Syracuse on the road.
- Thread starter Showenuff
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I agree. I also think our guys will have much to play for as well if zion doesn’t play. I’m pretty sure they have caught wind of the reports saying that they can’t win without Zion and will have something to prove on the road in a tough environment after having time to prepare.
I think the intangibles greatly favor us. Revenge game, coming off a loss, rallying around Zion, playing for Syracuse's funeral. We've seen what this team does when they are shorthanded after a tough game. On the other side, Syracuse is coming off a big win. Boheim has been and will be distracted, and so by extension, the team. If he's not on the floor Saturday, that certainly doesn't help Syracuse, does it? If Boheim isn't good to go on Saturday that probably means he was not instrumental in game prep this week. And I think rallying around someone after they hit a pedestrian on the road is different than rallying around someone after they got diagnosed with cancer, or something similar.
Duke will be hyper-focused. This team is special. Special teams don't lose two in a row late in the season.
Duke will be hyper-focused. This team is special. Special teams don't lose two in a row late in the season.
Put Battle in the category of really good players who become superhuman when they play Duke.
I actually like us on the road in a big arena. These young men seem to thrive in that environment. I hope for a big game from Cam, and I don't think RJ will let us lose. If we shoot 30% from 3 we win by 15.
I actually like us on the road in a big arena. These young men seem to thrive in that environment. I hope for a big game from Cam, and I don't think RJ will let us lose. If we shoot 30% from 3 we win by 15.
Yea amazingly the fact it’s not at Cameron is beneficial to us( very weird to say) because it seems like our guys turn it up to another level when they aren’t playing in Cameron! We have seen it all year. Maybe the threes will fall tomorrow!
I believe we will shoot better, heck we can’t shoot worse. But losing Zion in the middle of that zone is going to be tough, real tough to overcome. We could slide RJ to that spot, but then we lose him at one of the wing spots. I’m sure the GOAT will have a solid gameplan for us.
White and AOC have to step up. That’s the bottom line. It’s time. Do whatever you have to do. Get to the free throw line, watch the ball go in and maybe that will unlock their mental block by seeing the ball go through the net. If we want RJ and Tre to drive, they need people to kick it out to when the defense cheats.
I disagree, Backup players have to step up UNTIL the team is whole again, IF the team becomes whole again. That’s their job, whether due to foul trouble or a short time due to injury. Backups maybe have shown they can’t be depended on for the long haul or extended period of time but a couple of games and or minutes is not too much to ask in my opinion. Respectfully
College game day has cancelled the show for Sat and instead doing it from Bristol. Boheim wasn't at practice yesterday and still up in the air if he will coach Sat for good reason. Don't forget the last time we played them, we didn't have Cam. Put Cam on Battle and I doubt he torches us again like he did in Cameron. Both teams coming in with things going on within.
I always believe we're going to win, until we don't. This one is no exception.
OFC
OFC
I think we win a close one. My heart goes out to Boeheim and obviously the man who was killed as this is something that will haunt him forever. I used to live near Ithaca and those upstate roads are sheets of ice in the winter.
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I would like to see a lot of 2-1-2 press falling back into a zone tomorrow. Cuse shredded us in the first game by getting a full head of steam and getting straight line penetration to the basket. We must find a way to get their rhythm out of sorts. I feel as if the press will allow us to do what we do best and get turnovers and it slows down their momentum. And to converse energy with our bench issues the zone could aid that.
Don’t get me wrong. I’d LOVE to see both of those guys go on a great run, but at this point I don’t think they’re capable. To think otherwise seems a bit delusional. We’ve gotten a fair sample size over a few years and I think it’s ok to say they are mediocre at best.
But hey... this coming from a guy who never went beyond AAU so what do I know...
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Or Tre. Tre was disrupting their O when we played them first time, but he left after 6 minutes when we had a huge lead.
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Folks, the O doesn't suffer as much when Zion leaves. RJ does more, and Cam does a lot more. Our interior D suffers, heck it all suffers on D, because Zion is that center fielder or lockdown corner/safety that is all over the court.
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But the Cuse has dicey ball handlers, and that is where Tre is at his most valuable. He bothers the other team's ball handler.
The O doesn’t suffer? I don’t agree with that at all. Who else on our team shoots 70% that will takeover those shots? And it’s not as if we force the ball to Zion where that pressure will be removed and our offense will flow more freely. Dude gets the smoothest/easiest 22 points per game I’ve ever seen. We could shoot better, sure, but that could happen whether Zion is in or out. To say the offense won’t suffer is minimizing what Zion does.
Every year Duke has the talent and fight to win each game! Hard to bet against!
Syracuse is coming off a huge win over Louisville, and there is not doubt they are looking at this as a "ticket punching" or seed raising kind of game (ESPN currently has them as an 8 seed). Their win over Duke in Cameron was probably their best performance of the season. Taking 43 threes, and taking 16 more 3s than free throws is not going to be a recipe for success. It would be great to see a return to form defensively. Syracuse hung 95 on them last time, and they didn't put a whole lot of resistance up against UNC the other night.
Zion, Cam, and RJ overlap. A lot. Cam has stepped into the void left by Zion on 2 occasions, and admirably so.
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Obviously, the O isn't as good without Zion, but his absence doesn't lead to catastrophic failure or collapse. With Zion on the court, RJ and Cam don't put up 60 between them. All three of them on the court, and the best case scenario is around 70 points. Best case. 60-65 is more likely a good case scenario. So, the "three" of them got 60 pts vs UNC, when maybe they'd have gotten 10 more points.
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The problem vs UNC was TOs (not really a Z problem), rebounding, and defense. Specifically, Luke Maye went bonkers. He doesn't do that with Zion on the court.
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Zion's best play this year, by a mile, was that 3pt block on Hunter in the UVA game. Number 2 was the block leading to his pass to RJ in the UK game. What do those things have in common? Defense. He's an all over the court eraser. UNC feasted in the paint vs Duke, because Zion wasn't there. Those UNC kids aren't tough or stubborn. A few Zion blocks, and they'd have parked on the perimeter and missed shots en route to a blowout Duke win.
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Our big 3 are good for 55-70 points a game. The rest of the team needs to add more than they did vs UNC. But 60pts from the big 3, even with one of them out, is well within the statistical norm for the group. Zion's absence weakens Duke on the boards and on D. That is where his absence will manifest.
Bolden is now the key. Stay out of foul trouble and defend the rim.
I am with @OldasdirtDevil .
We haven't lost this game yet and I like us to win it, but man, there's a lot going against us, and that crowd will be absolutely crazy. No matter how bad our players want to rally and win this for Zion, the shots still have to go in. If we don't break that zone, and start depending on outside shooting, color me worried
We haven't lost this game yet and I like us to win it, but man, there's a lot going against us, and that crowd will be absolutely crazy. No matter how bad our players want to rally and win this for Zion, the shots still have to go in. If we don't break that zone, and start depending on outside shooting, color me worried
I agree that his presence will be missed on defense, missed a lot. But that doesn’t mean he won’t also be missed on offense or that it won’t suffer. Because it will. There’s no one on our roster that even sniffs the efficiency of Zion. RJ will help, Cam too. And in an isolated game maybe they can shoot well enough so the suffering is minimal. But if he misses multiple games or just for arguments sake we are talking long term, the offense will suffer. It’s not just his points, it’s how efficiently he gets them.
Good for him. I'm sure he needs the distraction and will probably be better off coaching the game instead of sitting at home thinking about what happened....I would be surprised if his head is 100% in the game, but I'm glad he's not is such a state that he can't at least go give it a shot