Syracuse Plays Iowa St on Wednesday 1pm

[NineOneSeven]

It worked 22 1/2 years ago!

We are due for another title… goodness

 

[Newhouser]

I thought they were really good against ST Johns. Good but tough opportunity.

 

[richmondcuse03]

I can only imagine we asked to get out of town early and play the first game. Otherwise this makes no sense.

 

[OCESIP]

I just picture the organizers of this tournament all holed up in a Vegas suite over the last few weeks, sitting around a glass table and doing mounds of cocaine as the make up(and change) the rules of this garbage tournament.

Wait till next year. 32 teams, B12 guaranteed a minimum of 8 spots, $50 million on the table. They will screw it up big time.

 

[jdubs30]

I was praying for Creighton cuz I didn’t want Rutgers but this is best case scenario for us. House money

 

[hoopsupstate]

If we couldn’t score yesterday, today will be worse. Iowa St. will lock us down defensively. I don’t see our shooters all of a sudden realizing how to shoot.

 

[RedtheGOB]

I can only imagine we asked to get out of town early and play the first game. Otherwise this makes no sense.

I agree. Or Iowa did too. No one wants to play at 10 or midnight then fly out Thanksgiving morning. We for sure didn’t want to play a scrub Thursday later either.

 

[richmondcuse03]

I agree. Or Iowa did too. No one wants to play at 10 or midnight then fly out Thanksgiving morning. We for sure didn’t want to play a scrub Thursday later either.

It’s annoying but another top 15 loss doesn’t kill us. And maybe we finally put together a complete effort. We either need to start beating good programs or make a change at the top.

 

[MSOrange]

It’s annoying but another top 15 loss doesn’t kill us. And maybe we finally put together a complete effort. We either need to start beating good programs or make a change at the top.

It won't go down as a bad loss, but we need some good wins eventually, as you mention.

 

[23Zone]

I am disappointed that Fennel is not getting any play time. We need fresh legs. He is more than capable of playing a handful of minutes in each half. If Zephir can get in for a few minutes then certainly Luke should be able to as well. Plus he is a good foul shooter. When Red was hired he said he was going to play a lot of people well that hasn't materialized in this Vegas trip where it is needed most.

Which leads me to my next point which is we have no half court offense without Freeman so we need to push the pace. Which requires fresh legs... which requires some play time for Fennel!

 

[Scott11]

Great opportunity for the program to salvage the trip. If we could win this game, our entire view of the season so far would change. What a great opportunity.

 

[jdubs30]

I don’t think Iowa State should be too mad about this….

They already played StJohns and Creighton
They were trying to avoid conference matchups (Houston, Kansas, Baylor).

The bottom 4 teams were Oregon, Creighton, UNLV, Rutgers.

SDSU and Alambama played the last 2 tips last night - a 10am start wouldn’t work for them.

So that left Iowa States matchup options as Notre Dame and Auburn; these were the other 2 1-1 teams.

It would have been interesting if they did Auburn/Iowa State and Cuse/StJohns but I think they wanted to keep the time slots close

 

[NineOneSeven]

I am disappointed that Fennel is not getting any play time. We need fresh legs. He is more than capable of playing a handful of minutes in each half. If Zephir can get in for a few minutes then certainly Luke should be able to as well. Plus he is a good foul shooter. When Red was hired he said he was going to play a lot of people well that hasn't materialized in this Vegas trip where it is needed most.

Which leads me to my next point which is we have no half court offense without Freeman so we need to push the pace. Which requires fresh legs... which requires some play time for Fennel!

Fennel not playing is reallll far down the list for me.

 

[23Zone]

Fennel not playing is reallll far down the list for me.

 

[TexanMark]

Or TNT

We will get better slots going forward

Kiyan effect

 

[grepal]

I doubt it this is going to be a success I imagine. Lots of good teams playing I hope we get invited every year.

Except for the results I have loved this tournament. Very entertaining team to watch. Foul shooting and three pointers make me feel I am in Adventureland.

 

[Niastri]

Momcilovic is the one player we need to be aware of. Being without Lipsey will help us a little, he is their senior point guard but can be maddeningly inconsistent. Outside of maybe Jefferson, the rest of the team is good but not great. The plus side is if we limit Milon's looks we can win this game. The downside is my USDA inspector is gonna write me a bunch of NR's when we win.

Not knowing what an NR is, that sounds bad?

Career ending?

 

[Niastri]

I am disappointed that Fennel is not getting any play time. We need fresh legs. He is more than capable of playing a handful of minutes in each half. If Zephir can get in for a few minutes then certainly Luke should be able to as well. Plus he is a good foul shooter. When Red was hired he said he was going to play a lot of people well that hasn't materialized in this Vegas trip where it is needed most.

Which leads me to my next point which is we have no half court offense without Freeman so we need to push the pace. Which requires fresh legs... which requires some play time for Fennel!

Fennell was sloppy with the ball against low major teams. I see him being a turnover machine against high major defense. He might become really good, but he's rightfully been beaten out by Zephir for spot minutes so far.

Edit : I will admit that I spent several posts complaining about Zephir beating out Fennell for minutes in the two exhibition games, but I've kind of changed my tune on this after the first four cupcake games. Maybe it will flip back during the season, as Fennell had much bigger upside... But Zephir helps us more in those limited minutes right now.

 

[DomeHolmes]

Really disappointed in how bad we got screwed in this tournament. We got the hardest three games schedule. And the least rest.

Considering how horribly we shot from the free-throw line and three-point range, we could’ve beaten Houston on the last play of the game and we were two points away from Kansas with 4 1/2 minutes. It’s remarkable when you think about it. Our defense needs to show up again on tired legs.

 

[ScriptCuse]

Dude. Drawing Houston, Kansas & Iowa State is INSANE lmfaooo.

 

[Bulldog04]

Dude. Drawing Houston, Kansas & Iowa State is INSANE lmfaooo.

Forget about the draw, the fact that they didn’t find out til 10pm pacific and then will have to wake up at 6am pacific to go play a team with watching zero film or have any prep is the most insane thing. I’m all for playing the better teams, but good lord give the proper amount of time to prepare

 

[Cusefan0307]

I was praying for Creighton cuz I didn’t want Rutgers but this is best case scenario for us. House money

It’s not house money. We need the game. So does Red. We are digging ourselves a huge hole if we lose.

 

[Cusefan0307]

Fennell was sloppy with the ball against low major teams. I see him being a turnover machine against his defense. He might become really good, but he's rightfully been beaten out by Zephir for spot minutes so far.

I tend to think he’s not playing because we are emphasizing defense at the expense of scoring. We could use his shooting. He cannot be any worse than JJ or Kiyan in that regard. He doesn’t look like a ball stopper either.

 

[Chip]

Dumb tournament.

Is Rutgers in the championship game?

 

[MSOrange]

Forget about the draw, the fact that they didn’t find out til 10pm pacific and then will have to wake up at 6am pacific to go play a team with watching zero film or have any prep is the most insane thing. I’m all for playing the better teams, but good lord give the proper amount of time to prepare

Agree. I can't imagine anyone is happy about the format of this tournament after seeing it this season. At least with a bracket, you can prepare for possibilities in advance even if you don't know which one will actually happen.