Virginia fans have been waiting for the Syracuse game to arrive for weeks at the John Paul Jones Arena. The time has arrived. This special preview edition of the Double Bonus takes a peek at the Orange.

Brogdon In The High Post

With the Cavaliers seeing so much zone lately, the high post area as part of their offensive sets has been a focal point. That’s one area that will be a big key against Syracuse’s 2-3 zone this weekend too because the Orange frequently smother the wings and the baseline while leaving the middle man to fend the paint one on one. So opponents have to get someone into that area who can be an effective weapon either shooting the short jumper or driving toward the rim.

Fortunately, UVa has lots of options in that regard. Certainly Anthony Gill and Malcolm Brogdon seem to be two of the first choices when this discussion comes up. Both are good face-up players, can make that shot from 15 feet, and are strong enough to play through contact when attacking the basket. But Mike Tobey, Darion Atkins, and Akil Mitchell have all had good moments flashing into that area at times too and that’s important when facing a team like Cuse, which doesn’t use the same tactics every possession with its zone (much like UVa post traps sometimes out of its man defense, but sometimes chokes down with the guards instead for example). In other words, Virginia won’t be able to just park Gill – or any player for that matter – in the free throw line area for all of his minutes Saturday.

That’s why it is important to have varying plans of attack. Virginia has been rolling out various looks with various players in recent games when facing zone. The four-high alignment with players across the floor at the free-throw line level has been discussed in this series at times, but the Double Bonus articles after the first Notre Dame game (read it here) and the second Virginia Tech game (read it here) listed off some of the changing looks too.

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