cuseguy
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Need a split if they hope to make the tourney.
Rutgers Game Thread...
- Thread starter OrangeXtreme
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Need a split if they hope to make the tourney.
OrangeXtreme
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Coach P went 107-59. 1 losing season in 14 years.
Coach P's replacements are 57-101. 10 losing seasons in 13 years.
OrangeXtreme
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Alex Schoen was a Football Walk-on for 1 season. He never played LAX for us.
Only chance they have of splitting is beating ND at home. They are not going to win at Duke. Won’t be surprised if they get doubled up this weekend or have an Albany like performance.
You can talk about the offensive failures all you want but the defense has taken major steps backwards. For a unit that returned 2/3 at close and got Mellen back plus both LSMs returning, they communicate poorly and don’t know when to slide.
My fault, he walked on the football and got cut from the lax team. Point being, I’m sure he had a little extra motivation yesterday
WoodyUK
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A few observations from yesterday
We are obviously still trying to find an identity and are trying to find personnel in key areas, we still look like a team in fall ball! Playing lots of players and playing def with a short stick and still finding SSDMs!
T Bomb didn’t look mobile when he got mins on man down!
The offence are still trying to find themselves we are playing the same sets as last year but the players are not seeing the open guy soon enough and not moving the Ball fast enough. The players are concentrating on the movement and structure rather than just playing within the offence and adding their own creativity. You can also tell that certain players have the green light to do certain moves or dodges from certain places within the offence. Players always go through this development and don’t look comfortable yet as there have been so many line changes.
Confidence is down you can tell and offensively you can see why from my above statement. They look scared to try things which is the opposite of our opening game vs Bing. I think people like Dearth and Curry need to just be confident and shoot to score!
The attack should initiate the offence more when we do we score, see Solomon and Rehfuss yesterday. This attack is just not dynamic enough at this point.
Turnovers are a killer and it is unlike Cuse I think this has more to do with lack of confidence and pressure.
Def need to fight through more in the pick game you can’t let someone like Henningburg get a short stick matchup!
I still think Fusco, Kennedy, Cunningham and Mellen are doing a good job.
Madonna needs to save some of these simple shots stick side high, he moves too much in the cage.
I am also concerned that Cuse are not recruiting for spots and this leaves us with fitting square pegs into round holes! We need to do a better job of getting out and finding the SSDMs etc depending on what we need each year!
We are obviously still trying to find an identity and are trying to find personnel in key areas, we still look like a team in fall ball! Playing lots of players and playing def with a short stick and still finding SSDMs!
T Bomb didn’t look mobile when he got mins on man down!
The offence are still trying to find themselves we are playing the same sets as last year but the players are not seeing the open guy soon enough and not moving the Ball fast enough. The players are concentrating on the movement and structure rather than just playing within the offence and adding their own creativity. You can also tell that certain players have the green light to do certain moves or dodges from certain places within the offence. Players always go through this development and don’t look comfortable yet as there have been so many line changes.
Confidence is down you can tell and offensively you can see why from my above statement. They look scared to try things which is the opposite of our opening game vs Bing. I think people like Dearth and Curry need to just be confident and shoot to score!
The attack should initiate the offence more when we do we score, see Solomon and Rehfuss yesterday. This attack is just not dynamic enough at this point.
Turnovers are a killer and it is unlike Cuse I think this has more to do with lack of confidence and pressure.
Def need to fight through more in the pick game you can’t let someone like Henningburg get a short stick matchup!
I still think Fusco, Kennedy, Cunningham and Mellen are doing a good job.
Madonna needs to save some of these simple shots stick side high, he moves too much in the cage.
I am also concerned that Cuse are not recruiting for spots and this leaves us with fitting square pegs into round holes! We need to do a better job of getting out and finding the SSDMs etc depending on what we need each year!
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Orangello
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But only 16-20 his last 3 years when the program was clearly slipping.
Clear to me that the main issues are FO/Wing play and defense. Can't get the ball off a faceoff in crucial times in the game, even if they win the clamp, wings and fo guys can't come up with the loose ball. D is struggling to switch through simple picks and are not sliding in obvious sliding situations. Until these two areas improve, the team will struggle.
JeremyCuse
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The loss of Fernandez on the wing has been a huge blow. Also feels like Kennedy has hit a Freshmen wall a little bit. Was great through the UVA game but struggled vs JHU and I didn't hear his name a lot yesterday.
I thought Kennedy played ok with 3 CT and 2 GB's. I thought the SSDM's especially #8 struggled mightily. If you watch the film he was burned for at least 3 goals (with no slide to him). If they continue to struggle through pick's and do not figure out their SSDM's, it will be an ugly second half of the year defensively. I think the best options for ssdm are #90, #6, #35, #30.
Also, the gameplan for covering #7 was very questionable. #7 said in a postgame interview that they were not sliding to him, and didn't change the gameplan at all. this was an obvious mistake and oversight by d coordinator (6g's, 2a's)
It was 8-7 Cuse with 3 mins left in the 3rd before Heningberg rattled off the next 4 of 5 Rutgers goals and next thing you know its a 7-0 Rutgers run. It wasn't like he had 2 points every quarter...I believe after his 2 to end the 3rd Q, Mellen was switched off him for Kennedy.
Not defending the D coord, just saying.
Agree 100% that you need to slide quickly to the best offensive threat, especially when your SSDM gets switched on him
Jeremy and Creaserat. Did you see the game? I was at the game yesterday so can comment with some knowledge . Kennedy m2m D has been excellent and he played well again on whoever he took on yesterday , his primary was Mullins who got nothing and he switched onto Henniburg in 2nd qtr and covered him well and forced some t/o's. He later picked up Hennisburg on a switch and got screened off on a low pick by Mullins behind the cage and a wrap around as no crease slide came. If anything, Kennedy probably should have been assigned Hennisburg the whole game, the comment on hitting a freshman wall is off base unless you expect a close def to score each game or pick up 5 gbs every game. As far as Hennisburg, he is difficult because he makes you play him straight up given his vision/passing, if you dont he finds the open man , they set screens and he knows how to use them both behind the cage and above. Cuse played several screens rather poorly and that should be worked on. Hennisburg's six goals were off Mellen twice glen off high screens , Helmer, Ford, Kennedy n then Madonna passing miscue.
On a positive note, I thought O Sullivan showed well with his minutes. He not only scored but held up defensively and helps in transition. He's quick and shifty and a hard cover and helps our transition game. Varello gave us the fogo play we needed to win but excessive turnovers wasted many possessions. Team has costly lapses especially in unsettled play. Work in progres, we could easily have won this game if we had just played up to our present capabilities
On a positive note, I thought O Sullivan showed well with his minutes. He not only scored but held up defensively and helps in transition. He's quick and shifty and a hard cover and helps our transition game. Varello gave us the fogo play we needed to win but excessive turnovers wasted many possessions. Team has costly lapses especially in unsettled play. Work in progres, we could easily have won this game if we had just played up to our present capabilities
He was our best defenseman
Talking about Kennedy yesterday.
OrangeXtreme
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JeremyCuse
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I did not, only some highlights and other footage that SU and RU posted. As I noted in my earlier post I wasn't sure how he played yesterday but I thought he struggled against JHU but thats to be expected for a Frosh going against high end offenses every week. Kennedy is going to be a great player for this program and when Fernandez was healthy he was a terror on the wing but I don't think hes playing as much on the wing as he did vs UVA by design to not wear him self out. My comment about the frosh wall was simply noting that almost every frosh hits a point where they struggle for a stretch its almost inevitable. I thought Mellen was likely on Mullins which is why I was a bit confused in my comments on Kennedy. Disheartening to hear that SU had to switch Mellen off of Henninburg, not a good sign. The overall Syracuse D has been destroyed the last two weeks by picks and screens as bad as I can ever recall in the JHU game. With so many exeperienced LMS and Long poles on the field not to mention the seemingly dozen SSDMs we are running you have to wonder if coaching or lack there of is playing a big role here.
Rutgers is a good team not bad not great but good. That said there is no way they should have gone on that type of run yesterday. Rogers teams have been a mess defensively the last few years especially against teams who pick/screen a ton like JHU. I don't know what the answer is at this point to be honest. If Bomberry cant come back healthy thats a pretty big blow. At this point SU really needs to work on on communication when it comes to picks/screens and the correct slides. Shortening the SSDM rotation to 4-5 guys versus the 10 it feels like were playing right now would also help. Seeing what we have behind Madonna probably isn't the worst idea either. I certainly don't put this all on him but were reaching a Warren Hill level save % at this point.
I have no issue giving O'Sullivan more run at SSDM with Ford really struggling the past few games after what I thought was a relatively good start. Between O'Sullivan, Schwasnick, Murphy, and Dami thats 4 decent SSDMs we could rotate along with Ford as he continues to learn the position on the fly.
As for the turnovers, this is a very young team but to have the amount of turnovers we are having every game is borderlining on absurd. This team has access to a full feld basically 24/7, young squad or not there is no way in heck this team should be turning it over this much. There are multiple issues plaguing this team right now and this team seems destined to finish under .500 for the first time since 07. I was fine with a semi rebuilding year based on what we lost to graduation and our incoming youth but this is reaching a scary level.
#30 is OSullivan, thought he showed well yesterday . Helmer does not appear to be 100% yet and neither does Bomberry. Injury to Fernandez does shorten depth because Helmer to ssdm was also an option. Another ssdm option that could be considered is moving Dearth back there . Believe he did a fairly good job there last year but that can't be done if Lipka out which was the case yesterday. Wonder what his status is, he was receiving more time and was productive. He was missed yesterday. May not have lit up the scoreboard but Curry, Dkrdecvic and Trimboli all made nice passes that resulted in goals . Good to have Solomon back as he makes difference, fast start by attack then some sputters. Im not as pessimistic about Duke but that will certainly be a hard game to win unless all show and play well
Yes, I watched the game.
I wonder if any of the 3 poles from NJ have played against/guarded Heninberg previously. If so, you would think one of them would have knowledge on how to defend him
The pick plays have hurt the D and one would think it will be a priority in practice till they figure it out. I imagine Duke will play the pick game at X with Guterding all game
.
I expected a difficult season given youthfulness of team, schedule and Syracuse standards but understand the sinking feeling.. This loss was preventable but it was not to a bad team, they were ranked #7 coming into season . Just harder to take coming off a really bad loss to JHU and knowing a road game vs Duke awaits.
Focus comments on D, agree with most on issues, slides need to get in sync and playing screens has to be worked on. What should be considered is that has been little continuity on D due to injuries. We thankfully had depth but injuries tend to take its toll especially when ever changing D is under bombardment in unsettled situations. First Helmer, then Bomberry then Fernandez. Mellen and Kennedy appear healthy but also coming off a year of inactivity. If all present and accounted for then we should have a very good D . Communication is ultra important but so is familiarity and trust in each other and we are not there yet .
We acknowledge this is a young team and we should be prepared that it could get younger over the next few months. Trimboli and Dordevic are trying to lead on offense on sheer talent more than experience meanwhile Kennedy an unknown to most a month ago appears to be directing and pointing out open gaps to other youngsters up front.. Regarding the ssdms, the position was thought entering season to perhaps be a strength but that has yet to materialize, ideally a few would have nicely settled in but the usage of many in search of that may also may be affecting coordination as defense starts up from the top down. Breakdowns create havoc and havoc for youngsters tends to create more havoc than for veterans.
May be pushing back my eta but still have faith
I did not see the game, so my remarks are based on deductions from this and Rutgers forums' posts about the Rutgers game. One of the Rutgers' posters expressed surprise over Rutgers much greater athleticism than SU. Can anyone who saw the game comment on this assertion? Is it confirmation bias or astute observation? Speed, agility, eye hand coordination, strength, etc. different on average? I think turnovers can be the result of a real athletic gap in addition to pressure and youthful anxiety.
Woody, ssdms take at least a year to learn the position. Some of SU's best have taken more time. The difference this year is that SU does not have veteran ssdms like they had in the good years. And many if not most of the good ssdms on the final four teams were recruited as offensive middies not ssdms. The position makes enormous demands both intellectually and athletically on the players.
Against a good screening team, the ssdms are critical to good sliding. Hedges and commitments take a lot of experience to perfect. Timing is everything. Murphy and Dami are okay until they have to make quick decisions. Then god help us. Ford looks to me like his posture needs refining. Too upright! I saw the Rutgers v. Princeton game and was impressed with their offensive cohesion. They looked well rehearsed and trained. I expected Rutgers to score a lot against SU. They are a good team.
For another season to season and a half, I expect poor to mediocre play and results from this team. I think we all see real individual ability in some of these freshmen and sophomores. Maybe good stuff to come.
Yes, there is some familiarity as Summit and Glen Ridge did play regular seasons against Seton Hall Prep and Henisburg back in hs. Recall Summit zone D with Helmer at helm ( pun intended) having few issues with them or Jules when he was at SHP for 2 yrs ( Jules was previously at Columbia hs when Helmer was a frosh) Glen Ridge had tougher battles with shp but dont know if Marcus covered or not. There was also familiarity on club circuit . Ridgewood plays Summit and Glen Ridge but believe they only scrimmage SHP and Kennedy was young lsm at time. Heningburg was an All American at SHP but with all due respect he was not a superstar back then but a really good all around player with willingness to pass off doubles. He obviously has become a top college attackman but still a excellent qb. Watching film on him should be enough but he is multifaceted and not easily predictable as he has good agility and quickness and can shoot and pass with both hands. I actually think Kennedy shutting off passes to Mullins made him more aggressive looking for his own shots . Gutering is amazing and a notch above , that will be some followup challenge for Cuse D. Many on Cuse need to play the pick better, its lax version of the basketball pick and roll where defenders have to either flash and show to impede or simply switch
Not being a homer, I did not see any disparity, some fans are prone to inflate views when they win a game that is significant to their program.. There was over 5k in home attendance vs their usual 700 people and many were there because Cuse was. As such, it was a emotional and prestigious win for them and their fanbase. Cuse has it's fair share of good athletes and that was not the problem on Sunday, executing and closing a game out was. Give Rutgers team credit, they played from behind a few times times and held their composure when I thought we were on the verge of pulling away in 3rd qtr. They took advantage of our lapses. They are a good team not bereft of talent but their defense did not exert any great pressure like a physical JHU did and most of our errors were unforced . I agree with your other observations but think the eta of a return to true contender comes sooner.
