Reply to thread

Message: [QUOTE="IthacaMatt, post: 2647432, member: 405"] I don't think it's likely that both of them will play a meaningful role. If our ball movement improves, we take better shots and our big three all shoot 35% or better, then great! Sign me up right now. Hughes might be a terrific shooter, but we won't know until the lights go on. Geno, remember, came in with a much better resume, and averaged double digits at a somewhat better school than Hughes, and we got nothing out of him. Maybe not all three of our "big three" makes that improvement to mid-to-upper 30% range. Maybe Brissett is so focused on finishing better through traffic near the rim that his outside shooting stays the same, or even gets a bit worse, because he could get streaky hot last year. People will be looking for him more this year. He won't have so many open outside shots. In that case, if we've only got 2 out of 4 guys who are really reliable from deep, then someone is going to get some chances. Our best teams, historically speaking, usually have 3 guys who can shoot from three, two guards and a forward. We usually play 2 centers, 3 forwards and 3 guards during the conference season. In preseason, you usually see the third center and the fourth guard. If either are terrible, you won't see them after December. If they are good, they might get the occasional cameo 5 minutes during conference season or the NCAA. In the tournament, if one of the centers can play forward, or one of the forwards can play center, then you're going to see the dreaded "7 man rotation" - 4 front court players and 3 guards. But you have to have the flexibility, and over the years, as we've gone to bigger and bigger guards, you can't play only two guards, because they're going to get pressed by quick smaller guards, and most non-McDonald's forwards aren't good enough dribblers to be press breakers for us like a few guys have been in the past. So, unless we have the front court flexibility (maybe Marek gives us that like Lydon and Rick Jackson did ...), I think we're going to see 8 guys this year, and unless one of the forwards can really dependably shoot the three (either Hughes or Brissett), then I think one of Buddy or String Bean is going to get some court time especially against zones. Long answer, but hopefully you follow my thinking. [/QUOTE]

Verification: What is a Syracuse fan's favorite color?