This is not the best performance from Jay Bilas. | Page 3 | Syracusefan.com

This is not the best performance from Jay Bilas.

Davis didn't dunk like this. Davis didn't block shots like Zion does. Davis wasn't doing 360 dunks and busting out of his shoe.

Davis is an all world talent, but he wasn't creating the same "can't wait to see what he does tonight" feeling that Zion does.

No real disagreement. I think it's because AD has been less flamboyant but more efficient with his athleticism, and more team oriented in his play. ZW is like a kid on Christmas morning with his new favorite toy, running around showing it to everybody. But as everyone here knows, I've been wrong before. :)
 
No real disagreement. I think it's because AD has been less flamboyant but more efficient with his athleticism, and more team oriented in his play. ZW is like a kid on Christmas morning with his new favorite toy, running around showing it to everybody. But as everyone here knows, I've been wrong before. :)

That's why I think his buzz is more aligned with Blake, who was just dunking on everyone and was clearly the best player in college his last year.
 
I have no problem with Bilas waxing in about Zion. He's the most exciting college basketball player in years. His physical gifts are once in a generation like. I couldn't watch the whole game last night. Usually I wouldn't care to record it this time of year because if we lose, I don't want to watch it, if I can't see it live, and, if we win, they'll play the next day. I recorded it to watch Zion. Who knows when, if ever we'll someone like him on a college basketball floor. So many on here just want to slam him because they're jealous. If he played for us, we'd be talking about our latest legend to go along with Melo, DC, Pearl, etc.
 
He was really awful last night.

Dan Schulman seemed to talk about SU positives , I guess to try to balance the broadcast. I too thought it was pretty obvious that Bilas was the Duke homer. I don’t know if it’s patented orchestrated stuff either like characters taking point - counterpoint stances for tv.
 
Bilas is usually relatively unbiased. But the fact he didn't even mention that Zion got away with steps on that breakaway dunk shows that it's institutionalized Zion bias.

Saw that too - just proved that he’s NBA ready :p
 
Personally, I think that Zion's performance was incredible. Especially his first game back after an injury.

All of those dunks... some of the shots he hit -- it was a performance that deserved to be gushed over, no question.

I had a bigger problem with the slanted pre-game coverage than I did in-game -- the announcers were fairly balanced, especially when we made our push to claw all the way back.

Exactly how I saw it. He was THAT impressive during the game but the pre-game stuff was just entirely over the top.
 
It's called "cultivating the market." It's more important that the fans believe he's fabulous than for him to actually be so. That's going to be very important next year when he plays more against grown men and not still-growing boys. And his style of play is pure physicality, and that's going to get him hurt (again): 82 games is a LOT more than 35. But that's not the only problem he's going to have. The NBA has become a orgy of 3 point shooters, and he's not a particularly good one. LeBron could always thunder dunk with the best, and still can, but what made him "Lebron!" is his scoring, and he's one of the best shooters I've ever seen.
Lebron is one of the best shooters you've ever seen? That statement right there calls into question the validity of your post. What has made Lebron great is that he is so athletic for his size and can handle the ball and pass like a point guard at his size.

The fact that the NBA has become such a perimeter oriented league may play to Zion's favor. The freedom of movement rules and lack of physical enforcers that existed a generation ago leave few people to stop a huge athletic guy like him from getting to the basket regularly. Especially in a league where a center can't just camp out in front of the basket like they can in college.

You mention that he'll be playing against full grown men. Keep in mind he is already bigger than most of them and is still growing himself. He's a young freshman that won't turn 19 until this summer. He will continue to mature physically, which is a scary prospect. The only concern I have physically is whether his body will hold up at his size with his style of play.

All of the people trying to say he won't be good in the NBA with certainty sound like the people that were certain Melo would be better than Lebron back in '03.
 
Exactly how I saw it. He was THAT impressive during the game but the pre-game stuff was just entirely over the top.
I think they have to do it while they can. In past years (way in the past at this point) you knew you had another year or two to talk about a successful freshman as he progressed through his college career. You also had players that had been elite as young guys that they continued to follow as they matured. That balanced the coverage a bit. Now ESPN knows they cover this guy in college for, at most, three more games. Then CBS gets him for up to six. The window for college coverage is so small and they lost a chunk of it with the injury.
 
The worst part of the broadcast to me was not so much Bilas' comments but the first 10 minutes. It was more like Zion against the world than Syracuse vs Duke.
Zion is a great player but I don't need to be told and shown that until I'm ready to vomit. He may as well have ESPN tattood on his forehead.
I am so glad I got to see that game in person and didn’t have to listen to the broadcast!! ESPN’s shilling of Zion is over the top. However, he is good.
 
But to hear him openly GUSH, (you can interpret that multiple ways) on the telecast, MOANING with delight at Zion’s amazing play, it was completely unprofessional.

That's what it's all about for me. The kid is a phenom, at this level. Analyze his game and talk about him all you want. But to literally be moaning with delight, as you said, which can only be described as Jay orgasming off camera, was one of the most sickening displays I've ever seen or heard in sports.
 
The moaning may have been a little much, though I was pretty much doing the same thing. Granted, I'm a guy watching the game on my couch vs. broadcasting it on ESPN, so i get it.

But I think Zion may legitimately be a once in a generation type phenomenon at the college level (Not necessarily a once in a generation player, but then again, he also might be that) so it's kinda hard not to gush about the guy.
 
since i've slammed her in the past i will credit allison williams for at least mentioning syracuse last night.
 
It was tough being on the losing end of Return of Zion night, but what can you do. He was the story.

We should be happy. If he wasn't back, we win by 20 without our best player.

If we can win our first round game we're going to give the non-ACC 1 or 2 seed one hell of a game.
 
It was tough being on the losing end of Return of Zion night, but what can you do. He was the story.

We should be happy. If he wasn't back, we win by 20 without our best player.

If we can win our first round game we're going to give the non-ACC 1 or 2 seed one hell of a game.

Your comment about Zion’s return being “the story” is spot on.

With as much college basketball as the denizens of this board watch, I’m surprised they don’t realize that the stories that these big game broadcasters intend to emphasize are pre-planned by the producers and the broadcasters. And they stay on the message or messages unless the game action makes them untrue or irrelevant.

How many times have you heard the SU zone explained along with the difficulty of opposing teams simulating it in practice. It has to be on the “don’t forget to say this” checklist for broadcasters.

It may annoy SU fans, but Duke and Zion attract thousands of viewers. They are expecting this emphasis from the announcers.
 
true. zion's return was the story line. he's the biggest name in college sports. sure it sucks for us tyus battle being out but in a nationwide poll most watchers don't know who he is. he's a cny regional treasure.
 
Actually, he did. Bilas made numerous comments about Duke's turnovers, inability to do much on offensive etc. You just had to be listening.
He did cite their many turnovers several times as the reason the game was still close, but failed to mention SU was turning it over almost as much.
 
He did cite their many turnovers several times as the reason the game was still close, but failed to mention SU was turning it over almost as much.

Somebody made that very point being made in the second half -- that Duke had 17 turnovers, but we weren't taking advantage because we'd turned it over 15 times of our own. Thought Bilas was the one who made that point; maybe it was his co-announcer.
 
no one will clap louder than marek dolezaj when the #1 pick of the 2019 NBA draft is read aloud.
 
Somebody made that very point being made in the second half -- that Duke had 17 turnovers, but we weren't taking advantage because we'd turned it over 15 times of our own. Thought Bilas was the one who made that point; maybe it was his co-announcer.
Yes. I heard that too but he added that Duke would have “scored a lot more”...which I thought was odd since he didn’t say that about Syracuse. Also failing to point out that Tyus handles the ball a lot to help us in pressure situations. And he was out. Wasn’t much of a storyline for ESPN though.

I thought the zone was good last night causing a lot of thise turnovers. We adjusted to every lineup they put out there. Passing lanes were quickly denied. Wish our bigs didn’t have the foul trouble.
 
Your comment about Zion’s return being “the story” is spot on.

With as much college basketball as the denizens of this board watch, I’m surprised they don’t realize that the stories that these big game broadcasters intend to emphasize are pre-planned by the producers and the broadcasters. And they stay on the message or messages unless the game action makes them untrue or irrelevant.

How many times have you heard the SU zone explained along with the difficulty of opposing teams simulating it in practice. It has to be on the “don’t forget to say this” checklist for broadcasters.

It may annoy SU fans, but Duke and Zion attract thousands of viewers. They are expecting this emphasis from the announcers.

Breaking a Duke and ACCT record for Field Goal % with a minimum of 12 shots didn't hurt either.

It reminds me of that line from the Howard Stern Private Parts movie when he's at DC101. Average Stern fan listens for 90 minutes, most common answer was they want to hear what he'll say next. The Average Stern hater listens for 2 hours, most common answer was that they want to hear what he'll say next.

That's how it works with Duke.
 
The overall review on Bilas last night amazes me... why was he so one sided? Because he had a man crush on Zion?

Well, tbh, it was pretty hard not to. He was that much better than anyone on the court.

Outside of that, he spoke highly of multiple Syracuse players and made repeated mention of Battle being down.

And, it’s his alma mater. It doesn’t surprise me that he gets excited when they do something cool on the court, like dunk on our faces from all spots in around the world.

Sounds like a lot of crying about nothing to me.
He had 1 more point than Frank. Get off his d!@k.
 
Your comment about Zion’s return being “the story” is spot on.

With as much college basketball as the denizens of this board watch, I’m surprised they don’t realize that the stories that these big game broadcasters intend to emphasize are pre-planned by the producers and the broadcasters. And they stay on the message or messages unless the game action makes them untrue or irrelevant.

How many times have you heard the SU zone explained along with the difficulty of opposing teams simulating it in practice. It has to be on the “don’t forget to say this” checklist for broadcasters.

It may annoy SU fans, but Duke and Zion attract thousands of viewers. They are expecting this emphasis from the announcers.
And of course we've had no problem being "the story" when we were really really good. If we don't wanna constantly hear about other teams we need to get back to that level.
 
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