What can be said about the Syracuse Orangemen’s fall from the top? Every team has a weakness, and in my opinion Syracuse has over achieved since the first jump ball of the season.
So what do I see as one big weakness for the Orange? In the past 20 years of college basketball, teams have the need for a strong bench, mainly because of the modern era and philosophy of an up-tempo style of play, and it has become essential for coaches to go deep into the bench.
The Jim Boeheim scenario is his philosophy of not to go deeper than seven or maybe eight players. He has been questioned, for years, by the media, on why he seems not to recruit more than eight quality Division I athletes, and eight is going really deep for the Orange.
Let’s make some comparisons to other college teams. Mike Krzyzewski, of Duke, somehow seems to have (recruits) 10 to 11 talented players, yearly. Rick Pitino has had the good fortune, at Louisville, to also have a deep bench. He and his staff, like Coach K’s staff, don’t usually miss getting their bench as strong as possible.
I think Boeheim’s philosophy is that keeping seven and possibly eight players as a nucleus to his squad is going to keep the best athletes happy with playing time. Coach B also has a defensive philosophy, which is pretty basic: one defense fits all.
The Syracuse 2-3 zone has been his signature for his 37 years as head coach for the Orange. I guess one can say that Syracuse lives or dies by its 2-3 zone— more living than dying.
The Orangemen were 25-0 and No. 1 in the NCAA national poll, until they suffered their first loss, in overtime, to a less-than-mediocre Boston College team, 62-59. But, that's the beauty of college basketball.
The BC game was the beginning of the ’Cuse skid, losing five of their last seven games, the most recent being a loss to the surging North Carolina State Wolfpack in the ACC tournament quarterfinals.
But, let’s recall what got them to 25- 0. One of the biggest positives was the fact that many of the teams had a difficult time with the active 2-3 zone.
The end results of some game scores were barely legible. SU beat the University of Miami 49-44, downed Pittsburgh 59-54 and 58-56, and in the first meeting with NC State they won 56-55 at the buzzer.
To balance the card, they did have many high scoring games.
The Madness is ready to start! As a matter of fact, when this article comes out the first round will have already started. Florida seems to be the favorite pick by many sportswriters and since I'm considered one of those people, even though I’m more like a goldfish in the ocean, I’m picking Michigan State. I've always had a thing about the Big 10; it seems to be a league that always has those real beefy/strong inside mid-western post players. In this year's tourney the outside shooting experts, like Duke, can only carry so much weight. There will be a slew of teams with the whole scenario of inside and outside scoring—Big 10 style.
The Duke Blue Devils have an awesome perimeter game, but relying on its 3-point production to pave a path to the Final Four could be their demise. A good example was in the championship game of the ACC Tournament. The winner was Virginia. Their success came from their size advantage giving them second shots. Duke had no answer for the Cavaliers’ offensive rebounding. It finally wore them down.
Even though Syracuse over achieved, I think it will be difficult for them to make it to the Sweet 16. They are predictable on defense because they only have one facet to their prevention strategy. When an opponent is preparing for 'Cuse, in practice, you can be sure that these NCAA tournament teams will be ready to attack that 2-3 defense.
For the Orange to be successful they must rely on the athleticism of its top seven players, with four doing most of the scoring (CJ Fair, Tyler Ennis, Trevor Cooney and Jerami Grant). Not bad with four players in double figures, but the bench, unfortunately, could only contribute 22 points per game. Against opponents with athletes that may have a wider strategical range off the bench, Syracuse will struggle.
Even though my Final Four pick doesn’t include Wichita State, the only unbeaten team in Division I, they have a good chance of cutting the nets down, but I don’t see that happening because Kentucky or Kansas State could end their season and streak.
This might be the most entertaining NCAA tournament ever because of the many outstanding teams. I think, in many ways, the Orange could be a Cinderella team at a higher level. But the true Cinderella team could be Saint Joseph’s University of Philadelphia.
