Postgame Thoughts... Louisville

[CousCuse]

Young team looking ahead to UVA against a team that does actually have some nice players, quite a few for a 2-10 team. Also, how many moving picks did Ville get away with?

 

[JeremyCuse]

thats Utica University now

Your right, I gotta start getting it right, especially since I went there.

 

[UpstateSM]

Benny always plays hard

 

[two3zone]

Benny always plays hard

Really?

 

[Capt. Tuttle]

Such a $hi+ commentary by all if I'm honest. Why even watch the games if you can't be happy after a tough win, I don't care who we were playing. A few of those guys were Top 25 players we lost in recruiting, they're not a team made up of scrubs.

Here's the thing...there are no great unbeatable teams in college bball this year. Lots of teams expected to be good are mediocre. Even good teams have some tough bad losses. We're 10-5, won 7 of 8, and people act like we suck. Teams that sucks lose tonight's game and a few others we won in the past month. We don't suck, we're not dreadful, we've got work to do. And we have a high ceiling and are getting much better when you zoom out and look at this team in 5 game chunks.

Louisville has nothing to do with us being a bad team.
Mintz will be good, he just needs to slow down a bit and trust his teammates. I had no problem trying to dribble out the clock. He’s a good FT shooter and if he hadn’t slipped he would have.
The 3 guys we have just aren’t enough to overcome putrid play by forwards, game in and game out.
JB has checked out on recruiting and then peddles the BS that this is his best recruiting class ever. DC and Stevie laugh at that. So do GMac and Melo, by the themselves, would be a better class. It’s like he is scuttling the program before he goes.

 

[kuethstheman]

Really?

Yes. Often, to no effect but he sure tries hard.

 

[djcon57]

I know that a lot of people are critical of JB for his rotations/substitutions this year (and every year, for that matter) but if Maliq and Taylor had both gotten more minutes tonight, maybe we don’t win… here are their stats from tonight. Maliq was a great big zero out there - and I like him - but how do you argue for more minutes tonight for a guy with that kind of stat line?

Bell: 19 minutes, 8 pts, 3 rebs, 2 asts, 1 blk, 1 to
Taylor: 21 minutes, 3 pts, 1 reb, 1 ast, 2 stls

Benny: 28 minutes, 3 pts, 3 rebs, 1 ast, 1 stl, 1 to
Maliq: 11 minutes, 1 to

Those are nice box score stats...go deeper...do you honestly think it’s just coincidence that we start every game down, then suddenly come back when he goes to the bench.

look at his BPM. Look at his defensive numbers. It’s not about him making shots, it’s that he literally does nothing else.

 

[two3zone]

Yes. Often, to no effect but he sure tries hard.

I don’t see it, unless he scores then he magically tries harder.

 

[malpearl31]

For Browns 8 points scored he gave up probably double, the lack of rebounds, losing rebounding battles with guys laying on their back, and the lack of anything other than a couple made wide open catch and shoots he is awful, not bad, but awful, one of the worst starters in the JB era.

I think you mean Bell in your reply - and not Taylor - and for what it’s worth, I just re-watched the 2nd half, and I humbly suggest that you’re wrong about Bell tonight. (Maybe the 1st half for Bell was very different, I’ll try to watch that again later.) Aside from one terrible play when Bell dropped an easy rebound right to a Louisville kid on the floor (leading to a 2nd chance bucket), I thought his 2nd half was okay.

Taylor was fine as well - had that huge steal with about 4 minutes to play on a real good rotation, but Taylor also gave up a critical offensive rebound with 2 minutes to play that led to a Louisville 2nd chance bucket (jumper by Ellis). Taylor had zero rebounds and zero shot attempts over the final 8:30… I’m not bashing the kid by any means, I just think it’s fair to note that neither Taylor nor Bell are good rebounders, and neither guy is really anything more than a catch-and-shoot guy right now. Let’s hope they both improve - I’d like them both to be returning sophomores for SU next year.

 

[djcon57]

what do I win

 

[NineOneSeven]

Is pitt good?

 

[two3zone]

Is pitt good?

Do we play anyone who isn’t good?

 

[rrlbees]

what do I win

For which tweet?

 

[djcon57]

For which tweet?

Good point...but I actually win nothing as I had it wrong in the game thread. Thought he would go with “they are a tough time to play at home”

Dinkyspond with the win.

https://syracusefan.com/threads/louisville-gameday.173416/page-30#post-4514421

 

[Cheriehoop]

Well we have won 10 fudging games... so there is that

Yup we were 8-7 last year after 15 games. 2 games better than last season to date. Sure wish we beat Pitt - they are up 2 against #11 Virginia with 27 seconds left.

 

[Delmar]

Ville was a good team today with an AMAZING crowd, we played good D.
If Judah has to pull up we don't get good momentum to the rim. Copeland could of maybe helped us get some easier ones today (won't say better looks inside) with Ben. Everyone played well except the free throws.
Overall a good team effort. A good win. Thanks, Orange that was fun.

If Rutgers Al was Orange Al.

 

[rrlbees]

Good point...but I actually win nothing as I had it wrong in the game thread. Thought he would go with “they are a tough time to play at home”

Dinkyspond with the win.

https://syracusefan.com/threads/louisville-gameday.173416/page-30#post-4514421

For 47 years JB has always talked well about opponents regardless of who they are or their record. Not gonna change now.

 

[Cuse181]

For 47 years JB has always talked well about opponents regardless of who they are or their record. Not gonna change now.

And why would he? What’s he going to say? “These guys blow”

Yeah, opposing coaches LOVE that lol

 

[djcon57]

For 47 years JB has always talked well about opponents regardless of who they are or their record. Not gonna change now.

Right, that’s why I said what I said.

Did you think that was a gotcha?

 

[cuseattle]

Yup we were 8-7 last year after 15 games. 2 games better than last season to date. Sure wish we beat Pitt - they are up 2 against #11 Virginia with 27 seconds left.

Wow, Pitt won.

 

[malpearl31]

Those are nice box score stats...go deeper...do you honestly think it’s just coincidence that we start every game down, then suddenly come back when he goes to the bench.

look at his BPM. Look at his defensive numbers. It’s not about him making shots, it’s that he literally does nothing else.

I know what Bell’s cumulative numbers are this year, and I know that they’re not good. I just didn’t think Bell was bad tonight - and to the extent that we did fall into a hole early (after actually getting out to a 4-pt lead after 5 minutes of play), I felt like that had more to do with poor, uninspired play of others, and that it didn’t really fall on Bell’s shoulders.

I was responding to a post that complained about how torturous it was to watch Bell play 30 minutes a game (which is a silly comment, he’s averaged only 16 mpg over the last 8 games dating back to November) and that same post argued for more minutes for a guy (Maliq) that almost put up an 11-trillion tonight in the box score.

Bell was okay tonight, and I think that the criticism being leveled toward him tonight is more about his reputation than it is about his performance on the court during his 19 minutes on the floor.

 

[Orangezoo]

UVA will be interesting. They lack size and big long centers have put up good numbers. They don't have a beefy 5 as Shedrick is pretty lean. Jesse should be able to get his. It's a crazy year so who knows. We have to be better than whatever that was tonight...

 

[JDubbin]

Just finished watching &… wow, haha. That was… something. Similar thoughts as most: a win’s a win & we’ll take it every time. I know fans often opine for what we once were & all that, but this is the Syracuse BBall team for 2022-2023 & I will always enjoy & celebrate a win (with an increased heart rate).

I disagree with some that Judah is a spazz, or was frazzled on the final play, he caught the ball with momentum, was running away from the defense/foul & slipped - it sucked, especially if we had lost, but I don’t think it points to the type of player he is. Players were slipping all game, it was weird. However, he did have some really bad full court ball handling turnovers tonight, more so than most games so far, it looked like he was handling it differently than usual. When he can get to the rim he’s really a great finisher. When he can’t, he get frustrated & struggles & it seems to equate to either passiveness or bad mid range shot taking.

I know the board loves Taylor. But man, I seriously forget he’s on the court half the time. He seems to have no impact on the game positively or negatively, for huge stretches, it’s actually pretty wild. I mean it’s good it’s not negative, he’s certainly… safe? But rarely is doing & anything of note on the offensive end either.

Benny Williams. It’s at the point of his career where he’s GOT to show some consistency from game to game, he’s basically the opposite of Taylor. It’s either positive with some wow moments, or a complete implosion & he looks like he’s playing with mittens on or something. Jerseys beware

I love Syracuse hoops, I don’t bother speculating what our final record is, where we fall in the tourney, etc. it seems like a waste of time to me & a fruitless endeavor. I also think it dampens my fandom (personally, not others who embrace those elements). I’m in it game to game & don’t plan on anything different for this season!

 

[djcon57]

I know what Bell’s cumulative numbers are this year, and I know that they’re not good. I just didn’t think Bell was bad tonight - and to the extent that we did fall into a hole early (after actually getting out to a 4-pt lead after 5 minutes of play), I felt like that had more to do with poor, uninspired play of others, and that it didn’t really fall on Bell’s shoulders.

I was responding to a post that complained about how torturous it was to watch Bell play 30 minutes a game (which is a silly comment, he’s averaged only 16 mpg over the last 8 games dating back to November) and that same post argued for more minutes for a guy (Maliq) that almost put up an 11-trillion tonight in the box score.

Bell was okay tonight, and I think that the criticism being leveled toward him tonight is more about his reputation than it is about his performance on the court during his 19 minutes on the floor.

That’s all fair. My only counter would be that his +/- tonight was hideous and I just don’t think it’s coincidence that the team plays better when he’s not on the floor as far as the scoreboard, not just the individual box score stats. But I respect your point (especially when folks overplay the mins thing)

 

[OttoinGrotto]

I know what Bell’s cumulative numbers are this year, and I know that they’re not good. I just didn’t think Bell was bad tonight - and to the extent that we did fall into a hole early (after actually getting out to a 4-pt lead after 5 minutes of play), I felt like that had more to do with poor, uninspired play of others, and that it didn’t really fall on Bell’s shoulders.

I was responding to a post that complained about how torturous it was to watch Bell play 30 minutes a game (which is a silly comment, he’s averaged only 16 mpg over the last 8 games dating back to November) and that same post argued for more minutes for a guy (Maliq) that almost put up an 11-trillion tonight in the box score.

Bell was okay tonight, and I think that the criticism being leveled toward him tonight is more about his reputation than it is about his performance on the court during his 19 minutes on the floor.

Bell doesn't help himself because it's like he has a magnetic fields that deflects rebounds away from him or something, but the dude takes a lot of heat on here.

He's the safe guy on the roster to pick on.

The thing is, he does some stuff. Can hit shots. Actually passes the ball into the post. Has the occasional hustle play.

I don't know what his eventual end state is, but I think he'll improve with time on the floor. Big issue is that he's thrown into a role he's not fully ready for.