This has been a tough week for syracusefan.com

[blizz]

it's been a great week for personal board hygiene. lots of posters made excellent self-nominations for my ignore list. who says walls don't work?

I'm the only poster not on my ignore list.

 

[Eric15]

13 year olds aren't on Facebook. they're on Snapchat and Instagram. You know who are the majority on Facebook...yeah, these same "grown adults."

Yeah Facebook is basically the VFW/Elks Lodge of social media sites these days.

 

[CusefanATL]

Re: P's firing--the timing was a complete failure. Should have waited another year so that a decent search could have been done. OR P should have been released a couple of years earlier (which urban legend says Crouthamel wanted to do).

Timing is everything.

god bless the broken road the led me straight to Dino.

 

[CusefanATL]

Outside of losing a recruit we had a damn good week beat the number one team in the country on the road and beat up a rival.

we hardly even lost him. He was going to Duke. He was going to Michigan State. He was going to Washington. You know where he was never "going" - Syracuse.

 

[Shark58]

Quincy

 

[CusefanATL]

Quincy

as long as ncaa doesnt jerk us around anymore.

 

[Shark58]

as long as ncaa doesnt jerk us around anymore.

as long as you are wishing, ask for a pony

 

[Sherman20]

He got a kid from Maryland [6-9 kid, name escapes me] that we wanted for the class of 2018. Then he got Hamier Wright [meh, but someone we were at least token recruiting]. Greene is frustrating given past history, but when he put out feelers here we told him we weren't interested. Stewart we really wanted.

So, there are four players that we overlapped with Hop / UW. They got all four.

***Please note, this is not a sky-is-falling post, nor an indictment of our recruiting. Just listing the relevant players.

Correct. The Maryland kid was the center prospect Nate Roberts, who’s now a freshman at UW. We were in his final three. As for Naz Carter, we weren’t really recruiting him for the class that he ended up signing in (he reclassified).

 

[CuseFaninVT]

I know I've been spending way too much time here when I initially read the title of this thread and immediately feared one (or more) of the more prominent posters here had passed away. I've grown too accustomed to hearing/reading the thoughts of you knuckleheads. Plus there's still a bunch of you that I need to meet.

 

[Alsacs]

I don’t get the OP’s point.
Everyone knows JB controls when he will retire but this program has become way to stagnant and doesn’t adapt who it conducts itself.
We play one defense 100% of the time we don’t press and we play the same isolation basketball on offense.
Our HC is 74 wanting some energy in the program isn’t a lot to ask.
I don’t want Mike Hopkins he is gone. Good luck to him but this program has gone from conference title contender to middle of the road the last 5 regular seasons. The sanctions are gone and still doesn’t look different.

I think GMac has done a solid job recruiting some guards. We need a big and we still haven’t gotten an efficient offensive big since Lydon and that was a Hop recruit.

Our bigs are hurting the offense. Until we have a championship level offense our chances to win a NC aren’t happening.

 

[orangecuse]

I don’t get the OP’s point.
Everyone knows JB controls when he will retire but this program has become way to stagnant and doesn’t adapt who it conducts itself.
We play one defense 100% of the time we don’t press and we play the same isolation basketball on offense.
Our HC is 74 wanting some energy in the program isn’t a lot to ask.
I don’t want Mike Hopkins he is gone. Good luck to him but this program has gone from conference title contender to middle of the road the last 5 regular seasons. The sanctions are gone and still doesn’t look different.

I think GMac has done a solid job recruiting some guards. We need a big and we still haven’t gotten an efficient offensive big since Lydon and that was a Hop recruit.

Our bigs are hurting the offense. Until we have a championship level offense our chances to win a NC aren’t happening.

Um, did you miss the memo? This post could easily get misconstrued as negative, and we've all been forewarned and formally been placed on notice.

 

[Townie72]

It all started with the maintenance on Saturday. Then the IS news followed by so many sky is falling posts. We get it. Hop is cleaning JAB's pocket. Good for him but I never realized how many people want JAB to step down. People-you might not like the results under the next regime.

I really hope we win Thursday. Otherwise the entire board will need a two day maintenance timeout.

There's appears to be no doubt in the minds of the JB Should Go crowd. Things can only get better. We will be selecting from long list of coaching candidates all thirsting for a chance to coach SU.

I watched once mighty Georgetown struggle last night and fall to 2-4 in the New Big East. Looks very much like another 8th place finish for the Hoyas far outside of even a whiff of the NIT. But that could never, ever, ever happen here.

 

[MSOrange]

Outside of losing a recruit we had a damn good week beat the number one team in the country on the road and beat up a rival.

Exactly. I'm back to my normal excitement level looking forward to the next game Thursday.

 

[creatorsgam]

as long as you are wishing, ask for a pony

 

[Townie72]

Um, did you miss the memo? This post could easily get misconstrued as negative, and we've all been forewarned and formally been placed on notice.

Of course it’s a negative post. But almost worse than that it’s a bunch of arguments that are solely his opinion presented in an "every one knows or should know" fashion.

The “program has become way too stagnant and doesn’t adapt” is just an opinion borne out of a “search for the guilty” rooted in an almost adolescent level of frustration over not winning enough.

“Playing one defense 100% of the time” as proof of being stagnant? Are all the teams that play M2M 100% of the time “stagnant” or is it just Zone teams? How did vaunted Duke do in OT against that same-old SU zone the other night? Why is there all that hand-wringing from coaches of opposing teams in the NCAA tournament?

Alsacs has an “energy” meter on his TV that allows him to guage it, I guess. Besides, Coach K spends most of his time just sitting there expressionless and he seems to be doing OK. Maybe we should bring back super-energy Gary Williams, who sweat right through sport coats, or bring in Hurley or some other hyper-active bufoon. If it's energy you want, forget about sartorially splendid and calm Jay Wright.

Lydon was a good player. According to JB we could have Huerter too if we had a scholarship for him. Sanctions have been over for about 10 minutes.

But the need for a “championship level offense” is the silliest of the requests. Hard to argue about that one. Just get a bunch of McDonald’s AA’s and you are off to the races. How to do that? Well, Alsacs doesn’t have to tell us. It’s his job to point out the problems and the possible solutions and someone else’s to implement them. That’s why the coaches get the big bucks.

 

[Townie72]

Um, did you miss the memo? This post could easily get misconstrued as negative, and we've all been forewarned and formally been placed on notice.

Let's talk about the memo.

Seems to me that what we are missing on here is two things. The first is "Accountability" and the other is at least some sense of embarrassment.

In the days following the GT loss we were treated to the usual suspects and even some others vomiting all over the program dragging out old and adding new complaints starting with JB must go.

We really ought to have these posts tacked onto the top of the board. That's the Accountability part. You wrote it, you live with it.

After Duke, the complaints vanished, but I suspect many of the critics were and are just laying in the weeds for the next loss to trot out the complaints and revel in the rightness of their criticism and proposed solutions. That's waht Orangecuse is saying in this post with the business about being forewarned.

Flacusian wrote a long post confessing to this and was obviously embarrassed by what he had said.

But no one else has even suggested, "Well, maybe I was a little over the top".

How can you guys not be embarrassed?

 

[HOFCeluck]

We really ought to have these posts tacked onto the top of the board. That's the Accountability part. You wrote it, you live with it.

Very Serious Business on syracusefan dot com.

 

[Townie72]

Very Serious Business on syracusefan dot com.

Let me see if I understand your post.

Say anything you want. It doesn't matter? It's just a message board?

No one cares?

Is that the gist?

I'm not saying that isn't a legitimate position. It seems strange to me, but there are no real rules.

 

[creatorsgam]

Very Serious Business on syracusefan dot com.

Like when people used to write checks, and a business would post the checks that bounced at the register?

Savage.

 

[Alsacs]

Of course it’s a negative post. But almost worse than that it’s a bunch of arguments that are solely his opinion presented in an "every one knows or should know" fashion.

The “program has become way too stagnant and doesn’t adapt” is just an opinion borne out of a “search for the guilty” rooted in an almost adolescent level of frustration over not winning enough.

“Playing one defense 100% of the time” as proof of being stagnant? Are all the teams that play M2M 100% of the time “stagnant” or is it just Zone teams? How did vaunted Duke do in OT against that same-old SU zone the other night? Why is there all that hand-wringing from coaches of opposing teams in the NCAA tournament?

Alsacs has an “energy” meter on his TV that allows him to guage it, I guess. Besides, Coach K spends most of his time just sitting there expressionless and he seems to be doing OK. Maybe we should bring back super-energy Gary Williams, who sweat right through sport coats, or bring in Hurley or some other hyper-active bufoon. If it's energy you want, forget about sartorially splendid and calm Jay Wright.

Lydon was a good player. According to JB we could have Huerter too if we had a scholarship for him. Sanctions have been over for about 10 minutes.

But the need for a “championship level offense” is the silliest of the requests. Hard to argue about that one. Just get a bunch of McDonald’s AA’s and you are off to the races. How to do that? Well, Alsacs doesn’t have to tell us. It’s his job to point out the problems and the possible solutions and someone else’s to implement them. That’s why the coaches get the big bucks.

No team plays 100% man to man since Bob Knight was coaching.
Coach K switched between man to man and zone against Virginia in the second half and was the reason they shut down UVA. They were confused what Duke was doing so their offense and ball movement was off and
Duke was able to get enough stops to build up a lead and win.

Nobody wants JB to stop running the zone. Mixing in wrinkles during the game would throw the opponent off though. We do nothing different it’s all 100% zone and then if we are down a press to try and force turnovers.
We don’t mix up anything.
Our offense doesn’t change when teams are prepared for what we do.
Again the scouting reports tell the opponent what we do when we had the horses to overcome the fact the opponent even if they knew that is a different story we didn’t need to change when we had that elite talent.
Our horses now aren’t significantly better than Conference opponents these past years.
Wanting some spark of energy that will challenge the status quo isn’t a bad thing.
Nobody can challenge JB on this staff like Hop could. You take any criticism of JB like its blasphemy.

You know why Belichick or K or Poppvich or any elite coach stays elite they adapt and aren’t going to do things the same way all the team.
JB is 74 years old. He is going to be he coach for at most 3 more years. It’s going to get worse when he leaves just because his shadow is impossible to replace. However we can be good with the next coach. The fact is our program is not what it was. If you want to say grade the program on a curve fine you do that. I won’t. JB’s stubbornness is a problem just as much as it probably helps him in some scenarios.
BTW ask what I mean when I say energy next time instead of assuming .
I am talking about expanding the recruiting targets and not going for a smaller amount of talent. We need energy in recruiting and that is where 74 years old catches up to a coach.

Also you need a above offense to win a NC title.
Nobody outside of UConn 2011 and 2014 had a garbage offense and both of those offenses scored more easily than we have since 2012.

 

[HOFCeluck]

Let me see if I understand your post.

Say anything you want. It doesn't matter? It's just a message board?

No one cares?

Is that the gist?

I'm not saying that isn't a legitimate position. It seems strange to me, but there are no real rules.

Yes. It is literally a message board about a college sportsball team.

That being said, Im not dependent on this website for my intellectual gratification. I can empathize though with people who arent like that.

 

[orangecuse]

Of course it’s a negative post. But almost worse than that it’s a bunch of arguments that are solely his opinion presented in an "every one knows or should know" fashion.

The “program has become way too stagnant and doesn’t adapt” is just an opinion borne out of a “search for the guilty” rooted in an almost adolescent level of frustration over not winning enough.

“Playing one defense 100% of the time” as proof of being stagnant? Are all the teams that play M2M 100% of the time “stagnant” or is it just Zone teams? How did vaunted Duke do in OT against that same-old SU zone the other night? Why is there all that hand-wringing from coaches of opposing teams in the NCAA tournament?

Alsacs has an “energy” meter on his TV that allows him to guage it, I guess. Besides, Coach K spends most of his time just sitting there expressionless and he seems to be doing OK. Maybe we should bring back super-energy Gary Williams, who sweat right through sport coats, or bring in Hurley or some other hyper-active bufoon. If it's energy you want, forget about sartorially splendid and calm Jay Wright.

Lydon was a good player. According to JB we could have Huerter too if we had a scholarship for him. Sanctions have been over for about 10 minutes.

But the need for a “championship level offense” is the silliest of the requests. Hard to argue about that one. Just get a bunch of McDonald’s AA’s and you are off to the races. How to do that? Well, Alsacs doesn’t have to tell us. It’s his job to point out the problems and the possible solutions and someone else’s to implement them. That’s why the coaches get the big bucks.

My response was in jest, smart-aleck like. However, I'll give a diplomatic and transparent response.

Personally, I think Alsacs brings a lot of conviction with his posts, and he has always owned that his views are just that, his. I believe his signature used to state this. In any event, I think we all try to be persuasive in support of our positions, arguments, etc. However, some more than others at times just want to say they're "right" or that the other is "wrong" versus simply seeing one's particular angle/point of view and saying okay, I guess (maybe) I can see where you may be coming from, although I don't agree, etc.

You also bring a a lot of conviction with your posts, and I appreciate them, especially when you bring them without some of the condescending & imperious tones. You're obviously quite knowledgeable and intelligent.

 

[NineOneSeven]

LOVE me some townie. Needed a pick me up on this late afternoon in the office. You delivered.

 

[Townie72]

No team plays 100% man to man since Bob Knight was coaching.
Coach K switched between man to man and zone against Virginia in the second half and was the reason they shut down UVA. They were confused what Duke was doing so their offense and ball movement was off and
Duke was able to get enough stops to build up a lead and win.

Nobody wants JB to stop running the zone. Mixing in wrinkles during the game would throw the opponent off though. We do nothing different it’s all 100% zone and then if we are down a press to try and force turnovers.
We don’t mix up anything.
Our offense doesn’t change when teams are prepared for what we do.
Again the scouting reports tell the opponent what we do when we had the horses to overcome the fact the opponent even if they knew that is a different story we didn’t need to change when we had that elite talent.
Our horses now aren’t significantly better than Conference opponents these past years.
Wanting some spark of energy that will challenge the status quo isn’t a bad thing.
Nobody can challenge JB on this staff like Hop could. You take any criticism of JB like its blasphemy.

You know why Belichick or K or Poppvich or any elite coach stays elite they adapt and aren’t going to do things the same way all the team.
JB is 74 years old. He is going to be he coach for at most 3 more years. It’s going to get worse when he leaves just because his shadow is impossible to replace. However we can be good with the next coach. The fact is our program is not what it was. If you want to say grade the program on a curve fine you do that. I won’t. JB’s stubbornness is a problem just as much as it probably helps him in some scenarios.
BTW ask what I mean when I say energy next time instead of assuming .
I am talking about expanding the recruiting targets and not going for a smaller amount of talent. We need energy in recruiting and that is where 74 years old catches up to a coach.

Also you need a above offense to win a NC title.
Nobody outside of UConn 2011 and 2014 had a garbage offense and both of those offenses scored more easily than we have since 2012.

Among the things that most don't get is the straegic brilliance of the Zone-only strategy. JB has talked about all the benefits in practice hours available for other things, about he ability to perfect the defense beyond what anyone has ever seen, the impact on energy expended, etc. etc.,

SU fans have been treated to great success by ino Babers who brought with him an effective but slightly different offensive approach, playing fast, spreading the field, etc. One of the huge benefits of this different approach is that it places a premium on certain types of players for SU. A player who might be a 3-star recruit might be a four-star in SU's system. We don't have to compete head up with Penn State for the all the same guys in the East.

Same thing with basketball and the Zone. We have a higher premium on certain characteristics. We can be successful with far fewer McDonald's All Americans , which we never got even when we mixed defenses.

So we aren't really recruiting head-to-head with 100 other schools. We are targeting those that fit the SU system.

Now if we were like everybody else, who knows how successful we would be. Some assume we would be more successful. I'm skeptical.

 

[two3zone]

Hopkins had a relationship with these kids when he was here. Now that he has left I doubt he is going to spend a lot of time recruiting on the East Coast. There will be plenty of west coast kids dying to play for a winner.

You don't think he has relationships with coaches and the programs on the east coast?