Syracuse 87 - St. Rose 69: Introducing Michael Carter-Williams
by Sean Keeley on Nov 9, 2011 8:01 AM EST
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Despite the fact that it looked at times like the Syracuse Orange were playing a collection of small children, Tuesday night's exhibition game against College of St. Rose seemed a very close call.
Shades of LeMoyne dance in our heads until SU remembered they were SU and St. Rose was St. Rose before pulling away for the 87-69 victory.
Leading the charge defensively were the Orange backup guards, Michael Carter-Williams and Dion Waiters.
Carter-Williams checked in for Jardine after the senior point guard tried an ill-advised alley-oop attempt, and helped provide intensity in the backcourt both offensively and defensively.
By the way, congrats for the first sentence of the year that includes "Scoop Jardine" and "ill-advised." It truly is college hoops season.
Statistically, this one was fairly ugly. Syracuse was out-rebounded 38-33 by a team with no one bigger than 6'7". The game was basically neck-and-neck until about the 15:00 mark of the second half.
Still, it was nice to see the young guys react and step up when needed. The full court press proved too much for the Golden Knights to overcome and emerged as a secret weapon in the Orange arsenal:
"We pressed them and we saw that it worked,’’ Joseph said. "So we kept that going for a little bit. We got a lot of steals and we got points off of those turnovers. That’s what changed the game for us.’
"It’s definitely a bad thing,’’ Jardine said. "No disrespect to St. Rose, but it’s definitely a bad thing to use it when we should’ve easily beat them by 20 points without it. But I want to give St. Rose some credit, a lot of credit.’’
Michael Carter-Williams especially made his mark in this one.After a so-so outing in the first exhibition hame, MWC calmed down and showed off his multi-talent abilities:
Carter-Williams said he "felt a lot more comfortable" in the flow of Tuesday’s game. He is adjusting to the annual freshman anguish about the speed and physicality of college athletes. And in the second half, he offered tantalizing glimpses of the player who scored 2,260 career points at St. Andrews.
For starters, he took three 3-pointers and made all of them.
And then he demonstrated some solid point guard skills.
Kris Joseph led the Orange with 12 points and Michael Carter-Williams followed closely with 11. Fab Melo, Dion Waiters and C.J. Fair all added eight points as well. Baye Moussa Keita led the Orange with 7 rebounds while Scoop Jardine recorded five steals (Full boxscore).
At the end of the day, we didn't lose any exhibition games this year and that's a win. The season begins for reals this Saturday against Fordham with tipoff set for 4:00 p.m. If you haven't already, make sure you read Orange Tip-Off to get up to speed and be ready.
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Is it just me
Or is Scoop the entire essence of the SU football team boiled down into one B Ball player.
by Pingl000 on Nov 9, 2011 8:58 AM EST reply actions 1 recs
I am afraid
that this team will be limited by Scoop’s basketball IQ. On some day in March, Scoop will have a debacle of a game (or series of minutes) and our season will end. Unlike our football team, however, Scoop has top 15 talent as a PG. The entire problem is within his head. And that is what maddens me. No excuse whatsoever…
Dictated, but not read.
http://atlanticcoastconfidential.wordpress.com/
Ive pretty much determined
(I posted this in the game thread, but I am going to post it here too.)
Mookie is poison out there.
Sure, he took two 3pt two shots in that game and made one, but the other was an airball from the corner. Just plain awful.
If you plot the scoring by the other team in both exhibition games, it spikes when Mookie is out there. He provides no spark off the bench, has no defensive ability never seems to have his head in the game. And during real games, we cant have setbacks like that -that tie us up with a D2 school. He is the same as last year, the year before that, and the year before that. Absolutely no change in his game.
If I never see him take the court again, I would not miss him at all.
For the love of God, our walk ons at the end had more hustle out there than he did.
I wouldn't say poison
But definitely not helpful. For whatever reason he can’t/won’t play defesnse. And that’s why he doesn’t play. Point blank. I kept an eye on him whenever he was in and he always had his hands down by his knees on defense. You can’t guard anybody like that.
"If I ain't gonna be part of the greatest, I gotta be the greatest myself." Busta Rhymes
by FeloniousPhunk on Nov 9, 2011 10:11 AM EST up reply actions
I dont want to be a Mookie hater
but into his fourth year, I see no progress. And its at the point where he drags the teams play down when he gets minutes.
He missed a pass in the last exhibition game cause he was looking to see if he was outside the 3 point line. C’mon man!!!
I don't have any hate for Mookie
Yeah, he’s basically a waste of a scholarship, but no more so than Ethan Cole or Matt Gorman ever was. He’s had his moments on Twitter and the like, but otherwise he hasn’t been a detriment to the team or anything. At this point, he gets to play the game he loves at a high level every day, while getting a top notch education for free with the potential bonus of maybe being along for a national title ride. You can’t fault him for sticking around as long as the team would have him.
Speaking of that, Jim B sort of has a reputation for running players out of the program. But I think Mookie is evidence to the contrary. It would have been easy to Jim B to say, “You don’t belong here, transfer to Iona or someplace where you can be the big fish in the little pond.” But he stood by his commitment to Mookie that, as long as he wasn’t hurting the team, he’d have a place on the bench. Waaay down on the bench.
"If I ain't gonna be part of the greatest, I gotta be the greatest myself." Busta Rhymes
by FeloniousPhunk on Nov 9, 2011 12:59 PM EST up reply actions
I cant fault him for sticking around
but please, no more minutes unless its garbage time.
I feel kind of sorry for the poor guy.
Don't worry
He’s never going to play unless we’re up 40, so it shouldn’t be an issue.
He’s, what, the 13th man on this team? Brandon Reese might get playing time before him.
http://cusepulp.blogspot.com/
by Lots of Pulp on Nov 9, 2011 10:37 AM EST up reply actions
I am OK with that
That boy can hustle, and he is seriously the fastest point guard on this team. I have never seen Triche, Scoop or even Johnny run the floor against a defender like him. I always felt he was one of the reasons our PGs were as good as they were the last few years, because they have him defending them up and down the court.
Reese
Is kind of the epitome of what I mentioned on the difference between DI and DII players. Brandon Reese would be a star in DII. He’s quick, scrappy, can handle the ball. But he’s 5-11 and likely couldn’t jump over a broomstick.
"If I ain't gonna be part of the greatest, I gotta be the greatest myself." Busta Rhymes
by FeloniousPhunk on Nov 9, 2011 1:06 PM EST up reply actions
In college, I worked with a guy who was a starter on a D3 team. I would watch him shoot by himself and he’d consistently make 9 out of 10 three pointers. The guy almost never missed when he was shooting around. I asked him why he didn’t play D1 ball. He said that at the D1 level, everyone shoots as well or better than him (in practice) but has an additional 4 inches, and is significantly stronger and faster. When open, he could shoot with the big boys, but he said, he would’ve had a hell of a time ever getting an open shot against a legit D1 guard and that he would’ve been an absolute liability on defense.
When I was in school, I played a lot of pick-up ball and had the unfortunate duty of guarding James Theus – a decidedly average player at SU – who was soooooooo much better than anyone I’d ever played against in my entire life (including the aforementioned D3 starter). After breaking my ankles a few times, Theus took pity on me and just drained 3 pointer after 3 pointer.
It just goes to show how incredibly good any of these guys are.
http://twitter.com/#!/TeabagDunk
I feel you
When I played in HS, there was a guy in who dominated our league who ended up going to St. Rose. He averaged like 30 PPG. for at least two years in HS. But ours was was the type of league where it was a big deal is someone dunked in a game. I’m 6’5", and I played center. That kind of league.
"If I ain't gonna be part of the greatest, I gotta be the greatest myself." Busta Rhymes
by FeloniousPhunk on Nov 9, 2011 4:45 PM EST up reply actions
My Two Cents
After watching these two games, it occurs to me that the greatest gap between DI and DII isn’t in talent. Those DII guys can play. It’s more in size and athleticism. So, in that regard, I’m not surprised or even disappointed that St. Rose was able to keep it close for a half on thecombination of smart play and great outside shooting and lazy play by the Orange. That’s not to say that I don’t expect Syracuse to win such a game by anything less than 20, but I’m not going to blow a gasket when the score is tied at halftime.
As for Syracuse’s performance, I have to talk about the defense. It was lazy and porous in the first half, but once they turned it on, it looked great. 12 blocks in a game is a lot, I don’t care who you’re playing. Rakeem, Fab and BMK are all legit shot blockers, not just guys that’ll occasionally get a finger on a ball. And I’d put CJ in that category as well. He has potential to be a Wes Johnson caliber shot blocker. Not many teams have 4 guys like that. I like what MCW does on the defensive end as well. He applies great ball pressure and will be a monster at the top of the zone with that length. But I loved the charge (again). Not only does it show smart play, but it shows a willingness to get knocked on his ass for the team. That’s maturity you don’t see from most young players. Lastly, someone had mentioned after the CSULA game that they didn’t think the press would be a big part of the defensive game plan. I didn’t see the press then, but watching it against St. Rose, it looked great to me. It might not be quite as effective against stronger competition, but it was long and active. This team is one of the longest Orange squads I’ve ever seen and I think it could be an ideal pressing team
Offensively, what stood out to me is the 3pt shooting. There may not be a deadly shooter that will crack the regular rotation, but there are 6 guys (Scoop, Triche, KJ, Waiters, MCW, Fair) that shoot it good enough to garner close attention by opposing defenses. Being able to have 3 dangerous 3pt shooters on the floor at all times is just as good as one dead-eye guy. What also impressed me was the fact that, for the most part, they were good threes. Scoop shot (and made) one no-pass pull up. But otherwise, they were taken off high screens, baseline runs and drive and kick action. The 6 guys I mentioned are all good enough shooters that I’m comfortable with any one of them throwing it up there in any one of those situations.
As for individual performances, obviously, MCW played great. Waiters started off in his “me first” mode, but eventually settled in and had a nice game. I think Fair showed that his 3pt shot is legit, so long as he’s judicious with it. The bigs did what I expect of them all season; block shots, rebound, convert dump offs and offensive boards and generally just be active. I think Fab also showed that his little 15 footer is legit. I was disappointed, though, that Triche, KJ and Scoop all were kind of non-factors. They all had a nice play here and there (who said Triche can’t dunk?) and I realize that they didn’t play a lot of minutes. But I’d like for the three of them (Triche and KJ in particular) to make their presence known regardless of the opponent. That being said, I’m not too worried about it…yet.
All in all, I thought it was a solid enough performance. I look forward to a real game where Jim B will play his real game plan and smack Fordham by 50.
"If I ain't gonna be part of the greatest, I gotta be the greatest myself." Busta Rhymes
by FeloniousPhunk on Nov 9, 2011 10:07 AM EST reply actions 1 recs
Yeah
But there wasn’t any Wow factor to it. And that’s fine. I’m not surprised, really. I mean, it’s not like this was the type of game where KJ, or anyone else, had to impose their will, so to speak. We’ll have to see how thing go in crunch time of big games.
"If I ain't gonna be part of the greatest, I gotta be the greatest myself." Busta Rhymes
by FeloniousPhunk on Nov 9, 2011 10:32 AM EST up reply actions
It's funny
b/c 2 years ago Wes did that almost every game. You’d think he hadn’t done much, then look up and find that he had 15 points with 5 minutes to go.
Without Gerry McNamara we wouldn't have won 10 f-- games, not 10
by PoetryInMoten on Nov 9, 2011 10:52 AM EST up reply actions
Its funny PoetryinMoten
cause I remember that about Moten too. Not that he disappeared or was frustrating to watch. But I remember watching plenty of his games and thinking at the end, oh man, Moten didnt do much today. Then find out he had 24 points. Moten had that smooth factor that made everything look so easy tho.
by Mike Will is DoubleDown on Nov 9, 2011 10:57 AM EST up reply actions
Nickname
fit so well. His game was so smooth.
Without Gerry McNamara we wouldn't have won 10 f-- games, not 10
by PoetryInMoten on Nov 9, 2011 12:59 PM EST up reply actions
I love your handle btw
…just got to thinking – are we sure that shooting with Hazell was a robbery attempt? He was on pace to take this record wasn’t he? lol
F#&% the Big East
Demetris Nichols
had games like that, too, his senior year. He’d quietly chip away some threes and you’d feel like he didn’t do much, but he always seemed to have a 20 point game.
Other people look, Andy Rautins can SEE.
Both KJ and Wes
And Moten for that matter, were understated stars. Wes, though, was an explosive athlete that usually made at least one “Wow” play a game; a weak side block, a ridiculous dunk, whatever. KJ, though, has a much smoother game. He glides to the rim rather than exploding to it. Very Gervin-esque. Both methods work, obviously, but I think that’s why it seems like KJ isn’t doing all that much.
"If I ain't gonna be part of the greatest, I gotta be the greatest myself." Busta Rhymes
by FeloniousPhunk on Nov 9, 2011 11:25 AM EST up reply actions
Little worried
that I keep hearing small snipets and digs about Rak being lazy. MCW mentioned it after the game and it seems as if its all in good fun. But if people keep saying it, then there has to be some truth to it. We can all laugh at it now and just blow it off as him being a freshman. But there are many players who hold onto that lazy tag for their entire career. I know I may be looking too much into it, but i’d rather have one of the players with the tag “injury prone” then the tag “lazy”. Lazy is not cool with me. Little concerned over here
by Mike Will is DoubleDown on Nov 9, 2011 10:27 AM EST reply actions
Lazy is fixable
Injury prone is not.
Some guys take a while to “get it.” Better that this is about a freshman than a junior.
Dictated, but not read.
http://atlanticcoastconfidential.wordpress.com/
Tell that to
JD Drew, Albert Haynesworth, and a bunch of other guys who have tried to skate by on talent alone.
Without Gerry McNamara we wouldn't have won 10 f-- games, not 10
by PoetryInMoten on Nov 9, 2011 10:54 AM EST up reply actions
Doesnt mean it will get fixed tho
With injury prone, you still have a player who will work their tale off and set an example for everyone else (well, ideally anyways). Lazy can be a cancer to everyone else. Like I said, I know he is a freshman and hopefully he will learn more about work ethic and commitment, but I hate that tag.
by Mike Will is DoubleDown on Nov 9, 2011 10:55 AM EST up reply actions
I haven't noticed lazy
I’ve noticed that Rak has some bad habits, especially on defense (slow rotations, playing with his hands down, etc.) but nothing lazy. Maybe the comments are coming from his performance in practice. I dunno. I do know that, while Rak has some natural talent, its not so much that he can skate on that alone. If he tries, BMK will take his spot in a hurry.
"If I ain't gonna be part of the greatest, I gotta be the greatest myself." Busta Rhymes
by FeloniousPhunk on Nov 9, 2011 11:28 AM EST up reply actions
Hopefully
Melo will have a big year this year. That way he can show Rak what hard work can do for ones game
by Mike Will is DoubleDown on Nov 9, 2011 11:40 AM EST up reply actions
Did You Know...
Tullys is on Twitter now? Oh come on, it was an exhibition game so I never put too much into those. I know Coach B plays around with stuff during this time and so we will see what happens when he has his roster set and the season begins…plus it is true, Tully’s is on Twitter now.
"I'm in a Syracuse State Of Mind"
http://www.syracusestateofmind.wordpress.com/
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