2013-2014 Syracuse Basketball: Same Zone, New Conference

[LeoCarrillo]

A loss like this could cost Syracuse a number seed especially with other tough games down the stretch.

 
Pump the brakes. They win Saturday at Duke and they're still No. 1 when the rankings come out Monday. If they lose, well, then you start looking at a loss @Virginia and a loss in the ACC tourney possibly pushing them to a 2.
 
Edit: I guess that's what you were saying with "tough games down the stretch." Fair enough. But by the same token, wins in those tough games will weigh heavily too. Let's say they win @Duke, lose one more regular season, lose at some point late in the ACC Tourney. That's still a 1 seed.

 

[mabrowndog]

Play with fire long enough.....

Not playing well right now at all. When you can't even use your bench against this BC team then you know you're in trouble. BC made the shots they needed to make, including both ends of 1 and 1, which seemed to plague the Orange all night.

 
Christmas missed the back ends three times, Grant missed back ends twice along with another miss after a bucket. Ennis missed a front end of a shooting foul.
 
17/24 from the stripe. BC was 9/10. The Eagles only had 6 FTA until there were 26 sec left in OT.

 

[StuckOnYouk]

If Florida beats Miss saturday they'll be #1, regardless of what Cuse does at Duke.

 

[mabrowndog]

If Florida beats Miss saturday they'll be #1, regardless of what Cuse does at Duke.

 
After nearly losing to Auburn in Gainesville tonight? I'll believe it when I see it.
 
And there's no chance whatsoever of it happening if Cuse beats Duke. None.

 

[ivanvamp]

Horrible game tonight.  Well for those who think that losing a game before the tourney is a good thing, there you go.  
 
I just want Keita to come back and to start getting this team firing on all pistons.  They're still going to be a tough out.  But man, losing *at home* to a 6-19 team?  Brutal.

 

[StuckOnYouk]

 
After nearly losing to Auburn in Gainesville tonight? I'll believe it when I see it.
 
And there's no chance whatsoever of it happening if Cuse beats Duke. None.

 
Cuse has nearly lost to several suspect teams this year, including recently. Narrow wins have counted in the polls as just that for them - wins. I assume Florida would get the same treatment.
 
Now if Cuse wins at Duke they'll def drop just one spot to 2, obviously and Wich. State would likely stay at 3. 

 

[mabrowndog]

 
Cuse has nearly lost to several suspect teams this year, including recently. Narrow wins have counted in the polls as just that for them - wins. I assume Florida would get the same treatment.

 
Florida has played a tougher non-conference schedule, which is why they continue to get brownie points for the losses at Wisc & UConn, but the SEC is a complete joke compared to the ACC. I suppose I should know better by now than to underestimate the stupidity and ignorance of poll voters, but if Cuse bounces back with a huge win at Cameron I have to have faith sanity will prevail.

 

[StuckOnYouk]

In the history of these polls, aren't simple slide up for wins and slide down for losses virtually automatic? The only question is how high do you rise and how low do you fall.
 
A Duke win would be very good for Cuse and keep them at 2 I would think, but losing at home to BC is a horrific loss.  

 

[mabrowndog]

I just don't see how you move a 2-loss Florida team that plays in (at best) the 8th-toughest conference -- and just escaped a home loss to 12-12 Auburn by a pube's width -- past a 1-loss Syracuse team that plays in (at worst) the 5th-best conference if they rebound from their first defeat (in OT) to win on the road against what is arguably the 5th-best team in the nation.

 

[jon abbey]

Does Syracuse play their starters that much all the time? They averaged almost 42 minutes apiece tonight, that is crazy. 

 

[StuckOnYouk]

I just don't see how you move a 2-loss Florida team that plays in (at best) the 8th-toughest conference -- and just escaped a home loss to 12-12 Auburn by a pube's width -- past a 1-loss Syracuse team that plays in (at worst) the 5th-best conference if they rebound from their first defeat (in OT) to win on the road against what is arguably the 5th-best team in the nation.

 
If they win at Duke, they'll be 2. If they lose at Duke they'll be 4 or 5. That's just how it's gonna go down. 
 
Of course that's assuming Fla and Wich State win their games...as well as Arizona I guess.

 

[ivanvamp]

Does Syracuse play their starters that much all the time? They averaged almost 42 minutes apiece tonight, that is crazy. 

 
They have an 8-man rotation, but two of them are injured (Coleman, a 6'9" center, is out for the year, and Keita, a 6'10" center, is out for a little while).  They only have one real big man on the roster that can play right now in Christmas.  They have always only had just one backup backcourt player (Gbinije), so they're fortunate to not have had any injuries in the backcourt.  
 
Roberson occasionally plays, but right now they're looking at a 6-man team.  And that's one of the biggest reasons why SU plays at such a slow pace.  They just don't have enough people to run all game long.  
 
The Keita loss is huge for them right now.  They've struggled without him, as it's really killed their depth down low.  Now anyone gets in foul trouble or anything and they just don't have enough people.  It's not shocking they lost during this stretch, though I never thought it would be to Boston freaking College at home.  
 
You know, it's interesting.  SU played shorthanded in two recent games:  at Pitt, a ranked team, and home vs. BC (they played a pretty decent NC State team in-between, but let's just focus on Pitt and BC).  The win at Pitt was a great win.  Winning there is always tough, and winning on the road vs. a ranked team is always very difficult to do.  But losing at home to an utterly crap team is just awful.  So how much credit does SU get for winning at Pitt and how much credit gets taken away by losing at home vs BC?
 
Now imagine those games were reversed.  Say SU lost at Pitt and won at home vs BC.  How much credit do they get for a close loss at Pitt, and how much credit do they get for a close win at home vs BC?  Would it have been better for SU to win at Pitt and lose vs BC, or to lose at Pitt and win vs BC?
 
How do you think pollsters think about those things?  How do the computers reflect those things?

 

[LeoCarrillo]

My brother, also an SU grad but a true negativist/defeatist sports fan, does raise this barely silver lining: If we lose at Duke, at least now the annoying Cameron Crazies won't have their "toppled an undefeated No. 1" rush the court fun.

He drives me nuts with his negativity, but that one kinda almost makes sense.

 

[DukeSox]

My brother, also an SU grad but a true negativist/defeatist sports fan, does raise this barely silver lining: If we lose at Duke, at least now the annoying Cameron Crazies won't have their "toppled an undefeated No. 1" rush the court fun.

He drives me nuts with his negativity, but that one kinda almost makes sense.

That wouldn't happen anyway.

 

[bsj]

Worse loss than the DePaul loss in 2006 IMO insofar as the way the opponent was playing, where the game took place, and what the impact will be. 
 
I expect disagreement on this point. 

 

[ivanvamp]

I don't disagree, bsj.  It was an atrocious loss.  No way to spin this as a positive.  Just a terrible performance.

 

[Rossox]

The 39 pt loss to Depaul is still by far the worst beating of the Boeheim era. At least Cuse was in last night's game (up 13 in the 2nd half at one point) and it took OT for them to lose. That said, this loss IMO is more inexcusable given the circumstances you mentioned above, bsj. However, given the recent run of play and last second victories, I can't say I am that surprised. That is telling considering BC was 6-19 heading into last night's game.
 
Why am I not more shocked today?

 

[bsj]

Why am I not more shocked today?

 
Because we are Syracuse fans. 

 

[Dgilpin]

 
If they win at Duke, they'll be 2. If they lose at Duke they'll be 4 or 5. That's just how it's gonna go down. 
 
Of course that's assuming Fla and Wich State win their games...as well as Arizona I guess.

Regard less of the outcome of the Duke game, Syracuse will still have the strongest resume out of all of those teams. Leaving them still in a great position for a 1 seed absent a really rough finish to the season

 

[The Filthy One]

All of this discussion of the Duke game as if it won't be a double-digit loss seems comical to me. I know anything can happen, but Cuse is struggling on offense so badly right now, it's difficult to imagine them keeping pace with one of the best offensive teams in the country on Saturday. But I guess stranger things have happened (like, for instance, losing to BC).

 

[ivanvamp]

I think there's a very good chance Syracuse gets absolutely roasted this weekend.  They haven't been playing very well for several games now, though I will say that the loss of Keita is huge for them - they have absolutely no depth at all right now.  And so, for example, the win at Pitt was gigantic (yes, lucky shot, but still).  But SU could get blown out in Cameron.
 
That said, Syracuse, when they're on, is easily as good as any team in the country.  So if they can bring their A game, they can win it.  But 80/20 they get beat badly.

 

[DukeSox]

80/20? badly? lol man watching cuse ball for a while really has jaded you guys

 

[Rossox]

80/20? badly? lol man watching cuse ball for a while really has jaded you guys

 
You have no idea.

 

[benhogan]

If their is one criticism you can lay on Boeheim , which isn't really fair since he has built an absolute juggernaut in the middle of the arctic tundra, is his use of the bench. He probably needs take whatever perceived pain the team will receive now and give more minutes to Gbinjie and some minutes to Roberson.  The regular season title in the ACC is nice and all, but we need to be able to go 8 deep in order to make a deep run in the tournament.

 

[8slim]

Boeheim plays a short bench and Boeheim plays a zone defense. There's no point in discussing either because they ain't changing.

Guy's won more than 900 games so he gets the benefit of the doubt from me.

I wouldn't be at all surprised if we win Saturday. Keep the faith, people.

 

[ivanvamp]

I want this win so badly today.  It would be just incredible for SU to put together a complete game today and whip Duke in Cameron.  God, I'd love to see that.
 
Not expecting it, but man…..

 

[The Filthy One]

Ennis needs to look for his shot today. It seemed like he was tentative until the final few minutes against BC. It's fine to be a facilitator but with Cooney not firing and Grant somewhat inconsistent on offense, Ennis is the second best scoring option. Duke worked very hard to keep the ball out of his hands all game last time. It will be interesting to see how Syracuse handles that this time around.

 

[WayBackVazquez]

You guys are 25-1. You absolutely should be expecting a win. This isn't one of those special Duke teams.

Duke is a 6-point favorite, rated better than Syracuse by every reputable system, and playing with one of the best home-court advantages in all of sports.

 

[WayBackVazquez]

So what? This Syracuse team is very good. They're not as good as their record but they clearly match up with Duke very well. Sure, you give the slight edge to Duke being at home but I think Syracuse takes this one.

Okay, well you should really jump on this one, because the oddsmakers give more than a slight edge to Duke. You'll get 2.3 to 1 on Cuse to win.

 

[DukeSox]

In Cameron and props to the shit load of Cuse fans in the upper bowl who blew their life savings to be here. That's good ACC dedication, baby!

 

[DukeSox]

With a capital A!

 

[mabrowndog]

So far tonight Cuse has missed a gimme layup, a driving dunk from the wing, and failed to execute a basic box-out on Plumlee who came into the lane uncontested for a rebound and slam. Despite those gaffes, they're up 7.
 
EDIT - And they miss yet another layup. Jesus, Grant, you need to finish the easy shit. And now he misses both FTs.

 

[DukeSox]

Ennis rhymes with penis

 

[mabrowndog]

Ennis rhymes with penis

 
DukeSox rhymes with cunt.

 

[mabrowndog]

Christmas picks up #3 less than 20 seconds into the 2nd half after having a defensive board stripped. Idiot.

 

[ivanvamp]

Great, Grant is hurt. That's very bad news.

 

[ivanvamp]

Sissy little hand check call for Keita's fourth. Great.

 

[The Filthy One]

That call is some big-name, celebrity bull shit.

 

[mabrowndog]

That call is some big-name, celebrity bull shit.

 
I expect nothing less at Cameron.

 

[ivanvamp]

That call is some big-name, celebrity bull shit.

There can't be a soul on earth that didn't think that the foul discrepancy would favor Duke today.

Edit: and Grant gets absolutely hammered and no call.

 

[mabrowndog]

Get ready to see the rarely-viewed deepest of the deep from the Cuse bench, because four of their key big guys are likely going to foul out tonight.

 

[mabrowndog]

There can't be a soul on earth that didn't think that the foul discrepancy would favor Duke today.

 
Which is why the stupid reactive reach-in by Christmas for his 3rd hurts so much. Totally unnecessary.

 

[ivanvamp]

Which is why the stupid reactive reach-in by Christmas for his 3rd hurts so much. Totally unnecessary.

Yep, agreed.

 

[ivanvamp]

Geez, is there a rule that says you're allowed to just beat the crap out of Grant at will?

 

[mabrowndog]

Great up & down move by Grant for the earned bucket.
 
Cuse finally getting more aggressive on the box-outs & boards. But Ennis can't finish on the other end.
 
EDIT - And just as I post, a completely non-boxed-out Parker gets an uncontested follow-up slam. Jesus, that's awful.

 

[Greg29fan]

Obvious missed and one on that Christmas slam dunk

 

[mabrowndog]

You have GOT to be fucking shitting me with that foul call. 

 

[Bob Montgomerys Helmet Hat]

Oh my god

 

[ivanvamp]

Utter utter utter BS.

Especially in light of the blocking call on the Parker drive, and the non calls on the Grant and Christmas baskets.

Brutal.

And yes, I agree, they HAD to throw Boeheim out there.

 

[The Filthy One]

Ha. Yeah, ok.