Who honestly thinks we don't execute well in half-court offense

[Dcuse]

other than inconsistent shooting? We have a great turnover rate per game and usually get good looks yet I always hear this uneducated comment.

 

[Senore2006]

other than inconsistent shooting? We have a great turnover rate per game and usually get good looks yet I always hear this uneducated comment.

You run the danger of disregarding good opposing defense by that sort of take. It's hard to score on Louisville. I believe we're the 4th ranked D in the country in FG % - at lower than 37%. And that's with playing new guys like Dieng and Behanen - the point being, we're even improving that.

Man, I thought you guys executed very well indeed, actually. We got 18 turnovers or so from WVU the game before and you guys only had 8. For what is supposedly a weak rebounding team, you guys were pretty frigging good, IMO only.

Missing shots comes from a good defense hurting confidence, playing close and being fast enough (just like you) to cover prospective shots and challenging them. Fact is, I thought you guys executed very well.

 

[dollarbill44]

I think we have struggled at times but I think it has more to do with what we're focusing on doing. We have seemed to settle for outside shots at times and the players aren't focused on moving without the ball, particularly the early part of last night's game. When we do that, we struggle if we're not hot from outside. When we set screens, penetrate and work for a good shot, we have an easier time scoring. It also opens up the outside shot more. When we do this, we are just fine on offense. I wish we would run our motion offense a little more frequently.

 

[jekelish]

We don't really run a half court offense. I know we set screens and all that, but our offense consists of a lot of one on one and drive and kick, which I don't view as being a particularly good half court offense.

 

[NailstheCusefan12]

It's rare to see good, fact-based comments from an opposing fan. Well done, Senore and I would agree with a lot of the things you said. Yesterday was absolutely a battle of very good defensive teams. Very few uncontested looks and very tough for shooters to get in any sort of a rhythm.

 

[Senore2006]

Both teams beat zones the same way. You try and penetrate and - when you do - things tend to work well. The better the zone, the better the players understand footwork and fronting the body, the less success teams have at penetrating. Our plan last night, for example, was to have Gorgui take the foul line jumper. He missed that twice and then froze - and infuriated Pitino - and me. Hell, UL has always been taught to "take the shot" - otherwise you get jerked. For you guys, you tried Triche penetrating and that was solid.

Fast passing, reversing the ball, good spacing - all those things are how you beat a zone. Unfortunately we both play the best zones in the business.

 

[Senore2006]

It's a pitcher's duel, lol. I think Raftery said that first - it was hilarious but totally true.

 

[Dcuse]

We don't really run a half court offense. I know we set screens and all that, but our offense consists of a lot of one on one and drive and kick, which I don't view as being a particularly good half court offense.

Not being a wise-guy here,but honestly, what do you view as a good half-court offense-meaning what do you think is the goal of a half-court offense? Please don't tell me teams like Syracuse,Kentucky,Ohio St,etc. should run the Princeton,back-door cut,motion offense.

 

[jekelish]

I guess I just hate NBA style half court sets. I hate Duke, but they are great in the half court. I love passing more than dribbling, and while we often have solid passing, most of our offense is predicated by dribbling.

I guess saying we don't execute well is the wrong way to express my opinion. It's more that I just don't like the style of our half court set, though I readily admit it fits our players. I just really, really prefer great passing and a lot of ball movement. Our guys drive and kick, and there's very little movement off the ball.

Edit: I should note I always loved playing point guard (I played 1, 2 and 3 at various times in high school) and I always preferred getting assists to scoring, which should give you an idea where I'm coming from in what I view as good offense.

 

[BlackKnight76]

The half-court offense was a hot mess to start the game against Louisville, but it got better as the game went along, we just couldn't hit shots, which was the biggest issue.

 

[Capt. Tuttle]

Heard JB talk about his transition from motion to the pick and roll. He talked about playing a really, really good UCONN team, I think in the BET, and ran it once and it worked. Ran it again, and it worked. So he kept running it, and it kept working. He figured if UCONN couldn't stop it, who could in college. That is how we got here. For JB, its not about the baskets, its about the quality of the shots. We took very few BAD shots last night.

 

[arbitragegls]

Recruit Ennis said it best...JB lets guards be creative with not much process...additionally JB believes in taking the open shot...whatever time is on the clock...so we take as a team less time to shoot because there is less passing the ball around. A few weeks ago I posted a review by Bilas that demonstrated 'Cuse as having the second best scoring efficiency in half court...that is points...not passes, not using the shot clock but SCORING. Nothing wrong with that assessment so I beleive our half court scheme is fine. Importantly, I believe our stall tactics are poor at end of games because we do not have a half court set/process...and to try and do so in last couple of minutes of a game throws our team off its rhythm.

 

[MyMeloMyMan]

Syracuse has always been a freelance offense...no? I know we run some design set out of timeouts, but most of the time... it seems like our guards pretty much have the green light to just make something happen with ball screens. I think we are a very average half court offensive team. There is not one guy who I feel 100% confident in getting off a high percentage shot at any given time.

 

[moqui]

other than inconsistent shooting? We have a great turnover rate per game and usually get good looks yet I always hear this uneducated comment.

that is a big "other than" that you are trying to paper over.

passing around the perimeter and settling for a 3 pointer is not a well executed sequence unless the guy taking the shot is at least 35% from three. passing the ball around the perimeter and then driving into three defenders and tossing up a prayer as the shot clock runs out is not a well executed set.

good half court offense involves finding and taking high percentage shots. If you don't have good outside shooters and you don't have a low post threat, then that is very hard to do.

I have been down on the SU half court offense all year, but I actually think it is getting better - including last night's game. JB is slowly but surely developing Fab into a quasi-low post option. Our shooters are all slumping at the same time such that we now have just one guy hitting over 35% from three in conference play, but they will shake out of that eventually

 

[OrangeFoo]

Our halfcourt offense against the zone is pretty poor. 90% of the time we resort to passing it around the perimeter like a hot potato and settling for a 3 pointer. The irony is that this is exactly what we want other teams to do against our zone and then we fall into the same trap. A couple of times we've flashed CJ to the FT line and it has worked pretty well but I'm not sure why we don't do the same w/ KJ, Southerland, or Melo who can all also create from there. Also our guards continue to be among the worse I've seen in throwing a post entry pass from the perimeter. I've seen Melo and Rak have their guy perfectly sealed and call for the ball only to have the guard or KJ totally ignore them and either shoot it or pass it around the perimeter again. This has been an ongoing trend since the Johnny Flynn years, he was probably the worst point in the history of ESPN at throwing the post entry pass. Rautins gave us an uptick the year his senior year.

Please not throwing a post entry pass is very different from relying on a guard to drive the ball and then passing it to a big guy inside. We do this pretty well actually when we want to.

Any ways I think our half court offense has serious problems against zones who collapse the interior which is only exacerbated by our poor shooting. We also settle for jump shots without truly testing the opposing d way too often. If we go out in the tourney it will be a game where we shoot way too many jumpers way too early in the shot clock. the fliip side is that if anyone tries to man up on us is pretty much going to be toast in the long run.

 

[orangecuse]

I think Hubert Davis makes a valid argument about our relative inability in getting to the foul line during our half court sets. Too many times we settle on the long J with havig no consistent deep threat. I agree with him in that regard and that our guys need to penetrate/dish and draw the foul. Very solid half court teams tend to do this...