So did we see improvement or more of the same today?

[billsin01]

It seems this is the ultimate question coming out of this game. You put up 99 points and mop the floor with an opponent but that opponent plays in the Colonial and came in on a four-game losing streak. Ultimately the answer is that we really don't know, but that would stop me from writing a long diatribe so allow me to indulge myself.

So what looked good?

Gillon on offense.
It was fun to see him knock down a bunch of threes, but he really had siginificant impact in terms of getting into the teeth of the defense with penetration and making plays in transition. Again, not sure anyone on BU can match his quickness (where as other teams will be able to) but either way, his shooting, obviously, as well as his wheels and slick passing were (along with Thompson) the key factors for that offensive explosion.

Thompson on offense
Obviously I don't really need to recount what Thompson did well in terms of putting the ball in the basket but I think one of the things that really stands out is how comfortable he is getting to good spots, putting shots up if they are there, making a pass if needed (hit lydon with a beauty and made the extra pass to get White a wide open look from three) or even putting the ball on the deck a bit. He's just calm but extremely aggressive, which is a tremendous combination for an offensive player.

Howard's passing
Howard's overall game remains in a bit of a funk but he is arguably the best at keeping the ball moving, which is important against the zone. 11 assists with 2 TOs is obviously outstanding but maybe a bit misleading when you hit 14 threes. But, having said that, he had a lot of nice looks that led to a trip to the line or a good look that we weren't able to convert. I can think of four off the top of my head that could have easily gone in the books as assists. Now, every point guard can probably make the same claim but I think Howard did a nice job in terms of his decisions with the ball.

The rotation
I think we saw a little bit of what this rotation will look like going forward and JB's teams are always better when he knows what his rotation is. I think this is a group you're going to see a lot: Ton of PT for White/Lydon with White at the 3 more than the 2 and Lydon at the 5 more often than on the wing. Lots of PT for Howard/Gillon/Battle -- the numbers may change depending on matchups but they all bring completely different skills and size that it's hard to imagine anyone getting iced out. I'd imagine Gillon is more in the 15-20 mpg range with Howard and Battle more around 30 as a general rule. Then Thompson and Roberson splitting the 4 depending on what we need more (defense/rebounding; offensive competency) and Coleman/Chukwu filling in where it's appropriate. As great as the Coleman narrative is and he really looks solid out there -- I get the vibe his minutes are still going to be like today more often than not.

The supporting cast
Obviously White and Lydon aren't generally in the supporting cast role, but this was the Thompson/Gillon show today. But White did what White does, which helps open things up for others. He also was OK on the wing (not great) defensively and had a couple nice passes. Lydon opened up strong, I thought, even with the missed longer jumpers and seemed to have a good idea of what he wanted to do at the high post (even if he didn't call bank on the one jumper). Thought he played ok and filled the stat sheet decently for 26 mins. Coleman/Chukwu are what they are and Roberson was OK despite not being super impressive. Battle was meh, but was mostly a victim of shots not falling.

Transition
I'm not sure why Syracuse basketball goes through long stretches (read: multiple seasons) of not running but this team has to run. They have players who can make plays in transition. They need to be getting four or five hoops a game in unsettled situations at least. They don't run enough sets or have enough confidence to beat teams in an ugly half-court game if they don't at least get a few looks in transition or on the secondary break.

What didn't look good

It's BU
I know they almost beat UConn and we almost put ourselves in a miserable spot vs. N. Florida but at the end of the day this is still a game we should almost always win very easily. We did, but as far as how much it tells us? That's still unclear.

Battle is a standstill shooter?
I don't follow recruiting as closely as many but this is a kid who came in with a reputation as a slasher, right? He took 7 threes today (mostly good shots, by the way) attempted just one shot inside the 3-point arc and got fouled on one other, I believe. He also had a wide open floor 1-on-1 vs. a player from BU and nearly turned the ball over before passing it out to White for a 3, I believe. He didn't get within 10 feet of the hoop on that play. For the season he has attempted 49 shots -- 34 (close to 70%) of those have been threes. He's gotten to the line a little more the last four games but his season high for attempted FTs in a game is 4. I'm fine with him deferring to a degree and I'm not trying to hammer a freshman but it would be huge if he was able to create his own shot from time to time, particularly as we get into ACC play. But I'm just not sure we're going to see that.

Hankerson ... really?
Dude took 20 threes and knocked down 10. I'd say at least 15 of those were pretty clean looks. I remember one sequence where White playing on the wing gambled for a steal with Hankerson hanging out behind him leading to a wide open 3 for a guy who had already knocked down 7 or 8 of them. Just an awful decision. We don't seem to anticipate well defensively and the slightest movement from opponents without the ball seems to lead to pretty open looks quite often.

Still waiting on the guys who returned to this roster to step up
Didn't think Lydon played terribly but the problem is that it's the best he's played since the South Carolina game and first time he's cracked double-figures since then. I still feel like he's got to be the focal point of this offense but the longer we go on watching him look somewhere from 'not good' to 'mediocre' you have to start to wonder. Thought Howard played pretty well for the most part but he's 0-for his last 14. Ouch. Robey didn't play a ton which is fine with Thompson going off, but I still say we need him and I'm not loving the fact that he's struggling to find his way on the floor. Not sure how the season plays out but these three have to be better.

Gillon and Thompson on defense
Thought Thompson was OK defensively and made a few plays but he didn't rebound as well and definitely doesn't put in the same effort on that side of the ball. Gillon made a bunch of plays but gets lost a ton defensively and struggles to be a consistent obstacle at his size. He also doesn't do a great job vs. penetration (neither does Howard for that matter).

So I don't know what to think overall. This team has warts, obviously. How well they address them going forward is obviously the key. What today taught us? That remains to be seen, but we'll take the W.

 

[SoBristol]

Great post.
Last time out (U Conn), Coleman had a strong game; today it was Thompson. Might go back and forth, but Thompson sure helps when he can score both inside and with jumpers.
I don't see that Lydon is or needs to be the sole focal point of the offense. We have more balance than that. It was good to see him play more at the high post and look to shoot or pass (and not drive into traffic).
Battle -- recruiting reputations are out the window in terms of where he is now. He will get better.

 

[tbonezone]

starters on the bench while the scrubs built the lead. that's your headline. out rebounded badly on the offensive glass . page four.

 

[Oráiste]

More o/t same. We should know by now these games tell us nothing meaningfull.

We're not playing this caliber of team post New Year.

 

[orange79]

More o/t same. We should know by now these games tell us nothing meaningfull.

We're not playing this caliber of team post New Year.

Well, Boston College. But I take your point.

 

[billsin01]

Great post.
Last time out (U Conn), Coleman had a strong game; today it was Thompson. Might go back and forth, but Thompson sure helps when he can score both inside and with jumpers.
I don't see that Lydon is or needs to be the sole focal point of the offense. We have more balance than that. It was good to see him play more at the high post and look to shoot or pass (and not drive into traffic).
Battle -- recruiting reputations are out the window in terms of where he is now. He will get better.

I'm sure Battle will improve, I'm just confused by what I'm watching. It's one thing for him to not dominate but it's odd to see just how little he's been able to do going toward the basket. It's fine and hopefully improves. And, on the flip side, we've seen his excellent athleticism defensively and we've seen a guy who's actually been a pretty effective shooter (making close to 2 threes per game at 44%). But it's just confusing.

As for Lydon -- I'm fine with him not being the sole focal point but I am would feel a lot better about it if I had any faith in any of the other players to be 'that guy' that takes the shot when we need a bucket. When JB has an offense that goes 6 or 7 or 8 minutes w/o a field goal, it's usually the same issue -- no one who can or (in some cases) is willing to create their own shot. We don't run sets well enough and we don't get the ball to the post enough to rely on those things, so when the offense gets into something of a rut, a guy like Malachi having a bit of swagger, some quickness and a good enough shot to hurt you outside is a huge plus.

So, is Lydon this guy? Doesn't look like it. But I think he could be a nightmare at the high post if he just works to get comfortable there. Outside of him you've got a complete nonfactor in Chukwu, white who's dangerous but completely incapable of creating his own shot, Battle who's a wild card but has done even less than Lydon in terms of creating, DC who is interesting but really struggles on the defensive end, an even younger kid in Thompson (who nevertheless has looked scintillating at times), Howard who needs to get some confidence putting the ball in the basket consistently to be that guy and Gillon. Gillon may be the interesting name b/c he's confident and quick and can shoot. But he shoots a set shot and gets swallowed up inside vs. ACC level teams.

I just feel like long-term, forcefeeding Lydon touches would be a good thing.

 

[billsin01]

More o/t same. We should know by now these games tell us nothing meaningfull.

We're not playing this caliber of team post New Year.

I mean, this is true and not true. I think your general point of we'll see where we are in Jan. is valid. However, having said that, we got dangerously close to losing to north florida and against an extremely pedestrian UConn team looked we not only didn't score, we generally got horrendous looks for the better part of 40 mins. Those are two awful games.

Also, for the record, we've had really good offensive teams on the hill plenty of times and the idea that this team would be the first to break 100 two times in a season is really interesting b/c you don't do that without talent. The teams we've had that have been ugly on offense all season dominate this game with defense but put up 80 or so points.

So, to me, the question becomes did we see any signs that this team -- which seems to have some talent -- is starting to figure at least some things out? I'm not sure of the answer and I'd suggest you're ultimately right -- that it's wait and see. But to completely rout a pretty decent team is an interesting development in some ways, IMO.

 

[pearl31]

I mean, this is true and not true. I think your general point of we'll see where we are in Jan. is valid. However, having said that, we got dangerously close to losing to north florida and against an extremely pedestrian UConn team looked we not only didn't score, we generally got horrendous looks for the better part of 40 mins. Those are two awful games.

n.florida making it close at the end (and their dude going off) had very little to do with our offense - 77 pts (and being up 20+ in the 2nd half) is more than enough to win comfortably

 

[pfister1]

Transition
I'm not sure why Syracuse basketball goes through long stretches (read: multiple seasons) of not running but this team has to run. They have players who can make plays in transition. They need to be getting four or five hoops a game in unsettled situations at least. They don't run enough sets or have enough confidence to beat teams in an ugly half-court game if they don't at least get a few looks in transition or on the secondary break.

I thought this was going to be a good transition team, but after watching the first 9 games I am not sure we have guys that can push tempo and get to the rim and finish. To the extent that is what you are thinking of in terms of transition, I don't see it.

 

[SoBristol]

I'm sure Battle will improve, I'm just confused by what I'm watching. It's one thing for him to not dominate but it's odd to see just how little he's been able to do going toward the basket. It's fine and hopefully improves. And, on the flip side, we've seen his excellent athleticism defensively and we've seen a guy who's actually been a pretty effective shooter (making close to 2 threes per game at 44%). But it's just confusing.

As for Lydon -- I'm fine with him not being the sole focal point but I am would feel a lot better about it if I had any faith in any of the other players to be 'that guy' that takes the shot when we need a bucket. When JB has an offense that goes 6 or 7 or 8 minutes w/o a field goal, it's usually the same issue -- no one who can or (in some cases) is willing to create their own shot. We don't run sets well enough and we don't get the ball to the post enough to rely on those things, so when the offense gets into something of a rut, a guy like Malachi having a bit of swagger, some quickness and a good enough shot to hurt you outside is a huge plus.

So, is Lydon this guy? Doesn't look like it. But I think he could be a nightmare at the high post if he just works to get comfortable there. Outside of him you've got a complete nonfactor in Chukwu, white who's dangerous but completely incapable of creating his own shot, Battle who's a wild card but has done even less than Lydon in terms of creating, DC who is interesting but really struggles on the defensive end, an even younger kid in Thompson (who nevertheless has looked scintillating at times), Howard who needs to get some confidence putting the ball in the basket consistently to be that guy and Gillon. Gillon may be the interesting name b/c he's confident and quick and can shoot. But he shoots a set shot and gets swallowed up inside vs. ACC level teams.

I just feel like long-term, forcefeeding Lydon touches would be a good thing.

With Battle, after 9 games, you go with what you see on the court. He can shoot threes, he is athletic defensively -- and he is raw in half court, other than as a shooter. Likely, he got by in high school with his size and strength -- and not with polished guard skills. I expect he will improve in his ability to drive and score.

You seem to be underestimating White -- who is consistently our top scorer, or close to top. He can and does get his shot, and also find openings where his teammates can set him up. He has carried the team for long stretches, but typically in the first halves of games, and not so much in the second.

Lydon -- I wonder how much he has played high post, in practices or in previous seasons. His progress there is important. Thompson looks like he is very comfortable in that role. The improvement we need from Lydon is his work close to the basket.

If you are looking for "the guy" you might be disappointed. We have balance. It is remarkable that each of our 8 guys has had at least one big game -- with White being the most consistent, but the others taking turns in having individual high games. We have to use that balance, get our share of easy shots, convert inside, and make a team effort on the boards.

 

[br801]

I thought this was going to be a good transition team, but after watching the first 9 games I am not sure we have guys that can push tempo and get to the rim and finish. To the extent that is what you are thinking of in terms of transition, I don't see it.

Unless this team starts rebounding the ball better on the defensive end and starts creating more turnovers out of the zone or by selectively employing an effective press, it's difficult to imagine this team thriving in transition.

 

[SoBeCuse]

Also, BU played a mostly bad zone. We need to see how we fare against good M2M. So far it hasn't been pretty. We won't see much more zone moving forward.

 

[jordoo]

It seems this is the ultimate question coming out of this game. You put up 99 points and mop the floor with an opponent but that opponent plays in the Colonial and came in on a four-game losing streak. Ultimately the answer is that we really don't know, but that would stop me from writing a long diatribe so allow me to indulge myself.

So what looked good?

Gillon on offense.
It was fun to see him knock down a bunch of threes, but he really had siginificant impact in terms of getting into the teeth of the defense with penetration and making plays in transition. Again, not sure anyone on BU can match his quickness (where as other teams will be able to) but either way, his shooting, obviously, as well as his wheels and slick passing were (along with Thompson) the key factors for that offensive explosion.
He did what he is suppossed to do change the pace and take open 3's especially if they are falling. Its a little bit fouls gold because he isn't going to make 6 most games but its good moving forward that he has to be guarded everywhere. He seems to have some deep range on those rainbows.

Thompson on offense
Obviously I don't really need to recount what Thompson did well in terms of putting the ball in the basket but I think one of the things that really stands out is how comfortable he is getting to good spots, putting shots up if they are there, making a pass if needed (hit lydon with a beauty and made the extra pass to get White a wide open look from three) or even putting the ball on the deck a bit. He's just calm but extremely aggressive, which is a tremendous combination for an offensive player.
I agree with Thompson being comfortable and aggressive on offense. He also doesn't seem to rush even though he is decisive. Again this is against BU and Thompson did not look as comfortable against Uconn, Wisci, SC. I think he will get there against big time competition at some point this season. His midrange jumper gives us what Roberson can't as far as spacing offensively.

Howard's passing
Howard's overall game remains in a bit of a funk but he is arguably the best at keeping the ball moving, which is important against the zone. 11 assists with 2 TOs is obviously outstanding but maybe a bit misleading when you hit 14 threes. But, having said that, he had a lot of nice looks that led to a trip to the line or a good look that we weren't able to convert. I can think of four off the top of my head that could have easily gone in the books as assists. Now, every point guard can probably make the same claim but I think Howard did a nice job in terms of his decisions with the ball.
I thought Howard was OK and certainly seemed to run the offense better but it was against a bad zone where he has been pretty good this year. Its m2m where he needs to really improve running the offense. At this point I think he is a much improved shooter, an excellent overall passer but a guy who is just learning how to run half court sets.

The rotation
I think we saw a little bit of what this rotation will look like going forward and JB's teams are always better when he knows what his rotation is. I think this is a group you're going to see a lot: Ton of PT for White/Lydon with White at the 3 more than the 2 and Lydon at the 5 more often than on the wing. Lots of PT for Howard/Gillon/Battle -- the numbers may change depending on matchups but they all bring completely different skills and size that it's hard to imagine anyone getting iced out. I'd imagine Gillon is more in the 15-20 mpg range with Howard and Battle more around 30 as a general rule. Then Thompson and Roberson splitting the 4 depending on what we need more (defense/rebounding; offensive competency) and Coleman/Chukwu filling in where it's appropriate. As great as the Coleman narrative is and he really looks solid out there -- I get the vibe his minutes are still going to be like today more often than not.
I agree with all of this. White is a forward so the three guards will play a bunch and they need to! Lydon, White are the main guys with Thompson/Roberson filling out the front court minutes while Coleman gets some time to start the halves.

The supporting cast
Obviously White and Lydon aren't generally in the supporting cast role, but this was the Thompson/Gillon show today. But White did what White does, which helps open things up for others. He also was OK on the wing (not great) defensively and had a couple nice passes. Lydon opened up strong, I thought, even with the missed longer jumpers and seemed to have a good idea of what he wanted to do at the high post (even if he didn't call bank on the one jumper). Thought he played ok and filled the stat sheet decently for 26 mins. Coleman/Chukwu are what they are and Roberson was OK despite not being super impressive. Battle was meh, but was mostly a victim of shots not falling.
Supporting cast is a big issue because other than White we haven't really had consistent production from the core players and then the rest have also been up and down.

Transition
I'm not sure why Syracuse basketball goes through long stretches (read: multiple seasons) of not running but this team has to run. They have players who can make plays in transition. They need to be getting four or five hoops a game in unsettled situations at least. They don't run enough sets or have enough confidence to beat teams in an ugly half-court game if they don't at least get a few looks in transition or on the secondary break.
This was one of the things that you could tell was stressed by the staff. The guards pushed a lot more than they have been and even White took off with the ball a few times. The problem is that right now our guards are bad at finishing on the break and we don't seem to have the bigs running the floor on these plays enough for them to get easy ones. I agree though we absolutely have to keep running and hope to improve.

What didn't look good

It's BU
I know they almost beat UConn and we almost put ourselves in a miserable spot vs. N. Florida but at the end of the day this is still a game we should almost always win very easily. We did, but as far as how much it tells us? That's still unclear.
Yep hard to take tons away from this one. I though the team as a whole attempted to play with more purpose on both ends and do some things differently. I took that as a positive. We did better moving the ball against the zone than we did against Uconn but it could be the difference of making shots. We got a lot of good looks that we missed against Uconn. I liked that we made an effort to push the ball. I liked Thompson in the high post. I liked Gillon making shots and driving the gaps.

Battle is a standstill shooter?
I don't follow recruiting as closely as many but this is a kid who came in with a reputation as a slasher, right? He took 7 threes today (mostly good shots, by the way) attempted just one shot inside the 3-point arc and got fouled on one other, I believe. He also had a wide open floor 1-on-1 vs. a player from BU and nearly turned the ball over before passing it out to White for a 3, I believe. He didn't get within 10 feet of the hoop on that play. For the season he has attempted 49 shots -- 34 (close to 70%) of those have been threes. He's gotten to the line a little more the last four games but his season high for attempted FTs in a game is 4. I'm fine with him deferring to a degree and I'm not trying to hammer a freshman but it would be huge if he was able to create his own shot from time to time, particularly as we get into ACC play. But I'm just not sure we're going to see that.
I think he can be a slasher but agree his guard skills and handle have not seemed to translate like I expected. He's going to be great on defense before too long and he looks like he will continue to do well as a catch and shoot 3pt guy. What happened to that pull up jumper?

Hankerson ... really?
Dude took 20 threes and knocked down 10. I'd say at least 15 of those were pretty clean looks. I remember one sequence where White playing on the wing gambled for a steal with Hankerson hanging out behind him leading to a wide open 3 for a guy who had already knocked down 7 or 8 of them. Just an awful decision. We don't seem to anticipate well defensively and the slightest movement from opponents without the ball seems to lead to pretty open looks quite often.
The bottom line is that the zone is still a mess. We let this guy get good looks and then he was in the zone and made some contested ones late.

Still waiting on the guys who returned to this roster to step up
Didn't think Lydon played terribly but the problem is that it's the best he's played since the South Carolina game and first time he's cracked double-figures since then. I still feel like he's got to be the focal point of this offense but the longer we go on watching him look somewhere from 'not good' to 'mediocre' you have to start to wonder. Thought Howard played pretty well for the most part but he's 0-for his last 14. Ouch. Robey didn't play a ton which is fine with Thompson going off, but I still say we need him and I'm not loving the fact that he's struggling to find his way on the floor. Not sure how the season plays out but these three have to be better.
Lydon it seems is struggling to make the transition from supporting cast to star player. He is starting to press a bit IMO. I think he just needs to play his game and relax. If its there take it if not move the ball. He's a very good all around player.
Howard is learning to run the half court offense and I think we will learn more about his development against m2m teams than against zone teams. Still he's a great passer learning how to be a PG.
Roberson, I just don't know what to think. I know if I was him I wouldn't take any midrange jumpers because if it doesn't go down he's hitting the bench for a long time. He needs to rebound, defend and go strong around the rim.

Gillon and Thompson on defense
Thought Thompson was OK defensively and made a few plays but he didn't rebound as well and definitely doesn't put in the same effort on that side of the ball. Gillon made a bunch of plays but gets lost a ton defensively and struggles to be a consistent obstacle at his size. He also doesn't do a great job vs. penetration (neither does Howard for that matter).
Thompson is making improvements but he's also making mistakes. We just have to live with it until he learns. Gillon is quick and as he learns the zone he should compensate with some steals but I worry about ACC teams exploiting him if he is in for long stretches. They can see, pass and shoot over the top of him. The good news is that both guys seem to give a lot of effort on the defensive end.

So I don't know what to think overall. This team has warts, obviously. How well they address them going forward is obviously the key. What today taught us? That remains to be seen, but we'll take the W.

I responded point for point in orange above. Very well thought out post. We seem to have a team that isn't familiar with each other or the defense but has a lot of really good looking parts. The thing is those good looking players also seem to be limited in some aspect of their game which makes it harder to piece this team together in a workable fashion. We have to figure out a away to score around the basket, run and convert and get to the FT line more.
We have a bevy of dangerous shooters but don't seem to take advantage of that other than to shoot jumpers. If the jumpers aren't falling no one looks like they are capable of putting it on the floor and manufacturing offense. White is at least always willing to take a shot if needed. Against Uconn down the stretch it seemed like everyone else shied away from it.
Overall I think we can find it on offense with some more games. I think the defense will improve over the course of the season. The rebounding concerns me the most and after that being too reliant on jump shots.

 

[jordoo]

Also, BU played a mostly bad zone. We need to see how we fare against good M2M. So far it hasn't been pretty. We won't see much more zone moving forward.

I think its weird we have played our best against zone (mostly bad zone) but then I remember we have the shooters for it this year. It has been against m2m where we have really struggled. I think that's where we have to get either Lydon, Coleman or Thompson into the post to operate 1on1 with the other guys spreading the floor. If the defense collapses you have shooters if not you have a decent opportunity in the paint. I envisioned Frank, John and Tyus being good drivers off the high screen but that hasn't materialized. They don't seem to have that knack for driving like a scorer until the defense is forced to stop them and then making the play. Its like they are waiting for that to happen instead of forcing the action. Howard has had some really bad charges called against him which can't help.

 

[SoBristol]

Per Jordoo above, we have good players who also seem to be limited in some aspect of their game.

Yes -- there are two skills that winning teams have, and that our team does not have in abundance. 1. Driving and finishing -- from any place on the court, by any player, guards or forwards. Last year, in our final four run, Gbinije was highly effective, against good competition, in driving and getting layups. We miss that. 2. Front court scoring, inside -- off rebounds, or inside moves, against opponents of comparable size. Teams that have this get a lot of easy baskets.

The hope is that Battle & Howard will get better, and Lydon & Thompson will provide more inside scoring.

 

[Newhouser]

With Battle, after 9 games, you go with what you see on the court. He can shoot threes, he is athletic defensively -- and he is raw in half court, other than as a shooter. Likely, he got by in high school with his size and strength -- and not with polished guard skills. I expect he will improve in his ability to drive and score.

You seem to be underestimating White -- who is consistently our top scorer, or close to top. He can and does get his shot, and also find openings where his teammates can set him up. He has carried the team for long stretches, but typically in the first halves of games, and not so much in the second.

Lydon -- I wonder how much he has played high post, in practices or in previous seasons. His progress there is important. Thompson looks like he is very comfortable in that role. The improvement we need from Lydon is his work close to the basket.

If you are looking for "the guy" you might be disappointed. We have balance. It is remarkable that each of our 8 guys has had at least one big game -- with White being the most consistent, but the others taking turns in having individual high games. We have to use that balance, get our share of easy shots, convert inside, and make a team effort on the boards.

I don't see Battle's explosiveness. Nice player and room to grown, but in my eyes he doesn't look explosive. I don't see the slasher that is mentioned with him.

 

[Jasoncuse]

I don't see Battle's explosiveness. Nice player and room to grown, but in my eyes he doesn't look explosive. I don't see the slasher that is mentioned with him.

I don't see the NBA talent that so many gushed about prior to the season. You're right that he doesn't look very explosive, but maybe that'll improve when he gets more comfortable. But he has yet to show any ability to drive and finish, something that he'd need to do a lot of at the next level...

 

[billsin01]

Also, BU played a mostly bad zone. We need to see how we fare against good M2M. So far it hasn't been pretty. We won't see much more zone moving forward.

Yeah, meant to mention that the zone seemed to play into our hands as I believe you have mentioned previously here. Good observation.

 

[jordoo]

Yeah, meant to mention that the zone seemed to play into our hands as I believe you have mentioned previously here. Good observation.

Especially with Thompson being lights out from the high post. It opened things up for everyone else. The disappointing thing was we still rarely played off of his threat to cut for open looks at the rim. Thompson seems to be a willing passer and that guy we would hate to see from the FT line against our zone. When you surround a guy like that with shooters we at least seem to have a recipe against zone, will we be able to pull it off against good zone D? I don't know and how much zone will we see? Probably not a lot once we hit the ACC. We have to learn to play against m2m.

 

[billsin01]

Per Jordoo above, we have good players who also seem to be limited in some aspect of their game.

Yes -- there are two skills that winning teams have, and that our team does not have in abundance. 1. Driving and finishing -- from any place on the court, by any player, guards or forwards. Last year, in our final four run, Gbinije was highly effective, against good competition, in driving and getting layups. We miss that. 2. Front court scoring, inside -- off rebounds, or inside moves, against opponents of comparable size. Teams that have this get a lot of easy baskets.

The hope is that Battle & Howard will get better, and Lydon & Thompson will provide more inside scoring.

There are a couple of things I'd add here:

-- We actually appear to have guys who *should* be able to score in the post (as opposed to years past when maybe there was talent but seemingly lacking a lot of polish in the post with guys like xmas and frosh Fab or decent talent but simply really limited players offensively like Keta and the like). That's good. However, they haven't scored much in the post. That's bad. And we still really struggle to get them the ball in the post. That may be the worst.

-- Richardson was a key factor in creating his own shot -- maybe not always a driving layup but he could create for himself. Some games it didn't play out that way, but others -- UVA being the most notable, obviously -- it did.

 

[billsin01]

Especially with Thompson being lights out from the high post. It opened things up for everyone else. The disappointing thing was we still rarely played off of his threat to cut for open looks at the rim. Thompson seems to be a willing passer and that guy we would hate to see from the FT line against our zone. When you surround a guy like that with shooters we at least seem to have a recipe against zone, will we be able to pull it off against good zone D? I don't know and how much zone will we see? Probably not a lot once we hit the ACC. We have to learn to play against m2m.

Zoning this team seems like a really bad idea even if we don't execute perfectly against it. I can't imagine we'll see a lot of it.

 

[jordoo]

There are a couple of things I'd add here:

-- We actually appear to have guys who *should* be able to score in the post (as opposed to years past when maybe there was talent but seemingly lacking a lot of polish in the post with guys like xmas and frosh Fab or decent talent but simply really limited players offensively like Keta and the like). That's good. However, they haven't scored much in the post. That's bad. And we still really struggle to get them the ball in the post. That may be the worst.

-- Richardson was a key factor in creating his own shot -- maybe not always a driving layup but he could create for himself. Some games it didn't play out that way, but others -- UVA being the most notable, obviously -- it did.

I have to think that Coleman or Thompson can score in the post at a decent rate if isolated 1on1. Lydon should also be able to but he's part of the reason we should be able to get the isolation. It will be interesting for me to see if our guards can feed the post against m2m defense going forward. We have missed the post player a ton of times against zone when they had a defender on their back. They are open and the angle is there but it seems no one knows how to throw a bounce pass to the block anymore and after looking at lobbing it in the post player is no longer open.

Richardson could get a shot whenever he wanted that's for sure. Not always a good shot but at least a clean look for himself. White seems to always be able to get a shot off but not an open one. Luckily he seems very adept at that little push off fade away from 18'. I would really like to see Battle start implementing that pull up jumper. Early in the season it looked great and it would keep him from having to make too many decisions driving. Just beat the first defender, stop and pop. That is something I think he could do regularly and would help us out a bit as far as creating shots.

 

[jordoo]

Zoning this team seems like a really bad idea even if we don't execute perfectly against it. I can't imagine we'll see a lot of it.

We can stand 4 guys at the 3pt arc and get semi decent looks all day without doing anything other than swing the ball. We shot amazingly poorly against Uconn's zone or that game could have been over early. We let them hang around then got a 9pt lead which forced Ollie to change the D. We sucked against their m2m and they made a few shots, game over.

I agree though we won't see much zone, maybe a change of pace for a few possessions but that about it and if we don't start scoring against m2m we won't even see that.

 

[OttoMets]

...

So, is Lydon this guy? Doesn't look like it. But I think he could be a nightmare at the high post if he just works to get comfortable there. Outside of him you've got a complete nonfactor in Chukwu, white who's dangerous but completely incapable of creating his own shot, Battle who's a wild card but has done even less than Lydon in terms of creating, DC who is interesting but really struggles on the defensive end, an even younger kid in Thompson (who nevertheless has looked scintillating at times), Howard who needs to get some confidence putting the ball in the basket consistently to be that guy and Gillon. Gillon may be the interesting name b/c he's confident and quick and can shoot. But he shoots a set shot and gets swallowed up inside vs. ACC level teams.

I just feel like long-term, forcefeeding Lydon touches would be a good thing.

You forgot about the forgotten guy, Roberson. The most positive thing I took away from Saturday's game involved a three- or four-possession series in which Howard first looked confused by the zone, then found Roberson in the high post on successive trips for a made jumper and a nice pass to the big guy for a dunk, then caught a defender ducking underneath a screen but missed a good look from three.

We don't usually look good against a 2-3, but Roberson looked confident during that stretch. I think Lydon's skills are even better. It'd be nice of one of those guys could consistently get recognized by the guards, because they can do a lot of good things in the high post.