No Number 1 Seeds and What That Means for Syracuse

by sam3985 on Mar 27, 2011 6:13 PM EDT

For just the third time since 1979, when the NCAA began seeding teams for the tournament, no number one seeds will reach the Final Four. When Butler takes on VCU next weekend, the game will feature the lowest seeded combination to ever play in the national semifinals. The two teams lost a combined 20 games during the year, and VCU had to play-in just to be part of the final 64 teams in the tournament.

On the other side of the bracket, Connecticut was the ninth seeded team in the Big East tournament and has won nine straight games to reach the Final Four.

What does this year's tournament results mean for Syracuse? We've seen that any team can pull of an upset at any time. Even when the favored teams won, the first two rounds of the tournament were littered with games that could have just as easily been upsets. Had the Orange turned the ball over a couple fewer times, or gotten to the line a bit more against Marquette, they could have at least made it to the second weekend. So playing consistent, error-free, basketball, as always, is critical.

The other commonality between the remaining four teams seems to be that they all have a scorer they can rely on to get his own points. UConn has Kemba Walker, VCU has Jamie Skeen, Butler has Matt Howard, and Kentucky has Brandon Knight (who has also hit clutch game winning shots). Rick Jackson was Syracuse's go-to guy all season, but against Marquette, he was ineffective overall. Kris Joseph was supposed to be that guy this year, but in many games, he seemed to lack the aggressiveness that is needed to be a reliable scorer. Scoop Jardine and Brandon Triche could drop 20 in a night too, but just as easily might not score, or would turn the ball over/take bad shots and lose possessions.

For Cuse to compete and make it deep in the tourney next year, they are going to have to tighten their game up, and cut out the sloppy play. Early on in the year, they were able to fall behind and then come back to win. Even against Pitt and Louisville, where they fell behind by nearly 20 points early on, they were able to almost pull off a victory. In March, though, it doesn't work. They have a lot of talent, but they need to come in from minute one ready to play.

Next year, someone will have to step up and be the go-to guy. If Brandon Triche can get consistent, he could be that guy, since it seems like Joseph will be a very good secondary option instead.

It will be interesting to see how Scoop improves, and how the big freshman come back as sophomores. Will Keita be healthy and will Fab develop as projected? If yes, this will be a team with a lot of depth (especially with the highly touted incoming recruiting class), and it should be fun to watch. If not, defenses will be able to take advantage of the lack of offensive ability, especially inside.

As opposed to the last two years where Cuse saw many of its best players leave, next year's team will have everyone back except for Jackson. There is a lot to build on, hopefully someone emerges to take control.

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High hopes for CJ Fair

although this could be a year early, he seems to make good things happen surprisingly often when he touches the ball. He’s fearless and he can fly. Let’s see if he improves his shooting over the summer.

by Skortchaser on Mar 27, 2011 10:03 PM EDT reply actions

The one thing he needs to learn is ball handling.

by adselver15 on Mar 27, 2011 11:13 PM EDT up reply actions

Offense, offense, offense

These teams have all had guys that could score inside. They’ve all got multiple options from deep. They all have guys who can drive. Having numerous options on the floor is huge in the Tourney. Being able to knock down jumpers has been absolutely crucial for VCU, Butler, Kentucky and Kembas. Those are all areas we struggled in this year, either all year or in stretches. If we are to take the next step next year, we need guys to step up their game on the offensive end. We can’t have shooting guards only knocking down 33% from 3, and all the guards only knocking down 41% of their shots. We can’t have forwards committing offensive fouls left and right. We need bigs that can catch and turn, or catch and make a move to the rim. We certainly have guys that can do things very well, we just need them to improve and do it consistently.

Our ceiling is limited as long as the offensive games of our players remains limited. To get far in the Tourney, you have to be able to score. Unless you play elite physical defense like Butler, which we likely will never and can never do out of the zone, you need scorers and shooters. That’s the area our players need to make the biggest leap this offseason. Let’s hope they do so.

~K
"As the governor of Louisiana once said, the only way Chris Kelsay can lose his job is if he got caught in bed with a dead girl or a live boy."

by Kurupt on Mar 28, 2011 12:38 AM EDT reply actions

Our team

Both overachieved and underachieved. The team overachieved because it really did not have a rock solid scorer that you could count on at crunch time to make a nice, smart play… and then bury the shot. Scoop’s two three-pointers against UConn do not change that. For all RJ’s scoring and field goal percentage, he was not an offensive threat at all. He had one move, and was not even a lock to complete shots within 4 feet. Joseph and Triche buried shots at times, but not with the consistency of the elite scorers. Fair, Melo, and Keita had a few put backs here and there… and Fair pretty much had Joseph’s role from last year. Waiters was still young. And yet somehow this team won a lot of games. Despite being merely good, we played some great games… or at least played great defense to allow our “good” offense to win.

Where we underachieved, however, was not playing up to even our “good” potential. Careless mistakes, poor shot selection, and something other than the great defense. We had Marquette down and missed bunnies instead of putting them out of their misery. It was not just a winnable game, it was a game that was on track for a win early on. We didn’t just allow them to make the inevitable run… we handed it to them by keeping our lead small. We didn’t have to play great to beat Marquette…merely “good” and we did not even do that.

Very odd team. Hard to criticize the team, but hard not to criticize the team. If they missed wide-open shots, I’d say “well, they just aren’t that good.” But when they make mistakes that any 7th grader would know is foolish, hard not to feel like they disappointed.

I do think that we need someone on the team who is a leader—both by actions and words—a guy who both wants the ball AND is the guy that all other teammates and fans want to have the ball. That is Kemba Walker. Nobody on the current team fits that definition at all. Just guys in that position by default.

Until we find that, I think we are destined to be a Round of 32/Sweet 16 type of team. Nothing to complain about in the big picture.

Dictated, but not read.

by ezcuse on Mar 28, 2011 12:33 PM EDT up reply actions