2 points in the first seven minutes -again

[Palatine]

And we started the second half with a couple of points in the first 4 minutes plus.

This is really beyond belief. Except that I have have witnessed it. We have to find someone who is not afraid to score in the first five minutes. Maybe we should start a walk on and feed him for five minutes. He couldn't do worse. Somebody has to get to the foul line. Something. Anything.

If we score eight or ten points in the first six minutes, we add two or three wins. Something has to change. I don't know what it is, I'm just ranting. But geez Louise. Make a basket before the 14:00 mark. It's just not that hard.

 

[Dove]

I was at a bar but meeting people so I couldn't be close to the game. But I couldn't help but see that slow start. It was depressing at the time. But I couldn't tell if it was due to lack of effort or what...

Anyway, defense ramped up and I guess we really did bore them to submission?

 

[7774]

And we started the second half with a couple of points in the first 4 minutes plus.

This is really beyond belief. Except that I have have witnessed it. We have to find someone who is not afraid to score in the first five minutes. Maybe we should start a walk on and feed him for five minutes. He couldn't do worse. Somebody has to get to the foul line. Something. Anything.

If we score eight or ten points in the first six minutes, we add two or three wins. Something has to change. I don't know what it is, I'm just ranting. But geez Louise. Make a basket before the 14:00 mark. It's just not that hard.

What does "afraid to score in the first 5 minutes" even mean? At least last night we actually ran some offense that got us good shots, we just missed them. It's a step up from what normally happens at the beginning of games.

 

[mauconnfan]

They couldn't make a shot what can you say, they need shooters or someone to step up? If you were watching the ball movement, the open looks and the plan they had you would know the kids were sufficiently prepared for this zone and did a tremendous job attacking it with what they have.

Just have to make shots but in this case it had nothing to do with not being ready as the passion was full on, and everything to do with the kids just missing looks. If this is a shot at the staff, you're way off. And yes something does need to change, the ball needs to go in.

 

[Palatine]

They have done it virtually every game. Wagner, Northeastern, Marymount, OSU, Oregon, Cuse, it's almost every game. We miss open looks. Like I said, I have no answers. Maybe we should storm the basket.

 

[Bryan Lord]

We've done this virtually every game since our NC. Clearly no one has a remedy nor an explanation.

 

[Excalibur]

This was not like previous games where we turned it over a lot or took bad shots. We got pretty much whatever we wanted in the first five minutes and just missed a ton of open shots.

 

[Onions]

They have done it virtually every game. Wagner, Northeastern, Marymount, OSU, Oregon, Cuse, it's almost every game. We miss open looks. Like I said, I have no answers. Maybe we should storm the basket.

Unlike almost every other game this year we did not fall far behind in the first few minutes - we couldn't score, but neither could Cuse. I take last nite as a step forard - just hang in there for the first 5 minutes, and give yourself a chance.

 

[Palatine]

This was not like previous games where we turned it over a lot or took bad shots. We got pretty much whatever we wanted in the first five minutes and just missed a ton of open shots.

We missed a ton of open shots all year, not just SU.

 

[Nostical]

Hey Pal I have the feeling your point would have lots more supporters had we lost by 2 instead of won. Winning seems to quiet the rant out of most observers. Bottom line we have a pathetic offense. Fortunately so did Syracuse.

 

[Stinger92860]

The zone offense was much better yesterday with different players flashing to the foul line and others times with dribble penetration. We missed open shots and lay ups. The crazy thing is that despite only scoring those 2 points I thot we had better flow and intensity.

 

[Candyman]

In order for us to score points Jackson, Vital and Purvis need to hit wide open threes. Those three missed a bunch of feet set open threes in the first half. In the last two games Jackson is like 0-9 from three. Can't have that. I love for the most part Adams doesn't miss when he is left alone. Wish he had more confidence in his three point shot.

 

[Matrim55]

The zone offense was much better yesterday with different players flashing to the foul line and others times with dribble penetration. We missed open shots and lay ups. The crazy thing is that despite only scoring those 2 points I thot we had better flow and intensity.

Agree 100%.

We won last night because we had so much practice against the zone earlier in the season, and thus were more prepared for it. Facey & Durham hitting those little 14-footers, Jalen getting into the teeth of it more often, good kick-outs to guys who just couldn't hit a bucket... none of that was present against Wagner, NE or BU. If it was we'd be 6-2, but oh well -- I'll trade two bad losses for a win against 'Cuse at MSG on national TV, especially when it leads to an absolute meltdown on their board (which is spectacular and on-going).

 

[MexicoHusky]

Offense stunk. No doubt, but earlier in the year our defense was really bad too. At least we had a good showing on the defensive end of the floor. I'm going to call this progress.

Most likely our offense is going to struggle all year. We have a lot of flawed players. Adams is obviously our best player, but he's a suspect shooter. Purvis is a streaky shooter and a suspect ball handler. Vitale shows some poise for a young player, but is pretty average at this point in his career. I could go on. This team just doesn't have the horses. I'm happy to simply see growth. We saw that last night. Durham looked solid in a big game. Happy to see that. We desperately need Enoch to turn some kind of corner.

 

[Hankster]

They have done it virtually every game. Wagner, Northeastern, Marymount, OSU, Oregon, Cuse, it's almost every game. We miss open looks. Like I said, I have no answers. Maybe we should storm the basket.

Actually I believe if they played those teams like last night, we win easily. Maybe not Oklahoma State. Well now that I think more, they probably would of beat them. The way Facey played.

 

[tcf15]

Agree 100%.

We won last night because we had so much practice against the zone earlier in the season, and thus were more prepared for it. Facey & Durham hitting those little 14-footers, Jalen getting into the teeth of it more often, good kick-outs to guys who just couldn't hit a bucket... none of that was present against Wagner, NE or BU. If it was we'd be 6-2, but oh well -- I'll trade two bad losses for a win against 'Cuse at MSG on national TV, especially when it leads to an absolute meltdown on their board (which is spectacular and on-going).

I didn't expect them to be going this crazy, but I sure do love seeing them call a December loss to UConn at MSG "the worst loss in program history"

 

[ctchamps]

They couldn't make a shot what can you say, they need shooters or someone to step up? If you were watching the ball movement, the open looks and the plan they had you would know the kids were sufficiently prepared for this zone and did a tremendous job attacking it with what they have.

Just have to make shots but in this case it had nothing to do with not being ready as the passion was full on, and everything to do with the kids just missing looks. If this is a shot at the staff, you're way off. And yes something does need to change, the ball needs to go in.

It's two games in a row in which the ball movement was fantastic. No one was dribbling at the top of the key and forcing a last second shot which we frequently saw with past teams against the zone. But the ball doesn't get through the hoop and people attribute that to bad execution. Not the case with the recent play of this team. It will be interesting to see how they handle the press.

 

[Palatine]

Hey Pal I have the feeling your point would have lots more supporters had we lost by 2 instead of won. Winning seems to quiet the rant out of most observers. Bottom line we have a pathetic offense. Fortunately so did Syracuse.

Yeah, we won because Syracuse shot worse than us and missed a ton of wide open threes. Our D was great down the stretch. But they could have opened a 12-2 or 16-2 if the the balls that went in and out just stayed in.

 

[ctchamps]

Yeah, we won because Syracuse shot worse than us and missed a ton of wide open threes. Our D was great down the stretch. But they could have opened a 12-2 or 16-2 if the the balls that went in and out just stayed in.

Of course they could have built a huge lead if only they made their shots. UConn had equally as many open looks and missed them during that stretch and I'd argue they had better looks. It was a net neutral.

Both teams made adjustments on defense. In the beginning the player at the key for UConn was trying to feed the player on the base line, but Cuse game planned for that. That changed when Facey and Durham made shots at the top of the key. Then Cuse made the adjustment to collapse their perimeter defense to take out that option. And fortunately for UConn Rodney hit a streak of making his shots. But before that the ball movement on the perimeter was excellent. Our shooters, Jackson and Vital, couldn't finish. But they had good looks based on execution.

The difference in this game imo was that UConn was able to go man to man at the end of the game which really threw off the rhythm of Syracuse. When Rodney starting hitting 3's Syracuse should have done the same thing. Either they don't have the personnel or Boeheim chose not to make the adjustment.

 

[BUConn10]

And I thought our board meltdowns were bad...

 

[tcf15]

And I thought our board meltdowns were bad...

It's because the only thing they can really ever fall back on is conference affiliation.

Everything else is not really going well for them. Saw this on the syracuse board, but since that 25-0 start to the 2014 season, they've gone 49-36. So it's been their inflated egos mixed with horrible regular seasons, in addition to a postseason ban, recruiting sanctions, a retiring HOF coach and the realization that their coach-in-waiting may not be the answer.