"The center position had nothing to do with the outcome of the game"

[McNabb2Brominski]

This was pretty much what Boeheim said after the game yesterday. I disagree with him. I believe that not having Melo on such short notice has affect the mentality of the team; which is explaining our poor play. Not having your main center is going to affect how you play. It may not of made much difference in terms of strategy or how we would of done things differently. Yet, the off-court issue and all the hoopla surrounding melo is greatly affecting this team.

 

[Dick_in_MI]

This was pretty much what Boeheim said after the game yesterday. I disagree with him. I believe that not having Melo on such short notice has affect the mentality of the team; which is explaining our poor play. Not having your main center is going to affect how you play. It may not of made much difference in terms of strategy or how we would of done things differently. Yet, the off-court issue and all the hoopla surrounding melo is greatly affecting this team.

I tend to agree. Maybe it was Fab or maybe just the collective weight of the 2011-2012 soap opera, but we are not "bringing it".

 

[RF2044]

This was pretty much what Boeheim said after the game yesterday. I disagree with him. I believe that not having Melo on such short notice has affect the mentality of the team; which is explaining our poor play. Not having your main center is going to affect how you play. It may not of made much difference in terms of strategy or how we would of done things differently. Yet, the off-court issue and all the hoopla surrounding melo is greatly affecting this team.

If I heard the announcers say "...that's a play where Fab Melo might have made a difference..." one more time, I would have put my foot through the television.

That said, I wasn't that impressed with our centers yesterday--especially on the defensive end. Rak seems out of position a lot. Need to be better against KSU, who will emulate what UNCA did in the second half--getting guys into the soft areas on the foul line extended and having them take it right at the center.

 

[Orangemen]

I think JB can argue that Fab not being there didn't hurt because in the 2nd half, Rak and BMK controlled the middle pretty well.

I think offensively, it did hurt us. Fab would have put up more points than Rak and BMK which would have made things a little easier all around.

 

[Forza Azzurri]

One thing I have learned over the past few years by listening to JB's press conferences is that he is a study in contradictions.

He is never going to say that we missed Fab while the tourney is still going on.

However, the day we lose, and it doesn't matter anymore becasue the season is over, he will definitely talk about how much we missed not having Fab during the tournament.