How to Fix Syracuse Basketball.
By: Mike Lindsley
Sounds like a crazy headline doesn’t it? How can one have the right to want to fix a team that started 25-0, beat Duke at home in overtime, beat Pittsburgh twice, smoked Villanova and North Carolina, won the Maui Invitational, was #1 for some time, made the NCAA Tournament and ended-up in the Round of 32? Well, there needs fixing, believe it or not, with this SU basketball outfit for 2014-2015.
Why? Because this program is getting Top 5 recruiting classes and has showed-up in the Sweet 16, Elite 8 and Final Four and won a slew of games the last few years. Those things raise expectations. We are hearing about the Golden Era of Syracuse basketball. How is it a so-called Golden Era when you don’t have a title or at least two Final Fours to boot? It isn’t easy, this winning in college hoops thing. But Golden Eras are judged by success and success is based on the highest level of winning, in any sport (2002-06 should be the Golden Era because SU won a title, went to a Sweet 16 and won two of the toughest Big East Tournament titles of all-time (the key though is the championship, duh, and the best recruit of all-time in Carmelo Anthony which set the program up). And add to all this, SU had basically two home games in Buffalo in the NCAA Tournament even after crashing at the end, and still couldn’t get to the Sweet 16. Here is what to fix.
- Scoring. This team needs to put the ball in the basket. It starts with Trevor Cooney, who had a nice start to the year but then couldn’t find his way. From the frontcourt to the backcourt and vice versa, this team needs to score more points to win games in March. Look around college basketball. All of the Sweet 16 teams to the Final Four teams have a minimum of seven players who can score inside and outside. Some teams have 10! Syracuse’s roster has to expand with more scorers. B.J. Johnson, Rakeem Christmas, Ron Patterson, Tyler Roberson and the incoming freshman are key. Trevor Cooney is huge. Everyone has to contribute.
- Depth. Depth leads to scoring. Scoring leads to depth. This is the chicken or the egg argument. Jim Boeheim always plays seven or eight guys. Well, he has to start playing more. Syracuse clearly tired at the end of 2013-2014. Tyler Ennis-Trevor Cooney-Jerami Grant-C.J. Fair. Those were the only guys you could count on. When two don’t score and three get tired, you are playing 2 vs. 9 or 10. It just doesn’t work. Boeheim has to start playing kids so they aren’t timid in the games and can help score for the team.
- Transition. Where did the SU run and gun team go? Turnovers at the top of the zone. Fast-break points. Boeheim and the zone are one in the same after all these years, but wouldn’t you like to see a faster game at times? How about mixing-in a man-to-man and mixing-in a little pressure defense so the Orange can run more? This year, too many teams slowed the ball down and adjusted to SU. Well, time to turn the tables and mix-it up more and adjust to the other teams. RUN, RUN, RUN. Of course, you need the horses to do more, which has #2 coming into play. 1-2-3 are all connected here, but however you slice it, if they all work, Syracuse can get back to a Final Four sooner rather than later.
