The "surprise" of some at SU's recent performance

[Henny & Coke]

is a little baffling to me, to be honest. I mean, I'm not saying I ever predicted a Final Four birth for our Orange, but I am not really that surprised that they managed to do it. I always felt it was a (decent) possibility. But then again, I guess I just also didn't see the team losing some late games as a "sky is falling" type of event, either.

I mean, really take a look at our Big East schedule & especially the teams SU lost to at the end of the year: Let's start with

vs Villanova: 72-61 win - against a NCAA tournament team

at Louisville (#1 in country) - 70-68 win - huge win, against #1 in country, on the road no less! Louisville is now #1 overall seed in NCAA tournament and still playing. (& dominating)

vs Cincinatti (#21 in country) - 57-55 win - another nice win against ranked opponent & NCAA tournament team

at Villanova: 75-71 loss in OT - Probably our most What loss of the year, but even this came against a NCAA tournament team on the road (when we basically had them beat, before crumbling down the stretch.)

at Pittsburgh: 65-55 loss - In my opinion, Pitt is a good team (they were always ranked higher in Kenpom rankings than in AP rankings) and we always lose to them on the road. Again, another NCAA tournament team.

vs Notre Dame (#25 in country): 63-47 win - Big win, dominating a ranked opponent & NCAA tournament team.

vs St Johns: 77-58 win

at UCONN: 66-58 loss - A tough game, on the road, vs an opponent who was just fired-up to play us for the last time in Big East play. Sometimes you can't stop a team that has that kind of emotion going for it. Actually a decent team, too.

at Seton Hall: 76-65 win

vs Providence: 84-59 win

vs Georgetown (#11 in country): 57-46 loss - Losing to a good opponent, an NCAA #2 seed team (even if they did end up losing first game) is really nothing to scoff at, even if at home.

at Marquette (#22 in country): 74-71 loss - Losing to Marquette, another NCAA tournament team & #3 seed (who ended up making it to Elite 8), on the road, when there was such a foul shot differential, is again, nothing to be embarrassed about.

vs Louisville (#10 in country): 58-53 loss - Again, losing to Louisville, an NCAA tournament team that would get the #1 overall seed (and still be playing now) is not a terrible blemish! It's just not. These are all close games, too.

vs DePaul: 78-57 win

at Georgetown (#5 in country): 61-39 loss - This was a little jarring, considering the large margin of loss, but hey, it happens sometimes. (Especially to a team that is not as experienced as other seasons/teams.) Yes, this loss sucked. But again, it came against a very quality opponent, on the road, with a lot of emotion involved, being (believed to be) final Big East meeting of these two teams.

So, there it is, a really difficult stretch of games, in which SU went a respectable 8-7.

Wins in this stretch:
vs Villanova (Tournament Team)
at #1 ranked Louisville (Tournament Team & #1 seed overall),
vs #21 ranked Cinci (Tournament Team)
vs #25 ranked Notre Dame (Tournament Team)
and others

Losses in this stretch:
at Villanova (Tournament Team)
at Pittsburgh (Tournament Team)
at UCONN
vs #11 ranked Georgetown (Tournament Team & #2 seed)
at #22 ranked Marquette (Tournament Team & #3 seed, that made it to Elite 8)
vs #10 ranked Louisville (Tournament Team & #1 seed overall)
at #5 ranked Georgetown (Tournament Team & #2 seed)

- 5 of 7 losses came on the road.
- 4 of 7 losses came to teams ranked in top 25 at time.
- 6 of 7 losses came to teams that would play in NCAA Tournament (and the other was ineligible)

Yes, I would have liked for the team to play better during this stretch, but to get so down on them when they drop a few to such good teams doesn't make sense either, IMO. One has to keep in mind the level of competition SU is facing during the Big East schedule...not exactly the cupcakes that a team like Gonzaga gets to play. But then again, we are still playing basketball now, while Gonzaga is at home!

Yes, it can be difficult to maintain this perspective in the moment, but hopefully this tournament is serving to remind some that a few losses during the season does not mean that the team cannot learn & grow from such experiences. A really good team may even use it as motivation to take their play up another notch, which seems to be the way our Orange have reacted, really focusing on ratcheting up the defensive pressure & intensity, and now believing that they can beat anybody. That quality is only found within the best teams, and I'm proud to say I see it in our Orange!

 

[BuffOrange]

I mean, if you're a 4seed in the tournament that usually means you've done some good things. And you could argue the previous three reg. seasons spoiled us. That's fair.

But honestly, we haven't played that close to the current level of play imo. Consider:
- JB himself made a point of saying in California that home teams win like 90% of games involving tournament teams. Yet we're gonna talk about the game in the Dome vs L'ville like it's a moral victory? Meh. L'ville didn't even play that well that game imo. And the home G'town game was terrible too.
- We got the Pitt/G'town monkeys off our backs with Southerland shooting lights out and BMK playing like he had never played before. And we still had to hang on for dear life. How could anyone know we could beat, much less steamroll freaking Indiana without Southy playing like that, or that BMK's BET wasn't an aberration?

I think it's really improbable. Not just making it this far, but dismantling teams. If anyone didn't think the IU game was going to the wire after Oladipo made that 3 to make it 38-32, I would seriously have to question how long they've been watching SU basketball. I just love that we put the hammer down after that.

 

[kuethstheman]

This team was hopeless and virtually unwatchable. They reminded me of the SU football team a few years ago. And it wasn't just a bad game or two. It went on for almost two months.

That it was just a slump and not actually who they are is surprising enough. That they were able to turn it around and play at this level is mind-boggling.

 

[KingOtis]

Conference games usually don't bother me, but this year was different because we looked soft. A lot of careless play and too many missed free throws. Throw in the loss to Temple and there was plenty of cause for concern.

A lot of that was erased in the BET, but then we were matched up with Indiana. Hindsight is 20/20, but the Hoosiers were one of the best two or three teams all year. Crean should have had a better idea how to attack the zone, and despite the undersized guards, they had guys like Zeller and Sheehey who would have had better games with a better plan.

On the other hand, we would have had a field day in the West or South.