will this team mesh by season's end?

[conradical]

every year there are young teams that struggle out of the gate but end up gelling late in the season and playing their best basketball when it matters most.

the way syracuse responded tonight after going down 10 points so late in the game was remarkable, and i'd like to think that the team has a chance of being at least sort of relevant come march.

however, i haven't heard any commentators say such a thing. tonight's announcers, for example, talked a lot about how young syracuse is, but they said nothing about the team potentially being dangerous as the year progresses.

i realize the season's only two weeks old, so i'm not saying that experts should be making their final four picks right now. still, though, with the exception of chris mccullough, there just doesn't seem to be much excitement about the other underclassmen.

i'm interested in what other fans think. does this team have any shot of making noise this year? also, even if these players develop a stride together, won't next year be another start-from-zero season when jb has to figure out how to replace his two best scorers from this year?

 

[Toga]

Answer cloudy.

 

[cuseattle]

every year there are young teams that struggle out of the gate but end up gelling late in the season and playing their best basketball when it matters most.

the way syracuse responded tonight after going down 10 points so late in the game was remarkable, and i'd like to think that the team has a chance of being at least sort of relevant come march.

however, i haven't heard any commentators say such a thing. tonight's announcers, for example, talked a lot about how young syracuse is, but they said nothing about the team potentially being dangerous as the year progresses.

i realize the season's only two weeks old, so i'm not saying that experts should be making their final four picks right now. still, though, with the exception of chris mccullough, there just doesn't seem to be much excitement about the other underclassmen.

i'm interested in what other fans think. does this team have any shot of making noise this year? also, even if these players develop a stride together, won't next year be another start-from-zero season when jb has to figure out how to replace his two best scorers from this year?

Meshing a bunch with more meshing to come.

 

[CaptainJ]

Meshing a bunch with more meshing to come.

As Anthrax would have said, "Caught In A Mesh"

 

[cuseattle]

It's fun watching these young players (and rak) getting better game to game.

 

[SoBristol]

Sure, this team will take some lumps (Nova & St Johns coming up) but will be a lot better by February-March. Not top 15, but not an easy out.

Ennis last season had a solid, mature game in November; in contrast, McCullough and Joseph are talented but raw -- especially Joseph. Same with Roberson, who is essentially the sixth man, and BJ, the seventh man.

Consider the many sloppy turn-overs that caused empty trips, and the several dumb passes that led to run-outs for Michigan. So much to clean up, and for sure JB will have that cleaned up.

Consider the inside game -- Rak has become the real deal with his inside moves (forcing double teams), and McCullough is a lottery talent in progress. The raw ingredients are there --- if (and this is the big unknown) Cooney can provide consistent shooting/scoring as he did last night.

 

[RF2044]

Playing in our first road game, this group took a ranked team down to the wire. And we had multiple chances to win, despite the 19 turnovers / 10 three pointers we gave up.

They're already showing incremental improvement on offense. Its amazing what happens when you hit a few jumpshots. But the turnovers demonstrate that we have a long way to go from an execution stand point. And despite that, we were still right there.

I don't know that we're ever going to be "pretty" offensively, but this team has a chance to be much better by the end of the season if we continue to improve. Rak / McCullough are a great tandem--better than what most teams have.

 

[Lawrinson14]

They better start meshing soon, or it wont matter if they are an easy out or not.

Getting to 20 wins in the new look acc will not be easy.

 

[jordoo]

They better start meshing soon, or it wont matter if they are an easy out or not.

Getting to 20 wins in the new look acc will not be easy.

The ACC is proving to be pretty top heavy. Even Lville has shown some warts. I'm not nearly as concerned about the ACC schedule as I once was. Plus having it back loaded is actually a plus for this young squad IMO.

 

[MSOrange]

The ACC is proving to be pretty top heavy. Even Lville has shown some warts. I'm not nearly as concerned about the ACC schedule as I once was. Plus having it back loaded is actually a plus for this young squad IMO.

You aren't kidding about being top heavy. UNC, Duke, Miami, Virginia and Louisville look pretty solid but then there seems to be a pretty big drop-off. The rest of the league has had some really bad losses.

 

[jordoo]

You aren't kidding about being top heavy. UNC, Duke, Miami, Virginia and Louisville look pretty solid but then there seems to be a pretty big drop-off. The rest of the league has had some really bad losses.

Plus we get Virginia and Lville once each at home. UNC is on the road but our system is a bad match for Roy's system and they once again struggle to shoot. I think we can play with everyone except for perhaps Duke.

 

[themorey]

We might have 30 turnovers vs that Louisville press. Probably more TOs than made baskets.

 

[jordoo]

We might have 30 turnovers vs that Louisville press. Probably more TOs than made baskets.

That game may be scary but at least its a long way off right now.

 

[OttoMets]

Plus we get Virginia and Lville once each at home. UNC is on the road but our system is a bad match for Roy's system and they once again struggle to shoot. I think we can play with everyone except for perhaps Duke.

And I think we'll split with Duke, too.

That'll be cancelled out by a few What losses to awful teams, but I have no doubt we'll play well against the best in the ACC. Well, maybe not against Louisville.