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Message: [QUOTE="cuse522, post: 1730464, member: 1149"] People have rightfully complained (me included) that the offense we run is very simplistic and relatively easy to defend. Thus, we struggle against elite competition when we don't have high level offensive talent. We don't beat UVA without Malachi going off for that stretch. Since we don't get as many of the blue chip prospects as the blue blood programs, there's a good case to be made for spending more time on the offense. But, there's a problem with that. Boeheim has put an enhanced focus on the zone in recent years, and it looks so much better the last five years than it did when I was in school (graduated '08). Part of that is certainly the players in the zone, but I'd argue that Boeheim has them trapping and playing a lot more aggressively, the zone expands and contracts more, it's more amoeba-like. That's made it tougher to play against. Meanwhile, fewer and fewer teams across the country use zone, and you have more and more one-and-done players at the top schools who aren't as coached up because they haven't had college coaching for more than five to six months. This makes the zone more effective, and I think it's a conscious decision by Boeheim to focus more and more on the zone and less and less on offense, given the dynamic that plays into our hands. Thus, I think the best move going forward is to basically keep the offense simple, but tweak it just a little bit. We need the high ball screen to be able to be a pick and roll. We need someone who can hit a shot or drive to the basket setting that screen. Next year that could be Lydon at times or Richardson at times depending on the lineup, which is why I think the offense will be a lot better. But Boeheim has to choose to make that change rather than having DC2 or Roberson set it. In my opinion he also needs to come up with something simple when that's not working that is more than just iso player A or spread the floor for player A and let him drive the basket. There needs to be some movement, some screens, even if it's elementary or freelanced. Basically, Boeheim has managed to maximize the impact of the zone by, I'm guessing, devoting tons of practice time to it. He needs to find a way to make the offense at least a LITTLE more effective without devoting much time to it, because obviously we're having success off of emphasizing the zone. [/QUOTE]

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