Where will the offense come from next year?

[Knicks411]

G, TC and Malachi could give us our best spacing next yr since the 2010 season, heck maybe even since 2003 ;-)

My main question would be how much time those 3 are going to spend on the court next year. Because if instead of that, we see a lot of Kaleb/Tyler/center on the court, the spacing could collapse.

Really important Kaleb improves that jumper next year.

 

[Henny & Coke]

Decided to dive into next year's roster and look at the best bets for scoring options. In doing so, I learned that Cooney and Gbinije finished this year even worse than I thought. Right now, it's hard to say who will provide a consistent scoring punch.

http://.com/who-will-score-for-next-seasons-hoops-team/

Just a general note/thought: I know I'm prone to letting the most recent results (too heavily) influence my thinking when making predictions about upcoming seasons (known as "recency bias"), and, in this case, such thinking may really skew our opinion to the negative, considering:

The last 7 games of the season were against opponents ranked:

#4 (Duke - RPI of 3)
#12 (Louisville - RPI of 16)
N/A (Pitt - RPI of 65)
#9 (Notre Dame - RPI of 24)
#4 (Duke - RPI of 3)
#2 (Virginia - RPI of 4)
N/A (NC State - RPI of 44)

That's 5 teams ranked within the top 12 schools in the country! Average RPI of these schools is 23.

Plus, all of this happened while Syracuse was dealing with NCAA investigation/sanctions/self-imposed Tournament ban.

So, we may want to keep all that in mind when trying to project how certain players will perform in seasons to come & try not to let the most recent performances (that may have been skewed negatively for the above noted reasons) have an out-sized impact on our thinking. Just my 2 cents.

 

[IthacaMatt]

My main question would be how much time those 3 are going to spend on the court next year. Because if instead of that, we see a lot of Kaleb/Tyler/center on the court, the spacing could collapse.

Really important Kaleb improves that jumper next year.

His form is not that great. He has kind of a jack-knife motion to his follow through. Throws his balance off on the shot.

 

[RF2044]

His form is not that great. He has kind of a jack-knife motion to his follow through. Throws his balance off on the shot.

From three--yes, where he tries to crank up that set shot. But his mechanics are much more smooth / fluid inside the arc. He uses his legs better to get elevation.

 

[Knicks411]

From three--yes, where he tries to crank up that set shot. But his mechanics are much more smooth / fluid inside the arc. He uses his legs better to get elevation.

Yeah he seemed to do ok from the elbow area. Hopefully he can extend the range a little over the summer

 

[Dmcnabbrules]

I have spent the last few days thinking about this thread and watching college basketball and I think I have come up with a few answers. So where is the offense going to come from?

1. The Zone. If SU is going to be successful next season the zone needs to improve. Syracuse defense was ok this season. I don't know or care what the stats say, I watched every game and the defense let the team down in the second half of games. The zone should lead to running opportunists because of steals and long rebounds. Kaleb will be better at the top of the zone or he won't play. Much of the criticism of Joseph was because of his offense, his defense was a bigger problem. Because Rakeem was relied on so heavily for offense he had to sacrifice his defense sometimes.JB will have Coleman, Diagne, and CM use in the middle. Multiple guys will allow them to be more aggressive on D. Syracuse will get more transition points next season because of a better zone.
2. More scoring options. Improvement from Robertson and the addition of Richardson will give the team more scoring options. If CM can come back healthy the option to play MG, Cooney, Richardson, Robertson and CM at the same time is very intriguing to me. This is a groups with 5 offensive players who are skilled and versatile. Good offensive teams in college have multiple offensive players on the floor at one time. Anybody watched Notre Dame other then the game against SU?
3. Cooney. He will be a senior and ready to have a good season.

Next year is going to be a good season and hopefully a screw you to all the haters.

 

[007]

I have spent the last few days thinking about this thread and watching college basketball and I think I have come up with a few answers. So where is the offense going to come from?

1. The Zone. If SU is going to be successful next season the zone needs to improve. Syracuse defense was ok this season. I don't know or care what the stats say, I watched every game and the defense let the team down in the second half of games. The zone should lead to running opportunists because of steals and long rebounds. Kaleb will be better at the top of the zone or he won't play. Much of the criticism of Joseph was because of his offense, his defense was a bigger problem. Because Rakeem was relied on so heavily for offense he had to sacrifice his defense sometimes.JB will have Coleman, Diagne, and CM use in the middle. Multiple guys will allow them to be more aggressive on D. Syracuse will get more transition points next season because of a better zone.
2. More scoring options. Improvement from Robertson and the addition of Richardson will give the team more scoring options. If CM can come back healthy the option to play MG, Cooney, Richardson, Robertson and CM at the same time is very intriguing to me. This is a groups with 5 offensive players who are skilled and versatile. Good offensive teams in college have multiple offensive players on the floor at one time. Anybody watched Notre Dame other then the game against SU?
3. Cooney. He wills be a senior and ready to have a good season.

Next year is going to be a good season and hopefully a screw you to all the haters.

Other than your last sentence, I agree with the primary points you made 1-3. We really don't know how "good" the season could be next year until we know who we have and how ready the Freshman are. And, I'm willing to bet that the majority of the posters who pessimistically point out shortcomings are simply frustrated fans and not "haters." But, there are a few of those.

1. Zone - need to create TOs and control the boards to create transition scoring opportunities. The guards are going to need to get a lot better at stopping dribble penetration while also improving their ability to close off passing lanes, deflect passes, and get steals.

2. Scoring Options - this will have a big effect if we can put more consistent perimeter threats on the floor at the same time. They don't necessarily have to big scores, but they do have to present enough of threat to make Ds play more "honest." This, in turn, will create better spacing and open the floor up. The great unknown will be if we can establish some type of a scoring threat in the low post. Otherwise, the additional shooters will all get the Cooney treatment from the D.

3. Cooney - Amen, brother. We have seen many Seniors rise to the occasion over the years.

 

[SoBeCuse]

I don't think many if any are hating. Just expressing some concerns and observations.

 

[Dmcnabbrules]

When I said haters I didn't mean anyone on the board. I was referring to idiots like Forde sweeping in and writing about the program. I don't think any of those fools have even read the report. I have no problem with anyone bringing up legitimate concerns about how the team will perform.

 

[Chris02M]

I see balanced scoring next year with 3 or 4 averaging double digits

 

[two3zone]

Why not? Personally I'm not sure who will be one the roster next fall and likely won't until June or so at the latest. So I'll give what I think I know and then guesses on what I know I don't know yet.
Know:
Cooney will start at 2G and be our designated shooter.

Don't Know:
CMac - ll be on the roster and IF healthy our best player and #1 scoring option. He'll get minutes at the 3,4 & 5 spots and be our 2nd leading rebounder.
G - Will LIKELY be here and our starting SF. I see a year a lot like this year though he'll have more and better options to involve in the game. Also LIKELY to run the offense when KJo is out.
KJo - Will be the PG and HOPEFULLY improve his running the offense. Needs to shoot better and also make better entry passes. Also needs to be solid on D.
DC2 - LIKELY starting C. Also LIKELY to play around 20 - 25 minutes and provide a taste of the low post game we got from Rak this year..
Malachi - LIKELY #1 option off the bench. #2 designated shooter. Versatility of CMac and G mean he can come in for any of the 5 starters if need be. A small lineup with G and Malachi at could be interesting against a few teams early that do not have much size.
TRob - Option #1B off the bench for the frontline. If the 4 or 5 are coming off TRob WILL be the #1A option. If he starts hitting the 6-8 foot pull up jumper he could be DEADLY.
BJ - LIKELY to return and play more consistent minutes. COULD push ahead of Malachi based on his experience. If Lydon equals BJ in the shooting department BJ minutes may disappear.
Diagne - POSSIBLY the backup C. Minutes will depend on how much we see CMac at the 5. Little offense expected.
Howard - IDEALLY he will be the backup PG and his minutes would jump up to the 8 spot behind Malachi and TRob. Way too unknown for me to even guess at. If he is the backup PG that would be good for SU.
Lydon -IF he can make jumpers he could work into the front line equation. I'm interested to see him play. I'm expecting Bobby Lazor and hoping he's not Mark Konecny.
Patterson/Obokoh - Did someone say offense?
Bryant - The WILDCARD! If he comes I guess he starts and will be good for 10-12 pts a game. Hard to expect much more than that from a freshman joining a team with most everyone returning.

Can't disagree with what you said except the Bryant post, who was our last freshman big to average 10-12 a game. Even if he comes I don't expect double digits at all from him.

 

[Jasoncuse]

As others said above, Kaleb is the key. If he doesn't take a major step forward, neither will the team. We need the dribble drive and for someone to set others up, especially on the interior.

I think we're going to be a weak offensive team again, and I fear that they will turn into a jump shooting team. A lot of people are expecting CMc to be an elite player, which would be great, but is likely a bit crazy to count on. He's going to be rehabbing all summer/fall and won't be able to work on his game nearly as much as he needs. His biggest weakness is just that, his weakness. Can he finish in the paint next year without a summer of non-stop drills and playing? I can't expect him to put it all together when he has his health to worry about first.

We also need to find a transition game again. Again that's kaleb.

 

[jekelish]

Can't disagree with what you said except the Bryant post, who was our last freshman big to average 10-12 a game. Even if he comes I don't expect double digits at all from him.

Depends on if you consider Carmelo and Donte Greene to be "bigs." Size wise, they certainly were. But skill wise obviously not. I'm guessing you mean strictly 4/5.

If McCullough had stayed healthy, he may have finished the year averaging 10.

 

[Dave85]

Malachi made 5 three point shots during his HS championship game.

 

[OrangeAl]

Voila! 90 points per game - not that it could ever work out like this with 200 minutes to divide up.
G 15 ppg
Cooney 14 pgg
Roberson 11 ppg
McCullough 11 ppg
Johnson 8 ppg
Joseph 6 ppg
Coleman 6 ppg
Richardson 5 ppg
Diagne 4 ppg
Patterson 3 ppg
Lydon 3 ppg
Howard 2 ppg
Obokoh 2 ppg

 

[orangefan13]

G really forces Kaleb to step up. G is really good, just meant to play a off position. The thing about G is alot of good players have came through our program and developed a isolation game and a shot off the dribble, but had really off shooting days and missed alot of shots.

G got much more aggressive and shot really well this year, but had some more tentative days as opposed to really off nights. That tells us 2 things, #1, if we have other go to guys he might not have to overforce it as the go to guy, and #2 he can be even more aggressive this year.

He really has the body handle and pull up game developing to be special, but is a nba 2 no doubt. Malachi, and Cooney will be in the same boat. If we find 1-2 other really good isolation scorers though it would be possible to move cooney to a spot up shooting pg role similar to Gmac. We won't need a strong driving passing pg if we have 2-3 strong isolation scorers, and I think that would take weight off cooney and G's sholders if that did work out, imo.

 

[cuseincincy]

Can't disagree with what you said except the Bryant post, who was our last freshman big to average 10-12 a game. Even if he comes I don't expect double digits at all from him.

Sooner or later one of these McD AA big men have got to be able to contribute immediately don't they? I get that DC2, Rak and Melo were pretty useless as freshmen. I'm just thinking they shouldn't have been. I think (guessing really as I don;t have time or desire to research) that 10 pts is not a lot to ask from a McD AA center his freshman year. It shouldn't be, especially in todays watered down NCAA.

 

[Ghost]

Yeah he seemed to do ok from the elbow area. Hopefully he can extend the range a little over the summer

Yeah, that mid-range jumper was pretty pure at the end of the year. I'm not sure there is any way to isolate a percentage on that, but I would imagine over the second half of the year it would be extremely high.

After my projections during the off-season last year that G had already maxed out his potential, Joseph would lead us back to a more up-n-down fast break offense, and Rak would become a monster inside, I figure I should take this off-season off. Wait, I was right on number three!

I'm not sure what to expect - I think PG could still be a tough position for us. I'm not sure Joseph is well equipped to play the position, but with an entire off-season I'm not going to count him out yet.

Hopefully with some more dynamic players on the floor things will open up a bit more for TC. Either way, I think we're going to see a good showing from him next season. If he can just get a bit better at finishing at the rim it will help him out a bit. Having more depth at guard should elevate the play of everyone though.

Roberson will probably continue to be a great garbage man, with some sporadic games where he scores big thrown in for fun.

BJ is the player I'm most interested in at the moment. We saw some of what he had to offer at the end of the year, if he can add some more weight, and become a bit of a threat off the bounce we could get a big boost from him alone.

CMAC/DC - who knows...if CM isn't coming back till December I'm not sure what we'll get. Same with DC after such a long time off.

It will be interesting regardless.

 

[Knicks411]

Shot analytics has rough estimates, Kaleb shot about 50% (nice!) from the left elbow area, but 29% (not nice) from the right elbow area. A straight average would put him around 40%, I don't know which side he shot more fromm but I would hope it'd be the one he had more success at, so maybe he was a little over 40% from that spot?
Funny too, cause he was much worse from 3 from the left side than the right side. My guess is the sample sizes are too small to draw much of anything from it re: side preference.