Reply to thread

Message: [QUOTE="SWC75, post: 4943792, member: 289"] - A great sporting weekend begins with an SU win! Finally! - We hadn’t had one of those in a while. It was nice to be reminded of how fun this game can be. - We had plenty of heroes. Maybe the biggest one was Judah Mintz, who did exactly what the fans have been begging for: getting his teammates involved. There was much less of him charging into the defense, trying to draw a foul and make an awkward shot and much more passing to open teammates, resulting in 13 assists, (the SU Media Guide only lists players with 14 assists but the last one was Michael Carter-Williams in 2013). He was two rebounds short of the first triple-double since Allen Griffin in 2001. - JJ Starling has become the JJ we thought we were going to get. After scoring 17 points on 7 for 11 shooting and 2/5 from three vs. Pitt, JJ came right back and hit 8 of 13 with 6 of 10 treys for a game high 22 points. His shooting carried the team through the period when Miami finally started to hit threes and appeared ready to take over the game. If JJ keeps shooting like this, we will be tough to beat. He and Judah will be one of the best backcourts in the country, (and Miami’s Matt Cleveland and Nigel Pack will be another). - Maliq Brown seemed kind of absent in the first half, (I think we extending to stop their outside shooting and that left us vulnerable inside). But down the stretch of this game, he displayed all of his talents: hounding people of defense, making great passes, cleaning up the boards and following shots. He scored 10 points on 5 for 6 shooting, pulled down 11 rebounds with 2 assists and 2 steals but he made as many plays you don’t see in the box score, including a marvelous steal and touch pass to a teammate. - Quadir Copeland didn’t shoot well – until it absolutely mattered. He was 1 for 8 until that last one but who cares now? He also had 6 rebounds and 2 steals and made Cleveland and Pack work for their points. - Chris Bell had two rebounds in 28 minutes and some defensive lapses but at least he did what he’s primarily out there for: he shot 4 from 10 from three and every one mattered. - Kyle Cuffe also did things you don’t see in the box score, which is good because he didn’t do much in the box score. But when Bell gave up a couple of lay-ups in the late going to freshman Keyshawn George, Red sent in Cuffe to cover him, even though he was 6 inches shorter and that was enough of Keyshawn George’s lay-ups. - In the last two games were are 22 for 49 from three, 45%. We are a whole different team when we don’t have to go to the basket to score. Much of that is the inside-out game: penetrate the defense, causing it to collapse in, pass it back out to an open shooter who can catch and shoot without taking their eyes off the basket. Teams have killed us with that for years while we played ring-around-the-rosie or tried to drive through the defense to get to the basket or the foul line. Make them cover everybody and every place. They can’t do it. - Red took a team that didn’t seem into it in the early going and got them going as the game progressed until everybody was in it at the end and the whole team mobbed Quadir when the hit the winner, jumping up and down. In his presser he said he’d call the most time outs he’s ever called. He made right substitutions at the right time and put his team in a position to win a game they really had no right to win based on their attitude at the end of the game. - We are 13-1 against unranked teams, (yes, Virginia, you weren’t ranked) and have 13 games left, 12 of them against unranked teams. 13-5 (4-3) with 13+ to go… LET’S GO ORANGE! Net Points This year I’m going to make things a bit easier on myself and just list the net points in each game after the Upside. Once a month I’ll do a deeper dive into the numbers rather than doing a “Net Points, etc.” post after every game. ‘Net’ points is the positives (points, rebounds, assists, steals and blocks) minus the negatives, (missed field goals and free throws, turnovers and fouls committed). Judah Mintz game: 22NP in 35 minutes; season: 256NP in 577 minutes = 17.7NP/40m Maliq Brown game: 21NP in 36 minutes; season: 261NP in 453 minutes = 23.0NP/40m JJ Starling game: 20NP in 35 minutes; season: 163NP in 604 minutes = 10.8NP/40m Quadir Copeland game: 7NP in 30 minutes; season: 183NP in 387 minutes = 18.9NP/40m Benny Williams game: 4NP in 16 minutes; season: 68NP in 215 minutes = 12.7NP/40m Chris Bell game: 3NP in 28 minutes; season: 104NP in 435 minutes = 9.6NP/40m Justin Taylor game: 1NP in 14 minutes; season: 115NP in 465 minutes = 9.9NP/40m Kyle Cuffe game: -2NP in 5 minutes; season: 22NP in 202 minutes = 4.4NP/40m Mounir Hima game: 0NP in 0 minutes; season: 5NP in 23 minutes = 8.7NP/40m Peter Carey game: 0NP in 0 minutes; season: 0NP in 28 minutes = 0.0NP/40m Hurt: Chance Westry game: 0NP in 0 minutes; season: 0NP in 0 minutes = 0.0NP/40m Out for the season: Naheem McLeod game: 0NP in 0 minutes; season: 108NP in 202 minutes = 21.4NP/40m Red Shirting: William Patterson game: 0NP in 0 minutes; season: 0NP in 0 minutes = 0.0NP/40m [MEDIA=youtube]Pu7zjoNTv1s[/MEDIA] The Downside - We could very easily have lost this game, and for much of it looked like we were going to. Our reaction to it would have been very different if we had. It seemed like this game was the fulcrum upon which our season balanced and fortunately, the last change of momentum went out way. - We’ve JJ Starling going now. It’s your turn, Justin Taylor. 1 for 5, 0 for 4 from two point range. 2 points. He’s now shooting 31.9% on the season – from outside the arc and inside it. This was a guy they compared to Buddy. He shot 39% from three last year. He’s both reluctant to shoot and inaccurate when he does it. - It’s also your turn, Benny Williams. You shot 40% from three last year. This year, you are 22%. He’s had some good games and then gone haywire or out of focus like a 1952 TV set, (we had one: I now). You’re a junior on a team of freshmen and sophomores. You were the highest ranked recruit on this team. Donnie Freeman is in the pipeline. You need to be making major contributions in every game. - Hey, Chris, get rid of the red cape. It’s not your color! [ATTACH]236754[/ATTACH] - Tuesday’s game against Florida State starts at 7PM sharp. Be there – and ready to play – or be square! [/QUOTE]

Verification: What is a Syracuse fan's favorite color?