Only About Basketball

I went to the Dome Tuesday night to see the Orange dominate Eastern Michigan, and for two hours, it was only about basketball. There were no questions about what happened on Coach Boeheim’s watch; there were no new accusations about Bernie Fine; and there were no comments of any kind by Laurie Fine. There was a standing O for the Coach when he followed the players out of the tunnel, and again after the player introductions. The crowd made it very clear that, notwithstanding the prior week’s revelations, they still stood behind him.

Under the direction of new head coach, and former SU assistant, Rob Murphy, Eastern Michigan played the 2-3 zone most of the night, and for the first 15 minutes, that zone defense presented problems for the Orange. It slowed the game way down, allowing the smaller Eagles to stay even with the bigger, more athletic, and more talented Orange. It frustrated Cuse’s ability to run. And it exposed some weakness in the Orange offense. But eventually, SU solved the zone (one would think that Syracuse, of all teams, ought to know how to exploit the 2-3), and once Eastern Michigan began to tire, and stopped hitting their threes, the Orange pulled away and ended up dominating the second half.

There was certainly good news to report from Tuesday night: first of all is the depth of this team. Including the two freshmen, the team is ten deep. At one point in the second half, there were five bench players on the court, and the Orange were pulling away from Eastern Michigan. And it’s not just that the bench contributes; it’s also that the guys coming off the bench challenge the starters to play better. For example, Jardine played a lackluster first half, while Waiters looked great coming off the bench. So when the second half began, Jardine and Triche practically crawled up in the Eagles’ shorts, really amping up the intensity of the man defense, generating turnovers, and in general, playing with much more intensity. I think it happened because the bench had made the starters look bad in the first half.

Other good news is that this team has a number of scoring options from outside the three-point line. Joseph is probably the most consistent scorer, but when he’s on, I think Southerland is the best pure shooter on the team. However, Triche, Waiters and Jardine all have the ability to hit from the outside. In fact, it was Triche who supplied the offense in the first half, when everyone else was cold.

It was also encouraging to see very few turnovers -- only 6 for the game. In part, that was because Eastern Michigan played a pretty passive zone, and didn’t get up on our guards, didn’t challenge them the way Louisville or Nova would. Still, keeping the turnovers down is a recipe for success in any game. The big surprise for me was not that Cuse faced a zone, but that they played a man D for more than half the night. I’m not sure how good the man defense would be against a quicker, more athletic team, but one thing for sure: if Cuse can play the man effectively, even for short stretches, teams won’t be able to prepare for SU quite as easily. It won’t just be about the zone.

At the same time, there was some bad news to report. They still have no real center. Fab Melo may be better this year than last (not saying much) but he is still a work in progress. Keita’s the same. And this year they don’t have option of putting Rick Jackson in the middle to anchor the zone. This weakness was obvious in the first half, when Eastern Michigan kept sneaking inside for easy lay-ups. The Orange towered over the smaller Eagles, but neither Melo nor Keita could clog the lane effectively.

Worse, the Orange have no inside game. There is no one who can play with his back to the basket, no one to dump the ball into down low. Think of all the times over the past couple years, when the offense got cold, but the team could go down low to AO or Jackson. If teams didn’t double on those guys, they could easily score. And if teams did double, then someone was left open for easy jumpers. This year, the scoring will have to come from the outside, or on the break. On a few occasions, one of the guards would get into the lane, and then could dish to one of the big guys under the hoop. But I don’t see much of that happening in Big East play.

As good as they looked at times, I don’t think this is a top five team. I wouldn’t mind seeing them lose to Florida (as irritating as that would be) because they need to lose once or twice before the conference games begin. I always like when the team starts out unranked and disrespected, and comes into the season with a chip on its shoulder. I never like these unrealistic early season rankings.

But the best part of Tuesday night was that, for two hours at least, it was only basketball in the Dome. I’m not suggesting that people should ignore what may have happened, or that this thing should get swept under the rug. But I was glad, for one night, to think about hoops again. Go Orange.