Things to watch for when Syracuse men’s basketball faces Duke in the ACC Tournament

Well yesterday was certainly fun and now we get to see the Syracuse Orange (16-16, 9-11) men’s basketball team takes on the Duke Blue Devils (26-5, 16-4) in the ACC Tournament quarter final round. Duke dominated the two regular season meetings winning by 20 in Cameron and then taking the second match-up by 25 in the Dome.

Here’s what we’ll be looking for when these teams meet again:

Kevin: Defending Duke

In the two previous games the Blue Devils made 29 three-pointers and grabbed 22 offensive rebounds. Syracuse isn’t going to be able to take away the paint and the three so they need to pick their poison. Will they go 1-3-1 to take away Paolo Banchero at the foul line? I think Syracuse has to try something creative because asking the frontline to help on Mark Williams and contest shots from the wing/corners is going to be asking for trouble. Sit back and let Duke fire and hope the few days of suffering after the loss to Carolina makes them come out tight.

Szuba: ACC’s gift to Wendell Moore

With Buddy Boehiem out of the picture for Syracuse, Duke’s Wendell Moore won’t have the onerous assignment of being the Boeheim stopper. Syracuse will obviously miss Boeheim’s scoring, but now Moore can matchup with someone else defensively and try to take them out of their rhythm offensively. Presumably, that’s Cole Swider. The Boeheim suspension hurts the Orange in more ways than one as Swider is coming off a 28 point effort on 9-15 shooting.