Syracuse – Louisville Postgame Reactions OR How To Ruin Another Milestone
3 Comments Published on 1.29.2007 by Brian Harrison
These kids are really starting to piss me off.I should have known better. No less then three of my friends asked me before this weekend, “Hey do you think we’ll win on Saturday?” I replied with my usual honesty that yes, I thought we had a good chance of winning. Louisville was looking like they were on a down swing, and I really thought we had the chance to bounce back from St. John’s, all while being motivated by Boeheim’s 1,000th game. I hate being wrong to my friends.
The bad from this game is immense. A field goal drought of over nine minutes in the second half. This is what Jim Boeheim himself would say is “un-fucking-believable.” With a team as “talented” as Syracuse is on paper we sure looked like a Mid-Major team in the second half. No, not one of the good ones. We couldn’t buy a basket and it was more frustrating then a lot of things are on a Saturday night.
We were outrebounded. We looked defeated last night before the final horn. Desperation threes, no hustle, and no heart were our trademarks Saturday night. I’ll expound on this later in the essay, but we played like this game didn’t matter, or we did not need a win. This is not the way you can play in the Big East.
Turnovers lose ballgames. We committed 17 to their 11. Sloppy inbound passes, poor dribbling choices, passes out of bounds, and fancy moves that result in looking foolish caused us to make 17. Somebody needs to sit these kids down to watch Boeheim On Basketball. This is still the most disturbing trend for the Orange, and one that is most indicative of success.
Devendorf played well. Every time I thought he had a good outlet pass he simply drove the lane and scored at will (before the 10 minute mark in the second half). He looked sharp, played smart basketball (when not turning the ball over) and generally had a nice outing, scoring 18 points off the bench.
Terrance Roberts looked fantastic in the first half. He was shooting well, making moves on the basket, following shots, and generally being dominant like he is supposed to be. I like that. Too bad it didn’t continue.
Darryl Watkins also played excellent defense in the game. He is finally becoming a center that can block and play position in a competent manner. He even got a little love from The Sporting News recently. It was not enough however.
Can someone explain to me why we waited to foul Louisville with under a minute, but only after letting the shot clock wind down 30 seconds? Shouldn’t we have just fouled them early and maybe try to mount a comeback? Is anyone with me on this?
All in all a poor basketball night. The game started off great, and we had a nice 12 point lead in the contest before the wheels fell of the wagon, which made it all the most frustrating. What this team needs is a nice healthy dose of heart. This team should start watching Friday Night Lights for a little “clear eyes, full heart, can’t lose.” The reason our season is unraveling is we are not playing quality team basketball. There is no clear leader on this team. It should be Nichols, or hell even Devendorf, but someone needs to take responsibility for this boondoggle so far, right the ship, and lead this team the rest of the way. Jim Boeheim is doing his part, I’m sure. I’m sorry he couldn’t get that 1,000th game to be a W. At least he won number 700. Also, let’s all hope we can get a quality win against Notre Dame in the Dome on the U.
The bad from this game is immense. A field goal drought of over nine minutes in the second half. This is what Jim Boeheim himself would say is “un-fucking-believable.” With a team as “talented” as Syracuse is on paper we sure looked like a Mid-Major team in the second half. No, not one of the good ones. We couldn’t buy a basket and it was more frustrating then a lot of things are on a Saturday night.
We were outrebounded. We looked defeated last night before the final horn. Desperation threes, no hustle, and no heart were our trademarks Saturday night. I’ll expound on this later in the essay, but we played like this game didn’t matter, or we did not need a win. This is not the way you can play in the Big East.
Turnovers lose ballgames. We committed 17 to their 11. Sloppy inbound passes, poor dribbling choices, passes out of bounds, and fancy moves that result in looking foolish caused us to make 17. Somebody needs to sit these kids down to watch Boeheim On Basketball. This is still the most disturbing trend for the Orange, and one that is most indicative of success.
Devendorf played well. Every time I thought he had a good outlet pass he simply drove the lane and scored at will (before the 10 minute mark in the second half). He looked sharp, played smart basketball (when not turning the ball over) and generally had a nice outing, scoring 18 points off the bench.
Terrance Roberts looked fantastic in the first half. He was shooting well, making moves on the basket, following shots, and generally being dominant like he is supposed to be. I like that. Too bad it didn’t continue.
Darryl Watkins also played excellent defense in the game. He is finally becoming a center that can block and play position in a competent manner. He even got a little love from The Sporting News recently. It was not enough however.
Can someone explain to me why we waited to foul Louisville with under a minute, but only after letting the shot clock wind down 30 seconds? Shouldn’t we have just fouled them early and maybe try to mount a comeback? Is anyone with me on this?
All in all a poor basketball night. The game started off great, and we had a nice 12 point lead in the contest before the wheels fell of the wagon, which made it all the most frustrating. What this team needs is a nice healthy dose of heart. This team should start watching Friday Night Lights for a little “clear eyes, full heart, can’t lose.” The reason our season is unraveling is we are not playing quality team basketball. There is no clear leader on this team. It should be Nichols, or hell even Devendorf, but someone needs to take responsibility for this boondoggle so far, right the ship, and lead this team the rest of the way. Jim Boeheim is doing his part, I’m sure. I’m sorry he couldn’t get that 1,000th game to be a W. At least he won number 700. Also, let’s all hope we can get a quality win against Notre Dame in the Dome on the U.
Labels: Basketball, Big East
Devo played well? What game did you watch? He had a decent first half, but his turnovers and inability to run the point down the stretch really cost us this game. Don't get me wrong, I love the kid...but he made some very foolish, sloppy, dumb mistakes on Saturday night. Would Harris have been worse?
Rhody,
If you actually read the recap I distinguished the second half, as well as the turnovers, the majority of which came in immediate succession. But, you have to admit that he pretty much could go to the basket and score anytime he wished in that first half. He also lead the team in scoring and consistantly makes free throws.
And yes, Harris would have been worse. At this point I am willing to chalk up much of his play on the fact he is a freshman. It's only fair. There is only one Carmelo and he's not him, even though we all wanted to believe what Jimmy Boeheim said at the start of the season.
Thanks for reading.
Can someone explain to me why we waited to foul Louisville with under a minute, but only after letting the shot clock wind down 30 seconds? Shouldn’t we have just fouled them early and maybe try to mount a comeback? Is anyone with me on this?
I was beside myself when they waited like forty seconds to foul him. I just assumed they were giving up...I think it sums a lot of things up about these guys. At the end of the game with things on the line, do these guys know how to finish? Do they know what to do in a pressure situation? I'm afraid we know what the answer is...