We roll notre dame, dogfight with cincy

[CorduroyG]

I dont care about notre dame's home record, theyre not a good team. Last 5 games theyve scored 55 against cincy, 67 in 2 ots against louisville, 60 against south florida, 53 against uconn, and 58 against rutgers. Theyll be lucky to crack 60 against us, no way theyre holding us under 70.
Cincy will be a dogfight, but if we extend the zone and get out on their shooters their guards should struggle against us like florida's guards. Zone's gotta be active and aggressive right from the opening tip against cincy, cant let them got hot from deep early and have the crowd going bonkers.

 

[Marsh01]

I dont care about notre dame's home record, theyre not a good team. Last 5 games theyve scored 55 against cincy, 67 in 2 ots against louisville, 60 against south florida, 53 against uconn, and 58 against rutgers. Theyll be lucky to crack 60 against us, no way theyre holding us under 70.
Cincy will be a dogfight, but if we extend the zone and get out on their shooters their guards should struggle against us like florida's guards. Zone's gotta be active and aggressive right from the opening tip against cincy, cant let them got hot from deep early and have the crowd going bonkers.

ND is 211th in the country in rebounding (we are 94th for the record)
ND is 187th in the country in FG % (we are 22nd)

They need to shoot it well AND rebound to have any chance. If they dont, we win handily. They will play a sloooow down game and burn a lot of the shot clock. If we can create turnovers and run its over.

Cincy will be tough. They rebound well and can shoot it.

 

[IthacaMatt]

ND is 211th in the country in rebounding (we are 94th for the record)
ND is 187th in the country in FG % (we are 22nd)

They need to shoot it well AND rebound to have any chance. If they dont, we win handily. They will play a sloooow down game and burn a lot of the shot clock. If we can create turnovers and run its over.

Cincy will be tough. They rebound well and can shoot it.

Notre Dame, like Indiana, had a good stretch where their adrenaline carried them to a couple unlikely victories. What we are seeing here is a reversion to the norm, in terms of the talent level at both schools.

 

[Marsh01]

Notre Dame, like Indiana, had a good stretch where their adrenaline carried them to a couple unlikely victories. What we are seeing here is a reversion to the norm, in terms of the talent level at both schools.

I also think with ND the loss of Abro forced them obviously to change the way they play an now I think after 5-10 games teams are no able to see how and are adjusting as opposed to not knowing what theywere going to do when he first went out.

Cincy I believe is all about attitude with them. Give Cronin credit for figuring it out after the brawl. I thought they would completely go into a tail spin and not win 15 games all year.

 

[jordoo]

I really have no worry about ND especially with all this time to prepare. I predict Rak gives up an early 3 to someone in the deep corner that puts us down 3-2. JB sends CJ to the scorers table right away, Scoop drives and gets a foul call which allows CJ to check in for Rak. At this point the game is over. By the time Waiters gets in ND is smoked already.

 

[cto]

I really have no worry about ND especially with all this time to prepare. I predict Rak gives up an early 3 to someone in the deep corner that puts us down 3-2. JB sends CJ to the scorers table right away, Scoop drives and gets a foul call which allows CJ to check in for Rak. At this point the game is over. By the time Waiters gets in ND is smoked already.

Like your scenario!

 

[DoctorBombay]

For some reason, Cincy has never scared me. Maybe its their personnel or style of play, but they're one of those teams that I always expect to beat. I say we go to 22-o by Monday night.

 

[Daleman]

For some reason, Cincy has never scared me. Maybe its their personnel or style of play, but they're one of those teams that I always expect to beat. I say we go to 22-o by Monday night.

Haha I actually agree with you. But that win at UConn definitely opened some eyes and it's gonna be a tough game to win. Btw I hope they're ranked on Monday.

 

[orangecuse]

Agree...think we handle ND...said a couple weeks back thought that our first loss would likely come at Cincy...

 

[Garbs]

ND = no bench + shoot 32% from 3

I agree with OP

Cincy I think all depends if Dixon and Kilpatrick(sp) get hot from deep vs. our guys getting hot from deep

 

[CanadianOrange]

looking forward to both games..taking the family to both games for the first ever back to back road game trip.
I live in Cincinnati so Monday was a given, but wifey talked me into taking our girls to Notre Dame as well

Gotta agree with the Notre Dame game..Syracuse is bigger, faster, quicker on both ends of the court...a big, big upset if Syracuse can't win that one.
Cincinnati on the other hand matches up a lot better physically. I expect however, they will surround the zone with as many as 4 guards and complete ignore running offense through Gates. They will probably attempt around 30 threes...if they get hot it will be a great game, and they have been hot recently. Gates should get a tonne of boards as the zone is going to have to extend for a lot of potential shooters.

Honestly I hope they beat West Virgina On Saturday. If they do, and Syracuse comes in #1 in the country, it will be the biggest game at 5th Third since Huggins left. Selfishly I would love to be in there for a crazy atmosphere, and down the road it could really help the 'Cuse to have to play a close game in an amp'd up Fifth Third Arena.

Btw - They are making the Syracuse game a "White Out" game, and it finally sold out today. All of the interns at work are from UC and Syracuse is all they are talking about and that includes WVU/Huggins this Saturday. Of course they probably don't remember the golden UC years with Huggins.

 

[SUforLife]

Cinci almost lost to Uconn. I don't see that as a dogfight. I see that as a a dog run over. We roll them by 25, which is 5 more points than i've gone on record we beat ClUConn.

 

[Marsh01]

Cinci almost lost to Uconn. I don't see that as a dogfight. I see that as a a dog run over. We roll them by 25, which is 5 more points than i've gone on record we beat ClUConn.

 

[senorpalmer]

While much is made of ND's home court advantage, the truth is SU -ing owns the Joyce Center, 8-2 in their last 10 trips to ND, and only lost there once in the last 10 seasons (the very forgettable 08 campaign).

 

[DNABB5]

Haha I actually agree with you. But that win at UConn definitely opened some eyes and it's gonna be a tough game to win. Btw I hope they're ranked on Monday.

I was getting some smack talk in class today. "You coming to see your first loss monday?"

Me - "No to see your 6th"

 

[orangefan13]

Agree why build cincy into more of a game then it is if we do what we are supposed to we win by 15 on a good not great night.

They have scored in the 50's. 1/3 of their games. They lost to presbyterian and marshall.
They were lucky, gtown had them beat to the very end. And were getting blown away by st johns before loosing by two.

Cincy isn't in our league and hasn't been all year.

We are top 5 cincy is barely cracking the top 25 with a win against Gtown without one they remain around number 50. That being said we are 8 times more durable. People trying to make it sound like there a top 8 team or something.

 

[PoppyHart]

Agree why build cincy into more of a game then it is if we do what we are supposed to we win by 15 on a good not great night.

They have scored in the 50's. 1/3 of their games. They lost to presbyterian and marshall.
They were lucky, gtown had them beat to the very end. And were getting blown away by st johns before loosing by two.

Cincy isn't in our league and hasn't been all year.

We are top 5 cincy is barely cracking the top 25 with a win against Gtown without one they remain around number 50. That being said we are 8 times more durable. People trying to make it sound like there a top 8 team or something.

6 or 7 times more durable maybe. But not eight.

Seriously, What does that mean?

 

[orangefan13]

It means it terms of weaknesses.
top 1-2 teams in the country have tons more glue to hold together then teams barely cracking the top 25. Less weaknesses and more strengths.

Granted beating uconn and pitt by three on the road sounds great on paper those teams aren't that good. Winning like 10 in a row is though. Cincy should be no tougher then marquette. Their defense won't be as good and neither will their offense.

They are 136 in the county in ppg at 70 that means about 65 vs us. and we average 80.
164th in rebounds, 179 in assists, and 200 something shooting 42 percent as a team from the field. They aren't that great.

 

[jdubs30]

Cincy will roll with that 4 guard lineup vs. us. The zone will have to extend more than normal, but we should have a lot easier times getting rebounds. That game is quite simple actually; if UC makes 14+ 3's, they probably win; if they don't, we probably win. They don't have penetrators and only 2 good shooters/scorers (Wright doesn't scare me). They also aren't very deep and have 0 low post scoring besides Gates.

They play hard and play tough D.

They are basically a way less talented Marquette...

 

[mark79]

I think to a certain degree we are creating monsters when there aren't any. Sometimes this much success is a little scary.

 

[HakAttack]

As a buddy of mine (Cuse Fan) said to me recently, "It's unlikely that Syracuse will go undefeated during BE play, but they'll certainly be favored in the rest of the games they play."

Well said. Stop worrying about our opponents and have confidence in our strengths. I don't see why we can't get to 31-0 by the time the BET starts.

 

[ORANGEsPHK]

Well I don't think going undefeated through conference play is impossible, there has to be, in the least, cautious optimism of achieving this goal. Watching this team play it is quite obvious what their flaws are and these flaws have kept other teams competitive in some of our games. Although I feel like we are improving, there have been some consistent issues (half-court offense, dependence on jump shots, and three point percentage, in particular for me) and if they don't improve I can easily see us losing a game or more.

 

[orange2win]

Well I don't think going undefeated through conference play is impossible, there has to be, in the least, cautious optimism of achieving this goal. Watching this team play it is quite obvious what their flaws are and these flaws have kept other teams competitive in some of our games. Although I feel like we are improving, there have been some consistent issues (half-court offense, dependence on jump shots, and three point percentage, in particular for me) and if they don't improve I can easily see us losing a game or more.

1. Saturday pregame optimism. "Well I don't think going undefeated through conference play is impossible."
2. Saturday pregame pragmatism. "if they don't improve (shooting) I can easily see us losing a game or more."

Yep - we were 34% FGM and 30% 3PM, while ND shot 50% for both. We better shoot better tonight or it could be two in a row.

 

[ORANGEsPHK]

O2Win ... lol.

You know, here's the thing. As much as everyone here, and myself included although I don't always post what I'm thinking, hates that people bitch about losses and think the end of the world, its a symptom of fanhood. Just like a parent who wishes nothing but the best for their child, a parent that can see some limtations that you know your child can overcome. We, as fans of our beloved SU Orangemen ...Orange (my bad) ... we also feel this way because we know the potential of our team. I get it. I don't always agree 'cause I am only rooting for their success and a failure to win a game does not mean the 'child' is rotten. But I do get the passion and wish for the team to meet their potential, to grow and, god dammit, win us a -ing NC!

 

[OrangeCrush22]

Lulzy thread is lulzy.