Talk me off the ledge...what's different about this year vs last year

[cpatrocks]

This years teams seems motivated to ensure that every fan gets a free taco.

 

[longislandcuse]

This years teams seems motivated to ensure that every fan gets a free taco.

Yea, they look like they want to embarass teams. I havent seen that killer swag in a while.

 

[RandygoCuse]

One could also ask if we are better than the team from 2 years ago. Maybe we have more depth, but the team 2 years ago may have had a stronger first eight.

 

[moqui]

Last year, the half court offense was often painful to watch. This year, the half court offense is . . . uh . . . well . . . . hey, is there any room on that ledge?

 

[jordoo]

Last year, the half court offense was often painful to watch. This year, the half court offense is . . . uh . . . well . . . . hey, is there any room on that ledge?

I hear you but it is getting better. Dion has been very efficient of late. Kris isn't getting charges and Fab's seal off dunks are happening twice a game.

 

[marz09cuse]

Well, how many anit-Scoop threads have you seen this year? Last year, this place averaged about 5 per game. That should give you enough right there to see a difference from this years team and last years.

 

[RMH44]

Biggest differences: Focus, Discipline, Chemistry. All radically improved.

...and a collective committment to DEFENSE.

 

[JeremyCuse]

Unfortunately theres no real way of knowing until March and if we can finally get past the Sweet 16. This Syracuse team is loaded but like all past JB teams can be beat if we get forced into a Rock Fight and half to play a half court game.

 

[OrlandoCuse]

For one thing, there's less than a 1% chance that we're going to see a Big East team that previously beat us earlier in the season for our second game of the NCAA tourney this year.

I'm still pissed we got that kind of a screw job from the selection committee.

 

[MyMeloMyMan]

Rick was extremely overrated as a defensive player, IMO. I always thought he was a liability, especially when forced to play the pivot. He was a good defensive rebounder, but his idea of tough defense was generally taking the ball out of the net, especially against equal sized opponents. Just one man's opinion. We are much more imposing down low this season.

His offense was great though and I loved his development on that end through his 4 years.

 

[MyMeloMyMan]

For one thing, there's less than a 1% chance that we're going to see a Big East team that previously beat us earlier in the season for our second game of the NCAA tourney this year.

I'm still pissed we got that kind of a screw job from the selection committee.

Why is it a screw job? A 10 seed is a 10 seed. We should have beaten them. We knew them just as well as they knew us.

 

[dinno28]

If you are on a ledge when we are undefeated and ranked # 1 ... you really need to stop following sports

 

[Oakland]

One could also ask if we are better than the team from 2 years ago. Maybe we have more depth, but the team 2 years ago may have had a stronger first eight.

This is a better question. I'll just say that this season's team has been the best ever at beating all the team we should beat by a large margin. No 4 pt wins over William and Marys this year.

 

[007]

Rick was extremely overrated as a defensive player, IMO. I always thought he was a liability, especially when forced to play the pivot. He was a good defensive rebounder, but his idea of tough defense was generally taking the ball out of the net, especially against equal sized opponents. Just one man's opinion. We are much more imposing down low this season.

His offense was great though and I loved his development on that end through his 4 years.

Hmm...an "extremely overrated liability?" Jackson developed more in 4 years than just about any big man ever at SU - reminded me of Etan Thomas in terms of development. Both were named BE Defensive POY their Sr years. Jackson also lead the lead in rebounding and blocked shots last year. He did all that while being nowhere near the athlete that Thomas was and in a league that was, by far, the best in the country last year.

He must have done something right on D...

 

[alibrat66]

Hmm...an "extremely overrated liability?" Jackson developed more in 4 years than just about any big man ever at SU - reminded me of Etan Thomas in terms of development. Both were named BE Defensive POY their Sr years. Jackson also lead the lead in rebounding and blocked shots last year. He did all that while being nowhere near the athlete that Thomas was and in a league that was, by far, the best in the country last year.

He must have done something right on D...

007, try not to confuse this issue with facts...

 

[OrlandoCuse]

Why is it a screw job? A 10 seed is a 10 seed. We should have beaten them. We knew them just as well as they knew us.

They were an 11 seed, fwiw.

I just thought the committee should have done a better job of avoiding conference rematches before the Sweet 16. With 11 BE teams making the tourney last year, they could have easily avoided potential rematches. They screwed it up twice, with BE rematches in the second round between us and Marq as well and UConn/Cinci.

Also, having BE teams knock themselves out before the Sweet 16 reduces the amount of money that the conference could have potentially collected.

There used to be a rule that conference members couldn't potentially meet each other until the Elite 8. They threw that away a few years ago, but they should have changed the rule to no rematches until the Sweet 16.

 

[Flacusian]

The addition of MCW and Christmas makes for more competition and the practices are more productive on account of the depth essentially creating 2 complete teams. Although they don't contribute substantive minutes in games their addition does help the team in other aspects. Both Fab and Dion are completely different players than they were last year. Dirty has shown up with some semblance of a handle, Baye isn't playing with one hand.

Factor that in with the players having the time under their belts to learn the subtle nuances of running Boeheims "active zone" and the entire team buying into what JB is trying to do and voila! you have a team without wholesale changes in components that had transformed into a jaggernaut!

 

[Oakland]

Why is it a screw job? A 10 seed is a 10 seed. We should have beaten them. We knew them just as well as they knew us.

That was a legit screw job.

 

[Bayside44]

LOL, "count on him to bring it every game" What does that mean? Yes, he had off nights like everyone else but Rick had nice low post moves and gave us a decent scoring and rebounding guy down low, better than we have right now. It will be missed at some point. He was forced to play out of position quite a bit because Fab wasn't ready. But the BS that Rick didn't bring it last year is nonsense, he came out in the best shape of his life and a very solid senior year. He had some limitations as most do.

Rick had one move that if sat on (like Marquette did) was stopped. This current team has so many more options.

 

[Eric15]

Rick had one move that if sat on (like Marquette did) was stopped. This current team has so many more options.

I personally felt that Rick regressed offensively between his Junior and Senior years. I felt that in 2010, he had a pretty good array of low-post moves, my favorite of which is when he'd spin baseline and go up-and-under for a reverse layup. But last year, I felt that the overwhelming majority of his offensive game was backing his man down, and going up with a short left-handed hook.

That said, Rick last year is currently a better low-post presence offensively than anything we have at this moment in time.

 

[CusefanATL]

Last year, the half court offense was often painful to watch. This year, the half court offense is . . . uh . . . well . . . . hey, is there any room on that ledge?

Jim Boeheim was calling us overrated all season last year. We were beating numerous crappy teams by 3-10 points.

Jim Boeheim has never called us overrated this season.

 

[OrlandoCuse]

I personally felt that Rick regressed offensively between his Junior and Senior years. I felt that in 2010, he had a pretty good array of low-post moves, my favorite of which is when he'd spin baseline and go up-and-under for a reverse layup. But last year, I felt that the overwhelming majority of his offensive game was backing his man down, and going up with a short left-handed hook.

That said, Rick last year is currently a better low-post presence offensively than anything we have at this moment in time.

Having Arinze down low helped Rick out alot in '09-10. Last year he tried to do a little too much.

 

[CorduroyG]

Jim Boeheim was calling us overrated all season last year. We were beating numerous crappy teams by 3-10 points.

Jim Boeheim has never called us overrated this season.

He also said at 1 of his post game pressers recently that the offense is fine. He said something like people are worried about our offense, they need something to talk about, but its fine.

I trust JB

 

[baggerbob]

Uconn won last year because of defense and Kemba but the defense kept them in all their games until the end. We need to get past tonight and get Keita healthy it will be our defense that wins on the first monday in April.

 

[MyMeloMyMan]

He also said the offense was fine in the Marquette tourny game last year, except for the 100 turnovers.