A friend's cousin's father went to college with the brother of a secretary in the West Virginia athletic department, and he told me that Bob Huggins, in preparing the Mountaineers for Wednesday's game, completely forgot that Syracuse plays the 2-3 zone defense. True story. That's why they never tried to pass the ball into the top of the lane. Eventually in the 2nd half, the West Virginia players realized on their own they could try to shoot over the zone. They made a couple threes, but it was too little too late.
Here's how I imagined Huggins reacting as the game started.
"OK! Let's run play number 2! Pass it around the perimeter...good! Make some cuts off the ball...nice! Now try to pass it down low! Wait... why aren't the defenders following the cuts? Why is the center just standing in the middle with his arms up!? Oh no! That's not man-to-man! They're...they're playing a zone! $#!+!!!"
Huggins. Great recruiter. Mediocre game coach.
OK, in all seriousness, there was a lot of good stuff to take away from that game from a Syracuse stand point. First of all, and perhaps most seriously, Otto rubbed my head right before the game started. So now I have to try to get Otto to rub my head before every SU game. Gotta do it.
Second, as horrendous as West Virginia was at attacking the zone, the zone itself deserves some credit. A healthy Rautins helped that. Paul Harris is a joy to watch defend. (If I had no allegiance, I would have loved to see Harris end up at Pittsburgh. He would have been perfect for them.) But overall, you could tell Boeheim worked on the zone all week. Onuaku, despite his obvious limitations from the knee injury, played within himself at the center, staying in good position for defense and rebounding.
A balanced offense is great, because it means you have several players who can go off on any given night. But ultimately, you want your offense to have a clear identity. I think, over the past 3 halves, we've found it. "On this team, me and E think as the guards go, the team goes," Flynn told the Daily Orange after the game. I'll buy that. Even on a poor shooting night, the pair combined for 44 points. Meanwhile, the team scored 46 of their 74 points in the paint, without a big night from the centers. Paul Harris was a chunk of that in the first half, but it was mostly Flynn and Devo driving to the hoop. And let me tell you something, pandejo, if you tell me there's a pair of guards who are better at driving to the hoop, I'll punch you in the face and call you a liar. OK, Flynn might be driving into trouble a bit too much lately, but that's part of an overall improvement in his offensive mindset. I'd like to see him have an idea before he even starts his drive of where he's going to pass it if he runs into trouble.
Now, Villanova...
The Wildcats are good, but I feel like they might be playing a touch over their head right now, with that Pittsburgh win highliting a 4-game win streak. At the very least, they're due for a loss, even at home. The question for Syracuse is, can we build some momentum off Wednesday's nice victory? That was the same question after the Notre Dame game, another day when the Orange looked brilliant and the issue was almost never in doubt. Was Wednesday night an anomaly of a great performance against a poorly coached team? Or is Syracuse a legitimate 2nd tier Big East team? This morning on ESPN radio Andy Katz basically blamed the losing streak on the injury woes, saying, "Syracuse has proven it can beat any team in the nation." There is something to that, but it isn't the full picture. Frankly, I'm not convinced Syracuse can beat any team in the nation. I certainly don't think the Orange will win @UConn. Back-to-back losses will have everyone saying Syracuse has "lost 6 of its past 7." This Villanova game is huge. So...I remain guardedly optimistic.
Syracuse 68-67 Villanova
Stat: Vilanova has held 8 opponents to less than 60 points in Philadelphia.
Labels: Syracuse Orange basketball
