January 29, 2006
searching for offense
The Syracuse Orange had gone 72 minutes and 31 seconds without holding a single lead. The opposition had dominated the Cuse on each end of the floor for nearly three and a half games, exposing SU's weaknesses on both offense and defense. The Orange had just started their fourth game in a row by giving up at least seven points before netting one for themselves. I must say, it didn't feel good to be a fan.
Then, with 7:29 left to play in the first half at home against the Seton Hall Pirates, (ARRRR!) Josh Wright banked in a breakaway lay-up to give Syracuse their first lead since beating Cincinnati on January 14th, 24-22. Suddenly, there was a glimmer of light at the end of the win-challenged tunnel. Even better, the team held their small advantage for the remainder of the half, going to the lockerroom with a 32-28 advantage. Things were looking better for the Orange, and although the offense still wasn't at full speed and Watkins couldn't figure out how to sink a dunk, they created a small cushion between them and the turnover-afflicted Hall.
Halftime was nice. Pleasant, really. Fans were comfortable knowing the Cuse had put the past behind them and everyone was looking forward to an easy second half against the 11-6 Pirates, (ARRRR!) who were clearly inferior to Syracuse. Then, as if a four point lead didn't mean anything, Louis Orr's club started the second half with a pair of three pointers (taking a dramatic approach to the contest with a bit of foreshadowing) and permanently regained the lead over the percentage-deficient Orange. Gerry McNamara, who entered the final period with 10 points on 4 of 10 shooting, went 1 for 9 after the break and finished with 15 points on 29% from the floor (3 for 12 from three). The team's lone senior actually played about as well as his teammates, though, as they only shot 37% combined for the game, including a measly 19% from beyond the arc.
Terrible numbers. Watching the shooters on this team miss 22 three pointers today actually surpassed Stonehands' incredible knack for throwing uncontested dunks 15 feet behind him in the race for the most upsetting feature of the game (Watkins should be credited with 3 Seton Hall assists on those plays, as he found a way to transform Syracuse slams into fast breaks for the other team. He did play significantly better defense today, though, so I can't be completely down on him). The Orange actually ended up with more missed three pointers than made two pointers (20) this afternoon. Is that embarrassing, or just sad?
What that does tell me, regardless of whether several misses came at the end of regulation during the last ditch effort to negate the pair of 25 footers hit by Jamar Nutter and Donald Copeland (see foreshadowing) to put the Pirates (ARRRR!) up 6 with under 2:00 to play, is that the offense still stinks. According to today's Post Standard the players held a meeting earlier in the week to discuss this particular problem, and had decided they would pass more often in the half court set to create for one another. It looked like a good idea on paper, but really didn't translate very well to the court. Instead, the players showed they weren't too committed to the idea by quickly abandonding the proposed solution once the going got tough.
The team started this game as they usually do, trying to feed the 6'11" center underneath the hoop, giving him the opportunity to work on his shotput technique. Though the 6'11" center achieved a personal best today (almost got it to section 212!) the strategy wasn't working for his teammates and they started trying to create shots on their own, (again) missing several more than they made (again). There were flashes of unselfishness - J. Wright got some quality minutes again - but most of them resulted in poorly passed turnovers. Seton Hall looked much more comfortable running their offense than Syracuse did with theirs - the scoring differential would have been much greater than seven had the Pirates (ARRRR!) avoided some of their 24 turnovers. A game that had begun with the typical "We're coming out to end this slide" optimism suddenly ended with the too-familiar "We have several things we have to improve before the next game" and the Syracuse Orange were 3-4 in the Big East conference.
The Orange lost again because they failed to play as a team, each player seemingly trying to win by himself. Aside from Watkins' improved defense (4 steals, 3 blocks, only 2 fouls) and Roberts' top-notch effort (12 points, 12 rebounds, 2 steals) there wasn't much to be happy about. Syracuse ended one streak by finally getting a lead, but kept another alive with the loss. They better watch out, too, because Rutgers is next and the Scarlet Knights are primed for a big win after beating Louisville yesterday. At 13-7 they're no slouch, and they'll come to town looking to extend the streak to five.
Then, with 7:29 left to play in the first half at home against the Seton Hall Pirates, (ARRRR!) Josh Wright banked in a breakaway lay-up to give Syracuse their first lead since beating Cincinnati on January 14th, 24-22. Suddenly, there was a glimmer of light at the end of the win-challenged tunnel. Even better, the team held their small advantage for the remainder of the half, going to the lockerroom with a 32-28 advantage. Things were looking better for the Orange, and although the offense still wasn't at full speed and Watkins couldn't figure out how to sink a dunk, they created a small cushion between them and the turnover-afflicted Hall.
Halftime was nice. Pleasant, really. Fans were comfortable knowing the Cuse had put the past behind them and everyone was looking forward to an easy second half against the 11-6 Pirates, (ARRRR!) who were clearly inferior to Syracuse. Then, as if a four point lead didn't mean anything, Louis Orr's club started the second half with a pair of three pointers (taking a dramatic approach to the contest with a bit of foreshadowing) and permanently regained the lead over the percentage-deficient Orange. Gerry McNamara, who entered the final period with 10 points on 4 of 10 shooting, went 1 for 9 after the break and finished with 15 points on 29% from the floor (3 for 12 from three). The team's lone senior actually played about as well as his teammates, though, as they only shot 37% combined for the game, including a measly 19% from beyond the arc.
Terrible numbers. Watching the shooters on this team miss 22 three pointers today actually surpassed Stonehands' incredible knack for throwing uncontested dunks 15 feet behind him in the race for the most upsetting feature of the game (Watkins should be credited with 3 Seton Hall assists on those plays, as he found a way to transform Syracuse slams into fast breaks for the other team. He did play significantly better defense today, though, so I can't be completely down on him). The Orange actually ended up with more missed three pointers than made two pointers (20) this afternoon. Is that embarrassing, or just sad?
What that does tell me, regardless of whether several misses came at the end of regulation during the last ditch effort to negate the pair of 25 footers hit by Jamar Nutter and Donald Copeland (see foreshadowing) to put the Pirates (ARRRR!) up 6 with under 2:00 to play, is that the offense still stinks. According to today's Post Standard the players held a meeting earlier in the week to discuss this particular problem, and had decided they would pass more often in the half court set to create for one another. It looked like a good idea on paper, but really didn't translate very well to the court. Instead, the players showed they weren't too committed to the idea by quickly abandonding the proposed solution once the going got tough.
The team started this game as they usually do, trying to feed the 6'11" center underneath the hoop, giving him the opportunity to work on his shotput technique. Though the 6'11" center achieved a personal best today (almost got it to section 212!) the strategy wasn't working for his teammates and they started trying to create shots on their own, (again) missing several more than they made (again). There were flashes of unselfishness - J. Wright got some quality minutes again - but most of them resulted in poorly passed turnovers. Seton Hall looked much more comfortable running their offense than Syracuse did with theirs - the scoring differential would have been much greater than seven had the Pirates (ARRRR!) avoided some of their 24 turnovers. A game that had begun with the typical "We're coming out to end this slide" optimism suddenly ended with the too-familiar "We have several things we have to improve before the next game" and the Syracuse Orange were 3-4 in the Big East conference.
The Orange lost again because they failed to play as a team, each player seemingly trying to win by himself. Aside from Watkins' improved defense (4 steals, 3 blocks, only 2 fouls) and Roberts' top-notch effort (12 points, 12 rebounds, 2 steals) there wasn't much to be happy about. Syracuse ended one streak by finally getting a lead, but kept another alive with the loss. They better watch out, too, because Rutgers is next and the Scarlet Knights are primed for a big win after beating Louisville yesterday. At 13-7 they're no slouch, and they'll come to town looking to extend the streak to five.
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Just checked out your blog. Great reading. You did a fine job putting it together. I even clicked on your ads for your pocket book. Would you be so kind as to check out my blog and click on some ads of mine too??
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