Scary thing is...

[44PRIDE]

...this team has put a full 40 minutes together yet. Gawd help the team that's standing in front of em when they do.

 

[PeteCalvin]

Seriously. Can you imagine when these guys play 40 mins like that 10 minute first half stretch against NC State?

 

[SUintheVille]

You're never going to get a 40 minutes of stretches like that, esp in BE play. The game is too long to keep intensity extremely high and one sided. That said, there are areas where SU can improve which certainly will help their eliteness.

 

[cuseattle]

...this team has put a full 40 minutes together yet. Gawd help the team that's standing in front of em when they do.

I was thinking about this after the second half Marquette run yesterday. What is it about SU teams that make them vulnerable to giving up big leads circa 2003 vs Kansas. I want this team to learn how to step on their opponents throats when they're down and absolutely demoralize them!

 

[HoustonCuse]

I was thinking about this after the second half Marquette run yesterday. What is it about SU teams that make them vulnerable to giving up big leads circa 2003 vs Kansas. I want this team to learn how to step on their opponents throats when they're down and absolutely demoralize them!

That we play against top flight competition. No Top 25 caliber team is going to just lay down no matter how bad you are putting it on them.

 

[Jasoncuse]

That will never happen...

If they play a great first 20 minutes, they will inevitably play a slow-it-down 2nd half if up big, or get a bit complacent on a team trying to make a comeback. Unless some other team is absolutely shooting lights out (which means they weren't putting together a great first 20 minutes defensively anyhow), it won't be necessary.

When would this team ever need to play a full game of unstoppable basketball? Even in a FF, that probably isn't needed.

Continuously thinking this team will put together a full, unstoppable 40 minutes at some point is like waiting for Carmelo to play for us again. Ain't happenin'.

 

[jekelish]

Seriously. Can you imagine when these guys play 40 mins like that 10 minute first half stretch against NC State?

No, mainly because I can't imagine winning a game 92-0.

 

[NineOneSeven]

Basketball is about runs. As much as every fan would love their team to put together a full 40 minutes of their team's best ball, it just doesn't happen.

Kind of like when your team hits 3 threes in the first five minutes and you think to yourself, 'wow we are on pace to hit 24 threes this game'. Another reason I think the per 40 minute is a bid misleading at times.

 

[zeekay]

Could our extremes of super runs followed by "meh" ball by a downside of this much depth? There is no group of 5 guys we have that play a majority of time together, and are used to each other. We very often switch forwards, guards, and our center spot. That might throw off the flow.

Upsides of course are more fouls to give and ability to gas the other team faster by playing at a high pace since our guys will be more rested. Plus if a single person is off that night or injured it's an easy substitution.

 

[jekelish]

I see what you are saying, and I'm someone who hates subbing out anyone in a group when they are in a flow, but these guys play enough together in practice and pickup games that I don't think it will ever be a big problem. They are all plenty used to each other.

 

[orangefan13]

It is possible to go on a continuous run throughtout the game though.
We have the heads and scoring depth to do so.
Had we played the same ball as in the first half against MU we win by 40.

Number one teams win the first game in the NCAA tournamnet by 50. Sure they press alot and up the number of possessions to do so but it happens. We beat Depaul by 50 last year.

It would take a 8 inch height advantage at every position, speed advantage at every position, and imovable strong bodies to hold a team to lesser then 20 in a game at this level. Even the refs are going to blow some pity calls, and all teams can set a screen at one time or another.

 

[bevosu]

Can't trust my memory, but I seem to recall a game against Georgia Tech a while back where we were hot from beginning to end.

 

[jekelish]

I know the game you're thinking of. I think it was when I was still in high school (12-16 years ago, in other words), but we won something like 80-35. That's not the score, but it was something in that range.

 

[albanycuse]

Can't trust my memory, but I seem to recall a game against Georgia Tech a while back where we were hot from beginning to end.

Ya 2003 i was at that game. Chris bosh and jarret jack played for GT.

 

[jekelish]

Ya 2003 i was at that game. Chris bosh and jarret jack played for GT.

I swear there was a different game where we literally won by like 50 and held the opponent to 35-37 points.

Am I crazy here?

 

[jekelish]

We won by like 25-30, but that's not what I'm thinking of. I swear there was a game, I think in the 90's, when we held a good team to like 37 points. It might not have been Tech, now that I think about it, but I SWEAR this happened.

 

[bevosu]

All I can remember is that we played Georgia Tech and killed them. One of the most fun SU basketball games that I ever watched.

Due to my age I've watched a lot of SU basketball games, but unlike some on this board I'm usually not great recalling specifics.

 

[SoBeCuse]

We killed Knight's Texas Tech team at MSG before losing to eventual champ Florida a day or two later. Too lazy to look it up but it was a wide margin.

 

[AlaskaSU]

Can't trust my memory, but I seem to recall a game against Georgia Tech a while back where we were hot from beginning to end.

And Ga Tech was coming off a final 4 year.

 

[AlaskaSU]

We killed Knight's Texas Tech team at MSG before losing to eventual champ Florida a day or two later. Too lazy to look it up but it was a wide margin.

And their board resorted to racist slings against us after the game.

 

[cpatrocks]

Can't trust my memory, but I seem to recall a game against Georgia Tech a while back where we were hot from beginning to end.

Yeah - didn't we beat them by about 45 points?

 

[DNABB5]

Was it the 92-65 game?

Linkage

 

[Knicks411]

The GA tech game was in 02-03 seaosn, which was the year before they made the final four.

 

[AZOrange]

I was thinking about this after the second half Marquette run yesterday. What is it about SU teams that make them vulnerable to giving up big leads circa 2003 vs Kansas. I want this team to learn how to step on their opponents throats when they're down and absolutely demoralize them!

Because ultimately the law of averages starts to work out (i.e. you will not continue to shoot 80% and they will not continue to shoot 20%). The nice part about being able to make such a big run like we made, is that it makes it almost unlikely that you will be beaten. i dont know what the win percentages are for a team down 23 to the No. 1 team in the country on the road, but it probably isnt good.

 

[SoBristol]

I recall two early season MSG games where we were hot, almost from start to finish. Against NC in 2009 and against Indiana in 1988. Both of those games were close for the early minutes, but became all-SU for easy wins. Maybe it just seems that way -- more so than when the team is hot early but has to hold on.

For this SU team, we have lots of weapons, but also have streaky shooters (Triche and Southerland in particular). When either one is on, we can score in bunches. Or if we can get turnovers and transition points. But if our shooters aren't hitting, we don't have inside scoring to make things easy.

What I hope is not true -- we can be free and easy in a first half with a lead, but our shooters tighten up (and Southerland sits) when the opponent makes a second half run.