[valentine]

Syracuse is a more athletic team than Kentucky. That is why this years team has the best zone defense in NCAA history. That is why they lead the nation in steals, are second in blocks, first in turnover margin, are 2nd in transition points and efficiency…in the Country! The only unathletic player who plays is Scoop and he has been straight ballin. I know you all are Kentucky drones and want to post every single day about how AD is the #1 pick (duh), and I know that I am an SU fan, but I am a basketball fan first and have seen Kentucky 10+ times. Feel free to disagree, i love debating with Kentucky lovers they are so open minded ;-). Some Kentucky SU thoughts I have which are against the norm:

MKG is overrated. Good player. But everything he can do, CJ Fair can do, except MKG can dribble better and Fair can shoot better and is a better athlete. If you have seen CJ ball you can not deny he is both a better athlete and a better shoooter …off the bench! (Did you see that reverse alley he threw down the other day? Sick)

Fab Melo would be the worst matchup for AD in the country. Their block rates are nearly identical and Fab has him substantially in both height and weight, and his athleticism and mobility are VASTLY underated. He also has range out to 18 feet which he has flashed consistently as of late.

Darkhorse Pro Prospect: James Southerland: a 6-8 freakish athlete with one of the prettiest/quickest strokes in the country. He struggles dribbling and against good man defense, but guys that are that big and athletic who can shoot find their way into the NBA.

Teague is a product of the players around him, his shooting numbers are horrendous and his assist/TO ratio is worse than both Triche and Scoops. I know scouts like him but I honestly cant understand why. Triche is bigger, a better shooter, and arguably a better athlete (minus quickness). Teague may have him in passing ability but not in decision making, and Triche is almost considered a non prospect.

Doron Lamb is Kentuckys most important and consistent player. He is the guy who would win or lose a game vs. Syracuse.

 

You can love it you can hate it but this IMHO and I’m sure a bunch of the immature people on here will dislike it 50 times but im already deep in the negatives so I figured I would come out of retirement lol. Hoping for a Kentucky SU Championship so I can finally say I told you so. Its all love baby babyyy!

 

[JrbenzCuse23]

You cant refute any points I made with logic so you just hit the thumbs down button like cowards like I care lol grow the hell up Kentucky has 2 athletic players and MKG’s athleticism is WAY overblown. Every stat I quoted is an athleticism stat and we are #1 or #2 in all of them and the only reason we are 2 in blocks is because AD plays more minutes than Fab.

 

Players on SU with 35+ inch verticals: Kris Joseph, Dion Waiters, CJ Fair, James Southerland

Add in Fab Melo and Rakeem Christmas who are athletic freaks for their size (even tho Rak has been severely lost all season). Even Triche throws down some sick a$$ dunks. Oh, btw, you only get half your recruits because ESPN does your recruiting for you. Why would somebody go anywhere else when every year they are the only team they talk about? Brainwash all you people who cant think for yourselves into believing anything they say enough times.

[BiggysmallsParticipant]

Wow

I would argue that this years zone is really good because the Big East is about as bad as its been in at least 10 years. They didnt really play alot of tough teams in the non conference, or any challenging non conference true road games. Are they good? Absolutely, are they all time good? I personally dont think so. They certainly have a great chance to win it all this year, but this team isnt one without flaws.

MKG is definitly not overrated. He may be the most important player for Kentucky. His ability to consistently create extra possessions for Kentucky is something that goes unnoticed. Kentucky is not a great shooting team, but they are really good on the offensive boards, and Gilchrast is a big big reason why.

Fab Melo has no post moves, Davis "struggles" against post players that consistenly attack him and go at him. As far as I know, Melo doesnt do that. He sets alot of screens and goes to the glass, but he isnt a guy who is going to beat people knocking down a 17 foot j to force Davis away from the hoop.

I personally dont like Kentucky, and I do agree with you that Syracuse would be a tough matchup for them, but lets not sit here and pretend Kentucky wouldnt be an equally tough matchup for Cuse.

I’d be curious to see what your opinions are on other teams around the country and if anybody in your unbiased opinion could be a sleeper team that could potentially knock off your beloved Cuse. You responding would go a long way in building up some equity in the credibility column in my book.

[TruettParticipant]

… In that Syracuse has more "Athletes" than Kentukey…and by that I mean their bench is a lot deeper…and filled with athletes… both are great teams in terms of athleticism and unfortunately you can only play 5 at a time…without making both teams run through a combine and then doing some regression analysis you are going to have trouble figuring out who is more atheltic…If they played each other the athleticism would cancel each other out so we would have you use other factors…lets examine some of the premises which have been stated allready

Before we get into this let me say that I am from western NY and its Cuse all day every day in my book absent all rationale suggesting otherwise…

Cuse is kinda dominating the Big East this year v. The Big East is down this year….

I think both are correct… G-town and pitt are rebuilding and Connecticut has been a disaster ‘Nova has also been disappointing…Some of the less successful teams like st. johns and Marquette and seton hall have stepped up this year…Conferance v. Conferance Big East is still tops…prob in the whole NCAA. just not as much as it was the last few years.

Cuse’s 2-3 zone is the greatest thing since ever v. Whatever brah, our starting 5 will all be drafted in the 1st round if they chose to go out…

Not explicitly said and kinda dont answer each other… To be honest, Cuse’s 2-3 zone is very good… for some reason the scouting report on kentucky was you had to give teague the full court press… I think that is dumb as heck..2-3 is probably better because kentucky is not a team of three point shooters…however, I think there are 3 players on kentucky that can break down the zone off the dribble; teague, lamb, and maybe jones (he will be a match up problem for cuse especially if kentucky can post him up). The big problem with cuse, is that they are not a good rebounding team. Seriously, they are really really bad. It doesn’t hurt them because fab melo is holding the paint down and prevents second shots at the rim, but that could change against kentucky. 

Fab Melo is awesome v. Fab Melo sucks. 

Personally, I am in the former camp. I think teams are really sleeping on the kid.. If he comes out and measures 7 ft w/ shoes he is going to be a steal as he is projected outside the lottery. That said, he is raw on offense and they do not really run plays for him unless he is killing it on D. He can do a little hook, and finish an oop or a pick a roll, but I dont like it when he takes jumpers period. He is bigger and stronger than davis and he is no slouch. His natural position is at Center where Davis is still learning. I could see Melo getting some fouls on davis and making him work harder than normal. That said… Davis is the POY 

Plus for Kentuckey is Jones… I dunno who cuse would use to guard him? Joseph or fair probably maybe Keita but Jones should be able to take them both in the post and Keita will slow them down on offense and they need to score 70 to beat kentuky.

Final prediction: If they meet in the finals it will be a great game.. kentucky should be favored, but it is a very winnable game for cuse as they have veterans and imo a better coach. If the game turns into Kentuky taking threes, look for cuse to win. If fab melo is winning the matchup against davis… look for cuse to win.

[Hi its BenParticipant]

 Most biased poster on this site..

[BlazermannParticipant]

I knew he was a weirdo when I saw his picture lol

[crazyqx83Participant]

wow, are all Syracuse fans this biased because all I have seen from them is how great their team is and how everybody else sucks. you are completely uninformed OP. You point out that Syracuse is 2nd in blocks but don’t point out that Kentucky is 1st and is averaging more than 2 more blocks per game. Kentucky is also a FAR superior rebounding team as compared to Syracuse.

I might take 1 player on Syracuse in athleticism over Davis, MKG, Miller and Jones. You obviously haven’t watched Kentucky play if you think otherwise.

I also like how you rip Teague when compared to Triche and Jardine. You do realize that Jardine is shooting an embarrassing 49% from the FT line, right? When was the last time you saw a PG be that completely awful at the foul line? And you fail to recognize that Kentucky’s gameplan is not predicated on assists or steals. There is so much 1 on 1 play that assists just aren’t going to come. On defense, the strategy is to not get out of position playing passing lanes but to rather funnel shooters towards Davis so he can block the shot. It’s why we have the #1 defensive FG% in the nation BY A WHOLE FARKING BUNCH.

Kentucky now has 6 players in NBAdraft.net’s 2012 mock draft. Syracuse has 2 and both are outside of the top 20. Syracuse is the classic team that skirts thru the regular season then meets a team with 2-3 pro prospects in the tourney and gets shellacked. Pretty typical for Boeheim. I mean, he’s only been past the Sweet-16 TWICE in the past 20 years. By comparison, Calipari has been past the Sweet-16 six of the past seven seasons.

Plus the Big East is A COMPLETELY GOD AWFUL conference this year. Your 2nd best team in Marquette got railroaded by both LSU and Vandy. Two middle of the pack SEC teams. Your 3rd best team in Notre Dame got whacked by our 2nd to worst team in Georgia. YOUR SCHEDULE HAS BEEN TERRIBLE.

Syracuse is an awful outside shooting team, as well… Nobody on your team that has taken more than 20 three pters is hitting more than 36%. Kentucky has 3 players that have taken more than 20 and hit more than 36% and as a team we hit 38% compared to Syracuse’s 34%. Plus your halfcourt offense is abysmal. I think you all probably average 15ppg on non-transition and non-FT baskets.

Kentucky has the highest scoring margin since ’01 Duke and according to most, the most statistical dominance in the shot clock era. Here are some examples:

-UK is #1 in KenPom’s ratings and #1 in Sagarin. SU is #5 in KenPom’s ratings and #6 in Sagarin.

-UK has the highest average margin of victory in the nation. Syracuse is #5.

-UK is #1 in the nation in blocked shots per game. Syracuse IS #2, but they block 2 fewer shots per game.

-UK is #11 in FG%. Syracuse is #37.

-UK is #1 in FG% defense (By A LOT). Syracuse is #11 and allows their opponents to shoot more than 2% better from the floor.

-UK shoots 72.4% from the foul line. Syracuse shoots 69.7%.

-UK is #9 in the nation averaging only 14.9 fouls per game. Syracuse is #15 averaging 15.3.

-UK is #10 in the nation with a rebound margin of +7.3. Syracuse is #221 with a rebound margin of -0.8.

-UK is #26 in the nation with a 3pt FG% of 38.4%. Syracuse is #170 with a 3pt FG% of 34.2%.

-UK is #29 in the nation with an 11.6 TOPG average. Syracuse is #7 at 10.5.

-UK is #126 in the nation with a 132.4 APG average. Syracuse is #13 at 16.1.

-UK has failed to score at least 65 points only twice (one of those games agaisnt ODU in the first month of the season and the other against UGA where UK set their season low for possessions due to UGA’s determination to make the game slow as hell). Syracuse has failed to score 65 points 8 times, including 7 of their last 10 games AND HAS SCORED FEWER THAN 60 POINTS IN 3 OF THEIR PAST 5.

-UK has allowed an opponent to score more than 65 points only 4 times and three of those games were against UNC, Indiana and Vandy and those three teams are all in the top 13 of KenPom’s offensive ratings. (this includes holding 3 teams in KenPom’s top 12 offensive ratings: KU, Florida and Vandy, to 65 points or fewer). No team has scored more than 74 points against UK. Syracuse has allowed opponents to score more than 65 points 11 times (including to offensive juggernauts Albany, DePaul, Villanova and St. John’s).

[crazyqx83Participant]

I also like how he calls MKG overrated…  12 points, 8 rebounds, 2 assists, 1 steal and 1 block per game on 48% shooting and 75% from the line as a 6’7 wing.

Does this guy huff paint?

[JoeWolf1]

 You know what they say, athleticism wins championships…

 

[scbe2223Participant]

 Lol at people who complain about losing points, then proceed to say they don’t care about points.

[JrbenzCuse23]

Im the most biased poster on this site? Whens the last time youve seen any Kentucky fan give any credit to any team other than them? LOL get the f*ck out of here. Apparantley calling the best team in the country the best team in the country gets you crucified on here ;-). But hey throwing out all true stats isn’t solid evidence. I mentioned that Kentucky leads SU in blocks and its only because AD plays more than Fab, the rest of our team sh*ts on UK blocking #s. But that woulod force one to take a logical educated look at things and apparantly all that matters to UK fans is slobbering over their 1 year boarding school players who, mind you, HAVENT BEATEN ANYBODY IN 2 MONTHS. Every one of SU close games is to much better teams than UK. Tennesee, Auburn, SC, Vandy, Georgia? Get the F*ck out of here you lost to Indiana who has i think 1 black player I cant stand the hubris of these UK fans. SORRY THAT I AM A PASSIONATE FAN WHO DOESNT AUTOMATICALLY GO WITH THE MAJORITY IF ITS WRONG. Aint nobody else on here open to new ideas ever, and when your favorite team is the best in the country and the only team not to lose with a full roster, why would I talk about anybody else? Coward a$$ losers hate me cuz im young athletic educated and handsome lol Get the f*ck outta here

[JrbenzCuse23]

Oh, and for whoever said it, Syracuse has at least 6 players on their team who play in the pros and you can take that to the bank you drone a$$ can’t think for theyself a$$ long titty no nipple havin a$$ lahoooooosers

[JrbenzCuse23]

i could care less about losing points but the fact that these people think its an insult is immature it tells you about them not me considering my original post was all factual and at minimum debatable. Bunch of coward computer geeks who prolly haven’t gotten p*ssy in years its fine

[JrbenzCuse23]

CJ Fairs numbers are identical per minute and he is more athletic do some research before you ignorant people talk seriously. Like ooooohh some loser on this site didnt say hes as good so we cant even consider it. L O L

[JrbenzCuse23]

I call somebody who averages 12 & 8 and cant shoot a ROLE player.Half his rebounding comes from teams putting all their effort on containing AD on the boards. I can say with 100% certainty that he would not start on Syracuse this year. He would be a nice bench player AKA Cj Fair. Wow you people are ignorant and close minded lol have a nice life

[billykParticipant]

“Get the F*ck out of here you lost to Indiana who has i think 1 black player.” What does that mean???

[er1csh3nParticipant]

 OMG this guy is hilarious, I wonder if he actually has been to more than one Syracuse game in his life.

[OhCanada-Participant]

Why are you trying to use frustration in your favor to prove a point. Your opinion is your opinion if somebody respectfully disagrees that is their own buisness. Freaking out like a child qand saying things like "you people are ignorant and close mimnded have a nice life" is not going to help your point be reinforced. Im not saying turn into the robot of regulations but try to uphold some integrity right?

Now as for who is better I would say both teams are a draw at this point. Syracuse has an edge with experience and Kentucky a bit of an edge with talent. Tough to say how a game would play out but I strongly believe that these two are frontrunners for National Championship.

MKG is not overrated and he would play on Syracuses starting lineup as a PF. I agree with you to an extent, he would not start over Kris Joseph who is one of the physical and mental leaders of this ballclub. although CJ Fair, James Southerland and Rakeem Christmas would not get minutes over MKG.

[river09Participant]

 Well I’m not sure if Syracuse is more athletic than Kentucky, but they do have more experienced players on their roster with Kris Joseph and Scoop Jardine alone… Which when we get into the tournament matters a lot more than regular season numbers in my mind.. I’m not saying that Syracuse is necessarily better but leadership is necessary in the postseason and I don’t see where that will come from on Kentucky.. 

[crazyqx83Participant]

 This guy has to be the most ignorant poster I have EVER seen on ANY message board, not just NBADraft.net

I point out the NUMEROUS statistical categories in which UK blows Syracuse away and he just ignores it.  I point out that both Sagarin and Ken Pom rank UK #1 and Syracuse #5 and he ignores it.

He says:  " I mentioned that Kentucky leads SU in blocks and its only because AD plays more than Fab, the rest of our team sh*ts on UK blocking #s."  Yet UK’s team other than Davis average 4.3 blocks per game and Syracuse’s players other than Melo average 3.9 blocks per game.

This guy is LITERALLY the dumbest poster I have seen in my entire life.  He argues that he has the stats in his favor, but when he turns out to be dead wrong he just flat out doesn’t address his ignorant claims.

 

 

[crazyqx83Participant]

 and give me a break.  Syracuse hasn’t beaten anyone ALL SEASON.  Best wins are Florida and Marquette.  UK beat Florida by 20 on their home court in a game that wasn’t even that close and Marquette lost to pathetic LSU and Vandy (both scrub teams in the SEC) by double digits.  The pathetic Notre Dame team that Syracuse lost to got railroaded by Indiana and lost to lowly pathetic Georgia who is 2nd to last in the SEC and UK just beat by 30.

[BiggysmallsParticipant]

I’d still be curious to See JrBezCuse’s analysis of any team that he thinks may be able to give Cuse a challenge in the NCAA tournament. Interesting how he didnt respond to that at all. I agree with Canada. Lets have some integrity and understanding about how important an online NBA forum is in the grand scheme of things and maybe look in the mirror if you feel the need to incessently attack people who oppose your opinions. Its a bit saddening.

[JrbenzCuse23]

its the fact that nobody ever gives Syracuse any credit or can even consider anything other than what they have had drilled into their heads. I am the one who gets crucified for having a different opinion. I mean, its very plausible that Syracuse should be the #1 team in the country. Syracuse is vulnerable to any team that gets crazy hot from DEEP 3’s. To beat our zone you have to hit from 25 feet. While I think we our better than any other team, obviously we could lose. Michigan, Missouri, or a Mid Major. Scared of the M’s, lol.

[HaleParticipant]

 No one has said Syracuse doesn’t have a case for number one. Many people just believe Kentucky is a better team. There only loss came on a buzzer beater on the road against a good Indiana team that was really hot at the time. Syracuse lost by 9 to a good ND team on the road as well, but I think it’s safe to say Kentucky’s loss was ‘better’.

No one has a problem with Syracuse, they have a problem with your bias of them and against Kentucky and degrading of all their players. You have taken numerous shots at MKG, Teague, and even Anthony Davis, while pimping up Fab Melo, Fair and other ‘Cuse guys. The ripping of MKG has been especially inaccurate, and if you ever gave them slight credit or responded in a less abrasive way,  you wouldn’t lose so many points.

I like Syracuse, I loved them when they had Hakim Warrick, he was one of my favorite NCAA players ever. I was a big fan of Donte Green and Wes Johnson, I like Waiters and Fair this year. I also like Kentucky and was a fan of Wall, T-Jones, MKG and Davis. You just need to be more open minded when you post, and not blame everything on Kentucky bias. They are both great teams who will be around later in the tourney with a chance to win it all.

[uknationParticipant]

I’m a UK fan and i think UK is better. I think Cuse is a very good team but they have more flaws especially rebounding. The also have more toruble when they aren’t playing in the state of N.Y (they rarely leave before the conference starts) and they tend to under achive once they get in the tournament.

MKG is far from overrated and he is clearly better than C.J Fair, that’s not even debateable. Melo shouldn’t be in the same sentence as Davis and the reason he doesn’t play as much is the fact that he’s a worst defender( the fouls tell you that 3fouls per game in 24min)

I’m not a very big fan of the “experience” factor because there are plenty of teams with a bunch of Sr’s who get knocked out in round one, i’m more of a fan of the talent factor that plays well together and plays good defense.

[Author]

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