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For people like me who are big fans of the strategy of it all, this game wasn't very much fun. It played out in accelerated speed, and five minutes into the game I had the sense it was over.
Here is how it went down.
San Diego St. couldn't hit an outside shot - Realized they couldn't score inside against our zone - Tried desperately to force transition opportunities where there were none - Ended up giving SU transition opportunities with bad turnovers trying to make something out of nothing - Finally getting frustrated and choosing to degenerate the game into a "scrappy" "physical" but really just dirty affair that they were never going to win because they were already too far down and they were not athletic enough to win anyway.
All this happened in five minutes. It was over after that.
I had a slight interest in what would happen when the teams switched sides at half time. San Diego St. was so bad from the line I wondered if the wind or sun was so horribly bad on that side that the second half would look like the exact opposite of the first with San Diego holding Syracuse to almost no points. In less than five minutes I found that was not the case, and the game got boring as I waited for Syracuse to finish with a win and hoped San Diego St. would not hurt anybody with their dirty play.
Have you noticed that Boeheim never makes any calls that take Syracuse out of games? The guy hasn't been out coached in decades. More often than not, good coaches aren't. Its a phrase that fans throw around too much. Styles might not match up well, there might be personnel mismatches, but good coaches rarely make in game moves that hurt their team (with the two big exceptions being Izzo and Calapari).
This game was no exception. Boeheim knew exactly what to expect, despite the fact he had never coached a game like it. The most telling stat of the game was 3 pointers taken. Syracuse took four. San Diego St. took eighteen. Those of us who have been watching SU long enough to remember what it was like before the three point line had some nostalgia (at least I did) as it seemed like Boeheim dusted off those old playbooks and went with those old strategies.
Back then, basketball was an uglier game, where more often than not both teams forced the ball down low and the bigger stronger team won. Boeheim is no novice at winning those kind of games. From 1976 (his first year as a coach) to 1986-87 (the season they implemented the three point line) Boeheim never had a losing record. In fact he was 230-77 in that time.
Clearly he has not forgotten how to coach in games where outside shooting is an afterthought.
Just a few quick observations. I was very unimpressed with San Diego St. I was expecting them to be far more athletic than they were. They were small but also slow. That said, its not fair to dump on them too much. I'm not sure there is a team in the country that could have beat Syracuse on that ship under those conditions. The zone is an absolute nightmare to play against when shooting from deep is not possible.
I'm not overly surprised that the three freshmen were not big parts of the game plan. Throwing them into action against a ranked veteran team was never going to be a great idea. Grant played about as much as he's going to against good teams. Cooney is a shooter who couldn't shoot, so not much reason to force PT on him. Coleman isn't quite ready yet, and this was the kind of game where Keita thrives - the other team had nobody who could bully him around.
Fair looked fantastic, but then again he always looks fantastic in ugly scrappy games. Remember last year's game at Louisville?
These guys have been on All-Star teams and on AAU teams practically their whole life. They are not used to playing outside. Frankly, I'm just glad nobody got hurt.
Overall it played out almost exactly how you would expect given the wind and sun. Carter-William's and Triche out played a San Diego St. backcourt that was suppose to be their equal or their superior (but they might have looked pretty bad too if they had to go up against their own defense). The freshmen were not used much and Coleman only played center for the time he was out there. Keita thrived against a smaller team. Christmas looked improved from last year. Fair loves scrappy games. Southerland and Cooney didn't force outside shots when it wasn't a good idea to. And most importantly nobody can score against our zone when stretching it with outside shooting is impossible.
Here is how it went down.
San Diego St. couldn't hit an outside shot - Realized they couldn't score inside against our zone - Tried desperately to force transition opportunities where there were none - Ended up giving SU transition opportunities with bad turnovers trying to make something out of nothing - Finally getting frustrated and choosing to degenerate the game into a "scrappy" "physical" but really just dirty affair that they were never going to win because they were already too far down and they were not athletic enough to win anyway.
All this happened in five minutes. It was over after that.
I had a slight interest in what would happen when the teams switched sides at half time. San Diego St. was so bad from the line I wondered if the wind or sun was so horribly bad on that side that the second half would look like the exact opposite of the first with San Diego holding Syracuse to almost no points. In less than five minutes I found that was not the case, and the game got boring as I waited for Syracuse to finish with a win and hoped San Diego St. would not hurt anybody with their dirty play.
Have you noticed that Boeheim never makes any calls that take Syracuse out of games? The guy hasn't been out coached in decades. More often than not, good coaches aren't. Its a phrase that fans throw around too much. Styles might not match up well, there might be personnel mismatches, but good coaches rarely make in game moves that hurt their team (with the two big exceptions being Izzo and Calapari).
This game was no exception. Boeheim knew exactly what to expect, despite the fact he had never coached a game like it. The most telling stat of the game was 3 pointers taken. Syracuse took four. San Diego St. took eighteen. Those of us who have been watching SU long enough to remember what it was like before the three point line had some nostalgia (at least I did) as it seemed like Boeheim dusted off those old playbooks and went with those old strategies.
Back then, basketball was an uglier game, where more often than not both teams forced the ball down low and the bigger stronger team won. Boeheim is no novice at winning those kind of games. From 1976 (his first year as a coach) to 1986-87 (the season they implemented the three point line) Boeheim never had a losing record. In fact he was 230-77 in that time.
Clearly he has not forgotten how to coach in games where outside shooting is an afterthought.
Just a few quick observations. I was very unimpressed with San Diego St. I was expecting them to be far more athletic than they were. They were small but also slow. That said, its not fair to dump on them too much. I'm not sure there is a team in the country that could have beat Syracuse on that ship under those conditions. The zone is an absolute nightmare to play against when shooting from deep is not possible.
I'm not overly surprised that the three freshmen were not big parts of the game plan. Throwing them into action against a ranked veteran team was never going to be a great idea. Grant played about as much as he's going to against good teams. Cooney is a shooter who couldn't shoot, so not much reason to force PT on him. Coleman isn't quite ready yet, and this was the kind of game where Keita thrives - the other team had nobody who could bully him around.
Fair looked fantastic, but then again he always looks fantastic in ugly scrappy games. Remember last year's game at Louisville?
These guys have been on All-Star teams and on AAU teams practically their whole life. They are not used to playing outside. Frankly, I'm just glad nobody got hurt.
Overall it played out almost exactly how you would expect given the wind and sun. Carter-William's and Triche out played a San Diego St. backcourt that was suppose to be their equal or their superior (but they might have looked pretty bad too if they had to go up against their own defense). The freshmen were not used much and Coleman only played center for the time he was out there. Keita thrived against a smaller team. Christmas looked improved from last year. Fair loves scrappy games. Southerland and Cooney didn't force outside shots when it wasn't a good idea to. And most importantly nobody can score against our zone when stretching it with outside shooting is impossible.
