Syracuse at Oregon on Saturday Afternoon (who wins?)

[Charliebball]

Me either, but ND is WAY better than Ohio State.

(And “loss” = “good thing” is an oxymoron.)

yes it is but it's been a pretty consistent theme with Geno for a while now.........

 

[VaConnFan11]

The line is Oregon -14 with a total of 146.

I think Syracuse keeps it close, but loses.

The game played out pretty close to what I expected. Neither team looked very good. Oregon seemed to be standing around a lot and as someone else stated, Syracuse was often out of control.

 

[LoTrader]

Syracuse plays an interesting game of controlled chaos--like the Chip Kelly Oregon Football Teams of past.

 

[jonson]

I predicted Oregon would win but not by a landslide.......I don't think this game will be representative of Oregon's play throughout the season.......there are really very few teams out there that play ball like Syracuse and it's not easy to replicate their speed in practice....who wants to play a team like that this early in the season......it was clearly a trap game.....were they to play them again, I think the game would not be as close...

I'll second everything here. Saying anything definitive about where a team belongs in the scheme of things on the basis of what was basically that team's first "real" game (the one in Alaska would have been an exhibition if it had been played in Eugene) is in my view not very realistic. I feel the same about Boley, who, after all, hadn't played in a competitive game for about a year and a half. Oregon shot a bit over 40% from 3 last year, I expect things will be about the same this season. As an Oregon fan, I actually think the game was good for the Ducks; I'd also add that the attendance was very good imo: about 6,800 on a football Saturday.

I am most concerned about two things. One is Sabally letting frustration over two phantom fouls in the first half basically take her out of the entire game. That happened several times last year; it shouldn't now that she's a sophomore. The other is rebounding. Hebard was a warrior despite still being under the weather, and Ionescu certainly did her part, but both Boley and Sabally need to do a lot more if this team is to live up to its potential.

I's also like to add that this game was in many ways vintage Ionescu. Not only did she almost record another triple double (and would have, if her teammates shot the ball a little better), but, with Oregon down by 6 with less than two minutes left and Syracuse looking like it was well on the way to victory, she made two clutch 3-pointers in a row to tie the game. Kudos to Graves as well for trusting the team to do what it needed to do and not calling a time out (he was very explicit about this decision after the game). I think doing do so will pay some substantial dividends down the road.

 

[nwhoopfan]

Question for you jonson--are you surprised Boley had that much of a green light to shoot? 14 FGA in the first half, and she wasn't hitting anything after the first couple minutes of the game. I just couldn't believe that's what he wanted, but he didn't do anything to stop it.

 

[LoTrader]

I can see Boley has potential to be a killer with that quick release and range. I'm guessing Coach Graves has seen it in the practice, and, wants Boley to feel comfortable taking the shot when it is there.

 

[jonson]

Question for you jonson--are you surprised Boley had that much of a green light to shoot? 14 FGA in the first half, and she wasn't hitting anything after the first couple minutes of the game. I just couldn't believe that's what he wanted, but he didn't do anything to stop it.

I was really surprised as well, but I haven't heard anything from the coaches. Graves has said that Boley is as good a shooter as Lexi Bando was, and he has been very enthusiastic about the various options she provides given her size. She won the 3-point shooting contest (vs. Ionescu and the best 3 point shooter on the men's team) in Oregon's version of First Night, at one point hitting (if I remember correctly) about 8 in a row, and she couldn't miss during the warm up for Saturday's game. To me, most of the shots she took were good ones--and uncontested as well--as were, as far as I could see, almost all of the 3 point shots Oregon took, since Syracuse really packed in their zone around Hebard. They just didn't fall.

It's also my sense that Graves has decided to let the team play its way in and out of trouble--at least to some extent--probably as a way of toughening them up mentally. That certainly seemed to be what he was saying about the last 2 minutes, when he chose not to call a timeout when Syracuse went up by 6 and looked like it would run away with things. (I certainly thought the game was lost at that point.). As Lotrader has said, I think he's looking long term at this point and that likely means letting Boley find her way.

 

[nwhoopfan]

Thanks jonson. I seriously doubt Bando chucked up 19 shots in any game during her career, even before Ionescu and company arrived. Also I thought a few of Boley's shots inside the arc were ugly and forced. Plus she was just so quick to hoist it, looked like a ball stopper. That really doesn't play into UO's strengths. They are at their best when they are moving the ball and getting quality shots for everybody, not just one player. I think she needs to do a little self examination and never take that many shots again. Or certainly never miss 14 shots in one game ever again. Ionescu and Hebard are way too good to have a third option being that ball dominant. And she might arguably be the 4th option behind Sabally.

 

[stamfordhusky]

I'll second everything here. Saying anything definitive about where a team belongs in the scheme of things on the basis of what was basically that team's first "real" game (the one in Alaska would have been an exhibition if it had been played in Eugene) is in my view not very realistic.

As it is, it was only an exhibition game for Alaska. Their first official game was yesterday.

 

[Reypl21]

Thanks jonson. I seriously doubt Bando chucked up 19 shots in any game during her career, even before Ionescu and company arrived. Also I thought a few of Boley's shots inside the arc were ugly and forced. Plus she was just so quick to hoist it, looked like a ball stopper. That really doesn't play into UO's strengths. They are at their best when they are moving the ball and getting quality shots for everybody, not just one player. I think she needs to do a little self examination and never take that many shots again. Or certainly never miss 14 shots in one game ever again. Ionescu and Hebard are way too good to have a third option being that ball dominant. And she might arguably be the 4th option behind Sabally.

Maybe the reason why she transferred from ND is cuz she would never get 19 shots at ND like you said, many of the mid range we're very forced. Her outside shots were almost always open. She had so many open shots. I'm sure she was justing feeling more nervous than usual. On most nights she should hit a high percentage of those open threes. They almost all were wide open

 

[shizam]

so if UConn beats Ohio State by only 10 points tomorrow their season is over? What did you think when Louisville blew out Notre Dame last year?

When Lville blew out ND last year I thought ND was slow and couldn't play any defense if their life depended on it. I also thought ND was dead in the water with Mabry at pg. I would never had guessed ND would win a national championship shorthanded like they were. ND was fortunate L'ville lost to Miss State. Lville was 2-0 verse ND and matched up nicely with Hines-Allen having career games against them. ND should obliterate Lville this year. Lville has a weaker front court, unlike last year.

 

[Charliebball]

When Lville blew out ND last year I thought ND was slow and couldn't play any defense if their life depended on it. I also thought ND was dead in the water with Mabry at pg. I would never had guessed ND would win a national championship shorthanded like they were. ND was fortunate L'ville lost to Miss State. Lville was 2-0 verse ND and matched up nicely with Hines-Allen having career games against them. ND should obliterate Lville this year. Lville has a weaker front court, unlike last year.

exactly my point..............things can change on a dime..............one lousy game should never be used to write off a team's entire season............