GT @ Syracuse 2/28/23 GAME THREAD

[GTpdm]

My son would like to officially claim credit for the win. He fancies himself lucky and exuded that onto the team.

What a fun night.

Tell your son to get his butt over to Boston on Saturday.

 

[awbuzz]

Anyone know where Devion Smith is?

Didn’t see Howard, Maxwell and Meka wasn’t dressed out.

Any info on smith would be great cause we will need depth to make any kind of ACC run…

Smith - bad ankle
Maxwell - " under the weather", sick....
Howard - bum knee and Achilles issue

 

[GTNavyNuke]

Good win tonight and nice to see several guys have really nice games. I would temper my enthusiasm a tad given that Syracuse is 3-7 over their last 10 and they've gotten blown out of their last four games in a row. I think in addition to Tech playing much better the Cuse kids have given up, packed it in and are looking to the portal.

We could have packed it in too. We were lower than they are in ACC rankings.

Great time to be getting hot, much better than the other way around.

I still hope Pastner keeps his job because we make a deep run in the ACCT. Winning 5 games in 5 days ain't gonna happen* (has it ever?) with this little depth. But GIVE 'EM HELL.

*no jinx.

 

[gdamian]

We could have packed it in too. We were lower than they are in ACC rankings.

Great time to be getting hot, much better than the other way around.

I still hope Pastner keeps his job because we make a deep run in the ACCT. Winning 5 games in 5 days ain't gonna happen* (has it ever?) with this little depth. But GIVE 'EM HELL.

*no jinx.

In this thread I called that last night's game would be the best of the season so far. Please don't be fooled. There is no way this team can consistently play like they did last night. There is no margin for error with this group.

 

[Ramble1885]

That's why Cremins couldn't win a tournament!

he won 3. 1985, 1990, 1993.

If you're referring to NCAA tourneys though... you would be correct.

 

[Home Park Jacket]

In this thread I called that last night's game would be the best of the season so far. Please don't be fooled. There is no way this team can consistently play like they did last night. There is no margin for error with this group.

I hope you parlayed your call into some money.

 

[LawTalkin Jacket]

I mean, it could just be that it took time for things to click. Coleman, Kelly, and Moore are true sophs, while Terry and Franklin are new faces. Ideally we'd have had Sturdivant and Howard who are in year 3 lead us early while they adjusted but that didn't happen. Sucks that it took so long, but we return, or plan to return, everyone but Franklin so the last month of play bodes well for that, and the year beyond we'll still have Kelly, Coleman, Moore, and Smith. In some ways this kind of reminds me of 19-20 where we started bad, 8-11 (3-6) before going on a run of 9-3 (one was Morehouse) to close out the year which was a good sign for the following year where we returned everyone except Banks. Of course that year also had Jose being injured early and Usher joining midway, and the turn around started earlier, but that "core" was juniors of Jose, Moses and Ush along with one soph in Mike, while a big group of our core this year are sophs (Kelly, Coleman, Moore, Smith) so perhaps we're getting that momentum going earlier. Whether we build on it is still to be shown, but the last month at least should give us hope for the next couple years.

Not to be that guy, but Syracuse has been miserable of late. And, we are still only 5-14 (maybe get to 6, but BC is playing well), and wouldn't the fact that we have some talent on this team make the job more desirable for a new coach- cupboard not bare, etc? I love Pastner, but I am having a hard time forgetting and 9 game losing streak.

 

[Golden Tornadoes]

Best overall game we have played by far. Hopefully we get some guys back so we aren't playing our starting 5 for 38+ minutes a game in the ACC tourney. Definitely think we can win our opening game, after that, who knows. Guys seem to be playing much more loose and confident since we scrapped the Princeton and moved to a motion/dribble-drive offense. Spacing has opened up a ton and guys aren't falling over each other anymore. This should have been done much sooner IMO, but glad the change was made. Defense is still a work, we just seem a step slow at times, but when we play a zone we can't rebound so it's picking the lesser of two evils.

 

[ESPNjacket]

he won 3. 1985, 1990, 1993.

If you're referring to NCAA tourneys though... you would be correct.

Sharp as a rubber ball.

 

[g0lftime]

What a great win for the team last night. I wonder if this is Boeheim's (sp?) last year. Hard to recruit at his age and he has not been a one and done program in the past. That was an ugly loss for them last night. I was hopeful we would play well but never expected a 20 point win on the road. That win may have been enough to get Pastner at least another year but Batt may have already made up his mind. Sorta thought the CoC coach might be a possible but he got a new contract that would cost more to get him.

 

[Ramble1885]

Sharp as a rubber ball.

 

[ChristoGT]

Finally got a box score with the 10 assists...
View attachment 14062

Not to dis on Deebo, because I think it's great when he is more assertive and taking shots, but without his stats in there, the rest of the team was uber-impressively accurate. 32-54 for 59.2% FG and 16-28 for 57.1% on 3PT shots. By the time I got home game had just finished 5 min earlier. Will have to go back and watch a replay.

 

[mstranahan]

We could have packed it in too.

Indeed and I think it speaks well of the kids and the staff that when faced with that option, they chose to continue playing hard.

 

[57jacket]

It's just amazing. I felt all year we had some talent on this team. Two things stand out. 1) Pastner should have recognized Franklin's value in preseason or much earlier than he did. More wins there. 2) Dropping the Princeton offense so late in the season, when it was obviously not working with the talent we have. More wins there. Will this surge save his job? I don't know, but I'm happy the kids got to enjoy some wins.

 

[LargeFO]

It's just amazing. I felt all year we had some talent on this team. Two things stand out. 1) Pastner should have recognized Franklin's value in preseason or much earlier than he did. More wins there. 2) Dropping the Princeton offense so late in the season, when it was obviously not working with the talent we have. More wins there. Will this surge save his job? I don't know, but I'm happy the kids got to enjoy some wins.

I don't understand not playing Moore some. Playing the starting 5 38+ each isn't gonna hold up.

 

[Home Park Jacket]

I don't understand not playing Moore some. Playing the starting 5 38+ each isn't gonna hold up.

He must shoot better to play more. If you notice when he is in the game, the defense doesn't have to defend his outside shot and makes it tougher for anyone else to get good shots.

 

[57jacket]

He must shoot better to play more. If you notice when he is in the game, the defense doesn't have to defend his outside shot and makes it tougher for anyone else to get good shots.

Yeah. He has a huge upside. He was a key in the last win with his rebounding and a shot block.

 

[Ramble1885]

Yeah. He has a huge upside. He was a key in the last win with his rebounding and a shot block.

BC has a good big man so I assume we give Moore some minutes come saturday.

 

[lv20gt]

Not to be that guy, but Syracuse has been miserable of late. And, we are still only 5-14 (maybe get to 6, but BC is playing well), and wouldn't the fact that we have some talent on this team make the job more desirable for a new coach- cupboard not bare, etc? I love Pastner, but I am having a hard time forgetting and 9 game losing streak.

If it were just one game then I'd agree. But we've been playing much better the past month, going 4-3 in conference in that stretch. Now admittedly, we basically beat the bottom half teams and lost to the top half but we were competitive against all, and I would argue that level of play is more with a middle of the pack team than a cellar dweller.

Now some would try to argue that doesn't matter and probably toss out the "you are what your record says" and if we were talking about makin the NCAAT then that's true. But for projecting towards next year how we are playing now is a lot more relevant than how we were playing in November.

Now as far as being more desirable, sure, although with a coaching change there is an increased chance of transfers out so I'm not sure how big an effect that is. But the important dynamic there is the balance of who is more likely to have success with this group. Based on his history, I think there is a legitimate chance Pastner can take this group and make the NCAA (with a transfer group similar to what we have usually brought in). Pastner has had pretty good success when he's had a group that have had a lot of experience and multiple scoring options which is the general dynamic we have going forward. Also, he's had some success and taking transfers and turning them into quality players, which is what we need at the 5. Banks, Usher, Franklin, Terry, Smith. So I think it's reasonable to believe that he can get someone who can be productive at the 5 even if not a perfect fit. All that to me indicates it's a real consideration that needs to be made that Pastner could have success the next couple of years. That couldn't be said when we fired Gregory. On the other side switching coaches increases the likelihood of transfers out but it might improve the likelihood of transfers in, especially from wherever the coach just came from. There is also the individual risk vs potential of each coach. It's why I think we shouldn't just fire Pastner and then figure out afterwards. I think there are certainly coaches where that balance would favor making the move, but it should be more or less worked out ahead of time.

 

[57jacket]

If it were just one game then I'd agree. But we've been playing much better the past month, going 4-3 in conference in that stretch. Now admittedly, we basically beat the bottom half teams and lost to the top half but we were competitive against all, and I would argue that level of play is more with a middle of the pack team than a cellar dweller.

Now some would try to argue that doesn't matter and probably toss out the "you are what your record says" and if we were talking about makin the NCAAT then that's true. But for projecting towards next year how we are playing now is a lot more relevant than how we were playing in November.

Now as far as being more desirable, sure, although with a coaching change there is an increased chance of transfers out so I'm not sure how big an effect that is. But the important dynamic there is the balance of who is more likely to have success with this group. Based on his history, I think there is a legitimate chance Pastner can take this group and make the NCAA (with a transfer group similar to what we have usually brought in). Pastner has had pretty good success when he's had a group that have had a lot of experience and multiple scoring options which is the general dynamic we have going forward. Also, he's had some success and taking transfers and turning them into quality players, which is what we need at the 5. Banks, Usher, Franklin, Terry, Smith. So I think it's reasonable to believe that he can get someone who can be productive at the 5 even if not a perfect fit. All that to me indicates it's a real consideration that needs to be made that Pastner could have success the next couple of years. That couldn't be said when we fired Gregory. On the other side switching coaches increases the likelihood of transfers out but it might improve the likelihood of transfers in, especially from wherever the coach just came from. There is also the individual risk vs potential of each coach. It's why I think we shouldn't just fire Pastner and then figure out afterwards. I think there are certainly coaches where that balance would favor making the move, but it should be more or less worked out ahead of time.

lv20gt, I agree somewhat, but taking all season to find the best 5, and adjusting your offense is damning. These next 2 games will give Batt a good reading. I do not envy him making this decision. LOL