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Message: [QUOTE="General20, post: 2740714, member: 724"] It can be misleading to look at previous NCAA champions as if they figured something out, when in truth the tournament involves a lot of luck, and if played a second time would turn out completely differently. UConn, specifically, wasn't one of the top 25 teams in the country when they won, but every break happened to fall their way. On that list I think only UNC and the second Nova team would have won a best of 7 tournament. North Carolina got the best team by recruiting a bunch of McDonald's All American's who disappointed the first couple years of their career and couldn't go pro, but eventually grew up and improved together into a great basketball team - this is a bit like winning the lottery, a great strategy if it works but it probably won't work so you can't count on it. Last year's Nova team was a bit of a revelation for me. I haven't heard anybody suggest they are one of the greatest college basketball teams of all time, but I think they should be put in that category. They didn't play a single close game the entire tournament, and in most games it felt like they could have picked the score they wanted to win by. That almost never happens. I honestly can't think of another team that had such an easy time winning everything. If anybody figured out a championship formula, its Nova. So what is their formula? Its not complicated, play tough D that slows the other team down and makes them have to really grind out baskets on one end of the court, and on the other end of the court rain down 3's. This seems to be the basketball version of a Mike Tyson uppercut. Its a knock out punch. Nova was able to demoralized teams this way ... and I'm talking about good teams. Kansas was (in my opinion) the second best team in the country, and would have beaten most of the former champions on this list, and Villanova simply embarrassed them. On the season as a whole Nova made an average of 11 three's per game, shooting 40% from the three point line. They did it with a large number of players who could hit the three and also drive to the basket (to keep the defense honest). It looked different than how Nova does it, but Golden State won 3 of the last 4 NBA titles with much the same formula. Everybody knows how good they are shooting the ball, but perhaps non-NBA fans don't realize they have the #1 D in the league as well. So how does this apply to SU? Syracuse's D is going to be championship caliber. Not only that, they force teams to play slow and grind out points in exactly the way that I think will help them them dominate come tournament time. If Syracuse can rain down 3's on the other side, I don't think there will be anybody who can keep up. I see 10 as the magic number. When SU drills 10 three's a game at a fairly high percentage they won't lose much ... maybe not at all. Its not complicated, but I don't think it needs to be. If Syracuse can shoot well from 3 then they will be as good as any team in the country. Nova, had a good shooting game in 5 of their 6 tournament wins, and played good enough D to win easily in the one game where they shot bad. Can Syracuse do the same? I think Howard and Battle will be as good as they need to be from 3. The question is how much Battle improved, how good Hughes really is, and if Buddy can contribute. If all those guys are hitting from deep Syracuse might just be able to replicate that championship formula. [/QUOTE]

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