That game does not make me feel good about the UConn or Ville games

[LennX6]

Dixon's secret might be correct positioning for rebounding vs zone rather than specific attack plans. Don't really have to coach how to score on putbacks.

They were sending 4 men every play and we just could not grab a hold of the ball. If we had, transition points awaited. Fab, CJ and Baye were all fumbling more than normal in rebound mode and that hurt.

Just noting that Syracuse shot a whole 3% points worse than Pitt.

Oddly, really statistically Syracuse won this game at the free throw line. 20-23 vs. 12-23 = +8 = margin of victory

Only Orange I would not want on the line at the end would be Baye , and even he has been hitting them. Scoop is due to run off a string and everyone else including Fab is is competent at a minimum.

 

[LennX6]

That zone had 8 steals and 11 blocks and held Pitt to 39% shooting. That is your definition of getting shredded?

I'm not sure if you watched the game, but if you had you would have seen that Syracuse's inability to make an outside shot is what kept the game close.

The sad thing it became apparent that Pitt had noone inside that could handle Fab . Or Dion for that matter. Then the refs woke up. The way the game started it looked like we could score 100pts on layups. They really had noone who could guard Fab or Dion, and truth be told KJ, Triche or Scoop either. It was like a lightswitch going off, once the whistles started blowing , we started playing 3 ball. Not a negative on the team, but we have had a lot of games in a row, where game flow has been disrupted by inconsisent calls. Tonite was another, and that plays right into Pitts style and strength.

 

[CaptainJ]

I'll make it clear so that I don't get mocked: I am happy, excited, grateful, etc... for this team. However, it isn't like we have been tested that often against top teams. We've beaten 2 in the current top 25, and zero in the current top 15. That doesn't necessarily mean anything, but I'd be closer to having some of the cockiness I see if that were different. The announcers don't keep asking that #1 question just for the fun of it. I mean I could see us going perfect in the regular season, but I just as easily could see 3-5 losses before we're done. Normally that would be great, but this year it's hard to deny the Big East is no where near what it has been in years past.

 

[Cuse_MN]

Shredding the zone means getting proper ball movement and cutting to get point-blank layups. When a team figures out a zone - it makes our players look like they are always one step behind. Pitt just has no player that can finish worth a stuff this year.

On the flip side, we could have pressed wire-to-wire and won by 40. Not sure why JB is scared to press more than a few minutes here and there.

Every decent bball coach in America knows how to beat a zone. Flash to the high post for an entry pass, send cutters baseline and then do one of three things: (i) hit the 15 ft jumper, (ii) hit cutters, (iii) rotate the ball to the opposite side of the entry pass for an open jumper. That is the recipe for beating a zone and its what Pitt was doing with success today and how they've attacked it for years.

Nobody needs to "figure out a zone." Everyone knows the secret sauce. Problem is the mid-range jumper is a lost art in college hoops so few teams have a multi-dimensional threat they can use to flash the post and force the zone to defend the high post jumper. Our length in the zone makes options two and three not impossible, but more difficult to execute. Option two has become more difficult versus us with the emergence of our shot blocking and we are doing a good job at not leaving shooters this year (partly because of the confidence in the interior d), so option three isn't really going lead to many open looks.

Knowing how to beat a zone isn't the issue, its having the pieces to execute the plan consistently and few teams have them.

Having watched the UNC/FSU game this weekend, you could insert "man" for "zone" in your statement about players looking like they are one step behind. UNC gave up open look after open look playing man.