to take out.

And salute to Benny for playing smart and making contributions in many areas. His size and athleticism at F is needed.

 

[HakAttack]

Taylor is just not ready for big time ACC minutes. He’s completely overmatched at the defensive end, he cannot keep his man in front of him. And like Bell, when his shot is not falling, he doesn’t bring much else to the table.