Pittfalls Postgame...

[rrlbees]

I think the like to this post was perhaps a bit unnecessary.

There was only 1 like. The rest were sad faces and a few wows.

 

[hungrychuck]

Hmm, No Nike logo on SU coaches game apparel. Something up?

When you see the Swoosh tattoos on the staff’s foreheads next game, all will become clear.

 

[hoopsupstate]

Carey lacks strength, but appears to have a feel for the game. His defense on high screens is good. He’s mobile and plays hard. The game is too fast right now, but I thought he gave us some valuable minutes tonight.

 

[jncuse]

Didn’t we have just one Quad One win the last time we made the tournament and it turned out we weren’t even that close to the bubble because we missed the play in? I remember it being a bone to pick with some of the national media.

Correct. Go down to #37 in this link to see Syracuse.

It will show us as 3-8 in Quad 1 games, but 2 of those wins (and 1 loss) were in the NCAA Tournament. So on Selection Sunday we were 1-7 in Q1 and 6-1 in Q2.

2021 was a bit of an odd year because of a bit shorter schedule. While I don't think NET will ever disqualify you if you are in the 50's or 60's if you have an otherwise good resume, I think our NET of 37 helped us that year.

https://www.warrennolan.com/basketball/2021/net-teamsheets-plus

 

[kcsu]

Great job by Red and the staff. Coming off the NC disaster into Pitt playing a very good team and taking it to them is extremely impressive. I thought Carey played well and I believe he will improve as we go forward. JJ played his best all around game. Benny was a dog on both ends and everyone who played contributed.
This was truly our first team win. No one player was dominant. They all played with heart, hustled, and exhibited a degree of toughness that has been missing.
For me this was our best all around performance.

 

[hoopsupstate]

I thought a big play tonight was when Teddy Valentine gave Hinson a technical to offset Benny’s technical. We usually get screwed in these situations. I thought officiating was barely noticeable tonight. It was a pleasant surprise.

 

[OrlandoCuse]

It’s bound to change, but we have plenty of opportunity to get some more Q1 and Q2 wins.

Q1 - 5 games (@WF, @NCSt, @Clem, vs Clem, vs UNC)
Q2 - 5 games (vs Mia, vs NCSt, @BC, @GaT, vs VT)
Q3 - 3 games (vs FSU, vs ND, @ Lville)
Q4 - 1 game (vs Lville)

2-3 vs Q1, 3-2 vs Q2 and 4-0 vs Q3/4 probably gets us in the NCAAt

 

[jncuse]

Hopefully Oregon improves and moves into and stays in the top 50.

Let's put it this way - if Oregon is not an NCAA tournament team, or not a valid bubble team, they won't be in the top 50. So yes it is important that they continue to play well.

But as long as Oregon is viewed as a "valid" bubble team or tourney team by the committee, the win will be viewed favourably by the committee, whatever side Oregon is of that #50 line.

 

[kcsu]

Carey lacks strength, but appears to have a feel for the game. His defense on high screens is good. He’s mobile and plays hard. The game is too fast right now, but I thought he gave us some valuable minutes tonight.

Agreed. He looks like he belongs. Looks comfortable. I think he is going to end up being a good player down the road. He has skills, is fluid, coordinated for a big. Just needs strength.

 

[two3zone]

I remember nothing.

 

[FrancoPizza]

I know we don't get the crowds we used to, but what happened to the Pitt fans? Place looked so empty.

Same thing that happened to our fans.

 

[two3zone]

Students not back yet and home town fans- meh?

Students were there, other than that it was empty.

 

[STEVEHOLT]

My thoughts:

This is what it feels like to be on the other end of the 3 pts for / against equation. It’s hard to overcome being on the wrong side of this ratio.

This was an excellent win and I’m thrilled, but this model is not sustainable. We essentially ran an offense of passing the ball around the arc for 25 seconds and then someone would make a tremendous shot. Looks cool. Really fun. Not something you can hang your hat on. No idea why Q isn’t running the offense when he’s out there. Mintz is as much a PG as Jimmy Boeheim was a center. Notice how brown was not very effective? Because his buckets are generally a result of facilitation. Very little facilitation went on tonight.

Defensive rebounding is going to kill us. Only Pitts ineptitude at converting their O boards to points saved us. This has to be fixed. No idea how . But it’s not my job either

 

[SUfanNC]

I remember nothing.

You got 1 through 5 covered. All you need to know!

 

[OptimusOtto]

Carey lacks strength, but appears to have a feel for the game. His defense on high screens is good. He’s mobile and plays hard. The game is too fast right now, but I thought he gave us some valuable minutes tonight.

Probably gonna need him to provide minutes here and there with Hima’s health being a concern. Even if it’s 2-3 minutes a half. Can’t expect Maliq to go 40 and it worked tonight but don’t think Benny as backup 5 is viable long-term.

 

[OrlandoCuse]

Probably gonna need him to provide minutes here and there with Hima’s health being a concern. Even if it’s 2-3 minutes a half. Can’t expect Maliq to go 40 and it worked tonight but don’t think Benny as backup 5 is viable long-term.

One way to get Benny closer to the basket is to make him play center

 

[jncuse]

It’s bound to change, but we have plenty of opportunity to get some more Q1 and Q2 wins.

Q1 - 5 games (@WF, @NCSt, @Clem, vs Clem, vs UNC)
Q2 - 5 games (vs Mia, vs NCSt, @BC, @GaT, vs VT)
Q3 - 3 games (vs FSU, vs ND, @ Lville)
Q4 - 1 game (vs Lville)

2-3 vs Q1, 3-2 vs Q2 and 4-0 vs Q3/4 probably gets us in the NCAAt

A lot more Q1 and Q2 opportunities for ACC teams this year.

As a matter of comparison Clemson, an ACC bubble team last year, only had 11 Q1/Q2 games (9 In, 2 Out) before the ACC Tournament last year. We are on pace for 17 Q1/Q2 games (13 In, 4 Out). Even with slippage in conference by teams on the "border", at worse that number will be 15. That's a lot more opportunity, and the committee seems to be more concerned with volume than %.

We are helped by the fact that while the ACC is not particularly strong, it is not abysmal like it was the past 2 years.

 

[FrancoPizza]

It’s amazing how attendance at so many places has fallen off a cliff

If we get back to being a perennial ranked team I still don’t see us averaging more than 20-22 going forward. Just sad to see the allure of college hoops rotting away.

 

[Bayside44]

If we get back to being a perennial ranked team I still don’t see us averaging more than 20-22 going forward. Just sad to see the allure of college hoops go into the toilet.

That’s still pretty good next to the rest of the world. Sometimes I tune into Maryland and that building is empty. In an area that bleeds hoops too. Too many of these ACC venues are morgues

 

[OrlandoCuse]

A lot more Q1 and Q2 opportunities for ACC teams this year.

As a matter of comparison Clemson, an ACC bubble team last year, only had 11 Q1/Q2 games (9 In, 2 Out) before the ACC Tournament last year. We are on pace for 17 Q1/Q2 games (13 In, 4 Out). Even with slippage in conference by teams on the "border", at worse that number will be 15. That's a lot more opportunity, and the committee seems to be more concerned with volume than %.

We are helped by the fact that while the ACC is not particularly strong, it is not abysmal like it was the past 2 years.

It all comes down to not losing the 4 Q3/4 and finding a way to go .500 or better vs Q1/2 teams. That gets us to the 21 wins which should be close to a lock. 19-20 wins is bubble.

 

[OmahaCuse]

My thoughts:

This is what it feels like to be on the other end of the 3 pts for / against equation. It’s hard to overcome being on the wrong side of this ratio.

This was an excellent win and I’m thrilled, but this model is not sustainable. We essentially ran an offense of passing the ball around the arc for 25 seconds and then someone would make a tremendous shot. Looks cool. Really fun. Not something you can hang your hat on. No idea why Q isn’t running the offense when he’s out there. Mintz is as much a PG as Jimmy Boeheim was a center. Notice how brown was not very effective? Because his buckets are generally a result of facilitation. Very little facilitation went on tonight.

Defensive rebounding is going to kill us. Only Pitts ineptitude at converting their O boards to points saved us. This has to be fixed. No idea how . But it’s not my job either

Brown was out with foul trouble tonight. Yes we hit a few shots at the end of the clock but also made the extra pass for a number of wide open looks. Defense was great with a few exceptions, that wins games. What I did not see a lot of was crazy driving shots with guys falling to the floor, or off balance 3’s giving the opponent easy run outs.

 

[FrancoPizza]

That’s still pretty good next to the rest of the world. Sometimes I tune into Maryland and that building is empty. In an area that bleeds hoops too. Too many of these ACC venues are morgues

The one thing we have going for us is we’re a one-horse town in winter… and maybe with global warming we might get more butts in seats when things turn around.

 

[Cuse181]

If we get back to being a perennial ranked team I still don’t see us averaging more than 20-22 going forward. Just sad to see the allure of college hoops rotting away.

TV is cheaper (relatively since you get ancillary benefits in terms of streaming) then going to the game. One game running you 300+ all in (food tickets and fees for family) is a hard sell to the casuals. Granted, it’s been that way since the 90s

 

[jncuse]

It all comes down to not losing the 4 Q3/4 and finding a way to go .500 or better vs Q1/2 teams. That gets us to the 21 wins which should be close to a lock. 19-20 wins is bubble.

In the "Dancing" thread I made a very similar post above 45 minutes ago or so. I laid out the same goal as you 21 wins... need to sweep the Q3/Q4 to keep a clean resume with no bad losses, and as you said go 5-5 against the tougher games.

Not sure if 21 is a close lock. I'm going to say that looks like the solid bubble line (perhaps I'm being conservative - need more time to see how things play out). But not comfortable putting close lock this early -- perhaps it will be in the end though.

 

[NorSyr66]

Start to finish this was our best game of the year.
-JJ was sublime. Obviously, he hit his shots. Just as importantly, he took good care of the ball, and I actually had more confidence with him with the ball in his hands late in the game than I did with Judah.
-Who thought we were going to win the game if Maliq had two points and five rebounds?
-Big bounce back game for Justin Taylor. Those threes were huge and he had some very important rebounds. Also moved well on defense. Good to see him come back after perhaps the worst game of his Syracuse career although you could say that about a lot of kids the other day.
-likewise Benny played much better today. It’s amazing how much better he shoots when he puts arc on the ball. Had some really athletic rebounds and a huge block.
-Judah seemed kind of skittish late with the ball. Wasn’t dribbling with a ton of confidence and made some bad decisions. But he did make some critical free throws as he usually does and played 39 hard minutes and remarkably had 9 boards.
-Big picture this says a lot about Red as a coach. Coming off of the abortion at North Carolina, he had this team ready to play and they played confidently and hard. I was a little surprised that he didn’t put Bell back in late in the second half but that is nitpicking.
-terrific win gives us some serious momentum against a good but gettable Miami team this weekend at the dome. We need the rest of the fans to match the students and get a great crowd in there.

I am wondering if Bell didn't tweek something on that dunk. He was not smiling after picking himself off the floor. Not sure how much he played after that?