Postgame Thoughts... UNC (game 2) | Page 3 | Syracusefan.com

Postgame Thoughts... UNC (game 2)

Those turnovers by AG and Bras were set up by joe giving up the ball and putting those guys in horrible positions
Ha! I just posted the same thing...a day later. Just saw this.
 
-It goes without saying that the point guard position would have been improved much earlier in the season if Kadary had received the minutes we all felt he deserved. But what many of us called is how much Buddy benefits from having a real point guard playing with him. His recent offensive surge is not a coincidence. Other than the bad shot he took that only hit the backboard he had a ton of good looks. If JB had gone to Kadary more earlier in the year it really would have helped his son.
-Kadary clearly was hobbled from the beginning as he lacked some of his speed and aggression. But what I found exciting is that with only a couple of exceptions he played cerebral and under control basketball. On those occasions when he went into the lane and had nothing he took his time and either dished or got it outside to reset instead of throwing up a wild shot. His jumper also looks improved and I'm sure that will continue.
-As I said on another thread it is hard to believe JB hasn't found minutes for Jesse given our rebounding struggles all year long. One underrated thing I like about Jesse is that he didn't panic when he had the ball and nobody was open. So often you seeing bigs loose their cool and force a pass leading to a turnover. Jesse appears comfortable with the ball and much more than one would expect given his relative inexperience. Again credit this kid for staying ready all year as he watched Marek play 40 minutes.
-Speaking of which Marek looked scared out there against the UNC bigs. Despite playing the 4 he didn't look comfortable and didn't look for his offense until late. Still I was glad he got a big win as his senior season winds down, he has given us everything he has and deserves it.
-JG3 also looked scared late. I've never seen a guard run away from the ball like he does against full court pressure, which is especially frustrating given he is such a great free throw shooter. Sometimes he barely moves when the inbounder gets the ball. I just don't get it. You would think he would want the ball so he could go to the line. It is pretty evident he has lost confidence in his handle. That first half turnover was pretty good evidence of that. He also fouled way too early late and you would think he would know better.
-Great to see Quincy emerge in the second half. I don't think he has been healthy for weeks and with a new injury to play through he showed a ton of heart. I'm really excited to see what he can do next season.
-Yes the last 4 minutes was a near disaster. But a win against UNC is never something to take for granted and I'm happy for the players who played their hearts out.
 
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I have to say, I didn't realize you could run the baseline after a goaltend. Had to do a double take when Marek did that after JE blocked that 3 at the rim.
 
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In both late turnovers for AG and Braswell you could see that the trap was there before the pass was ever made to them. Those 2 were on Joe.

Absolutely correct. 144% accurate.
Called this in the game thread, it’s obviously more prominent now as he plays less minutes and it’s easier to dissect, but he’s been doing this from the first game he played here up until today. He needs to play strictly off the ball and I think even coach is starting to realize this as our freaking center was bringing the ball up in crunch time.

I keep hearing Joe is a headcase, but I don’t believe it, this is the player he is, his numbers are close to last year and slightly better. The free throws, he fell off quite a bit last year towards the end and is probably around the past quarter of the season percentage.

With Buddy at the 2 playing 35 minutes a game, there is no room for Joe here, his is a big black hole on the offensive and defensive side, we need a combo guard who can play the one and the two, it’s not Joe, too much risk, we saw what’s been happening at the beginning of every single game and then the end of the last game. We’re a mediocre to poor team when he plays and I think many issues stem to his playing time.
 
Called this in the game thread, it’s obviously more prominent now as he plays less minutes and it’s easier to dissect, but he’s been doing this from the first game he played here up until today. He needs to play strictly off the ball and I think even coach is starting to realize this as our freaking center was bringing the ball up in crunch time.

I keep hearing Joe is a headcase, but I don’t believe it, this is the player he is, his numbers are close to last year and slightly better. The free throws, he fell off quite a bit last year towards the end and is probably around the past quarter of the season percentage.

With Buddy at the 2 playing 35 minutes a game, there is no room for Joe here, his is a big black hole on the offensive and defensive side, we need a combo guard who can play the one and the two, it’s not Joe, too much risk, we saw what’s been happening at the beginning of every single game and then the end of the last game. We’re a mediocre to poor team when he plays and I think many issues stem to his playing time.
He's a run killer too. It seems like any time we start to gain momentum with a few quick baskets he either launches a quick 30 footer or a crazy pass that turns into a fast break for the opponent.
 
Can’t believe some people on here are questioning his finishing abilities when he challenged a seven footer on one of those and just barely missed. The kid is special
but, he missed. Doesn’t that tend to prove the point you were trying to disprove?
 
but, he missed. Doesn’t that tend to prove the point you were trying to disprove?
No. If it was Joe, he would have gotten blocked by the guys armpit. I've got no problem with that play whatsoever. It wasn't out of control, nor was it a desperation heave.
 
Called this in the game thread, it’s obviously more prominent now as he plays less minutes and it’s easier to dissect, but he’s been doing this from the first game he played here up until today. He needs to play strictly off the ball and I think even coach is starting to realize this as our freaking center was bringing the ball up in crunch time.

I keep hearing Joe is a headcase, but I don’t believe it, this is the player he is, his numbers are close to last year and slightly better. The free throws, he fell off quite a bit last year towards the end and is probably around the past quarter of the season percentage.

With Buddy at the 2 playing 35 minutes a game, there is no room for Joe here, his is a big black hole on the offensive and defensive side, we need a combo guard who can play the one and the two, it’s not Joe, too much risk, we saw what’s been happening at the beginning of every single game and then the end of the last game. We’re a mediocre to poor team when he plays and I think many issues stem to his playing time.
I still think Joe can have an important role on this team. It’s a luxury to have a 3rd guard who can play both the 1 and 2. His game has become a bit of a mess, but he is capable of playing stretches of competent ball at the 1, and above average ball at the 2, offensively. 15 minutes a game, spelling Buddy and Kadary, with the occasional heavier workload when he’s lighting it up from 3, would be a great role for him.
 
I still think Joe can have an important role on this team. It’s a luxury to have a 3rd guard who can play both the 1 and 2. His game has become a bit of a mess, but he is capable of playing stretches of competent ball at the 1, and above average ball at the 2, offensively. 15 minutes a game, spelling Buddy and Kadary, with the occasional heavier workload when he’s lighting it up from 3, would be a great role for him.
He can’t play the 1 though that’s the problem, if we continued on the 35 minutes a game with him all this season we’re probably.500, think about it, never has happened in JBs time here. His defense is the worst I’ve ever seen and he just isn’t a point guard, the second these coaches learned to pressure him (no idea how it took them this long to realize this) it was game over for him. His shooting stats are as bad as his defense. He can back up buddy but 5 minutes a game probably won’t fly for him, we give him 10 at the one and it’s going to be close game after close game when it doesn’t have to be. Time to move on, he isn’t a point guard by any stretch of even CuseRunners imagination.
 
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Called this in the game thread, it’s obviously more prominent now as he plays less minutes and it’s easier to dissect, but he’s been doing this from the first game he played here up until today. He needs to play strictly off the ball and I think even coach is starting to realize this as our freaking center was bringing the ball up in crunch time.

I keep hearing Joe is a headcase, but I don’t believe it, this is the player he is, his numbers are close to last year and slightly better. The free throws, he fell off quite a bit last year towards the end and is probably around the past quarter of the season percentage.

With Buddy at the 2 playing 35 minutes a game, there is no room for Joe here, his is a big black hole on the offensive and defensive side, we need a combo guard who can play the one and the two, it’s not Joe, too much risk, we saw what’s been happening at the beginning of every single game and then the end of the last game. We’re a mediocre to poor team when he plays and I think many issues stem to his playing time.

Eh, disagree somewhat. Easy to pile on the kid after a really, really rough game. I'm also not sure what his future holds here. It's debatable at best since we know Buddy's back and going to play big mins and we have to assume that Kadary could be even better ... Joe's going to have work to do to carve out a rotation role, one would have to think.

That said, he's clearly a player who's lost right now. His first 12 games he's scoring 11/game on 36% shooting from three and 86% from the line with north 4 FTs. The last 10, he's at under 8 ppg but shooting just 23% from three and .625 from the line. He's also at a 1:1 assist/TO ratio (more or less). And even those numbers are a little bloated from the Clemson and BC games. I mean, that always happens with averages, but clearly he's in his own head right now, IMO.
 
- Last few minutes were something. I was almost ready for Pitt game 1, round 2.

- Fantastic first half from Buddy, set up on some great looks by Kadary. Great second half energy from Q, with some nice finishes inside.

- Edwards practicing like crazy these days.

- Griffin had as many buckets as chase down blocks, but what a block it was.

- I know that game was rough for him, but the little things... Girard grabbing that rebound off the miss late.

- Hope Kadary is ok!
Just adding a few more observations:

-- I know Marek had a big turnover and missed an FT but man, he was big late in that game for us. Got on the floor to come up with two loose balls, had two beautiful passes (Guerrier for a dunk, Griffin for layup), the nice spinning, lefty layup and drew the foul with 1 second left on the shot clock to get a couple free throws (put us up 10 with like 2:30 left). He also was our primary ball-handler once Kadary went out and sold a foul call on one of Carolina's bigs. Kid isn't exactly an all-acc type player but man, he does so many little things that help.

-- I think we win far more comfortably if Kadary can play out the last few minutes but there was also a really weird stretch in that game where UNC got a loose ball that should have been OOB off them, a weird goal-tend three and picked up a key foul on Marek when we was clearly vertical and the kid jumped into him backwards. That stretch kept us from widening the gap even further.

-- Tough game for Griffin but he was really into the game on the sideline despite being glued to the bench for a bunch of that game. I give him credit -- he hasn't sulked when he's had bad games.

-- Weird team in so many ways. They have the ability to look really, really bad for long stretches and really, really good for long stretches.

-- Rebounding was a key, oddly. We were down 18-2 on the glass early but then were just -2 the rest of the way (final tally was 48-30) and managed to grab 11 offensive rebounds. Have to give the team credit for not folding and finding a way to get some boards (Edwards obviously was a key here).
 
- the team doesnt understand or suit JB's end-game plan/philosophy. It is like watching someone force someone else that doesnt know how to dance try to dance. they should just play it out normally. but they wont.

- UNC sucks. they are really bad. they have no shooters. they have 2 strong strengths: active athletic defense, offensive rebounding and interior beef. losing to them is embarassing. 15-9...may be the worst team they have ever had. zero NBA talent, imo.

- the first 36 minutes were about the smartest game play SU has had this year. the game plan matched the opponent well. Edwards playing was necessary to the win. glad JB did it.

- having an actual center vs center...wow. it meant that simply getting the ball within 5 feet of the basket by UNC did not mean automatic score. for once. really important...but shuldve been obvious from day 1 and especially after last year. ALSO it meant that guerrier didnt have to be gaurded by someone much bigger than him...having players at their natural positions is seemingly obvious to most. really important.

- 3 forwards and 3 gaurds...means there's gonna be some good players on the bench...this team has the talent to have a much better record, imo.

- this is a bad match up for girard...but he is a good matchup for less athletic teams. good that he didnt play much this game. was wise. lineups and tactics should match opponent.

- UNC really sucks this year. like really bad.
 

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