Reply to thread

Message: [QUOTE="KevMonstah, post: 2065300, member: 327"] why would one think the game has passed him by? i've been a long time SU fan, and I get annoyed as can be with some of his coaching moves, but i wouldn't say simply by playing zone 100% of the time the game has passed him by. among plus/minus of the zone that can make you happy or make you miserable on a yearly basis ... JB's teams usually start out strong, and are very competitive in, or win outright, the early season tourneys, because the zone flusters teams that haven't gotten their offenses working efficiently yet, or because they don't have much experience facing a zone. This CAN have the same effect in the tourneys also, because a team may not be familiar with a zone, but then they have had a full year of getting an offense working, so the effect may not be as pronounced. Teams that are familiar with it can beat it, and can beat it in usually a few ways: they crash the glass, their offense is good, or some guy becomes germain mopa-nila and goes off for his career high. what you end up with is a team that looks great to start the season, peaks early, then fades. the one thing I've always hated about the zone is that it doesn't put any "time is of the essence" pressure on the opposing offense, and where this ought to drive SU fans nuts is when you get the combination of a) a seemingly inferior opponent, and b) a crappy performance by SU. for example, a 46-45 victory over georgia tech, or an ncaa loss to vermont. the poor performance by SU's offense does not encourage the other team to do anything other than pass ... pass ... pass ... and slowly look for a shot. if SU's hitting, the have to make more of an effort to find and maybe settle for a non-optimal shot. if SU's not hitting, there is no pressure at all to shoot early in the clock, and little to no pressure on the ballhandlers to encourage turnovers. i hate when this happens. every time. and one would think even two mins of a different defense might change the tenor of the game. but it seems we must wait for coach hopkins before we will get it. i used to thoroughly enjoy watching SU play man and go on runs that would actually get the crowd in the dome to stay on their feet for longer than ten seconds. and cheer so it didn't sound like a 20,000+ prayer service. that's frustrating to see. SU makes a great play, is on a run, and they go back to a zone, and 20-25 seconds of passing, the opponent throws up a crummy shot, gets the offensive rebound, and puts it back. but that doesn't mean the game has passed him by. kev [/QUOTE]

Verification: What is a Syracuse fan's favorite color?