MBB: Syracuse 58, Pittsburgh 56

[rsvman]

No kidding. I would have doubled Ennis a made someone else take that shot.

Like, for example, Cooney?


Ennis said in the post-game that he felt he could get himself in a position to make that shot because Cooney's defender had to stay with Cooney.

Calling the time-out was stupid, but I'm not sure doubling Ennis would've been a great idea, either, especially if it left Cooney with the last shot. A priori, I'd rather have Ennis take the long shot than Cooney, and I'd wager Dixon thought the same thing. (A posteriori, I guess I'd choose Cooney, since Ennis's shot went in.) ;-) But you have to judge the rationality of any decision based on information that was available BEFORE the decision was made, not on information that you have at hand now.

[flyingdutchdevil]

Sorry, but good teams make their own luck. I find the whining on this board very annoying and more suited to IC.

I thought we were over the, "Hood got fouled" garbage from a few weeks ago, but it seems some of you can't accept a done deal. Grow up and move on.

Agree 100%. Syracuse has the best profile of any team in the ACC. Right now, they are all but guaranteed a top 2 seed in the ACC Tourney and, even if they lose 2 games, they will most likely be a 1 seed in the NCAA Tournament.

This year, they have the best coach, the best balance, and the best schedule. Is this due to "luck"? Some of it is, but they have shown consistency from day 1.

Furthermore, this is an incredibly likable Syracuse team. Ennis is my favorite non-Duke player this year. For someone who is considered the MVP of the best team in America, he is incredibly down to earth.

[roywhite]

I was watching some of the screening action that Dixon employed against the Zone and thought it was really good. A few times, he had the ball extended wide strong side and slipped a pick behind the far defensive guard at the elbow. Two quick swing passes later, there were driving lanes and freed up 3s on the formerly weak side. They also managed some really nice high low action where the big catching at the foul line immediately dumped a bounce pass to the second big who began to seal his man when the first entry pass was made. It was timing dependent and Pitt got a few layups out of it. Dixon may come off like an idiot with his demonstrative flamboyance, but it looks like he has learned how to attack that orange 2-3 over the years. Alas, I agree that final time out seemed like a bad idea at the time.

Good comments about some of the things Pitt did well. Pitt looked familiar with what they were seeing and produced some nice looks. Pitt also did some good things on the offensive boards. As the second half went on, I thought Pitt was too slow to get moving toward the basket, and ran into shot clock problems. With a change in plans for our game, I'd guess our staff watched the Pitt--Syracuse game and may have picked up a thing or two.

[FerryFor50]

Like, for example, Cooney?


Ennis said in the post-game that he felt he could get himself in a position to make that shot because Cooney's defender had to stay with Cooney.

Calling the time-out was stupid, but I'm not sure doubling Ennis would've been a great idea, either, especially if it left Cooney with the last shot. A priori, I'd rather have Ennis take the long shot than Cooney, and I'd wager Dixon thought the same thing. (A posteriori, I guess I'd choose Cooney, since Ennis's shot went in.) ;-) But you have to judge the rationality of any decision based on information that was available BEFORE the decision was made, not on information that you have at hand now.

No, like the guy in bounding. Doubling Ennis doesn't mean you leave the other guys open. Just the inbounder, who is trailing the play.

[rsvman]

No, like the guy in bounding. Doubling Ennis doesn't mean you leave the other guys open. Just the inbounder, who is trailing the play.

Perhaps.

On the other hand, we've seen how well not guarding the inbounder has worked for other teams in the past.

And with 4.4 seconds left, the inbounder wouldn't necessarily have to "trail the play" the entire time.

All I'm saying is that double-teaming Ennis would not have necessarily been an obvious strategy for Pitt, nor would it have automatically resulted in a Pitt victory. Figuring out what to do in any situation is inherently easier once the situation has already played out.

[greybeard]

An undefeated team is making the season interesting. I do not see them losing in the regular season.

Let's let them play it out. They have at least one pretty good challenge coming up.

[FerryFor50]

Perhaps.

On the other hand, we've seen how well not guarding the inbounder has worked for other teams in the past.

And with 4.4 seconds left, the inbounder wouldn't necessarily have to "trail the play" the entire time.

All I'm saying is that double-teaming Ennis would not have necessarily been an obvious strategy for Pitt, nor would it have automatically resulted in a Pitt victory. Figuring out what to do in any situation is inherently easier once the situation has already played out.

The order of guys I'd have worried about:

1. Ennis (the ball handler/PG/distributor)
2. CJ Fair
3. Cooney

The other guys are tertiary, with the inbounder being the last guy I'd worry about.

It took Ennis over 2 seconds to get to where he could launch the shot. If they deny Ennis, they have to have a less comfortable ball handler take it up court. Maybe they run out of time before getting a shot off. Maybe they turn it over. Ennis is the absolutely last person I want getting the ball in that scenario.

[Newton_14]

The order of guys I'd have worried about:

1. Ennis (the ball handler/PG/distributor)
2. CJ Fair
3. Cooney

The other guys are tertiary, with the inbounder being the last guy I'd worry about.

It took Ennis over 2 seconds to get to where he could launch the shot. If they deny Ennis, they have to have a less comfortable ball handler take it up court. Maybe they run out of time before getting a shot off. Maybe they turn it over. Ennis is the absolutely last person I want getting the ball in that scenario.

I agree and I don't feel it is hindsight. Everyone on the planet knew Boeheim wanted Ennis to get the ball and do what he did. They were only down 1 so did not need a 3 and we have seen players get all the way to the paint in 4.4 seconds. You double Ennis and make someone else have to take it up the court, even Fair or Cooney. I still can't get over calling the Timeout there.

Anyway, done deal now. But absolutely a game Pitt should have won.

[Atlanta Duke]

Vice President Biden apparently is no longer concerned about carrying western Pennsylvania

Vice President Joe Biden called Ennis on Thursday to congratulate him on his "amazing 35-foot buzzer-beater" that kept the Orange unbeaten. The vice president's office tweeted a photograph of Biden at his desk while on the phone with Ennis.

Biden received his law degree from Syracuse.

http://espn.go.com/mens-college-bask...dent-joe-biden

[jv001]

I agree and I don't feel it is hindsight. Everyone on the planet knew Boeheim wanted Ennis to get the ball and do what he did. They were only down 1 so did not need a 3 and we have seen players get all the way to the paint in 4.4 seconds. You double Ennis and make someone else have to take it up the court, even Fair or Cooney. I still can't get over calling the Timeout there.

Anyway, done deal now. But absolutely a game Pitt should have won.

My wife and I watched the last 4+ minutes of this game. I told her that Syracuse has the mojo going and will come from behind and win. Then on the last play, I told her, Dixon better do what ever is necessary to keep Ennis from getting the inbounds pass. Well we all know how that turned out. The Orange will lose their first game in Cameron on Feb. 22nd. No amount of luck will help them. GoDuke!

[SoCalDukeFan]

I don't have a problem with Pitt calling the timeout. I would guess that Syracuse had practiced what to do in late game situations and would just execute. PItt wanted time to set up the defense.

While I have not studied Syracuse this year, my understanding is that in these situations Ennis gets the ball. In my opinion he should have been closely guarded and double teamed and the ball sent somewhere else. There were two guys kind of defending him after he had the ball. My guess is that Dixon told them not to foul.

It is easy to criticize Dixon but in reality Ennis made a great long distance shot.

SoCal

[Atlanta Duke]

Luke Winn breaks down the last play in his weekly power rankings column (Syracuse at #1)

Syracuse's No. 1 option was a baseball pass to C.J. Fair, who had cut hard toward the ball, then reversed course, hoping (but failing) to shake his man...
Pitt prevented the bomb to Fair ... but everything else it did was questionable.

http://sportsillustrated.cnn.com/col...ida-villanova/

[roywhite]

Luke Winn breaks down the last play in his weekly power rankings column (Syracuse at #1)

Syracuse's No. 1 option was a baseball pass to C.J. Fair, who had cut hard toward the ball, then reversed course, hoping (but failing) to shake his man...
Pitt prevented the bomb to Fair ... but everything else it did was questionable.

http://sportsillustrated.cnn.com/col...ida-villanova/

Thanks for posting; interesting breakdown of a breakdown.

Also interesting to see Winn's comments on Duke from that link.

Duke is third in kenpom.com's rankings almost entirely on the power of its offense, which has a chance to rank as not just the No. 1 scoring attack of this season, but also the No. 1 offense of the whole efficiency era (2003-present). I went through kenpom's archives to try to identify similarly structured teams, and found eight that ranked in the top two in adjusted offensive efficiency while sitting outside the top 75 in adjusted defensive efficiency. The Blue Devils' closest comps are Chris Paul-led, 2003-04 Wake Forest, and T.J. Ford-led 2002-03 Texas:

No surprise to the local numbers geeks who track this sort of thing, but I didn't realize Duke's offensive efficiency rated that high.

[FerryFor50]

Thanks for posting; interesting breakdown of a breakdown.

Also interesting to see Winn's comments on Duke from that link.



No surprise to the local numbers geeks who track this sort of thing, but I didn't realize Duke's offensive efficiency rated that high.

What I noticed was that none of the teams hr listed won the NCAAs...

[kAzE]

In light of Tyler Ennis' ridiculous play over the course of this season, I think Duke could take a page from his book and learn from what he's been able to accomplish. He's the best player on the best team in the country right now, and he's been THE difference in Syracuse being 24-0 versus them being 20-4. In case you aren't yet aware of what he's been doing, these are his stats in the last 5 minutes or overtime in a 1 possession game:

8-9 FG Shooting
1-1 3FG Shooting
14-14 FT Shooting
6:0 Assists:Turnovers

Those are numbers which are insane for any player, let alone a true freshman. For comparison, let's just juxtapose Tyler Ennis and Quinn Cook. Both are listed at 6'2", 180 pounds. Both have similar athletic ability, as well as ability to handle the basketball. One could even say Quinn Cook is the superior passer. Despite all these similarities, I don't think anyone would put them on the same level right now. Obviously, Ennis is the superior defensive player. He's just a menace defensively, and has one of the highest steal rates in the country. I'm not going to knock Cook too much for that, because he has been good on defense at times, and it's just not one of his strengths.

The bigger and more important distinction between these two guys, in my opinion is all about the mental approach each has towards the game. If you watch Tyler Ennis play, he's basically the Terminator. (Not a bad nickname for him, actually) He has one expression on his face the ENTIRE game, no matter what happens. He could have just made a huge shot, and while there's still time left on the clock, his face is blank. He's always calm, and barely even smiles. In fact, the first time I've ever seen any type of emotion from him whatsoever was immediately following that 36 footer to bury to Pitt. I think that's what makes him so good late in games. He just doesn't get flustered, doesn't feel panicked or rushed at any time. He just makes great decisions because he's just focused on the current play, instead of that mistake he made 3 minute ago.

Cook, on the other hand, wears his emotions on his sleeves, jersey, shoes, and tattooed on his face. When he makes a big shot, he'll make sure he lets everyone know. That's great, that can fire up teammates and home crowds, but similarly, when he makes a big mistake, or something doesn't go his way, he gets really upset, displays poor body language, and starts making poor decisions and forcing things. I think this is why his level of play fluctuates so drastically from game to game. When Cook is good, he's one of the best players on the floor, when he's bad, he's awful. In summary, I think if Cook wants to improve his consistency, I think he's really got to learn to check his emotions. Some guys can really play with a lot of emotion, but for a point guard, I think being stone faced is the way to go.

I also wanted to touch on end-of game situations, and how we've been handling those in close games this year. I posted this in the Pittsburgh post game thread awhile back, prior to the Syracuse game:

I think what Lar77 is saying here is that we don't have the type of strong closer that Syracuse has in Ennis. That kid makes very few mistakes and always seems to make clutch plays when the game is on the line. While that part of our game is not a weakness, it's definitely not a strength the way it is for Syracuse.

For the past few games, our primary ball handlers when we are trying to close out a game are Sulaimon and Hood. Even though Cook is probably the best ball handler, he doesn't have the ability to get to the rim and create a good shot for himself, which is something those other guys have the ability to do. The problem, of course, is that Sulaimon just can't seem to convert on those great looks that he creates for himself. I assume he's been finishing those plays in practice, which is why we keep going back to him.

In the the Pitt game alone, Sulaimon had at least 3 really nice drives, one at the end of the 1st half, one on a fast break, and one late in the 2nd half where he had a clear look at a layup and couldn't convert. He got fouled on at least 1 of those drives, and it wasn't called, but he had a good opportunity to finish all 3 of those layup attempts.

On the other hand, Hood is not as quick or as good a ball handler as Sulaimon, but has a knack for hitting really tough shots. However, he does sometimes drive into a bad situation and turn the ball over, which has happened probably 2 or 3 times in clutch situations, the most memorable one being that last drive he made against ND that could have tied the game. So, while we do have 2 pretty good guys who we can call on at end-of-game situations, none of them is the ideal guy for the role of "closer," that is, until Sulaimon starts finishing those plays.

So, in that regard, I think Syracuse has a slight advantage in that they have a dynamic guy who you can really trust with the ball late in the game, who is just as capable of creating scoring opportunities for himself and others, and hits really clutch shots with regularity. In the Miami game, which turned out to be a close one, he grabbed a loose rebound with his team down 46-47, took it the length of the court and converted on a contact layup plus the foul. In the game against Pitt, he hit 2 clutch layups that ended up sealing the game for his team. Boeheim said once in an interview that he's actually surprised when Ennis misses late in games. That's pretty amazing when a coach has that much confidence in a freshman at the end of a close game.

The biggest development since then has been Sulaimon's improved ability to handle the ball, drive, and finish. It's also hard to forget when he took it the length of the court and hit that 3 in the Syracuse game to send it to overtime. Sulaimon has really stepped up and become the best play maker on the team in recent games, and I think now that Cook is playing less, his legs aren't as tired, and as a result, his outside shot is starting to pick up some steam. If Cook can start shooting in the 40's percentage wise, this offense would move up another level into some crazy territory, efficiency-wise. With him and Hood on the wings, that's going to leave Sulaimon a ton of space to get in the paint and do his thing.

We still don't have a guy who can make great decisions consistently with the ball like Ennis, and Sulaimon isn't as good of a free throw shooter, but we have more options than Syracuse, and WAY better shooters. So in light of our recent play, I think I'm going to revise my earlier stance. There's absolutely no reason we can't be just as good a team in late game situations, and possibly even better when we reach our ceiling as a team. It will never be as good a defensive unit, but our rebounding is really quite good, especially against the zone, and our offense is like a video game offense. Despite the 2 day turnaround after playing at Chapel Hill, I can easily see us handing the Orange their first loss in Cameron on the 22nd, and I would expect us to be favored by Vegas. I'm hoping for a great game, and possibly a tiebreaker game in the ACC tournament. It's just a great, great match up. Go Duke!!