Syracuse Basketball is FUN again

[SWC75]

Just wait till Red gets his own guys.

I can't wait for the first "Yeah, but he won with JB's players" post.

 

[OrangeFoo]

I can't wait for the first "Yeah, but he won with JB's players" post.

That post would be an even bigger compliment to Autry… regardless of players HCAA has completely changed the style of play for better or worse. If you buy the “JB’s players” story then it means you are also buying that HCAA’s approach is, so far, getting superior results than FHCJB approach. We‘ll see what happens at end of season.

 

[OrangeFoo]

Higher tempo is always more pleasing to the eye and good for the fan,

This is the highest tempo team we have had at Syracuse since 2009, relative to the NCAA. Ranked #41 in KP ... the lowest it has been since it was #29 in 2009. Of course, prior to this year our tempo was a bit of a two-way street -- our 2/3 zone tended to slow down the opposition as well.

A few other points before the full list since 2009 below:
1. We've had some really deliberate teams as of late -- that 2014 Syracuse team with Tyler Ennis at point was very deliberate. And then the 2018 team, which if I remember correctly was a lot of grind it out play that would end in the ends of Tyus Battle.
2. A general observation about the NCAA game. Although our games now have 3 more offensive possessions in 2024 as compared to 2009, the national rank is lower. The speed of the NCAA game has picked up a decent amount the last 15 years.

Syracuse Tempo rank per KenPom

2024 - 41 (72.9 possessions)
2023 - 170
2022 - 144
2021 - 151
2020 - 179
2019 - 257
2018 - 345
2017 - 243
2016 - 314
2015 - 100
2014 - 344
2013 - 235
2012 - 202
2011 - 212
2010 - 59 (68.7 possessions)
2009 - 29 (69.7 possessions)

This post is gold… it’s mind boggling to me how correlated the great decline is with tempo. Sure we went to two final fours in that period but that was all due to suffocating zone D… the regular seasons were pretty painful to watch. The slow tempo helped less talented teams stay in games leading to more What losses, but it also helped mask our lack of depth, due to poorer recruiting, against more talented teams letting us get to the final 4. One other observation… JB clearly realized the last 4 years or so that grinding it out wasn’t going to work any more, but by then he wasn’t able to get the horses to go uptempo and win consistently.

 

[Red Holzman]

Something must have misdirected when I clicked on this thread-
Thought it was "Syracuse Basketball is FUN again"
Being in wholehearted agreement, looked forward to reading/sharing posts on a great topic!
Excitement, optimism, player development, an apparently bright future for the program...
But no.

It's great to be enjoying games again. Maybe someday we can have a thread that celebrates that.

 

[shu 49]

When? Because for 40 years the guy was a Hall of fame coach that took our program from a really good Northeast school to a national power. And now, we knock him for a guy that hasn't beat a really good team yet? That seems ridiculous to me. We all hope Red is great and is here for a long time. But why don't we cool it with the jb knocking. He built this program.

I get how u think it was a knock. I think Jb coaching our team today when he was younger would get the win. i think last years Jb would have lost that game. I dont mean that as a knock either cause ur right about him building the whole Su brand and team. Heres hoping Red keeps what Jim started going for a long time.

 

[CuseFan]

Something must have misdirected when I clicked on this thread-
Thought it was "Syracuse Basketball is FUN again"
Being in wholehearted agreement, looked forward to reading/sharing posts on a great topic!
Excitement, optimism, player development, an apparently bright future for the program...
But no.

It's great to be enjoying games again. Maybe someday we can have a thread that celebrates that.

Yep, let's go back to the topic: Excitement, Optimism, player development, and bright future of the program.

I am really enjoying watching games again. Even if we don't win, it's just a more fun style of basketball.

 

[Zepharus]

If JB was coaching this team we lose by double digits today.

I couldn't agree more. this is 100% an L in JBs last few years. This game showed me what Red's different philosophy is. Play hard, play together. We can all get behind that

 

[baggerbob]

I couldn't agree more. this is 100% an L in JBs last few years. This game showed me what Red's different philosophy is. Play hard, play together. We can all get behind that

In reality Red has gone back to the way he played when Jim was coaching. Push the pace and get easy looks.

 

[HakAttack]

Is that really necessary?

Yup.

 

[HakAttack]

When? Because for 40 years the guy was a Hall of fame coach that took our program from a really good Northeast school to a national power. And now, we knock him for a guy that hasn't beat a really good team yet? That seems ridiculous to me. We all hope Red is great and is here for a long time. But why don't we cool it with the jb knocking. He built this program.

It’s not knocking. It’s the truth. The last 5-6 years of JB’s tenure, yesterday’s game was one we lose by double digits. He would have refused to make the adjustments in-game that were needed to pull out a victory.

That’s how far the program fell at the end of JB’s time here. Sorry you don’t want to accept it.

But Red has been a breath of fresh air after a stale 1/2 decade.

Multiple things can be true.

 

[Sherman20]

When? Because for 40 years the guy was a Hall of fame coach that took our program from a really good Northeast school to a national power. And now, we knock him for a guy that hasn't beat a really good team yet? That seems ridiculous to me. We all hope Red is great and is here for a long time. But why don't we cool it with the jb knocking. He built this program.

Yeah, no need to jab JB for 40 years of greatness. But it does raise questions about why he went away from the principles that he built the program on—athleticism and playing fast—in the last few years. I mostly think it came down to his age and lack of activity in recruiting and ability to land players, which decreased our talent and athleticism, forced us to play slower and reduced our ability to get out in transition. The sanctions and the loss of Hopkins definitely hurt because Hop had so much stature in our usual recruiting areas. One thing we can say, though, is that JB of the last 20 or 30 years would never have played more than 8 guys regular minutes—although the talent level we had for most of those years was higher than we have now. I do think Autry increased the talent level this season but the guys are still young so it’s going to take time for the talent to develop.

 

[SWC75]

It’s not knocking. It’s the truth. The last 5-6 years of JB’s tenure, yesterday’s game was one we lose by double digits. He would have refused to make the adjustments in-game that were needed to pull out a victory.

That’s how far the program fell at the end of JB’s time here. Sorry you don’t want to accept it.

But Red has been a breath of fresh air after a stale 1/2 decade.

Multiple things can be true.

It proves that an internal promotion doesn't have mean "more of the same". You have to look beyond that into the man's ideas.