Random thoughts/questions/musings

[samspann1]

I haven't had a chance to read other posts (just got home from the games), so I apologize if some (or all) of this has been covered:

- Obviously, a disappointing way to end a season, especially against a mediocre opponent. But, we had been playing with fire for most of the season, and some of these close games were bound to go against us, as they did during our late-season swoon.

- I love Ennis and all, but I do not want to see him shooting the ball 21 times a game, and I really don't want to see him shooting from outside late in a close game, when he hadn't made an outside shot all game long. I had no issue with the last shot of the game, but the shot before that, I just didn't get. Why not drive the ball?

- Speaking of Ennis, what happened on that turnover late in the game, when we were down 1? It looked like he literally bounced the ball to a Dayton player, who then passed ahead for an easy 2.

- we had 4 assists. All game. The entire team. We didn't really pass the ball well all year, especially inside. This led to too much standing around/iso play, not enough motion, and crappy offensive performances.

- IMO, the turning point was, with us up 3, Ennis porked up a 3, which missed. Dayton grabbed the board, scored an "And 1", but missed the resulting FT. Gbinije grabbed the board, but tossed the ball to a Dayton player while falling to the floor. Dayton scored, and went up by 1. 6-7 point swing right there.

- Speaking of Gbinije, I loved what he brought to the table today. But why the f&*$ did he try to pick up his shoe, while Dayton had the ball on offense? Siebert hit an open 3-pter, because G was out of position trying to pick up his apparently ill-fitting shoe (he lost it twice in the 2nd half).

- When was the last time we didn't hit a 3 for an entire game? I don't think that we had one today.

- Simply put, we needed more from Grant. IMO, today exhibited that Ennis and Grant are not ready for the rigors of the NBA. Both need to work on their strength & conditioning, and work on their shooting.

- In the 2nd half, as the shot clock was running out, Dayton heaved a 3, which didn't draw iron. Kavanaugh grabbed the airball, and laid it in. It looked to me (in live action, and, thanks to the NCAA, with no replay) that he released the ball just after the shot clock hit zero. What did the replays show?

- Cooney's "Flagrant 1" was also not replayed at the arena. Was the call legit?

- Thanks CJ and Keita. Two good kids, who gave SU their all, and represented SU well and proudly. I wish we could have seen them don the orange a few more times, but such is life. Best of luck to them in their future endeavors.

- Here's to hoping that Ennis & Grant come back, and they & Cooney work on their games, the 3 sons make the sophomore leap, and the frosh are ready to contribute next season.

 

[samspann1]

Couple more:

- Did it seem like Fair didn't touch the ball very much in the last few minutes of the game? Odd strategy, IMO.

- Bravo, refs, for missing an obvious foul on a 3-pt attempt by Cooney.

 

[jdubs30]

I haven't had a chance to read other posts (just got home from the games), so I apologize if some (or all) of this has been covered:

- Obviously, a disappointing way to end a season, especially against a mediocre opponent. But, we had been playing with fire for most of the season, and some of these close games were bound to go against us, as they did during our late-season swoon.

- I love Ennis and all, but I do not want to see him shooting the ball 21 times a game, and I really don't want to see him shooting from outside late in a close game, when he hadn't made an outside shot all game long. I had no issue with the last shot of the game, but the shot before that, I just didn't get. Why not drive the ball?

- Speaking of Ennis, what happened on that turnover late in the game, when we were down 1? It looked like he literally bounced the ball to a Dayton player, who then passed ahead for an easy 2. He tried to do a crossover and the Dayton player just knocked it away; happened to go right to another Dayton player.

- we had 4 assists. All game. The entire team. We didn't really pass the ball well all year, especially inside. This led to too much standing around/iso play, not enough motion, and crappy offensive performances.

- IMO, the turning point was, with us up 3, Ennis porked up a 3, which missed. Dayton grabbed the board, scored an "And 1", but missed the resulting FT. Gbinije grabbed the board, but tossed the ball to a Dayton player while falling to the floor. Dayton scored, and went up by 1. 6-7 point swing right there. Bad luck there. Good rebound by G but he lost his footing and either had to take the travel or attempt to pass it; wonder if it was his shoes that caused the stumble

- Speaking of Gbinije, I loved what he brought to the table today. But why the f&*$ did he try to pick up his shoe, while Dayton had the ball on offense? Siebert hit an open 3-pter, because G was out of position trying to pick up his apparently ill-fitting shoe (he lost it twice in the 2nd half). In that situation the shoe was behind the 3pt line; it was much more likely that Ennis or he would have tripped over it while trying to play defense; it's very likely Ennis didn't even know that G lost his shoe.

- When was the last time we didn't hit a 3 for an entire game? I don't think that we had one today. 1995 was the tournament game we didn't hit a 3

- Simply put, we needed more from Grant. IMO, today exhibited that Ennis and Grant are not ready for the rigors of the NBA. Both need to work on their strength & conditioning, and work on their shooting. Grant was bad today. Invisible on offense.

- In the 2nd half, as the shot clock was running out, Dayton heaved a 3, which didn't draw iron. Kavanaugh grabbed the airball, and laid it in. It looked to me (in live action, and, thanks to the NCAA, with no replay) that he released the ball just after the shot clock hit zero. What did the replays show? I definitely caught that too. The only showed the replay going to commerical, it must of nicked the front of the rim; otherwise, it was definitely a violation; I was shocked they didn't talk more about it.

- Cooney's "Flagrant 1" was also not replayed at the arena. Was the call legit? Call was correct by the rule. Siebert was in Cooneys "space", but Trevor definitely made contact with him. Siebert didn't flop so the call probably looked worse than it was, but by the book it was the right call.

- Thanks CJ and Keita. Two good kids, who gave SU their all, and represented SU well and proudly. I wish we could have seen them don the orange a few more times, but such is life. Best of luck to them in their future endeavors.

- Here's to hoping that Ennis & Grant come back, and they & Cooney work on their games, the 3 sons make the sophomore leap, and the frosh are ready to contribute next season.

 

[djcon57]

- In the 2nd half, as the shot clock was running out, Dayton heaved a 3, which didn't draw iron. Kavanaugh grabbed the airball, and laid it in. It looked to me (in live action, and, thanks to the NCAA, with no replay) that he released the ball just after the shot clock hit zero. What did the replays show?

- Cooney's "Flagrant 1" was also not replayed at the arena. Was the call legit?

I thought so too at first...did not hit rim, but it looked like Kavanaugh got it off before shot clock.

Cooney's was legit based on the ridiculous rule...but it's a really dumb rule and Cooney was being fouled as he did it.

 

[samspann1]

I thought so too at first...did not hit rim, but it looked like Kavanaugh got it off before shot clock.

Cooney's was legit based on the ridiculous rule...but it's a really dumb rule and Cooney was being fouled as he did it.

Yes, he was fouled before the "elbow". It's quite annoying that the NCAA deems it necessary to censor replays, in order to shield their incompetent refs from booing.

 

[jdubs30]

I thought so too at first...did not hit rim, but it looked like Kavanaugh got it off before shot clock.

Cooney's was legit based on the ridiculous rule...but it's a really dumb rule and Cooney was being fouled as he did it.

I understand the elbow rule. But to me Siebert was under Cooney's chin, I thought the offense player still had the right to the "space". All in all he made 1 of 2 FTs and it was Dayton's ball anyway so it was only a 1pt advantage; but I didn't think Cooney's elbows were wild at all.

 

[jdubs30]

Yes, he was fouled before the "elbow". It's quite annoying that the NCAA deems it necessary to censor replays, in order to shield their incompetent refs from booing.

I was shocked that you could go to teh replay adn T him up for an elbow, but not charge him with an offensive foul during the play? If you went to the replay you obviously thought it was wild enough, so why not call it an offensive foul too? Makes no sense

 

[samspann1]

I understand the elbow rule. But to me Siebert was under Cooney's chin, I thought the offense player still had the right to the "space". All in all he made 1 of 2 FTs and it was Dayton's ball anyway so it was only a 1pt advantage; but I didn't think Cooney's elbows were wild at all.

that 1-pt was pretty important, though.

 

[BludOrange]

Couple more:

- Did it seem like Fair didn't touch the ball very much in the last few minutes of the game? Odd strategy, IMO.

They started doubling him, soon as he would touch the ball in the last few minutes.

 

[jdubs30]

They started doubling him, soon as he would touch the ball in the last few minutes.

Ennis was getting to the bucket pretty much at will towards the end anyway.

But that's what made that jumper with 10 seconds left that much more frustrating.

 

[kuethstheman]

I understand the elbow rule. But to me Siebert was under Cooney's chin, I thought the offense player still had the right to the "space".

Apparently no rule in college about offensive player having space, per some expert quoted elsewhere tonight.

 

[kuethstheman]

I was shocked that you could go to teh replay adn T him up for an elbow, but not charge him with an offensive foul during the play? If you went to the replay you obviously thought it was wild enough, so why not call it an offensive foul too? Makes no sense

It is a foul. Not a T.

 

[Ghost]

Ten random thoughts!

1. Did it seem like we were making a concerted effort to go into Rak more than usual (b4 abandoning it). Kind of surprised. Maybe we should have done it more, he and G seemed to be the only ones capable of making shots most of the game. That one put-back early in the second half that Rak missed off one of many missed lay-ups by Ennis though was kind of painful.

2. Not sure why Grant didn't touch the ball much. Would have liked to see him get the ball in an iso more often. He tried a couple spin moves, looked like he got fouled on one, stripped on the other, but otherwise was very quiet. He did hit our only jumper though.

3. As mentioned before, G, who cares about your stupid shoe????????? Play defense. Ugh.

I said that rebound where he tossed it over to Dayton was a huge play at the time, forgot about it until you mentioned it. That missed open three hurt too - but it was in and out. Much closer than Cooney's one attempt in the second half on the kick out by Xmas. Just ugly....

4. I thought Ennis was fairly bad all night. I would have been VERY happy to give 7-8 of his shots to Grant. He dictates the pace for us, plays sooooo slow, so when he does that AND shoots a lot, the whole offense is even more blah than usual. At least Grant would do some fun spin move, or insane bank shot that leaves you wondering how he even got it close to the rim. Meanwhile, nobody else can make a regular lay-up.

Also, even in the midst of his game saving comeback he had that ridiculous turnover, an airball on a lay-up (bailed out with the foul, replay showed there was no contact on the play), etc...topped off by the strangest decision ever. That fadeaway, how did that ever seem like a great idea. If anyone is taking a mid-range jumper, gotta go with CJ.

5. Rak/G/Grant were a combined 9-13 from the field, with 15 rebounds, 0 assists....and they had our only two jump shots made for the night.

6. Cooney/Ennis/Fair were a combined 13-41, 14 rebounds, and 4 assists. When was the last time we had a guard combo this offensively challenged? Huh, never saw I would see the day that Rak/G were our best offensive players - in the same game.

7. That missed travel call....you can go to the tape to review an elbow but not the guy hopping around like he's walk on a bed of coals? Seems a little ridiculous somehow.

8. Christmas played 37 minutes (3 fouls total), so to everyone that said he was incapable of playing without fouling - booooooom!!!

9. Cooney is too one-dimensional to be a starter. And the way he shot at the end of the year (even with plenty of decent looks) turned him into a zero-dimensional player. You may be able to win with a placeholder down low, but your shooting guard, not happening.

10. Dayton did everything they could do to lose the game. We just couldn't take it.

 

[OttoMets]

Ten random thoughts!

1. Did it seem like we were making a concerted effort to go into Rak more than usual (b4 abandoning it). Kind of surprised. Maybe we should have done it more, he and G seemed to be the only ones capable of making shots most of the game. That one put-back early in the second half that Rak missed off one of many missed lay-ups by Ennis though was kind of painful.

2. Not sure why Grant didn't touch the ball much. Would have liked to see him get the ball in an iso more often. He tried a couple spin moves, looked like he got fouled on one, stripped on the other, but otherwise was very quiet. He did hit our only jumper though.

3. As mentioned before, G, who cares about your stupid shoe????????? Play defense. Ugh.

I said that rebound where he tossed it over to Dayton was a huge play at the time, forgot about it until you mentioned it. That missed open three hurt too - but it was in and out. Much closer than Cooney's one attempt in the second half on the kick out by Xmas. Just ugly...

4. I thought Ennis was fairly bad all night. I would have been VERY happy to give 7-8 of his shots to Grant. He dictates the pace for us, plays sooooo slow, so when he does that AND shoots a lot, the whole offense is even more blah than usual. At least Grant would do some fun spin move, or insane bank shot that leaves you wondering how he even got it close to the rim. Meanwhile, nobody else can make a regular lay-up.

Also, even in the midst of his game saving comeback he had that ridiculous turnover, an airball on a lay-up (bailed out with the foul, replay showed there was no contact on the play), etc...topped off by the strangest decision ever. That fadeaway, how did that ever seem like a great idea. If anyone is taking a mid-range jumper, gotta go with CJ.

5. Rak/G/Grant were a combined 9-13 from the field, with 15 rebounds, 0 assists...and they had our only two jump shots made for the night.

6. Cooney/Ennis/Fair were a combined 13-41, 14 rebounds, and 4 assists. When was the last time we had a guard combo this offensively challenged? Huh, never saw I would see the day that Rak/G were our best offensive players - in the same game.

7. That missed travel call...you can go to the tape to review an elbow but not the guy hopping around like he's walk on a bed of coals? Seems a little ridiculous somehow.

8. Christmas played 37 minutes (3 fouls total), so to everyone that said he was incapable of playing without fouling - booooooom!!!

9. Cooney is too one-dimensional to be a starter. And the way he shot at the end of the year (even with plenty of decent looks) turned him into a zero-dimensional player. You may be able to win with a placeholder down low, but your shooting guard, not happening.

10. Dayton did everything they could do to lose the game. We just couldn't take it.

I should preface this by reiterating that this was a team loss, but Ennis played poorly. We can't have him taking 21 shots. Too many times we kick the ball around the perimeter and end up with him getting us into another set with 15 on the shot clock. It's not an offense.