Postgame Thoughts... Houston (NCAAT)

[JustPherU]

That’s fair

 

[Cusesky8214]

I don't think I know more than him.

But I do not believe that he's infallible.

If I were a complete dbag I'd bump a particular thread right now and blame it on the drinks I've consumed tonight and being in a bad mood...damn it though it would probably be pretty fun and get fired up in a hurry! I'll behave though...I think we're all in for some fun in the coming days anyways.

 

[skurey]

If I were a complete dbag I'd bump a particular thread right now and blame it on the drinks I've consumed tonight and being in a bad mood...damn it though it would probably be pretty fun and get fired up in a hurry! I'll behave though...I think we're all in for some fun in the coming days anyways.

 

[Cusesky8214]

View attachment 198936

Lol...no I'll let someone else do it. Im sure its going to make a comeback fairly soon anyways.

 

[CardiacCuse]

I hadn't noticed Kadary was on a short leash.

for shooting he is.

 

[syrBossHogg]

Pretty crazy year all things considered, looked like Sidibe/Griffin/Woody we're going to be key contributors at the beginning and then it ended up being Kadary/Jesse/Buddy/Braswell at the end. Also some roster drama but eventually lead to a decent tourney showing.

Par for the course year in our ACC tenure.

 

[Cusesky8214]

 

[samspann1]

Figured he'd throw a hissy fit at some point.

 

[Cusesky8214]

 

[Cusesky8214]

 

[skurey]

"Hey coach why did you do a coaching move?"

"Unbelievable"

 

[STEVEHOLT]

People need to be honest with themselves and realize Jim Boeheim wanted to win this game more than any of us.
How in the heck they think they know better than him on who should play and when is almost incomprehensible.
Everyone has the right to their opinion, but does anyone honestly think they know more than that guy about his team?

Your argument is an argument against ever questioning any coaching move by any coach ever...

Having information and drawing the correct conclusions from that information are completely separate entities. People have biases that can lead them to suboptimal decision making despite a wealth of info... otherwise informed people would always make the best decision every time .. and history has shown us this is certainly not the case

 

[oTTo113445]

JB did everything he could tonight. You can't always play the way you want to. Houston forced us to drive and pass out of doubles, we did a pretty good job at that but the shots wouldn't fall. At one point Joe missed two open threes then Boeheim missed one had we made 2 of those we tie the game up. Team left it all on the court.

 

[rrlbees]

he was tired. It was obvious as he sat on the bench.

 

[Melancer46]

Jesse was awesome tonight and I say that as someone that basically has t given him any credit at any other moment in two years. Breathed much needed life into the team.

Kadary was good as usual. He and Jesse helped turn the game for awhile there.

Buddy stepped it up a bit in the second half but Houston’s defense was built around forcing him to dribble and then pouncing on him once he does and he did not handle it well in the first half, forcing bad shots, making bad passes, etc.

All in all, fun tournament run. Weird season with Griffin disappearing down the stretch, Braswell showing unexpected life, and Buddy taking his game to a different level.

Curious to see what this offseason holds for this team.

 

[JustPherU]

Your argument is an argument against ever questioning any coaching move by any coach ever...

Having information and drawing the correct conclusions from that information are completely separate entities. People have biases that can lead them to suboptimal decision making despite a wealth of info... otherwise informed people would always make the best decision every time .. and history has shown us this is certainly not the case

If you make a decision and don’t get the results you were looking for does that make it a wrong decision?
I said everyone has a right to their opinion, but I can pretty much guarantee you that JB played the players he knew gave him the best chance at winning.

 

[pokercuse08]

We've had frustrating tournament losses before in my time as a 'Cuse fan, obviously, but this was a new and different kind of frustrating. We didn't use our best lineup enough and basically everybody who could contribute on offense was WAY off.

Not having the talent to generate offense against that defense? Fair enough. But Boeheim leaving Kadary on the bench too much? Super frustrating.

Buddy having a bad shooting night because Houston is great defensively? Fair enough. But a couple of those turnovers were cringe-worthy.

Marek getting outmuscled by better athletes? Ok, but with Edwards on the bench? Ugh.

It was so obvious when we went to Kadary and Edwards in the first half that U of H wasn't ready for it. Sampson was screaming and yelling at his team, we were disrupting them at the defensive end, and we were generating some offense and drawing fouls. We were taking them out of a good game plan and comfort zone.

If we stuck with that and fell short, at least we'd know we had no shot. Going out this way feels gross.

I also would have liked to see us focus more on the offensive end with the lineup. The zone wasn't confusing them or denying them opportunities. They were running good stuff and getting decent looks more often than most do against us, but they're just not a good shooting team. So giving up a little length and athleticism on the wing by moving Buddy to the 3 might not have made a big difference defensively, and could have helped us score more.

It's the catch-22 of Jim Boeheim, though. You get all the benefits of the zone, and often get teams peaking at the perfect time, but when you draw a bad matchup in the tourney and need to do something creative, he's too stubborn and can't deviate from his modus operandi.

Unfortunately it's hard to win six NCAA tourney games in a row without breaking character or making some adjustments to survive a bad matchup.

I think at halftime it was clear there were a couple strategies to employ:

1. Maximize minutes for Kadary and Edwards, and have Kadary create offense from his penetration.

2. Aggressively try to get U of H in more foul trouble, especially Grimes. Getting their only real shooter on the bench let's us play different lineups thinking offense first instead of defense first.

3. As a last ditch, let Buddy and JG just start chucking up threes from deeeeep.

But instead Boeheim stuck to his script, which was hard to watch. You had two great defensive teams that were offensively limited. It became clear we were holding them to like 60-65 because they couldn't shoot, but that meant we needed to score 61-66. We needed to think offense first, and that's just not the way Boeheim operates. And they weren't confounded enough by the zone to give us turnovers and easy buckets. If you stop the tape on their possessions just before the shot goes up, they were really effective against the 2-3.

It also makes me wonder about the preparation. That look we see from other teams that clearly aren't ready for our zone? Yeah, that's how we looked against Houston's aggressive man-to-man defense early on. Completely unprepared.

Ultimately, it's hard to watch a game like that and not wonder what the ceiling is on this era of Syracuse basketball. If we're not getting top notch recruits who can create their own offense against elite defenders and/or we're not playing our best lineup or making in-game adjustments, can a Boeheim team compete against the top 5-10 teams in the country on the biggest stage?

I guess our best hope is better recruiting/transfers.

 

[two3zone]

I know what you're saying, but Kadary didn't add anything tonight.

His defense was far better than anything else we saw at the top of the zone tonight.

Don’t worry, you won’t have to see him add anything else for us ever again. Enjoy Joe.

 

[two3zone]

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.

It’s house money until you realize you’re a capable team to win a string of games. We could’ve beaten Houston because we are better than them, and the next game, come on, we should be in the final four, our best players didn’t play and we lost. This is turning into football where we are happy we played a good team close and this blows.

 

[two3zone]

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.

Joe gives up more points than he can score outside of the miracle game he ends up with 20.

 

[two3zone]

Defense was the problem tonight?

We got outscored so partially.

This is your 4th post defending Joe over Kadary, you’re either blind or biased.

 

[two3zone]

Jesse was +10 in 19 mins of play.

JB said he was tired.

so there you go...thats why we didn’t start the 2nd half with him?
whatever

I was irritated but now I’m just ticked off. Same coach who said multiple times kids don’t get tired. We’re literally at the end of the year and you have a player who was tired and they only played 19 minutes.

Give it up Jim, you looked foolish calling him “not ready” for an entire season yet every time he plays he plays well enough to show he deserves time that you won’t give him then trash him in a presser saying he’s not ready.

 

[two3zone]

No, we didn’t. SDSU was a 6 and WVU was a 3. Houston earned that 2 seed. Don’t be surprised if they get to the Final Four and beat Baylor.

Only you would believe the teams are seeded by how good a team actually is.

 

[two3zone]

I’m not putting anything on Edwards. I’m just saying that with him, or without him, we were not good enough to beat Houston. Not tonight. Not most nights.

Which shows you know shi t about basketball which you show by a majority of your posts.

 

[two3zone]

he was tired. It was obvious as he sat on the bench.

I guess Jesse tired is better than whatever we threw out there instead.