The Downside

[SWC75]

- We again got off to a bad start, scoring just 9 points in the first quarter and 13 in the first 14:27. Just like in football, slow starts means you are always climbing uphill the whole game and that’s hard to do.

- Rakeem Christmas, James Southerland and Michael Carter-Williams again has short evenings, failing to impress in brief minutes.

- Baye Moussa Keita had this third straight game without a field goal attempt. In fact, his only stat besides six minutes played was four fouls.

- Scoop taketh, (5 steals) and he giveth away, (6 turnovers compared to only two assists).

- We forced 24 turnovers but gave the ball back 21 times, (vs. 9 in the Virginia Tech game).

- Fab Melo is the center-piece to our defense but I wish he would stop flopping to draw charges. It takes him out of the play and if he doesn’t get the call, the hoop is undefended. Craig Forth and Arinze Onuaku learned to hold their ground, keep their hands up and deny the shot. I prefer that tactic to flopping.

 

[Ghost]

- Fab Melo is the center-piece to our defense but I wish he would stop flopping to draw charges. It takes him out of the play and if he doesn’t get the call, the hoop is undefended. Craig Forth and Arinze Onuaku learned to hold their ground, keep their hands up and deny the shot. I prefer that tactic to flopping.

Early in the game he held his ground and he didn't get the call. Flopping pays dividends - sadly.

 

[SWC75]

Early in the game he held his ground and he didn't get the call. Flopping pays dividends - sadly.

It's not just about getting the call. There were many plays where Forth and Onuaku just stood their with their hands up and the opposing player couldn't get a shot off and just passed it off.

 

[longislandcuse]

It seems like they put Southerland in the game, draw up a 3 point shot for him and when he misses, they take him out. Not sure thats giving him much of a fair chance.

I love CJ Fair, but im not sure hes a starting power forward on a Championship team. Real sick of have an NBA size team that has trouble rebounding as shown in the two games at MSG.

 

[OttoMets]

I love CJ Fair, but im not sure hes a starting power forward on a Championship team. Real sick of have an NBA size team that has trouble rebounding as shown in the two games at MSG.

Likewise.

I understand the desire to play our two best forwards as often as possible, but we're going to get thrashed on the glass with Joseph and Fair together at the wings.

We're going to see a lot of it, though - if there was ever a day for Christmas to get minutes in a serious game, it was yesterday. That was the first time I can remember CJ playing a legitimately poor - not quiet or average - half-plus of basketball, yet he stayed out there.

 

[longislandcuse]

Likewise.

I understand the desire to play our two best forwards as often as possible, but we're going to get thrashed on the glass with Joseph and Fair together at the wings.

We're going to see a lot of it, though - if there was ever a day for Christmas to get minutes in a serious game, it was yesterday. That was the first time I can remember CJ playing a legitimately poor - not quiet or average - half-plus of basketball, yet he stayed out there.

Christmas wont get any better if hes only playing 5 minutes a game though. Fair is a 3/4 who can hit the 3, mid range, and score inside, but cant really dribble drive (at the 3) and gets pushed around and has trouble rebounding against bigger guys (at the 4). I dont see how we can beat UNC in the tournament when Fair is at the 4 all game.

 

[SWC75]

Likewise.

I understand the desire to play our two best forwards as often as possible, but we're going to get thrashed on the glass with Joseph and Fair together at the wings.

We're going to see a lot of it, though - if there was ever a day for Christmas to get minutes in a serious game, it was yesterday. That was the first time I can remember CJ playing a legitimately poor - not quiet or average - half-plus of basketball, yet he stayed out there.

Would it have been worth losing, which we likely would have done with CJ on the bench?

 

[longislandcuse]

Would it have been worth losing, which we likely would have done with CJ on the bench?

No,but Fair also didnt play that well for most of the game either. Going forward can we beat a team like UNC with Fair battling Zeller and Henson for rebounds?

 

[tbonezone]

somewhat disconcerting to me to trail so deep into both of these games . first half shooting we're under 40% from the floor and only 3/12 deep

 

[NineOneSeven]

Get used to slow starts, I think it'll be a trend all year. People forget in our championship run in '03 we were down in the second half of most games. These last two second halfs were crucial in demonstrating to the team they have the ability to play smart and close games despite being down most of the game.

 

[AZOrange]

- We again got off to a bad start, scoring just 9 points in the first quarter and 13 in the first 14:27. Just like in football, slow starts means you are always climbing uphill the whole game and that’s hard to do.

- Rakeem Christmas, James Southerland and Michael Carter-Williams again has short evenings, failing to impress in brief minutes.

- Baye Moussa Keita had this third straight game without a field goal attempt. In fact, his only stat besides six minutes played was four fouls.

- Scoop taketh, (5 steals) and he giveth away, (6 turnovers compared to only two assists).

- We forced 24 turnovers but gave the ball back 21 times, (vs. 9 in the Virginia Tech game).

- Fab Melo is the center-piece to our defense but I wish he would stop flopping to draw charges. It takes him out of the play and if he doesn’t get the call, the hoop is undefended. Craig Forth and Arinze Onuaku learned to hold their ground, keep their hands up and deny the shot. I prefer that tactic to flopping.

On a high note, Triche extended his streak of launching a shot off the side of the backboard to 6 games.

 

[AZOrange]

Likewise.

I understand the desire to play our two best forwards as often as possible, but we're going to get thrashed on the glass with Joseph and Fair together at the wings.

We're going to see a lot of it, though - if there was ever a day for Christmas to get minutes in a serious game, it was yesterday. That was the first time I can remember CJ playing a legitimately poor - not quiet or average - half-plus of basketball, yet he stayed out there.

JB usually has a pretty good idea of who is playing better than who. If he thought XMas or James could have helped he would have played them. There is a reason both of them are seeing limited minutes.

 

[arbitragegls]

+1...JB knows who is playing best and all we need is for him to do that...play who is playing best. It looks as if at end of games he is using Waiters, Triche, Melo, KJ and CJ...that is his best 5...my concern is that aside from getting good playing from Scoop, Keita and others are not doing that well. If that is the case, what happened to that depth we were supposed to have?

 

[M2MPrinciples]

Likewise.

I understand the desire to play our two best forwards as often as possible, but we're going to get thrashed on the glass with Joseph and Fair together at the wings.

We're going to see a lot of it, though - if there was ever a day for Christmas to get minutes in a serious game, it was yesterday. That was the first time I can remember CJ playing a legitimately poor - not quiet or average - half-plus of basketball, yet he stayed out there.

The Stanford game was the only one where SU rebounded poorly, and even then, the struggles were only on the defensive glass (Stanford rebounded half its misses, when 30% or less is the norm; Syracuse rebounded 47% of its misses).

 

[Victory Lap]

I've always been under the impression that our rebounding suffers based on our zone D (big men contesting shots in the corner and therefore not in position for rebounds). I didn't watch the game, but unless I see our guys getting pushed out the way or shrinking away from the loose balls in the paint, I don't let that stat bother me too much. The question is, did our bigs look like they were getting pushed around?

 

[shermstheman]

Christmas wont get any better if hes only playing 5 minutes a game though. Fair is a 3/4 who can hit the 3, mid range, and score inside, but cant really dribble drive (at the 3) and gets pushed around and has trouble rebounding against bigger guys (at the 4). I dont see how we can beat UNC in the tournament when Fair is at the 4 all game.

Give it time. JB will figure things out, if he hasn't already. Xmas will get his time. You undervalue Fair- he does a lot of the non-glamour work- need guys lilke him.

 

[arbitragegls]

our bigs...Keita, Christmas, and CJ let a lot of rebounds bounce off their hands...got to get a grip