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Basketball

Defense dominates as Syracuse cruises

You can’t really put too much weight on games like these but what is clear is that Syracuse has a team with top 5 talent. The Orange’s athleticism was overwhelming for Manhattan as Syracuse cruised to a 92-58 victory.

The most impressive aspect of the Orange’s game was their aggressive defense. They worked in both man-to-man and the 2-3 zone and had active hands in both sets. The Jaspers could never get into an offensive rhythm with the amount of deflections the defense caused. The Orange forced 28 turnovers and had 15 steals and 10 blocks.

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Basketball

Melo looks ready for Syracuse

With the rest of last year’s team back plus three prized recruits Syracuse has the depth, talent, and experience to succeed. The new-look Fab Melo could be the 7-foot piece that holds it all together. The encouraging thought emerging from the preseason for the Orange is that he looks ready, willing and able to be that piece.

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Basketball

Syracuse will need to replace Jackson’s production

While Syracuse may be returning most of its core players this season, the one exception is Rick Jackson. The forward was named Big East Defensive Player of the Year, averaging 13.1 points and 10.3 rebounds, and was SU’s most consistent player throughout the year. Although the Orange has plenty of talent across the board, Jackson’s role may be a difficult one to fill.

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Basketball

Comparatively, Melo had solid season

Melo did slightly better than average, but he didn’t do that much worse than Syracuse’s best freshman center in 15 years. Was it disappointing that he didn’t live up to the hype? Yes. But is it surprising? Looking at the production of other freshman centers, I don’t think so. More importantly, is it Melo’s fault that he was given unrealistic expectations by the media? Absolutely not.