Anyone worried about the emotional hornets nest we could be walking into Saturday night? Cuse will be jacked and ready to play plus it's primetime espn game. Thoughts?
Saturday Night
- Thread starter uncblueball
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Won't be his first game back. I think Roy is smart enough and we have enough time to be fresh and prepared this week that we will be sharp from the opening tip. I feel like sometimes, when it clearly appears to be a "perfect storm" for an upset, that makes it almost the opposite. What worries me more is when you get a good Georgia Tech team that has lost a ton of games by less than 3 points and you just think they aren't good, regardless of the atmosphere. I think a big time atmosphere like I expect Syracuse to be makes it almost impossible to not show up ready to deliver. Basically, I feel great about this game on that point. I also feel great because we've been more efficient against zone defenses this year than I remember us being in a long time.
I predict we fall behind in the first half like we have in the past. Roy gives them a tongue lashing at half time and we are able to rebound and win by -7. Maybe 84 - 78 or something like that.
Key is getting up early and not allowing them to be in the game with under 5-8 to play. We gotta step on them early and often!!
GO HEELS!!
GO HEELS!!
I honestly always dread playing at Cuse. They've got a really tough environment. That said, IF we play our best ball, we'll be fine. Gotta play a complete 40 minutes though.
Always? Heels have played at Syracuse twice. Ever. A win in 1983 and a loss in 2014. We'll be fine in this one.
Combination of shooting in that arena and their zone defense is what worries me. We are the better team but this game on their home court will be a toss up and could go either way.
I feel good about this game, even knowing the vegas odds may be a bit against us considering how often we have gone 4-0 to open ACC play (meaning we haven't
. But we have played well vs zones this season and yeah, the cuse zone is a special one we bring a offensive juggernaut that they have not yet seen this season. We will have Meeks back, not sure how many minutes he will log but just having him back allows us to not have to depend on Joel James as much. We are really solid 2 deep across the board and I suspect the cuse's depth at pretty much every position. I really don't see the arena at cuse as being any tuffer than what we saw vs FSU and would be very surprised if it reached anything near that level. Winning by 15-20 would not surprise me...Can't wait to see where my man bleedin sets the spread and over/under on this game, I am feeling a UNC over coming on and hope he sets it at less than 15 and a total points less than 152. I think we will go off for around 85, not sure the cuse can cover over the low 70's.
It is indeed his first game back ... unless ESPN is wrong
.http://espn.go.com/mens-college-bas...-suspension-syracuse-orange-coach-jim-boeheim
.http://espn.go.com/mens-college-bas...-suspension-syracuse-orange-coach-jim-boeheim
Think we lost to their Wesley Johnson-led team in between those two games. It may have been the NIT year after 2009. It's just an uneasy feeling playing a zone team, who this year is relying a lot on the 3, on the road, they see the blue and go nuts, etc etc. We should handle it but i'll take the 1 pt win and be happy like some others.
Classes don't resume until Jan 19 at Syracuse. So I don't think it's going to be that rowdy. Secondly, I've never really thought Syracuse to have a huge homecourt advantage. I liken it to us - it can be rowdy but it isn't always.
I just want to get in and out of town without any injuries. That place is a dump.
I just want to get in and out of town without any injuries. That place is a dump.
I like the scenario. Of course I hope we win but I like that we get challenged with different sets of circumstances. It only helps us develop in the long run. I'll take this challenge over the one our football team had in playing at Va Tech for Beamer's last home game ever
I think the "arena" comments pertain more to it being a true dome like you'd play football on vs a true basketball only building. I've heard for final fours it's harder to adjust to the depth perception, background for shooters in a big dome. I dunno. Seems like you still just focus on front of the rim.
Agreed. And our boys pulled that one out. I think we win but it will be a grinder.
Exactly what I was referring to. Add the unique zone to that and I'm not very confident.
I remember my junior or senior year when Smih Center was site of ncaa regional and Syracuse was playing there. A bunch of us were on Franklin Street when some obnoxious Cuse fans in their very large rv asked us how to get to the arena. We politely gave them very specific directions to the old Southgate Mall right down 15-501. That was back when Darryl's and couple of other restaurants were the only thing between Chapel Hill and Durham.
Live a couple hours away from Syracuse. It's going to be rowdy regardless if class is in session or not. Syracuse is the definition of a college town. That's their professional sports team.
As to matchups, I think we can use our inside presence to win. They don't have a post presence.
Zone? If we can get Joel II and MP to drive the seams and shoot or dish, then yeah, Heels win. Going against a zone defense often turns teams into jump shooters, meaning 3's are okay, just not every dang time down court. Hope we don't fall into that trap. I hope we can run them some.
Zone? If we can get Joel II and MP to drive the seams and shoot or dish, then yeah, Heels win. Going against a zone defense often turns teams into jump shooters, meaning 3's are okay, just not every dang time down court. Hope we don't fall into that trap. I hope we can run them some.
If Marcus was our only outside threat then I might worry more about zone defenses. Others have stepped up and even guys like Theo can hit them better than we have seen in years past. Heck, even Brice hit some nice mid range jumpers this year, so those holes in a zone are going to be there for us.
I don't worry about our offense. We are a much better offensive team this year and I don't think we have truly seen how good this team can be offensively either. If we get 2-3 guys other than Marcus hitting shots this team can be deadly.
I think we win this one by a dozen. But, if we win it by 1 I don't care. Just win, baby!
I don't worry about our offense. We are a much better offensive team this year and I don't think we have truly seen how good this team can be offensively either. If we get 2-3 guys other than Marcus hitting shots this team can be deadly.
I think we win this one by a dozen. But, if we win it by 1 I don't care. Just win, baby!
Jackson will probably have a field day roaming the baseline against the Cuse zone. Jackson could go for 18-22 points in this game.
2014-2015 Version of the Heels = YES
This Year's Version of the Heels = NO
I think we win this one running away, even more so if Kennedy is back.
Yeah steat, if Jackson gets his runners falling in this game turn out the lights cause that cuse party will be over! That darn thing is so deadly but especially against a zone that will be forced to rotate to him and pray back side rotation is crisp for 40mins because Brice will be awaiting those dishes!
The smart move would be to force Justin to prove he can hit those jump shots and play him for the drive/runner, he has struggled with those jump shots so far. But if they dare him and he hits a couple the flood gates could open up. I absolutely would dare Theo to hit jumpers, he is a streaky guy and if not on, it is a solid move but if he hits a couple as he has shown he can then you have to honor it. And I would force Joel berry and Nate Britt to beat me with jump shots, it sure as heck beats allowing Marcus to get clean looks if you are trying to beat us. Clog up the paint, play physical with our front court guys by not extending that zone to far out except to check Marcus and force UNC to beat me with Berry/Britt/ Jackson/Pinson jump shooting and slow slow slow down the game pace. Problem is all those fellas have shown they can hit those open looks but when they do miss you have to control the rebounds, in itself a tall order against our Heels. You have to be quicker to the ball than we are, you have to win nearly every 50/50 ball and it is hard to do that against such a deep talented and experienced team like we have.
On offense, I know so many are in love with the treys but I would try to pound the ball down in the paint and try to draw those Heel bigs in to foul trouble, they tend to back off a little bit (on both ends of the court) when they pick up that second foul in the first half. If you can get Brice/Hicks/Meeks/Jackson in foul trouble you have really helped your cause, then maybe with some timely jump shooting you can give your team a chance to win at the end.
I'm worried about you David...you almost turned Orange in part of that post!
LOL, yeah Tom but I took UNC to cover and went with the over (would have taken any spread under 14 and a total under 160
! LOL I think we win by 22...
Never been a big Boeheim fan so I hope you're right and we put a beat down on the Cuse Dave. I feel good about the game, I just wish it was earlier in the day.
Read my mind. The short corner is a major weakness of the Syracuse zone and Jackson excels from the short corner. Going to have to be able to feed the "high" post man to facilitate what you want in the short corner, but I don't think that will be an issue.
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