USA East Coast Basketball trip with Benny Williams

[djcon57]

Sy was not ready to play at this level early, and with limited paint scoring, we needed shooters.

No, we needed someone that was able to get past his man.

A shooter standing by himself with a man on his hip isn't spacing w/o a slasher to get to the rim or a point who can create off the dribble

This "lineup full of shooters create space" myth was exposed last year.

We were able to create offense mostly because the individual shooting ability of Buddy, Jimmy, Joe, and later Cole was so outstanding.

Of course, this doesn't even begin to touch the rebounding or defense aspects

 

[IthacaMatt]

Odd thing about Benny is that we don't know what he is. He's a guy that was touted to be 'versatile,' but he hasn't demonstrated upper level skill at any one feature characteristic. So, he may have games where something's working, but what's his go-to? What are his setup mates looking for him to do? What will he do when we need points from him? This all seems like a 'discovery period' for him, and i hope our staff will be good at identifying where he needs to focus, and let the versatility thing come in later years.

So far, he's looking like a poor man's C J Fair.

 

[IthacaMatt]

Let's look at this years (anticipated) guards vs last years. Sy was not ready to play at this level early, and with limited paint scoring, we needed shooters. Also, no real size at guard other than Buddy, and not a lot of places to mix and match guards.
This year: Joe and Judah. Check. Sy and Q- offense remains to be seen, but they could give the other team fits defensively. Depending on how Jesse does with fouling and what Hadir (sp?) brings defensively, I could see a 5 or more minutes per half of full court hell with Q on the inbounder. Sy and Bennie on the wings, Can likely mix JT in at the 2, Malik, or Carey at other spots. Some really good athletes bringing mayhem. I think our bench guys will play.

I really hope so. None of these freshman are good enough, or complete enough as players, to be asked to play more than 35 minutes a game. It's just lunacy. If this may be his last year, I would hope he plays a deep bench this year, so that the cupboard is pretty well stocked for the next coach.

 

[OttoinGrotto]

Let's look at this years (anticipated) guards vs last years. Sy was not ready to play at this level early, and with limited paint scoring, we needed shooters. Also, no real size at guard other than Buddy, and not a lot of places to mix and match guards.
This year: Joe and Judah. Check. Sy and Q- offense remains to be seen, but they could give the other team fits defensively. Depending on how Jesse does with fouling and what Hadir (sp?) brings defensively, I could see a 5 or more minutes per half of full court hell with Q on the inbounder. Sy and Bennie on the wings, Can likely mix JT in at the 2, Malik, or Carey at other spots. Some really good athletes bringing mayhem. I think our bench guys will play.

When was the last season JB has spent an 8th of the game pressing as a strategic move, and not as a desperation tempo changer?

Like, Etan and Hart's senior year?

 

[kcsu]

It's not fair to him.

If you look at our mpg leaders by season though... 38, 36.2, 36.7, 36.3, 39 (lol, and the next two highest were both over 38), 37.2, 37.9, 37.3, 37.8, 34.9. You have to go back TEN SEASONS to get to a guy that was tops in minutes but under 36 minutes.

Is JB going to buck a 9 year trend of having his main guy play 36+ minutes?

We know how JB do. Look at the roster. Joe's by far the guy he'll feel he has to have out there. He's never checking out.

Unless Joe is shooting lights out he shouldn't be playing more than 30 a game.
Question, other than shooting what does Joe do well that deserves so much PT?

 

[hoopsupstate]

Unless Joe is shooting lights out he shouldn't be playing more than 30 a game.
Question, other than shooting what does Joe do well that deserves so much PT?

Joe is a very good passer and has been our best rebounding guard.

 

[OrangeXtreme]

Benny is oozing...

 

[MikeSU02]

It's not fair to him.

If you look at our mpg leaders by season though... 38, 36.2, 36.7, 36.3, 39 (lol, and the next two highest were both over 38), 37.2, 37.9, 37.3, 37.8, 34.9. You have to go back TEN SEASONS to get to a guy that was tops in minutes but under 36 minutes.

Is JB going to buck a 9 year trend of having his main guy play 36+ minutes?

We know how JB do. Look at the roster. Joe's by far the guy he'll feel he has to have out there. He's never checking out.

Oh, I think he’s going to ride Joe into the ground. I just think Joe will be falling off a cliff at the end of games.

 

[MikeSU02]

Unless Joe is shooting lights out he shouldn't be playing more than 30 a game.
Question, other than shooting what does Joe do well that deserves so much PT?

To his credit, he was the only player that could functionally do a PnR with Jesse last year.

I am hoping he can leverage his passing ability now that the ball will hopefully be moving more (key word, hopefully).

 

[orangefog]

Oh, I think he’s going to ride Joe into the ground. I just think Joe will be falling off a cliff at the end of games.

They're young men, they don't get tired.

 

[Capt. Tuttle]

Unless Joe is shooting lights out he shouldn't be playing more than 30 a game.
Question, other than shooting what does Joe do well that deserves so much PT?

Other than the most important part of the game, what does Joe do well? Is that the question? 9th in the ACC in assists. 7th in steals. 2nd in FT (ties into my first point). 14th in A/TO ratio. BTW, he was 4th in minutes per game for SU during the ACC.
If the kid wasn't local, people would love him. He will have an all time senior year, IMO.

 

[Cusefan0307]

I wish we played man because I think it's likely Symir will be one of our best 5 players.

 

[kcsu]

Other than the most important part of the game, what does Joe do well? Is that the question? 9th in the ACC in assists. 7th in steals. 2nd in FT (ties into my first point). 14th in A/TO ratio. BTW, he was 4th in minutes per game for SU during the ACC.
If the kid wasn't local, people would live him. He will have an all time senior year, IMO.

agreed he can shoot but he hasn't been anything special percentage wise. His handle is average, and he is a liability on D. Joe is a good player. Hopefully now that he gets to play his natural position, he will kill it. My point is that he shouldn't be playing more than 30 minutes a game given the players we have on this year's team.

 

[rrlbees]

agreed he can shoot but he hasn't been anything special percentage wise. His handle is average, and he is a liability on D. Joe is a good player. Hopefully now that he gets to play his natural position, he will kill it. My point is that he shouldn't be playing more than 30 minutes a game given the players we have on this year's team.

He was our best guard last year defensively. Doesn’t say a lot but better than Sy too. Just another thread that morphs into a thread belittling Joe.

 

[CuseFaninVT]

He was our best guard last year defensively. Doesn’t say a lot but better than Sy too. Just another thread that morphs into a thread belittling Joe.

Joe gets most of his steals next to guards like Sy who pressure the passer, allowing Joe to grab the rushed and errant pass. I’m not taking that opportunistic ability away from him. He’s got great anticipation jumping those passing lanes. But he ain’t stripping the ball from other guards, as occasionally happens to him.

 

[rrlbees]

Joe gets most of his steals next to guards like Sy who pressure the passer, allowing Joe to grab the rushed and errant pass. I’m not taking that opportunistic ability away from him. He’s got great anticipation jumping those passing lanes. But he ain’t stripping the ball from other guards, as occasionally happens to him.

Huh? How often did joe and Sy play together with Buddy getting 38mpg? Not a lot.

 

[OttoinGrotto]

He was our best guard last year defensively. Doesn’t say a lot but better than Sy too. Just another thread that morphs into a thread belittling Joe.

Hey now, I want to be clear, I'm not belittling Joe.

I'm belittling JB's minutes distribution.

 

[OttoinGrotto]

Unless Joe is shooting lights out he shouldn't be playing more than 30 a game.
Question, other than shooting what does Joe do well that deserves so much PT?

You're asking an irrelevant question.

 

[Niastri]

agreed he can shoot but he hasn't been anything special percentage wise. His handle is average, and he is a liability on D. Joe is a good player. Hopefully now that he gets to play his natural position, he will kill it. My point is that he shouldn't be playing more than 30 minutes a game given the players we have on this year's team.

Girard shot over 40% from 3 last season, 37% against the ACC. This includes every stupid forced shot he took. He is a very good shooter, especially when he had good shot selection.

 

[djcon57]

agreed he can shoot but he hasn't been anything special percentage wise. His handle is average, and he is a liability on D. Joe is a good player. Hopefully now that he gets to play his natural position, he will kill it. My point is that he shouldn't be playing more than 30 minutes a game given the players we have on this year's team.

Meh, I think we need to see what the new players we have on the time can do before making that claim. I think Joe at SG for 32-35 would be in line for what we need with his shooting and general skills.

 

[MikeSU02]

Girard shot over 40% from 3 last season, 37% against the ACC. This includes every stupid forced shot he took. He is a very good shooter, especially when he had good shot selection.

Yeah - his issue is two pointers, especially when he gets to the rim.

 

[pearl31]

Yeah - his issue is two pointers, especially when he gets to the rim.

yeah some of his contested-layup attempts... oof

 

[RealMcNeil]

Joe gets most of his steals next to guards like Sy who pressure the passer, allowing Joe to grab the rushed and errant pass. I’m not taking that opportunistic ability away from him. He’s got great anticipation jumping those passing lanes. But he ain’t stripping the ball from other guards, as occasionally happens to him.

Which makes the steals that much more efficient - he does it without fouling.

 

[pwong]

Which makes the steals that much more efficient - he does it without fouling.

Joe gets steals because he gambles a lot in the passing lanes. He doesn’t stop the ball from going into the middle and he doesn’t affect shooters on closeouts.

 

[Cusefan0307]

agreed he can shoot but he hasn't been anything special percentage wise.

6 SU players have shot over 40% from 3 in a season in the last 34 seasons and he's one of them.