THE OFFICIAL RUTGERS-SYRACUSE PREDICTION THREAD

[jordkap]

How much does cuse win by if they weren't missing 2 starters on the road? Are they top 15 type team in your view?

This is why I think we win tonight. If any of their players end up in foul trouble, and I suspect at least 1 or 2 will be... they have 0 depth remaining. If I’m Pike I tell my guys to attack and try to rack up fouls on whoever is in. At some point, they will run out of fouls before using sparsely used players.

 

[kcg88]

This is why I think we win tonight. If any of their players end up in foul trouble, and I suspect at least 1 or 2 will be... they have 0 depth remaining. If I’m Pike I tell my guys to attack and try to rack up fouls on whoever is in. At some point, they will run out of fouls before using sparsely used players.

Zone defense doesn't lead to many fouls.

 

[Shell21]

Zone defense doesn't lead to many fouls.

A few things to think about with us vs a zone that despite us being a lousy shooting team, work in our favor and may actually get them into foul trouble

1..Jacob Young and Montez penetrating vs the zone. This is key, as I hope we don't stand around on the perimiter, just passing the ball around as that is a recipe for disaster and will lead to steals and transition for them. If Jacob and Montez can get into the teeth of the zone like I think they can, this will cause rotations and close outs that if we attack, can lead to foul trouble.
2. Zone's are tough to rebound out of. Rebounding is obviously one of our strengths, and if we can get on the boards, we can create foul trouble for their big men and they don't have a lot of depth with their starting center out.
3. As discussed above, their starting center is out, so if we can get the ball inside, and on the boards, we can get them into foul trouble as well.

 

[RUtrumpet92_rivals498139]

I read a "bold prediction" on one of their fan sites that Syracuse would outrebound their opponents this season in 40% of games. That's... not good.

Re: foul trouble - it took some digging but I found average fouls per game for Syracuse last season. Sidibe (the C that is out tonight) averaged 4.1 fouls. Dolezaj will play C tonight instead of F; he averaged 3.3 last year. Guerrier averaged 2.6. Nobody else averaged two per game. Conclusion - if Dolezaj gets in foul trouble, they could really be hard pressed for size tonight. It is not likely their guards will get in much foul trouble.

 

[GimmeSomeMore]

Teams will go up and down more than most think - neither wants to go half court vs. the other.

RU 85 Sara 74

 

[ClassOf02v.2]

Lots of discussion here about our offense attacking their zone. While important, equally so is our ability to play strong perimeter defense. Our guards need to be annoying and pesky and eliminate as many open 3s as possible. Big game for JY on the defensive end.

 

[Eagleton95.99]

I read all the preview articles. And they all note the importance of penetrators to beat the zone. They mention Young and Mulcahy as being keys. I predict that they all overlooked Mathis and he will be critical to the game as our second best penetrator.

I'm also looking forward to this game to see how Mulcahy is developing. 1. Seems like a game where he will need to take outside shots. Can he be a higher volume shooter and play that role if that's what the D is offering? 2. In the past he has played a zone breaking point-forward role from the foul line and has been effective at times. But the better teams flustered him and it wasn't reliable in big games. Let's see if he can take another step against a team that plays zone well.

 

[Eagleton95.99]

Lots of discussion here about our offense attacking their zone. While important, equally so is our ability to play strong perimeter defense. Our guards need to be annoying and pesky and eliminate as many open 3s as possible. Big game for JY on the defensive end.

Good point. We haven't been great at 3pt D.

 

[Scangg]

I read all the preview articles. And they all not the importance of penetrators to beat the zone. They mention Young and Mulcahy as being keys. I predict that they all overlooked Mathis and he will be critical to the game as our second best penetrator.

I'm also looking forward to this game to see how Mulcahy is developing. 1. Seems like a game where he will need to take outside shots. Can he be a higher volume shooter and play that role if that's what the D is offering? 2. In the past he has played a zone breaking point-forward role from the foul line and has been effective at times. But the better teams flustered him and it wasn't reliable in big games. Let's see if he can take another step against a team that plays zone well.

Mulcahy at the FT is one of the biggest factors in the game IMO. If he plays well in that role it might not be all that close. He should be able to score from there as well as dump off and lob passes to Cliff Myles and Harper. Possibly draw fouls on their center who us already the backup. It also puts him in a good spot to be a force on the offensive glass. I expect a big game from Paul.

Young needs to find a way to get out in transition in every single game. Hopefully he can be effective attacking the zone tonight in the half court as well.

Will we see Palmquist get a longer look tonight against a zone? If he gets some run early and makes a couple 3's that could be an unforeseen wild card

 

[zebnatto]

I think the play of Paul and Myles will be key to the game. Both need to be aggressive on the offensive end.

 

[Eagleton95.99]

I think the play of Paul and Myles will be key to the game. Both need to be aggressive on the offensive end.

Mulcahy at the FT is one of the biggest factors in the game IMO. If he plays well in that role it might not be all that close. He should be able to score from there as well as dump off and lob passes to Cliff Myles and Harper. Possibly draw fouls on their center who us already the backup. It also puts him in a good spot to be a force on the offensive glass. I expect a big game from Paul.

Young needs to find a way to get out in transition in every single game. Hopefully he can be effective attacking the zone tonight in the half court as well.

Will we see Palmquist get a longer look tonight against a zone? If he gets some run early and makes a couple 3's that could be an unforeseen wild card

I think it's more of an important test for Mulcahy than it is key for Rutgers. If Paul hurts them from that spot, great. If not, JY and MM are superior penetrators and RHJ is also good on the attack. We have numerous ways to win.

 

[BillyC80]

First game this year where the home crowd could’ve made a big difference. I think it will be somewhat close, but we have an abundance of weapons on offense and defense, so I think we win, 74-68.

 

[newell138]

RU 81
SU 77

 

[hinson32]

But we were horrible against that zone. We got a bunch in transition and still couldn't crack 1.00 points per possession.

Syracuse 72
Rutgers 57

Well that didn’t age well. Neither did your criticism of Pike not playing for 8 days hurting us against Cuse.

 

[bac2therac]

he also didnt do too well with his early call of the Big 10 getting trounced in the challenge

 

[GoodOl'Rutgers]

I think I got this one.. predicted 81-71 got the victory margin and off by 2 on both numbers.

 

[Scarlet Blind_rivals]

Series is 8-30 Average score 69.8-78.1
Last 2 wins, b2b home wins in 2002(12-16) and 03(20-13), 82-74 and 68-65, (20-13), (30-5) We are better than those teams, and they aren't as good as those teams.

Rutgers 82
Syracuse 65

I didnt do too bad if we make one more 3 and they didn't get a couple gift calls for FTs, esp Oskar flagrant.