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Message: [QUOTE="Niastri, post: 5556384, member: 722"] A few more random thoughts. After the starters went out with a four player substitution (plus Starling who was already out with his hamstring injury), at first glance, things started to look a little ragged on offense and defense. We went through an 0-6 shooting slump in the next 3 minutes with Anthony, Fennell, Betsey, White and Souare, and gave up our first baskets of the game. But it was deceptive, this second unit played good defense, just not as good as George and Kyle, who were just killing it on defense. The second unit also missed 4 wide open threes, where even the best defended shot (a Betsey air ball from the right wing) could hardly be called contested. All of them were good shots, which is was I was worried about. So far in this rewatch, at the 13 minute mark of the game, Syracuse has made no threes, but taken no bad threes. So that is a good thing. Our guys will make threes if they continue to take good open threes. It is fun watching these guys standing at the free throw line. You get a sense of just how big they are. Betsey for instance is looking like a linebacker at the line. Whatever Harris does to these kids, they are physically transformed from their last season highlights. Speaking of Harris, his sideline celebrations are going to become legendary. That dude is a nut. But he's our Mad Mouse. (nickname approval submitted to [USER=297]OttoinGrotto[/USER] ). I wonder if they make him sit on the end of the bench so he doesn't accidentally run on the court when he gets excited. He was definitely on the baseline once or twice. They gave Kyle a chance to show off the post moves which were so prolific at South Dakota State (13 ppg, .623 FG%) and the results weren't good. One time he got blocked, another time stopped by a smaller player which almost resulted in a turnover, and they seemed to go away from giving him the ball after that, even when he did get position. Even when he was switched to a smaller player. But nobody is going to complain about his post offense if he has games like this. He is great receiving the alley oop even on bad passes. So good, guys might get some turnovers with sloppy passes just expecting he'll go up and get it. George threw one away exactly this way in the second half. We'll take 8 Kyle dunks every game happily though, even if it means the occasional turnover. When the second unit came out and the starters returned, Zephir was in Starlings spot with the starting group. I seriously hope Red has more nuance than that with rotations going forward. I really wanted to get a chance to see Anthony (the likely Starling replacement while he is out) get some run with the first unit. I was pleased when Fennell and not Zephir came in for George later in the half. On a Binghamton possession out of bounds play, White had a closeup and could be seen tapping Anthony on the back when Anthony was a little out of position on the defense. I thought that little bit of visible leadership from White was huge, especially concerning Anthony, the biggest name in the freshman class. The defense in the first 15 minutes was insane. Binghamton had only 6 points at the 5 minute mark. It's hard to give up only 47 for a game and say the defense let down. But Binghamton had a much easier time scoring in the second half and in those last five minutes. It is hard to keep that extreme defensive intensity when you are up by a big amount, but the peak of the defense seems to be a truly shutdown defense. Very fun to watch. Freeman had a favorable matchup to start the second half, guarded by #10 Beverly, listed at 6'9, 200lbs. Beverly seems to be an explosive athlete, but Freeman pushed him around in the post a few times, and Beverly fouled him three consecutive possessions. This was the first example I have seen of Red forcing the ball to Freeman, who proceeded to really affect the game. Anthony had kind of a "loud" 15, and the same for Kyle's 16, but Freeman had a very quiet 20 to lead all scorers. He is just so good. There is a noticeable dropoff when George is on the bench and either Fennell or Zephir are running point. It was never more noticeable than when both Fennell and Zephir were out there. I promise I will eventually stop complaining about Zephir (maybe.) At the 10 minute mark in the second half, we had 55 points, we scored 30 in the last 10 minutes. Excellent fun game to watch. [/QUOTE]

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