Well I know where I'd start to try and fix this...

[CuseFaninVT]

I think your love for players masks who/what they are on the court. Roberson while having some great epic past games looks lost 80% of the time he's on the court.

Yeah, I'm starting to finally give up on Roby. He's just not a very smart hoops player. Outstanding rebounder, but doesn't do much else well at all. Sad, because he could be a great player.

 

[CuseFaninVT]

I think your love for players masks who/what they are on the court. Roberson while having some great epic past games looks lost 80% of the time he's on the court.

But he is the only guy that is somewhat skilled at getting offensive rebounds. You can't possibly dispute that. Unless you are just trying to be obtuse.

 

[two3zone]

Yeah, I'm starting to finally give up on Roby. He's just not a very smart hoops player. Outstanding rebounder, but doesn't do much else well at all. Sad, because he could be a great player.

He looks the part, we've all seen him play the part, I really just don't know what his deal is. It's amazing that the guy can put up a near 20-20 against Duke but doesn't show up against other teams. He may actually be the most frustrated player in the history of Syracuse basketball.

 

[doc05]

Roberson is a light years better player than white.

No.

 

[two3zone]

But he is the only guy that is somewhat skilled at getting offensive rebounds. You can't possibly dispute that. Unless you are just trying to be obtuse.

I think he's our only capable rebounder to be honest. Lydon somewhat.

 

[CuseMan4]

I couldn't even tell you what our best lineup is right now cause I don't think we have one...we need to try and ride out a group of guys and get some chemistry going. I would go with
PG: Howard
SG: Battle
SF: Lydon
PF: Thompson
C: Coleman

I would have White and Robey come off the bench, I think that's our most consistent line up and I put Battle in over White because I think Battle needs to get into the flow o the game early or he's not going to contribute that game. Thompson over Robey for scoring purposes but he needs to fix up his defense. Paschal only comes in for press and foul trouble, Gillion comes in to spell Howard for 10-15 minutes a game, solid back up, below average starter or 20+ minute player in this league

 

[FrancoPizza]

The top of the zone. We really need our guards to do a better job of denying the entry pass to the high post.

Gillon's size at the top of the zone is a killer,

Jake how do you propose to fix 5'11"? The zone was pretty soft when Flynn was on top as well. It's a perfect example of round peg, square hole. At least he played some m2m with Flynn and had decent results.

 

[RF2044]

I couldn't even tell you what our best lineup is right now cause I don't think we have one...we need to try and ride out a group of guys and get some chemistry going. I would go with
PG: Howard
SG: Battle
SF: Lydon
PF: Thompson
C: Coleman

I would have White and Robey come off the bench, I think that's our most consistent line up and I put Battle in over White because I think Battle needs to get into the flow o the game early or he's not going to contribute that game. Thompson over Robey for scoring purposes but he needs to fix up his defense. Paschal only comes in for press and foul trouble, Gillion comes in to spell Howard for 10-15 minutes a game, solid back up, below average starter or 20+ minute player in this league

Problem with that lineup is, Lydon doesn't have the skill set to play 3, and we're not getting much playmaking from our PGs. I also think that we need White in the lineup for floor spacing. We need to integrate him into a structured offensive concept instead of everyone just playing one-on-one. Here's the lineup would be:

PG [whichever ends up playing better]
SG Battle
SF White
PF Lydon
C Thompson playing bulk of the minutes, either as a starter or with Coleman being the token starter

Remains to be seen whether Thompson can block shots / defend the pivot. If not, then we see Lydon and him swap spots. Battle's handle / alleged playmaking might help the team overcome the lack of playmaking that has hindered our execution.

 

[dasher]

disagree, I would bench the grad guys. go back to the guys that actually came here to play. Roberson is a light years better player than white. we need to go back to the core, if the grad guys can figure out how to play defense and stop playing like chickens with no heads on offense, then they can play.

I couldn't disagree more. White is one of the few offensive weapons we have. He has to play.

 

[iommi]

Problem with that lineup is, Lydon doesn't have the skill set to play 3, and we're not getting much playmaking from our PGs. I also think that we need White in the lineup for floor spacing. We need to integrate him into a structured offensive concept instead of everyone just playing one-on-one. Here's the lineup would be:

PG [whichever ends up playing better]
SG Battle
SF White
PF Lydon
C Thompson playing bulk of the minutes, either as a starter or with Coleman being the token starter

Remains to be seen whether Thompson can block shots / defend the pivot. If not, then we see Lydon and him swap spots. Battle's handle / alleged playmaking might help the team overcome the lack of playmaking that has hindered our execution.

Battle has looked much more tentative than I thought he would. It could be the lack of playing time or the dreaded speed of the college game. He's been a few steps slower than I thought he'd be. I still think he needs to play more. I think that's the main thing. He's gone from being: The Man to being: the afterthought.

 

[We Are Syracuse]

Roberson to the bench. Howard and Battle up top. Lydon and White on the wings. DC/Chukwu at C. Gillon and Thompson used sparingly.

That's where I would start.

Howard-Battle-White-Lydon-DC at least has potential to grow defensively and create mismatches on offense.

Roberson is the odd man out. I agree. Need to see more Battle for defensive purposes. Roberson is providing nothing. Against USC and Wisconsin he has combined for 30 minutes 0-5 from the field, 1 point.

 

[RF2044]

Battle has looked much more tentative than I thought he would. It could be the lack of playing time or the dreaded speed of the college game. He's been a few steps slower than I thought he'd be. I still think he needs to play more. I think that's the main thing. He's gone from being: The Man to being: the afterthought.

You and me both.

 

[Millhouse]

The top of the zone. We really need our guards to do a better job of denying the entry pass to the high post. The guards that we have on his team have so little experience in our zone that they don't have the instincts yet. I'd like to see more battle at the top of the zone because he can do some things defensively that we need and maybe he can get out in transition .

We are getting absolutely no points in transition and this team is not really built for the half-court right now

If we can create an easy baskets it'll take pressure off the half-court offense and I think will be fine. But if we continue to lead team shoot 50% from the field I don't care what we do on offense we're not gonna beat people.

Gillon's size at the top of the zone is a killer, because teams can shoot over him or make entry passes over him easily.

And someone needs to show some motherf'er out there.

And on another random thought, if I see Chukwu let two people behind him in the press again my heads going to explode .

i'm getting so frustrated with the zone. tall guards who can shoot dribble and pass are rare. so we end up with good offense or good defense but not both so often

i'm not panicking yet because this lineup has no experience playing together yet but the sum is less than the parts

 

[realorange]

I'd love to see Battle do more but he had 20 minutes against Wisky and what did he show us? Tentative play and silly fouls.
He needs to suck it up a little himself and come out with the attitude he played with in high school and to some degree in the cupcake games.

 

[NineOneSeven]

i'm getting so frustrated with the zone. tall guards who can shoot dribble and pass are rare. so we end up with good offense or good defense but not both so often

i'm not panicking yet because this lineup has no experience playing together yet but the sum is less than the parts

For some reason people think that when the zone is criticized, the "critics" are implying that the zone never works and ignoring the majority of the time it works (based on the numbers.. and it does work, quite often). It's so off-base. Here is what I do not get. If the zone "works" 90% of the time, why would you accept the other 10% just because the overwhelming majority of the time it is good? How does changing the scheme for that 10% imply that you are dissatisfied with the 90% success rate? And does changing it up for 10% of the time mean you won't be as good the other 90% of the time (doubtful)?

"Wisconsin is a good team, smart with a lot of capable players who understand passing lanes and movement, most teams won't be able to hang against our zone". But some teams will. And when they are clearly embarrassing your defense, what is the negative with changing something? Wisconsin scored a 3 pointer or got a great shot in the paint seriously almost every possession to start each half. So say we switch up our defense to something else, and Wisconsin scores a 3 pointer or gets another dunk. So what? They were already doing it!

The only explanation for sticking with the defense in games like last night, for the entire game, is to get players more experience with it in general (this is big given our new roster), but especially against a team that clearly knows how to beat it. Accept serious defeat to hopefully improve against less zone-offense capable teams.

I don't know. All I know is that defense last night was scary bad. Wisconsin is good, and we were bad.

 

[RF2044]

i'm getting so frustrated with the zone. tall guards who can shoot dribble and pass are rare. so we end up with good offense or good defense but not both so often

i'm not panicking yet because this lineup has no experience playing together yet but the sum is less than the parts

Which is a huge problem. The talent is undoubtedly there.

But this is what happens when we emphasize an athletic profile over skill / high basketball IQ on the recruiting trail. Guard play is so important at the collegiate level.

 

[Halfmooncuse]

All the kings horses and all the kings men it would take a miracle to put this team together by seasons end!

 

[hungrychuck]

Jake how do you propose to fix 5'11"? The zone was pretty soft when Flynn was on top as well. It's a perfect example of round peg, square hole. At least he played some m2m with Flynn and had decent results.

Unfortunately, I think it's more like fixing 5'9".