gwkrlghl

April 6th, 2013 at 3:57 PM ^

I'm lovin that everyone else is loving Boeheim and his 2-3 zone. Reminds me of the pregame hype before SDSU...and VCU...and Kansas...and Florida. And those all seemed to turn out well

DakotaBlue

April 6th, 2013 at 4:25 PM ^

I've been following SU all season, and I am having a hard time figuring out which team will show up tonight. The one that gave Louisville it's only home loss?  The one that had Lousiville down by 16 in the Big East tourney with 16 minutes to go, or the one that gave up that 16 point lead and eventually lost by 17.  The one that lost to Marquette, Georgetown (2x), and Pitt, or the one that handled Georgetown capably in the Big East tourney and made Marquette and Indiana look silly in the NCAA tourney?

Michigan has really been playing well in the tournament, but so has SU.  They have looked fundamentally different from the team they were in late January and early February.  It seems, however, that they could revert back at any moment.  

Regardless, we can speculate all we want about whether Michigan can break the zone.  Our opinions don't matter.  We'll find out soon enough!

Goblueman

April 6th, 2013 at 4:01 PM ^

A basic way to beat a zone is getting it to collapse in via dribble penetration or a pass to interior (usually high post area).This play forces zone to collapse with a 3rd option (Wing/HP screen & roll),it also has a cutter thru the zone which is another basic way to beat zones.....Louisville destroyed Syr. zone by placing a big at each elbow in a 1-4 set,when pass went to a big the other big cut elbow to opposite block (this occupied the middle guy in zone and forced the baseline defender on opposite side to honor that cut while also covering ball side wing player who cuts to corner.Marq had a fair amount of open looks but weren't 'ball ready' or missed shots.

allintime23

April 6th, 2013 at 4:26 PM ^

The nine losses they have show vulnerabilities. I'm not afraid of the zone just because sports center tells me to be afraid. The entire world wants a Michigan win so Monday night we don't have to watch another Louisville beat down on Syracuse.

MGoblu8

April 6th, 2013 at 4:29 PM ^

I really think that a lot of this is the hype machine getting turned on. As Timmy pointed out, they are not undefeated. They lost 9 games this year. Meaning on nine different occasions a team was able to master the great 2-3 zone. I just don't remember everyone being so enamored with it in Nov-Feb. I hope our guys aren't getting caught up in this.

DakotaBlue

April 6th, 2013 at 4:52 PM ^

in the Big East tournament.  They have made it to the Final Four on the back of really great defense, holding opponents to a record-low point total.  Of course there will be hype.   If the media weren't hyping the zone, it would be something else.

I don't think many Syracuse fans expected to get to the Final Four this year.  Last year, sure.  In February this year, no way.  They were beatable during the season.  So was Michigan, with 7 losses, including one to Penn State.  They are still both beatable now.  They have both been playing a lot better in the tournament than they were in February.  

As wonderful as that amazing win against Kansas was, we are able to root for the Wolverines today because Kansas missed a free throw and Trey hit a 30-foot three-pointer.  in that same round, Syracuse was using heavily-favored Indiana as a punching bag.  I look forward to seeing whether the hype about the zone is justified, but I won't dismiss it just because SU had 9 losses (all of which were to NCAA tournament teams, btw).

Jinxed

April 6th, 2013 at 4:51 PM ^

That zone is undefeatable. That's why Boeheim has won over 30 NCAA tournament championships since he started coaching at Cuse and why they're undefeated since he started using it exclusively as their only defense.

/s

Carmelo Anthony had nothing to do with Boeheim's only championship... it was the zone that won it for them... lol

/moresarcasm