On to the Elite Eight

A recipe for disaster for Syracuse would be a game where James Southerland is held to 3 points, Michael Carter-Williams has only one assist, and Carter-Williams is the leading scorer on the team.  Yet that is exactly what happened in the Syracuse / Indiana game, and the Orange won handedly. 

I must admit that I thought this team had no chance of making the Final Four, and now they are one very winnable game from being there. Marquette is a tough opponent, and either team could win the game, but this is not a case where Syracuse has to slay Goliath to advance. 

The Syracuse defense has been outstanding in this tournament, and really has been consistently strong all season.  It really hasn’t been a question of whether they could stop their opponents. It has been a question if they could put together enough offense to outscore their opponents. The Orange haven’t been playing perfect on offense, and still are making some ugly unforced errors, but they have been doing enough on offense to win.

Indiana had a game plan that refused to let Syracuse get the ball to Southerland. That is a very smart game plan.  The Syracuse guards responded with the correct action, and that was to take the ball to the hoop, and have the guard play dominate the game.  I hope this mindset of driving to the hoop carries over to today’s game, because when Brandon Triche and Carter-Williams drive the lane, good things happen.

Good luck to the Orange today! It should be a great game.