What has Benny done to deserve...

[justgold315]

Benny’s defense is way better.

Jimmy's defense is so bad that other people have to cover for him. Jesse and even Cole are covering for Jimmy. The first two 3s made by Pitt were because of Jimmy being out of position or lack of effort. Throughout the season, many of Jesse's fouls are covering for the forwards. Even though statistics do not always show it, Benny being in there on defense makes the entire defense better. Jesse can play in position and get more blocks and rebounds. Cole and the guards can be in a better position. When Symir is in there at the same time of Benny, the defense is 10x better. Cole and Jimmy get rebounds solely due to minutes and knowing that they have no leash. If Benny was given 30 minutes per game and was not in the Roberson seat, he would getting more rebounds than Cole and Jimmy. I would expect him to have numbers akin to Quincy from last year. Unfortunately, we will never know because of stubborn coaching and a murder of confidence. Jimmy was so gassed in the second half, and it was unconscionable to sit Benny until the 2 min mark.

 

[OmahaCuse]

Jimmy in the lane last night attempting to rebound on the defensive boards was hard to watch.

The reason Benny should play is that no one in front of him (Swider, Boeheim) despite being provided with every opportunity has shown that he should be cemented on the bench. He should play by default at this point.

Cole Swider jumped about 2 inches on his and 1, he and JB play about 6’6”. Swider rebounds better but thats not saying much.

 

[CuseFaninVT]

Cole Swider jumped about 2 inches on his and 1, he and JB play about 6’6”. Swider rebounds better but thats not saying much.

That play was so weird. I thought Cole's hip popped out or something on that one.

 

[Orangezoo]

Jimmy's defense is so bad that other people have to cover for him. Jesse and even Cole are covering for Jimmy. The first two 3s made by Pitt were because of Jimmy being out of position or lack of effort. Throughout the season, many of Jesse's fouls are covering for the forwards. Even though statistics do not always show it, Benny being in there on defense makes the entire defense better. Jesse can play in position and get more blocks and rebounds. Cole and the guards can be in a better position. When Symir is in there at the same time of Benny, the defense is 10x better. Cole and Jimmy get rebounds solely due to minutes and knowing that they have no leash. If Benny was given 30 minutes per game and was not in the Roberson seat, he would getting more rebounds than Cole and Jimmy. I would expect him to have numbers akin to Quincy from last year. Unfortunately, we will never know because of stubborn coaching and a murder of confidence. Jimmy was so gassed in the second half, and it was unconscionable to sit Benny until the 2 min mark.

When Jimmy and Cole play it puts Jesse in an impossible position to which he has tried admirably to deal with. Baseline cutters are open on Jimmy's side all the time. Kick out 3s are open on Coles side all the time. Neither can defend the rim so Jesse has to come over. Then he has to be ready to get to the corner and defend the post in the paint.

Benny has showed signs as a weak side shot blocker. He does struggle on the rotations still. All that said defensively he reduces the load on Jesse.

When Jimmy is turning it over on offense he should not be playing.

 

[djcon57]

Cole Swider jumped about 2 inches on his and 1, he and JB play about 6’6”. Swider rebounds better but thats not saying much.

totally random, but thought Cole looked fine (maybe even good) on defense up top. Was interesting to see.

 

[Orangezoo]

totally random, but thought Cole looked fine (maybe even good) on defense up top. Was interesting to see.

Agreed. Also given the long rebound aspect, he does better chasing boards than reacting under the hoop. The top fits him better.

 

[Cusefan0307]

He was not a concensus 5 star and his rankings dropped with more exposure. He is so far behind where he needs to be that it is a stretch to think that next year will be a break-out year. Next year is not looking good for us. Two bad years in a row and attendance will suffer. Our recruiting hole could grow deeper.

Except the facts are he was higher rated than Malachi Richardson, Tyus Battle, Eric Devendorf, and Jerami Grant.

 

[djcon57]

Agreed. Also given the long rebound aspect, he does better chasing boards than reacting under the hoop. The top fits him better.

Yeah seems like we have like 4 shooting guards on this team of every variety

 

[OrangeDW]

When Jimmy and Cole play it puts Jesse in an impossible position to which he has tried admirably to deal with. Baseline cutters are open on Jimmy's side all the time. Kick out 3s are open on Coles side all the time. Neither can defend the rim so Jesse has to come over. Then he has to be ready to get to the corner and defend the post in the paint.

Benny has showed signs as a weak side shot blocker. He does struggle on the rotations still. All that said defensively he reduces the load on Jesse.

When Jimmy is turning it over on offense he should not be playing.

The play where Pitt passed to the short corner and the guy pivoted, dribbled and dunked it as Jimmy weakly came running in from behind and got about 2 feet away from the ball on his “contest” really jumped out at me.

Fair, Southerland, Grant, Wes, etc. used to swallow those plays up.

Benny would’ve had a chance for another great block.

Jimmy wasn’t even close.

 

[Orangezoo]

The play where Pitt passed to the short corner and the guy pivoted, dribbled and dunked it as Jimmy weakly came running in from behind and got about 2 feet away from the ball on his “contest” really jumped out at me.

Fair, Southerland, Grant, Wes, etc. used to swallow those plays up.

Benny would’ve had a chance for another great block.

Jimmy wasn’t even close.

Cornell has been better playing faster without him this year.

 

[TrickySU]

We were getting killed on the O boards by a kid who was more athletic than either of our starting forwards. Benny would have helped there.

And I'm sorry, but if you think JBA's 'activity' on defense is actually akin to playing defense, I think we are looking at very different things. JBA seems like a nice kid, but seems like a kid who won't ever play hoops again after college. Seems like he'd be a decent soccer player, but he grew too much and was forced to play hoops by someone...

Benny has five offensive rebounds all season.

I stated why Jim played JBA. Not that I agree with it. Benny's athleticism helps make up for some of his positioning flaws. I've watched the film. Maybe I'll do a film breakdown on here on all these guys. It's horrible. They all need to get better. Hopefully Benny makes those strides in practice and during the offseason.

 

[cliftonparksufan]

Why does Frank at the 4 ever come up here? I get he's athletic, and might actually be able to play that position defensively, but I've never even seen him take a shot other than a dunk, let alone make one. I know Benny's shot has a long way to go, but he has at least made a couple jumpers.

Would be interesting to see though, I guess.

I'm not inferring that Frank would be a better "4" then JBA, but you could almost hear Orange Nation collectively shout "oh, @&%" when JBA came in the game instead of Benny, not just once but twice. At least if he put Frank at the four, maybe half would mumble that or be interested to see if what would happen.

 

[cliftonparksufan]

totally random, but thought Cole looked fine (maybe even good) on defense up top. Was interesting to see.

Isn't there a team that played the 2/3 and had the forwards play up top and the guards played low?

 

[TrickySU]

Here's the thing, whether Benny plays 30 minutes or 0 minutes won't be the difference in him improving his game. It might make him happy and it might make the fans happy, but development comes through drills, in practice, watching film, and putting the work in. That's what will be the difference in whether Benny is a star or not. Feeling your way through 20 minutes in a game is nice experience, but it's not where you make that jump in improving your game. If he puts that work in, then it will play off.

Otherwise, JBA getting minutes tells me more about Benny's development than Jim. Boeheim isn't doing that out of spite.

Unfortunately, Benny came in with too high of expectations. People expected him to start and be an instant contributor. He hasn't been good enough for that.

 

[Cusefan0307]

Interesting that the guy ranked right behind Benny on the 2 4 7 composite is getting 20 minutes a game for the number 2 team in the country.

 

[5OutFred]

Here's the thing, whether Benny plays 30 minutes or 0 minutes won't be the difference in him improving his game. It might make him happy and it might make the fans happy, but development comes through drills, in practice, watching film, and putting the work in. That's what will be the difference in whether Benny is a star or not. Feeling your way through 20 minutes in a game is nice experience, but it's not where you make that jump in improving your game. If he puts that work in, then it will play off.

Otherwise, JBA getting minutes tells me more about Benny's development than Jim. Boeheim isn't doing that out of spite.

Unfortunately, Benny came in with too high of expectations. People expected him to start and be an instant contributor. He hasn't been good enough for that.

Ah yes, notoriously "watching film" is more beneficial to a player's improvement than actually adjusting to the speed of the game, which happens by, ya know, playing. Yikes.

 

[jdubs30]

If Benny was allowed 35mpg and 12 shots per game starting in Atlantis, and that stayed consistent throughout the whole year - I’d almost guarantee he’d be averaging similar numbers to Jimmy with much better defense. Sure there would be a ton of growing pains, but I bet by now he’d have it close to figured out

 

[City of Cuse]

Interesting that the guy ranked right behind Benny on the 2 4 7 composite is getting 20 minutes a game for the number 2 team in the country.

Too bad he wasn’t on our team.

 

[Cusefan0307]

If Benny was allowed 35mpg and 12 shots per game starting in Atlantis, and that stayed consistent throughout the whole year - I’d almost guarantee he’d be averaging similar numbers to Jimmy with much better defense. Sure there would be a ton of growing pains, but I bet by now he’d have it close to figured out

When we signed Malachi Richardson JB had to play him. He had nobody else. Sure he was bad early in the season, but it eventually paid off.

 

[phil77]

Too bad he wasn’t on our team.

He wouldnt be ready here

 

[jdubs30]

When we signed Malachi Richardson JB had to play him. He had nobody else. Sure he was bad early in the season, but it eventually paid off.

He would veen rough to watch at first. But like people have said, Jimmy is at his ceiling (which is fine). But if he’s at his ceiling and we are 9-11, you’d think you’d try something else

 

[Cusefan0307]

He would veen rough to watch at first. But like people have said, Jimmy is at his ceiling (which is fine). But if he’s at his ceiling and we are 9-11, you’d think you’d try something else

And I'll just say I don't think we should single out just Jimmy. Cole has often been worse.

 

[TrickySU]

Ah yes, notoriously "watching film" is more beneficial to a player's improvement than actually adjusting to the speed of the game, which happens by, ya know, playing. Yikes.

When one of your biggest flaws is positioning and movement within the offense, then yes, watching film is important. Ask anyone who has played. And that is only one of the things I mentioned. Why aren't practices exclusively scrimmages if that was the most important thing? Game experience helps, it is not what is going to make Benny, or any player, improve the most.

 

[FrancoPizza]

totally random, but thought Cole looked fine (maybe even good) on defense up top. Was interesting to see.

Well, why would there be a dropoff? He's just as slow as Buddy and a couple inches taller.

 

[City of Cuse]

He wouldnt be ready here

Yeah because a freshman for cuse last year didn’t average 20 a game.