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[QUOTE="SoBeCuse, post: 2235173, member: 796"]
I think we can all agree that the defense was the main problem.  But, to say the offense was "fine" would equally be putting blinders on in terms of only looking at statistics (PPG mostly).

Take a look at some posts by 007 in this thread.  He's a better X's and O's guy than I am.  Syracuse had some capable long distance shooters but it's fair to say they settled and took lots of bad shots.  Some they made like White's.  They didn't move the defense much and would just pass around the perimeter and launch off of one pass or hot potato game.  Nobody needs stats for that and countless times even late in the season Bilas/Lappas/Fraschilla would over and over mention how the team was standing around too much.  If the offense was fine then they could've mustered up more than 50 pts against Miami in the ACCT to get themselves a possible tourney bid.  Xavier still was ranked 29 in KenPom in AdjO.  Xavier had the capability to (even without their starting PG) score enough (75) to defeat a very good defensive team in Arizona in the Tourney.  I'm not confident SU could get to 60 points on Arizona with our "fine" offense.  We'll never know.  Also, we must realize that SU was getting blown out in so many games that defenses became more soft late 2H's and our offensive numbers picked up due to teams taking the foot off the gas, IMO.  Not to mention that there were heroics with Gillon and Battle in games which easily could've been three more losses.  I was not going to trust that team if the games went into OT.  Again, we'll never know.

No question the defense was the big problem but I can't fathom any fan who with eyes/ears/stats/whatever believes the offense was fine, especially from a conceptual standpoint.
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