Observations from the first two games of the season.
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00:00 We're two games into this Syracuse basketball season. I'm Josh Crawford, this is Griffin
00:05 DeLaPena. Griffin, because you're so highfalutin and almighty, you've been able to see the
00:09 first two games in person. I watched the first two games online. What have you observed in
00:14 person that some of the viewers may not be able to see on TV?
00:16 I would say the biggest thing for this Syracuse team so far is the consistency on the defensive
00:21 end of the floor. Look, against New Hampshire, they really tried to go man early in the game,
00:26 and then they were mixing in almost every other possession with the 2-3 zone. I think
00:31 the biggest thing with doing that is these new guys into the program aren't accustomed
00:36 to the 2-3 zone to begin with. They started to learn it later, and maybe some of their
00:40 defensive assignments are getting a little bit messed up between, "Oh, are we in man?
00:45 Are we in zone? What am I supposed to be doing at this point in time?" I think that could
00:49 be troublesome for them because they haven't had so much focus on the 2-3 zone. And then
00:53 against Canisius, it was seven great stops in a row. Then they were defending well, but
00:58 Canisius was hitting good shots. There's nothing that they can do about that, but moving forward,
01:02 it's just the consistency on the defensive end of the floor. Because when they do have
01:05 good defensive stops, they're getting out in transition, and they're scoring effectively.
01:09 No, the half-court offense for this team hasn't been the best, and like you said, I feel like
01:13 we need to emphasize getting out of those fast break and those secondary break options
01:16 to maximize the athleticism that we have on this offense and the athleticism that we have
01:20 on this team in general. One thing that we talked about in both games was that man-to-man
01:25 versus 2-3 zone conundrum that you would have. From what I observed in the first half of
01:29 both games, it was a lot more primarily man, and that's when we ran up the lead, those
01:33 20-25 point leads in both the New Hampshire game and the Canisius game. So I know that,
01:38 like I said, it could be a thing of nostalgia, but with the athleticism this team has, one
01:41 through five on their roster, especially with the versatility that a guy like Malik Brown
01:44 can bring coming in as your five, I think that emphasizing that man defense may institute
01:49 a little bit more four-quarter half-court pressure could be a way to artificially get
01:52 us out of transition a little bit more. I can't agree more with that, and it also has
01:56 to be pointed out that this is a young team regardless. It's going to take them time to
02:00 gel with the new players into the program, and then guys that were underclassmen and
02:04 need to step up this year as well. So I think as the season goes on, Coach Autry, he knows
02:10 what this team can do. He has no fear that these guys aren't gritty, that they don't
02:15 want to win. They know what this team can do. So I think moving forward, it's just taking
02:20 those small wins and having them be lengthened out for a longer period of time.
02:24 That's a fact, and like we both talked about, we can't take any of these non-conference
02:28 wins for granted, especially some of the struggles that we've had in non-conference games to
02:32 what we would consider by-games before. So you talk about stepping up, one of the big
02:36 things I need to see somebody step up on this roster besides a guy like Justin Taylor is
02:39 a consistent outside shooter. A guy like Chris Bell came into the school as a reputation
02:43 as a knockdown shooter, and that needs to be actualized with him opening up lanes for
02:47 Judah and JJ. So who do you have as a candidate to potentially step up outside of Justin as
02:52 a knockdown shooter for the team?
02:54 I think it has to be Chris Bell, because if he's in that starting five, you need to see
02:58 more production from him. Not just with rebounds, that's something that has been talked about
03:03 a whole lot, but he's not even putting up a whole lot of shots. He's been open in the
03:08 corner a lot, and we haven't seen that potential trust in JJ Starling and Judah Mintz when
03:13 he's open in the corner. I don't know if that's a lack of confidence on Chris Bell's side,
03:17 or just right now they want to have points come in different ways. Regardless, you do
03:21 need to see more efficient three-point shooting, because you can't rely on Justin Taylor to
03:26 be that guy all season long.
03:28 No, that's a fact. Like you said, a guy like Chris, a guy like Benny, whoever, he makes
03:31 his way back to the lineup, could provide some shooting punch for us. But as we know,
03:35 Griffin, this non-conference schedule ramps up pretty quickly, so that outside shooting
03:38 and those solidified roles need to show themselves sooner rather than later, coming up against
03:42 in that Maui Invitational, a Gonzaga team, a Tennessee team. This team has some really
03:47 big opponents on the slate, and you want to establish that team identity now before it
03:50 gets too late in this non-conference.
03:52 That's the biggest thing, is there is no time to wait. You have a few days off before Colgate,
03:58 and that game means a lot, not just in terms of your Central New York rival, who has beaten
04:03 you the last two times that you face one another, but it's the last game before you go out and
04:08 play other Power 5 programs. The number nine Tennessee Vol team, that's the first team
04:12 that they play, and then it's the winner of Gonzaga or Purdue, sorry about that. But regardless,
04:19 you're playing one of those two teams, and those are some of the best teams in college
04:23 basketball from a year ago. There's no time to wait for the Orange, and you need to see
04:27 some of those things start to come to fruition.
04:29 No, that's a fact. But one thing I will end on a positive note, I think with the dynamic
04:33 guard play between JJ and Judah, they have developed a chemistry. There's been not a
04:37 lot of your turn, my turn that we see from these two men, dynamic duos. They have kind
04:41 of been a seamless fit in terms of what they can do together on the court, especially with
04:44 JJ, with this first time, probably his basketball career, being primarily working off ball.
04:49 So that's been an encouraging sign to me, and a thing that I wanted to really track
04:52 closer in the off season, to see how well these two guys work together. So it seems
04:55 like they work well together, and outside of the improved three-point shooting on their
04:59 part on the rest of the roster, I think that we have the makings of one of the more dynamic
05:03 and surprising teams, not only in the SEC, but in the country.
05:05 It's only going to get better for those two guys. They are similar type players. They
05:09 are shot creators. They like to get to the basket. And I think as the season goes on,
05:15 you're going to see those roles start to flip of maybe Judah is going to be the off-ball
05:19 guard. Maybe he'll be the guy that could be more of a primary shooter, and JJ's taking
05:24 the ball up the floor. There is so much that Coach Autry can work with these two guys,
05:28 but you saw five assists in the first half from JJ Starling against Canisius. That's
05:33 huge for this team, as it's not really a huge assist-type heavy offense. So if you can have
05:38 him helping out guys, maybe getting the ball down in the post to Naheem McQuad, I think
05:43 that could be really big for the Orange.
05:44 Like you said, neither one of those, Judah or JJ, is a pass-first type of lead guard,
05:48 so it is very encouraging to see them being willing and able to have that playmaking with
05:52 them. So we touched on a bunch of different things, and like you said, it's not all down
05:56 for this Syracuse basketball program, especially with the guard play that we have. And I think
06:00 with, we could just have a few more things come together with the outside shooting, with
06:03 the chemistry at large, we could be on a roll to make our first NCAA tournament under Coach
06:08 Red Autry. Josh Crawford, Rivendell Appellant, FAN Nation.
06:11 [BLANK_AUDIO]