Syracuse 92 - Manhattan 56: Stand And Deliver

a true go-to guy to score, or a dominant 3 point shooter (I’m looking at you, ridiculous SI preview). What this team has is 7-8 players who can score on any posession, and at least 8 players that can hit a 3 pointer (counting Mookie and not counting Cooney). Watching the subs come in like hockey lines left me giddy, and I just pray Boeheim keeps the faith to run out 9-11 guys the whole season. And when you see the cameraderie and the obvious dedication that Melo, Waiters, and Fair have put into their offseasons, it makes this a very likeable team to root for. I’m simply over-excited for this season.

Is it lacrosse season already?

Some of the guys seems to have really bought into the man to man and are playing some aggressive D (Waiters, MCW, Southerland among others), which has resulted in some easy buckets. That mentality needs to continue, especially if we do actually see some more man this year.

I think this team really needs to force the turnovers and push the ball offensively. They are going to struggle in the half court game from time to time and need to create easier opportunities. Playing aggressive D will really lead to more transition buckets.

This group has a lot of length and covers a lot of ground defensively even though none of our guys are super quick.

It’s early in the season. And through 2 exhibtion games and 2 regular season games, all against vastly inferior teams in terms of athleticism and talent, it’s hard to extrapolate too many things about this team. But here’s what we know:
1. Fab Melo lost 30 pounds and is WAY more active this season. He gets up and down the court in way he never could last year. #Drink
2. Dion Waiters lost 10 pounds and is now able to finish fast breaks with decisive dunks instead of getting his shot blocked on an awkward finger roll. He also appears to have rededicated himself to the team and is intent on contributing, even if it’s off the bench. #Drink
3. CJ Fair has the ability to knock down the open 3 and Jim Boeheim has given his consent for him to take the shot. He’s quickly becoming a matchup nightmare and continues to fill up the box score with rebounds, steals, and blocks, plus all the intangibles.
4. For those, myself included, who had already written off James Southerland as the odd man out in the rotation after the first two exhibition games, he has put together back to back strong performances. I’m not sure how much of a role he’ll play, but I think it’s too soon to write him off completely.
5. Cooney is redshirting the season.
6. This is the deepest team Jim Boeheim has had in a long time, maybe ever. #Drink I don’t know if he’ll play 10 guys consistently during the season, but it’s a pretty safe bet that at least 9 guys will be seeing regular minutes.
7. Not sure that we have an ace shooter, but 7 of the 10 guys likely to see minutes are capable of knocking down the 3.

As far as Scoop, Triche, KJ, Christmas, the effectiveness of the zone, whether we’ll play man, who will be on the floor at the end of the game, who will take our last shot, how we’ll respond to adversity, whether we’ll knock down shots consistently, etc. etc. etc. – I don’t think we’ll know till November 23rd (at the earliest) and more likely December 2nd. Lots of questions, but frankly, I’m excited to find out the answers.

This kid matured a lot. That one play where he took a bad shot, missed, hustled up court, stole the ball back, and took it in for a jam was legit. He could have just as easily pouted for a split second after missing the finger roll and not had any shot at getting the ball back.

Just seeing Fab being able to play more than 2 minutes without gasping like a fish is hope inspiring.

I remember being at a game vs Miami in the 90’s (Constatine Popa was playing for them) and it seemed like we stood for a good 12 or 14 minutes before SU scored.

It was in ‘99, I believe no field goals through two media timeouts. John Linehan, PC’s 5’8’’ PG kept grabbing offensive rebounds off of missed FTs.

“That’s the thing. We’re really dangerous. I didn’t score and we still won by 36 points,” said Jardine, who had one assist, one steal, two turnovers and two rebounds in 15 minutes. “I’m happy to be a part of something like this where it’s not really all on my shoulders. When I contribute, it’s going to be big and it’s going to make us even more dangerous.”

That’s exactly what this team needs. I’m sure Scoop likes getting buckets as much as anyone. But he doesn’t want to have to be the guy all the time. He’ll do it if he has to and, as we’ve seen, the results are mixed. But, as long as guys like Waiters and KJ are playing well, I trust Scoop to know when its his time to shine and when to let someone else take over.

But I feel like (and I think we could probably come up with past examples of this) when we have a stacked team, and everyone knows it going into the summer, everyone works hard in the off-season because they know they’re going to be competing for time.

Those decisions are often made (in the early weeks) based on how guys do in practice. You can’t play well in practice if you aren’t in shape. If you’re practicing for 90 minutes or so before you even start scrimmaging 5-on-5, you’ve gotta be in shape. And if you’re gonna look better to than the three other guys who want your spot you’ve got to bring it. Makes for a better work ethic across the board.