The Downside - Virginia

[SWC75]

- Betty White made a valiant effort to get to 100 and Syracuse made a valiant effort to beat Virginia. Poor Betty is dead and SU is 7-6. You can analyze it but you can’t spin it. I’d rather not get blown out but the difference is almost irrelevant. The numbers don’t matter. The letters: ‘W’ and “L’ are what matter.

- This basketball season has just bene an extension of the football season. We are good enough to win a game here or there but not run off a winning streak that would make the season a success. Frankly, I’d take a continuation of the winning season streak and an NIT bid right now. Maybe someday we can have a really good team again. This isn’t it.

- This game was like the Clemson game in football: this was the season to beat Virginia. They lost almost all their scoring from last year and have patched up with a couple of transfers. They were dominated at home by Clemson and earlier lost to James Madison. And like the Clemson game, we didn’t get it done.

- Jimmy Boeheim played his hear tout and put up some good numbers but the number he’ll go to sleep thinking about is missing 6 of 8 free throws in a game we lost by 5 points. He came in shooting 64%, which would be 5 for 8. That gets us within 2. He was .716 in his last season at Cornell. That would be 6 for and we’re within 1. He started the season 12 for 16 from the line and is 11/25 since.

- This was covered well in the news conference: When Buddy is double-teamed, somebody’s got to be open. Who is it? Watching the game, I concluded that it was Jesse Edwards. He normally gets the ‘SOS’ pass from Buddy and then looks around for someone else to pass it to, (although he’s learning to move to the basket on his own). Cole Swider is usually the one who winds up with it and if he’s hot, we win. If he’s cold, we lose. Tonight he was cold: 3 for 12, 28 for 8 from the arc and 1 for 4 when he went inside of it. Like Jimmy, he could have won the game for it. He came in hitting 34.3% of this threes. That’s 3 of 8. He was 50.0% on twos. That would have been 2 for 4. He never got to the line. But an extra two pointer and an extra 3 pointer is 5 points, the margin of defeat.

- Joe Girard, who was having a strong star tot the season, has disappeared into the ether the last two games. He was hitting 51% of this threes with a 52-34 turnover ratio and averaging 18.2np/40. Since then, he’s 2/9 (22.2%) from three with 8 assists and 6 turnovers and 4NP in 63 minutes, (2.5NP/40). He continues to dribble the ball up, weaving back and forth, rather than looing to pass it downcourt. If he’s going to play like and we aren’t protecting a lead in the final minutes, (when we would need his free throw shooting), we might as well have Symir in there.

- Jesse Edwards is being a dynamic offensive force inside. The thing is, last year we thought that he significantly improved our defense. There’s been too many games this year where it was too easy to score in and around the paint. I’ve never seen so many open short jumpers and 5-9 Kihei Clark zipped through our defense like wasn’t even there to score. He was 6 for 9 from the field and 3 of 4 of that was inside the arc. 6-7 Jayden Gardner was 7/13, all two-pointers. 6-4 Aramaan Franklin was 4/6 inside. 6-11 216 Kadin Shedrick was 5/8. Overall Virginia shot 62% on their two point shots. We hit 3 more treys and 3 more free throws but lost this game because scoring on the interior of our defense was too easy. And the Cavs had been struggling to score, averaging 62 points per game. They scored 49 on James Madison and 50 on Clemson. We scored 69 and could not beat them.

 

[two3zone]

- Betty White made a valiant effort to get to 100 and Syracuse made a valiant effort to beat Virginia. Poor Betty is dead and SU is 7-6. You can analyze it but you can’t spin it. I’d rather not get blown out but the difference is almost irrelevant. The numbers don’t matter. The letters: ‘W’ and “L’ are what matter.

- This basketball season has just bene an extension of the football season. We are good enough to win a game here or there but not run off a winning streak that would make the season a success. Frankly, I’d take a continuation of the winning season streak and an NIT bid right now. Maybe someday we can have a really good team again. This isn’t it.

- This game was like the Clemson game in football: this was the season to beat Virginia. They lost almost all their scoring from last year and have patched up with a couple of transfers. They were dominated at home by Clemson and earlier lost to James Madison. And like the Clemson game, we didn’t get it done.

- Jimmy Boeheim played his hear tout and put up some good numbers but the number he’ll go to sleep thinking about is missing 6 of 8 free throws in a game we lost by 5 points. He came in shooting 64%, which would be 5 for 8. That gets us within 2. He was .716 in his last season at Cornell. That would be 6 for and we’re within 1. He started the season 12 for 16 from the line and is 11/25 since.

- This was covered well in the news conference: When Buddy is double-teamed, somebody’s got to be open. Who is it? Watching the game, I concluded that it was Jesse Edwards. He normally gets the ‘SOS’ pass from Buddy and then looks around for someone else to pass it to, (although he’s learning to move to the basket on his own). Cole Swider is usually the one who winds up with it and if he’s hot, we win. If he’s cold, we lose. Tonight he was cold: 3 for 12, 28 for 8 from the arc and 1 for 4 when he went inside of it. Like Jimmy, he could have won the game for it. He came in hitting 34.3% of this threes. That’s 3 of 8. He was 50.0% on twos. That would have been 2 for 4. He never got to the line. But an extra two pointer and an extra 3 pointer is 5 points, the margin of defeat.

- Joe Girard, who was having a strong star tot the season, has disappeared into the ether the last two games. He was hitting 51% of this threes with a 52-34 turnover ratio and averaging 18.2np/40. Since then, he’s 2/9 (22.2%) from three with 8 assists and 6 turnovers and 4NP in 63 minutes, (2.5NP/40). He continues to dribble the ball up, weaving back and forth, rather than looing to pass it downcourt. If he’s going to play like and we aren’t protecting a lead in the final minutes, (when we would need his free throw shooting), we might as well have Symir in there.

- Jesse Edwards is being a dynamic offensive force inside. The thing is, last year we thought that he significantly improved our defense. There’s been too many games this year where it was too easy to score in and around the paint. I’ve never seen so many open short jumpers and 5-9 Kihei Clark zipped through our defense like wasn’t even there to score. He was 6 for 9 from the field and 3 of 4 of that was inside the arc. 6-7 Jayden Gardner was 7/13, all two-pointers. 6-4 Aramaan Franklin was 4/6 inside. 6-11 216 Kadin Shedrick was 5/8. Overall Virginia shot 62% on their two point shots. We hit 3 more treys and 3 more free throws but lost this game because scoring on the interior of our defense was too easy. And the Cavs had been struggling to score, averaging 62 points per game. They scored 49 on James Madison and 50 on Clemson. We scored 69 and could not beat them.

It seemed like on a bunch of the plays where Virginia was scoring inside was when Jesse was out in no mans land (the corners). I understand he can’t be in the paint always and needs to help, but the level of help that is needed im not sure he or anyone is capable of doing.

The more help the forwards need to give the guards the more Jesse needs to help the forwards, it just totally breaks down our defense leaving our only + defender out of position.

 

[cuseinseattle]

I would gladly take a above 500 record and NIT as well. Hope if happens.

 

[Fly Rodder]

It seemed like on a bunch of the plays where Virginia was scoring inside was when Jesse was out in no mans land (the corners). I understand he can’t be in the paint always and needs to help, but the level of help that is needed im not sure he or anyone is capable of doing.

The more help the forwards need to give the guards the more Jesse needs to help the forwards, it just totally breaks down our defense leaving our only + defender out of position.

Just looked at the season stats. Jesse leads the team in blocks with 36. Swider is tied for 2nd with Benny with 5. Five. Jimmy is tied with Symir for 4th with 2! He’s 6’8” and playing 38 mpg. Alan griffin led the team last year with 46.

Jesse can’t cover the corner 3, the foul line, and the rim by himself. He’s picking up the slack from weak defenders and expected to defend 1/3 of the halfcourt.

 

[SWC75]

It seemed like on a bunch of the plays where Virginia was scoring inside was when Jesse was out in no mans land (the corners). I understand he can’t be in the paint always and needs to help, but the level of help that is needed im not sure he or anyone is capable of doing.

The more help the forwards need to give the guards the more Jesse needs to help the forwards, it just totally breaks down our defense leaving our only + defender out of position.

Just looked at the season stats. Jesse leads the team in blocks with 36. Swider is tied for 2nd with Benny with 5. Five. Jimmy is tied with Symir for 4th with 2! He’s 6’8” and playing 38 mpg. Alan griffin led the team last year with 46.

Jesse can’t cover the corner 3, the foul line, and the rim by himself. He’s picking up the slack from weak defenders and expected to defend 1/3 of the halfcourt.

Maybe we could experiment with playing Jesse and Frank, (or Bourama?) together at times. The forwards are helping the guards but maybe it's the forwards who need the help. Basically we've got a starting line-up of a decent center and four bad defensive players.

 

[two3zone]

Maybe we could experiment with playing Jesse and Frank, (or Bourama?) together at times. The forwards are helping the guards but maybe it's the forwards who need the help. Basically we've got a starting line-up of a decent center and four bad defensive players.

I’m all aboard in Frank (not sure Bourama can right now” at the 4. It wouldn’t hurt to throw it out there at this point and see what can happen. On the offensive end it would fill the paint with defenders too, maybe get more open looks for the shooters as well.

 

[SWC75]

I’m all aboard in Frank (not sure Bourama can right now” at the 4. It wouldn’t hurt to throw it out there at this point and see what can happen. On the offensive end it would fill the paint with defenders too, maybe get more open looks for the shooters as well.

Or Frank at the 5 and Jesse at the 4. Bourama could help if his only job was to guard the paint.

 

[Fly Rodder]

I think, in general, that any team with designs on doing well during the season and getting to the tournament needs to be top-40 in KenPom and top ~50* to sneak in. Syracuse is currently 70th. The best teams will score well in KP's AdjO and AdjD (either or both). But a good team can get by with a top-20 rank in one and be mediocre in the other. SU has a top-20 offense, which is great. The problem is the defense is 188th, which is among the worst for P5 teams. Only three P5 teams rank lower than SU on defense: NC State, Miami** and Georgia. The last P5 team in the top-50 with a defense outside of 100 is Iowa (115) who has the 4th ranked offense. It's hard to state just how bad SU's defense is relative to the P5 teams we are trying to (and should) beat.

* due to auto bids
** Miami has a similar KP ranking to Syracuse. Great offense combined with poor-to-terrible defense.

 

[SWC75]

Continuing to think about this, I've come to the conclusion that Symir and benny need to share time 20-20 with Joe and Cole. If Joe of Cole is hot, stay with them and make it 30-10. if they aren't, go with Smyir and Benny 10-30 and allow them to develop so that by the end of the season we could have a better balance between offense and defense. 30-10 regardless of how Joe and Cole are playing or shooting isn't going to work.

Jim likes to keep his shooter out there "in case they get hot". We don't need four of them. We've had teams that had only one really good outside shooters, (GMAC, Trevor), and done better than this. Buddy is a dead-eye who is growing more versatile and Jimmy a versatile scorer who, believe it or not, leads the team in three-point percentage. That can be enough if we are getting the things that benny and Symir can do that Joe and Cole can't.