POLL: Who's itching to get to the ACC?

[realorange]

All of us former Northeners are waiting for Syracuse basketball to come closer to us. If we could get tickets to NC and Duke games, there would be no away game for the Orange that wouldn't have a big cheering section.

 

[Orangello]

Yes please sir. No more Wrestlemania.

 

[Orangello]

Bray, Pitino, Roy, Coach K, will be there for a while. Let's see how a Pitt game gets called in the ACC before that happens.

I was thinking exactly the same thing last night while watching Thugfest V. I have a feeling Pitt is in for a rude awakening starting next year a la their recent experience in the tournament.

 

[Bayside44]

But Pitino and Bray have adopted much more physical, low-scoring ugly brands of basketball for the most part as well. Bray's last few teams look nothing like most of his team's prior to maybe 2-3 years ago. Same for Pitino -- both grinding it out much more than ever before.

Those guys have a long,long way to go before they can get in the ring with Williams and Dixon. I don't watch as much as I once did, but didn't find those games against SU this year to be slugfests in that manner.

 

[asj410]

I was thinking exactly the same thing last night while watching Thugfest V. I have a feeling Pitt is in for a rude awakening starting next year a la their recent experience in the tournament.

I plan to watch several of Pitt's conference games just to see how quickly they rack up fouls. I'd imagine they'll put on quite the show next year. My only concern is more of a long-term issue that their garbage will eventually spew across the rest of the conference and turn it into the BE reincarnate 10 years down the road.

 

[Fly Rodder]

RE: The fouls Gardner was picking up, I mean, he's initiating contact and bumping defensive players to make his shot. He said so afterwards. But if the defenders shuffle their feet or lean forward in anticipation of contact, that's a blocking foul, correct?

After every whistle, Rak and Keita both, always turn to the refs and Boeheim and raise their hands complaining, "Why? What did I do?". I can only assume that the coaching staff spends time with the guys and drills into their heads what they're doing wrong, but they still don't seem to understand it.

Also, the lack of fouls being called during scrums is getting ridiculous. Dude tackles Triche and pushes him down - no call. Lots of over the backs. Fair reaches/slaps at the ball after a Marquette player corrals a rebound - foul!

 

[Orangezoo]

It seems that those saying the move won't be so sweet are pointing to low scoring. I think thats a misconception. Low scoring games can be good basketball just as a 74-71 game could be a slugfest with non stop fouling that simply goes uncalled. Our poor shooting this year has made us look bad. That wasn't the big east that forced that. In some games however the physicality that we didn't match was used against us as we failed to play the game at the other teams style to offset the foul discrepancy. Its one thing to get rushed and move up and down faster than you want or to be forced to guard for 35 seconds a possession. It is another to have a team trying force their will physically so much that the game turns into a scrum. At that point- the only way to win is to make tough shots all game as fouls are not going to even that out.

As a team we need all the things this board has talked about to improve there is no question there. But I join the crew saying they are looking forward to playing against teams with a different brand of basketball. One of the most successful BE programs of late is and as much as they annoy me - they typically dont prescribe to the clutch and grab either. They play fast, for the most part clean man to man defense and on offense they look to attack and use the skills of their guardplay. They play much more of an ACC brand of hoops. I think in many ways that is why the rivalry has evolved to near GTOWN status on the court. Gtown's hybrid defense of bump, grab, slap and zone while giving it to Porter on the other end is just awful to watch. Couple that with our poor shooting and ughh... I think we probably would be in a similar position this year if we played in the ACC - likely in the top 3-4 of the ACC. I also think that the losses would not be so difficult to swallow as they likely would have been the focus of our shooting/inside presence woes vs feeling like we had to watch a Defensive end or a bunch of safeties push us around all game.

 

[asj410]

But I join the crew saying they are looking forward to playing against teams with a different brand of basketball.

That's exactly my thought on the matter.

 

[seanmac1844]

Has anyone ever watched FSU play? They are the Pitt of the ACC. Without a change in the officiating, Pitt and Marquette's style will be all over campuses nationwide very soon.

 

[Orangezoo]

Has anyone ever watched FSU play?

Yes - and they are maybe the only program that plays a more physical style of defense. But even FSU doesn't prescribe to that same style on offense. I've watched a lot of their games and still wouldn't call them Pitt or Marquette. When you watch them you immediately think - for such a good defensive team they aren't as physical as you would think. That is the mindset of a Big East Fan...

 

[Knicks411]

You guys are gonna love the whistles Duke and UNC get.

 

[Bayside44]

You guys are gonna love the whistles Duke and UNC get.

After last night I'll take my chances.

 

[Calcuse]

As much as I hate what the ref's are doing, I think you have to put a lot of blame on the one year rule. Cull out the top 20% of skill from kids leaving after a year or two and the NCAA is playing with a diluted cast of first year players, D League hopefuls or lower. They can't win on their basketball skills so they find another way. And it's ugly!

 

[Orangezoo]

You guys are gonna love the whistles Duke and UNC get.

Not quite sure about that - and I really don't understand the attachment to continue to play these type of games in the big east. Our focus on trying to consistantly be 9 deep will go a long ways to off-setting those concerns about the UNC-Duke whistles.

 

[caw]

Count me in. Get me out of this God forsaken conference. Just look at ACC scores, for the most part they ::gasp:: score points. What a strange concept.

I don't disagree with the premise used by many that the defense is more physical in the BE. However, I don't think the points scored is a huge argument. The two highest scoring teams in the ACC are way above the highest in the BE. USF and Clemson are dreadful. Outside of those four teams which are clear outliers the scoring is pretty evenly broken up in groups with fairly even splits of BE and ACC teams. Cuse is only 11th out of 27 teams in scoring in conference. As for defenses, instead of grabbing, which is out of hand, you will have fun watching a big slide under a driving guard to complain about (also out of hand).

Duke: 77.8
NCST: 75.1

UNC: 72.9
DePaul: 71.6
UConn: 71.4
UL: 70.4
Marquette: 68.5
Miami: 68.1

ND: 67.5
PC: 67.1
Cuse: 67.0
Nova: 66.7
Maryland: 66.6
BC: 66.1

VT: 65.7
UVA: 65.3
WF: 65.1
Pitt: 64.6
SJU: 64.3
Gtown: 63.6

FSU: 61.4
Gtech: 60.9
Rutgers: 60.8
Cinci: 60.7
SHU: 60.1

Clemson: 57.7
USF: 52.6

 

[Orangezoo]

I don't disagree with the premise used by many that the defense is more physical in the BE. However, I don't think the points scored is a huge argument. The two highest scoring teams in the ACC are way above the highest in the BE. USF and Clemson are dreadful. Outside of those four teams which are clear outliers the scoring is pretty evenly broken up in groups with fairly even splits of BE and ACC teams. Cuse is only 11th out of 27 teams in scoring in conference. As for defenses, instead of grabbing, which is out of hand, you will have fun watching a big slide under a driving guard to complain about (also out of hand).

Duke: 77.8
NCST: 75.1

UNC: 72.9
DePaul: 71.6
UConn: 71.4
UL: 70.4
Marquette: 68.5
Miami: 68.1

ND: 67.5
PC: 67.1
Cuse: 67.0
Nova: 66.7
Maryland: 66.6
BC: 66.1

VT: 65.7
UVA: 65.3
WF: 65.1
Pitt: 64.6
SJU: 64.3
Gtown: 63.6

FSU: 61.4
Gtech: 60.9
Rutgers: 60.8
Cinci: 60.7
SHU: 60.1

Clemson: 57.7
USF: 52.6

Its much more about style of play than scoring. I made a comment earlier but scoring is not as much the issue. You can have a well played, entertaining 58-57 Ball game thats as good as one thats 85-84.

 

[IthacaMatt]

I am. the BE has been barely watchable the last few years and the quality of play has declined quite a bit.

There are a lot of shitty teams in the ACC, too. Don't kid yourself. But they are better brand names than USF and especially half the teams coming to the conference.

 

[IthacaMatt]

I don't disagree with the premise used by many that the defense is more physical in the BE. However, I don't think the points scored is a huge argument. The two highest scoring teams in the ACC are way above the highest in the BE. USF and Clemson are dreadful. Outside of those four teams which are clear outliers the scoring is pretty evenly broken up in groups with fairly even splits of BE and ACC teams. Cuse is only 11th out of 27 teams in scoring in conference. As for defenses, instead of grabbing, which is out of hand, you will have fun watching a big slide under a driving guard to complain about (also out of hand).

Duke: 77.8
NCST: 75.1

UNC: 72.9
DePaul: 71.6
UConn: 71.4
UL: 70.4
Marquette: 68.5
Miami: 68.1

ND: 67.5
PC: 67.1
Cuse: 67.0
Nova: 66.7
Maryland: 66.6
BC: 66.1

VT: 65.7
UVA: 65.3
WF: 65.1
Pitt: 64.6
SJU: 64.3
Gtown: 63.6

FSU: 61.4
Gtech: 60.9
Rutgers: 60.8
Cinci: 60.7
SHU: 60.1

Clemson: 57.7
USF: 52.6

nice work putting that together. thanks.

 

[IthacaMatt]

RE: The fouls Gardner was picking up, I mean, he's initiating contact and bumping defensive players to make his shot. He said so afterwards. But if the defenders shuffle their feet or lean forward in anticipation of contact, that's a blocking foul, correct?

After every whistle, Rak and Keita both, always turn to the refs and Boeheim and raise their hands complaining, "Why? What did I do?". I can only assume that the coaching staff spends time with the guys and drills into their heads what they're doing wrong, but they still don't seem to understand it.

Also, the lack of fouls being called during scrums is getting ridiculous. Dude tackles Triche and pushes him down - no call. Lots of over the backs. Fair reaches/slaps at the ball after a Marquette player corrals a rebound - foul!

You're right about this observation. If the ball gets loose, there are no rules. Anything goes in going for the ball. I've seen more guys body-checked out of the play this year than I can remember.

 

[bpo57]

There are a lot of shitty teams in the ACC, too. Don't kid yourself. But they are better brand names than USF and especially half the teams coming to the conference.

My bigger issue is with the style of play. That said, the BE hasn't exactly torn it up over the last few years in the NCAAs.