Syracuse vs. Georgia Tech

[CuseJacket]

Time for the CuseJacket preview, brought to you by perhaps the only person in the entire world who has watched every minute of every game of both GT and 'Cuse. Let me start by making one thing clear... the prior sentence is meant to shut down, or at least dismiss, any other opinions you hear on the forthcoming game.

Really, this is setting up to be another "hide yo kids, hide yo wife" grinder. If either team reaches 65 points, I like their chances to come out with a W. It is going to be an ugly one, as each team's strength is D (Syracuse moreso) and both are inconsistent O (Syracuse moreso).

Because of this, and regardless of whether we pull out a W or not, my spirits are high that we could possibly get to enjoy another classic Syracuse/GT Boeheim presser a la 2015.



Anyway here two things GT fans may find surprising:

1. We (GT) are the better 3 point shooting team. Syracuse comes in at a cool #307 out of 351 teams in 3-point percentage, a great stat for a guard-dominated team that has almost zero inside presence. Boeheim likely longs for GT's #288 ranking.
2. We are also the deeper and more experienced team. I'll break down Syracuse's depth coming into the game. It amounts to 7 total scholarship players, 4 of which are true freshmen and 0 of which are seniors.

Prediction: I'll cut to the chase and offer more later, because this game is my jam. Despite Syracuse looking at times like an NCAA tournament team, and GT rarely ever doing so, I expect Vegas to call this a pick 'em. Maybe GT favored by up to 2 on home court. Like last year, Syracuse doesn't have much confidence on the road. The difference this year is Syracuse still has a lot to play for, and we (GT) have next year to play for. That said, I think we still have the pride to play and pull out a 5 point victory at home.

 

[AE 87]

Time for the CuseJacket preview, brought to you by perhaps the only person in the entire world who has watched every minute of every game of both GT and 'Cuse. Let me start by making one thing clear... the prior sentence is meant to shut down, or at least dismiss, any other opinions you hear on the forthcoming game.

Really, this is setting up to be another "hide yo kids, hide yo wife" grinder. If either team reaches 65 points, I like their chances to come out with a W. It is going to be an ugly one, as each team's strength is D (Syracuse moreso) and both are inconsistent O (Syracuse moreso).

Because of this, and regardless of whether we pull out a W or not, my spirits are high that we could possibly get to enjoy another classic Syracuse/GT Boeheim presser a la 2015.



Anyway here two things GT fans may find surprising:

1. We (GT) are the better 3 point shooting team. Syracuse comes in at a cool #307 out of 351 teams in 3-point percentage, a great stat for a guard-dominated team that has almost zero inside presence. Boeheim likely longs for GT's #288 ranking.
2. We are also the deeper and more experienced team. I'll break down Syracuse's depth coming into the game. It amounts to 7 total scholarship players, 4 of which are true freshmen and 0 of which are seniors.

Prediction: I'll cut to the chase and offer more later, because this game is my jam. Despite Syracuse looking at times like an NCAA tournament team, and GT rarely ever doing so, I expect Vegas to call this a pick 'em. Maybe GT favored by up to 2 on home court. Like last year, Syracuse doesn't have much confidence on the road. The difference this year is Syracuse still has a lot to play for, and we (GT) have next year to play for. That said, I think we still have the pride to play and pull out a 5 point victory at home.

That's what you say

 

[CuseJacket]

Syracuse depth and experience

Bench - Unavailable
13: N/A due to sanctions
12: N/A due to sanctions
11: Taurean Thompson – transferred just before season
10: Geno Thorpe – transferred 6 games into season
9: Elijah Hughes – transfer from ECU; sitting out this year
8: Matthew Moyer – injured; ankle

Bench - Available
7: Bourama Sidibe – true freshman center; just played first full game since being injured 12 games ago
6: Howard Washington – true freshman point guard

Starters
5: Marek Dolezaj – true freshman forward
4: Oshae Brissett – true freshman forward
3: Tyus Battle – true sophomore shooting guard
2: Paschal Chukwu – junior center; played only 9 games last season due to eye injury
1: Frank Howard – junior point guard

 

[mstranahan]

@CuseJacket thanks for posting the presser vid. Made my night. Boeheim and Knight raise the post game presser to an art form

 

[Peacone36]

Syracuse is going to force us to shoot threes and we can’t do that

Syracuse has a player that can go get one and we can’t seem to stop that

Syracuse wins

 

[JacketFromUGA]

@CuseJacket is a biased source and you can’t trust anything he says.

 

[RamblinRed]

Watched the Syr-Pitt game the other day. I don't recommend it.
Syr largely relies on its 3 guys to score - Battle, Howard and Brissett. Last game Sidibe was fantastic with 16 pts and 16 rbs (he has 22 pts and 21 rbs in ACC play).
Those three will basically play the whole game. Battle will look to score alot and likes to score more off drives than outside shooting (though he has no compunction about shooting threes he is shooting 30% in ACC play).
Howard is their PG and best outside shooter. Bissett is a really nice, rangy 6'8 combo Forward. He's also a very good rebounder.
Chukwu is basically there is block shots, get rebounds and make the occassional put back.
Dolezaj, who GT recruited, is there to bring energy, play some defense, rebound.
Hopefully Sidibe used up all his production against Pitt.
With Moyer getting hurt they are having to play Washington a little to fill min.

I would agree with Cuse that I would expect a low scoring grind it out game.
Given how poorly their big three played against Pitt, i'm a little worried that like Clemson, a couple of them are just going to go off against GT on Wednesday.

 

[jeffgt14]

Because of this, and regardless of whether WE pull out a W or not, my spirits are high that WE could possibly get to enjoy another classic Syracuse/GT Boeheim presser a la 2015.

Please elaborate on who you are talking about.

 

[Peacone36]

Watched the Syr-Pitt game the other day. I don't recommend it.
Syr largely relies on its 3 guys to score - Battle, Howard and Brissett. Last game Sidibe was fantastic with 16 pts and 16 rbs (he has 22 pts and 21 rbs in ACC play).
Those three will basically play the whole game. Battle will look to score alot and likes to score more off drives than outside shooting (though he has no compunction about shooting threes he is shooting 30% in ACC play).
Howard is their PG and best outside shooter. Bissett is a really nice, rangy 6'8 combo Forward. He's also a very good rebounder.
Chukwu is basically there is block shots, get rebounds and make the occassional put back.
Dolezaj, who GT recruited, is there to bring energy, play some defense, rebound.
Hopefully Sidibe used up all his production against Pitt.
With Moyer getting hurt they are having to play Washington a little to fill min.

I would agree with Cuse that I would expect a low scoring grind it out game.
Given how poorly their big three played against Pitt, i'm a little worried that like Clemson, a couple of them are just going to go off against GT on Wednesday.

Did a little digging on them a while back. In the five games before their current 3 game win streak that trio had taken 83% of their FGA and were shooting something like 37% IIRC.

 

[kg01]

@CuseJacket is a biased source and you can’t trust anything he says.

This is quite ironic coming from an admitted Athenian.

Y'all keep messin with @CuseJacket if y'all want to. Remember he's got his finger on 'the button' as a staff member. He's basically GTSwarm Trump.

 

[CuseJacket]

Please elaborate on who you are talking about.

Anyway here two things GT fans may find surprising:

1. We (GT) are the better 3 point shooting team.

 

[CuseJacket]

Syracuse is going to force us to shoot threes and we can’t do that

Syracuse has a player that can go get one and we can’t seem to stop that

Syracuse wins

Actually, I don't think anyone can't stop Battle or Brissett. The thing is, Pitt did as good a job as anyone stopping Syracuse as a whole. How? Packed in the zone and didn't challenge Dolezaj or Moyer at the high post when they caught the ball. Zero threat inside.

So, naturally GT should play zone. But our (GT) zone extends more than Pitt's did, so if we go flying at the pump fakes, then Syracuse's guards will get in the middle. Battle and Howard have some of the best floaters I've seen in a while. They can make the tough ones.

If I'm GT, play zone... just less aggressive than we normally do. Don't allow your heels to go beyond the 3-point arc. That'll neutralize any 1-on-1 advantage that Battle, and to a lesser extent Brissett/Howard have over our guards and SF. Battle, Howard and Brissett can get streaky, but only Battle can really get Gabe Devoe streaky.

 

[CuseJacket]

Watched the Syr-Pitt game the other day. I don't recommend it.
Syr largely relies on its 3 guys to score - Battle, Howard and Brissett. Last game Sidibe was fantastic with 16 pts and 16 rbs (he has 22 pts and 21 rbs in ACC play).
Those three will basically play the whole game. Battle will look to score alot and likes to score more off drives than outside shooting (though he has no compunction about shooting threes he is shooting 30% in ACC play).
Howard is their PG and best outside shooter. Bissett is a really nice, rangy 6'8 combo Forward. He's also a very good rebounder.
Chukwu is basically there is block shots, get rebounds and make the occassional put back.
Dolezaj, who GT recruited, is there to bring energy, play some defense, rebound.
Hopefully Sidibe used up all his production against Pitt.
With Moyer getting hurt they are having to play Washington a little to fill min.

I would agree with Cuse that I would expect a low scoring grind it out game.
Given how poorly their big three played against Pitt, i'm a little worried that like Clemson, a couple of them are just going to go off against GT on Wednesday.

Spot on. Syracuse will go three guards at times out of necessity with Moyer out and slide Battle to the 3. Probably no more than 10 min though.

At one point a couple games ago, both Battle and Brissett were averaging over 40 min/game in ACC play due to OTs. All three of their "big 3" are top 10 in min/game in the NCAA and are #1, #2, and #3 in the ACC.

I will point out, the reason Sibide's minutes were up @ Pitt was #1 due to him being healthy, for the first time since the injury. He had his best practices in a couple months. He also played well as you mentioned so he supplanted Chukwu against Pitt. But prior to injury, Sibide was the guy and was playing almost that well as a true frosh... Chukwu needed way more seasoning... typical 7'3" big man who is slow off his feet and had questionable hands. He's since improved and is an asset defensively and is better offensively i.e., inconsistent, but better than consistently bad.

 

[CuseJacket]

A few other random thoughts I started writing last night:

1) Mark down Frank Howard for 3 turnovers before the game starts. Only question is how many more. I could see Alvarado getting under him and under his skin if he were to full court man-to-man press.

2) The mysterious recruitment of Marek Dolezaj. Syracuse fans had no clue about him until he visited, too. Here's an article written a week ago about his recruitment, for the recruiting nerds: Syracuse's pursuit of Marek Dolezaj: An unsolicited email, FaceTime, dinner in Prague. So who is he and what's his game? Since the season started he has been dubbed my many as the “anti-European”. On a team desperate for shooting, Syracuse went to Europe and found the only European that can’t shoot. That said, he is a fan favorite. He is one of the most intuitive, best defenders on the team and is always scrappy. He is willing to mix it up. He'd have been a great fit for CJP's get old/stay old model, if he stays in college ball vs. heads home. He can also distribute a bit from the middle, especially if our bigs recklessly give him respect for his (lack of) shooting prowess and are overly aggressive in his direction.

3) As @Peacone36 mentioned Howard, Battle, and Brissett account for 87% of the team's total FG attempts this year. Reasons: 1) offensive style is primarily 1-on-1 dribble drive, somewhat intentionally 2) Forwards cannot create for themselves nor others. No matter what GT does defensively, be prepared for Howard/Battle/Brissett to handle the ball around the perimeter for the first 15 sec of each possession, ask for ball screens from the big guys, and continually just try to break guys/the zone down 1-on-1. There is a reason the team's assist numbers are low. It is just painful to watch as they're not super quick to blow by guys, and there's little relief beyond those 3.

 

[Deleted member 2897]

Considering Tadric made 1 single shot last game, I think its time for the regular "oh wait, he's left handed" defense lapse and Tadric goes for 12 points this time. I think nobody is ever really to get much separation, but our home court white-out AIR BALL chants give us the energy to get over the bump.

 

[jeffgt14]

I’m not too worried about Syracuse as long as Jose can break the press cleanly. Seems like even when we play terrible 3pt shooting teams though we still allow them to hit 40% so I wouldn’t be a bit surprised if they somehow light it up.

 

[CuseJacket]

I’m not too worried about Syracuse as long as Jose can break the press cleanly. Seems like even when we play terrible 3pt shooting teams though we still allow them to hit 40% so I wouldn’t be a bit surprised if they somehow light it up.

I'll say this... you still need to guard the 3 point line tomorrow. Part of the reason for low 3-point percentages is it's become a last resort shot on a lot of end of shot clock possessions. As a Syracuse fan, I am more than happy with drive and kick/wide open three attempts from Battle and Howard. Brissett may be close to improving there as well. At the Dome last year, for some reason we left Andrew White wide open... so it's possible there might be wide open attempts for Syracuse tomorrow, and we shouldn't be surprised if Battle and Howard make those. We need to at least make it uncomfortable, which I think we did vs. Clemson/Devoe... he was just insane.

 

[TechCubed]

 

[Deleted member 2897]

If anybody here has a kid at Georgia Tech, I'd pay good money for a bundle of these types of shirts, since you can't get them anywhere. As long as they are in reasonable condition, I'd pay like $100 for a group of 3 shirts - like this one, a gold out shirt, thrillerdome, etc...

 

[kg01]

If anybody here has a kid at Georgia Tech, I'd pay good money for a bundle of these types of shirts, since you can't get them anywhere. As long as they are in reasonable condition, I'd pay like $100 for a group of 3 shirts - like this one, a gold out shirt, thrillerdome, etc...

And if you don't get bwelbo the t-shirt he's looking for ... well, based on recent events, you better watch out.

I'm told he's got a girlfriend.

#RonStoppable