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Message: [QUOTE="SoBeCuse, post: 2167504, member: 796"] Disagree. They were streaky very good shooters, imo. That is the ONLY way they make it that far is if they go crazy from 3. They were incapable of playing diverse basketball and the defense was bad. Playing half court SOUND basketball is how you advance. Just watching Xavier, KSU, USC, etc., it was clear to me that they all had better teams and more cohesive units. Syracuse needed some big heroics to win a few games and more often than not the half court offense was one pass and a chuck or throw it around the perimeter. All year was very little dribble penetration. More often than not there was lots of standing around and pounding the rock into the ground. Late in the season even all I was hearing was Bilas/Lappas/Fraschilla lamenting over and over with "they're standing around too much" familiar theme. That just can't happen. Then there was the defense, the dire struggle to get to 50 points against a short handed UConn, and the numerous blowout losses. Not a Tourney resume and I don't think they were truly equipped to win a game or two, imo. We'll never know but I didn't lose any sleep over it. I'm concerned equally about how the guards lately are playing here as much as the guard recruiting choices and misses. Gbinjie was somewhat able to bail us out but even he wasn't a PG. Since Ennis left (even he struggled the second half of the season) the PGs here just look absolutely clueless even in their second years here. Howard and Joseph weee subpar and that's putting it nicely. Gillon too often looked like he never played the position. Too often there isn't enough movement it seems, backcuts, and once teams overplay passing lanes (South Carolina) we're done. I would love better X's and O's posters than I to chime in. Is the teaching just not happening? Not enough diversity in the offense? I do think we still need talent upgrades. More guys who can put it on the floor and pass, inside scoring, etc. Maybe it simply comes down to needing more talent and also not banking on these combos to be able to transition to playing PG. I hope it gets better. [/QUOTE]

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