Wednesday, June 19th, 2013
Former NBA star and basketball analyst Reggie Miller said that Syracuse should’ve played more man defense in the NCAA tournament, especially in SU’s second round game against UNC Asheville. The Orange has rarely played man-to-man defense under head coach Jim Boeheim.
Should Syracuse have mixed in some different defensive schemes in the NCAA tournament? Should SU try playing more man defense in the future? The Juice Online’s Matt Goodman and Ben Glidden explore. Do you feel strongly one way or the other? Share your thoughts below!
Matt Goodman
Syracuse should’ve adjusted to man defense in the tournament.
Boeheim is a Syracuse institution. And like most institutions, he has fallen victim to an unwillingness to adapt.
Look no further than this year’s tournament. The referees certainly hindered the cause against Ohio State, but the dirty little secret is that the Orange barely survived to play in the Elite Eight.
The referees handed the Orange a 72-65 victory in the first round against UNC-Ashville, narrowly avoiding the embarrassment of being the first No. 1 seed to fall to a No. 16 seed. Why did this happen? Glad you asked.
UNC-Ashville’s tallest player in the starting line-up was six-foot-five. Naturally, playing the zone with our length would cause all types of problems for a team with little size, right?
Well, if all five players on the floor can shoot (they could) and have the patience to move the ball to find the opening spot in the zone (they did), the result is a too close for comfort nail-biter that ended up making the referees as big of heroes as James Southerland and his 15 points. Why didn’t Boeheim utilize the size and athleticism at his disposal to pressure the ball, play a little man, and run UNC-Ashville out of the gym?
After the Orange escaped, Boeheim responded to Reggie Miller’s comments regarding the choice of defense by saying, “Tell Reggie we don’t play man.” But Miller was right. Syracuse should’ve switched to man.
Fast-forward to the Sweet 16.
Wisconsin lit up the 2-3 zone so much that a switch was warranted. The Badgers finished 14 of 27 from 3-point range, but couldn’t make one over the final six minutes, after a stretch in the second half when they made six straight in as many possessions.
“I think we naturally tried to move out,” Boeheim said, referring to the 2-3 zone. “But you’ve got to get them off their spots. We didn’t do that for a stretch out there. But they have terrific ball movement, and they have five guys that can shoot. There aren’t that many teams like that.”
Boeheim acknowledged that Wisconsin has five players who can hit deep shots (the weakness of the 2-3 zone) recognized it wasn’t working, and then chastised Reggie Miller for suggesting something almost every other basketball team in the world does when an opponent is succeeding against your defensive scheme!
Wisconsin, which averaged 7.7 3-pointers per game and has a season high of 15, hit its last 3 with 7:03 to play when Taylor gave the Badgers their final lead of the game, 59-56. The zone didn’t start magically working. Wisconsin just started missing. It was pure luck for the Orange that they even made it to play Ohio State.
I’m not saying the 2-3 zone doesn’t have its merits. When played well, and against the right opponent, it’s a beautiful defensive game plan. But game plans need to be adjusted. Boeheim didn’t adjust.
This year’s Orange team was athletic and long. At every position Boeheim would have had a defensive advantage had he gone man-to-man. He refused to deviate from “his” status quo, and it finally caught up to him against Ohio State.
» Agree or disagree with Matt? Leave your comments below.
» More SU basketball: The odd legacy of Scoop Jardine
» Brad Bierman: Bashing Jim Boeheim is old school
Benjamin Glidden
Zone defense is what got them there.
Every year, around the time Syracuse gets eliminated from post-season play, a group of Jim Boeheim critics start to crawl out of the woodwork.
The main argument is usually consistent: The reason the Syracuse basketball team loses every year is because Boeheim is unwilling to switch from his 2-3 zone.
I couldn’t disagree more with that statement. Boeheim should be able to coach at Syracuse University for as long as he wants. He has brought it success in many different ways.
Boeheim has won 890 games in his 36-year career. He has won 20 or more games in all but 2 of those 36 seasons. Coach Boeheim has never had a losing record as the head coach, not even Coach Krzyzewski can say that. The one blemish on his record is that he has only won the NCAA Tournament once in his career.
Lets remember that some great coaches have never won an NCAA title at all, but have still led very successful careers. Lou Carnesecca and Lou Henson were great coaches who never won a title. Eddie Sutton couldn’t even seal the deal after winning 800+ games and going to the Final Four 3 different times.
It’s no secret that great 3-point shooting teams do well against the 2-3 zone. With good ball movement, it allows for open shots from deep. But the zone also baits teams into shooting more shots from 3-point range than they usually would, which results in sub-par field goal percentages.
Syracuse has done well extending the zone to take away 3-point shots. The problem is that it opens up the foul line area and teams have taken advantage of that. It wasn’t a problem when Fab Melo was inside, solidifying the middle, but it became a slight problem upon his departure.
We all knew that Wisconsin would shoot well from deep, they’ve been doing it all season. Even UNC-Asheville hit from beyond the arc in the Orange’s first game of the tournament. Syracuse stuck with the 2-3 zone and won both of those games. So what’s the problem?
Against Ohio State, you can’t tell me the reason the Orange lost was because of the zone. Syracuse lost because of a combination of missed shots and an inability to stop Jared Sullinger inside. So if Boeheim would have made the switch to man-to-man defense, his players could have stopped Sullinger? No, the team just didn’t have anyone who could match up with him; the style of defense had nothing to do with it.
Boeheim is a great recruiter and the past few years have been a testament to that. What makes him so great is that he recruits players that fit well in his system. Long athletic guys like James Southerland, CJ Fair and Michael Carter-Williams are future staples in the Boeheim defense. If he recruits players for a specific system, then switches to another one, what’s the point? He recruits for the zone and the zone is what the Orange should play.
People try to find excuses for the lack of post-season success. Maybe standards have just been set too high. It’s hard for me to be upset with an Elite 8 run without the team’s starting center. It seems to me that people are trying to make excuses for the fact that teams don’t win a championship every year. They blame the only thing that has stayed constant in this program during the last 40 years, Jim Boeheim.
» Who do you agree with more? Leave your opinions below.
» More SU basketball: Listen to The Juice on The Cuse podcast on Nerlens Noel
Tags: Defense, Jim Boehim, Mixed Juice, Syracuse
More From: The Juice
People that say SU should play man have not done their research into SU. It is a silly discussion to have. Some schools play and practice several defenses like several zones and several man2man and use each one depending on the situation. SU does NOT practice man2man and can’t switch to it in a tournament game. The folks that make that criticism seem to think that SU plays one kind of 2-3 zone for the whole game and that after a few trips, the opposing offense will figure out how to move the ball, find the gaps and their shooters will hit the open shots. But SU constantly changes the way their 2-3 zone works, so the weak spots change constantly and the shots/passes aren’t in the same spots. That is the beauty of SU zones. reggie and Charles haven’t seen it enough to figure that out and until you’ve played in it, you don’t understand it. But teams shoot poorly against it. Sure some team can get hot, but that will be man2man too. Should SU have extended their zone up top or packed it in or brought their center to foul line or brought a wing up or doubled more aggressively? Those are better questions.
I don’t think that anyone is saying let’s scrap the 2-3 and start playing mostly M2M. I do think though that when you play a multi-talented offensive team like Ohio State, who is just as athletic as SU plus has multiple outside shooters and a strong inside game, you should have the flexibility to press/trap more and throw in some M2M to make it more uncomfortable for them to run their offense. Even playing zones other than the usual 2-3 zone may be helpful. However, I don’t buy the excuse that we all hear in life, that you should just continue to do something because it’s always been that way and worked well in the past. If we know one thing about life, it’s that’s you need to change and adapt or you will “die”. JB played more M2M early in his career, with less talented teams, and usually made the NCAAs those years. Seriously, why are some so fearful of changing the defense up once in a while???!!!
First of all Boeheim is a great coach. He has won with great talent and won with so so talent. SU hasn’t always gotten the creme of the crop recruits and either way they usually make the tournament. However I agree with Matt and Reggie Miller on this one. When you play a team where the tallest player is only 6’5″ (UNC Ashville) and the zone is not working why not try man to man. Be flexible especially when you have such a height advantage. In the game vs. Ohio State I think the zone was probably necessary because Jared Sullinger is a beast and without Fab SU was at a disadvantage. I believe that reason that Syracuse lost vs. Ohio State was because they struggled on offense. Ohio State’s defense bothered the Cuse. Still they had their chances. There were several turnovers in the last few minutes that really put the nail in the coffin though. Other then Jardine and Triche everybody else struggled offensively. I’m sure having Fab would have helped. Getting back to the larger point, I agree Boeheim should be more flexible.
How would man-to-man defense have helped against Ohio State?
SU was already in foul trouble playing zone. In man, it would have been even worse.
Plus, Ohio State beat Cuse inside with Sullinger down the stretch. Sure they hit a few threes as well, but it’s not like they shot like Wisconsin. Imagine Baye Keita one-on-one against Sullinger in the post. That would not have ended well.
I respect the argument, and you’re looking for content at this part of the year, but it’s not even worth discussing, frankly.
I’d respect the argument, as ridiculous as it appears to be considering that zone is what got us to where we were, but only if you actually supported his argument with examples of how the outcome would have been different in terms of beating Ohio State. Instead of spending the whole article citing how close Syracuse was to losing the the first several rounds of the NCAA tournament – close or not – we won. So what’s your point?
I have all the respect in the world for Coach Boeheim, but I think he could use more flexibility.
I disagree that zone is what got Syracuse to Elite 8 this year. I think it’s the talent and team chemistry that got them that far.
Now let’s look at this. There is another team coached by Jim Boeheim with exact same players. That team uses mix up of man2man and zone defense based on the situation and game flow.
If that team goes head to head vs. current Syracuse team that ONLY plays 2-3 zone like now, who wins…
I have to say 7 out of 10, the team that mixes up defense to make adjustments wins… Just my opinion… Anyone watch Elite 8 game of Fla vs Lou??? Pitino made an adjustment to man2man at perfect timing… Not saying that’s why they won, but clearly, they made a difference.
Just because he has won 890 games doesn’t mean there is no room for improvement. I think there is enough talent for his team to mix up M2M and zone. I also think he could use 3 guard offense with m2m defense once in a while to change the flow of the game. Again, just my opinion.
I hope we get Nerlens Noel! Go Orange!
[...] Mixed Juice: Should Syracuse play more man-to-man defense … By The Juice Former NBA star and basketball analyst Reggie Miller said that Syracuse should’ve played more man defense in the NCAA tournament, especially in SU’s second round game against UNC Asheville. The Orange has rarely played man-to-man …[read more] [...]