Quick post-Clemson game thoughts

[RF2044]

The NCAA tournament dream is still alive! What a difference a couple of weeks make in terms of a team's outlook. At 11-9, nobody could envision that this team would turn things around -- let alone beat two top 10 teams in 8 days, and score a pair of road wins during a 5 game win streak. Tomcat and others have broken down the game in their posts, so I won't focus on that. Instead, here are a couple of observations about the team and how we're playing now:

• I love that Battle hit the shot. Not only did it give us the win, but this is going to be a confidence booster for the team. They're finding different ways to win every game, with different guys stepping up.

• Despite hitting that shot, I worry about our team defense. Last year's squad--one of the worst defensive teams in general we've had in a long time--was weak on the inside, but strong on the perimeter. And then things came together and got better when Lydon got his sea legs and started bringing a shot blocking dimension that we hadn't had most of the year. THIS year's team doesn't do anything well. They aren't very good on the perimeter contesting and / or taking away shots, they are a sieve inside, and they don't force a ton of turnovers. That we allowed a mediocre team like Clemson to go off early and jump out to an early lead was shameful. Especially when their guys are hitting runners, canning threes [when they aren't very good as a shooting team], and hitting crab-step reverse layups. C'mon. Battle's emergence has given us a tougher guy up top, and White has figured things out defensively after a rough start. And we're starting to force more turnovers. But we really, really need to tighten up the team D. Because hoping for good shooting performances isn't a sustainable way to try to win games--can't just hope to outscore teams, have to slow them down, too.

• Now that the team has exorcised whatever demons plaguing them earlier in the year, you can see he camaraderie. The players really seems to like one another, and big moments like last night can only help boost that camaraderie.

• Gillon and White are proving to be everything that they were cracked up to be. The biggest boon to overall team performance has been these two going from disappointing / frustrating to effectively performing their roles.

• Traditionally, we suck at feeding the post as a team. But in the last several games, we've begun to see Lydon getting an inordinate amount of mis-matches inside on switches, where he's guarded by a smaller player. And to the team's credit, they've recognized that and begun to feed the post, where he either gets easy scores inside or gets fouled. Good to see.

• Clemson is a team that had [prior to FSU] been playing well, despite the record. This was a dangerous team to play on the road, given our struggles. Need to keep the momentum rolling at Pitt this weekend--another team that has played much better than what their conference record implies. Can't afford to stub our toe.

• Need to win at Pitt to get to 9 conference wins, guaranteeing us a winning conference record. 9 wins with 5 games to play would be a sweet position to be in, even with the gauntlet we'd have remaining.

• We get to 11 wins in conference--which is not out of the question--this team is a lock for the NCAA tournament. Can we go 3-3 in the remaining 6 games to get there?

• If we get into the tournament, would any team want to play us right now?

• Whoever gave Frank Howard the wrong information about the foul situation at the end of the first half needs to be shot. At the very least, JB needs to chew somebody out to make sure that such a blunder doesn't happen again. Could have cost us the game, as things turn out.

• I'm not sure that I remember a year when the field is so wide open. Think about it--who is the dominant team in college basketball this year? Hint--there aren't any. Tourney is wide open.

• I love the fact that we've emerged as such a good three point shooting team. Lots of weapons. But our slow starts the last few games are frustrating, seeing us settle for and miss numerous jump shots before we get into the flow. I'd really like to see the team work inside-out for a few possessions, and allow our players to work up a sweat / run up and down the floor a few times before they start trying to make long jumpers.

• How great of a game coach is James Arthur Boeheim?

• Slowly but surely, this team has changed the narrative about our season and solidified our candidacy as an NCAA team. Earlier in the year, the narrative was: "they haven't beaten anybody." Now, we've gotten two wins over top 10 teams. Then it was: "they're conference record isn't good enough," and "they have no road wins." Little by little, game by game, we're erasing each of those disqualifiers that could have held us back from getting an NCAA berth. We still have work to do, but we're starting to check all of the boxes that the committee is going to be evaluating.

Six games to go, and we're gaining momentum with each subsequent game. Need to keep things rolling against Pitt on Saturday.


Let's Go Orange!!!

 

[Dave85]

The NCAA tournament dream is still alive! What a difference a couple of weeks make in terms of a team's outlook. At 11-9, nobody could envision that this team would turn things around -- let alone beat two top 10 teams in 8 days, and score a pair of road wins during a 5 game win streak. Tomcat and others have broken down the game in their posts, so I won't focus on that. Instead, here are a couple of observations about the team and how we're playing now:

• I love that Battle hit the shot. Not only did it give us the win, but this is going to be a confidence booster for the team. They're finding different ways to win every game, with different guys stepping up.

• Despite hitting that shot, I worry about our team defense. Last year's squad--one of the worst defensive teams in general we've had in a long time--was weak on the inside, but strong on the perimeter. And then things came together and got better when Lydon got his sea legs and started bringing a shot blocking dimension that we hadn't had most of the year. THIS year's team doesn't do anything well. They aren't very good on the perimeter contesting and / or taking away shots, they are a sieve inside, and they don't force a ton of turnovers. That we allowed a mediocre team like Clemson to go off early and jump out to an early lead was shameful. Especially when their guys are hitting runners, canning threes [when they aren't very good as a shooting team], and hitting crab-step reverse layups. C'mon. Battle's emergence has given us a tougher guy up top, and White has figured things out defensively after a rough start. And we're starting to force more turnovers. But we really, really need to tighten up the team D. Because hoping for good shooting performances isn't a sustainable way to try to win games--can't just hope to outscore teams, have to slow them down, too.

• Now that the team has exorcised whatever demons plaguing them earlier in the year, you can see he camaraderie. The players really seems to like one another, and big moments like last night can only help boost that camaraderie.

• Gillon and White are proving to be everything that they were cracked up to be. The biggest boon to overall team performance has been these two going from disappointing / frustrating to effectively performing their roles.

• Traditionally, we suck at feeding the post as a team. But in the last several games, we've begun to see Lydon getting an inordinate amount of mis-matches inside on switches, where he's guarded by a smaller player. And to the team's credit, they've recognized that and begun to feed the post, where he either gets easy scores inside or gets fouled. Good to see.

• Clemson is a team that had [prior to FSU] been playing well, despite the record. This was a dangerous team to play on the road, given our struggles. Need to keep the momentum rolling at Pitt this weekend--another team that has played much better than what their conference record implies. Can't afford to stub our toe.

• Need to win at Pitt to get to 9 conference wins, guaranteeing us a winning conference record. 9 wins with 5 games to play would be a sweet position to be in, even with the gauntlet we'd have remaining.

• We get to 11 wins in conference--which is not out of the question--this team is a lock for the NCAA tournament. Can we go 3-3 in the remaining 6 games to get there?

• If we get into the tournament, would any team want to play us right now?

• Whoever gave Frank Howard the wrong information about the foul situation at the end of the first half needs to be shot. At the very least, JB needs to chew somebody out to make sure that such a blunder doesn't happen again. Could have cost us the game, as things turn out.

• I'm not sure that I remember a year when the field is so wide open. Think about it--who is the dominant team in college basketball this year? Hint--there aren't any. Tourney is wide open.

• I love the fact that we've emerged as such a good three point shooting team. Lots of weapons. But our slow starts the last few games are frustrating, seeing us settle for and miss numerous jump shots before we get into the flow. I'd really like to see the team work inside-out for a few possessions, and allow our players to work up a sweat / run up and down the floor a few times before they start trying to make long jumpers.

• How great of a game coach is James Arthur Boeheim?

Six games to go, and we're gaining momentum with each subsequent game. Need to keep things rolling against Pitt on Saturday.


Let's Go Orange!!!

All great thoughts! Pitt is in last place in the conference. So I think we have a very good chance of beating them on Saturday.

LGO!!!

 

[RF2044]

All great thoughts! Pitt is in last place in the conference. So I think we have a very good chance of beating them on Saturday.

LGO!!!

Me too -- I just take nothing for granted when it comes to Pitt.

Hate those MF@!#$%%^&.

 

[Dave85]

Me too -- I just take nothing for granted when it comes to Pitt.

Hate those MF@!#$%%^&.

I think I hate Duke more. For me it goes Duke, Louisville, Georgetown. I only hate UCONN because people kept posting UCONN.

 

[SUOrangeSU]

If it was anyone but Pitt LOL

I hope other 5th year transfers are seeing White and Gillon right now and take it in account when they are making their decision this upcoming year

 

[cuseinseattle]

The NCAA tournament dream is still alive! What a difference a couple of weeks make in terms of a team's outlook. At 11-9, nobody could envision that this team would turn things around -- let alone beat two top 10 teams in 8 days, and score a pair of road wins during a 5 game win streak. Tomcat and others have broken down the game in their posts, so I won't focus on that. Instead, here are a couple of observations about the team and how we're playing now:

• I love that Battle hit the shot. Not only did it give us the win, but this is going to be a confidence booster for the team. They're finding different ways to win every game, with different guys stepping up.

• Despite hitting that shot, I worry about our team defense. Last year's squad--one of the worst defensive teams in general we've had in a long time--was weak on the inside, but strong on the perimeter. And then things came together and got better when Lydon got his sea legs and started bringing a shot blocking dimension that we hadn't had most of the year. THIS year's team doesn't do anything well. They aren't very good on the perimeter contesting and / or taking away shots, they are a sieve inside, and they don't force a ton of turnovers. That we allowed a mediocre team like Clemson to go off early and jump out to an early lead was shameful. Especially when their guys are hitting runners, canning threes [when they aren't very good as a shooting team], and hitting crab-step reverse layups. C'mon. Battle's emergence has given us a tougher guy up top, and White has figured things out defensively after a rough start. And we're starting to force more turnovers. But we really, really need to tighten up the team D. Because hoping for good shooting performances isn't a sustainable way to try to win games--can't just hope to outscore teams, have to slow them down, too.

• Now that the team has exorcised whatever demons plaguing them earlier in the year, you can see he camaraderie. The players really seems to like one another, and big moments like last night can only help boost that camaraderie.

• Gillon and White are proving to be everything that they were cracked up to be. The biggest boon to overall team performance has been these two going from disappointing / frustrating to effectively performing their roles.

• Traditionally, we suck at feeding the post as a team. But in the last several games, we've begun to see Lydon getting an inordinate amount of mis-matches inside on switches, where he's guarded by a smaller player. And to the team's credit, they've recognized that and begun to feed the post, where he either gets easy scores inside or gets fouled. Good to see.

• Clemson is a team that had [prior to FSU] been playing well, despite the record. This was a dangerous team to play on the road, given our struggles. Need to keep the momentum rolling at Pitt this weekend--another team that has played much better than what their conference record implies. Can't afford to stub our toe.

• Need to win at Pitt to get to 9 conference wins, guaranteeing us a winning conference record. 9 wins with 5 games to play would be a sweet position to be in, even with the gauntlet we'd have remaining.

• We get to 11 wins in conference--which is not out of the question--this team is a lock for the NCAA tournament. Can we go 3-3 in the remaining 6 games to get there?

• If we get into the tournament, would any team want to play us right now?

• Whoever gave Frank Howard the wrong information about the foul situation at the end of the first half needs to be shot. At the very least, JB needs to chew somebody out to make sure that such a blunder doesn't happen again. Could have cost us the game, as things turn out.

• I'm not sure that I remember a year when the field is so wide open. Think about it--who is the dominant team in college basketball this year? Hint--there aren't any. Tourney is wide open.

• I love the fact that we've emerged as such a good three point shooting team. Lots of weapons. But our slow starts the last few games are frustrating, seeing us settle for and miss numerous jump shots before we get into the flow. I'd really like to see the team work inside-out for a few possessions, and allow our players to work up a sweat / run up and down the floor a few times before they start trying to make long jumpers.

• How great of a game coach is James Arthur Boeheim?

Six games to go, and we're gaining momentum with each subsequent game. Need to keep things rolling against Pitt on Saturday.


Let's Go Orange!!!

I feel like it was this wide open the year UConn beat UK for the title. It was a great win and I hope we can go 3-3 the rest of the way. It really is amazing how good we could be if we even played serviceable defense. In the end if we lose a game we need to get in the tourney or lose in the tourney it is going to be a game we give up north of 80 points in my opinion. I keep telling myself we have 1 freshman and 2 5 year transfers play huge minutes but the reality is we just are not good defensively and I'm not sure we can get much better. I tend to think about some of the good halfs we have had and think we are capable of it but the more I watch the more I see those as high energy out of the ordinary performances that we probably can't replicate.

 

[OttoMets]

...

• Whoever gave Frank Howard the wrong information about the foul situation at the end of the first half needs to be shot. At the very least, JB needs to chew somebody out to make sure that such a blunder doesn't happen again. Could have cost us the game, as things turn out...

Since it turned out well, we can laugh about this. Kip Wellman's expression was outstanding - confusion on most facial features and body language, pure terror behind his eyes.

It was only topped by Frank's reaction. Sounded like Lydon or someone trailing the play yelled at him after the whistle. Frank, perhaps thinking that the shout was about the fact that he fouled the player a little hard rather than the fact that he fouled him when we were over the limit, tuned and smiled broadly and waved.

Whoops.

 

[Halfmooncuse]

The NCAA tournament dream is still alive! What a difference a couple of weeks make in terms of a team's outlook. At 11-9, nobody could envision that this team would turn things around -- let alone beat two top 10 teams in 8 days, and score a pair of road wins during a 5 game win streak. Tomcat and others have broken down the game in their posts, so I won't focus on that. Instead, here are a couple of observations about the team and how we're playing now:

• I love that Battle hit the shot. Not only did it give us the win, but this is going to be a confidence booster for the team. They're finding different ways to win every game, with different guys stepping up.

• Despite hitting that shot, I worry about our team defense. Last year's squad--one of the worst defensive teams in general we've had in a long time--was weak on the inside, but strong on the perimeter. And then things came together and got better when Lydon got his sea legs and started bringing a shot blocking dimension that we hadn't had most of the year. THIS year's team doesn't do anything well. They aren't very good on the perimeter contesting and / or taking away shots, they are a sieve inside, and they don't force a ton of turnovers. That we allowed a mediocre team like Clemson to go off early and jump out to an early lead was shameful. Especially when their guys are hitting runners, canning threes [when they aren't very good as a shooting team], and hitting crab-step reverse layups. C'mon. Battle's emergence has given us a tougher guy up top, and White has figured things out defensively after a rough start. And we're starting to force more turnovers. But we really, really need to tighten up the team D. Because hoping for good shooting performances isn't a sustainable way to try to win games--can't just hope to outscore teams, have to slow them down, too.

• Now that the team has exorcised whatever demons plaguing them earlier in the year, you can see he camaraderie. The players really seems to like one another, and big moments like last night can only help boost that camaraderie.

• Gillon and White are proving to be everything that they were cracked up to be. The biggest boon to overall team performance has been these two going from disappointing / frustrating to effectively performing their roles.

• Traditionally, we suck at feeding the post as a team. But in the last several games, we've begun to see Lydon getting an inordinate amount of mis-matches inside on switches, where he's guarded by a smaller player. And to the team's credit, they've recognized that and begun to feed the post, where he either gets easy scores inside or gets fouled. Good to see.

• Clemson is a team that had [prior to FSU] been playing well, despite the record. This was a dangerous team to play on the road, given our struggles. Need to keep the momentum rolling at Pitt this weekend--another team that has played much better than what their conference record implies. Can't afford to stub our toe.

• Need to win at Pitt to get to 9 conference wins, guaranteeing us a winning conference record. 9 wins with 5 games to play would be a sweet position to be in, even with the gauntlet we'd have remaining.

• We get to 11 wins in conference--which is not out of the question--this team is a lock for the NCAA tournament. Can we go 3-3 in the remaining 6 games to get there?

• If we get into the tournament, would any team want to play us right now?

• Whoever gave Frank Howard the wrong information about the foul situation at the end of the first half needs to be shot. At the very least, JB needs to chew somebody out to make sure that such a blunder doesn't happen again. Could have cost us the game, as things turn out.

• I'm not sure that I remember a year when the field is so wide open. Think about it--who is the dominant team in college basketball this year? Hint--there aren't any. Tourney is wide open.

• I love the fact that we've emerged as such a good three point shooting team. Lots of weapons. But our slow starts the last few games are frustrating, seeing us settle for and miss numerous jump shots before we get into the flow. I'd really like to see the team work inside-out for a few possessions, and allow our players to work up a sweat / run up and down the floor a few times before they start trying to make long jumpers.

• How great of a game coach is James Arthur Boeheim?

• Slowly but surely, this team has changed the narrative about our season and solidified our candidacy as an NCAA team. Earlier in the year, the narrative was: "they haven't beaten anybody." Now, we've gotten two wins over top 10 teams. Then it was: "they're conference record isn't good enough," and "they have no road wins." Little by little, game by game, we're erasing each of those disqualifiers that could have held us back from getting an NCAA berth. We still have work to do, but we're starting to check all of the boxes that the committee is going to be evaluating.

Six games to go, and we're gaining momentum with each subsequent game. Need to keep things rolling against Pitt on Saturday.


Let's Go Orange!!!

boy that was quick! I d like to see your not quick posts. Good job.

 

[Jasoncuse]

The poor D really revolves around Lydon and Gillon. When TL is on the wing, we are weaker in the middle with TT and with TL on the wing. He's not quick enough to make up for being out of position there, which hurts, and I think he sees the need to help more on the interior.

Gillon isn't necessarily a bad defender, but his size kills us. He can't rise up to impact shots. He can't recover like our normal zone guards do because he's 6-8 inches shorter. It's easier to recover or affect shots when you have a longer wingspan and cover more ground. What needs to stop with Gillon is allowing all the penetration. That's gotta be his focus.