Jim Boeheim cannot win praise from his detractors,
regardless of what he does. You would
think Syracuse was mired in an underperforming season with a record of 20-10
instead of being 33-2, ranked #2 in the country with a #1 seed in the NCAA
tournament. Fans love to second guess
head coaches, and Syracuse fans are no different.
Historically Boeheim has gone only 7-8 players deep on his
roster, preferring to keep his top talent on the court as much as
possible. This season, he has gone 10
players deep most of the season and yet he still gets criticized for not giving
some players more playing time.
I like Brandon Triche’s game a lot. He is likely the team’s
best three point shooter and clearly
their best free throw shooter. He is the
best rebounding guard on the team, and while not flashy, he is a solid point
guard, and he is a three year starter with tons of experience. Yet he sits a lot, and that is quite
reasonable considering the best offensive talent on this team is the backcourt
players. You have to find time for Scoop
Jardine and for Dion Waiters; Boeheim does an excellent job of getting them all
playing time.
A faction of the fan base criticize Boeheim because he does
not play Michael Carter-Williams more. MCW
plays in most games, about 3-7 minutes of time.
Considering there are three talented guards ahead of him in terms of
experience, and current talent level, I think it says a world about how good
Boeheim thinks he is by getting him that time.
He is getting some seasoning and experience, and being handled well by
being put into situations he can succeed, and being held from situations where
he can fail. I think it will be
invaluable for him come next season; and if the need arose this season, he
would play more. My guess is MCW will be
a start for Syracuse and in the NBA someday.
Right now, that is not his role.
Other fans question why Boeheim doesn’t play to his strength
and run a three guard offense. That is looking at only half the picture. A three guard offense would definitely help
the offense; there is no doubt about it.
However, what is the greatest strength of this team? It’s zone defense,
a defense so good that a lot of fans in forums call it the best Syracuse
defense they have ever seen. Syracuse
cannot play that zone with three guards; that would require Triche or Waiters
to play the wing and guard a forward, which could be disastrous. Do you really want to take away the best
asset of the team, their zone defense, in order to get more playing time for a
guard? And going to man-to-man is not
the solution; the team does not practice that well enough to effectively use it
and Boeheim and his staff recruit players ideal for zone defense, not for
man-to-man.
I have seen many fans question why Trevor Cooney was
redshirted, when the team could clearly use his three point shooting. Boeheim cannot currently find enough time for
a talented Michael Carter-Williams on the court, and you want him to find time
for Cooney? Furthermore, we do not even
know how good Cooney is with defense or ball handling at this point in his
career. I do not know how you would find
reasonable playing time for him, and having him lose a season as the fifth
guard makes no sense.
Rakeem Christmas is the interesting player in the mix. I
know some fans are looking at Christmas’ Kansas State effort of 11 rebounds and
3 blocked shots as evidence that Boeheim should have played him a lot more. Those numbers are huge, and should not be
taken lightly. I do think Christmas is
far more comfortable at center than forward.
I also think Christmas is a better rebounder than Melo, in fact, much
better, and likely a better offensive player.
Christmas has been playing organized basketball for years, where as Melo
only a few season, and I think Christmas is more comfortable with the ball in
his hands. He is by no means an offensive juggernaut. Christmas is okay at defense in the center
position, but does not have the dominating shot blocking, the body size, nor
the zone understanding that Melo does. So there is a loss of defense without Melo,
which would be expected as Melo was the Big East Defensive Player of the Year.
I think Boeheim and his staff want Christmas to develop into
a power forward, a role Christmas is not comfortable with now. I think Christmas is likely failing his
defensive assignments as a forward, and is not the offensive threat that
Joseph, Fair or Southerland is, so he is the fourth forward behind three other veteran forwards. I would like to see a couple more minutes out
of Christmas each game, and he does have a very quick hook from Boeheim. However, in a best case scenario, Christmas
was not going to get too many more playing minutes at the forward
position.
Southerland needed the playing time to open up the Syracuse perimeter
game, and he has developed his rebounding and defensive skills. Fans love C.J. Fair, and Fair usually brings
that spark to the table, along with adding in all the statistics stuffing
needing to help the team. Kris Joseph is
the best scoring forward on the team, and the most experienced player on the
team.
You could have played Christmas instead of Baye Keita at
center, but remember they want to develop Christmas a forward which will help
him in his pursuit of a professional career, and Keita can only play
center. Keita needs to develop too, and
Syracuse needed Melo on the court as much as they could.
I think minor changes could have been made at various points
in the season, but they would have been minor, and with no impact on the season
results. Remember, Syracuse is
33-2.
Some tidbits of information:
Rakeem Christmas has now started five games at center, and he
has had rebound totals of 9, 1, 7, 7 and 11.
Fab Melo averages only 5.8 rebounds a game. Of course, shot blockers are often out of
rebounding position, so you trade off one ability for another.
James Southerland has scored 43 points in the four post
season games, shooting 8 of 17 from three point range, and chipping in 24
rebounds, and 8 blocks.
Where as C.J. Fair disappeared to? The man was a stat sheet
stuffer all season. In the postseason
run, Fair is 2-17 from the field, including misses from point blank range, and
open 10 foot jumpers. He has 17 rebounds,
but 11 came against UNC Asheville; only 6 in the other three games
combined. This has coincided with him
starting, but that cannot be the reason as he did not suffer when he started
three games during Melo’s first suspension.
Triche found his shooting touch as the regular season ended,
but he has struggled in the post season. He is 1 of 10 from three point range,
and surprisingly 4 of 10 from the free throw line.
Dion Waiters struggled for much of the season at the free
throw line, but has shot 16 of 18 from the charity stripe in the post
season. He has also made 25 of 45 shots
during that time frame, and has had only three turnovers.
Scoop Jardine has made seven of his eight free throw
attempts in the post season, and has 17 assists the past three games. However,
he has also had 14 turnovers the past three games, which has to stop.
Kris Joseph, who has logged more playing time than any other
Syracuse player this post season, has continued his month long shooting
problems. Joseph is 8 for 31 in the post season from the field, including 2 for
13 from three point range. He was held
reboundless against Cincinnati and had only one rebound against Kansas State
yesterday.
1 comment:
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