This team lacks speed and athleticism and physicality in the post. We are going to have trouble with physical athletic teams. St. Joe's was not even that athletic, but they were physical....and we just let them shoot toot many uncontested outside shots...and of course, they made most of them!!. Still early, and this team is learning how to play together, but at first glance, the lack of speed and athleticism jumps out at me as a major problem.
Ball security I also see as a problem. We’re averaging 25.5 turnovers/game in our first 2 games so we’re giving opponents the ball 25 times extra a game to score against us. Niagara took 12 more shots than we did while St Joe’s took 8 more shots, despite us out rebounding and shooting well against both teams. Last year we averaged 14.7 turnovers a game. We’re not making good decisions, nor valuing possessing the ball. As you said there’s a lack of athleticism displayed so far. Hoping some of it is from the newness of our experienced players being in different roles plus our new additions trying to figure out how they fit all together cohesively.
It’s called having a lot of young players in the rotation.
Football onlys.
Did you actually watch the game? Just because thee Hawks are in the A 10, doesn't mean that they are not talented. Good players are playing in all leagues around the country. Take a look at the makeup of our current roster: We have two top 100 HS recruits, the rest of our roster is made up of players, who could be playing in the Atlantic 10. If our current recruiting posture continues, we will not be able to compete in the highly competitive ACC. Where our recruiting deficiencies really show is in the area of speed and athleticism as well as size. ( Watch some SEC games) Our current roster has a 6-4 graduate student , and a 6-3 senior and a 6-3 Jr transfer student. We currently have no player in the upcoming recruiting class taller than a 6-2. Unless we recruit some bigs, our tallest players next year will be 6-3. Our current roster seems to be the perfect situation for some talented Big Players, yet, we can't sign one. Why is that? Coach Q, in his last recruiting class, had two top TEN PLAYERS IN THE SAME CLASS. Today, in the NIL era, that would cost millions. I follow womens college basketball and the recruiting trends that I am seeing don't bode well for Syracuse's future. Take a look at the current rosters and the last two recruiting classes of some of our ACC rivals and report back to us. Look at: North Carolina, North Carolina State, Duke, Notre Dame, Virginia, now, throw in Stanford! Tell me what you see?
It is really going to be up to the university with the new House vs Ncaa rules coming into effect in 2025. How much does John and Syracuse want to support their this program. My bet is a lot more than people might think…
I have seen St. Joe's play a number of times, believe it or not. I know how good they are.
I respect people who stand by what they say...Having said that, this roster composition doesn't bode well for great success in the ACC this year. Have you seen Notre Dame play this year? Did you watch NC State this weekend Versus South Carolina ? I bleed Orange and support our women, win or lose, but something just isn't right with our recruiting and it is more than just our staff can't recruit! We are being eliminated from consideration by a lot of these high level recruits because our financial compensation package just doesn't match up to our competitors. We are going to have to figure out a way to mine diamonds in the rough !
