Friday, May 24th, 2013
Thirty four wins. Thirty four losses. Wanna take a guess what that refers to?
That is the combined record of the first eight opponents the Syracuse Orange basketball team has faced. Nothing to shake a stick at. At all.
Here are some more numbers: 31, 20, 36, 36, 31, 52. No, those are not the numbers of my losing Powerball ticket. Those would be the margins of victory in six of Syracuse’s eight contests thus far. What gives?
Syracuse has had a wide margin of victory
Well, for years, the country at large has berated coach Jim Boeheim for his cupcake non-conference schedule. Now, in years past, I would argue that the country at large was uninformed. Yes, Syracuse sometimes lacks big names on its conference. They rarely run the gauntlet of non-conferences tests that, say, Michigan State signs up for year in and year out.
But, undoubtedly, come tournament time, you look at the field of 64/65/68, and you will see lesser names filling out the brackets that matched up against the Orange earlier in the year. The Cornells, Northern Iowas, Oaklands, and Sienas of the world do not strike fear in the eyes of Syracuse or the rest of the country. But, those teams have proven to be capable of big things come March in past years.
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And, within the last five years, Syracuse’s non-conference opponents have included such elite names like Ohio State, Florida (three times), Kansas, Memphis, North Carolina, Michigan, Michigan State, and NC State.
But, this season… ugh. San Diego State and Arkansas have headlined the non-conference slate, with the Aztecs being the only team on the non-conference schedule projected by ESPN’s Joe Lunardi to be in the NCAA Tournament (as of December 11th). The San Diego State game, while against a ranked opponent, looked more like a meteorological experiment or a segment shoot to benefit Sports Science to see how the weather affects sports performances of what is normally an indoor sport. And, Arkansas was billed as a team that would represent a tough style of play to match up against. But, what most ignored was the disparity in talent. Oh yeah, and Syracuse does not mind getting up and down the floor at all.
So, is the non-conference schedule really weaker than in past years? Or, are the Orange really just that much more talented than their opponents?
Here’s a breakdown of Syracuse’s non-conference record and average margin of victory in the last four seasons, all of which ended in an NCAA berth:
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OK… so the Orange have lost just one non-conference game in that span, with 58 wins. Not too shabby. So far, this season has the best margin of victory by almost three points a game.
What to make of all this nonsense? Statistically, the Orange has done marginally better than in past seasons in the early part of their schedule. However, it is not anything completely out of the ordinary.
Instead, the non-conference schedule has yielded two results when being judged on the eye test:
Maybe it is the depth of this year’s squad that allows them to extend leads when its reserves are in the game. But, then again, last season’s team may have been the deepest in the country.
So, what to make of all this nonsense?
» Related: Early season blowouts mean something, after all
No, this season’s non-conference schedule does not have any heavyweights on it, at least not to this point. But, this team has been efficient in ways that past Syracuse teams that may have been more talented have not been. Every piece of the puzzle seems to fit in with the next one. There are no skill sets that are repeats of another from one player to the next. Michael Carter-Williams runs the show, distributing to James Southerland on the wing or DaJuan Coleman or Rakeem Christmas down low, all properly spaced in their comfort zones. The offense does not miss a beat whether it is Carter-Williams or Brandon Triche running show. The defense is just as fortified with Coleman and Christmas as it is with C.J. Fair and Baye Moussa Keita.
Last season’s team was a team in every sense of the word. But, this year’s version of Boeheim’s Bunch may set a new mark. Conference play may expose some weaknesses or youth. But, from top to bottom, this year’s squad is both young and experienced, tall and fast, skilled and athletic. All of that has led to the Orange singing in perfect harmony, while their lackluster opponents have been left to sing the blues.
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Tags: Basketball, Dag Bag, Syracuse
More From: Matt Dagostino
think your pretty stupid by saying that SU hasnt played anyone, even the normal people who doubt SU are all in. Both the guys from CBSSPorts who called SU overrated last year think they are underated this year. They said this years schedule has tested SU way more then in years past. I garentee that they have played at least 4 tourney teams including a top15 team on the road, and another tourney team on the road in ark (with how bad the SEC is they can finish top-3 in that league easily, and to say they lack talent is also stupid young is a lotto pick anyway you slice it)
Hmmm, not sure if I agree with you, Kevin. SDSU is a lock, but like Matt said, it’s hard to glean too much from that game. Arkansas, Princeton… and your 4th team would be Long Beach State? Those three may make it, but those are still teams ‘Cuse is expected to beat.
I think in order to get truly “tested”, there needs to be an ‘elite’ team thrown in there like Matt said. If you threw in a UNC or a Ohio State in there, I’d say they’d be more tested than in year’s past. That’s just my 2 cents. Either way, to dismiss his opinion as “stupid” is a little extreme.
bottom line at every position accept SG su is stronger and the weaknesses from last year of rebounding and halfcourt offense are gone. What i like about this years team is that even though they are already playing like a top 3 team they can improve a ton by seasons end. Turnovers and post play will keep getting better, southerlands slump will end and with cooney shooting better that will be a huge weapon. CJ fair is just starting to break lose, etc
While we have more depth at center this year and Coleman is perhaps a bit more polished offensively than Melo was, defensively, none of our centers are nearly as good as Melo was; this hasn’t been problematic thus far, but that’s largely because the best big we’ve played was a 6′ 9″ power forward (Powell on Arkansas).
Also, I have to agree with Matt; while our non-conference schedule hasn’t been awful, it hasn’t exactly tested us either. SDSU is a very good team, but (as Matt pointed out) the weather conditions in that game favored us greatly and mostly just reaffirmed that basketball was meant to be played indoors. Arkansas was a solid win against a solid team in a hostile setting. But it’s hard to say that we’re underrated when we’re ranked #4 in both polls.