Video Review - Duke at SU

[Fly Rodder]

First play of the game for Duke on offense. Off a rebound, they push down court. I have no idea what is happening here as either Maliq or Bell, I think it's Bell, are on the wrong side of the court. Joe has to guard two people and has a mostly impossible choice. Hindsight being 20/20, I think if he had tried to interrupt the passing lane, Bell and Brown could concievably defend the drive:

But, it was a wide open three for Duke with no one within 12 feet of Roach, who splashed it easily and we're off to the races as a harbinger of things to come.

The very next play resulted in two points for SU on shot by Jesse, assisted by Maliq at the FT line (Jesse wasn't doubled which Duke immediately changed). But the beginning of the play is why Joe with the ball drives me batty. He's too slow on passing decisions a lot of time. Here Duke is overloaded to the bench side and he has Judah as wide open as Judah ever will be, he even sees it, but instead does a little stutter step and ball fake and the opportunity is gone. That should be an easy two.

OK, after this one I'm done picking on Bell, mainly because he didn't play much the rest of the game. Like the rest of the team, he was awful. Here we have four SU players guarding two and half Duke players. Bell is in the paint for some reason hiding behind Jesse thinking that he's guarding Filipowski. Mitchell walks in unimpeded and hits an easy lay up.

 

[Fly Rodder]

Next set of stills:

Still on defense. Here's Joe coming off a weak pick by Filipowski, but he and Judah let Whitehead split them easily.

The forwards have good coverage and see what's coming, but Whitehead has easy options and elects to take it straight to the hoop, twists past Jesse and lays it in:

Poor rotations, volume a million. Also this was the strangest lineup I saw all night: Judah, Symir, Benny, Taylor and Jesse. Good luck!

Benny is leaking up to watch the 45% 3 point shooter, but leaves all sorts of space that no one rotate to. This let's Lively, a 7' athletic freak hangout alone on the baseline and he gets an easy alley oop.

 

[Fly Rodder]

Here we have a 45% 3 point shooter on the arc. Symir pushed out to way past the 3-pt line and was all sorts of lost. Taylor is looking at the bench, which is where he headed not long after this. Benny is on the other side guarding no one in particular.

I'll save you the suspense, Whitehead drilled this.

So one team is drilling open threes. Nate Oates described how the number one team in the country doesn't take low efficiency shots, here's Taylor penetrating to the FT line and has a wide open Benny. Problem is Benny is standing 17 ft from the basket. He steps back to 19 1/2 for some reason. Fortunately, he hit it, but taking a lot of them is going to lose a game when the opponent is drilling threes.

A possession later, here comes that man again. Benny, Joe, and Jesse are guarding two Duke players in the corner, Taylor has to come way out of position to try and guard Filipowski. The only guy kinda guarding Whitehead is JAB. But he's 78 and behind him, so Whitehead drills another wide open three.

 

[Capt. Tuttle]

So

First play of the game for Duke on offense. Off a rebound, they push down court. I have no idea what is happening here as either Maliq or Bell, I think it's Bell, are on the wrong side of the court. Joe has to guard two people and has a mostly impossible choice. Hindsight being 20/20, I think if he had tried to interrupt the passing lane, Bell and Brown could concievably defend the drive:
View attachment 225185

But, it was a wide open three for Duke with no one within 12 feet of Roach, who splashed it easily and we're off to the races as a harbinger of things to come.

The very next play resulted in two points for SU on shot by Jesse, assisted by Maliq at the FT line (Jesse wasn't doubled which Duke immediately changed). But the beginning of the play is why Joe with the ball drives me batty. He's too slow on passing decisions a lot of time. Here Duke is overloaded to the bench side and he has Judah as wide open as Judah ever will be, he even sees it, but instead does a little stutter step and ball fake and the opportunity is gone. That should be an easy two.
View attachment 225186

View attachment 225187

OK, after this one I'm done picking on Bell, mainly because he didn't play much the rest of the game. Like the rest of the team, he was awful. Here we have four SU players guarding two and half Duke players. Bell is in the paint for some reason hiding behind Jesse thinking that he's guarding Filipowski. Mitchell walks in unimpeded and hits an easy lay up.

View attachment 225188

Some of our freshman and sophomore play defense lazily, at times.

 

[Fly Rodder]

Here's a fun one. Watch Bell on the bench side. He starts off OK. Maliq has to come up to guard Roach Proctor.

As he does, Joe rotates over, freeing Maliq to drop back to his man Lively.

Who gets the ball and then Bell for some reason decides to crash the paint again and hide behind Jesse. Meanwhile, 1/3 of the halfcourt is open and there is Whitehead waiting for the ball.

The pass is already on its way and Bell is still in the paint and has no idea where to be.

This was another easy easy easy three for Whitehead.

 

[phil77]

From the pictures it seems every time someone makes a mistake not always the same person. The team doesn't work as a unit. Sometime forwards are at fault sometimes the guards but it is clear nobody is on the same page ever.

 

[Fly Rodder]

The zone in action!
Who gets this rebound?

Not Bell. Flipipowski Lively grabs it and passes out to wide open 3 from Roach. Joe had started running to the SU basket when the previous shot went up and there was no one guarding the kickout three from an offensive board.

How about Syracuse offense. Her's Joe trapped under the basket, Maliq and Jesse don't know where to go, and Joe decides to try to pass to Bell through four Duke players. Senior leadership! This leads to a runout and easy layup by Filipowski.

This one is a little out of order, and actually Jesse made this shot if you can believe it. But this is pretty much all Duke had to do on defense, tight D on Joe and double or triple team Jesse and force Judah to beat them. Judah did alright, but that's not going to win games.

 

[Scooch]

Great, great stuff.

I’m sure the obvious takeaway is that the coaching is subpar. And that may be true. But I suspect this is also a talent issue. These guys just aren’t high IQ on both ends of the floor. And along with athleticism, that is what distinguishes high end players from run of the mill players.

 

[Fly Rodder]

I’m sure the obvious takeaway is that the coaching is subpar. And that may be true. But I suspect this is also a talent issue.

Two poor tastes that taste horrible together. It's both. JAB had always done well when he has NBA talent that buys into his system. Upperclassmen supplemented by uber-talented youth. He relied on his guys to just out-talent the other team, get out of their way on offense and get them in a position to score. On defense, the zone is antiquated and no longer effective, but his defense could work and it was easy enough to coach when you have a freak like Wes Johnson blocking shots from the weakside all night long. Or Flynn, Carter, or Rautins deflecting passes and staying in front of their man.

With the expanded 3 point line, the defense has ~13% more area to cover, they're not as talented as previous teams, and most teams have an extra shooter on the floor these days. It doesn't take much to tip the balance.

 

[CuseFaninVT]

Hate to defend Bell here, but on those cross court kick outs, I’m not sure he’s completely at fault. I’m guessing he was expecting Jesse and Benny to trap the guy in the short corner, so he should be covering the middle on jesses behalf. But Jesse didn’t get there and didn’t contest the pass adequately either. When did SU become completely incompetent at those trapping situations?

As for the Joe stuff, as anyone who ever watched or heard about him from high school, passing and defense weren’t things he was tasked with. Not much has changed. But that one where he gave up the three on the break was the one that drove me bonkers. He has yet to actually contest a runout layup well, relying heavily on the ole or fouling after the basket is made, and his own MO were he were on offense would be to take the three. Hell, I’m 54 and that’s my go to at this point. So step out on that and at least give up just 2.

 

[Fly Rodder]

When do SU become completely incompetent at those trapping situations?

I may be misremembering, but I think there are new rules about that. Players need to be allowed to make a move, IIRC. Not sure though.

 

[Fly Rodder]

Hate to defend Bell here, but on those cross court kick outs, I’m not sure he’s completely at fault.

It's hard to say who is at fault, but he gave up like 4 wide open threes in the first half. I didn't even bother to watch the 2nd half, it's more of the same. I think the defense is garbage and the players don't know where to be to make it slightly not garbage. If the other team shoots like less than 35% from three, then the game will be close, if approaching 40%, it's going to be a blow out.

 

[MSOrange]

Great thread Fly Rodder . I'm a visual person and having never played myself, the pics along with your analysis really help me understand.

 

[IthacaMatt]

Here's a fun one. Watch Bell on the bench side. He starts off OK. Maliq has to come up to guard Roach Proctor.
View attachment 225198
As he does, Joe rotates over, freeing Maliq to drop back to his man Lively.
View attachment 225199
Who gets the ball and then Bell for some reason decides to crash the paint again and hide behind Jesse. Meanwhile, 1/3 of the halfcourt is open and there is Whitehead waiting for the ball.
View attachment 225200
The pass is already on its way and Bell is still in the paint and has no idea where to be.
View attachment 225201

This was another easy easy easy three for Whitehead.

You don't happen to write for The Athletic, do you?
They do this kind of stuff all the time.
Well done!

 

[IthacaMatt]

Two poor tastes that taste horrible together. It's both. JAB had always done well when he has NBA talent that buys into his system. Upperclassmen supplemented by uber-talented youth. He relied on his guys to just out-talent the other team, get out of their way on offense and get them in a position to score. On defense, the zone is antiquated and no longer effective, but his defense could work and it was easy enough to coach when you have a freak like Wes Johnson blocking shots from the weakside all night long. Or Flynn, Carter, or Rautins deflecting passes and staying in front of their man.

With the expanded 3 point line, the defense has ~13% more area to cover, they're not as talented as previous teams, and most teams have an extra shooter on the floor these days. It doesn't take much to tip the balance.

Excellent summary. Expanding the 3 point line was anticipated to help the zone, at first, because of the higher degree of difficulty of the shot being farther out.

But Steph Curry has changed the way people look at taking threes. Everybody seem fairly competent to make them.

 

[blizz]

The refs are out of position in every single one of those shots. The blue hair guy doesn't even have his whistle in when SU has the ball. I mean, that's someone who doesn't know when to retire. But yeah, go ahead and pick on a hall of fame coach.

 

[ar inj]

The refs are out of position in every single one of those shots. The blue hair guy doesn't even have his whistle in when SU has the ball. I mean, that's someone who doesn't know when to retire. But yeah, go ahead and pick on a hall of fame coach.

I think you are in the wrong thread. The refs being out of position did not cause the coach to stick with a defense that is out of date with players who both cannot understand it and are required to cover too many places and players when a well-coached opponent knows the holes in the zone.

 

[MDCuse]

I don't know how else to describe this other than embarrassing. From the coaching, to the scheme, to the lack of IQ, to the lack of hustle. This has to get blown up. I just don't see how anyone can justify this program moving forward with anything resembling the status quo.

 

[MDCuse]

The refs are out of position in every single one of those shots. The blue hair guy doesn't even have his whistle in when SU has the ball. I mean, that's someone who doesn't know when to retire. But yeah, go ahead and pick on a hall of fame coach.

Oh?

 

[two3zone]

The refs are out of position in every single one of those shots. The blue hair guy doesn't even have his whistle in when SU has the ball. I mean, that's someone who doesn't know when to retire. But yeah, go ahead and pick on a hall of fame coach.

 

[kingtidge]

I don't know how else to describe this other than embarrassing. From the coaching, to the scheme, to the lack of IQ, to the lack of hustle. This has to get blown up. I just don't see how anyone can justify this program moving forward with anything resembling the status quo.

It was a really tough watch.

It was all of what you said, which is equally infuriating since the team had shown good improvements in prior games and Boeheim had arguably some of his best coaching performances in recent memory with some of the wins.

Then this - a complete egg laid on the biggest home court game of the year.

Almost complete failure in an all facets - tactics, coaching, individual, and team play (sans Judah.)

Not mad, just sad.

 

[MDCuse]

It was a really tough watch.

It was all of what you said, which is equally infuriating since the team had shown good improvements in prior games and Boeheim had arguably some of his best coaching performances in recent memory with some of the wins.

Then this - a complete egg laid on the biggest home court game of the year.

Almost complete failure in an all facets - tactics, coaching, individual, and team play (sans Judah.)

Not mad, just sad.

That's the worst part. Just an absolute embarrassment in front of a great crowd. That crowd was into the game, first 7-8 minutes they were loud. Then Cuse just got absolutely housed and Jim had no answer.

 

[Red Holzman]

Wish I forced myself to look away, like I have for JB's post-game pressers.
Those freeze frames in your video review were unpleasant.
Thanks for posting them -I think!

 

[Nicknack]

Great thread Fly Rodder . I'm a visual person and having never played myself, the pics along with your analysis really help me understand.

I agree 100%. Just great stuff, Fly Rodder. Thanks for taking the time on this.

 

[upperdeck]

Here's a fun one. Watch Bell on the bench side. He starts off OK. Maliq has to come up to guard Roach Proctor.
View attachment 225198
As he does, Joe rotates over, freeing Maliq to drop back to his man Lively.
View attachment 225199
Who gets the ball and then Bell for some reason decides to crash the paint again and hide behind Jesse. Meanwhile, 1/3 of the halfcourt is open and there is Whitehead waiting for the ball.
View attachment 225200
The pass is already on its way and Bell is still in the paint and has no idea where to be.
View attachment 225201

This was another easy easy easy three for Whitehead.

if bell goes where you want him to go then its an easy dunk as flip goes to the basket.. Edwards is the one who is out of position