SWC75
Bored Historian
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- Aug 26, 2011
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- Jim Boeheim’s formula for success is to use the zone to stop them from scoring and get 6-8 more steals and blocks than the other team gets. We will rebound more poorly but if we can keep it close on the boards, we’ll have an advantage in possessions and get some fast breaks. The formula doesn’t work if we get out-rebounded 20-41, as we did in this game. JB pointed out in the presser that Fab was averaging 6 rebounds a game, so it’s about his absence. In our system, the center is not a big rebounded. The forwards and guards have to contribute. We have some physically strong guards and Triche and Waiters have good size. But they and Scoop got exactly one rebound in a game where 28 three pointers, (which usually bounce out to the area where the guards will be), were missed. Their starting guards had 10 rebounds. We had one guy, (Kris Joseph) with 7 boards, two guys with 4, one with 3 and two with 1. The ’Neers had 8 from Kevin Jones, four guys with 5, a guy with 4 and another with 3 and one with 1.
- I was hoping this would be a game where we would finally bust out from three point range. We had several earlier games where we weren’t dominating but won by a comfortable margin because we were making jump shots. Not this game and not for a while. We got plenty of open jumpers but made only 4 of 20 from beyond the arc. 7 of 20 and we wouldn’t have had to sweat this one out. We were 10 for 17 at Providence and 8 for 20 the next game vs. Marquette. In the six games since, we are 29 for 111, (.261). That makes this game very hard. In most of our misses it looked like we hurried the shot and were off-balance or not squared to the basket. GMAC will have them working on this, I’m sure.
- One of the bad things about having no Fab Melo is that we’ve really got only two big men available. Other than Rak and Baye, it’s all small forwards and guards, (CJ Fair has a knack for getting to the ball but that doesn’t make him a power forward). Rak and Baye are young big men, prone to fouls. When the refs decide to call them, including some strange ones, (like the tie-up where Kilici jumped in the air and that somehow became a foul on Keita), we get really small really fast.
- There was no Higgins or Burr we seem to have a new generation of them. There was a lot of pushing and shoving going on under the basket that didn’t get called and some really bizarre calls, including that tie-up foul mentioned above. Maybe they should have called goal-tending on that late shot Keita pinned against the board but there were plenty of strange calls and no-calls before them and a lot of them went against us.
- JB was asked in the presser what he said to Rak to try to encourage him during the game. “I was just trying to see if he was awake.” Jim clearly wanted Jones double-teamed and in the early going, Christmas was just standing there and Jones had his way. When Baye came in, he got right on Jones and usually got some help and made him work for his points, (8 for 18). If you want to play, you need to do what the coach tells you to.
- Dion Waiters had a “Sports Center” dunk and another on a break-away. But he was 0 for 7 otherwise and, as JB pointed out, is 7 for 28 in these last three games, (although JB said 6 for 29), when we need him to come up big. Jim said he “has more confidence than this room”, but needs to make shots. Those awkward floaters aren’t getting it done. He needs to make jump shots and could do with a pull-up jumper as well. He might also look to dish more, (his assist at the end of the half to Scoop was his only one).
- Why, oh why didn’t we got 2 for 1 when we get the ball with 1:08 to go? Dion held the ball and then missed a prayer of a floater at 34 seconds and the Mounties got to play for the last shots.
- All through the game I had a strange calmness, as if I knew we were going to win no matter what was happening on the court. It was more than just confidence in a team that had won 21 of 22 games. I just somehow knew we would win. I tried to mentally transmit my feeling of calmness to Coach Boeheim but it didn’t seem to work. I guess we aren’t quite on the same wavelength. Or maybe he was moving around too much.
- I was hoping this would be a game where we would finally bust out from three point range. We had several earlier games where we weren’t dominating but won by a comfortable margin because we were making jump shots. Not this game and not for a while. We got plenty of open jumpers but made only 4 of 20 from beyond the arc. 7 of 20 and we wouldn’t have had to sweat this one out. We were 10 for 17 at Providence and 8 for 20 the next game vs. Marquette. In the six games since, we are 29 for 111, (.261). That makes this game very hard. In most of our misses it looked like we hurried the shot and were off-balance or not squared to the basket. GMAC will have them working on this, I’m sure.
- One of the bad things about having no Fab Melo is that we’ve really got only two big men available. Other than Rak and Baye, it’s all small forwards and guards, (CJ Fair has a knack for getting to the ball but that doesn’t make him a power forward). Rak and Baye are young big men, prone to fouls. When the refs decide to call them, including some strange ones, (like the tie-up where Kilici jumped in the air and that somehow became a foul on Keita), we get really small really fast.
- There was no Higgins or Burr we seem to have a new generation of them. There was a lot of pushing and shoving going on under the basket that didn’t get called and some really bizarre calls, including that tie-up foul mentioned above. Maybe they should have called goal-tending on that late shot Keita pinned against the board but there were plenty of strange calls and no-calls before them and a lot of them went against us.
- JB was asked in the presser what he said to Rak to try to encourage him during the game. “I was just trying to see if he was awake.” Jim clearly wanted Jones double-teamed and in the early going, Christmas was just standing there and Jones had his way. When Baye came in, he got right on Jones and usually got some help and made him work for his points, (8 for 18). If you want to play, you need to do what the coach tells you to.
- Dion Waiters had a “Sports Center” dunk and another on a break-away. But he was 0 for 7 otherwise and, as JB pointed out, is 7 for 28 in these last three games, (although JB said 6 for 29), when we need him to come up big. Jim said he “has more confidence than this room”, but needs to make shots. Those awkward floaters aren’t getting it done. He needs to make jump shots and could do with a pull-up jumper as well. He might also look to dish more, (his assist at the end of the half to Scoop was his only one).
- Why, oh why didn’t we got 2 for 1 when we get the ball with 1:08 to go? Dion held the ball and then missed a prayer of a floater at 34 seconds and the Mounties got to play for the last shots.
- All through the game I had a strange calmness, as if I knew we were going to win no matter what was happening on the court. It was more than just confidence in a team that had won 21 of 22 games. I just somehow knew we would win. I tried to mentally transmit my feeling of calmness to Coach Boeheim but it didn’t seem to work. I guess we aren’t quite on the same wavelength. Or maybe he was moving around too much.
