Postgame Thoughts… Virginia

[AlaskaSU]

The double team is usually the center and the #4 (preferred) or #3 depending on which side of the lane everyone is on. The opposite side guard has to cover 2 men but the big would have to make a cross-court pass to get to them.

I know that is how it is usually done. I thought that Bennet did it differently today so as to prevent a pass to our forwards.

 

[kcsu]

We beat the spread and we will always have 2016.

Glad we pressed.

I posted a few weeks ago that applying pressure was something Jim should try early. Before we get behind. Not as a comeback tool but rather a strategy to speed the game up. To wake our team up as we almost always have very poor starts.

 

[OrangeDW]

We were down by 20 to Pitt and lost by 1.

We were down by 23 to Virgina and lost by 6.

But we “aren’t a good pressing team”.

Too bad. A team that lacks an outside game and has a hard time scoring in the half court against the good defensive team could sure use a good pres.

A comfortable guy comes into the game too comfortable and his team warms up too comfortable and plays too comfortable and his same comfortable starting lineup is usually comfortably losing by 10, which he’s comfortable losing by until we’re comfortably into the second half.

Whole squad might as well sit in those old, stupid Dunk And Bright recliners until the game is 3/4 over.

 

[Cusefan0307]

WTH does a hundred years have to do with now? I’m realistic. I gave up my orange colored glasses long ago. Some has to let folks know the emperor has no clothes. I long ago moved away from living in Orange fantasy land. You know, the one where the people who believed JB when he said this was his best class ever live.

What head coach has Syracuse ever hired away from a peer program? I’ll wait. Heck, for WBB, we went to UB so we could hire an alumnae.

Years ago, in the BE, when the program was rocking, SU could have had a number of highly successful successors for JB. Now, JB has been allowed to run the program into the ground. We are in no one’s discussions for ACC champs, let alone NCAA champs.

One problem is that the area and the university have no real differentiators (location, weather, other unique industries for spouses to work), to elevate it enough to leave a peer school. No successful HC is going to make a lateral move to Syracuse. Particularly to follow a HOF coach.

Names people throw out are just lunacy: Few, Wright, Bennett, etc. Crazy. If you want to believe SU can, or will, hire such a coach, you’ll only be disappointed.

Now, maybe a guy like Sampson would want to leave Houston to go to the ACC, but I don’t consider Houston as a peer school.

I never once said anything about JB’s class this year. Read.

 

[oTTo113445]

A senior Braswell and Benny really would have helped today.

 

[73CAV]

If you’re good enough, they’ll bend the rules

I don't wish to intrude on this discussion, but I think I have something to contribute here. First, there really are enough good players who can qualify. (I think much of this can be attributed to the increasing number of prep schools focusing on sports. They are doing a better job of preparing kids academically than public schools have done.) Second, there is certainly some bending of the rules when it comes to admissions. The bigger issue, though, isn't getting them past the admissions process. It's keeping them eligible. While there are some majors which are less demanding than others, there are no really "jock friendly" programs in which to hide the unqualified. They still have to compete in the classroom with the general study body. When Al Groh was coaching the football team, he managed to muscle more than a few marginal students through admissions. The result was an unacceptable number of academic suspensions and dismissals. Coach Bennett has not lost a single player to grades of whom I am aware. Finally, WRT recruiting: the kids who are attracted to Virginia typically find the academics appealing. Recruits who wouldn't qualify typically aren't interested in what UVa is offering, anyway.

 

[DoctorBombay]

Go watch a press conference from 2004-2007 it’s literally the same thing. I don’t what to tell you, he has never liked the press and never liked press conferences.

You're talking apples and oranges, no pun intended. Reread my initial post- I'm not debating JB's hostility to the media nor how he deals w/ them since that's a well-known given. What I was saying is that the pressers, especially after a loss, all begin to sound the same, ie; " so-and-so needs to whatchamacallit better", or " that's a very good team over there, maybe the best we'll see, etc etc".
There's never a mea culpa of "I, as the HC, need to do a better job w/ blah blah blah".
I don't need to see, nor do I particularly care, if JB is a condescending jerk w/ the press. I'm just tired of the "losers lament" (look it up), because it's happening alot more frequently, and the message, like the coaching strategy, doesn't seem to change.

 

[Trueblue25]

Eh a day later and I’m less ok with the game.

The lineup choices in the first 10 minutes put us in such a hole that it was almost impossible to come back.

Coaches didnt put us in a position to win yesterday.

The complaints about JB are well known but I just don’t see how our bench staff is top 40 calibre at all. Have hardly ever been impressed with them aside from some sprinkled in recruiting wins over the past several years

 

[DCUNITED13]

Honestly, we were not expected to win this game. We were a double digit underdoog. In fact a majority of the posters I read were predicting a beatdown and we move on to the rest of the season. I'm moving on.

There were a number of things that went better in the 2nd half, however, it took a while to develop, primarily is that we missed Bennie. Not necessarily that he would turn the game around, but that he was the pracitice piece all week/season. Coaches adjusted and then had to have the players adjust. Some did, some did not right away.

I'm glad, I could not wager on this game, I would have picked the under and UVA +Points. LOL

Go CUSE

 

[Capt. Tuttle]

A comfortable guy comes into the game too comfortable and his team warms up too comfortable and plays too comfortable and his same comfortable starting lineup is usually comfortably losing by 10, which he’s comfortable losing by until we’re comfortably into the second half.

Whole squad might as well sit in those old, stupid Dunk And Bright recliners until the game is 3/4 over.

SU starters have always been comfortable yet we don’t have a consistent history of slow starts. The issue is the talent and lack of intensity and urgency at the tip.

 

[IthacaMatt]

Seriously it’s so delusional what people think this program is and how we can just pull some of these guys who already have such better situations. There is zero allure to the program right now

The first part I disagree with. We have one of the highest grossing basketball teams in the country, despite the inferior conference TV contract. We play in a Dome, and we have great fan support.

Sure, a guy like Mark Few or Tony Bennett or Jay Wright isn't ever leaving what they built to come here. You might even say that some of these younger guys who are tearing up the SEC (like Oats) would never come here because of the disparity in the conference and donor money.

But in Alabama, Arkansas or at LSU, football is always going to be king. Then there is also the culture of actually living in the South when you're not coaching a basketball game. Surely, that's not for everyone.

When you look how Kelvin Sampson was run off at Oklahoma and then Indiana, but now he has a Final Four quality team at Houston, I don't think we should act all high and mighty like we are above giving some quality coach like Sean Miller a second or third chance.

 

[IthacaMatt]

Could be, but neither have proved they can recruit ACC talent.

Paulus hasn't proved he is more than a .500 coach in a minnow league so far.

 

[IthacaMatt]

We only have 1 press . We don’t have some 2-2-1 take time off the clock nova press

Gosh, maybe we should give him some more time, and he might learn it and teach it to the team. He's only had 47 years so far.

 

[IthacaMatt]

A comfortable guy comes into the game too comfortable and his team warms up too comfortable and plays too comfortable and his same comfortable starting lineup is usually comfortably losing by 10, which he’s comfortable losing by until we’re comfortably into the second half.

Whole squad might as well sit in those old, stupid Dunk And Bright recliners until the game is 3/4 over.

What's kind of sad is that their practices are very much "go through the motions" / "do the usual routine" the 5 or 10 times I've seen them practice over the years. There's actually usually far less intensity than I would have expected.

 

[STEVEHOLT]

Gosh, maybe we should give him some more time, and he might learn it and teach it to the team. He's only had 47 years so far.

We were running an occasional 2-2-1 press a few years ago in the pre conference, and while it didn’t result in many turnovers or points off turnovers , it did seem to manage to reduce the opponents time to set up and probe the zone. But then he just mysteriously junked it one day and it’s never returned.

 

[cusefan88]

Cuse only plays on ESPN three more times this season. They know Cuse isn't any good. Will be interesting to see how ticket sales go. The Dome has looked sparse at times.

 

[SyrRocalo]

Seriously need to snap up Matt Langel from Colgate. We should have taken Nate Oats from UB; now he killing it at Alabama.

 

[longtimefan]

I'd prefer to comment on this game, rather than the state of the program.

In addition to the clash of styles vs UVa, which has killed us since we joined the ACC, there is the issue of the composition of the two rosters. As concerned me during the off-season, we are sending fuzzy-cheeked frosh out to battle fully developed men--see Mintz-Brown-Taylor vs. Clark-Franklin-Gardner. Next season (assuming they all return) Mintz should be more under control, Brown should be stronger, Taylor should be better-equipped to get into scoring position.

The big disappointment yesterday was Edwards. He has played against Virginia before, and he knew that the Cavs were going to bring the big-to-big double team, but he didn't make them pay. Of course, some that would have been taken care of if there had not been so many missed 2-footers.

On defense--Bennett carves up our zone better than anyone other than Pitino or Self. Clark gets the ball in the middle, and finds the open man almost every time (and Beekman did too, with 7 A's). It's one thing when they're passing off for layups, another entirely when they have good 3-point shooters like they did 2 seasons ago with Hauser and Murphy. This year, they have Franklin and McNeeley(?), and get the occasional snipe from Clark and Beekman. So defending this UVa team is more than problematic.

Could Williams have helped? "Good Benny" might have. But, he only shows up every third game.

We get the rematch at our place in 3 weeks, so we can hope for signs of improvement. And "hope" is the operative word.

 

[AZOrange]

Good point.

JB has never really pressed to control tempo. We've pretty much only ever see the 1-2-1-1 kamikaze style, and mostly only when behind by a lot. JB will occasionally man press to attempt to deny entry pass, and then quickly drop out if they don't get the steal or immediate trap.

IMO, the 2-2-1 3/4 court press is the PERFECT compliment to the 2-3.

Yes because it does not allow the offense to set. When we pin back it’s like an invitation for them to run whatever they want

 

[AZOrange]

Interesting comments from JB in the presser. Pretty much pencil In Maliq at this point. And JT will be the 2 when the other guy goes

 

[tptcuse]

I liked JB’s reason for JBA starting. Said he didn’t want to tell Brown he was starting for the first time in front of the home town crowd.

I don't understand what he meant by that comment. Was he being snarky?

 

[Cuse181]

You're talking apples and oranges, no pun intended. Reread my initial post- I'm not debating JB's hostility to the media nor how he deals w/ them since that's a well-known given. What I was saying is that the pressers, especially after a loss, all begin to sound the same, ie; " so-and-so needs to whatchamacallit better", or " that's a very good team over there, maybe the best we'll see, etc etc".
There's never a mea culpa of "I, as the HC, need to do a better job w/ blah blah blah".
I don't need to see, nor do I particularly care, if JB is a condescending jerk w/ the press. I'm just tired of the "losers lament" (look it up), because it's happening alot more frequently, and the message, like the coaching strategy, doesn't seem to change.

Why would he do that? Like why would you expect he would do that? He hasn’t done it for 46 years so he isn’t going to start now. I just don’t understand what coach all of you have been watching. He has never been one to talk down about another team (after a win or a loss), he has never questioned the zone and he has never been one to say “I screwed up.” He isn't going to start at 75. It sounds like he’s been “losers lamtent-ing” more lately because the team has LOST more lol jfc

 

[Cuse181]

I don't wish to intrude on this discussion, but I think I have something to contribute here. First, there really are enough good players who can qualify. (I think much of this can be attributed to the increasing number of prep schools focusing on sports. They are doing a better job of preparing kids academically than public schools have done.) Second, there is certainly some bending of the rules when it comes to admissions. The bigger issue, though, isn't getting them past the admissions process. It's keeping them eligible. While there are some majors which are less demanding than others, there are no really "jock friendly" programs in which to hide the unqualified. They still have to compete in the classroom with the general study body. When Al Groh was coaching the football team, he managed to muscle more than a few marginal students through admissions. The result was an unacceptable number of academic suspensions and dismissals. Coach Bennett has not lost a single player to grades of whom I am aware. Finally, WRT recruiting: the kids who are attracted to Virginia typically find the academics appealing. Recruits who wouldn't qualify typically aren't interested in what UVa is offering, anyway.

Are we just going to pretend Duke and UNC are not elite academic institutions who are able to keep their top players eligible? Schools find ways to do it because they are revenue generating assets.

 

[007]

Yes because it does not allow the offense to set. When we pin back it’s like an invitation for them to run whatever they want

And all you really have to do is show it with token pressure to take some time off the shot clock. It's kind of like pulling guys from the lane during foul shots. JB obviously sees more benefit in having the D set in the 1/2 court.

 

[IthacaMatt]

Cuse only plays on ESPN three more times this season. They know Cuse isn't any good. Will be interesting to see how ticket sales go. The Dome has looked sparse at times.

That's one of the things that really sucks about our decline - we're not anywhere in the coverage anymore. We're not at all in the conversation of the talking heads. I mean, there wasn't even an article in ESPN or the Washington Post of the Syracuse - Georgetown game. It didn't matter. That's so hard to believe. But that's where we are right now.