This team will surprise

[billsin01]

Yeah I'll believe the transition when I see it. We haven't run in 4-5 years. This team is constructed to win half court rock fights. If everything else happens we should be better than an 8 seed.

I'm not really sure what you mean by 'run', but for me what we're talking about is quick offense and this past year's team was the highest scoring group we've had since 09-10, which I would consider one of the top offenses since the late 80s. Regardless, while I'm not sure last year's team was a run-and-gun fastbreak team, they scored well and they scored often in either transition (break/secondary break) or early shotclock situations. And that was with no depth.

I tend to agree we're unlikely to see the tempo and high-flying offense we saw in the late 80s and I also agree that it's a bit of wait and see situation with this group, but I actually think last year's offense was pretty effective in transition, all things considered.

 

[billsin01]

Hopefully we'll have a better idea of the line up going into the season than we did last year. Incredible that there was no constant to last years line up position wise.

Beginning: Ending:
1 - Howard 1- Gillon
2 - White 2- Battle
3 - Lydon 3- White
4- Roberson 4- Lydon
5- Coleman 5- Thompson

It took the coaching staff way too long to get Battle and Gillon in the starting lineup. I rarely criticize the coaches but they should have known. And I think there is way too much hand wringing on the board over Thompson. I said it last year and I'll say it again, Thompson is the best NBA prospect on this team. I do hope the staff has been able to improve his defense and am confident that they have. He is too good of an athlete not to be able to handle the 4 or the 5 in the zone. Offensively Thompson will likely explode this season.

I'm not sure as I think Frank actually played OK at times in the preseason and I think they dreaded the idea of Gillon being the only option at the point (even though that's what ended up happening). And Battle actually played a ton even early on before becoming a 40 mpg guy after the BC game. Definitely could have used him for more than 13 mins. vs. South Carolina and it would have been nice to see him more vs. G'town, both of which wound up being crucial losses, but that Battle wasn't playing anywhere near as aggressively as the Battle later in the season. Otherwise, dude played pretty big minutes from the start (S.C State, USC and G'town were the only games he was under 20).

At the end of the day, to me, it was just sort of crappy that Howard tanked the way he did. White at the 2, was a curious decision, though, I admit that. Seems hard to believe they ever thought he could hang there defensively.

 

[GooseMutt]

With your St. Bernard in there with you, I doubt I would fit.

Lol no offense but I trying to pretend everything is ok And he loves Cuse fans so you'll be good!

 

[NineOneSeven]

Hopefully we'll have a better idea of the line up going into the season than we did last year. Incredible that there was no constant to last years line up position wise.

Beginning: Ending:
1 - Howard 1- Gillon
2 - White 2- Battle
3 - Lydon 3- White
4- Roberson 4- Lydon
5- Coleman 5- Thompson

It took the coaching staff way too long to get Battle and Gillon in the starting lineup. I rarely criticize the coaches but they should have known. And I think there is way too much hand wringing on the board over Thompson. I said it last year and I'll say it again, Thompson is the best NBA prospect on this team. I do hope the staff has been able to improve his defense and am confident that they have. He is too good of an athlete not to be able to handle the 4 or the 5 in the zone. Offensively Thompson will likely explode this season.

I wouldn't consider thompson a great athlete. He has more of an old man game, which is absolutely fine.

I just hope his lateral quickness improved!

 

[Delmar]

Lol no offense but I trying to pretend everything is ok And he loves Cuse fans so you'll be good!

You are obviously a dog lover as am I. What is the origin of "Goosemutt?"

 

[Trueblue25]

I wouldn't consider thompson a great athlete. He has more of an old man game, which is absolutely fine.

I just hope his lateral quickness improved!

completely agree, he isn't Rudy Gay but he will score.

 

[chugg21]

Hopefully we'll have a better idea of the line up going into the season than we did last year. Incredible that there was no constant to last years line up position wise.

Beginning: Ending:
1 - Howard 1- Gillon
2 - White 2- Battle
3 - Lydon 3- White
4- Roberson 4- Lydon
5- Coleman 5- Thompson

It took the coaching staff way too long to get Battle and Gillon in the starting lineup. I rarely criticize the coaches but they should have known. And I think there is way too much hand wringing on the board over Thompson. I said it last year and I'll say it again, Thompson is the best NBA prospect on this team. I do hope the staff has been able to improve his defense and am confident that they have. He is too good of an athlete not to be able to handle the 4 or the 5 in the zone. Offensively Thompson will likely explode this season.

If Thompson extends his range beyond the 3 point line then maybe he can think about the NBA but he currently lacks any trait that would get him drafted besides a mid-range jumper. He's a tweener in a worse way than Lydon is and half the board thinks Lydon is a bum that won't go in the 1st round.

 

[baggerbob]

I'm not excited. The successful teams we've had in the past have had very experienced PGs. I could list them here but I'll just make the point. I think this team will have a pretty bad record and about half way through the season they will have some good moments. I don't expect this team to make the NCAAs. I just don't. Maybe if Moyer shoots as well as Andrew White we will do as well as last year.

I can't shake the darkness.

The 87 team had the general who didn't play much his 1st year, the 2003 team had Billy, and Gerry who were freshmen. That's the 2 best teams we have had.

 

[FrancoPizza]

Transition comes down to rebounding.

Nope. Our best transition teams in the all-zone era cashed in on turnovers for most of those points. Rebounding has generally sucked unless we have a top 3 draft pick at forward to overcome schematic and fundamental flaws.

 

[Brooky03]

Nope. Our best transition teams in the all-zone era cashed in on turnovers for most of those points. Rebounding has generally sucked unless we have a top 3 draft pick at forward to overcome schematic and fundamental flaws.

Yes, rebounding has always sucked with the zone. I wasn't saying it had to be crazy good. I was saying when we have better rebounding teams than typical, or at least a Center who can board and legitimate forwards next to him, it helps our transition game as much as causing turnovers, which is absolutely true based on the stats.

The idea that a team has to cause turnovers at a high rate to have a good transition offense is simply not true. It helps, perhaps equally as much as good defensive rebounding helps, but it's not the primary factor.

Unlike m2m, the zone puts all of the defenders in consistently good position to run a fastbreak when the team doesn't have to commit the guards to rebound. This is why the zone can give up a few extra boards and be fine. There's a big difference between being a good rebounding team out of the zone vs. being a good rebounding team overall. I was speaking about having a good zone rebounding team.

 

[cuseincincy]

The 87 team had the general who didn't play much his 1st year, the 2003 team had Billy, and Gerry who were freshmen. That's the 2 best teams we have had.

2016 FF team had no PG.
2014 team won 28 games, 14-4 in ACC with a freshman Ennis at PG.
2013 FF team had MCW who barely played his 1st year.
2010 team won 30 games w frosh Triche and Scoop who didn't play at all the year before splitting the PG.

 

[cuseincincy]

I wouldn't consider thompson a great athlete. He has more of an old man game, which is absolutely fine.

I just hope his lateral quickness improved!

You must have missed the fact that TT was guarding the inbound pass and was the point man on the full court press last year. That usually suggests a fair amount of athleticism. Someone else suggested that maybe TT had not practiced much at the 5 and was thrown in there unprepared when Chukwu and Coleman went down. I think there may be some truth to that. Fortunately what he did last year no longer matters and I'm pretty sure he and the coaches have a much better idea of what his role will be this year and that will be a tremendous benefit to his development.

 

[CaptainJ]

This thread title would have worked very well for last year's team as well.

 

[GooseMutt]

You are obviously a dog lover as am I. What is the origin of "Goosemutt?"

I was playing online poker in ca for a living under "nj dog". And was hanging out in a bar in San Jose called Goosetown and was trying to get in a big tourney at the bar on my laptop on a new site and nj dog was taken so GooseMutt was born. Sorry lol unasked

 

[IthacaMatt]

I'd wager that surprise is the right word.

There are a lot of question marks on this team, as constructed, and a lot of unknowns already. The returning guy with the most Orange career minutes played is Battle (1044), Frank Howard (868), Thompson (602), and then Chukwu (108). Keep in mind that a full season is around 900 minutes. The good news is that there is some new talent, and things could go very well.

I don't think anyone will have a solid idea what to expect until around November.

Usually the more questions a team has entering into the season, the more you have to adjust your expectations. This team looks light on outside shooting and ball handling/play making/creating easy shots for the big men.

We look like we have a deep collection of young 4s and 5s, but a few of them need to make a leap, not just one or two, for us to be competitive in the ACC.

 

[GooseMutt]

Usually the more questions a team has entering into the season, the more you have to adjust your expectations. This team looks light on outside shooting and ball handling/play making/creating easy shots for the big men.

We look like we have a deep collection of young 4s and 5s, but a few of them need to make a leap, not just one or two, for us to be competitive in the ACC.

Although Brissett and Dolejac love to attack the rim off the dribble

 

[IthacaMatt]

Although Brissett and Dolejac love to attack the rim off the dribble

Will Dolejac have a good enough handle to drive from 20 feet away from the against US defenders swiping down on him like he did in that video against the Lithuania kids (or Slavic, whatever) ?

 

[GooseMutt]

Will Dolejac have a good enough handle to drive from 20 feet away from the against US defenders swiping down on him like he did in that video against the Lithuania kids (or Slavic, whatever) ?

We will see He did it in the tapes I watched and that league is more physical than in the U S and he would get more calls here maybe. He appears to have very quick feet but he has instincts to drive from the tapes I've watched

 

[Dave85]

Ill go out on a limb and make a few projections for next years team.

1: much better chemistry.
2: significantly improved rebounding and D
3: twice as many transition points
4: winning record in ACC
5: more road wins
6: 1st ACC tourney win
7: 8 seed in NCAA

When you say this team will surprise, which direction?

 

[Cuse'91]

When you say this team will surprise, which direction?

Yeah really, sometimes surprises aren't a good thing...

 

[UnknownOrange]

... It's Dolezaj :bang:

 

[cuseincincy]

When you say this team will surprise, which direction?

No offense but if you actually read the post its pretty obvious.

 

[two3zone]

What constitutes as a surprise? Making the tournament? Being over .500? Going to the final four?

I guess it's all relative on how well we're projected to be next year.

If we make the tournament I'd consider it a very successful season and be surprised.

 

[20Plus]

Yes I agree and the 2009 2010 squad had no one in the top 100 starting

 

[jordoo]

What constitutes as a surprise? Making the tournament? Being over .500? Going to the final four?

I guess it's all relative on how well we're projected to be next year.

If we make the tournament I'd consider it a very successful season and be surprised.

I think they will surprise no matter what. We have two soph's coming back that we can count on to score. Other than that everything is an educated guess at best. It could be anywhere from a disaster to a revelation or anywhere in between. I will feel like we are a tourney team if we had Thorpe or some other guard who had experience playing PG. Still that's counting on a lot from our 3 forwards, Sidibe and hoping that the Howard's can sufficiently back up Thorpe and Battle.