Tennessee Postgame Luau

[23Zone]

Half court offense awful
Half court defense awful
Just run, make it full court!

 

[kingtidge]

We were down by 5 with 3 minutes to go. Two years ago we were losing to Auburn by 30 at the same point.

I'll have whatever you're having...

 

[two3zone]

Everyone seemed tentative against that D.
Need to practice against it to succeed against it.
His form is weird, and his shots missed badly as I recall. Really need him to step up.

Kinda wish Benny stayed aggressive. Nice start for him.

Came in like a wrecking ball then didn’t see him the rest of the game.

 

[orangemass]

JJ is not as advertised. When he shoots I expect a miss

He’s not good

 

[cusefan88]

Good learning experience playing a national title favorite. Good for players and good for Autry. I'm only interested in how this team evolves between now and March. No sense in hand-wringing this early vs an elite opponent.

 

[Brooky03]

Nobody said that, most husky? I’m sure you heard that, but not worst.

The guy who had a hard time getting minutes at mid-major Seton Hall - and is just now finally showing he’s capable 3 years later - was so good as a freshman at SU that he should’ve gotten 40mpg while Girard got zero and watched from the bench. Per Syracusefan sources.

 

[Cuse House]

I think Brown is playing at about 70%. He seems a step slower going for loose balls and he’s not getting on the floor.

 

[phil77]

See Colgate final 30 seconds. That steal dunk was kinda big.

What was that 3 he took ??? That was pretty crazy.

 

[Giants1973]

Remember people Tennessee has 3 5th yr seniors and Cuse has none. Hopefully get 2 wins live with one. There schedule will make them ready for ACC Schedule.

 

[nycfan]

You cannot sit your best player for 10 minutes and then refuse to call time out and get him in when the game is slipping away. Red goofed, big time and I hope it’s not a conservative mindset that is etched in his style going forward.

Yeah, I was going to mention something similar because it really bothered me that Mintz was on the bench so long just because he had picked up two fouls. The lead went from +9 to -5 at the half -- no offense whatsoever in last 10 minutes of the first half. Even though we made a run in the 2nd half, I thought that is where the game was lost.

 

[orangemass]

Bennys defense is bad. He overreacts to everything and puts himself out of position

 

[two3zone]

The guy who had a hard time getting minutes at mid-major Seton Hall - and is just now finally showing he’s capable 3 years later - was so good as a freshman at SU that he should’ve gotten 40mpg while Girard got zero and watched from the bench. Per Syracusefan sources.

Kadary never had a problem getting minutes, he was always towards the top for the team, and Seton Hall has been much better than us the past few years, if they’re a mid major what are we?

Nobody ever said Girard should have zero minuets.

 

[sufan59]

It’s not the same offense. We are playing 4 out. And we aren’t likely to ever play a stereotypical power forward with Red as coach. The was the number 4 defensive team according to KenPom and it was still a close game. I can’t believe some of you guys are this discouraged after what we saw the past two seasons.

Now the number 1 defensive team in Ken Pom after this game.

 

[OCESIP]

Love him or hate him, Girard made the right move by going to Clemson. He will most likely be playing in the tournament this March. Syracuse, from what I have seen, not so likely.

Leading scorer last game. I've watched him a couple of games. Leading assist in 2 games. His defense is no worse than any of the so called athletes on SU. Never did understand the negativity. Wasn't perfect, but SU doesn't put anything on the court that he could do.

 

[tbonezone]

Bennys defense is bad. He overreacts to everything and puts himself out of position

benny had our best stat line today

 

[two3zone]

Leading scorer last game. I've watched him a couple of games. Leading assist in 2 games. His defense is no worse than any of the so called athletes on SU. Never did understand the negativity. Wasn't perfect, but SU doesn't put anything on the court that he could do.

Never should’ve been point guard.


Watched their last game, they’re super balanced and PJ Hall will drop 30 and 15 against us.

 

[cali315phan]

I was actually impressed. Considering how many easy looks we missed, free throws missed and Red still figuring out the rotations, we did really well for about 35 minutes. Our ceiling is higher than I expected in my opinion. This is a team that can steal 22 wins and sneak into the tourney.

 

[Cusefan0307]

I think Brown is playing at about 70%. He seems a step slower going for loose balls and he’s not getting on the floor.

This is just me spit balling as someone who's long suffered with a structural back injury (manageable spondyliothesis), but it would not surprise me at all if he had something similar that recently flared up that is causing him back and groin pain. It's something you can play with if managed correctly, but he may have recently did something to tweak his back that is causing him to run so stiffly.

 

[Jasoncuse]

It’s not the same offense. We are playing 4 out. And we aren’t likely to ever play a stereotypical power forward with Red as coach. The was the number 4 defensive team according to KenPom and it was still a close game. I can’t believe some of you guys are this discouraged after what we saw the past two seasons.

It's the same in the sense that there is little movement and far too much reliance on one guy to beat his man off the dribble. Where they are spaced isn't a major change. But this is also a result of personnel, so i'm hoping things will change and improve as we move forward w/Red. Maybe Red never uses a stereotypical PF, but you have to have some kind of interior presence to balance your half court, especially with limited shooters.. Who knows though.

The frontcourt lack of talent is a major issue for this year and was something that I had hoped we would've been more proactive with in the portal. Unfortunately, it was probably not the ideal time for Red to turn over much right away.

I just hope we see more semblance of looking to create shots from sets and passing, not one-on-one at some point.

 

[Cusefan0307]

Now the number 1 defensive team in Ken Pom after this game.

Thank you. Everyone's offense looks bad against them. They gave up more than 70 just 5 times in 36 games last year.

 

[Cuse House]

This is just me spit balling as someone who's long suffered with a structural back injury (manageable spondyliothesis), but it would not surprise me at all if he had something similar that recently flared up that is causing him back and groin pain. It's something you can play with if managed correctly, but he may have recently did something to tweak his back that is causing him to run so stiffly.

That back court pass that he normally would have got he got beat to and he seemed slow. Hopefully he can work through it.

 

[kingtidge]

I was actually impressed. Considering how many easy looks we missed, free throws missed and Red still figuring out the rotations, we did really well for about 35 minutes. Our ceiling is higher than I expected in my opinion. This is a team that can steal 22 wins and sneak into the tourney.

Cautious optimism is OK... but until they can put a reasonable 40 minutes of effort and performance together, hard to see them doing much of anything.

Early days of course and Rome wasn't built in a day...

 

[Cusefan0307]

It's the same in the sense that there is little movement and far too much reliance on one guy to beat his man off the dribble. Where they are spaced isn't a major change. But this is also a result of personnel, so i'm hoping things will change and improve as we move forward w/Red. Maybe Red never uses a stereotypical PF, but you have to have some kind of interior presence to balance your half court, especially with limited shooters.. Who knows though.

The frontcourt lack of talent is a major issue for this year and was something that I had hoped we would've been more proactive with in the portal. Unfortunately, it was probably not the ideal time for Red to turn over much right away.

I just hope we see more semblance of looking to create shots from sets and passing, not one-on-one at some point.

I mean we are bringing in a top 30 player next year at Power Forward. Our guys are all sophomores. The team we just played is all juniors and seniors. We are striving to play like Houston, Baylor. Miami or Nova, not Purdue or UNC.

 

[stlorange]

Tough game, had some moments but too far and few in between. Never thought cuse could win even when they were ahead in the first half. It was men against boys--Tenn is a very good team with athletes, shooters, scorers, rebounders, as well as aggressive offense and defense. Cuse, not so much. I think with the cuse it's what you see is what you get. Not expecting much player development during the year, the players are what they are. In some ways their whole is less than the sum of the parts--if that makes any sense. Don't see us as an NCAA team, our ceiling is one or two wins in the ACC tournament.

One pet peeve, if I see a perimeter shot go up and no one within 18 feet of the basket trying for an offensive rebound I'm gonna lose it again.

 

[pokercuse08]

But when you have an opponent who beats it easily right away...get out of it.

Yup, even if they don't beat it for a make, if they get the ball to the right places and get good looks once or twice but miss, they know what they're doing and we should go back to man.

Losing by 1, 2, 3 or 4 is a close game...

We lost by 17.

It was close with 3 minutes left, then we had to resort to desperation and they ran it up at the end. The final score isn't always as indicative of how close the game really was.

Offensively, Bell is coming into his own. You can see his confidence growing and it's great to see him diversify his game by not hesitating to put it on the floor and drive.

Also need to see him pump fake, drive, and kick every now and then. Basic stuff. Zero assists in back to back games. 111 minutes of game-time since his last assist, somewhere in the neighborhood of 85 minutes of playing time for him without an assist.

We really need him to be able to do four things with the ball in his hands on offense: hit the 3, drive to the basket when he gets a defender in the air, step around for the J, and put it on the floor for a couple dribbles and kick when someone is open.