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Basketball

For Orange, defense leads to easy offense

Notre Dame looked like a team that could cause Syracuse some problems. Earlier in the week the Fighting Irish knocked off a top-10 team in Georgetown with ease, 69-55. Aside from that though, they came into the game with five players shooting 34 percent or better from 3-point range and three of those players are 6’7 or taller; they are a great defensive team, holding opponents to an average of 63 points per game; they’re patient on offense and don’t force many bad shots; and they protect the ball, averaging just 10 turnovers per game. And throughout the first half and the beginning of the second half, Notre Dame gave Syracuse quite a game.

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Basketball

Overrated no longer

In late November, Jim Boeheim called this team “the most overrated team I’ve ever coached.” At the time, I completely agreed with him. I had watched the games. I had seen the team’s shooting troubles, defensive lapses and very close games against subpar competition (a 63-60 win over William & Mary??). Now, though? Now, you have to really nitpick to find flaws. The Orange is improving by leaps and bounds, and after a 93-65 beating of a good Drexel team, I’m finally ready to no longer call this team overrated.

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Basketball

An Average Win for the Orange

This was an average performance for the Orange. It wasn’t the Michigan State game and it wasn’t the William and Mary game. This one was somewhere right in between. It was a comfortable win despite Iona never letting up and always closing the gap after a Syracuse run. But Syracuse led wire-to-wire and won, 83-77.

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Basketball

Shooting Problems? What Shooting Problems?

All season long the players and Jim Boeheim have said this team can shoot. We hear about what great shooters James Southerland and Brandon Triche are in practice. Well, this game was pretty much like practice for the Orange. Syracuse beat Colgate, 100-43. The 57-point win equaled the biggest margin of victory of the Boeheim era.

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Signature Win for Syracuse

Tom Izzo is one of the best coaches in the history of college basketball. He has averaged over 24 wins per season since taking over the reigns at Michigan State in 1995, he has taken the Spartans to the NCAA Tournament 13 consecutive years, and he’s made the Final Four in six of the past 12 seasons. But Izzo did not do his homework on Syracuse. Perhaps the Spartans have been traveling too much (a trip to Cameron Indoor and a trip to the Maui Invitational) because they did not look prepared to play the Orange. Syracuse played to their strengths and Michigan State did little to slow them down as the Orange pick up a signature victory over the 7th ranked Spartans, 72-58.

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No Offense, Syracuse Overrated

The trend Syracuse hasn’t been able to shake is not putting together a complete game. It seems in every game they have one good half and one awful half. Well, they broke that trend last night but not in a good way. Instead of one good half, they played half of one good half. But their defense played just good enough in the final few minutes to pull out another victory against a mediocre opponent. Syracuse improves to 8-0 by beating North Carolina State, 65-59.

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Is Syracuse Overrated?

In a word? Yes. The Orange are overrated and have been on the verge of being exposed all season long. After just the second game of the season, Jim Boeheim called this team the “most overrated team that I’ve ever had.” That means something when it comes from Boeheim, who is in his 35th season coaching the Orange. He’s not going to get an argument from me.

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Basketball

Best Win of the Year But Don’t Tell That to Boeheim

This was what was expected out of Syracuse from the outset. They shot 50%, Rick Jackson and Kris Joseph led the way, they got contributions from rookies off the bench, and Fab Melo is slowly coming into form. Unfortunately, it took them seven games to get to this point and still couldn’t string together two good halves of basketball. But the end result was the same with Syracuse improving to 7-0 after beating Cornell, 78-58.

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Another Ugly Win for the Orange

Lackluster first half performance. Offensive struggles. Much better second half performance. Another ugly win. Syracuse managed to pull out a 53-50 win over Michigan to advance to the finals of the Legends Classic. But it’s just a matter of time before this Syracuse team disappoints and drops a few games.