Postgame Thoughts… BC

[Scott11]

A few thoughts on the game
-I can't remember enjoying a win less than yesterday. It felt like we played as selfishly as I can recall in some time. Buddy looked like he was in pure get mine mode. 40 minutes and no assists is hard to do with shooters like Swider and JG3 on the court with him. He really forced some awful shots. The fact that our starters COMBINED for 6 assists is telling. BC was awful and if we had played a good team there is no way we win with shot selection like last night.
-Maybe Jesse has been reading his own recent press clippings but he was awol. Thoughtless, incredibly avoidable fouls and soft rebounding were the biggest issues. He usually has been playing with a mean streak so hopefully this will be an outlier.
-JB predictably killed Jesse in his presser while saying Buddy just missed open looks. I'm not sure what game he thinks we were watching with respect to Buddy. I also hated it when he was going to yank JG3 and then the kid hits a three so all was apparently forgiven. In the presser he said he changed his mind because Joe hit two threes which was not the case, he only made one before Symir was called back to the bench from the scorer's table. He criticized Frank for not jumping enough when rebounding and did not compliment him despite the many contributions he made last night. Then he went back and said our earlier losses were mostly attributable to poor interior defense, as if the top of our zone hasn't been an issue. JB's act was tiresome last night.
-Speaking of Symir, I thought he was excellent last night and JB's refusal to put him back in until late in the second half was mind boggling.
-Cole's shot was so pure. And he was playing within the flow of the offense and not forcing like Buddy. I really want him back next year.
-No Syracuse fan of any significant amount of time will take for granted the late game clinic JG3 put on at the free throw line.

 

[OrangeXtreme]

 

[CousCuse]

You keep the dream alive for the rest of us who have lost that feeling.

I believe in him 100%, he is too high quality of a person not to be able to work and think his way out of a rut. He justs needs to sink that first putt and then his whole game will snap into place.

 

[CousCuse]

A few thoughts on the game
-I can't remember enjoying a win less than yesterday. It felt like we played as selfishly as I can recall in some time. Buddy looked like he was in pure get mine mode. 40 minutes and no assists is hard to do with shooters like Swider and JG3 on the court with him. He really forced some awful shots. The fact that our starters COMBINED for 6 assists is telling. BC was awful and if we had played a good team there is no way we win with shot selection like last night.
-Maybe Jesse has been reading his own recent press clippings but he was awol. Thoughtless, incredibly avoidable fouls and soft rebounding were the biggest issues. He usually has been playing with a mean streak so hopefully this will be an outlier.
-JB predictably killed Jesse in his presser while saying Buddy just missed open looks. I'm not sure what game he thinks we were watching with respect to Buddy. I also hated it when he was going to yank JG3 and then the kid hits a three so all was apparently forgiven. In the presser he said he changed his mind because Joe hit two threes which was not the case, he only made one before Symir was called back to the bench from the scorer's table. He criticized Frank for not jumping enough when rebounding and did not compliment him despite the many contributions he made last night. Then he went back and said our earlier losses were mostly attributable to poor interior defense, as if the top of our zone hasn't been an issue. JB's act was tiresome last night.
-Speaking of Symir, I thought he was excellent last night and JB's refusal to put him back in until late in the second half was mind boggling.
-Cole's shot was so pure. And he was playing within the flow of the offense and not forcing like Buddy. I really want him back next year.
-No Syracuse fan of any significant amount of time will take for granted the late game clinic JG3 put on at the free throw line.

It's tourney time now, Win and advance is all that matters.

 

[CardiacCuse]

BC was 8-3 at home before today including beating Notre Dame by 16. We are a bad matchup for them because they can’t shoot against the zone.

taking away their inside scoring seemed key

 

[CardiacCuse]

yes - VT has underachieved but have talent. They seem to finally be putting it together - hoping we can stop them at their place. They return 3 starters from last year and were picked 5th in the ACC preseason rankings after Duke, FSU, UNC and Virginia (the other team coming on strong). They have 6 players shooting over 38% from 3. Our defense has to close out and guard these shooters. Both SU and VT are on league leading 4 game win streaks.

ouch...not sure this zone can stop that

will have to win in a shootout

 

[DoctahLexus]

Along with Swider, hero of the game is FRANK ANSELEM! He was fighting for every board. Even the ones he didn't grab he would often get a hand on the ball and muck it up, which lead to someone else on our team grabbing the ball. Nearly had a heart attack when JB put Jimmy at the 5 for a half second, but fortunately that seemed like a brief attempt to take advantage of a smaller BC lineup and he immediately went to Frank when they brought one of their taller guys in. I have said before that Jimmy playing the 5 is the only move I will simply never accept as a fan. Glad we seem to have left that strategy in the past (knock on wood). Frank proved with his play today that nobody beats him for that backup center role.

 

[Fly Rodder]

Not just last night, some of these fouls called on Jesse are... comical

I didn't get a chance to watch much of the game, but of what I saw yeesh. Seems like most refs will swallow the whistle if there's some contact in a scrum for a rebound as long as the contact doesn't change the outcome. Jesse had two fouls called against him like that.

 

[DoctahLexus]

I didn't get a chance to watch much of the game, but yeesh. Seems like most refs will swallow the whistle if there's some contact in a scrum for a rebound as long as the contact doesn't change the outcome. Jesse had two fouls called against him like that.

It was seriously shady. They allowed for more physicality than any refs I have seen this year, except for when Jesse did anything. Now it could be that he was doing some dumb type of contact that was clearly a foul from there perspective, but it did not look like that on TV. He is our most important player. He does commit dumb fouls, but at least a couple were barely a foul if a ref is calling a tight game and certainly not a foul if you have been allowing battles for the boards all day.

 

[CousCuse]

Along with Swider, hero of the game is FRANK ANSELEM! He was fighting for every board. Even the ones he didn't grab he would often get a hand on the ball and muck it up, which lead to someone else on our team grabbing the ball. Nearly had a heart attack when JB put Jimmy at the 5 for a half second, but fortunately that seemed like a brief attempt to take advantage of a smaller BC lineup and he immediately went to Frank when they brought one of their taller guys in. I have said before that Jimmy playing the 5 is the only move I will simply never accept as a fan. Glad we seem to have left that strategy in the past (knock on wood). Frank proved with his play today that nobody beats him for that backup center role.

I think Frank is the best backup center SU has ever had, he is at least way up on the list. If he can run the PAR play with Joe successfully, it would be huge.

 

[kuethstheman]

I think Frank is the best backup center SU has ever had, he is at least way up on the list. If he can run the PAR play with Joe successfully, it would be huge.

"Best backup center" is an interesting question. Of course, some eventual starters were great backups while waiting for their turn.

I'll nominate Danny Schayes and Baye.

 

[JDubbin]

Haha I was debating if I should post at all… probably shouldn’t, but will anyway. Here goes!

I was pumped to hop on Syracusefan like always after a game, win or lose. I was excited because Syracuse is on a nice little winning streak & grabbed an ACC road win by 9. Yay!

Cole continues to be playing well & even though Jesse was a complete non-factor, Anselem stepped in well. That’s exciting. Buddy didn’t play great & we still won on the road by 9, huge positive!

I was floored by the amount of negativity in this particular thread, especially with this particular Syracuse team. A month ago this team was considered the potential worst in the JB coaching era (at least defensively), many were resigned to to the first under .500 team in 50 years.

Syracuse has turned things around, the competition is down on this run no doubt… but if this team is as bad as is claimed, we should be reveling in every win! Instead, I see comment after comment about how it should have been played differently, substitution patterns need changing, the Boeheim brothers are black holes, etc… in a 9 point ACC road win.

As fans of the program, it boggles the mind. How many comments of “the other team sucks & is terrible!” have we seen during these wins - but you also said Syracuse sucks & is terrible, so shouldn’t this run of win’s that’s pushed the team above .500 & started (started!) to bring the Orange back into some post-season discussion thrill us all? Haha the negativity during a winning streak just doesn’t compute for me in the context of this specific Syracuse team & their clear limitations.

 

[MikeSU02]

Not just last night, some of these fouls called on Jesse are... comical

Was nice to see Benny up cheering and engaged with his other benchmates in the 2nd half - in previous games he was mostly sitting emotionless - but yeah, my god, need to get him some dunks/layups when he's in the game to hopefully kickstart him

Re Jesse, some of the fouls are jokes.

But his second foul was insanely dumb. He is way too important to get that foul.

Jesse needs to read the tea leaves better with the refs to see how the games are called, because he's not going to get the benefit of the doubt most nights. He still doesn't go up perfectly vertically and still shuffles his feet a bit on D.

Part of that is because he's compensating for lack of strength, I think, but he'll get more of those calls go his way next year, I bet.

 

[AZOrange]

A win is a win but we played like a barf sandwich.

 

[AZOrange]

Haha I was debating if I should post at all… probably shouldn’t, but will anyway. Here goes!

I was pumped to hop on Syracusefan like always after a game, win or lose. I was excited because Syracuse is on a nice little winning streak & grabbed an ACC road win by 9. Yay!

Cole continues to be playing well & even though Jesse was a complete non-factor, Anselem stepped in well. That’s exciting. Buddy didn’t play great & we still won on the road by 9, huge positive!

I was floored by the amount of negativity in this particular thread, especially with this particular Syracuse team. A month ago this team was considered the potential worst in the JB coaching era (at least defensively), many were resigned to to the first under .500 team in 50 years.

Syracuse has turned things around, the competition is down on this run no doubt… but if this team is as bad as is claimed, we should be reveling in every win! Instead, I see comment after comment about how it should have been played differently, substitution patterns need changing, the Boeheim brothers are black holes, etc… in a 9 point ACC road win.

As fans of the program, it boggles the mind. How many comments of “the other team sucks & is terrible!” have we seen during these wins - but you also said Syracuse sucks & is terrible, so shouldn’t this run of win’s that’s pushed the team above .500 & started (started!) to bring the Orange back into some post-season discussion thrill us all? Haha the negativity during a winning streak just doesn’t compute for me in the context of this specific Syracuse team & their clear limitations.

I think it’s the relative nature of the overall ACC suckitude and what could have been. BC is so bad that not having it be a 20 plus point win almost makes it feel like a loss. I know Auburn lost last night in Arkansas but watching the speed and athleticism of those two and then flipping back to our game was a stark contrast.

 

[JDubbin]

I think it’s the relative nature of the overall ACC suckitude and what could have been. BC is so bad that not having it be a 20 plus point win almost makes it feel like a loss. I know Auburn lost last night in Arkansas but watching the speed and athleticism of those two and then flipping back to our game was a stark contrast.

I don’t disagree, but in the context of this particular Syracuse team, with its extreme athletic limitations & supposed suckitude as well… now we’re supposed to win by 20 on the road in the ACC?

 

[two3zone]

I think Frank is the best backup center SU has ever had, he is at least way up on the list. If he can run the PAR play with Joe successfully, it would be huge.

Jeremy McNeil was pretty good.

 

[AZOrange]

I don’t disagree, but in the context of this particular Syracuse team, with its extreme athletic limitations & supposed suckitude as well… now we’re supposed to win by 20 on the road in the ACC?

I mean BC didnt have 1 guy that could throw it in the ocean. They were 1-15 in the first half. Their center literally dribbled all the way down the court for a layup like a third grader. Sorry but these wins are just fools gold

 

[AlaskaSU]

I believe in him 100%, he is too high quality of a person not to be able to work and think his way out of a rut. He justs needs to sink that first putt and then his whole game will snap into place.

There is no evidence that it is mental rather than skill set. What exactly is ,his whole game,? He has work to do.

 

[AlaskaSU]

Jeremy McNeil was pretty good.

Jeremy was the best at protecting the rim enabling us to full court press.

 

[two3zone]

Jeremy was the best at protecting the rim enabling us to full court press.

That full court press was a work of art, didn’t matter if the other team broke it because even a 2-1 break there was no worry because McNeil would handle it.

The game has changed a lot since then, nowadays a guy would drive and dish it out to someone on the wing for a three.

 

[djcon57]

Haha I was debating if I should post at all… probably shouldn’t, but will anyway. Here goes!

I was pumped to hop on Syracusefan like always after a game, win or lose. I was excited because Syracuse is on a nice little winning streak & grabbed an ACC road win by 9. Yay!

Cole continues to be playing well & even though Jesse was a complete non-factor, Anselem stepped in well. That’s exciting. Buddy didn’t play great & we still won on the road by 9, huge positive!

I was floored by the amount of negativity in this particular thread, especially with this particular Syracuse team. A month ago this team was considered the potential worst in the JB coaching era (at least defensively), many were resigned to to the first under .500 team in 50 years.

Syracuse has turned things around, the competition is down on this run no doubt… but if this team is as bad as is claimed, we should be reveling in every win! Instead, I see comment after comment about how it should have been played differently, substitution patterns need changing, the Boeheim brothers are black holes, etc… in a 9 point ACC road win.

As fans of the program, it boggles the mind. How many comments of “the other team sucks & is terrible!” have we seen during these wins - but you also said Syracuse sucks & is terrible, so shouldn’t this run of win’s that’s pushed the team above .500 & started (started!) to bring the Orange back into some post-season discussion thrill us all? Haha the negativity during a winning streak just doesn’t compute for me in the context of this specific Syracuse team & their clear limitations.

I think there's many answers to what you are saying...

1) You are right in that it's a little too negative when we've won 4 in a row regardless of comp

2) I think some of the "negativity" in regards to playing time, etc is in question not because of the game itself but more suggesting what happens when we play a better team

3) Some of the "these teams suck" type discussion are just in counter to the "WE'RE BACK, BABY. ELITE OFFENSE! JESSE IS THE BEST SYRACUSE CENTER EVER" talk.

I think you have the right mindset though. If you accept that this is a .500-esque team, then the wins feel better and the losses will be accepted better. We'll see how that goes down the stretch.

 

[CousCuse]

There is no evidence that it is mental rather than skill set. What exactly is ,his whole game,? He has work to do.

I'll continue to use the golf analogy. If your putter is cold, you start reaching back with your driver to put yourself in position to have shorter approach shots. Then your trying to hit shots to the pin instead of aiming for the safe landing area. The missing putts puts a lot of stuff in your head and your whole game starts malfunctioning. That's where I think his head is at.

 

[NorSyr66]

One game, soon, Benny is going to his that first jumper he throws up and that monkey will come off his back.

I have no idea what it takes to improve his shot mechanics but his shots just seem to have no chance of going in unless they are dead center. He has had several shots almost go down but spin around the rim and come out. I can only imagine the amount of time coaches have focused on improving his shots. That in itself may have him "over thinking" every shot.

 

[jdubs30]

In the presser JB said Sy played really well and he was going to put him in but then Joe hit the 2 3s so he wanted Joe to stay in. Which is fine. But it never even crosses his mind to take Buddy out in the 2H of a close game