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Message: [QUOTE="Powellfan, post: 3852548, member: 4819"] Great post Jeremey, I think you cover most everything I would touch on. I think the biggest story line for this game is, where is this Syracuse team mentally? On paper, SU should win this game, and I think they should win by a good amount. Yes, they've struggled against some good teams this year, but like you pointed out, Robert Morris struggles on defense and at the face-off X. Syracuse does well against teams that are shaky in those departments, even this year. I even think the Orange defense matches up well with the RoMo offense. Phaup has struggled against upper echelon FOGOs but not against those who aren't, even coming off big losses. That said, this team has been through a lot recently, and it's hard to tell where their heads are at. It's not just the Scanlan news, these blow out losses have to have taken a toll on this team, especially after we've seen the same team do it them twice this year (Notre Dame). This team has to do some serious soul searching. Yes, getting back Aviles and Dami would be a huge step for the defense - but the D lost big with those two in the lineup. Is the zone defense something they'll stick with? It looked good against UVA, but the Cavs have a very unique offense and what works against them doesn't always translate well to other teams. It obviously didn't against ND, who exposed poor slides, poor communication and just flat out poor defending for an avalanche of goals. If zone isn't the answer what is? It really seems too late in the year to try new personnel. Right now they should be sharpening edges and refining things, instead they look like they need a complete overhaul. Needless to say, not what you want to see heading into the tournament. Unfortunately, even a resounding victory over RoMo won't answer many questions. Frankly we've seen this team beat teams like this all year, pretty convincingly. But against tougher competition, this team has wilted and just given up. A win against RoMo won't convince me this team is now ready to play Denver, Georgetown, Rutgers or any of the other potential first round matchups. The only question that will be answered is if this team losses, or struggles in this game. That will tell me this team is done, and wants nothing more to do with this season. [/QUOTE]

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