AztecFan05
Walk On
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- Mar 14, 2021
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Hello sports fans, thought I'd drop by to share some thoughts/insights on my team as I'm sure we'll all giddy with excitement for the game on Friday and looking to consume any sort of content related to our matchup. I've written up a novel below, but I think thats just because I'm so excited for the chance to play a blueblood like Syracuse on a national stage.
One of our own fans pulled together their own version of scouting report on Syracuse (link), but I'd love to hear how accurate, if at all, it is to all of you, more informed fans.
Aztec Overall Breakdown:
If any of you watched any of last year's Aztec team, this year's team is very similar in how its constructed and plays, just without a superstar (by our standards) like we had with Malachi Flynn last year.
We've consistently been an elite defensive team but have recently turned the corner on recruiting/developing shooters to compliment our defense, which is why the last 2 years have been 2 of the best 4 regular seasons in our programs history (insert joke here comparing our program's success to Syracuse's).
While we don't have a player like Flynn this year who can create his own shots pretty much whenever he wants, our best player Matt Mitchell is a very tough matchup in his own regard and our players have really embraced each of their roles as the season has progressed. The top of our roster is not as good as last year, but our team's depth is better, so we've been able to sustain a lot of our success into this year.
Coach Dutcher has surpassed a lot of expectations and has proven that he might have actually picked up a few things from Fisher over their 20+ years together. His mannerisms may rub some of you the wrong way but the man waited patiently for his turn at the job, so he's really endeared himself with our fan base. Some of us expect Minnesota to make a run at hiring him this offseason because he grew up and attended there and his dad coach at Minnesota as well, so he's a Power 5-quality head coach.
Top Players:
Matt Mitchell has always had a phat ass but he has slimmed down and developed his game over the last two years to be able to be effective at all 3 levels. The broadcast on Friday will no doubt bring up the fact that he lost a bunch of weight between his Soph and Junior years which increased his productivity (mentioning this is on the Aztec bingo board every game).
Mitchell has also said that his favorite program growing up was Syracuse because his favorite player was Carmelo Anthony. He's said that he modeled his game after Carmelo's and that he even wore an orange headband growing up to be like Carmelo.
Next best player is Jordan Schakel who is in the mold of a Klay Thompson-like player (obviously not that to level, but game-wise). He's shot 46% from 3 this year which puts him top 5 nationally, I believe. He's not a shot creator and can have a cold night and disappear, but he's able to get off a shot with a sliver of space and can go for 20 in a night within a snap. He's a coaches favorite because he's a very unselfish player who doesn't force it when he's not on and he always brings it on the defensive end.
Typically though, if a team can frustrate Mitchell to make him play too fast AND not allow Schakel to get hot shooting, our offense stagnates and we have a hard time getting in any sort of offensive flow. We're a pretty balanced team because it takes a team shutting them both down to really cause problems defensively.
Other Starters:
Our other 3 starters (PG Trey Pulliam, SG Terrell Gomez and C Nathan Mensah) have all found their roles as secondary players. Pulliam is a player that has driven Aztec fans crazy throughout the year, but after only scoring double digits 3 times in his first 51 games, he's scored in double digits in 4 out of the last 7. Teams have tried to make him be the one to take the shots, which has been largely successful, but he's been peaking at the right time for us.
Gomez is the infamous 5-8 shooting guard, but he's been more effective than I thought he would be because he's jitterbug-quick and is not afraid to shoot, and make, it from pretty deep. His size is definitely a limiting trait and he can be exploited defensively because our team switches on everything defensively. Our coach know this though and we scheme pretty well to keep him on the perimeter as much as possible.
Mensah has had an up and down year offensively but his defensive skillset is what allows our team to play the type of defense we do. His length allows him to switch on to guards on the perimeter and clean up things in the paint. He's had great games like last year when he locked up Luka Garza (feel free to confirm here) and in the recent MWCT final where he matched NBA prospect Neemias Queta on both ends. He's also had games where he quickly gets in early foul trouble and is then ineffective for the rest of the game. He's listed at 6-10 but his wingspan is something like 7-2, so he plays bigger than he is (this is a common theme to the type of player we recruit).
Bench:
Basically just a bunch of energy, 3-point and defensive specialists, so we tend to keep either Mitchell or Schakel in at all times with them to maintain some sort of offensive flow. Our bench players stats aren't that all impressive but when you're a program that prides itself on defense, having players that buy-in to bringing energy and constant defensive pressure, their sum is greater than their individual parts.
A wild card off the bench is Lamont Butler who is a Freshman PG that broke Reggie Miller's high school scoring record (also on the Aztec broadcast bingo board). He's aggressive, strong and high-energy but is out of control often. If Mitchell and Schakel are being shut down, he's pretty much our last hope at generating offensive pressure, but the effectiveness of that happening is like flipping a coin.
Recent Play:
We're on a 14 game winning streak (albeit against MWC competition) with our last loss coming against tourney team Utah St. when Matt Mitchell was hurt and out of the game. We didn't blow any teams out during our conference tournament, but we suffered a little bit of playing to our competition's level in the first game and the remaining 2 games we controlled from tip to finish. Our defense does a great job of locking in at the end of games and our offense has found a way to get big buckets when absolutely needed. Even if the recent scores don't reflect a team that is playing well, we've found and played to our identity during the 14-game winning streak.
Matchup:
To Aztec fans, a game against Syracuse would typically be a nightmare because we used to not be able to shoot. This year's team has a lot of capable shooters, so, we from the outside, feel well equipped against the zone. I know it's not that simple but if you can't shoot at all, then a zone is crippling.
I won't act like I know much at all about the Syracuse roster, but Buddy Boeheim seems to be the key to your guy's team. The Aztecs have consistently done a good job of making the other team's best player less efficient than usual, attempting to make a secondary player be the one to beat us. In recent games, some of the other's teams best players have gotten their points but have shot in the 30% range to do so. I would imagine our gameplan will be the same and we'll throw 3-4 different bodies at Buddy throughout the game and keep the defensive pressure on for 40 minutes.
I'm looking forward to the lead up to the game and can't wait to watch our teams on the court.
Cheers from San Diego!
One of our own fans pulled together their own version of scouting report on Syracuse (link), but I'd love to hear how accurate, if at all, it is to all of you, more informed fans.
Aztec Overall Breakdown:
If any of you watched any of last year's Aztec team, this year's team is very similar in how its constructed and plays, just without a superstar (by our standards) like we had with Malachi Flynn last year.
We've consistently been an elite defensive team but have recently turned the corner on recruiting/developing shooters to compliment our defense, which is why the last 2 years have been 2 of the best 4 regular seasons in our programs history (insert joke here comparing our program's success to Syracuse's).
While we don't have a player like Flynn this year who can create his own shots pretty much whenever he wants, our best player Matt Mitchell is a very tough matchup in his own regard and our players have really embraced each of their roles as the season has progressed. The top of our roster is not as good as last year, but our team's depth is better, so we've been able to sustain a lot of our success into this year.
Coach Dutcher has surpassed a lot of expectations and has proven that he might have actually picked up a few things from Fisher over their 20+ years together. His mannerisms may rub some of you the wrong way but the man waited patiently for his turn at the job, so he's really endeared himself with our fan base. Some of us expect Minnesota to make a run at hiring him this offseason because he grew up and attended there and his dad coach at Minnesota as well, so he's a Power 5-quality head coach.
Top Players:
Matt Mitchell has always had a phat ass but he has slimmed down and developed his game over the last two years to be able to be effective at all 3 levels. The broadcast on Friday will no doubt bring up the fact that he lost a bunch of weight between his Soph and Junior years which increased his productivity (mentioning this is on the Aztec bingo board every game).
Mitchell has also said that his favorite program growing up was Syracuse because his favorite player was Carmelo Anthony. He's said that he modeled his game after Carmelo's and that he even wore an orange headband growing up to be like Carmelo.
Next best player is Jordan Schakel who is in the mold of a Klay Thompson-like player (obviously not that to level, but game-wise). He's shot 46% from 3 this year which puts him top 5 nationally, I believe. He's not a shot creator and can have a cold night and disappear, but he's able to get off a shot with a sliver of space and can go for 20 in a night within a snap. He's a coaches favorite because he's a very unselfish player who doesn't force it when he's not on and he always brings it on the defensive end.
Typically though, if a team can frustrate Mitchell to make him play too fast AND not allow Schakel to get hot shooting, our offense stagnates and we have a hard time getting in any sort of offensive flow. We're a pretty balanced team because it takes a team shutting them both down to really cause problems defensively.
Other Starters:
Our other 3 starters (PG Trey Pulliam, SG Terrell Gomez and C Nathan Mensah) have all found their roles as secondary players. Pulliam is a player that has driven Aztec fans crazy throughout the year, but after only scoring double digits 3 times in his first 51 games, he's scored in double digits in 4 out of the last 7. Teams have tried to make him be the one to take the shots, which has been largely successful, but he's been peaking at the right time for us.
Gomez is the infamous 5-8 shooting guard, but he's been more effective than I thought he would be because he's jitterbug-quick and is not afraid to shoot, and make, it from pretty deep. His size is definitely a limiting trait and he can be exploited defensively because our team switches on everything defensively. Our coach know this though and we scheme pretty well to keep him on the perimeter as much as possible.
Mensah has had an up and down year offensively but his defensive skillset is what allows our team to play the type of defense we do. His length allows him to switch on to guards on the perimeter and clean up things in the paint. He's had great games like last year when he locked up Luka Garza (feel free to confirm here) and in the recent MWCT final where he matched NBA prospect Neemias Queta on both ends. He's also had games where he quickly gets in early foul trouble and is then ineffective for the rest of the game. He's listed at 6-10 but his wingspan is something like 7-2, so he plays bigger than he is (this is a common theme to the type of player we recruit).
Bench:
Basically just a bunch of energy, 3-point and defensive specialists, so we tend to keep either Mitchell or Schakel in at all times with them to maintain some sort of offensive flow. Our bench players stats aren't that all impressive but when you're a program that prides itself on defense, having players that buy-in to bringing energy and constant defensive pressure, their sum is greater than their individual parts.
A wild card off the bench is Lamont Butler who is a Freshman PG that broke Reggie Miller's high school scoring record (also on the Aztec broadcast bingo board). He's aggressive, strong and high-energy but is out of control often. If Mitchell and Schakel are being shut down, he's pretty much our last hope at generating offensive pressure, but the effectiveness of that happening is like flipping a coin.
Recent Play:
We're on a 14 game winning streak (albeit against MWC competition) with our last loss coming against tourney team Utah St. when Matt Mitchell was hurt and out of the game. We didn't blow any teams out during our conference tournament, but we suffered a little bit of playing to our competition's level in the first game and the remaining 2 games we controlled from tip to finish. Our defense does a great job of locking in at the end of games and our offense has found a way to get big buckets when absolutely needed. Even if the recent scores don't reflect a team that is playing well, we've found and played to our identity during the 14-game winning streak.
Matchup:
To Aztec fans, a game against Syracuse would typically be a nightmare because we used to not be able to shoot. This year's team has a lot of capable shooters, so, we from the outside, feel well equipped against the zone. I know it's not that simple but if you can't shoot at all, then a zone is crippling.
I won't act like I know much at all about the Syracuse roster, but Buddy Boeheim seems to be the key to your guy's team. The Aztecs have consistently done a good job of making the other team's best player less efficient than usual, attempting to make a secondary player be the one to beat us. In recent games, some of the other's teams best players have gotten their points but have shot in the 30% range to do so. I would imagine our gameplan will be the same and we'll throw 3-4 different bodies at Buddy throughout the game and keep the defensive pressure on for 40 minutes.
I'm looking forward to the lead up to the game and can't wait to watch our teams on the court.
Cheers from San Diego!
