Thought our bigs played well

[2-3zone]

DC with 2 post ups and scores right from the start (poor defense got him on the bench)

Rock with that great spin move and finish and how about that jump hook late in a tight game (where has that been)

Baye was Baye

 

[AlaskaSU]

Of all our players, XMAS might have the most upside for this season. He unvailed some nice offensive moves today. The competition among Grant, XMAS and Coleman is forcing all three to up their game.

Did anyone else think that Cooney seemed to run out of gas today?

 

[Trueblue25]

Of all our players, XMAS might have the most upside for this season. He unvailed some nice offensive moves today. The competition among Grant, XMAS and Coleman is forcing all three to up their game.

Did anyone else think that Cooney seemed to run out of gas today?

Rims were tight and honestly he was due for a quiet night. Thank god you can't really say he hurt us.

 

[Madbiker]

Where did Rak get that spin move?? Wow, let's see more of that. He played extremely well today. Had a big hook shot bucket too. If only he would play like that consistently. He has the highest ceiling of the bigs. DC2 had a couple of nice buckets early but his defense was awful and he was quickly out of the game for good. He either failed to come up on the 2 FT line jumpers Sampson got early or he was way late covering and leaving huge gaps that STJ exploited. I still can't figure out if just doesn't know where to be in the zone or is just too slow footed to get there against quality opposition. BMK was BMK.

 

[jordoo]

I thought Baye had a rough first half run but played very well down the stretch after a Rak got his 4th. Rak was good all game and DC2 just needs tho get better on D.

 

[Ghost]

Thought Rak looked great, and DC2 was active early - but his defense was lacking. Baye continues to provide relatively little - where did the Baye from the end of last year go?

 

[pfister1]

I think the criticism of Coleman's defense is overblown. He looked good on offense today and was rebounding well. I would have liked to see him get more run and take our chances giving up some defense to see what we get from him. The whole team suffered defensive lapses in the second half, he was far from the only guy that found himself out of position or failing to close out on a shooter. He just got pulled immediately for doing it.

It is not unusual for JB to pull his designated defensive whipping boy(s) like that, but given that he looked like he was in the game on offense and was rebounding I would have liked to see him have the opportunity to play through the defensive mistakes. It wasn't like Baye was stellar on defense today in his stead.

 

[OttoMets]

I think the criticism of Coleman's defense is overblown. He looked good on offense today and was rebounding well. I would have liked to see him get more run and take our chances giving up some defense to see what we get from him. The whole team suffered defensive lapses in the second half, he was far from the only guy that found himself out of position or failing to close out on a shooter. He just got pulled immediately for doing it.

It is not unusual for JB to pull his designated defensive whipping boy(s) like that, but given that he looked like he was in the game on offense and was rebounding I would have liked to see him have the opportunity to play through the defensive mistakes. It wasn't like Baye was stellar on defense today in his stead.

Could just be the defensive whipping boy reason (we've seen it before), but I'm thinking that Boeheim wanted to limit the number of defensive liabilities on the floor, especially when St. John's was making its run. Harrison was getting into the gaps at will, Grant was having a lot of difficulty on his wing, and it's likely that Boeheim wanted to go with the safe option in the middle after Christmas got his fourth.

 

[RF2044]

I think the criticism of Coleman's defense is overblown. He looked good on offense today and was rebounding well. I would have liked to see him get more run and take our chances giving up some defense to see what we get from him. The whole team suffered defensive lapses in the second half, he was far from the only guy that found himself out of position or failing to close out on a shooter. He just got pulled immediately for doing it.

It is not unusual for JB to pull his designated defensive whipping boy(s) like that, but given that he looked like he was in the game on offense and was rebounding I would have liked to see him have the opportunity to play through the defensive mistakes. It wasn't like Baye was stellar on defense today in his stead.

I saw a couple of plays with Coleman in the pivot where he didn't get out to challenge some St. John's jump shots from the FT line extended. I think that's what got him pulled.