So huge W. If there was some troubles with *cough* continence *cough* I"m fine with it. I was almost in the same boat. Having said that, there is still a pretty sizable hole we dug ourselves somehow (still puzzling to me with a veteran team that even has a little depth and flexibility) but I"m going to save those thoughts for a mid-season post of some sort after the PItt and Miami games.
So to try and put this one game into some sort of perspective:
Duke probably did lose b/c it was without reddish and, for the most part, without Jones.
People will hate this but I don't know why. It's OK to say this folks -- doesn't cheapen the win. Any ACC win on the road is big. If you do it against a good team, it's really, really big. And if you travel to cameron, even in a year when Duke doesn't have the two top draft picks on the court together, it's nearly impossible to come out victorious. So we'll take it and brag about it for the next few months.
That said, Reddish is a very good defender and Jones is outstanding defensively. Without those two we got a hefty, hefty dose of the struggling Jack White/Alex O'Connell/Jordan Goldwire trio. That group is generally OK -- yes, White was 0-for-10 from 3, but prior to a three-game disaster of a stretch, he was actually putting up a decent year and coming off nice performances against Texas Tech and Clemson. O'Connell is a nice player and we saw that last night with some solid defense vs. Frank and a career-high 16.
But those dudes aren't Tre Jones, who was dogging our guys, and Reddish, who has been good defensively all year. When you're a team that plays pressure defense and you lose two key perimeter defenders -- that's a tough thing to deal with. We saw Tyus go into full-on attack mode and Frank had probably his best stretch of the season for 8 or 10 minutes there in the second half and that was really what won us that game.
Our guards exploiting their injury/illness issues was big. No two ways about it.
Crazy how many bad calls visiting teams get in cameron
Don't think this is orange-colored glasses guy. But they show that replay of Fair and it's still absurd. Then last night we have a phantom foul on Frank when Zion dunks on the opening possession, the inexplicable Chuckwu basket interference/foul call where we got two free throws ... except that it didn't make any sense at all to get two free throws. Then there was the foul call on Zion for no reason at the end of regulation and I think at least one other that I'm currently forgetting (edit: Sidibe over the back along with the no call on Boulden over the back).
It is what it is, but man it's tough to get a call in that building.
Not sure what I think of Zion as a pro prospect
Barrett is a gunner but he's a big-time prospect. I really like Tre Jones at least defensively and in terms of running the show -- not sure about him as a scorer/shooter. But Zion is one of the weirdest college hoops players I've seen in a while. I mean, there is clearly a lot to love -- he's huge, phenomenally athletic, aggressive as hell, and he doesn't really dominate the ball which leaves plenty of shots for other guys (Reddish shoots about as much each game as Zion despite his struggles and barrett is averaging like 5+ more shots per game).
He's also an ideal college player in many ways b/c as cool as it is to shoot threes (and he does a little of this), it's still incredibly efficient to have a guy making 66% of his shots from the field and getting to the line all day (even at 71%, that's still points and he's putting your entire front court in foul trouble).
But in the NBA? I don't know, he scores a ton on that action where he basically cuts from one side of the lane to the middle and keeps going to his left before muscling in a short jumper, layup or dunk and/or drawing a foul. College kids know it's coming but are powerless to stop it. But can a guy live on that along with a bunch of transition dunks in the NBA? I know he's going to be a factor b/c of his size and athleticism but I don't really see him as the next lebron/durant type of player.
This Syracuse team remains an enigma
Honestly, can't quite figure this group out. Hughes has an awesome night but after putting up an incredible first half he didn't score in the second half and the only opportunities I remember are the wide open three off the curl that he missed and then the late shot-clock possession where he really struggled and ended up losing the ball going up against Barrett.
Chuckwu has spent the majority of the season doing next to nothing. He has scored 0 points five times, and put in a single field goal five more times (in 16 games) while also grabbing 3 or fewer rebounds five times and, as a 7-foot-2-inch centerpiece of a zone defense, managed to block 1 or fewer shots nine times on the season. Yet, against the most talented team in the country, he managed to put up 10 points and grab 18 rebounds while blocking three shots. Oh, and for good measure he hits two huge free throws to essentially clinch the win.
Brissett -- hard to know what to say but he really struggled inside the arc but continued to work hard, managed to knock down a couple big outside shots (three actually). Don't know what's happening here, but give the kid credit for battling and finding a way to contribute.
Frank came alive out of absolutely nowhere (not exactly nowhere as his numbers have been a bit better the past three games) and made huge shots for us in the second half to get us into the spot where making some plays late could win us the game.
I don't know -- even when you have a huge win you've got some head-scratching stuff. Still can't figure this group out.
Must feel nice for JB
I'm almost never critical of JB but this year is different. Like a lot of players here and am confused by how we've played. But last night was a really nice game for JB -- the offense is what it is to a degree but the tempo was better and we did a good job attacking duke's replacements when Jones went down and Reddish couldn't go. Also thought it was a good defensive strategy -- battle zion inside as best you can and dare everyone else to shoot.
We saw a bunch of little things that could -- theoretically -- add up to this team playing better going forward
Brissett's struggles inside continued but he hit 3 of 5 from three -- second time in four games that he's hit 3 threes in a game and he's only done that those two times all season. Obviously he struggled against Clemson and Ga Tech from deep, but this game should help with his confidence in that shot and that would be big for us. Franky hadn't played a key role in a win all season until his 12-point game vs. Clemson. To come back from a brutal game vs. GT and put in 16 with 6 rebs, 5 assts adn 2 stls is huge (I guess we can give a little assist to Tre's injury here, but still ...).
There was also the show of versatility here. In this game, Dolezaj was overmatched, Sidibe had quick foul trouble, Carey really struggled. But we saw Chuckwu play the role of the backbone of the defense in the middle and Frank step up offensively. Against Clemson it was Dolezaj doing a little bit of everything and Sidibe putting together 16 solid minutes. Against ND we had Hughes and Brissett put up big games and Carey do some nice things in relief of Frank. Just a lot of complimentary pieces that hopefully can all improve as the ACC sked moves on.
Lastly, we now have two ACC road wins and three ACC wins. That's important b/c there is a murderer's row coming up.
There is a february stretch where we go @NCST, L'ville, Duke, @UNC, @Wake, UVA. Ouch. I think we're potentially good enough if our guys are playing well to win a game or two or three in there, but that is brutal. It's a must to play good basketball between now and 2/9. This W was a good start.
So to try and put this one game into some sort of perspective:
Duke probably did lose b/c it was without reddish and, for the most part, without Jones.
People will hate this but I don't know why. It's OK to say this folks -- doesn't cheapen the win. Any ACC win on the road is big. If you do it against a good team, it's really, really big. And if you travel to cameron, even in a year when Duke doesn't have the two top draft picks on the court together, it's nearly impossible to come out victorious. So we'll take it and brag about it for the next few months.
That said, Reddish is a very good defender and Jones is outstanding defensively. Without those two we got a hefty, hefty dose of the struggling Jack White/Alex O'Connell/Jordan Goldwire trio. That group is generally OK -- yes, White was 0-for-10 from 3, but prior to a three-game disaster of a stretch, he was actually putting up a decent year and coming off nice performances against Texas Tech and Clemson. O'Connell is a nice player and we saw that last night with some solid defense vs. Frank and a career-high 16.
But those dudes aren't Tre Jones, who was dogging our guys, and Reddish, who has been good defensively all year. When you're a team that plays pressure defense and you lose two key perimeter defenders -- that's a tough thing to deal with. We saw Tyus go into full-on attack mode and Frank had probably his best stretch of the season for 8 or 10 minutes there in the second half and that was really what won us that game.
Our guards exploiting their injury/illness issues was big. No two ways about it.
Crazy how many bad calls visiting teams get in cameron
Don't think this is orange-colored glasses guy. But they show that replay of Fair and it's still absurd. Then last night we have a phantom foul on Frank when Zion dunks on the opening possession, the inexplicable Chuckwu basket interference/foul call where we got two free throws ... except that it didn't make any sense at all to get two free throws. Then there was the foul call on Zion for no reason at the end of regulation and I think at least one other that I'm currently forgetting (edit: Sidibe over the back along with the no call on Boulden over the back).
It is what it is, but man it's tough to get a call in that building.
Not sure what I think of Zion as a pro prospect
Barrett is a gunner but he's a big-time prospect. I really like Tre Jones at least defensively and in terms of running the show -- not sure about him as a scorer/shooter. But Zion is one of the weirdest college hoops players I've seen in a while. I mean, there is clearly a lot to love -- he's huge, phenomenally athletic, aggressive as hell, and he doesn't really dominate the ball which leaves plenty of shots for other guys (Reddish shoots about as much each game as Zion despite his struggles and barrett is averaging like 5+ more shots per game).
He's also an ideal college player in many ways b/c as cool as it is to shoot threes (and he does a little of this), it's still incredibly efficient to have a guy making 66% of his shots from the field and getting to the line all day (even at 71%, that's still points and he's putting your entire front court in foul trouble).
But in the NBA? I don't know, he scores a ton on that action where he basically cuts from one side of the lane to the middle and keeps going to his left before muscling in a short jumper, layup or dunk and/or drawing a foul. College kids know it's coming but are powerless to stop it. But can a guy live on that along with a bunch of transition dunks in the NBA? I know he's going to be a factor b/c of his size and athleticism but I don't really see him as the next lebron/durant type of player.
This Syracuse team remains an enigma
Honestly, can't quite figure this group out. Hughes has an awesome night but after putting up an incredible first half he didn't score in the second half and the only opportunities I remember are the wide open three off the curl that he missed and then the late shot-clock possession where he really struggled and ended up losing the ball going up against Barrett.
Chuckwu has spent the majority of the season doing next to nothing. He has scored 0 points five times, and put in a single field goal five more times (in 16 games) while also grabbing 3 or fewer rebounds five times and, as a 7-foot-2-inch centerpiece of a zone defense, managed to block 1 or fewer shots nine times on the season. Yet, against the most talented team in the country, he managed to put up 10 points and grab 18 rebounds while blocking three shots. Oh, and for good measure he hits two huge free throws to essentially clinch the win.
Brissett -- hard to know what to say but he really struggled inside the arc but continued to work hard, managed to knock down a couple big outside shots (three actually). Don't know what's happening here, but give the kid credit for battling and finding a way to contribute.
Frank came alive out of absolutely nowhere (not exactly nowhere as his numbers have been a bit better the past three games) and made huge shots for us in the second half to get us into the spot where making some plays late could win us the game.
I don't know -- even when you have a huge win you've got some head-scratching stuff. Still can't figure this group out.
Must feel nice for JB
I'm almost never critical of JB but this year is different. Like a lot of players here and am confused by how we've played. But last night was a really nice game for JB -- the offense is what it is to a degree but the tempo was better and we did a good job attacking duke's replacements when Jones went down and Reddish couldn't go. Also thought it was a good defensive strategy -- battle zion inside as best you can and dare everyone else to shoot.
We saw a bunch of little things that could -- theoretically -- add up to this team playing better going forward
Brissett's struggles inside continued but he hit 3 of 5 from three -- second time in four games that he's hit 3 threes in a game and he's only done that those two times all season. Obviously he struggled against Clemson and Ga Tech from deep, but this game should help with his confidence in that shot and that would be big for us. Franky hadn't played a key role in a win all season until his 12-point game vs. Clemson. To come back from a brutal game vs. GT and put in 16 with 6 rebs, 5 assts adn 2 stls is huge (I guess we can give a little assist to Tre's injury here, but still ...).
There was also the show of versatility here. In this game, Dolezaj was overmatched, Sidibe had quick foul trouble, Carey really struggled. But we saw Chuckwu play the role of the backbone of the defense in the middle and Frank step up offensively. Against Clemson it was Dolezaj doing a little bit of everything and Sidibe putting together 16 solid minutes. Against ND we had Hughes and Brissett put up big games and Carey do some nice things in relief of Frank. Just a lot of complimentary pieces that hopefully can all improve as the ACC sked moves on.
Lastly, we now have two ACC road wins and three ACC wins. That's important b/c there is a murderer's row coming up.
There is a february stretch where we go @NCST, L'ville, Duke, @UNC, @Wake, UVA. Ouch. I think we're potentially good enough if our guys are playing well to win a game or two or three in there, but that is brutal. It's a must to play good basketball between now and 2/9. This W was a good start.
