CHICAGO – Whether the game is in Syracuse, Charlottesville, or now Chicago, when Syracuse and Virginia lock horns on a basketball court, one thing is clear. This thing is about the gaps.
Both teams go about it in different ways, but the fiercely defend paths to the interior and try to force opponents to take contested shots in order to beat you. For Cuse, it’s a 2-3 zone that features a ton of man-to-man principles. For UVA, it’s the opposite, a Pack-Line man scheme with a lot of zone principles.
Either way, if you’re going to get a win against these defenses, you’ve got to find a way to get into the gaps between defenders. It’s much easier said than done.
“Coach Boeheim recruits guys that fit the mold to play that zone, athletic, and they’re very active, so they challenge a lot of shots,” Wahoo senior Malcolm Brogdon said. “I think the trap that the zone presents is shooting quick shots, shooting your first open shot, not getting them moving and just settling. Not settling and getting the shots that you want later in the shot clock I think is the key.”
“It’s a good zone,” Cavalier coach Tony Bennett said of Syracuse. “You have to be able to attack it in different ways. You have to knock down some shots. The ball has to move, you have to dent it off the dribble, get on the glass, different kinds of things. … It’s a challenging zone, no doubt, but I think some experience against it makes you respect it even more, knowing you have to be aggressive but you can’t be unsound because they get live-ball turnovers and that hurts, but if you just are too hesitant or passive against it, you can have trouble.”
Syracuse knows moving the ball is critical against the Pack-Line too. Not many teams have success coming down and taking a shot on the first side of the floor. As a result, teams try to move the ball from side to side and put UVA in recovery mode in order to expose those critical gaps.
In the case of the Orange, their normal offense already features some elements to try to accomplish that. Cuse uses ball screens, dribble handoffs, and some weave principles within their plans anyway and all of those can be effective at spacing out the Virginia defense if executed well. The key, of course, is can you do that consistently enough to get a win.
”When we do all that stuff, it’s really just to get movement so we can attack the gaps and get to the rim,” said Syracuse freshman Malachi Richardson, who had 23 points against the Hoos earlier this season. ”When we do that, when we start finishing, we can kick the ball out for open threes. We really want to take a lot of threes, but when teams are on it we want to be able to get to the basket and mix it up a little bit.”
Instant Technology
The days of video tape and hand written scouting reports are long gone. Teams in today’s world of college basketball have video at their fingertips and it happens almost instantly, at least for the coaches. Many times, the clips are waiting in a queue for the coaches to access before they’ve even left the building for that night’s game.
For someone like Bennett, it’s a valuable resource and an important part of the program’s focus on details.
”He loves watching film,” senior Evan Nolte said. ”He watches every day’s practice and he’ll watch a ton of film. … To be able to compare the practice to a clip that goes in his computer when he goes back to his hotel room is really big for him. He’ll watch film, take notes, and come up with a game plan. … It makes it a lot easier to prepare for teams.”
One-And-Done Recruiting
A popular topic on the message boards from time to time in relation to recruiting is about the highly talented one-and-done players. The conversation usually circles around whether Bennett would ever go down that road in his program. He gave some insight on that question a little bit Saturday.
“I think our program, the formula always has been get these guys a bunch of experience, and when they have that experience, they’re going to be able to play against the best,” Bennett said. “We haven’t ever been in a spot where we could recruit one-and-done players. It’s just our program isn’t at that spot. I’m not saying I never would, but I so enjoy watching these guys develop, and that’s made our team strong. I think if you’re going to get one-and-done players, you’d better be able to back that up and do it year after year. I have no problem with that. A lot of programs have been successful. We’re just not in that the spot. But if a guy has a chance, absolutely, having played professionally, I’m fine with that. I just think you’ve got to be ready for that. That’s a big jump. I know I’ve enjoyed the maturity of this team and watching them go through some of the being on the bubble, the hard things to become a team that is contending for some special things.”
