Some Wake thoughts

[billsin01]

Good win, nice to take care of business. Other thoughts:

Wake pretty much sucked
They somehow shot 33/35/75 on the day ,which makes no sense since they appeared to make nothing at all. A massive second-half drought sealed their fate and, ultimately, they are what they are. A young, not terribly talented team. We don't get many games against teams like this in conference so, again, nice to take care of business.

Oshae played well despite the stat line
Not one of Brissett's more productive games -- 9, 7 and 4 isn't super exciting. He also didn't shoot particularly well, going just 3 of 9. But I actually thought he played pretty well. Passed the ball really well, got his hands on a bunch of rebounds he didn't get credit for, played solid defense and was unselfish as Hughes and Battle lit it up on our big run to put the thing away.

What I'd love to see him do if he returns next year is work on gathering himself before he goes up. Think it would make a world of difference for him.

Howard wasn't awful but ...
So I've been a big Frank supporter and I'm still on the bandwagon ... but I'm sort of dragging off the back. His line was OK -- 6 assists, 1 TO. Tough shooting but 6 points on 4 FGs isn't terrible. The thing he needs to do is engage fully in what we're doing. He only had the one turnover but he had two other passes that teammates bailed him out on and he had a couple really bad moments dribbling straight into childress. Not sure what's happened here, but it's discouraging game after game.

Even when Dolezaj isn't real good, he's great.
Not my boy's best game today -- two bad turnovers and a couple slow defensive rotations -- but he still makes a ton of positive plays.


Battle and Hughes were outstanding
Love these two but do we really need to find a third scorer. Brissett is the obvious option but if one of these two is off today, it ends up being a close game.

Carey looks ugly, BUddy has really improved in the zone.
The Carey story is weird but he's just brutal when he gets in games these days. Not buddy's best game, but the dude makes some plays.

 

[supp]

Good win, nice to take care of business. Other thoughts:

Wake pretty much sucked
They somehow shot 33/35/75 on the day ,which makes no sense since they appeared to make nothing at all. A massive second-half drought sealed their fate and, ultimately, they are what they are. A young, not terribly talented team. We don't get many games against teams like this in conference so, again, nice to take care of business.

Oshae played well despite the stat line
Not one of Brissett's more productive games -- 9, 7 and 4 isn't super exciting. He also didn't shoot particularly well, going just 3 of 9. But I actually thought he played pretty well. Passed the ball really well, got his hands on a bunch of rebounds he didn't get credit for, played solid defense and was unselfish as Hughes and Battle lit it up on our big run to put the thing away.

What I'd love to see him do if he returns next year is work on gathering himself before he goes up. Think it would make a world of difference for him.

Howard wasn't awful but ...
So I've been a big Frank supporter and I'm still on the bandwagon ... but I'm sort of dragging off the back. His line was OK -- 6 assists, 1 TO. Tough shooting but 6 points on 4 FGs isn't terrible. The thing he needs to do is engage fully in what we're doing. He only had the one turnover but he had two other passes that teammates bailed him out on and he had a couple really bad moments dribbling straight into childress. Not sure what's happened here, but it's discouraging game after game.

Even when Dolezaj isn't real good, he's great.
Not my boy's best game today -- two bad turnovers and a couple slow defensive rotations -- but he still makes a ton of positive plays.


Battle and Hughes were outstanding
Love these two but do we really need to find a third scorer. Brissett is the obvious option but if one of these two is off today, it ends up being a close game.

Carey looks ugly, BUddy has really improved in the zone.
The Carey story is weird but he's just brutal when he gets in games these days. Not buddy's best game, but the dude makes some plays.

Marek is getting stronger, especially in the hands department. Some bad spots today too but he's winning way more 50/50 balls than he did last year when he was tossed around like a rag doll.

 

[moqui]

Wake pretty much sucked


.

that really sums it up. my 10 year old son came home, watched about 3 minutes in the second half, commented "wake forest sucks" then left the room

 

[CousCuse]

Wake is not a good team, but the Orange are improving and a lot of the reason that Wake looked so inept was due to the intensity of the Syracuse players. In fact, if not for for an aberration in fouls called in the first half at UNC, the Orange would have run the Tar Heels off their own court. Frankie is playing the way the coaches are instructing him to play. When the Tourney arrives, don't be surprised to see him let it all hang out.

 

[OrangeFoo]

Wake is not a good team, but the Orange are improving and a lot of the reason that Wake looked so inept was due to the intensity of the Syracuse players. In fact, if not for for an aberration in fouls called in the first half at UNC, the Orange would have run the Tar Heels off their own court. Frankie is playing the way the coaches are instructing him to play. When the Tourney arrives, don't be surprised to see him let it all hang out.

The coaches are telling Frank to settle for contest threes and not ever get past his man and to give up open threes?

 

[Lucid]

Frankie is playing the way the coaches are instructing him to play. When the Tourney arrives, don't be surprised to see him let it all hang out.

This is an interesting comment and I'm wondering if you would like to elaborate? What are you basing it on, exactly?

 

[CousCuse]

This is an interesting comment and I'm wondering if you would like to elaborate? What are you basing it on, exactly?

It seems like an obvious strategy to buy some time and allow the injury to heal. I have seen him play hard for periods of time and then fall back other times. If he plays as hard as he can now and re-inures his ankle, his college career is over. I think that he wants to play in the tourney one more time and I think the coaches want him to take that approach. I believe JB would have made a lineup change if he didn't think FH would be there at a high level for the NCAA's. I further think that JB believes that the best chance to win the whole shooting match is with a 4th year senior guard. I find it hard to believe that the coaches don't see the play during games and can't come up with alternative lineups that may work better in the short term. JB does not want any controversy going on that could become a distraction. He is saying by starting him that this is Frank's team and will go as far as he leads them in the Tournament.

 

[Lucid]

I have seen him play hard for periods of time and then fall back other times. If he plays as hard as he can now and re-inures his ankle, his college career is over. I think that he wants to play in the tourney one more time and I think the coaches want him to take that approach.

So you think the coaches are basically telling him to not play 100% some of the time? To sort of dial it back to 80% on occasion, and kind of "save himself" until tournament time? I'm just trying to clarify.

 

[MSOrange]

So you think the coaches are basically telling him to not play 100% some of the time? To sort of dial it back to 80% on occasion, and kind of "save himself" until tournament time? I'm just trying to clarify.

Exactly... and they like it so much, the let him sit on the bench more as a reward.

 

[CousCuse]

So you think the coaches are basically telling him to not play 100% some of the time? To sort of dial it back to 80% on occasion, and kind of "save himself" until tournament time? I'm just trying to clarify.

Basically yes. I think the strategy is to get into the tourney. If you watched the Wake game, you can see that they introduced some new plays on offense, like that alley-oop from Hughes to OB and Hughes driving and shooting. That was for Tony Bennett to think about. All the tape all season long shows a perimeter shooting team and not much else, but they have some wrinkles planned that will really cause problems for opposing coaches to deal with when they haven't seen them before. Coach Boeheim is the cagiest old long in the tooth coach that there is.

 

[Dcuse]

Poor Frank. 6 assists, 1 turnover, some beautiful lob passes, sweet drop off bounce pass on the break...totally unselfish game. Still takes hits from people here. I’m convinced that if we were to make a run in the tournament and he were to avge. double figures in scoring and 7 or 8 assists that the haters would still hate on him. Senior night tomorrow for Frank! Get your trash ready...not much time left.

 

[FrancoPizza]

Basically yes. I think the strategy is to get into the tourney. If you watched the Wake game, you can see that they introduced some new plays on offense, like that alley-oop from Hughes to OB and Hughes driving and shooting. That was for Tony Bennett to think about. All the tape all season long shows a perimeter shooting team and not much else, but they have some wrinkles planned that will really cause problems for opposing coaches to deal with when they haven't seen them before. Coach Boeheim is the cagiest old long in the tooth coach that there is.

Not sure if serious

 

[Todoubled23]

that really sums it up. my 10 year old son came home, watched about 3 minutes in the second half, commented "wake forest sucks" then left the room

That's hilarious

 

[CousCuse]

Not sure if serious

You must think your smarter and can out think that old man, don't you? You are so wrong.

 

[Lucid]

Coach Boeheim is the cagiest old long in the tooth coach that there is.

So, Boeheim be like...

 

[SBU72]

Basically yes. I think the strategy is to get into the tourney. If you watched the Wake game, you can see that they introduced some new plays on offense, like that alley-oop from Hughes to OB and Hughes driving and shooting. That was for Tony Bennett to think about. All the tape all season long shows a perimeter shooting team and not much else, but they have some wrinkles planned that will really cause problems for opposing coaches to deal with when they haven't seen them before. Coach Boeheim is the cagiest old long in the tooth coach that there is.

JB would never tell a player not to go full out. He doesn't save guys for tomorrow. Why else do you think he plays guys 30+ minutes a game. If a player can't go, then he doesn't play. Example Sidibe.

 

[NateW]

Agree w everything OP said especially the take on OB. I understand he’s frustrating to ppl but he has been playing better than ppl think. He just CANNOT shoot jump shots right now. Eesh.

Disagree with Frank take. Thought this was one of his better games. Really solid floor game getting his teammates involved in creative ways and took care of the ball. He has not set the bar too high this year so saying it was one of his better games isn’t a huge leap. We need these types of games from him, where he looks sound and competent in his floor game while also picking his spots for his threes and floaters in the lane.

 

[CousCuse]

So, Boeheim be like...

View attachment 154950

Yes. Yoda Boeheimed Luke on Dagobah.

 

[81South]

Not sure why we need a take on Carey when he only played like 2 minutes in garbage time. Clearly he’s not ready and thus the reason he basically doesn’t play anymore.

 

[CousCuse]

JB would never tell a player not to go full out. He doesn't save guys for tomorrow. Why else do you think he plays guys 30+ minutes a game. If a player can't go, then he doesn't play. Example Sidibe.

He puts constraints on players all the time as to what they are doing on the court. Why would this be different?

 

[Sgt Cuse]

Not sure why we need a take on Carey when he only played like 2 minutes in garbage time. Clearly he’s not ready and thus the reason he basically doesn’t play anymore.

We're interested in Carey because he is penciled in as the starting pg for next year. We're interested because he has tantalizing potential. Would like to see the signs of progress and watch him develop quickly.

Unfortunately he is not showing improvement in the ball security area. He has to know he has to tighten his handle and yet it still looks loose.
Also I was a little disappointed in his running of the team, thought it was too quick given the score/time. I haven't seen/sensed the leader on the floor, game manager aspect from him yet (he played too fast in the BC blow out too).

IMO, Carey has a lot of improvement needed to nail down the point guard spot for next year. If JC continues like this, I think JG3 will be running the show by the end of OOC next year.

 

[Cheriehoop]

My favorite picture and image by far from the game. Love it!

 

[81South]

We're interested in Carey because he is penciled in as the starting pg for next year. We're interested because he has tantalizing potential. Would like to see the signs of progress and watch him develop quickly.

Unfortunately he is not showing improvement in the ball security area. He has to know he has to tighten his handle and yet it still looks loose.
Also I was a little disappointed in his running of the team, thought it was too quick given the score/time. I haven't seen/sensed the leader on the floor, game manager aspect from him yet (he played too fast in the BC blow out too).

IMO, Carey has a lot of improvement needed to nail down the point guard spot for next year. If JC continues like this, I think JG3 will be running the show by the end of OOC next year.

It’s interesting there was no take on Braswell who may very likely step into a larger role next year AND has looked decent in his garbage time appearances as of late.

Also I guess I don’t get why we need to say ‘he was ugly’ or ‘brutal’ either. Again, it’s 2 minutes of mop up duty for a kid who will likely be fine in the long run.

 

[CardiacCuse]

Chukwu - played great...he's up and down from game to game - but this version of him is a definite plus. a lot of that had to do with Wake's lack of interior firepower...but good showing from him. would've liked to see him fed more on some post ups. as long as he brings the energy and fire...he's the best option at the 5.

Howard - despite being a frustrating player at times, the best version of this team includes Frank playing a big role. When he's playing well I don't like seeing him benched. I'd prefer he stays out there on the court unless he's just totally blowing it. The team needs him to be its best - so he should be out there. Especially on defense - he's the best option. Still need him to be better on the drive/break...but his shot is coming around and his passing can be quite good too.

Hughes - when he can score on drives he becomes lethal. JB mentioned that he just has to know when to go and when its not open. but now the game plan should be simple for him - use 3s to setup drives and drives to set up 3s.

Brissett - his interior passing has improved - and is a dangerous weapon! still struggles with decision-making at times - but if he can get that a bit better i.e. knowing when to shoot/pass/drive etc he can be even better. I think he's in his own head about 3 point shooting - too self-conscious. if he's wide open he should shoot the 3! and not think twice...but he shouldnt be trying to hit harden stepback 3s though. gotta find a way to get him more confident on his perimeter shots without having him take 10+ a game...

Marek - he brings so much to the team. like seeing him paired with chukwu out there. that frontline of chukwu-brissett-marek is something we havent seen much of but is a monster defensively - hope to see it used more. havent seen a lineup of battle-hughes-marek-brissett-chukwu - but that could be the secret weapon, imo. overall, marek needs to keep looking for his shot and keep driving - with him on the perimeter it really opens up the offense. He MUST not pick up those silly fouls though - not sure why he struggles so much with that - but it REALLY HURTS the team when he picks up worthless fouls. gotta cut those out.

Best Lineup - wonder if it could be Battle-Hughes-Marek-Brissett-Chukwu? - every player would be at least 6'6" -that team would be a nightmare to score against and could also put up the points too!

Buddy - his lesser athleticism stands out sometimes. thankfully he is hitting those 3s, otherwise it gets hard to see him on the court over frank/elijah at times...he had a rough first half and the lead should've been bigger at halftime. he definitely has a role in the rotation but he doesn't match up well versus certain teams...should be played with discretion. i think the ceiling for the team is higher with frank getting a lot of minutes so i'd prefer to see howard out there even though frank might not actually get it together when it counts...if that makes any sense.

 

[OttoinGrotto]

Two big things - first, nobody played poorly. Everyone made some things happen. Probably one of our most balanced games all season.

Second, I really like how Thick Brisket is developing as a passer on the interior. It seems like every game now he's getting guys into opportunities for easy dunks and lay ups. For a team that isn't the smoothest offensively, that's a big deal.