Postgame Thoughts... Houston (NCAAT)

[orangeinohio]

At stage four of the five stages of grief - depression

 

[billsin01]

I realize this team isn’t “great”

But the Final Four was legitimately in reach. I believe that.

so disappointed - my girl is hiding the razor blades as we speak lol

Yeah -- knowing that you're playing oregon state if you win is the toughest part of this loss, IMO. Not saying we win but you're not playing some loaded juggernaut.

 

[sugrad68]

46 points is the worst an SU team has scored in the tournament. Houston defense is good but not that good. SU offense sucked tonight. No excuses.

 

[tptcuse]

they don’t understand defense is half of the game, its fine

Defense was the problem tonight?

 

[EnviroSciGuy]

It just makes no sense. You can play Marek at 5, against certain times for stretches for offensive reasons. Like we did Warrick at times(who was a billion times the player and athlete) back in the day for SMALL stretches. But starting Center? Cmon.

Jesse is decent. Frank probably is too, but who knows? He won’t be “ready” until he’s 22.

Joe over Kadary. Cmon.

At this point, I just hope the roster doesn't get decimated and JB doesn't go out a loser. Even if we backfill a few guys from the portal, the system takes too long to learn. We could be in a very precarious spot.

 

[Mchandl8]

Well, I'm sure all the coaches here will have plenty of solutions that JB didn't think of but I agree with your point.

Here's the reality on the rotation: JB played a bunch of Kadary and Edwards and it helped but we don't have a guy on this roster who is going to break down that type of pressure defense, which means we have to run crisp sets all game long. That's not our strong suit and showed up in the loss.

Here's the reality: the tourney is often about matchups. Even when you have a great team, a little luck can help out. This wasn't a great team, it was a decent team that could look pretty impressive at times. We saw a lot of that this year -- really, really strong stretches, followed by some pretty awful stretches (or vice versa) ... often in the same game.

Houston is a top 10 team that plays junkyard dog defense and they just made it really tough for us to get clean looks at any point.

So what should we have done with the rotation? I'm not really sure. It's easy to say 'sit marek!', which makes sense, except you've got two issues here -- who plays in his place and how do you sit a guy who has been such a key figure for you all year? As far as the first question -- I wouldn't have minded seeing more griffin but he has been brutal and wasn't good in this game on either end. Q was every bit as bad as Marek. So maybe it's buddy at the three, Q and Edwards with Girard and kadary? But people would have b!tched about that as well.

There was no answer on the roster for this particular game (I'm more than willing to admit that there were questionable rotation decisions for much of the season, by the way).

Your point on the weak takes is a good one -- Q and Marek were just not strong enough to the rim. Buddy got swallowed up. It happens. Thought Joe actually played decently but that one three he took instead of swinging it to buddy was ... not great.

It always sucks to lose but it's the fate of 67 teams in this tourney. Sounds like it will be an eventful offseason but I do really hope that we see a Buddy/Kadary/JGIII backcourt with Q/Edwards/Benny/Frank/Bras frontcourt next year. Would love to see Woody back as well but it doesn't sound like that's the case (no inside info, just going off the vibe on the board).

To me, you simply ran into a better team. Sucks, but it happened. Overall, I think it could have been a better season but it wasn't a bad one either

Well, I'm sure all the coaches here will have plenty of solutions that JB didn't think of but I agree with your point.

Here's the reality on the rotation: JB played a bunch of Kadary and Edwards and it helped but we don't have a guy on this roster who is going to break down that type of pressure defense, which means we have to run crisp sets all game long. That's not our strong suit and showed up in the loss.

Here's the reality: the tourney is often about matchups. Even when you have a great team, a little luck can help out. This wasn't a great team, it was a decent team that could look pretty impressive at times. We saw a lot of that this year -- really, really strong stretches, followed by some pretty awful stretches (or vice versa) ... often in the same game.

Houston is a top 10 team that plays junkyard dog defense and they just made it really tough for us to get clean looks at any point.

So what should we have done with the rotation? I'm not really sure. It's easy to say 'sit marek!', which makes sense, except you've got two issues here -- who plays in his place and how do you sit a guy who has been such a key figure for you all year? As far as the first question -- I wouldn't have minded seeing more griffin but he has been brutal and wasn't good in this game on either end. Q was every bit as bad as Marek. So maybe it's buddy at the three, Q and Edwards with Girard and kadary? But people would have b!tched about that as well.

There was no answer on the roster for this particular game (I'm more than willing to admit that there were questionable rotation decisions for much of the season, by the way).

Your point on the weak takes is a good one -- Q and Marek were just not strong enough to the rim. Buddy got swallowed up. It happens. Thought Joe actually played decently but that one three he took instead of swinging it to buddy was ... not great.

It always sucks to lose but it's the fate of 67 teams in this tourney. Sounds like it will be an eventful offseason but I do really hope that we see a Buddy/Kadary/JGIII backcourt with Q/Edwards/Benny/Frank/Bras frontcourt next year. Would love to see Woody back as well but it doesn't sound like that's the case (no inside info, just going off the vibe on the board).

To me, you simply ran into a better team. Sucks, but it happened. Overall, I think it could have been a better season but it wasn't a bad one either.

Kadary should start over Girard for sure, don't sit Marek play him at pf for this past game. We were clearly better with Jesse in. Kadary, buddy, gurrier, Marek, Jesse

 

[NorSyr66]

Sadly the last of the 2020-2021 season. Hate when it ends.

- Houston overall is just better, but we can play so much better too.

- Didn’t score 50. Sadly what I feared going in. Houston is a legit top defensive team by the numbers and we saw it.

- Each game the last few weeks I was hoping Alan would finally get going. Never seen quite a close to a year.

- Fun run to the sweet 16. Always is, no doubt about that. Shame it ended up frustratingly.

- I absolutely did not understand the rotations tonight.

- Forwards. So many weak takes tonight.

- Back to reality... we were an 11 seed.

I agree we did better than expected but I do not agree Houston is a better team. How the hell can you win when you miss open shot after open shot and bunnie after bunnie. This tean never had the killer instinct. We lived by the three and we died by the three. Not sure what happened to Griffin over the last four games? The only way Edwards should come out is total exhaustion or too many fouls. He just makes too many defensive moves to take out. Dolezaj, Buddy, Griffin, Quincy never showed up tonight. I refuse to admit we got beat...we just did not show up.

 

[jdubs30]

Benny is huge next year

 

[Cusefan0307]

Not that upset. Sucks we lost, but we lost to a better team.

 

[djcon57]

Defense was the problem tonight?

The team was better when a proper defensive team was in the game, because we weren’t scoring.

hence Jesse being effective

 

[STEVEHOLT]

also, that missed travel at 20-20...It was never a one possession game after that sequence

Please .. we had multiple possessions tied 20-20 and blew them .. if one 3 point play in the first half eliminates your chance to win the game , you were never going to win it

 

[EnviroSciGuy]

A second year Richmond would shred this Houston D. I really hope he comes back. Adding a 5 star talent to the lineup paired with the key pieces from this year gets us back over the hump.

From your lips...

 

[Alsacs]

You can't play Kadary and Edwards for 35 minutes in that game. Not enough offense on the floor.

Kadary can set people up, but Joe can put more points on the board if he gets hot. Both had to play. Our trouble was scoring tonight. Boeheim tried pretty much all his lineup options tonight.

Yes you could.
Kadary was giving us offense. He could actually drive past his guy and get good shots.
Edwards was a beast on the glass and was active the whole time.

With all the TOs they could get rest.

 

[billsin01]

Kadary should start over Girard for sure, don't sit Marek play him at pf for this past game. We were clearly better with Jesse in. Kadary, buddy, gurrier, Marek, Jesse

We saw a lot of that lineup and it wasn't enough. Q had a really rough game. It happens, maybe he's hurt. Marek really struggled at both ends but it's tough to take him off the floor. Kadary had 5 points, 1 assist, 3 TOs. People can complain about the rotation all night, it's fine. It's what this board does. We lost to a better team.

 

[OrangeDW]

At this point, I just hope the roster doesn't get decimated and JB doesn't go out a loser. Even if we backfill a few guys from the portal, the system takes too long to learn. We could be in a very precarious spot.

Who do people really think is going to leave though?

Woody? Hope not, but have accepted it.

Quincy and Griff? To the pros? Ok. Benny.

Who else though?

 

[Cuseball]

Well, I'm sure all the coaches here will have plenty of solutions that JB didn't think of but I agree with your point.

Here's the reality on the rotation: JB played a bunch of Kadary and Edwards and it helped but we don't have a guy on this roster who is going to break down that type of pressure defense, which means we have to run crisp sets all game long. That's not our strong suit and showed up in the loss.

Here's the reality: the tourney is often about matchups. Even when you have a great team, a little luck can help out. This wasn't a great team, it was a decent team that could look pretty impressive at times. We saw a lot of that this year -- really, really strong stretches, followed by some pretty awful stretches (or vice versa) ... often in the same game.

Houston is a top 10 team that plays junkyard dog defense and they just made it really tough for us to get clean looks at any point.

So what should we have done with the rotation? I'm not really sure. It's easy to say 'sit marek!', which makes sense, except you've got two issues here -- who plays in his place and how do you sit a guy who has been such a key figure for you all year? As far as the first question -- I wouldn't have minded seeing more griffin but he has been brutal and wasn't good in this game on either end. Q was every bit as bad as Marek. So maybe it's buddy at the three, Q and Edwards with Girard and kadary? But people would have b!tched about that as well.

There was no answer on the roster for this particular game (I'm more than willing to admit that there were questionable rotation decisions for much of the season, by the way).

Your point on the weak takes is a good one -- Q and Marek were just not strong enough to the rim. Buddy got swallowed up. It happens. Thought Joe actually played decently but that one three he took instead of swinging it to buddy was ... not great.

It always sucks to lose but it's the fate of 67 teams in this tourney. Sounds like it will be an eventful offseason but I do really hope that we see a Buddy/Kadary/JGIII backcourt with Q/Edwards/Benny/Frank/Bras frontcourt next year. Would love to see Woody back as well but it doesn't sound like that's the case (no inside info, just going off the vibe on the board).

To me, you simply ran into a better team. Sucks, but it happened. Overall, I think it could have been a better season but it wasn't a bad one either.

Exactly right. defense was not the issue tonight. You are not going to win games with nothing offensively from your inside guys unless Buddy drops 30. people can complain all they want about rotations but a few more m8nutes of edwards ain’t getting you 15 more points

 

[OrangeDW]

This was better ball...

 

[billsin01]

We need more guys that can attack off the dribble.

I typically find your posts annoying in the 'I'm the better coach than JB' kind of way but I can't argue with this at all. If there is one takeaway, it's that we don't have enough dudes who can truly attack a solid defender off the dribble. Hurt us tonight in a big way.

 

[skurey]

I typically find your posts annoying in the 'I'm the better coach than JB' kind of way but I can't argue with this at all. If there is one takeaway, it's that we don't have enough dudes who can truly attack a solid defender off the dribble. Hurt us tonight in a big way.

Thanks you too

 

[IthacaMatt]

We beat teams better than Houston in the tourney already…

They were good. They played great defense. Give them some credit.

 

[kuethstheman]

I think our defense at the top took a step back today. Kadary, Buddy, JG all missed multiple perimeter assignments. I realize D wasn't close to our biggest problem but that was disappointing. Might have kept us in the game if they played better.

 

[billsin01]

Exactly right. defense was not the issue tonight. You are not going to win games with nothing offensively from your inside guys unless Buddy drops 30. people can complain all they want about rotations but a few more m8nutes of edwards ain’t getting you 15 more points

Yeah. Pretty simple point, IMO. Folks here love hammering rotations. It's our pastime I guess. But there wasn't going to be a lineup to win us that game.

 

[perdurabo]

GOTTA MAKE MORE BUNNIES!

 

[tptcuse]

Yes you could.
Kadary was giving us offense. He could actually drive past his guy and get good shots.
Edwards was a beast on the glass and was active the whole time.

With all the TOs they could get rest.

Kadary: 23 minutes, 5 points, 1 assist, 3 TOs. JG3: 24 minutes, 12 points, 1 assists, 2 TOs. This game was not a roster management issue. We couldn't score.

 

[NorSyr66]

Playing with house money. Sweet 16 run despite the obvious team flaws. Tough way to go out, but this team showed some guts in the postseason.

I said the same thing earlier to my wife. Tough to lose a game we could have very easily won but when the ball doesn't go in the basket, you don't win. I can get upset about some of the misses but the bunnies we miss are devastating. WHY!! We need legitimate bigs in the middle. Jesse did a great job for us tonight and he and Frank should dominate for us next year