Wes and I were texting during the second half of the game. At one point, he asked me a yes/no question and I answered with a bunch of stuff that didn't answer the question. Anyway, he wanted me to share those thoughts with everyone. So, I tried to clean it up for easier consumption...
Virginia is going to make any team without established systems on both ends look bad. The Cavs don’t panic when the shot clock gets low, they just keep going. SU's man defense is inexperienced and choppy with the potential to eventually get better. The defense is not good enough to stay with a team as disciplined as Virginia, as the longer the possession lasts, the more likely they are to make a mistake, whether not rotating, failing to communicate with teammates, or something else..
SU just ran motion on offense with the center occasionally coming up near the top of the key to screen. That led to guys who shouldn’t really be handling the ball doing so, only against a team looking to stop them, not just one man. They might have committed more traveling infractions today than they have in the first seven games, many of them resulting from double teams. In comparison to how Virginia operates, there was a possession where Bell picked up his dribble and panicked in just over a second, then forced a bad shot with somewhere around 15 on the shot clock.
These are virtually exact opposite programs. The zone at least gave SU the chance to hang around against the Cavaliers because they were normally proficient at it in the sense where guys at least knew what they were supposed to do.
I think the LSU game provided the fan base (and possibly the team) with some false hope. LSU lost that game more than SU won it when they couldn’t get offensive boards in the second half. Once they lost those additional opportunities, the Tigers couldn't overcome their sloppiness (19 turnovers) and inability to buy a 3 (2-of-22 in the game).
Also, it has been fun to watch this team get blown out three times in five games after they had the “team doesn’t quit” storyline trotted out after the comeback against Colgate.
After that transition miss by Starling on a 3-on-1 in the second half, I would suggest that both guards look for their own shot too much. It trickles down through the roster. Bell and Taylor both has possessions late where they shot as soon as they got a touch. Taylor was at least coming off a screen and had a reasonable look. Bell's left his hand so fast while pretty tightly guarded, it seemed like he had decided to shoot the next time he touched the ball, regardless of circumstances.
Copeland was over his skis against Virginia last year and didn’t look much better today. His style of play is too loose/out of control against their defense and his creativity is not meshed with his teammates.
Taylor’s confidence is not there. The quick hits reaction to the game gets into more of this, but it boils down to him opting to shot fake when he gets the ball when he is "open enough". He opts for a shot fake, then dribbles in once or twice and passes to keep the offense moving. He's a good enough shooter that he should confidently take these open looks where he is established on his spot and waiting for the pass.
The question Wes asked me to start all this was, "Is Autry in over his head?"
This roster does not allow him to simultaneously plan a rotation and coach to win against similarly or better talented opponents. Guys make egregious enough mistakes where he needs to be able to give them the hook, but he doesn't really do that in the first half when they're on more scheduled substitutions. However, there are a lot of players whose contribution is a complete surprise - what they will do, when they will get hot, defensive effort, and so on. They’re a bunch of incomplete, inconsistent players assembled into a team that does not have one single thing Autry can count on and use as a building block.
I would like to see a shake up of the lineup and start the five guys who have the most consistent play. To me, that five would be Mintz, Taylor, Brown, McLeod, and one other player, but I have no clue who the last guy should be. Starling's game is very redundant with Mintz's. You never know how Bell will shoot, what Williams will do on offense/what his effort level will be, if Copeland is going to be under control on offense, and so on. You might be able to make the best case for Cuffe as far as “know what he’s going to bring”.
So, to answer that question… maybe, but we won’t know this year.
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