No positives. No quality wins. Right now we are not even a NIT team. Who in the league we gonna beat down the stretch. X-men ain't laying down, and neither is Creighton. So far we shown we can beat Bucknell. The better teams in the league beat us. It's not the coaching. At some point the players must take the game. I thought a old hand like Sanchez might give D"lo a hand in big spots. Has not happened. Jordan got to the rim, and hit his foul shots. I found something good.
Syracuse GAME Thread
- Thread starter otis
- Start date
tom in salem
Well-known member
don't be such a d!ck.
I love that kid.
westchesterjoe
Active member
let's see you have 4203 posts and only 440 thank you's? that's about 10.4%
I have only 372 posts but, 54 thank you's for a 14.5 % ratio.
You should either post less or up your ratio of people who think what you are saying makes sense.
The team still has a good chance to make the NCAA but they have to win the final four OOC games and be one of the top teams in the Big East, which they absolutely can.
I was at the game and enjoyed most of it. The Syracuse crowd was annoying but the St. John's crowd was very loud when the team played well. If they would have maintained the lead it would have been awesome. I felt this game was a lot like the Wisconsin game. A big deficit in the first half, followed big runs in the second half. The leads were too much to overcome and it showed in mental mistakes against Wisconsin on the unguarded 3's after the lead was cut to 4 and the three open looks by C.J. Fair and missed free throws in the final few minutes against Syracuse. The group that was used in the second half needs to play the majority of the minutes the rest of the way. That is Harrison, Jordan, Pointer, Sampson, Sanchez and Obekpa. Branch and Greene should be reserves used when necessary, Gift should be as well. That leaves the mystery as to what to do with Hooper. I think he needs to be used in the next three games to see how well he does, so when the Big East season starts he is less of a mystery. Finally, the switch to the zone for part of the second half was helpful. Good observation Sirvoo.
It was clear that even Cuse players feared getting blocked by Obekpa. I never like to question coaching moves or point fingers, but that was a real questionable sub we made taking him out late in the 2nd half while we were grooving. Clearly gave Cuse confidence to get to the rim. Also, we need to push and push and push the ball faster up the court every time. Our half court offense is very lacking, it seemed they finally got the point in the second half but it should be further stressed that we are a fast break running team. Sanchez, keeps laying duds, has been very disappointing hopefully he steps it up at some point. Hopefully we can make some noise.
Their is no other way to spin this other than it was a disappointing loss at home. We had the two point lead and then just faded away. I wanted to see these guys get the win but they didn't step up at the end. Again it was all right there and we let opportunity slip away. 
beast of the east
Active member
Just got back from the Garden.
Any negative talk about this game is pure nonsense. They went toe to toe with the #2 team in the country for nearly the entire game. They fell behind in the 1st half only because of poor shooting, nothing more. They fought back and had the Garden rocking. They ran out of steam at the foul line, ironic because they were 17 for 20 when Sampson stepped to the line for two.
Nothing to be embarrassed about, and plenty to look forward to. Our team is just as talented as theirs. We will be playing in March.
Any negative talk about this game is pure nonsense. They went toe to toe with the #2 team in the country for nearly the entire game. They fell behind in the 1st half only because of poor shooting, nothing more. They fought back and had the Garden rocking. They ran out of steam at the foul line, ironic because they were 17 for 20 when Sampson stepped to the line for two.
Nothing to be embarrassed about, and plenty to look forward to. Our team is just as talented as theirs. We will be playing in March.
westchesterjoe
Active member
That's a little disappointing but, shows the team hasn't yet convinced NYERS they can win the big game.. IF YOU WIN THEY WILL COME...
jumbo_peanuts
Active member
Yes....it was all Jakaar's fault. He single handedly blew the game for us. The loss had absolutely nothing to do with us shooting 1-15 from 3pt range. When you shoot an astounding 6.7% from three, you expect to win every game.
westchesterjoe
Active member
Absolutely correct...Fair and Ennis were the difference down the stretch.. Harrison and Sampson fell a bit short down the stretch..DLO'S late shot selection was poor decision making..
At some point, even Lavin has to admit this is as poor a shooting team as can be and still win a few games. The stats on our shooting are just awful..
It's apparent Lavin will not play MAX or Marco any meaningful minutes. Why wasn't HOOPER on the floor for some late shooting, instead of Dom? Cooney plays for Syracuse because he can shoot, excepting today. You have to offset Shooters defensive liabilities by better team defense from the other 4 guys..
Lavin has to go all out to scour the country for a credible shooter next year.. I mean a top 100 kid whose game is all about shooting, regardless of any other skills. even top 200 kid.
I can't understand why some posters believe that Hooper (a 2 ** player out of high school who sat on an Ivy roster in favor of non scholarship teammates) can play in the Big East. Hopefully the time will come when fans understand that Hooper is not a high level player.
Just returned from the Garden. It was great to see the place packed and full of energy. When we made our second half run the Garden was totally rocking. A great game to bring a recruit to.
After sleepwalking through the first half, St. John's came alive in the second half sparked by putting on their full court press. Unfortunately the press was a change up but not something that the Red Storm stuck with and maintained. When in transition St. John's was as good or better than Syracuse, but in the half court they struggled and did not deal well with the Syracuse match-up zone. It was also clear that our interior players had trouble dealing with the size of the Syracuse big people and our whole team struggled against Syracuse's length and size.
That being said with 5:48 left we had the momentum and were up by two with Sanchez going to the line to try and complete a three point play. From there through the end of the game we struggled mightily. On top of missing four straight free throws down the stretch. We missed our last 10 shots from the floor and turned the ball over a couple of times also. Syracuse defense helped some of our struggles but there was also problems with our execution that contributed to the problems.
The good news is that we played much better than the number two team in the country for about fourteen minutes and we were able to come back from a thirteen point second half deficit to take the lead with under six minutes to play.
As always there is a cup half empty or a cup half full view that can be taken from games like this. I think if we play more to our strengths (speed, depth, full court pressure and transition offense) we can play and beat anyone. I am not sue why we don't press those advantages more often.
After sleepwalking through the first half, St. John's came alive in the second half sparked by putting on their full court press. Unfortunately the press was a change up but not something that the Red Storm stuck with and maintained. When in transition St. John's was as good or better than Syracuse, but in the half court they struggled and did not deal well with the Syracuse match-up zone. It was also clear that our interior players had trouble dealing with the size of the Syracuse big people and our whole team struggled against Syracuse's length and size.
That being said with 5:48 left we had the momentum and were up by two with Sanchez going to the line to try and complete a three point play. From there through the end of the game we struggled mightily. On top of missing four straight free throws down the stretch. We missed our last 10 shots from the floor and turned the ball over a couple of times also. Syracuse defense helped some of our struggles but there was also problems with our execution that contributed to the problems.
The good news is that we played much better than the number two team in the country for about fourteen minutes and we were able to come back from a thirteen point second half deficit to take the lead with under six minutes to play.
As always there is a cup half empty or a cup half full view that can be taken from games like this. I think if we play more to our strengths (speed, depth, full court pressure and transition offense) we can play and beat anyone. I am not sue why we don't press those advantages more often.