Seth Davis Freudian slip...

[Cuse_1999]

Here is Davis' 2nd half flop team from a cnnsi.com article

Second-Half Flop Team

​

Davis
Syracuse: I think the Cuse is good, but based on their record and ranking, they have nowhere to go but down. The zone is tough to score on as always, but the backcourt combo of Michael Carter-Williams and Brandon Triche has trouble converting three-pointers and free throws. I also like that the Orange is getting fewer contributions from its freshmen as the season goes on. That has all but eliminated its depth.

If you read a lot of his articles, you know he constantly hates on Syracuse. Now look at his line above that reads "I also like that the Orange is getting fewer contributions from its freshmen as the season goes on."

What he meant to say is "I also DON'T like that the Orange is getting fewer contributions from its freshmen as the season goes on."

Saying he doesn't like it furthers his point that we might be a flop team...blah blah blah. But since he hates Syracuse and wants us to fail, he accidently wrote that he likes that we are getting less contribution from our freshman.

 

[CorduroyG]

 

[Marsh01]

F Seth Davis

 

[armory]

 

[Orangemen]

We can hate it all we want, but his points aren't wrong.

We have no real depth right now, Baye is the only sub JB trusts. Our 3 pt shooting is streaky, and Triche and MCW are not lights out threats by any stretch.

I don't know that means we'll falter down the stretch, but it does mean we're not clearly getting better as a team. Our freshman have all stood still or regressed, and MCW is playing better right now, but is not matching his early season play.

As an orange homer, I'm optimistic. If my career depended on making reasonable projections about college bball, I'd be a little bearish on SU.

 

[MyMeloMyMan]

 

[CusefanATL]

Has anyone watched our games?

I am scared to death of flop session in the 2nd half.

 

[jimsonjunction]

These kind of articles are stupid. I could write something just like this for every team in the country.

 

[Knicks411]

yeah but i bet these kinds of articles get the most hits. So kind of a tough spot.

 

[SoBeCuse]

He's kinda on point, duh.

 

[IthacaMatt]

Here is Davis' 2nd half flop team from a cnnsi.com article

Second-Half Flop Team

​

Davis
Syracuse: I think the Cuse is good, but based on their record and ranking, they have nowhere to go but down. The zone is tough to score on as always, but the backcourt combo of Michael Carter-Williams and Brandon Triche has trouble converting three-pointers and free throws. I also like that the Orange is getting fewer contributions from its freshmen as the season goes on. That has all but eliminated its depth.

If you read a lot of his articles, you know he constantly hates on Syracuse. Now look at his line above that reads "I also like that the Orange is getting fewer contributions from its freshmen as the season goes on."

What he meant to say is "I also DON'T like that the Orange is getting fewer contributions from its freshmen as the season goes on."

Saying he doesn't like it furthers his point that we might be a flop team...blah blah blah. But since he hates Syracuse and wants us to fail, he accidently wrote that he likes that we are getting less contribution from our freshman.

Nice catch. I think you're right.

 

[moqui]

depending on how you define "flop," I agree with him.

I would not be at all surprised to see a stretch where the Orange drop a few in a row, and I kinda/sorta expect them to go around 9-5 after a 4-0 Big East start.

but I still expect that this team will be better in late February than it is today, even though it will probably have a worse record and be lower ranked.

I predict that this "flop" team will finish in the top 4 of the BE, get a protected seed, and make a deep NCAAT run.

 

[Gabjon]

depending on how you define "flop," I agree with him.

I would not be at all surprised to see a stretch where the Orange drop a few in a row, and I kinda/sorta expect them to go around 9-5 after a 4-0 Big East start.

but I still expect that this team will be better in late February than it is today, even though it will probably have a worse record and be lower ranked.

I predict that this "flop" team will finish in the top 4 of the BE, get a protected seed, and make a deep NCAAT run.

We are not losing 5 games in this years BE! Half the league can't score on average defenses and our defense is very good and will be there every night. We will attack the man the man teams very well this year and I would be surprised if James and BT shoot that poorly in the same game again verse man or zone. Our zone offense needs to improve though.

 

[Cuseology]

Problem is that often we are in the half of BE teams that can't score on average defenses. 5+ losses in the BE is not a stretch. Louisville, ND, Cinn, as well as a What loss or two gets you there without even trying. Look at a few more road games and it is not hard to see that result.

 

[jncuse]

Right now I see us as more in #6 to #10 team range. Of course I have a hard time determining what teams should be in the #1-#5 group as well. It's one of those years.

I really like Michigan, but its a young team. I love Gonzaga's offence and offensive depth (perhaps the best in the nation) but there defence is poor for an elite team. Grind it out teams like Louisville, have not won the title in a while. I don't want to compliment Duke. Kansas is up and down.

 

[cusetown1]

Seth is mad because he thought we were going to lose both and best case go 1-1 on the road last week. Wrongo Sethy

 

[Gabjon]

Problem is that often we are in the half of BE teams that can't score on average defenses. 5+ losses in the BE is not a stretch. Louisville, ND, Cinn, as well as a What loss or two gets you there without even trying. Look at a few more road games and it is not hard to see that result.

Except we just had a What game but our defense won it for us. How many What games do you think we are going to have?

 

[cusetown1]

Except we just had a What game but our defense won it for us. How many What games do you think we are going to have?

Less and less. Nice to be able to shoot like crap and still win. The key thing is our guys are getting open they just have to knock them down. Obviously we are doing something right with virtually no center help we have open shots. I'm confident they will be shooting better very soon.

 

[moqui]

Except we just had a What game but our defense won it for us. How many What games do you think we are going to have?

as long as the Orange are a perimeter-oriented offense built on inconsistent shooters, I don't consider them What games

a steady dose of pick & rolls with MCW & Roc will change that, though.

 

[Gabjon]

as long as the Orange are a perimeter-oriented offense built on inconsistent shooters, I don't consider them What games

a steady dose of pick & rolls with MCW & Roc will change that, though.

The Fiars zoned us to take that play away and force us to shoot from deep. The plan worked perfectly and we won anyway.

 

[moqui]

Less and less. Nice to be able to shoot like crap and still win. The key thing is our guys are getting open they just have to knock them down. Obviously we are doing something right with virtually no center help we have open shots. I'm confident they will be shooting better very soon.

I'm not so confident . . . Dirty is a great rhythm shooter, but the team has struggled to find him in rhythm. As a stand still shooter, he's below average. Triche is good but not great.

 

[Orangezoo]

The Fiars zoned us to take that play away and force us to shoot from deep. The plan worked perfectly and we won anyway.

Zone is CJ time - and we should be able to be good against the zone. Using Rak on the PNR, successfully could be a huge development. Its been there all year, MCW just has been missing him. It was a big threat with Fab last year that really turned into a weapon as it helped open things up. Would like to seem them using that play to allow Rak to find guards on the backdoor cut. The motion offense stuff really works and gets us easy buckets. Being able to start off the game with plays like this could make getting the frosh involved easier.

 

[mantonio]

Does Syracuse have room for improvement? YES.

Does every other team in the top 10 have room for improvement? YES.

All Seth Davis can prove is, all other top teams still have a shot at the title, right along with Syracuse.

There is NO dominant team in college this season, & Syracuse is every bit as capable of winning it all.

 

[reedny]

I think Davis' comments, and some of the faint praise we've heard from ESPN, have been justified to an extent.

Before the Providence game, we were playing like a tall mid-major team. Lots of outside jumpers. MCW driving but not finishing. And almost no balance inside with underperforming DC2 and Rak and offensively limited Keita. Outside, aside from JS, who's streaky, MCW has not shot the ball well and TC hasn't contributed offensively. So I think DC2, MCW and TC are the inexperienced players Davis is talking about. For a while, our length in the zone covered this inexperience up. Temple exposed us as young team with too many question marks inside.

I'm not sure when Davis wrote that article, but obviously he didn't see the Providence game. Last night, our best players were a sophomore and a junior inside and a sophomore on the perimeter. It was the seniors who couldn't hit the broad side of a barn. MCW not only drove .. he finished. His 17 pts, 5 steels, 6 rbs and 6 assists (actually 8, but who's counting) and 1 TO in 38 minutes, carried the veterans. In the future as his shooting and finishing improve, teams are not going to be able to stick on their men .. they'll have to collapse on Michael. His assist numbers will go back through the roof (my prediction) and Davis will get back on his bandwagon.

Even more importantly, from a front line that had given us very limited production (mostly glue points from CJ), against PC we got 28 points, 19 rbs and 7 blocks out of the 4 and 5 (CJ and Rak). It's not like the Friars didn't have any size. Cooley started 6'9" Kadeem Batts and 6'10" Sidiki Johnson to counter our size. Johnson played hard, pulling down 7 boards. But he only scored twice, and Rak erased Kadeem Batts, who had 1 basket and 5 boards in 37 minutes.

Do I think our bigs have arrived? No. Rak is not yet a consistent post player. DC2 is turning into a bit of an enigma on defense. But our rebounding numbers are starting to look pretty good. And that was a helluva performance from Rak last night ... a "flash" of what he's capable of.

The game was ugly, another BE half-court grinder. And 2 of the 3 newer players didn't do much. But at least we had enough inside offense to beat a pretty hot-shooting providence team on the road, while BT, TC and JS were a combined 1 for 13 from 3.

If our bigs keep producing at anywhere near their level at PC, Seth will forget about the "freshmen" problem. Trust me.

 

[bballbeadle]

Here is Davis' 2nd half flop team from a cnnsi.com article

Second-Half Flop Team

​

Davis
Syracuse: I think the Cuse is good, but based on their record and ranking, they have nowhere to go but down. The zone is tough to score on as always, but the backcourt combo of Michael Carter-Williams and Brandon Triche has trouble converting three-pointers and free throws. I also like that the Orange is getting fewer contributions from its freshmen as the season goes on. That has all but eliminated its depth.

If you read a lot of his articles, you know he constantly hates on Syracuse. Now look at his line above that reads "I also like that the Orange is getting fewer contributions from its freshmen as the season goes on."

What he meant to say is "I also DON'T like that the Orange is getting fewer contributions from its freshmen as the season goes on."

Saying he doesn't like it furthers his point that we might be a flop team...blah blah blah. But since he hates Syracuse and wants us to fail, he accidently wrote that he likes that we are getting less contribution from our freshman.

Wait! As enlightening as all these discussions are, I thought the point of the post was the Freudian slip, and whether Davis meant to type that or not. I think the slip was real and may reveal an anti-Cuse bias, but was unaware he had any bias. I hate to be of the mind that "everyone hates us." There's not a lot of finesse with that.