What the hell are teams going to do?

[Newhouser]

Being a long-time SU fan, I am of course a pessimist. I see OB leaving and I'm afraid Bazely won't be as good a defender or rebounder as him.

That is a great point and I worry about Marek and his role. His defensive instincts are needed, but minutes could be tough.

 

[Cusefan0307]

I don't think the freshman guard will be much good on defense as a freshman. Why? Because the list of good freshman zone defenders at Syracuse is as follows:

- Brandon Triche

Even Battle struggled a lot in his first year. Nearly everybody does. It's not easy to learn those responsibilities, much less to commit them to muscle memory and move in sync with teammates.

We were excellent defensively with Ennis his freshman year. We lost because we were worse on offense against Dayton than we have been in this tournament. We also will score more and have Hughes who will play a big role next year. If we gave up 5 more points per game we would be ok with what we should gain on offense.

 

[OttoMets]

We were excellent defensively with Ennis his freshman year. We lost because we were worse on offense against Dayton than we have been in this tournament. We also will score more and have Hughes who will play a big role next year. If we gave up 5 more points per game we would be ok with what we should gain on offense.

Theoretically, yeah. The offense should be a lot better than this historic low so that should more than wipe out any drop-off on defense. I'll be interested to see what happens.

 

[HakAttack]

It should be fine as long as Carey and Hughes bring it. Hughes is not a freshman and knows the system. I'd hope that Buddy knows the rotations blindfolded. Generally we're returning more experience than we're accustomed to. And we haven't seen what our 2 centers are truly capable of yet on healthy knees.

This assumes HakAttack does what is necessary to make sure Bris returns. A lot will hinge on that.

Hah! I’ll see what I can do.

 

[jsshap]

That is a great point and I worry about Marek and his role. His defensive instincts are needed, but minutes could be tough.

I have not read much on this so excuse me, but at some point there seemed to be a strong feeling that Marek was just here for a gap year of sorts and likely would not play more than a year here. Is there now a strong belief he will return?

 

[edowd26]

I have not read much on this so excuse me, but at some point there seemed to be a strong feeling that Marek was just here for a gap year of sorts and likely would not play more than a year here. Is there now a strong belief he will return?

Yea but he now has a blond cheerleader girlfriend... which is illegal apparently back in Bratislava.

 

[SUskibum]

They disrupt passing lanes as effectively as any pair I can recall. Battle is jumping routes. No easy passes between the guards. Teams really have to focus just making simple passes against us. Has to be taxing.

And Frank is long and disruptive, poking at every ball. Everyone says get the ball to the FT line against the zone. What if you can't?

It's a pleasure to watch those two work together up top. Buy in, coaching, length, talent, instincts.

Izzo mentioned in his post game that he thought it would be much easier getting the ball to the middle of the zone

 

[Knicks411]

I’m confident it will be excellent. We won’t have a midget guard at the top and a 6’5” lateral slow guy on the back line. We’ve had one bad defensive team the last 8 years and that was the reason.

The defense will probably be really good next year, because, as you point out, it almost always is.

Can't wait for the game where a team makes a bunch of 3's and we hear about how bad the defense is though. (Let's be honest, that could be Friday night)

Just looked it up on KP to verify, in the last 9 years, obviously our worst defense was last year, 119th. the second worst? 2015, 20th in the country. so 8 years out of 9 top 20.

 

[mayselc]

I'd love to see a season where we were top-20 in both offensive and defensive efficiency. Seems like it's been either or for the last five years or so. We should have a shot at that next year, if OB stays.

 

[Cusefan0307]

The defense will probably be really good next year, because, as you point out, it almost always is.

Can't wait for the game where a team makes a bunch of 3's and we hear about how bad the defense is though. (Let's be honest, that could be Friday night)

Just looked it up on KP to verify, in the last 9 years, obviously our worst defense was last year, 119th. the second worst? 2015, 20th in the country. so 8 years out of 9 top 20.

That probably happens against a team we see a lot of so theoretically it could be Duke. Most likely an ACC team. The BC's, Virginia's, and UNC's are used to playing against the zone now which makes it even weirder that A&M held Carolina to 65 yesterday.

 

[br801]

Sorry, projecting...I'd be shocked if he's not on the All-Defensive team next year.

He actually was named to some organization's ACC all-defensive team this season. I'll have to look it up.

 

[Knicks411]

I'd love to see a season where we were top-20 in both offensive and defensive efficiency. Seems like it's been either or for the last five years or so. We should have a shot at that next year, if OB stays.

We've been top 20 in both 3 times; 2003, 2010, 2012. So yeah, sign me up

 

[br801]

He actually was named to some organization's ACC all-defensive team this season. I'll have to look it up.

Here you go, longislandcuse -- see post #19

Battle 2nd team All-ACC / Brissett All-Rookie team