The Downside- Holy Cross

[SWC75]

- It was probably inevitable that we’d reach the point where we had an “Oh For” game from the arc. Our percentages this year have been: Carleton 40.0 (Ron Patterson was 4 for 5: he was 2 for 7 vs. Adrian and is 0 for 6 in games that counted); 21.7, 26.7, 27.8, 23.5, 20.0, 16.7 and now 0.0. The trend was obvious. The good news is that it can’t get any worse, unless they start deducting points for lousy shots.


- The impact of this, of course is that when we play the really good teams, (which starts now with the trip to Michigan), they will have the big guys needed to neutralize our inside game and dare us to beat them from outside, which we obviously can’t do. We are like a football team that can’t pass so the other team puts everybody in the box to stuff the run. Anybody know a football team like that?


- Holy cross used pressure against us and we had 15 turnovers, which isn’t awful but also isn’t what we are used to. The two freshman, Kaleb Joseph and Chris McCullough, had 4 each. Jimmy Salatin pointed out that they dribble too much against the press, rather than passing over it. As JB says, we are a work in progress.


- The game had a “tortoise vs. hare” aspect to it, with SU making a run to get a good lead and Holy cross slipping back into range several times. I know it’s hard, especially for a young team to maintain intensity for 40 minutes but we will be playing some snakes that can beat quickly if you relax.


- We already have one pre-conference loss with Michigan, St. John’s, Louisiana Tech and Villanova coming up, the first and last on the road. We arguably aren’t playing well enough to beat any of those teams, (Louisiana Tech is coming off a 29-8 year with 4 starters back.) How many losses can we afford going into ACC play and not have to sweat out selection Sunday? This is going to be a very rough row for this team to hoe.

 

[Madbiker]

Last year's team was a poor perimeter shooting team. This team is way beyond that. I can't remember an SU team that was just so plain bad from the perimeter. We are not going to beat ACC teams by bullying them inside and clubbing them on the boards. I'm starting to get worried.

 

[Cowtown]

Yeah, when I looked at the box score that 0-14 jumped out like a jack-in-the-box. Yikes.

 

[RF2044]

Congenitally incapable of hitting jump shots.

 

[OttoinGrotto]

Congenitally incapable of hitting jump shots.

OK the idea of our players congenitally incapable of hitting jump shots actually did make me laugh out loud.

 

[JoeSU]

-

- The game had a “tortoise vs. hare” aspect to it, with SU making a run to get a good lead and Holy cross slipping back into range several times. I know it’s hard, especially for a young team to maintain intensity for 40 minutes but we will be playing some snakes that can beat quickly if you relax.

We also let Iowa back in the game when we had them on the ropes. Basketball is very much a game of momentum, and hopefully this young team will learn to maintain their intensity or it will come back to bite us this season.

 

[bballbeadle]

OK the idea of our players congenitally incapable of hitting jump shots actually did make me laugh out loud.

Me, too. But it's not funny!

 

[NYCSUGrad]

I always read the downside before the upside in the hopes that the upside will cheer me. Today is not one of them, in that I'm finally pessimistic about this team making the NCAAs. I'm not sure they'll be able to make the 3 pointers in any consistent quantity. This may be the rebuilding year we've all dreaded.

Otoh pretty much all teams go through this, missing the NCAAs. We've been spoiled with the consistency of 20+ win seasons. It won't spell the end of SU basketball if we have a subpar season, even if we do lose McCullough. And there's room for improvement.

See? My own downside/upside post!

 

[RF2044]

I always read the downside before the upside in the hopes that the upside will cheer me. Today is not one of them, in that I'm finally pessimistic about this team making the NCAAs. I'm not sure they'll be able to make the 3 pointers in any consistent quantity. This may be the rebuilding year we've all dreaded.

Otoh pretty much all teams go through this, missing the NCAAs. We've been spoiled with the consistency of 20+ win seasons. It won't spell the end of SU basketball if we have a subpar season, even if we do lose McCullough. And there's room for improvement.

See? My own downside/upside post!

I'll just say this--despite the lopsided score, Holy Cross might be better than you think. And its more than just them beating a ranked Harvard team earlier in this season. The shooting sucks--and there's no question that this needs to get straightened out. But I see signs of improvement elsewhere in terms of the offensive execution Several, in fact. And I also see things that just aren't working well and need to improve. But this team has made substantive improvement over two weeks ago, and is trending in the right direction. They need to get some shooting / depth issues worked out to maximize their potential, though.

 

[tbonezone]

boeheim said in his post presser he's not worried.well i'm worried. i flipped over to marq. vs mich st and watched the the spartans drain 12 treys (50%) and the eagles 6 (42%). the 3 point shot has changed college bball and if it ain't in your arsenal you're totally screwed.

 

[SoBristol]

.... I'm not sure they'll be able to make the 3 pointers in any consistent quantity. This may be the rebuilding year we've all dreaded. ...

QUOTE]

The real rebuilding year will be 2015-16.

This year we have a mature center with an inside game we haven't had in a while, combined with a promising 6-10 forward who might be a lottery pick. That alone is enough to allow the team to pummel the likes of Holy Cross. It wasn't pretty -- pretty is making jump shots -- but it is effective. Will it be enough to put us in the top half of the ACC? It might be if Joseph & BJ develop week to week.

 

[SarasotaPaul]

- It was probably inevitable that we’d reach the point where we had an “Oh For” game from the arc. Our percentages this year have been: Carleton 40.0 (Ron Patterson was 4 for 5: he was 2 for 7 vs. Adrian and is 0 for 6 in games that counted); 21.7, 26.7, 27.8, 23.5, 20.0, 16.7 and now 0.0. The trend was obvious. The good news is that it can’t get any worse, unless they start deducting points for lousy shots.


- The impact of this, of course is that when we play the really good teams, (which starts now with the trip to Michigan), they will have the big guys needed to neutralize our inside game and dare us to beat them from outside, which we obviously can’t do. We are like a football team that can’t pass so the other team puts everybody in the box to stuff the run. Anybody know a football team like that?


- Holy cross used pressure against us and we had 15 turnovers, which isn’t awful but also isn’t what we are used to. The two freshman, Kaleb Joseph and Chris McCullough, had 4 each. Jimmy Salatin pointed out that they dribble too much against the press, rather than passing over it. As JB says, we are a work in progress.


- The game had a “tortoise vs. hare” aspect to it, with SU making a run to get a good lead and Holy cross slipping back into range several times. I know it’s hard, especially for a young team to maintain intensity for 40 minutes but we will be playing some snakes that can beat quickly if you relax.


- We already have one pre-conference loss with Michigan, St. John’s, Louisiana Tech and Villanova coming up, the first and last on the road. We arguable aren’t playing well enough to beat any of those teams, (Louisiana Tech is coming off a 29-8 year with 4 starters back.) How many losses can we afford going into ACC play and not have to sweat out selection Sunday? This is going to be a very rough row for this team to hoe.

For the record my likes for your downside mean you are spot on with your analysis. I certainly don't like what you have to put into them though. Please let the work progress just a little bit faster.

 

[AlaskaSU]

FWIW, there is chatter that GMac is really big on completely remaking Cooney's mechanics. In golf, remaking your swing is a multi-year task. I'd rather have the old Cooney than this incomplete work in progress which is a regression that we cannot afford. An improved Cooney for next year is less valuable than a mediocre Cooney would be this year.

 

[SWC75]

FWIW, there is chatter that GMac is really big on completely remaking Cooney's mechanics. In golf, remaking your swing is a multi-year task. I'd rather have the old Cooney than this incomplete work in progress which is a regression that we cannot afford. An improved Cooney for next year is less valuable than a mediocre Cooney would be this year.

Multi-year plans for juniors sound like a bad idea.

 

[SoBeCuse]

Some people on this board don't think Michigan is very good. It won't matter if we can score inside or if they can't. We can't shoot.