The balanced view

[Consigliere]

I think we have adapted poorly to the new normal in college basketball. We vastly underestimated the size of the NIL war chest we needed. We took a conservative approach by waiting until players entered the portal before reaching out. Yes, I know that's the rule but the high profile transfers are locked in to their new destination including compensation before their names are released. We were breaking in a new head coach who, though universally acclaimed as the right man for the job by the coaching community, media and search firm we apparently surreptitiously hired, was expected to have some type of learning curve then lost his lieutenant to a HC job of his own. Now we're in a perfect storm where we may not have a single player who is performing to their previous levels and have our best player out for what looks to be a longer than expected injury issue.

Add in what turned out to be a bear of a non conference schedule and we all see the results.

There are reasons for optimism. The Kline hire is making us much more proactive in the transfer market. There is already a list of potential candidates. HS recruiting is looking very good and Englestad is using his foreign connections to link us with potentially lower cost high end talent from overseas. And Melo sounds like he is all in to assist in the fund raising efforts to advance NIL needs.

Expect a very busy offseason with at least three open scholarships, sure to be more with attrition. Also expect us to fill at least one of the two available assistant coaching positions. Not sure if Red was being a good soldier saying he could get by on the old limit of three but most P4s have 4 or the full allotment of 5 assistant coaches now.

Going to be a tough couple of months, and no false illusions here, but I look forward to seeing this team improve and, though it's not easy, can still see some light at the end of the tunnel.

 

[Scooch]

I appreciate you trying.

Almost none of that landed with me, but I do genuinely appreciate the attempt.

 

[AZOrange]

I have been the biggest Red supporter on here but something about this program is terribly broken. There’s just no two ways about it anymore. The fact that we are not even using our full allotment of ACs is indicative of that.

None of our players have shown any discernible improvement in their skillsets. In fact everyone seems to have taken steps backwards. We have our 300 pound center catching the ball 20 feet from the hoop in order to “start the offense”. Our “shooters” don’t move to get open. Our defense is impossibly bad. And yet we keep doing the same thing.

Time to find our Fran Brown

 

[littlereg]

I think we have adapted poorly to the new normal in college basketball. We vastly underestimated the size of the NIL war chest we needed. We took a conservative approach by waiting until players entered the portal before reaching out. Yes, I know that's the rule but the high profile transfers are locked in to their new destination including compensation before their names are released. We were breaking in a new head coach who, though universally acclaimed as the right man for the job by the coaching community, media and search firm we apparently surreptitiously hired, was expected to have some type of learning curve then lost his lieutenant to a HC job of his own. Now we're in a perfect storm where we may not have a single player who is performing to their previous levels and have our best player out for what looks to be a longer than expected injury issue.

Add in what turned out to be a bear of a non conference schedule and we all see the results.

There are reasons for optimism. The Kline hire is making us much more proactive in the transfer market. There is already a list of potential candidates. HS recruiting is looking very good and Englestad is using his foreign connections to link us with potentially lower cost high end talent from overseas. And Melo sounds like he is all in to assist in the fund raising efforts to advance NIL needs.

Expect a very busy offseason with at least three open scholarships, sure to be more with attrition. Also expect us to fill at least one of the two available assistant coaching positions. Not sure if Red was being a good soldier saying he could get by on the old limit of three but most P4s have 4 or the full allotment of 5 assistant coaches now.

Going to be a tough couple of months, and no false illusions here, but I look forward to seeing this team improve and, though it's not easy, can still see some light at the end of the tunnel.

“We” is a strong word.

 

[Irt4su]

I do not appreciate the open layups and threes we give up. How that hasn’t changed after ten games baffles me.

 

[Consigliere]

“We” is a strong word.

I consider myself invested enough to use it and did so intentionally. Taking a little ownership, and trying to hold off joining the emotional Fire Red chorus until I try some rational analysis and root cause investigation. Have to answer the “and then?” question before making a change for change sake.

 

[cusefan88]

Hate to extend this past coaching but I'm not impressed with S&C either. Sick of seeing Cuse look like scrawny weaklings.

 

[Cusefan0307]

Hate to extend this past coaching but I'm not impressed with S&C either. Sick of seeing Cuse look like scrawny weaklings.

I said this 10 years ago. Ryan Cabiles has been here for 15? 20 years? The guys who put on good muscle and were in peak physical condition tended to do it on their own. The last guy I remember making a drastic change in his body composition was Fab his sophomore year.

 

[Orangezoo]

Appreciate the take as always.

My main challenging points are:

- on the floor we see a lack of commitment to playing hard and a lack of emotion from Red.

- a learning curve is a fair expectation but we are seeing a much steeper curve than should ever be expected for a coach at this level and this size of a program. Adjustments and lineup shifts are inconsistent and not effective at all.

-there is no directional improvement anywhere on the court. Offense is worse, defense is worse and on court cohesion and chemistry is even worse despite the fact that we should have been staring at addition by subtraction.

- losing JJ hurt but the underlying issues were ever present with him in the lineup just as much as without.

-roster management has seen two guys who are on scholarship and assuming have NIL funds who aren’t good /healthy enough to play in Chance and Naheem with poor scouting having been done bringing in Carlos and Taylor and then major questions on whether we truly did our homework on Lampkins health. I hear the comments about major changes but that’s hard to put stock in given just how bad things look on the roster and on the court right now.

- we need to see something to latch onto this year to give us more than “belief without evidence”. We watched Louisville spend in the portal and recruit for Paynes year 2 and it was just a slightly more competitive yet equally awful year. Red and this staff need to earn year 3 the rest of this year vs just get it handed to them imho.

Always appreciate your insights and takes just my thoughts in response.

 

[powdersmack]

- on the floor we see a lack of commitment to playing hard and a lack of emotion from Red.

It's the entire coaching staff. I have never seen, on any team, a coaching staff so seemingly disinterested or disengaged.

 

[FrancoPizza]

This comes across as squinting really hard to try and find a reason to avoid a breakup with a nice girl who just isn’t a good match for you. And you know it. The red flags were always there.

I wish we could go without a head coach for a short break if needed… and let the fans take turns coaching a game. Would make the games more entertaining.

 

[AZOrange]

It's the entire coaching staff. I have never seen, on any team, a coaching staff so seemingly disinterested or disengaged.

Red seems engaged but exasperated. He clearly doesn’t know the answer at this point

 

[jdubs30]

Red seems engaged but exasperated. He clearly doesn’t know the answer at this point

We scored 6pts and had 6 turnovers in the first 7min yesterday. There was never a 16min timeout, but Red didn’t call a timeout until there was 12:56 left. He just watched the whole thing unfold and did absolutely nothing. It’s hard to imagine any other coach going that long without a timeout, especially considering the 16min TO never came.

 

[007]

It's the entire coaching staff. I have never seen, on any team, a coaching staff so seemingly disinterested or disengaged.

Disinterested? Or is it frustrated, embarrassed, at a loss of what else to do?

 

[tptcuse]

Red seems engaged but exasperated. He clearly doesn’t know the answer at this point

His default look is exasperation. It’s like he’s a fan watching the games instead of the actual coach. When I saw it up close in Brooklyn (the first time) it was jarring. The assistants just looked at him or each other. Englestad looked like he wanted to jump in every now and then. The others looked like they were along for the ride. Sorry to be so pessimistic but it’s glaring that changes need to be made.

 

[powdersmack]

Red seems engaged but exasperated. He clearly doesn’t know the answer at this point

Disinterested? Or is it frustrated, embarrassed, at a loss of what else to do?

We've sat across from the home bench for over twenty years. Last year we saw it, but chalked it up to his first year, personality conflicts on the team, etc. GMac was the emotion guy. This, year, if anything, it seems even more toned down. Everyone around us has commented on it too. Not saying we need a Hurley out there throwing his toddler temper tantrums, or a Buzz sweating all over the floor fifteen feet onto the court, but geeze, show something.

 

[Newhouser]

Red's wife showed more fire complaining about a call on Petar than Red did all day.

 

[baggerbob]

Appreciate the take as always.

My main challenging points are:

- on the floor we see a lack of commitment to playing hard and a lack of emotion from Red.

- a learning curve is a fair expectation but we are seeing a much steeper curve than should ever be expected for a coach at this level and this size of a program. Adjustments and lineup shifts are inconsistent and not effective at all.

-there is no directional improvement anywhere on the court. Offense is worse, defense is worse and on court cohesion and chemistry is even worse despite the fact that we should have been staring at addition by subtraction.

- losing JJ hurt but the underlying issues were ever present with him in the lineup just as much as without.

-roster management has seen two guys who are on scholarship and assuming have NIL funds who aren’t good /healthy enough to play in Chance and Naheem with poor scouting having been done bringing in Carlos and Taylor and then major questions on whether we truly did our homework on Lampkins health. I hear the comments about major changes but that’s hard to put stock in given just how bad things look on the roster and on the court right now.

- we need to see something to latch onto this year to give us more than “belief without evidence”. We watched Louisville spend in the portal and recruit for Paynes year 2 and it was just a slightly more competitive yet equally awful year. Red and this staff need to earn year 3 the rest of this year vs just get it handed to them imho.

Always appreciate your insights and takes just my thoughts in response.

How could anyone look at Carlos and believe he is anything but a few minutes backup in a P4 league?

 

[OttoMets]

His default look is exasperation. ...

TBF this was his default look as a player, too. Citation: YouTube. It's not a big deal, IMO.

 

[hoopsupstate]

I think we have adapted poorly to the new normal in college basketball. We vastly underestimated the size of the NIL war chest we needed. We took a conservative approach by waiting until players entered the portal before reaching out. Yes, I know that's the rule but the high profile transfers are locked in to their new destination including compensation before their names are released. We were breaking in a new head coach who, though universally acclaimed as the right man for the job by the coaching community, media and search firm we apparently surreptitiously hired, was expected to have some type of learning curve then lost his lieutenant to a HC job of his own. Now we're in a perfect storm where we may not have a single player who is performing to their previous levels and have our best player out for what looks to be a longer than expected injury issue.

Add in what turned out to be a bear of a non conference schedule and we all see the results.

There are reasons for optimism. The Kline hire is making us much more proactive in the transfer market. There is already a list of potential candidates. HS recruiting is looking very good and Englestad is using his foreign connections to link us with potentially lower cost high end talent from overseas. And Melo sounds like he is all in to assist in the fund raising efforts to advance NIL needs.

Expect a very busy offseason with at least three open scholarships, sure to be more with attrition. Also expect us to fill at least one of the two available assistant coaching positions. Not sure if Red was being a good soldier saying he could get by on the old limit of three but most P4s have 4 or the full allotment of 5 assistant coaches now.

Going to be a tough couple of months, and no false illusions here, but I look forward to seeing this team improve and, though it's not easy, can still see some light at the end of the tunnel.

Thank y.ou!

 

[GHLF]

How could anyone look at Carlos and believe he is anything but a few minutes backup in a P4 league?

So bagger who ya going to turn to?

 

[ar inj]

Appreciate the take as always.

My main challenging points are:

- on the floor we see a lack of commitment to playing hard and a lack of emotion from Red.

- a learning curve is a fair expectation but we are seeing a much steeper curve than should ever be expected for a coach at this level and this size of a program. Adjustments and lineup shifts are inconsistent and not effective at all.

-there is no directional improvement anywhere on the court. Offense is worse, defense is worse and on court cohesion and chemistry is even worse despite the fact that we should have been staring at addition by subtraction.

- losing JJ hurt but the underlying issues were ever present with him in the lineup just as much as without.

-roster management has seen two guys who are on scholarship and assuming have NIL funds who aren’t good /healthy enough to play in Chance and Naheem with poor scouting having been done bringing in Carlos and Taylor and then major questions on whether we truly did our homework on Lampkins health. I hear the comments about major changes but that’s hard to put stock in given just how bad things look on the roster and on the court right now.

- we need to see something to latch onto this year to give us more than “belief without evidence”. We watched Louisville spend in the portal and recruit for Paynes year 2 and it was just a slightly more competitive yet equally awful year. Red and this staff need to earn year 3 the rest of this year vs just get it handed to them imho.

Always appreciate your insights and takes just my thoughts in response.

Spot on.

 

[sufan59]

We are very similar to what Michigan means to College Football as it involves College Basketball. Even though things have not been ideal this past decade except for some moments here and there, we were still competent enough to fill up the dome for games against big (was arguably peers at a point) teams. We haven’t been good that are rivals have been relishing watching the slow decline of our results. We are down to the point that it’s quite frankly a problem for College Basketball as an entity. Imagine Michigan only being able to fill half of the big house capacity for a Penn State, Alabama, and Ohio State. That is our current reality we may be staring at if things don’t change DRAMATICALLY when we welcome Duke and North Carolina. College Basketball needs a Syracuse again that complains about seeding in the tourney or not being able to win the big Elite 8 game. We are simply worrying about problems that extend beyond our hopes for the program and that is going to affect the relevancy of College Basketball in the mainstream. We owe it to College Basketball to not suck and fill up the dome. That is what I need for Autry to recognize and rally our players around to not be in favor of giving him a third year or even conference play at this point.

 

[Ottoman]

The in-between view and similar viewpoints seem to be: We all know Red isn't the right coach, but let's give him another year because
1) he is a good guy
2) he recruits well
3) he believes in analytics
4) so that the rest of the basketball world will think it's fair when we inevitably let him go.

Meanwhile, Syracuse will fall further than it already has. We are now entering our second decade since the decline began. When are we going to (finally) start moving forward?

The starting lineup mishap was the last straw for me. That is amateur hour.

 

[CuseTG2003]

It’s not hard to tell when a team’s well-coached or not. We haven’t been well-coached for 8+ years and made a continuity hire. Not good.