In a game of massive historical significance, Syracuse was uninspired, sloppy, and downright ugly offensively. The 57-46 loss to Georgetown was as difficult to swallow as any loss in recent memory. The Hoyas not only closed down the Carrier Dome in their final Big East tour stop there, the Orange put up one of the most pitiful home point totals in history.
One of the key reasons the attack was atrocious Saturday was Michael Carter-Williams. Earlier this season I wrote a piece on the potential¬†lottery pick, complimenting his¬†impressive array of talents. During the non-con schedule he was phenomenal. But¬†over the last two months MCW has been exposed,¬†and SU fans should be worried come tourney time.¬†It’s late February and unless Jim Boeheim can find a magic switch, his point guard is noticeably flawed.
Carter-Williams can be a very poor decision maker, which is the most important mental attribute for a point guard.¬†It’s not time to abandon ship. MCW is still one of the ten best point guards in the country and his skill set fits well with Syracuse‚Äôs style of play. He‚Äôs a good defender. He rebounds. He‚Äôs a leader.
“Every loss hurts. They beat us on our home court, and it is the first time we have lost at home in a long time. It definitely hurts.‚Äù – MCW post game¬†
Offensively, Carter-Williams can be dynamic. He attacks the rim. He looks for and often finds his teammates in transition. He‚Äôs not afraid of the big moment. However, he also does some incredibly stupid things far too consistently. He gets caught in the air. He misses defenders who step in front of his passes. This bi-polar play is driving Boeheim crazy, and eventually will do the same to his NBA coach.He’s reminiscent of the Knicks’ J.R. Smith. He’ll hit some of the toughest shots you‚Äôll see. He takes some absolutely terrible shots. You live with them because he can bail you out of a tough spot, and is nearly unstoppable when he‚Äôs on. In the end, the good outweighs the bad.
“I know we were excited for the game. It was not our best game.‚Äù – MCW
There are obvious differences between Smith and Carter-Williams. MCW‚Äôs bad decisions are often bad passes, not bad shots. Those passes lead to live ball turnovers, aka basketball death. These decisions are magnified because the sophomore is the starting point guard, and the Orange has no backup. Putting Brandon Triche at the point takes him off the ball, and that’s where he‚Äôs at his best – roaming, scoring and rebounding.
A point guard has to know when to shoot or pass. He has to decide when to attack or pull back. It’s about reading the flow of the game and being in charge of it. Carter-Williams struggles at all of this.¬†Otto Porter killed SU Saturday night for 33 of the Hoyas’ 57 points. The 19-year old picked his spots and was aggressive in finding the bucket. Amazingly, he‚Äôs almost two years younger than Carter-Williams, yet has far more experience averaging nearly 30 minutes per game last year.
“Sometimes you try too hard. When you are down points, and time is winding down, you try to make that play to get us going, but it just does not work out.” РBrandon Triche post game
MCW will still be a lottery pick. He should leave early for the same reason Wes Johnson had to. While he’s only a sophomore, he’s already 21 years old. Being old for your class is a negative on your draft profile. It’s also blatantly obvious Michael could use another year in school to improve his game. Yet a team will fall in love with his potential and draft him in the top 10.
As for the games he plays before that for SU, just hold your breath and hope the good outweighs the bad.
17 responses to “Syracuse Bloodied by Georgetown, Carter-Williams Is Huge Concern for March”
BigDip
*Nobody’s responded because:
A. You’re a turncoat
B. They’re on other sports sites
C. This article mirrors 100 like it, when D.A. turns into “Doug Gottlieb”
D. You’re mad at a 20 year old bball player?
* In his 2nd season, Soph Pg MCW :
A. Is currently 2nd leading assist leader in NCAA
B. Won 20+ games
C. Will be pg of an NCAA tourney team
D. Gone 4-0 vs AP top10 teams (#11 gtown 4-1?) in 2013
E. Started every game, after hardly playing as frosh
F. Multiple double-doubles THIS season … pts/ast & pts/rebs
G. 2nd most single game assists ( Sherman douglas ’87)
H. More ppg than (scoop) & more assists/steals/rebs than (dion) ’12
* #4 MSU just lost to #18 OSU 2-24-13, u gonna say “wat happened to Gary Harris?” or “Dawson?” No…its just stupid! MCW is a young player In terms of experience, a lack of game situations…Jordan wasn’t perfect as a sophmore, or Ray Allen, or Mark Jackson, Iverson, D Wade?
Wat were Jonny Flynn’s sophmore #s? 15 & 5? And he started two seasons….Donte Greene had the green light as a frosh 17&7!
At 12 pts 5rebs 8 ast…how could you, you Judas!
BigDipOrangeSip
Otto Porter vs MCW isn’t a logical comparison. CJ Fair lost his matchup with porter. CJ as a possible NBA prospect, and compariable SF looked horrible. MCWs competition are SG Suilamon at Duke, & McLemore Soph SG at KU. Porter was close to going pro last season, he’s hardly a “surprise” to bball enthusiasts….although, your comparison is! Porter will never run a NBA club, MCW will be a starting guard in the NBA from day 1.
CuseOnly
I agree with BigDip 100% on his post above.
I wanna go punch myself in the face after this loss.
I wrote this article. Not D.A. Who edited it. So, you can yell at me. He gets yelled at enough. Share the love!
As for your points…what is your point? Comparing him to other guys on other teams or other years doesn’t help Syracuse in this year? The whole premise of this column is to express concern of Mike’s play on a national championship contending team.
That inherently means you’re nitpicking. We know Syracuse is good. We know (and said) that Carter-Williams is excellent. However in a ton of key spots this year, his inexperience has shown. He’s learning on the fly and that’s okay. He’s not supposed to be Chris Paul right now. That doesn’t change the inarguable fact that he’s flawed and that flaw could end Syracuse’s season before April.
As for the comparison to Porter, he was the other lottery pick on the floor Saturday night. If you want to call it a convenient comparison, than fine. It was. But as you watched the game, the contrasting effect each had on this game was startling. Key words on this game, but it was absolutely startling.
Steve Leahy
I also think that you can swap out MCW’s name in many sports within this article and replace it with Brandon Triche. He was HORRIBLE this game and watching him is like a roller coaster ride. Up & down all season. For a senior, his leadership should be more vocal on the floor. I hate to say it but I don’t think this team will go very far in the tourny especially if the have to play a BE team in their bracket.
SupremeDipper
@criagbuffman… Isn’t saying a player of MCWs ability, “being old”, could- “use another year”, “he’s 21″…… THE ULTIMATE NITPICKING?
(a definite contradiction)
my point: a. One player will not be the downfall of the team. SU has 1 national title, you’re not a rocket scientist, suggesting we won’t win the title this season. SU has won a national title- 1/100 seasons of bball, and you blame MCW b4 season ends?
(I guess DC shoulda blocked keith smarts’ shot in ’87 title game?)
b. @Buffman. D.A. edits this sight, he should do a BETTER JOB!
c.@Buffman You have an opinion, that doesn’t mean I respect it!
d. you’re attacking a soph, although we have upperclassmen?
e. If he’s not supposed to be Chris Paul, why are u bashing him?
f. Overall point: YOUR ARTICLE SUX BALLS, ITS OPINION NO FACTS, NOT SUPPORTED BY STATISTICS!
g.”Huge Concern” – like not having DC2, or a 4th guard, or playing 92.5% zone defense, learning to guard the “elbows” in the lane? there are bigger concerns than our future All-American PG
H. my HUGE CONCERN, centers around your horrible reporting/late articles/ and stolen material from other sites!
OrangeCrush27
Oh boy…another article getting out of control.
I liked the article. This loss was magnified more because of the storyline. Not the end of the world that we lost. We play them again at their place, so hopefully we can redeem ourselves.
As for MCW. I’m personally not a fan of him because of the off-court issues. In some interviews i have read, he comes off as a selfish-arrogant type person. Never met him so i could be totally off-base. I thought he played awful Saturday. That’s not to say he played good in other games. But his role is looked at more crucially because we havent had a true PG since Flynn?? We had scoop for 5 years and he did an admirable job, but i think he caused more stress to fans then anyone. Triche isnt a true PG.
Poor shot selction by Southerland, Triche didnt shoot well, Fair didnt get enough touches, poor rebounding (as usual), poor offense against a 2-3 ZONE???!!! turnovers and the inability to guard Porter (the only player that hurt SU. We contain him better we win.)
In MCW defense, not playing last year hurt his maturity. I’ve never liked some of bohiem’s decisions anyway and i know we were loaded last year, but not playing an all-american at least 10-15 minutes EVERY game to have him ready for the following year was not good and i feel it has shown at times, especially in crucial moments of games.
I think MCW needs another year, but i dont think he stays.
MorningDip
Just because you write for @Orangefuzz does not make you an expert, accreditted, or more knowledgeable about !#$%*&… HORRIBLE REPORTING/LATE ARTICLES/ STOLEN MATERIAL………………………………..The NCAA should check your assignments for plagiarism!
MorningDip
Crush27…I agree with most of your points! this guy is giving Otto all the credit in the world for SHOOTING SET SHOTS. I’ve seen Otto get busy, he’s worked harder for less production, but it all came together against SU. @craigbuff said compare MCW vs OTTo, but they have totally different skill sets and positions….Lliard vs, Dion..Drummond vs Davis, check 2012 draft?
*Can’t blame the kid for every bad play!
Terry
Right now there is no NBA starting talent or bench sitting talent on SUBB. 46 points shows that!!!!! MCW is fun to watch, but at times(recently) he’s all over the place and out of control. 57 points on defense is great too. But JB has just lost this team. 46 points is a joke and SU fans are getting ready for another heart break from JB and his crew this year.
OrangeCrush27
@Terry: i dont agree with your comment that we played good defense. Yeah 57 points LOOKS like we played great D, but Georgetown slows the pace down on offense and then grabs the offensive rebound. We played their game.
57 points for them is like 80 points for SU haha
Kevin S
1st of all, yes this game was horrible no doubt about it… I’m still fuming from the loss actually just because of all the bad things about it… the loss, however, cannot solely be blamed on Michael Carter-Williams… the entire team (outside of MAYBE Fair & Southerland’s shooting in the 1st half) was awful… I don’t trust this team come March Madness terrible shooting team this year and they don’t play as cohesively as last year…
As for MCW going pro, he ABSOLUTELY should come back next year in my unbiased opinion… sure he COULD be a top 10 pick in June and make some money, but he’s nowhere near ready for the NBA right now and he’s just gonna end up flaming out just like so many other Cuse players going pro (ahem ahem Donte Greene, Jonny Flynn, Hakim Warrick, Paul Harris, Demetris Nichols, Andy Rautins, Wesley Johnson, etc) if he comes back next year he can work on his jump shot and gain more experiences as starting PG… his stock won’t go down from what it is now it can only go up (barring an injury, which could happen playing in college or NBA just as likely) MCW just absolutely has to come back next year… he’d be stupid not to
tony
is he flawed or just not that good?
tony
and to the guy that said mcw will run an nba tream from day one, must be michael jordan, a terrible evaluator of nba talent. unless mcw gets a shot and learns to play better overall, he will be donte green all over again
Some really good points here…none of which were made by Dipper but hey…he’s just following his idol. Big Dipper…Wilt Chamberlain. Put up numbers (lotta posts from our boy Dipper). I’m like Bill Russell. Just winning baby!
Crush, you’re dead on about the pace but Terry’s kinda right too. The defense in the first half was really good, but because of the pace Georgetown was able to put up one run in the 2nd half, get to 57 and win easily.
Tony, there’s no doubt in my mind that MCW would be better off in the long term staying. Look what that extra year of run did for Dion who’s already the 2nd best Cuse player in the NBA behind Melo as a rookie. However because he won’t want to go into the draft as a 22 year old, he’ll go and might wind up on that list. He’s probably got more upside than a guy like Flynn (undersized coming out and not a true point) and in the right situation can flourish but how many of those exist? As to your “flawed or not that good question” it’s somewhat semantics. He’s not that good yet. His flaw is decision making which can improve. Reconvene here sometime in March!
Heya i’m for the first time here. I found this board and I find It truly helpful & it helped me out a lot. I’m hoping to provide something again and help others such as you aided me.
17 responses to “Syracuse Bloodied by Georgetown, Carter-Williams Is Huge Concern for March”
*Nobody’s responded because:
A. You’re a turncoat
B. They’re on other sports sites
C. This article mirrors 100 like it, when D.A. turns into “Doug Gottlieb”
D. You’re mad at a 20 year old bball player?
* In his 2nd season, Soph Pg MCW :
A. Is currently 2nd leading assist leader in NCAA
B. Won 20+ games
C. Will be pg of an NCAA tourney team
D. Gone 4-0 vs AP top10 teams (#11 gtown 4-1?) in 2013
E. Started every game, after hardly playing as frosh
F. Multiple double-doubles THIS season … pts/ast & pts/rebs
G. 2nd most single game assists ( Sherman douglas ’87)
H. More ppg than (scoop) & more assists/steals/rebs than (dion) ’12
* #4 MSU just lost to #18 OSU 2-24-13, u gonna say “wat happened to Gary Harris?” or “Dawson?” No…its just stupid! MCW is a young player In terms of experience, a lack of game situations…Jordan wasn’t perfect as a sophmore, or Ray Allen, or Mark Jackson, Iverson, D Wade?
Wat were Jonny Flynn’s sophmore #s? 15 & 5? And he started two seasons….Donte Greene had the green light as a frosh 17&7!
At 12 pts 5rebs 8 ast…how could you, you Judas!
Otto Porter vs MCW isn’t a logical comparison. CJ Fair lost his matchup with porter. CJ as a possible NBA prospect, and compariable SF looked horrible. MCWs competition are SG Suilamon at Duke, & McLemore Soph SG at KU. Porter was close to going pro last season, he’s hardly a “surprise” to bball enthusiasts….although, your comparison is! Porter will never run a NBA club, MCW will be a starting guard in the NBA from day 1.
I agree with BigDip 100% on his post above.
I wanna go punch myself in the face after this loss.
Hey Big Dip –
I wrote this article. Not D.A. Who edited it. So, you can yell at me. He gets yelled at enough. Share the love!
As for your points…what is your point? Comparing him to other guys on other teams or other years doesn’t help Syracuse in this year? The whole premise of this column is to express concern of Mike’s play on a national championship contending team.
That inherently means you’re nitpicking. We know Syracuse is good. We know (and said) that Carter-Williams is excellent. However in a ton of key spots this year, his inexperience has shown. He’s learning on the fly and that’s okay. He’s not supposed to be Chris Paul right now. That doesn’t change the inarguable fact that he’s flawed and that flaw could end Syracuse’s season before April.
As for the comparison to Porter, he was the other lottery pick on the floor Saturday night. If you want to call it a convenient comparison, than fine. It was. But as you watched the game, the contrasting effect each had on this game was startling. Key words on this game, but it was absolutely startling.
I also think that you can swap out MCW’s name in many sports within this article and replace it with Brandon Triche. He was HORRIBLE this game and watching him is like a roller coaster ride. Up & down all season. For a senior, his leadership should be more vocal on the floor. I hate to say it but I don’t think this team will go very far in the tourny especially if the have to play a BE team in their bracket.
@criagbuffman… Isn’t saying a player of MCWs ability, “being old”, could- “use another year”, “he’s 21″…… THE ULTIMATE NITPICKING?
(a definite contradiction)
my point: a. One player will not be the downfall of the team. SU has 1 national title, you’re not a rocket scientist, suggesting we won’t win the title this season. SU has won a national title- 1/100 seasons of bball, and you blame MCW b4 season ends?
(I guess DC shoulda blocked keith smarts’ shot in ’87 title game?)
b. @Buffman. D.A. edits this sight, he should do a BETTER JOB!
c.@Buffman You have an opinion, that doesn’t mean I respect it!
d. you’re attacking a soph, although we have upperclassmen?
e. If he’s not supposed to be Chris Paul, why are u bashing him?
f. Overall point: YOUR ARTICLE SUX BALLS, ITS OPINION NO FACTS, NOT SUPPORTED BY STATISTICS!
g.”Huge Concern” – like not having DC2, or a 4th guard, or playing 92.5% zone defense, learning to guard the “elbows” in the lane? there are bigger concerns than our future All-American PG
H. my HUGE CONCERN, centers around your horrible reporting/late articles/ and stolen material from other sites!
Oh boy…another article getting out of control.
I liked the article. This loss was magnified more because of the storyline. Not the end of the world that we lost. We play them again at their place, so hopefully we can redeem ourselves.
As for MCW. I’m personally not a fan of him because of the off-court issues. In some interviews i have read, he comes off as a selfish-arrogant type person. Never met him so i could be totally off-base. I thought he played awful Saturday. That’s not to say he played good in other games. But his role is looked at more crucially because we havent had a true PG since Flynn?? We had scoop for 5 years and he did an admirable job, but i think he caused more stress to fans then anyone. Triche isnt a true PG.
Poor shot selction by Southerland, Triche didnt shoot well, Fair didnt get enough touches, poor rebounding (as usual), poor offense against a 2-3 ZONE???!!! turnovers and the inability to guard Porter (the only player that hurt SU. We contain him better we win.)
In MCW defense, not playing last year hurt his maturity. I’ve never liked some of bohiem’s decisions anyway and i know we were loaded last year, but not playing an all-american at least 10-15 minutes EVERY game to have him ready for the following year was not good and i feel it has shown at times, especially in crucial moments of games.
I think MCW needs another year, but i dont think he stays.
Just because you write for @Orangefuzz does not make you an expert, accreditted, or more knowledgeable about !#$%*&… HORRIBLE REPORTING/LATE ARTICLES/ STOLEN MATERIAL………………………………..The NCAA should check your assignments for plagiarism!
Crush27…I agree with most of your points! this guy is giving Otto all the credit in the world for SHOOTING SET SHOTS. I’ve seen Otto get busy, he’s worked harder for less production, but it all came together against SU. @craigbuff said compare MCW vs OTTo, but they have totally different skill sets and positions….Lliard vs, Dion..Drummond vs Davis, check 2012 draft?
*Can’t blame the kid for every bad play!
Right now there is no NBA starting talent or bench sitting talent on SUBB. 46 points shows that!!!!! MCW is fun to watch, but at times(recently) he’s all over the place and out of control. 57 points on defense is great too. But JB has just lost this team. 46 points is a joke and SU fans are getting ready for another heart break from JB and his crew this year.
@Terry: i dont agree with your comment that we played good defense. Yeah 57 points LOOKS like we played great D, but Georgetown slows the pace down on offense and then grabs the offensive rebound. We played their game.
57 points for them is like 80 points for SU haha
1st of all, yes this game was horrible no doubt about it… I’m still fuming from the loss actually just because of all the bad things about it… the loss, however, cannot solely be blamed on Michael Carter-Williams… the entire team (outside of MAYBE Fair & Southerland’s shooting in the 1st half) was awful… I don’t trust this team come March Madness terrible shooting team this year and they don’t play as cohesively as last year…
As for MCW going pro, he ABSOLUTELY should come back next year in my unbiased opinion… sure he COULD be a top 10 pick in June and make some money, but he’s nowhere near ready for the NBA right now and he’s just gonna end up flaming out just like so many other Cuse players going pro (ahem ahem Donte Greene, Jonny Flynn, Hakim Warrick, Paul Harris, Demetris Nichols, Andy Rautins, Wesley Johnson, etc) if he comes back next year he can work on his jump shot and gain more experiences as starting PG… his stock won’t go down from what it is now it can only go up (barring an injury, which could happen playing in college or NBA just as likely) MCW just absolutely has to come back next year… he’d be stupid not to
is he flawed or just not that good?
and to the guy that said mcw will run an nba tream from day one, must be michael jordan, a terrible evaluator of nba talent. unless mcw gets a shot and learns to play better overall, he will be donte green all over again
Some really good points here…none of which were made by Dipper but hey…he’s just following his idol. Big Dipper…Wilt Chamberlain. Put up numbers (lotta posts from our boy Dipper). I’m like Bill Russell. Just winning baby!
Crush, you’re dead on about the pace but Terry’s kinda right too. The defense in the first half was really good, but because of the pace Georgetown was able to put up one run in the 2nd half, get to 57 and win easily.
Tony, there’s no doubt in my mind that MCW would be better off in the long term staying. Look what that extra year of run did for Dion who’s already the 2nd best Cuse player in the NBA behind Melo as a rookie. However because he won’t want to go into the draft as a 22 year old, he’ll go and might wind up on that list. He’s probably got more upside than a guy like Flynn (undersized coming out and not a true point) and in the right situation can flourish but how many of those exist? As to your “flawed or not that good question” it’s somewhat semantics. He’s not that good yet. His flaw is decision making which can improve. Reconvene here sometime in March!
Heya i’m for the first time here. I found this board and I find It truly helpful & it helped me out a lot. I’m hoping to provide something again and help others such as you aided me.
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