Quick hitters just back from the game...

[Marsh01]

How can that be? Igor told us in the chat room, and I quote, "JB sucks".

You can't make this stuff up, folks.

Jesus. Miserable

 

[007]

*Ennis is the key to the team. His play will dictate the outcome of most of our games. Hard for us to play well without him contributing on the offensive end. He needs to score.

*Ah...I didn't see the referees clamping down on hand checking. This was allowed to be a rock fight.

*Nice collective gut check for the team, nice response on key possessions.

*i like CJ, but I'm not convinced he's an elite scorer. He needs to keep 85% of his offense within 15 feet. When he faces the basket from 19 feet out, he's starting his move too deep requiring too much bounce to get to scoring locations.. He should work inside and flash to open spots for threes. Tough to watch him force it.

*Trevor can do more than shoot. He should keep driving.

*Jb has some tough decisions every night at the five. Ghidorah the three headed monster is almost a possession by possession decision, Baye the Defender, Rak the Athlete and DaJuan the Rebounder are almost one complete player...almost.

*Free throws. Ugh.

Bottom line is that this team has some real offensive shortcomings that might be difficult to overcome. There are no easy points.

Our defense can be great, but our guards are not nearly as effective preventing entry passes as last year. Much more pressure on the bigs.

We are gonna get housed on the road a couple times this year...prepare for it. I can see some serious offensive droughts in our future.

Great post, Jake. I agree with all your points.

I am kind of shocked that the board "seems" to be ok with this take, given all the 2 and 3 loss total predictions. This is not a top 10 team, at least not yet.

Like last year's team, this team is going to continue to struggle to score every night due to the absolute lack of an inside scoring threat. Without at least a threat of inside scoring - and those of you waiting for DC or Rak to finally "come around" or for the offense to get them "more touches" are going to continue to be disappointed, IMO - teams will take away Cooney and CJ on the perimeter, lay way off of Grant until he takes it to the basket, and use whoever is guarding the 5 to double on all penetrations.

Ennis absolutely needs to be a scorer for this team not to have 10+ losses this season (I know I will get lambasted for that). Fortunately, given the emphasis on how fouls will be called, CJ, Grant, SilentG, and the guards will be able to, and will have to, take it to the basket and get to the foul line. I think we also have to press more and I think this team might be one of JB's best group of athletes in terms of pressing and using numbers. JB also has 15 fouls to use from the back of the press at the 5.

Whether JB opts to press before we are behind is a different story all together though. I will say this, the job JB did last year getting that team to the final 4 is part of why the court has his name on it. It will be very interesting to see where he takes this team.

 

[OrangeTown]

Like I said tonight, we have so many players with a lot of room to grow or develop. Other than CJ, Baye and Rak who have all shown us pretty much what we'll get, every other plaster can improve a lot over time and if most of them do, even just a little, the cumulative effect could have a big impact on the teams improvement this year.

When I first read this, my first instinct was to say, "that's not true - Rak hasn't shown us everything we'll get yet!"

But now that I think of it, I think I've grudgingly accepted that he may never develop into a player that can take advantage of his physical gifts. I will continue to hold out a sliver of hope that we're wrong.

 

[Marsh01]

Great post, Jake. I agree with all your points.



Ennis absolutely needs to be a scorer for this team not to have 10+ losses this season (I know I will get lambasted for that).

He most certainly does. You are right. Last year MCW didnt have to be that type of player but this year we need him to be more of a score first type of player.

I still think people are being too hard on him. Hes a freshman and will make freshman mistakes all season. We get spoiled with these first year players coming in and expecting them to be a dominant player. He isnt that type of player and anyone who thought that got sold a bill of goods. He will be a completely different player in March.

We are going to take some lumps this season which is fine. Again we have been spoiled by the regular season success the past 4 years. Learn from these types of games and move on. I for one cant wait to see how we respond against 4 straight BCS schools coming up.

 

[Marsh01]

When I first read this, my first instinct was to say, "that's not true - Rak hasn't shown us everything we'll get yet!"

But now that I think of it, I think I've grudgingly accepted that he may never develop into a player that can take advantage of his physical gifts. I will continue to hold out a sliver of hope that we're wrong.

I want Rak to be that type of player but he just isnt. He is no different IMO than Terrance Roberts. You knew with him there was a ceiling and that he was never going to get higher than that line and that was just it. Same with Rak. Occasionally you will get a type of game from him that will make you think he has turned the corner and then he lays an egg the next game. With the three headed monster that we have all I care is that we get one of them to play good each game.

 

[007]

He most certainly does. You are right. Last year MCW didnt have to be that type of player but this year we need him to be more of a score first type of player.

I still think people are being too hard on him. Hes a freshman and will make freshman mistakes all season. We get spoiled with these first year players coming in and expecting them to be a dominant player. He isnt that type of player and anyone who thought that got sold a bill of goods. He will be a completely different player in March.

We are going to take some lumps this season which is fine. Again we have been spoiled by the regular season success the past 4 years. Learn from these types of games and move on. I for one cant wait to see how we respond against 4 straight BCS schools coming up.

I'm with you, Marsh. I also think that the toughness of the pre-conference schedule, even though this team is going struggle to win, is exactly what this team will need to figure out their identity.

 

[SUfanNC]

I agree that guard play will most likely define this season. I think Ennis has so much room to grow and as the season goes on should become comfortable. Cooney will be fine and seems like he is the type that needs to see the ball go in a few times for him to be a true threat that game. They both need to be confident and as the season progresses they will get it. I would rather have them stumble early a few time to be able to dial it in come conference play and tourney time. I think the three headed monster is really between Coleman and Bay. I love Rak but as stated earlier he is more TRob than I care to see. Maybe something will click but at this point I don't expect it to. Colman has the highest ceiling but I think getting caught in this trifecta is hurting his actual game development . CJ and Grant will be solid all year and hopefully the bench can fill in when certain players are off. Would like to get to final game in Maui and would like to beat Indiana if we stumble a few times and lose pre conference it will be fine as long as the guards get something from it. Last night was a stumble and we still won. I'm excited to see how we develop this year.

 

[longislandcuse]

I for one, can't wait for us to play some high major teams. We've seen a bunch of mid/small-majors schools rise up and beat or scare big name schools this season. Michigan State looked very good against Kentucky and since then has looked like us against 2 smaller schools.

I'm hoping this team is one that shows us how talented they are when they aren't looking bored all game.

 

[Jack Hall]

I could not agree more your assessment on our offense and how they play Trvor, CJ and Grant! And the you say who ever is guarding our 5 will rotate over when someone drives...EXCTLY...IMO this is exactly why cole has to play!! When Tyler or Trevor or CJ or Grant drive it and our center is left open, they need to finish! Rak and Keita just don't, Cole can. Most especially what he did last night, they left big cole to defend a little jumper after the drive and then Cole was there for the tip in . Rak and Keita just don't do that well. They rarely seal out an opponent because they are not as strong as cole and they don't have a great nose for the ball. When Cole was in we scored the ball. When he was out we didn't, other than last three mins. Coles defense needs to improve so he can stay out their for his o. But let's not kid ourself. Keita and rak weren't much better on d...

 

[Jack Hall]

I for one, can't wait for us to play some high major teams. We've seen a bunch of mid/small-majors schools rise up and beat or scare big name schools this season. Michigan State looked very good against Kentucky and since then has looked like us against 2 smaller schools.

I'm hoping this team is one that shows us how talented they are when they aren't looking bored all game.

Great post

 

[TexanMark]

Firrst off I love CJ...one of my favorite Cuse players of all time...but, CJ is not a "Go-To" guy. He is deadly as a complementary player with another great athlete/scorer as #1. That said I don't see a consistent scorer to help allevaite the burden off CJ. There will be nights CJ scores less than 10 points and we struggle and lose to lessor teams. Right now I see this team struggling to make the Sweet 16. The good news is Coach has a few months to grow the team. The ACC is not as tough as the old Big East...

One last thing? Can we be at least mediocre and make 68% of our Free Throws?

 

[SoBeCuse]

I

I agree with most of that. I will disagree a bit with Cooney. At the ACC level of play I think he is pretty much a shooter only at this point. He can go around guys who are running at him but then what? He has no pull-up or floater that I've seen, and he isn't finishing at the rim in the ACC. I don't think it's a lack of athleticism, he just needs to add a little variety to his game.

This is entirely possible but at least he's driving now. Teams are closing out hard on him and he's using it to his advantage now by driving. I would love to see him drive then kick to say Ennis for a three but all these guys right now are having that tunnel vision towards the basket. Crashing into help defenders, not dishing, etc. Something we see here way too much.

 

[SoBeCuse]

Firrst off I love CJ...one of my favorite Cuse players of all time...but, CJ is not a "Go-To" guy. He is deadly as a complementary player with another great athlete/scorer as #1. That said I don't see a consistent scorer to help allevaite the burden off CJ. There will be nights CJ scores less than 10 points and we struggle and lose to lessor teams. Right now I see this team struggling to make the Sweet 16. The good news is Coach has a few months to grow the team. The ACC is not as tough as the old Big East...

One last thing? Can we be at least mediocre and make 68% of our Free Throws?

Yeah, I agree with this. Excellent complementary player but he doesn't have the moves or athleticism to take over a game. Few do. We'll see. If we really work on screening then Cooney will have a good season and could possibly be scorer number 2.

 

[jimsonjunction]

Yeah, I agree with this. Excellent complementary player but he doesn't have the moves or athleticism to take over a game. Few do. We'll see. If we really work on screening then Cooney will have a good season and could possibly be scorer number 2.

Eh. I think he is a go-to player. 22 points against Michigan in the FF (twice as many as any other player on the team). In the BE Championship last year at MSG, he kept us in it against Louisville with 21 pts on 7-10 shooting. In the three games prior to SF, he's scored 20, 26, and 19.

Not everyone can play great all the time. And he's not going to play like Carmelo Anthony. But he does have the ability to put this team on his back for stretches at a time, and with the game on the line, he's who I want with the ball.

 

[SoBeCuse]

Eh. I think he is a go-to player. 22 points against Michigan in the FF (twice as many as any other player on the team). In the BE Championship last year at MSG, he kept us in it against Louisville with 21 pts on 7-10 shooting. In the three games prior to SF, he's scored 20, 26, and 19.

Not everyone can play great all the time. And he's not going to play like Carmelo Anthony. But he does have the ability to put this team on his back for stretches at a time, and with the game on the line, he's who I want with the ball.

We can agree to disagree. He made a bunch of short jumpers in those games with the defense paying so much attention to MCW and Southerland. I think that our points are relevant to CJ being the man now and trying to deal with extra attention. He doesn't have the kind of arsenal to deal with that and he won't be able to carry the team on his back this season. Maybe if others step up and we become a really well-rounded team.

 

[Jack Hall]

Eh. I think he is a go-to player. 22 points against Michigan in the FF (twice as many as any other player on the team). In the BE Championship last year at MSG, he kept us in it against Louisville with 21 pts on 7-10 shooting. In the three games prior to SF, he's scored 20, 26, and 19.

Not everyone can play great all the time. And he's not going to play like Carmelo Anthony. But he does have the ability to put this team on his back for stretches at a time, and with the game on the line, he's who I want with the ball.

Yep just one really bad game. IMO he has looked disinterested in first four games. Minn game should be interesting

 

[DoctorBombay]

For CJ to be most effective, we need a second scorer to emerge...consistently. If that's Cooney, or Ennis, or Jerami- doesn't matter.
But as of now, all teams will do is focus on our main man, CJ, and dare someone else to beat them.
As someone said in another thread, all last night showed is that we lack a 2nd scorer.

 

[Dave85]

I thought TC did a good job bringing the ball up the court. I thought TE and MG as 1 and 2 was a very interesting combination in terms of defense. The only saving grace from last night's egg was the team going on a 10-0 run to end the game and CJ and Grant going 4 for 4 from the free throw line. Other than that, this year's team is clearly a work in progress!

But I also want to add St Francis played a very good game. It was not all the Orange not playing well. St Francis really hassled Ennis around the court. And I thought St Francis did a very good job taking CJ out of his game.

 

[Jack Hall]

For CJ to be most effective, we need a second scorer to emerge...consistently. If that's Cooney, or Ennis, or Jerami- doesn't matter.
But as of now, all teams will do is focus on our main man, CJ, and dare someone else to beat us.
As someone said in another thread, all last night showed is that we lack a 2nd scorer.

True, grant is the 2nd scorer in terms of a designed offense. Grant had a good game last night. Tyler just needs to penetrate and find grant in better spots with more space. That's why I want cole out there (if he isn't a defensive liability) ...if Tyler penetrates and finds cole, cole should finish. Or get the tip in like he did last night.

 

[TexanMark]

You know you are a big time program when three people ribbed me today at work in Texas about Cuse almost losing to St Francis-Brooklyn.

 

[Dave85]

You know you are a big time program when three people ribbed me today at work in Texas about Cuse almost losing to St Francis-Brooklyn.

Any team from NYC is going to be tough. The basketball culture in NYC is insane. It's not like they have a lot of soccer fields like they do in Texas!

 

[cuseguy]

You know you are a big time program when three people ribbed me today at work in Texas about Cuse almost losing to St Francis-Brooklyn.

Be thankful you're not a Miami fan.

 

[SWC75]

True, grant is the 2nd scorer in terms of a designed offense. Grant had a good game last night. Tyler just needs to penetrate and find grant in better spots with more space. That's why I want cole out there (if he isn't a defensive liability) ...if Tyler penetrates and finds cole, cole should finish. Or get the tip in like he did last night.

Yeah, if we'd had Ethan we'd have won by 20.