Does Syracuse Basketball Have The Tools To Stop Duke?
The Duke basketball team has a ton of weapons, while the Syracuse basketball team can’t stop a nose bleed. Is this going to get ugly?
The Syracuse basketball squad has an impossible task on Wednesday against the Duke Blue Devils. They’re playing a red hot team (winners of seven straight) and that team has multiple scorers.
Four average in double figures and Frank Jackson averages 9.9 per contest. Syracuse has made it a habit to allow one guy to go off on them. Look at there 12 losses, someone always steps up and bangs the open looks.
We talked to the voice of the Blue Devils, Bob Harris, on ESPN Radio this week and he talked about the slew of options coach Mike Krzyzewski has at his disposal.
"“Grayson Allen of course, but he only has to score when he has too. So can Luke Kennard, Grayson, Jayson, and Amile. A guy no one talks about enough is Amile Jefferson. This guy got hurt in the middle of last season and sat out to try and get well. He graduated last May and he’s getting his Masters this year. An extremely smart young man and he’s willing to do anything it takes to improve the team’s play. A selfless guy who can score six points and get seven rebounds and if the team wins he’s as happy as can be.”"
Harris also talked about how Amile and Matt Jones have been the quiet leaders on this team that has steadied the ship through the rockiness of this season.
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Long story short that sounds like a lot of weapons for SU to try and stop. Especially considering that SU possesses the 124th ranked scoring defense in all of college basketball via NCAA.com.
Over the last seven years they’ve ranked in the top-20. So not only have the Orange fallen off the face of the planet, but they aren’t even average.
Jim Boeheim has said it multiple times this year in his post game press conferences, “to win games we’re going to have to outscore our opponents.”
That couldn’t be more true for this game against Duke. Are you hungry? Lets grab a quick slice of realism.
SU to win this game has to have an A+ game. While Duke would have to have a subpar outing for the Orange to have a chance.
“Don’t leave it in the hands of the judges” this will continue to be the ghost of Christmas past for the Orange. We said this prior to the Georgia Tech game that the bare minimum (2-2) over the final stretch may get you in, but no guarantees.
Next: Syracuse Football Recruiting Sitdown: Nykeim Johnson
To avoid that SU must win out in the regular season to lock their place, it’s not going to be easy. More likely than not additionally they’ll need some ACC tournament wins, but still at this point, SU controls their own destiny. A lot of teams can’t say that much.