WHAT SCARES ME THE MOST ABOUT NEXT YEAR

[RF2044]

What scares me most about next year is not having a true lead guard at the helm. Again.

We'd better hope that Battle can handle the role. And that Frank spends the entire summer working on tightening up his handle and putting up 1000 shots a day. I think that those things could happen, and we could be okay, but right now lead guard is shaping up as an otherwise deep, loaded team's Achilles heel.

 

[CusefanATL]

Is that our whole interrior Defense is coming back next year and the zone sucks down low. Our two best defenders are up top that gets major steals all the time and will be gone along with some of their scoring.

M2M has to be an option put on the table for use. The game is changing,but we don't...

ding ding ding. completely agree. Drives me nuts when everyone lays the blame on cooney. Its Coleman, Lydon, and Roberson. You take away the great steal/block and offensive board with a min to go yesterday and Lydon was AWFUL on D. A huge net loss even with his 5/5 start on the offensive end. I feel bad for Coleman, his mind seems to be moving a lot faster than his body and Roberson is just in lala land. i'm not a fan of the way JB has coached him on this lala land journey, but there is only so much you can do with him when he is so lazy. I thought for sure JB was going to bench him for the rest of the 1st half when he took him out for missing 1 of the easiest rebounds of his life. But JB only sat him for a min or 2 of game time. And dont even get me started when TR almost shot the ball over the backboard from 15 feet.

 

[orangenirvana]

No...if I don't post at all about Syracuse and my views would mean I was a very complacent fan who accepts every loss. BETTER

I don't even know what this means. It's an incomplete sentence.

 

[retro44]

ding ding ding. completely agree. Drives me nuts when everyone lays the blame on cooney. Its Coleman, Lydon, and Roberson. You take away the great steal/block and offensive board with a min to go yesterday and Lydon was AWFUL on D. A huge net loss even with his 5/5 start on the offensive end. I feel bad for Coleman, his mind seems to be moving a lot faster than his body and Roberson is just in lala land. i'm not a fan of the way JB has coached him on this lala land journey, but there is only so much you can do with him when he is so lazy. I thought for sure JB was going to bench him for the rest of the 1st half when he took him out for missing 1 of the easiest rebounds of his life. But JB only sat him for a min or 2 of game time. And dont even get me started when TR almost shot the ball over the backboard from 15 feet.

Problem also is that Boeheim hired only past Syracuse guards as coaches for big men. We need a real big man coach who can also motivate the players instead of sitting on the bench picking their noses like JB. I saw Autry twice this year doing this.
when Bernie left,so did our inside game go

 

[retro44]

I don't even know what this means. It's an incomplete sentence.

I kept it to one sentence just for you...

 

[orangenirvana]

Problem also is that Boeheim hired only past Syracuse guards as coaches for big men. We need a real big man coach who can also motivate the players instead of sitting on the bench picking their noses like JB. I saw Autry twice this year doing this.
when Bernie left,so did our inside game go

Yeah, we need whoever developed Christmas back on the staff. Who was that? Whoever it was, he was really good.

 

[retro44]

Yeah, we need whoever developed Christmas back on the staff. Who was that? Whoever it was, he was really good.

"Coach [Jim] Boeheim brought me in after my junior year and told me as a senior the team was going to be mine next year, and I had to go to work that summer," Christmas said. "That's what I did. I came back with a chip on my shoulder to prove to everyone" he could produce.

He went back home to work out with pros and a big man coach over that summer.

 

[Shrmdougluvr]

We are going to be be 7'0", 6'9", 6'9", 6'8" in the front court next year. Players will be at their natural positions. This year we are 6'9", 6'8," 6'6." You don't think the zone is going to improve? (oh and our back court will average 6'4")

 

[orangenirvana]

"Coach [Jim] Boeheim brought me in after my junior year and told me as a senior the team was going to be mine next year, and I had to go to work that summer," Christmas said. "That's what I did. I came back with a chip on my shoulder to prove to everyone" he could produce.

He went back home to work out with pros and a big man coach over that summer.

So no credit to the coaching staff at all?

 

[RoatanCuse]

Good point. Height looks impressive next year.. But let's not forget lateral quickness and ability to continue garnering steals. There were more than a few times this year our guards were being blown by.

 

[ssbriefcase]

We are going to be be 7'0", 6'9", 6'9", 6'8" in the front court next year. Players will be at their natural positions. This year we are 6'9", 6'8," 6'6." You don't think the zone is going to improve? (oh and our back court will average 6'4")

Don't short Chuk, he's 7'2". But completely agree.

 

[tbonezone]

what's scary about next year is that we have two 5th yr senior guards chewing up virtually all of the backcourt minutes with very little concern for development of their eventual replacements even in those rare blowout occasions.

 

[ssbriefcase]

what's scary about next year is that we have two 5th yr senior guards chewing up virtually all of the backcourt minutes with very little concern for development of their eventual replacements even in those rare blowout occasions.

Because we can't give any minutes to Battle now, and Richardson is playing plenty, and Howard is being brought about nicely, imo.

 

[longtimefan]

Do you limit yourself to the first sentence only?

"Our two best defenders are up top that gets major steals all the time and will be gone along with some of their scoring."

You talked about defense and offense at the top of the zone. You mentioned only defense on the back line.

 

[br801]

what's scary about next year is that we have two 5th yr senior guards chewing up virtually all of the backcourt minutes with very little concern for development of their eventual replacements even in those rare blowout occasions.

Yeah, it would have been nice to see Richardson play a little bit this season. Hope the kid has some ability.

 

[SBU72]

Is that our whole interrior Defense is coming back next year and the zone sucks down low. Our two best defenders are up top that gets major steals all the time and will be gone along with some of their scoring.

M2M has to be an option put on the table for use. The game is changing,but we don't...

Consider that the front court played with 2 freshmen over half the time. It takes more than "awhile" to learn JB's zone. Yesterday Lydon often looked confused on which way to move when the ball got to the logo (even after a whole season!) leaving Bacon wide open. In the past, there have been years where the interior looked much the same only to vastly improve with time. While Coleman has never been stealer on defense (an recovering hasn't helped) his backup (if not playing more minutes) is 5 to 6 inches taller and is a shot blocker. The wings will now mostly have another year's experience and taller. Remember when Andy was a three and the defense struggled only to improve when he moved to the top of the D the following year? Same with Richardson.

 

[netman99]

Is that our whole interrior Defense is coming back next year and the zone sucks down low. Our two best defenders are up top that gets major steals all the time and will be gone along with some of their scoring.

M2M has to be an option put on the table for use. The game is changing,but we don't...

I think , next year, Howard surpasses Cooney as a defensive player in the zone. Quicker and longer. Not to mention we will get more transition baskets with Howard out front. And when it is Battle/Malachi in the backcourt, our D will improve dramatically overall because we will have more size down low.

 

[Jasoncuse]

Next year's offense will again be pretty bad, I'm guessing. Assuming both Lydon and Mal are back, which they should be, I'm not sure we have any other real offensive threat to count on. Hopefully, Battle is ready to go right away, and maybe Roberson finds some semblance of an offensive game, but overall, next year looks like a struggle again.

Of course, this was about the defense and who knows what Chukwu can provide. He's 7'3", so there's that built in fallback if his position is bad, but he's another skinny guy that may need some added to acclimate to the zone. Coleman isn't the answer and we've see the interior D and rebounding suffer because he's playing in quicksand. Where we hopefully improve defensively next year is on the wing. I've thought Malachi has been pretty solid defensively, but he's also been bodied out of the way and just can't hand with true big guys. Not his fault. But Roberson has been an absolute trainwreck as a wing defender. If he is going to play any significant role next year, he has to clean this up. If not, I expect Moyer to get a chance to play a lot with Lydon as the other wing and Malachi and Battle/Howard up top.

On paper, the defense and rebounding should be much improved over this year's bad unit, but who knows.

 

[dasher]

Problem also is that Boeheim hired only past Syracuse guards as coaches for big men. We need a real big man coach who can also motivate the players instead of sitting on the bench picking their noses like JB. I saw Autry twice this year doing this.
when Bernie left,so did our inside game go

Bernie was not a good big man coach. A lot of spin about him.

 

[bpo57]

PC is a shot blocker. he changes the zone. I don't care if he scores a pt next year. He can alter or block the just inside foul line shot while still being back. the difference for us with him over Coleman is striking. you are way under valuing what a 7-2 shot blocker does for our zone. He is 6 inches taller than Coleman , who to make matters even worse, can't jump. If he doesn't play a min of 25 minutes a game next year, I will be very surprised. Big upgrade.

I agree. Given the horrible interior defense/rebounding that SU has displayed this year, it seems paramount that PC make major contributions in the middle at the defensive end. Could care less if he goes scoreless each game. Our opponents have been like kids in the candy score this year when it comes to scoring down low.

 

[bpo57]

Next year's offense will again be pretty bad, I'm guessing. Assuming both Lydon and Mal are back, which they should be, I'm not sure we have any other real offensive threat to count on. Hopefully, Battle is ready to go right away, and maybe Roberson finds some semblance of an offensive game, but overall, next year looks like a struggle again.

Of course, this was about the defense and who knows what Chukwu can provide. He's 7'3", so there's that built in fallback if his position is bad, but he's another skinny guy that may need some added to acclimate to the zone. Coleman isn't the answer and we've see the interior D and rebounding suffer because he's playing in quicksand. Where we hopefully improve defensively next year is on the wing. I've thought Malachi has been pretty solid defensively, but he's also been bodied out of the way and just can't hand with true big guys. Not his fault. But Roberson has been an absolute trainwreck as a wing defender. If he is going to play any significant role next year, he has to clean this up. If not, I expect Moyer to get a chance to play a lot with Lydon as the other wing and Malachi and Battle/Howard up top.

On paper, the defense and rebounding should be much improved over this year's bad unit, but who knows.

I agree with a lot of what you say but to my eyes MR has no business being on the wing in the 2-3. I watched him carefully yesterday and he contributed zero on the defensive end. Every time the ball reversed and he had to cover the backside down low he got mauled. Spends a lot of time watching the action. He's just not physical or aggressive enough to contend with ACC big guys. At least not now. Maybe that will improve in the future with strength. And for those reasons the notion of him leaving after this year for the NBA are crazy imo.

 

[Jake]

I think , next year, Howard surpasses Cooney as a defensive player in the zone. Quicker and longer. Not to mention we will get more transition baskets with Howard out front. And when it is Battle/Malachi in the backcourt, our D will improve dramatically overall because we will have more size down low.

Howard ain't quicker than Cooney and its not close. He is longer and will create more issues for opposing guards to see over the zone. But his foot speed is more like Edelin or Pace. He is a better distributer, but he has to learn to value every possession. He's a high risk, high reward playmaker, so we'll have to live with some of his aggressive turnovers. Which is better than the lazy turnovers we currently get from G mostly, and Cooney to a lesser degree.

The interior defense will significantly better next year with Chukwu being flanked by Lydon, Roberson and Battle, with Moyer and Coleman spelling them -regardless of who starts.

 

[orangenirvana]

The interior defense will significantly better next year with Chukwu being flanked by Lydon, Roberson and Battle, with Moyer and Coleman spelling them -regardless of who starts.

So you think Battle spends the majority of his time at the 3 next year?

 

[jdubs30]

So you think Battle spends the majority of his time at the 3 next year?

Interesting...going by his post that would also mean that Mali will play the 2

 

[Jake]

I think we're looking at a crunch time lineup of:

Howard
Mali
Battle /Lydon
Lydon/Roberson
Chukwu

I could easily see a scenario where Roberson gets squeezed out next year. A lot will depend on matchups.

Hard to envision too many minutes where Howard, Roberson and Chukwu are all on the court at the same time. That team would be extremely easy to defend.

And yes, I think Battle's game as a frosh will look an awful like Gbinje's last year. More of a 3, can play some 1 - limited range on his jumper. But I LOVE LOVE LOVE his game.