Season was a failure

[cuse10]

Yep...and his successor is having a great deal of success in Seattle.

The bar is low in Washington. Feel free to hand in your Cuse fandom if you're going to bitch about Hopkins all offseason.

 

[Cuse House]

We'll see, certainly possible but I wouldn't count on much "development" of any returning guys if you saw how much development we saw out of Battle, Brissett, everyone else this year.

Im not sure you could name a player who improved from last year to this. That's concerning, no?

Perhaps, but I also think people forget that we weren’t very good last year. One weekend in March made everyone think we were better than we were. We also didn’t have Frank practicing early in the season. Next year we have a trip to Italy before the season. That will help with getting guys to gel earlier. Last time that happened we started 25-0. Guerrier could be a beast, JG3 might shoot the lights out, and we could land a grad transfer C. I’m just playing devil’s advocate with you here.

 

[syrBossHogg]

Was definitely disappointing, funny how last season seems like a bigger success even though we had one of our worst regular seasons. But still, I can't wait until November

 

[Cuseman78]

Perhaps, but I also think people forget that we weren’t very good last year. One weekend in March made everyone think we were better than we were. We also didn’t have Frank practicing early in the season. Next year we have a trip to Italy before the season. That will help with getting guys to gel earlier. Last time that happened we started 25-0. Guerrier could be a beast, JG3 might shoot the lights out, and we could land a grad transfer C. I’m just playing devil’s advocate with you here.

Hey, I hope you're right. Certainly we have some X Factors next year with Girard, Guerrier, and even Braswell and Carey. It will look different for sure.

 

[kcsu]

It is what is. Programs go through periods of ups and downs. We had a great stretch and now we are having a not so great stretch. As long as things don’t get any worse, I will take the past 5 years as our bad stretch. We are Syracuse, we should be consistently better, but we are still making the tournament and we are still competitive in a down turn. Things could be soooooo much worse.

(Not saying I’m not disappointed with the season, just trying to put a positive spin on things.)

Still making the tournament. Wow as an 8 seed. Sucks!

 

[longislandcuse]

I'm not even mad. I usually am pissed. Season over, oh well.

It’s like how I used to feel when our football seasons ended...

 

[OrangeDW]

Complete failure

Who the hell is this guy?^^^

Seriously never saw you post before.

 

[OrangeDW]

Still making the tournament. Wow as an 8 seed. Sucks!

Gotta go nuts and show some fire and punch the other team!

 

[Cuse House]

Still making the tournament. Wow as an 8 seed. Sucks!

Could be UConn or Georgetown. Just saying.

 

[OrangeDW]

Could be UConn or Georgetown. Just saying.

They are a half decade of conference money behind us.

Time to start looking at them as St. Bonnies and not caring.

Top 4 in the ACC in the next 2 years or I totally lose faith...

 

[HakAttack]

If you don’t think it could be worse than making the tournament for the second year in a row with two recent final fours in a “downturn” then there is no reason to explain.

I loved the final four runs in 13’ and 16’ as much as anyone. Hell, I’ve got the t-shirts and even went down to Houston in 16’. But to continue to bang the drum of our two final fours in the last six years as indicating the general positive health and well-being of the SU basketball program for the foreseeable future is asinine.

 

[HoustonCuse]

Just as important, the myth that the tournament will make everything OK has been blown up.

How many teams have more NCAA tournament wins than we do this decade? How many teams have more wins per appearance this decade? I suspect it is a vanishingly small list that may or may not include Villanova and UNC.

 

[Cuse House]

They are a half decade of conference money behind us.

Time to start looking at them as St. Bonnies and not caring.

Top 4 in the ACC in the next 2 years or I totally lose faith...

My point is simple, as in anything in life there are downturns and upswings. We have seemingly been in a downturn since the NCAA sanctions. With that being said we have still regularly been a tournament team, and we have had some success. I’m not saying that I’m happy with what we are at the moment, I am just saying that expecting to be a top 10 squad every season is unrealistic.

 

[hungrychuck]

We're approaching the end of a 45 year Era of Boeheim led basketball. Towards the end of these long tenures, it inevitably goes south (Bowden and Beamer in Football, Gene Keady in basketball).

We're in that phase at the moment. There needs to be a succession plan (which we don't currently seem to have). I personally think it has the potential to get worse before it gets any better.

With gritted teeth, I have to say that JB has earned the right to go out at a time of his choosing. That hurts in the present, but backing out to the wider view, it's the right thing to do.

Having said that, it's ridiculous to think we can't hire a very good successor.

This is one of the top coaching jobs in the country. And we can get good people -- other than Mike Hopkins -- to fill it.

It will be very difficult, if not impossible, to hire someone who can better JB's 43-year career at SU.

It will not be that difficult to hire someone who is better than JB is right now.

The scare mongers who tell you differently should be flatly ignored.

 

[OrangeDW]

How many teams have more NCAA tournament wins than we do this decade? How many teams have more wins per appearance this decade? I suspect it is a vanishingly small list that may or may not include Villanova and UNC.

While true, we haven’t had a good seed since 2014.

We need a wire to wire strong season.

We all thought this year would be it.

 

[Cuse House]

I loved the final four runs in 13’ and 16’ as much as anyone. Hell, I’ve got the t-shirts and even went down to Houston in 16’. But to continue to bang the drum of our two final fours in the last six years as indicating the general positive health and well-being of the SU basketball program for the foreseeable future is asinine.

You are correct and maybe I am not getting my point across. I don’t look at where we are as being “healthy” by any means. I do not actually buy into the final 4 storyline. What I am saying is that we could be doing much worse in a lull period for SU basketball. I think there is a little bit too much “the sky is falling” and not enough realization that we have had periods like this before and have followed them with great runs. The Bobby bowdoin comparisons are over the top in my opinion.

 

[hungrychuck]

How many teams have more NCAA tournament wins than we do this decade? How many teams have more wins per appearance this decade? I suspect it is a vanishingly small list that may or may not include Villanova and UNC.

As OrangeDW already has said, the list gets a lot longer if you include teams with good regular seasons.

We've been kidding ourselves this year, and it's time to admit that.

It's a farce to think we can muddle along in the regular season and stun opponents with our zone going forward if we manage to squeak into the tournament.

 

[OrangeDW]

A solid Syracuse year used to be 26-9, 4-5 seed and sweet 16.

I miss that.

 

[Cuse House]

A solid Syracuse year used to be 26-9, 4-5 seed and sweet 16.

I miss that.

Wonder how much of this is due to AAU ball and there just being more good players these days? Think about it, more good players spread out around the country equals higher competition all year. Look at these lower seeds, they have some studs. I think it’s just harder to win these days than in years past, the separation is much smaller.

 

[OttoinGrotto]

10 points at the half every game. One bucket in the second half. Tonight he was more balanced, but man he just disappeared so many times this year in the second half.

It was bizarre tonight. I do even think we passed him the ball much in the 2nd half.

 

[OrangeDW]

Wonder how much of this is due to AAU ball and there just being more good players these days? Think about it, more good players spread out around the country equals higher competition all year. Look at these lower seeds, they have some studs. I think it’s just harder to win these days than in years past, the separation is much smaller.

Talent may be more spread out but I don’t think there’s more good players.

And I think more AAU ball just makes players less competitive for team success and more individualized.

 

[hungrychuck]

Wonder how much of this is due to AAU ball and there just being more good players these days? Think about it, more good players spread out around the country equals higher competition all year. Look at these lower seeds, they have some studs. I think it’s just harder to win these days than in years past, the separation is much smaller.

What stands out to me is that if you look at some of these lower seeds as you say, so many of them have a functional offensive player in the post, center or PF, and a functional point guard.

If they can have that, why can't Syracuse have that?

Not sure that's down to AAU ball.

 

[Cuse House]

Talent may be more spread out but I don’t think there’s more good players.

And I think more AAU ball just makes players less competitive for team success and more individualized.

Respectfully disagree on your first paragraph. I believe there are more opportunities for high schoolers these days to play a lot more organized basketball. I think the game has become more global and there is generally just a lot more quality athletes. Looking just at Gonzaga and the amount of high quality European players they have gotten is astounding. Whether AAU is good overall for the game is a totally different matter.

 

[Cuse House]

What stands out to me is that if you look at some of these lower seeds as you say, so many of them have a functional offensive player in the post, center or PF, and a functional point guard.

If they can have that, why can't Syracuse have that?

Not sure that's down to AAU ball.

You’re picking out one position though. How much of our liability at the center position is based solely off of the way JB likes his centers? He recruits to the zone. It’s hurt us offensively.

 

[kcsu]

Gotta go nuts and show some fire and punch the other team!

Could be UConn or Georgetown. Just saying.

Gonna be if Jim doesn't start working harder at recruiting.