One thing was abundantly clear last night…

[rrlbees]

shooting against a zone is easy compared to man. Its much harder to get a clean look against man.

You’d be surprised that studies show the 3pt shooting percentage is slightly better versus the m2m. What’s different is the quantity.

 

[CardiacCuse]

Why though? Shooting percentage from three hasn’t gone up in 10 years.

whats the volume of 3s though? that matters a lot

 

[two3zone]

whats the volume of 3s though? that matters a lot

Play the same defense that you did before and they’ll shoot the same percentage.

 

[Cusefan0307]

You’d be surprised that studies show the 3pt shooting percentage is slightly better versus the m2m. What’s different is the quantity.

That’s because man to man is better at running players off the line and forcing mid range jump shots. When you make enough threes on high volume it’s going to increase a teams points per possession.

 

[CLMintz]

I saw Symir putting hard effort into it. I didn't notice too many others, though.

Judah put in a lot of effort too. In fact, he was an elite m2m guy in hs ad aau. He can man.

 

[rrlbees]

That’s because man to man is better at running players off the line and forcing mid range jump shots. When you make enough threes on high volume it’s going to increase a teams points per possession.

Are you saying something different than I did?

 

[OttoinGrotto]

The gaps are bigger and guys need to cover more space.

 

[OrangeDW]

Line extension has hurt the zone. The gaps are bigger and guys need to cover more space. This was discussed the last time the line was extended.

 

[IthacaMatt]

I disagree. Goading bad shooters into misses was always part of it imo.

This remains true. And there just aren't as many "bad shooters" as there used to be 10, and certainly 20 years ago.

 

[kcsu]

You cant win playing the zone exclusively in todays game.

 

[81South]

Player quotes from Syracuse paper were interesting because we don’t hear from them often. Taylor said JB expects them to anticipate things in the zone but alluded to the challenges that come along with anticipation and being wrong. Symir said there is just so much space to cover to get to shooters.

With the line moved back and better shooters than ever you need super long and quick players to have any shot at playing a zone at this level. We do not have the personnel to play zone. We basically have to pray other teams are cold and suck at offensive rebounding.

 

[rhcuse]

Humans have outgrown the original construct of the game. Time to raise the basket 1 foot, widen the court 10 feet and push the arc back 2 feet.

 

[shu 49]

I saw Symir putting hard effort into it. I didn't notice too many others, though.

Man defense is all effort. Jim doesn’t teach it well. Man needs to be guys who are gritty and hard who play with extreme passion. That isn’t and never has been our defense. Hopefully next year it will be.

 

[BillSU]

You think this is the same zone? Lol. What player on this roster plays even close to the defense of anyone on the 10 years ago team. Nonsense.

NONE.

 

[hoopsupstate]

Man defense is all effort. Jim doesn’t teach it well. Man needs to be guys who are gritty and hard who play with extreme passion. That isn’t and never has been our defense. Hopefully next year it will be.

SU needs to change recruiting to play man. Lateral quickness and strength need to be addressed.

 

[two3zone]

NONE.

 

[OrangeAl]

The Syracuse zone of old, being played and coached well, would smother good shooting teams today.
We just aren't up to it this year. We don't frustrate anybody.

 

[shu 49]

SU needs to change recruiting to play man. Lateral quickness and strength need to be addressed.

Agree but we haven’t exactly recruitEd for zone well lately either lol

 

[tbonezone]

YES the crowd sure loved the M2M. give the masses something to cheer for. throw them some meat. what's to lose ? are we not to be entertained ?

 

[Jasoncuse]

With the line moved back and better shooters than ever you need super long and quick players to have any shot at playing a zone at this level. We do not have the personnel to play zone. We basically have to pray other teams are cold and suck at offensive rebounding.

I’m not necessarily sure there are better shooters, perhaps that is true. The volume of shots certainly seems much higher. But the number of good shooters has expanded exponentially. 10+ years ago, maybe you’d see 2 good shooters on the court for a team and there’d be defined PF, C and even SF’s that weren’t shooters. Now, teams have shooters all over the floor which makes the zone that much more difficult to play. Before you could rely on the C being planted in the paint and not have to worry as much about forwards. Guards could pack it in a bit more (more length and athleticism certainly helped there too). Everything is more wide open now, the zone is stretched out and with bigs that can hit jumpers and 3’s, you really can’t guard good offense anymore.

 

[jgeorge322]

Honest question, is your theory/belief that the strategy isnt the issue, we just have way worse players now?

I think thats a true statement but still not sure our style of play isn’t an issue from a strategic standpoint.

 

[two3zone]

Honest question, is your theory/belief that the strategy isnt the issue, we just have way worse players now?

I think thats a true statement but still not sure our style of play isn’t an issue from a strategic standpoint.

I think it’s a mixture of both, but a lot more on the players.

 

[jgeorge322]

I think it’s a mixture of both, but a lot more on the players.

I agree, talent is the main issue.

Im an outlier here but I wonder if last years team could have been a lot better playing man like too 25 goos playing m2m. That offense was really good but we couldnt stop anyone because the zone personnel was horrendous.

 

[two3zone]

I agree, talent is the main issue.

Im an outlier here but I wonder if last years team could have been a lot better playing man. That offense was really good but we couldnt stop anyone.

Not sure if we played 6 guys on D that day hey could’ve stopped anyone lol

 

[FrancoPizza]

I don’t recall any guards not getting a hand in the face of a shooter except the last 4 years.

Hands in the face of a squared up shooter has always been an illusion of good defense. The difference is now everyone can shoot it.