Postgame Thoughts… VCU | Page 10 | Syracusefan.com

Postgame Thoughts… VCU

Does anybody know where JB's post-game presser is on the Postgame Videos and Articles thread? It looks like there are 2 placeholders for it (v1 and v2) from 9pm but as of now nothing is in there yet. TY.
 
At the very least couldn't CuseTroop keep us posted of whatever shenanigans he's up to in Atlantis?
At this point it’s 100xs more interesting than this train wreck.
 
Jimmy was never a great 3pt shooter so that wasn’t the expectation when he came here, and at least he’s scoring other ways. Agree on Cole - if he plays well tonight we win, and he was bad
Anything outside of being a spot up shooter he’s going to be a disappointment. We have a lot of data on him, he isn’t driving, he isn’t passing, he’s doing nothing but an open 3 (which he isn’t even doing now) and the “omg the ball landed in my hands” rebound.

His playing well depends on the rest of the team doing what it’s supposed to do, which is to give him wide open spot up shots, he can’t create and he never will.
 
What if VCU made one of their ten wide open shots they missed? This rabbit hole goes both ways. They played like crap and still beat us.
not to mention the first half was only in our favor because VCU was turning the ball over at an impressive rate, under no duress.
 
not to mention the first half was only in our favor because VCU was turning the ball over at an impressive rate, under no duress.
VCU literally did zero to show me they’re good at basketball. The only thing they did was pressure us. Any team we play that doesn’t pressure our ball handler deserves to lose the game.
 
VCU literally did zero to show me they’re good at basketball. The only thing they did was pressure us. Any team we play that doesn’t pressure our ball handler deserves to lose the game.
VCU is not good. Pretty confident about that. I knew that going in.
 
VCU literally did zero to show me they’re good at basketball. The only thing they did was pressure us. Any team we play that doesn’t pressure our ball handler deserves to lose the game.

We took Girard out of the game with them, and Buddy and Jimmy shot 11-30. That is more than pressing. They also shot over 57% the second half and only 4 turnovers and 19 assists. Not saying they are good, but they were good enough to beat most doing that the second half as a defensive team. Congrats to them.
 
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Anything outside of being a spot up shooter he’s going to be a disappointment. We have a lot of data on him, he isn’t driving, he isn’t passing, he’s doing nothing but an open 3 (which he isn’t even doing now) and the “omg the ball landed in my hands” rebound.

His playing well depends on the rest of the team doing what it’s supposed to do, which is to give him wide open spot up shots, he can’t create and he never will.
I still have hope that Cole can get it going. But I wonder if we would have been better off having Griff come back for a second year. He was way more productive—until the end of the season.
 
cole has potential to score from all over the floor, They just arent falling. He took 7 twos and 7 3's today. All pretty open looks. His shot is only hitting the rim once, couldn't hurt trying to put a little more arc on it in warm ups.
 
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not to mention the first half was only in our favor because VCU was turning the ball over at an impressive rate, under no duress.
And half of those turnovers were completely unforced. VCU was struggling to make basic, open passes
 
So what happened last night?
A TEAM, a well coached T-E-A-M pressed and outran the Orange.
With 10 minutes left in the 2nd half Buddy and Joe were out of gas
and couldn't play D.
We have seen 3 well coached TEAMS attack the 2-3 zone effectively.
And these are non-ACC teams.
Hey JB!! These are basketball games where teams press, rebound and run.
They are not 3 pt shooting contests where kids stand next to a ball rack
and heave 24 ft jumpers.
 
Swider and Benny - their lack of production is KILLING us.

I think everybody else is who we thought they were so far.

Swider was supposed to be one of the best shooters in the country, and Benny was supposed to be an impact stud freshman.

We can’t have 2-14’s and 0 point games out of them.

We need 15 ppg and 40% from 3 out of Swider, and we need at least 8-10 ppg out of Benny so that his dynamic athleticism can be on the court as much as possible.
 
Swider and Benny - their lack of production is KILLING us.

I think everybody else is who we thought they were so far.

Swider was supposed to be one of the best shooters in the country, and Benny was supposed to be an impact stud freshman.

We can’t have 2-14’s and 0 point games out of them.

We need 15 ppg and 40% from 3 out of Swider, and we need at least 8-10 ppg out of Benny so that his dynamic athleticism can be on the court as much as possible.
This is def the crux of the problem, along with our overall poor defense in the zone. Man, I wish we’d held onto one of Q, Griff or Braswell. We need some athleticism on the wing.
 
At the simplest level, the zone is built on the fact that college players are poor three point shooters … so the offense is built around college players shooting three pointers.
Not only that.

- 15 years ago most teams only had a few guys who could shoot, if that. And the shooters back then were not consistently hitting from way deep like they are now. Even “bad shooters” in 2021 can make it if you leave them open. That strategy doesn’t work like it used to.

- most teams have a big man now who can make a play at the foul line. Again, this worked well when most big men didn’t really have ball skills. But in 2021, most every D1 team will have a guy they can put at the foul line who can make a shot, pass or dribble. Colgate and VCU both had big guys who did whatever they wanted. Once VCU put Stockard there, it was game over.


The zone works great if you have athletes who can make the rotations, cut off passing lanes and cover a lot of space. Add that to the fact that most teams only had a few playmakers and we could sag off the non-offensive threats. But in 2021 even the low majors now have a handful of guys who can make shots and at least 1 big who can play at the foul line area.

Offensive basketball is too skilled now to rely on the zone. When teams like VCU and Colgate can figure the zone out so quick and have no trouble getting what they want, it makes uoi cringe thinking about playing Nova, Indiana, the ACC, etc
 
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Buddy, Jimmy, and cole need to bring the ball up when they do. Let Sy and Girard be worried about the half-court alone. Worrying about both gets them out of rythum and will never create a fast break, ever. At least Girard can pull up from 3 in transition.
Jimmy and Buddy are shaky dribbling. We need them filling lanes and spotting up for threes.
 
This is def the crux of the problem, along with our overall poor defense in the zone. Man, I wish we’d held onto one of Q, Griff or Braswell. We need some athleticism on the wing.
It’s crazy how much of a difference those guys made last year in the zone. None of them were even particularly good defenders (Braswell was solid, AG was the worst) but at least last year we didn’t look completely outmatched athletically.
 
Swider and Benny - their lack of production is KILLING us.

I think everybody else is who we thought they were so far.

Swider was supposed to be one of the best shooters in the country, and Benny was supposed to be an impact stud freshman.

We can’t have 2-14’s and 0 point games out of them.

We need 15 ppg and 40% from 3 out of Swider, and we need at least 8-10 ppg out of Benny so that his dynamic athleticism can be on the court as much as possible.

Didn't Benny finish outside of the top 30? he was our highest recruit and a high recruit overall - so we crowned him Carmelo - and reality is he is very raw - as for Swider - he didn't play a lot of Nova because they are very good and he is not good enough for them
 
Didn't Benny finish outside of the top 30? he was our highest recruit and a high recruit overall - so we crowned him Carmelo - and reality is he is very raw - as for Swider - he didn't play a lot of Nova because they are very good and he is not good enough for them
There’s an enormous difference between Carmelo and what he’s doing so far. I don’t think any of us thought he’d be either of those things.

I figure a 4 star/borderline 5 star recruit can come in and be…..freshman Paul Harris(who was seen as disappointing) at least? Give us 9 and 5? Something. He’s doing nothing.
 

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