Dayton...

[orangefan13]

If they like to run after defensive rebounds we really need to make our shots so the zone can get setup. The part about making shots worries me. I hope the right Orange team shows up!

it your going to miss atleast make sure the ball hits the rim and the backboard or the rim twice. hitting shortside frontrim or inside backrim is a recipe for disaster.

 

[two3zone]

I watched Dayton play SJU in person on Saturday. My impressions:

Dayton loves to play at a breakneck pace. Every time they grabbed a defensive rebound Miller would exhort them to race down court. I think they will attempt this often against SU for two reasons: 1) to attack before the zone is set up and 2) to try to wear SU down due to lack of depth. I think it will be critical for SU to get back on defense and also important to try to control tempo. Lastly, JB will have to strategically blend the rotation because if it is fast paced then we might run out of gas in the critical stages of the game.

Dayton is not great at shooting 3s. Cooke is their best and Scootchie Smith is next. Smith has a funky release but somehow he makes his share. Dayton took several ill-advised long threes and missed almost all of them. I think JB will encourage them to take 3s until they hit a few. Another guard off the bench - Kyle Davis- does not want to take 3s. SJU left him open and he still tried to penetrate. One thing these guys can do is drive to the basket. Smith is quick as lightning with a dazzling array of moves. Our big guys will have to be alert and help because he will get to the rim. As I said above, the fast break is an issue and Smith is their main guy on the break.

The Dayton front line is not big but they are active and aggressive and play with high motors. Dyshawn Pierre is a man and will need to be boxed out. Cooke is probably only 6'5" but he can jump out of the building. Pollard is decent too. They have a big guy (McElvene) who is a freshman and is nearly 7' tall. He has potential to be good down the line but for now he is mainly a shot blocker although he had a few nice pick and roll buckets against SJU.

Overall offensively Dayton is not a great team but if they are allowed to run then it will improve their efficiency. If they have to operate against our zone it definitely works to SU's advantage. They have an average low post game at best but we can't sleep on their front court because they rebound ok despite their lack of size.

Defense is Dayton's strong suit. Cooke held Deandre Bembry to nine points which was the first time Bembry was held to < 10 points all year. Bembry is likely to be in the NBA next year so that was impressive and Cooke was in his pocket all game long. I would assume Cooke will cover G. Defensively Dayton plays primarily man and they do it aggressively. It will be a challenge to operate efficiently against these guys. Isaiah Miles a 6'8" forward for SJU had a huge game nailing threes as he shot over a smaller defender. It's possible Lydon could have some success like that.

In some ways this is a good matchup for SU because UD is not a powerful team down low in terms of low post game and rebounding dominance. To me that is by far SU's biggest weakness. My two main concerns would be matching UD's intensity and controlling the tempo in this game. SU doesn't always play with the level of intensity that UD is likely to bring to this game. I think we can control the tempo but that will require minimizing turnovers and converting efficiently. It will be key for Roberson to show up on the boards at both ends. I expect a very tight game.

Thanks for the breakdown. I haven't seen them play this season.

I will say that pretty much everything mentioned, especially the first two paragraphs means we could be in a world of hurt. I hope we're able to offensive rebound well and keep the pace down to prevent some easy transition baskets.

 

[CaptainJ]

That's what we thught in 2014.

I have a better feeling about this year than 2014 though -- maybe it's being an underdog. I just think this team will come out hungry.

That seems like the narrative we'd all like, but it wouldn't be the first time we've expected it this season, would it?

Including Boeheim, I'm not sure how many of these guys look consistently hungry... well, other than Coleman.

 

[sugrad68]

I watched Dayton play SJU in person on Saturday. My impressions:

Dayton loves to play at a breakneck pace. Every time they grabbed a defensive rebound Miller would exhort them to race down court. I think they will attempt this often against SU for two reasons: 1) to attack before the zone is set up and 2) to try to wear SU down due to lack of depth. I think it will be critical for SU to get back on defense and also important to try to control tempo. Lastly, JB will have to strategically blend the rotation because if it is fast paced then we might run out of gas in the critical stages of the game.

Thanks for the input. What I find interesting is Dayton basically plays only 7 guys just like SU. SU can do this by playing fairly slowly and playing zone defense. The Dayton players must be in fantastic condition to play only 7 at a breakneck pace and playing tight defense.

 

[Dave85]

it your going to miss atleast make sure the ball hits the rim and the backboard or the rim twice. hitting shortside frontrim or inside backrim is a recipe for disaster.

Agreed. They really need good offense to beat Dayton. Hopefully G or Malachi will own driving through the lane to the basket. That would really help and something we've been missing the last six games.

 

[sutomcat]

Agreed. They really need good offense to beat Dayton. Hopefully G or Malachi will own driving through the lane to the basket. That would really help and something we've been missing the last six games.

I think the key to this game is for Syracuse to attack the rim with their slashers. Silent G and MR need to be aggressive, and if Dayton tries to draw charges, they have to look to pull up and dish off instead .

 

[Dave85]

I think the key to this game is for Syracuse to attack the rim with their slashers. Silent G and MR need to be aggressive, and if Dayton tries to draw charges, they have to look to pull up and dish off instead .

I think once G and Mr get to the rim a few times it creates wide open looks from the 3 point line. Once that happens the defense starts to break down. We really need a combination inside outside game. We should be able to beat Dayton just with athleticism. Let's hope Dayton just doesn't start bombing 25 foot 3s the whole game. I also want to see more passing around the perimeter. This team gets into a habit of only going north-south and only doing high pick and rolls. Don't get me wrong, I love the high pick and rolls WHEN they work. If they are not working our offense has to make good adjustments in play.

Or, G just takes over the game and scores 30+ points using his super powers.

 

[NineOneSeven]

I think the key to this game is for Syracuse to attack the rim with their slashers. Silent G and MR need to be aggressive, and if Dayton tries to draw charges, they have to look to pull up and dish off instead .

They need to be aggressive but they need to be smart about it. More negatives have happened the last few weeks when MR drives than positives. One thing he will get better at is absorbing contact when he gets stronger. Luckily, Dayton doesn't seem to have the same size/brute as Pitt, FSU, UNC-- the teams he has struggled against driving.

 

[TheCusian]

They need to be aggressive but they need to be smart about it. More negatives have happened the last few weeks when MR drives than positives. One thing he will get better at is absorbing contact when he gets stronger. Luckily, Dayton doesn't seem to have the same size/brute as Pitt, FSU, UNC-- the teams he has struggled against driving.

Early in the year he was picking up fouls every drive it seemed like. They are laying off more - he needs to finish.

 

[Dave85]

Thanks for the breakdown. I haven't seen them play this season.

I will say that pretty much everything mentioned, especially the first two paragraphs means we could be in a world of hurt. I hope we're able to offensive rebound well and keep the pace down to prevent some easy transition baskets.

Good point of the offensive rebounds. But also make shots so a rebound isn't necessary. I think these two are going to be key. We are really going to need to get our defense setup to slow down Dayton and hopefully force some bad shots.

 

[Dave85]

I think the key to this game is for Syracuse to attack the rim with their slashers. Silent G and MR need to be aggressive, and if Dayton tries to draw charges, they have to look to pull up and dish off instead .

I agree.

 

[bpo57]

Thanks for the input. What I find interesting is Dayton basically plays only 7 guys just like SU. SU can do this by playing fairly slowly and playing zone defense. The Dayton players must be in fantastic condition to play only 7 at a breakneck pace and playing tight defense.

Yeah but UD will play guys 8-10 for at least a few minutes a game. Everybody comes out at least for a couple of minutes.

 

[IthacaMatt]

I'm calling it right now. McElvene gets Coleman in foul trouble and scores double digits.
If Gbinije doesn't score more than 20, with two other guys in double digits, we won't play on Sunday.

 

[IthacaMatt]

I agree with everything you say except for the pace. The pace will only be slow if SU is very successful at dictating the tempo. Miller will try like hell to amp up the pace. Seventeen times this year they scored 70+ points. They want to run like crazy and will want to run even more against SU because of the zone/depth issues. Miller was like a wild man waving his arms to run every time UD snared a defensive rebound on Saturday. And SJU is a team that is probably more capable of playing the running game than SU.

I think you'll be surprised. We just went something like 4 games in a row without giving up a single transition basket. Boeheim has been giving up offensive rebounds this year in exchange for not giving up fast break points, because we have no shot blocker in the back. We are at the very top in the country in length of defensive possessions - meaning that teams are finding it very hard to find a quick open look against the zone.

 

[Cusefan0307]

Less shots for Cooney/Richardson, more for Lydon. Dayton has nobody that will be able to guard him. He's our second best player right now anyway.

 

[bpo57]

I think you'll be surprised. We just went something like 4 games in a row without giving up a single transition basket. Boeheim has been giving up offensive rebounds this year in exchange for not giving up fast break points, because we have no shot blocker in the back. We are at the very top in the country in length of defensive possessions - meaning that teams are finding it very hard to find a quick open look against the zone.

I spoke about Dayton's attempt to amp up the pace. I didn't say SU couldn't stop them in transition. JB is generally good at that. No better example than the championship game in 2003.

 

[bpo57]

I'm calling it right now. McElvene gets Coleman in foul trouble and scores double digits.
If Gbinije doesn't score more than 20, with two other guys in double digits, we won't play on Sunday.

Certainly possible but he generally doesn't play more than 20 minutes a game and even then some of his PT lately was due to an injury to Pollard.

 

[Cusefan0307]

I'm calling it right now. McElvene gets Coleman in foul trouble and scores double digits.
If Gbinije doesn't score more than 20, with two other guys in double digits, we won't play on Sunday.

There are only 9 teams worse than Dayton on offense in the entire tournament and they are all 15 and 16 seeds. We should be able to have a great defensive game.

 

[Orange2389]

we better bodybag dayton... NO MERCY!!!

 

[IthacaMatt]

Certainly possible but he generally doesn't play more than 20 minutes a game and even then some of his PT lately was due to an injury to Pollard.

Yes, all true. And how many times have we seen that movie, where the scrub on the bench has a career night against us? Not only our tournament pedigree, but also the way we have been very generous to opposing big men this year.

 

[Cusefan0307]

Yes, all true. And how many times have we seen that movie, where the scrub on the bench has a career night against us? Not only our tournament pedigree, but also the way we have been very generous to opposing big men this year.

Lol i still remember the Vermont kid who had like 20 and never scored more than 7 in any game in his entire career.

 

[bpo57]

Yes, all true. And how many times have we seen that movie, where the scrub on the bench has a career night against us? Not only our tournament pedigree, but also the way we have been very generous to opposing big men this year.

Can't argue with that. This is the weakest interior defense that I have ever seen from an SU team.