That game does not make me feel good about the UConn or Ville games

[Orangemen]

We won tonight because of talent, otherwise Pitt shredded the zone just like always.

Combine that ability to shred the zone, with a more talented team, like UConn or Ville, and it's a bad combo for SU.

 

[dasher]

yeah, we only won by 8. You do know that we never trailed, right? those games will be played and coached differently. But at UConn and Louisville will be very tough games.

 

[RF2044]

We won tonight because of talent, otherwise Pitt shredded the zone just like always.

Combine that ability to shred the zone, with a more talented team, like UConn or Ville, and it's a bad combo for SU.

Might as well cancel the season, then.

 

[MyMeloMyMan]

Dixon again had everything drawn up just about perfect. He just forgot to tell his guys tip time was 740 EST and to make their free throws.

We are just lucky Woodall was out. One more skilled player on the floor would have changed everything, as Gibbs could go back to his favorite role against the zone...spot up shooter. Instead, he had to run the offense.

 

[cuseguy]

We're bound to lose somewhere. For a moment, I thought it might be tonight. But 28-3 wouldn't be too bad.

 

[Marsh01]

We won tonight because of talent, otherwise Pitt shredded the zone just like always.

Combine that ability to shred the zone, with a more talented team, like UConn or Ville, and it's a bad combo for SU.

Jesus, we win wire to wire against a massively desperate team (that still has a lot of talent BTW) and because we ONLY win by 8 we're 'ed.

We are 20-0 for crying out loud. Just beat a team we havent beaten in forever. Enjoy it.

 

[zeekay]

I watch a lot of UCONN and they're not doing thug ball this year. Which is what we struggle against. But who knows, Calhoun might decide to coach against us that way.

Lville does A LOT of grabs and shoves but mostly by their guards during pressure. Not by all players like Pitt/Marq.

UCONN game will be determined by Melo vs Drummond. Lville by our guards handling pressure.

 

[Orangemen]

Might as well cancel the season, then.

Really, that's what you got from that statement?

I think we have four tough games before the end of the season.

The sky is falling.

Please, misinterpret this post at your leisure.

 

[General20]

That zone had 8 steals and 11 blocks and held Pitt to 39% shooting. That is your definition of getting shredded?

I'm not sure if you watched the game, but if you had you would have seen that Syracuse's inability to make an outside shot is what kept the game close.

 

[RF2044]

Really, that's what you got from that statement?

I think we have four tough games before the end of the season.

The sky is falling.

Please, misinterpret this post at your leisure.

I think we're going to have a lot more than 4 tough games to end the season. In fact, the vast majority of games we have left will be tough, on paper.

I also think that as the #1 team, we're going to get everybody's best effort / top game.

Big deal. Bring them on.

And yes, sometimes the hand wringing around here does come across as sky is falling.

 

[orangefan13]

Don't forget about Cincy.

 

[Orangemen]

That zone had 8 steals and 11 blocks and held Pitt to 39% shooting. That is your definition of getting shredded?

I'm not sure if you watched the game, but if you had you would have seen that Syracuse's inability to make an outside shot is what kept the game close.

Stats are numbers on a piece of paper.

Pitt did their usual job of getting the ball to the right spots on the floor, and making our zone work damn hard to keep up.

Their players weren't good enough to complete the plays, and our players made sure those gaps closed quickly.

I'm surprised you don't think Pitt worked the zone very well.

 

[Madbiker]

They didn't exactly shred the zone...they shot 39%. But they dominated the glass, as usual...18 offensive rebounds. I don't have all the stats but they had to have a boatload of 2nd chance points. That makes their offense look better than it really was. That's very frustrating.

 

[Marsh01]

I had some clown, on the way out of the dome start yapping this bit of knowledge:

"If we played Kentucky tonight we would have lost by 30."

Great analysis dickhead. Some of our fans just are clueless.

 

[zeekay]

They didn't exactly shred the zone...they shot 39%. But they dominated the glass, as usual...18 offensive rebounds. I don't have all the stats but they had to have a boatload of 2nd chance points. That makes their offense look better than it really was. That's very frustrating.

Dixon's secret might be correct positioning for rebounding vs zone rather than specific attack plans. Don't really have to coach how to score on putbacks.

 

[Orangemen]

I had some clown, on the way out of the dome start yapping this bit of knowledge:

"If we played Kentucky tonight we would have lost by 30."

Great analysis dickhead. Some of our fans just are clueless.

I think the only teams that can beat us in the regular season are UConn and Ville.

We could lose to someone else, but our D is really only vulnerable to the teams that know it well, and have the personnel to pull it off.

Pitt made us look a little ugly tonight, but there aren't a lot of Pitt's out there as far as we're concerned.

 

[Scotch]

I think the only teams that can beat us in the regular season are UConn and Ville.

We could lose to someone else, but our D is really only vulnerable to the teams that know it well, and have the personnel to pull it off.

Pitt made us look a little ugly tonight, but there aren't a lot of Pitt's out there as far as we're concerned.

@ Cinci won't be easy. GTown could certainly beat us as well.

 

[General20]

Stats are numbers on a piece of paper.

Pitt did their usual job of getting the ball to the right spots on the floor, and making our zone work damn hard to keep up.

Their players weren't good enough to complete the plays, and our players made sure those gaps closed quickly.

I'm surprised you don't think Pitt worked the zone very well.

That depends what you mean by getting the ball to right spots on the floor. They got the ball down low a lot, where they had pretty much no chance of scoring over Melo. They were forced to jack up 23 three point shots, even though they only made seven - and four of those seven makes were terrible shots they forced up at the end of the shot clock.

Pitt didn't completely fall apart against our zone like so many teams have this year, but I doubt anybody was expecting them to do that. They were not able to convert consistently or efficiently. I thought our defense did its job. On the other hand, their lackluster 2-3 zone gave us plenty of open looks from three, and we didnt make many. If we hit an acceptable amount of open threes we win by twenty.

 

[marz09cuse]

That zone had 8 steals and 11 blocks and held Pitt to 39% shooting. That is your definition of getting shredded?

I'm not sure if you watched the game, but if you had you would have seen that Syracuse's inability to make an outside shot is what kept the game close.

The half court offense in general was not great, and continues to be a weakness. Gotta hit those open 3's, or else teams are going to continue packing in the zone and we will consistently struggle in the half court.

 

[pearl31]

Syracuse's inability to make an outside shot is what kept the game close.

ding ding. winner, winner, chicken dinner.

 

[alibrat66]

And Pitt played possibly the best they've played this year against us. Plus, the refs could've called a foul on Pitt underneath on every possession. Still, a wire to wire win.

Don't worry. Be happy.

 

[Ghost]

Since when does beating Pitt make us not feel good about beating Louisville/UConn? It seems there is no better sign that we'll take them out than this...

 

[DNABB5]

ding ding. winner, winner, chicken dinner.

Just noting that Syracuse shot a whole 3% points worse than Pitt.

Oddly, really statistically Syracuse won this game at the free throw line. 20-23 vs. 12-23 = +8 = margin of victory

 

[BlueCurtain]

They didn't exactly shred the zone...they shot 39%. .

Shredding the zone means getting proper ball movement and cutting to get point-blank layups. When a team figures out a zone - it makes our players look like they are always one step behind. Pitt just has no player that can finish worth a stuff this year.

On the flip side, we could have pressed wire-to-wire and won by 40. Not sure why JB is scared to press more than a few minutes here and there.

 

[LennX6]

Jesus, we win wire to wire against a massively desperate team (that still has a lot of talent BTW) and because we ONLY win by 8 we're 'ed.

We are 20-0 for crying out loud. Just beat a team we havent beaten in forever. Enjoy it.

And it seemed like we were toying with them. Despite getting outrebounded and most the bad call. Just think what do you see most often from upper echelon team. A 30 pt blowout is I would bet rarer than teams that play like SU does. Its like teams get 2-3 chances a game to think they are in it, and then we close the door.
I think a lot of fans have caught an odd phenomenom, wanting perfection, and gnashing and wailing when we do not look perfect.