Syracuse +3 ???

[homedawg]

Pretty surprised at this opening line for tomorrow's game In Kansas City vs Florida. I actually had a side bet with a friend that Syracuse would open up as small favorites.
Now I won't be wagering on this game because I have too much emotionally invested in the Orange, but I think +3 is an extremely good wager. This may be the most talented team Jimmy has had on the hill since the early 90's. There are McDonald's All American's all over the floor. This is an extremely balanced team who can get it down inside (Arinze), or from the outside (Rautins, Devo, Flynn). They have slashers (Flynn, Devo, Harris), and a floor burn glue guy (Oganet). Flynn is an all american point guard, and Devo, Harris, and Arinze are all league players. This team goes 9 deep without dropping off in talent, and have one of the best, if not the best on ball defender in the country (Johnny Flynn). The only weakness I see is they are still not the type of defensive team that Jimmy wants. They are improved from last year, but they still give up too many 3 point shots. Flynn has actually had some success on talking Boheim out of playing his traditional zone defense in favor of man to man, and the team is still working the kinks out. Now this team is no where as bad as they were last season on the defensive end, but if there were a weakness that would be it. This team rebounds the ball very well, and as I said can do a little bit of everything else. This is also a team who wants to play in these big games. Back when Mello was with the Orange he asked Bohiem "why don't we play Duke, and all dem??'. Well this isn't Duke, but this is a 'name' school that these guys are dying to play. The whole team is very excited for a prime time match up against a big school. You can tell the excitement from their post game interviews after the Oakland game. These guys will be ready to go when the ball is tipped to say the least. This may be a homer pick, but I think the Cuse wins this one by 10.

I follow Syracuse basketball as if they were my child. If anyone is interested in discussing the game, or would like some more insight i am open to discuss. I know personally, just like these players, I can't wait for tip off, and am automatically regretting not purchasing plane tickets when I had the chance last week.

LETS GO ORANGE!!!

 

[jetro315]

Nice post dawg. I'm a huge Cuse fan too. Love the team this year. I went to the Richmond game and they struggled a little bit. Cuse played terrible in the first half and Richmond didn't miss. Then Devo took over, they switched to man to man and they pulled away. I think this team is definately better in man to man over zone. I'm predicting we will see more man to man with this team then we've seen any Cuse team play in a long time. I hope so too. I'm sure they will get better in the zone but like you said teams hit way too many 3's. This team can shut guys down man to man.

The Orange is def talented all over the place. That Oakland team that they just blew out won at Oregon and gave Iowa trouble today. I was nervous about that game. AO is a beast down low. He is going to be even harder to stop this year with more experience and better shooters(Devo, Rautins). He lost that baby fat this year and has put on more muscle. He gets lazy on D sometimes though.

Flynn is as good as any point guard in the country, he jumps out of the gym.

Devo is a master creator, he fires the team up with his intensity. Makes boneheaded mistakes sometimes but makes up for it with his drive and finish to the hoop and his shooting.

Rautins is off right now but wait til he finds his stroke. He put on a lot of muscle this year and I think he will have a big year. He might be the smartest player on the team.

Ongenaet and Harris don't mind doing the dirty work. Ongenaet isn't a big scorer but he plays his butt off. Harris is a lockdown defender who gets rebounds other guys can't get. He is good for about 2 or 3 dumb plays a night though.

Rick Jackson is a solid big guy off the bench. He should improve more and more this season. He will need to replace AO when he's tired or in foul trouble.

What about the freshman Kris Joseph? This dude looks tough. He plays good d, has a nice stroke and can take it to the hoop. He should get quality minutes this year. Mookie Jones is the other freshman but he might be the odd man out because it's so crowded. He will be good in the future though. He would play alot if they weren't so deep. Lots of possibilities with this team.

Boheim has a nice squad this year. The Big East is loaded so it won't be easy but this team is under the radar except for us fans. They were predicted 8th in the Big East which i think is low, i would put them around 4-5 possibly higher but i don't wanna jinx them. The strength of the team in my opinion is depth, athleticism, and experience. They might not look on paper like they have experience but Flynn, Harris, AO and Rick Jackson played tons of minutes last year. Flynn barely came out of the game. The freshmen were forced to play b/c of the injuries. Rautins and Devo are the veterans on the team who both missed last year but they worked hard to get back.

Syracuse's weaknesses i would say are team defense and turnovers. They have solid individual defenders but they still haven't totally grasped the concept of "team" defense yet. Hopefully that will come. Turnovers have been an issue and they will need to cut down on them. Inside scoring could be hard to come by too. If Onuaku gets contained they don't have too many other options to score inside. Jackson is still not very consistent yet and Ongenaet doesn't rack up pts either. Paul Harris loves to bang but he doesn't have the height. Joseph could be a good option there. Flynn and Devendorf can penetrate which is key. This year should be pretty intresting.

As far as the Florida game goes i think Cuse can win but it will be tough. I think plus 3 sounds nice but like you I have a rule of not betting on my favorite team. Florida will be ready to play. Billy Donovan is one of the best coaches in the nation and he may not have the team he had a couple years ago but he will get the most out of the team he has. This team may not win 2 in a row but they have a lot of talent and it should be an intense game. Hopefully Cuse comes to play.

Donte who?

Go Cuse!

 

[bigtendominator]

Pretty surprised at this opening line for tomorrow's game In Kansas City vs Florida. I actually had a side bet with a friend that Syracuse would open up as small favorites.
Now I won't be wagering on this game because I have too much emotionally invested in the Orange, but I think +3 is an extremely good wager. This may be the most talented team Jimmy has had on the hill since the early 90's. There are McDonald's All American's all over the floor. This is an extremely balanced team who can get it down inside (Arinze), or from the outside (Rautins, Devo, Flynn). They have slashers (Flynn, Devo, Harris), and a floor burn glue guy (Oganet). Flynn is an all american point guard, and Devo, Harris, and Arinze are all league players. This team goes 9 deep without dropping off in talent, and have one of the best, if not the best on ball defender in the country (Johnny Flynn). The only weakness I see is they are still not the type of defensive team that Jimmy wants. They are improved from last year, but they still give up too many 3 point shots. Flynn has actually had some success on talking Boheim out of playing his traditional zone defense in favor of man to man, and the team is still working the kinks out. Now this team is no where as bad as they were last season on the defensive end, but if there were a weakness that would be it. This team rebounds the ball very well, and as I said can do a little bit of everything else. This is also a team who wants to play in these big games. Back when Mello was with the Orange he asked Bohiem "why don't we play Duke, and all dem??'. Well this isn't Duke, but this is a 'name' school that these guys are dying to play. The whole team is very excited for a prime time match up against a big school. You can tell the excitement from their post game interviews after the Oakland game. These guys will be ready to go when the ball is tipped to say the least. This may be a homer pick, but I think the Cuse wins this one by 10.

I follow Syracuse basketball as if they were my child. If anyone is interested in discussing the game, or would like some more insight i am open to discuss. I know personally, just like these players, I can't wait for tip off, and am automatically regretting not purchasing plane tickets when I had the chance last week.

LETS GO ORANGE!!!

While it is obvious that you are are fan of the Orange, you are also blinded by the Orange. Personally, I do like Syr tomorrow against UF, however, besides Flynn, you are getting carried away when you say how good the rest of the players are. ED is good player, but man is there anyone that has more unforced errors than this guy.

AR has to prove he can shoot from the outside consistently. I know he struggled vs Richmond, but I am not basing it on that game alone. I really like Paul Harris and what he does for the team, but he gets all his points in transition or offensive rebounds. He is one of the best rebounders, but this team is no better than a 4th or 5th place finisher in the Big East.

As for Donte Greene, I blame Jim B. It is JB's fault that all Greene did was shoot 3's. Sit his ass on the bench if he is going to do anything but throw up junk with 19 on the shot clock from 23 feet. He thought every game was his NBA 3 point shooting audtion.

Johnny Flynn is as good as an PG in America, but the rest of the lame brains on that team need to learn to play around him. If this team understands how good Flynn is then they can beat anyone on any given night.

 

[jetro315]

As for Donte Greene, I blame Jim B. It is JB's fault that all Greene did was shoot 3's. Sit his ass on the bench if he is going to do anything but throw up junk with 19 on the shot clock from 23 feet. He thought every game was his NBA 3 point shooting audtion.

I agree with that. I was saying all year that Boeheim should bench Donte's a$$ when he was taking those stupid shots. But people said, who is he gonna put in or someone needs to shoot 3's. That's BS. It seemed like Jimmy was afraid to yell at Donte. He would be all over Harris and Donte had the worst shot selection ever but he got a free pass. That pi$$ed me off. I don't see why you need to shoot 3's when you don't have the shooters. Your better off taking high percentage shots. A made 2 pointer is better than a missed 3. I'm glad Donte's gone.

As for the supporting cast, you have a point. They do play stupid alot of the time. There are times when they can't buy buckets. They go through droughts once in awhile and it's frustrating. I think having Devo creating and Rautins spot up shooting will help though. Rautins is going to have a big year. He is starting slow but he is a pure shooter. The last year he played(2 yrs ago) he caught fire at the second half of the year, hit near 40% of his 3's i believe. He will be a key guy for this team though b/c if he knocks down that trey consistently then they can spread the floor out and score a ton of pts. Onuaku is another key to the team. Teams can't collapse on him this year with the shooters around him so he should have more room to work. We will see tomorrow how things come together but the supporting cast should be fine.

 

[SonnyCrockett]

+4 now...

 

[homedawg]

While it is obvious that you are are fan of the Orange, you are also blinded by the Orange. Personally, I do like Syr tomorrow against UF, however, besides Flynn, you are getting carried away when you say how good the rest of the players are. ED is good player, but man is there anyone that has more unforced errors than this guy.

AR has to prove he can shoot from the outside consistently. I know he struggled vs Richmond, but I am not basing it on that game alone. I really like Paul Harris and what he does for the team, but he gets all his points in transition or offensive rebounds. He is one of the best rebounders, but this team is no better than a 4th or 5th place finisher in the Big East.

As for Donte Greene, I blame Jim B. It is JB's fault that all Greene did was shoot 3's. Sit his ass on the bench if he is going to do anything but throw up junk with 19 on the shot clock from 23 feet. He thought every game was his NBA 3 point shooting audtion.

Johnny Flynn is as good as an PG in America, but the rest of the lame brains on that team need to learn to play around him. If this team understands how good Flynn is then they can beat anyone on any given night.

and that's exactly why I won't let myself bet on them, I am too blinded by their faults. All good points. I guess I just want to see the potential. That I know is there.

 

[TheGuarantee]

^Onuaku is a beast though...kid really flys under the radar.

I'd like to see Syracuse try and kick it into the post a bit more...everytime they do that they seem to get a good look from the outside...against Richmond Paul Harris was much bigger than the kid guarading him all night and I noticed once he had good position deep down low and Flynn looked him off calling for a pick...then later they gave it to him, defense doubled and they swung it around for I believe a Dev three.

This Cuse team is tough to figure - when they have it going they look unbeatable...then sometimes they are just so sloppy you can't expect them to beat anyone. Usually you'll see both of these teams throughout the same game too.

This game today should be an interesting test.

 

[papicker]

i like syracuse a lot in this game too, line keeps goin up so well have better then +3

 

[Trajedy]

syracuse money in the bank

 

[bucknuts]

I'll strand myself onto an island and take Florida -3. I think Florida takes care of the ball a little more.:discuss:

 

[jetro315]

It's at 4.5 at my book now. Keeps going up.

One thing about Cuse is that instead of working the ball around for the best shot available they tend to get lazy at times and just settle for 3 pointers. That's when they start getting lazy. I always said Boeheim was a much better defensive coach then offensive.

 

[HogNation]

OK, talked me into it.
Cuse big!

 

[homedawg]

is it me or is their a big talent discrepancy?

 

[khandog25]

there seems to be an obvious talen discrepancy...florida just a little better fundamentally

 

[khandog25]

syracuse just not taking good shots, and not taking care of the ball very well to start

 

[gators52]

As a current UF student I have to say cuse is much more talented than my gators, I took Cuse on the ML.

 

[homedawg]

there seems to be an obvious talen discrepancy...florida just a little better fundamentally

that's what it is. there is no way Syracuse should be losing this game, and no way they should lose. Clearly the better team. I think the zone is giving them a hard time and Jimmy needs to make his adjustments at halftime. They should be good after that....or at least I hope

 

[gators52]

Cuse needs to move the ball around the permitter more, make the florida zone move around, they are just sitting at the top of the key and the UF defense just has to stand there.

 

[homedawg]

syracuse may be the stupidest team in the country

 

[bigtendominator]

syracuse may be the stupidest team in the country

Not true. ED was smart enough to not got to MSU, as Izzo would have sat his ass on the bench for all those turnovers. JB keeps letting him play.

Does anyone get called for traveling more than ED?