Siena lost its opening game of the season on Monday night, dropping a closely contested 82-77 heartbreaker against Pennsylvania. While undersized, the visiting team from Loudonville boasts a potent, perimeter-oriented attack that sometimes features four guards playing in the same lineup. Given the success that a trio of recent Syracuse opponents [Cornell, Florida, and Bucknell] have had shooting the ball, the Saints will look to capitalize against an Orange defense that has been susceptible to perimeter lapses.
After opening the season with three wins, the 3-2 Orange [men] have been plagued by a number of team deficiencies that have undermined play, including:
Subpar playmaking: When the team has played well, the catalyst has been strong play from Gerry McNamara, beating his man off of the dribble, getting into the teeth of the defense, and creating easy scoring opportunities for his teammates with pinpoint passing. Case in point: the Texas Tech and Florida games. When the team has struggled offensively, GMac has been a catalyst of a different kind, bogging the offensive flow with bad decision making and disrupting continuity with poor shot selection [see: Cornell and Bucknell]. For this team to attain its potential, one of McNamara’s teammates needs to step up and alleviate some of the playmaking burden.
The primary candidates are the ever-improving Eric Devendorf and the enigmatic Josh Wright. At times, Devendorf has looked spectacular, combining timing, basketball IQ, and body control to finish in the lane. At other times, Devendorf has appeared lost. While it is important to keep in perspective that Eric has only played in five games, it is also true that the team plays much better when he is playing well. The Orange simply cannot afford to have him disappear for extended stretches—a prevalent happenstance thus far in his fledgling career. Josh Wright has looked good in spot duty, especially against Texas Tech and for a stretch early in the second half against Bucknell. But for every good play that Wright seems to make, he compounds his coach’s lack of faith with mistakes or turnovers that land him back on the pine. One of these players needs to seize the opportunity to inject life into a sputtering Syracuse offense that has lost its focus.
The Louie McCroskey situation: McCroskey is among a group of five juniors that coach Jim Boeheim was relying upon to provide leadership and consistent play. Instead, LMac’s out of control play has resulted in an alarming number of forced shots, offensive fouls, and turnovers. His play has been so generally poor that it negates what he does bring to the table—namely, size at the top of the zone defense—so much so that the team might be better off inserting Wright into the starting lineup, despite his size-based defensive deficiencies. Rumor has it that McCroskey may have quit the team following his Bucknell debacle, a game where he was benched for the entire second half by Boeheim. While unconfirmed, this situation bears paying attention to, as Syracuse has little depth to spare behind Demetris Nichols at small forward.
Terrance Roberts: Now you see him, now you don’t. The frenetic Roberts brings a physical, athletic energy to the court. The team desperately needs him to shore up what has emerged as the most glaring team deficiency—inside scoring. While Roberts has the physical tools to cure what ails the Orange, he too has pulled a disappearing act at critical junctures—such as the second half of the Bucknell game and the first half of the Florida game. Syracuse needs Roberts to settle into Hakim Warrick’s big shoes and provide a level of consistency to a team desperate for an inside complement to the perimeter scoring of GMac and Nichols. Past Syracuse teams have been most effective when revolving around three primary scorers, and Roberts is the most likely bet to ascend into this role, complementing GMac and Nichols.
Darryl Watkins: The first couple of games gave Syracuse fans a glimpse of a center who had the potential to be a dominant shotblocker, a devastating rebounder, and an intimidating post defender. While clearly the best athlete this side of Seikaly that Syracuse has marched out onto the floor, Watkins has completely disappeared the last two games. He was practically a sieve on Tuesday night, allowing the Bucknell players to challenge in the paint indiscriminately with back door cut after back door cut. While the team might not rely upon Watkins to provide much by way of scoring, the Orange desperately need him to provide the physical frontcourt presence that he displayed throughout the first several games.
GMac’s shooting: According to ESPN, McNamara has missed 50 of the 69 shots that he has taken this season. No misprint. He needs to regain his shooting touch—fast. He also needs to be more discriminate with his shot selection. There is no way that a senior all-American candidate should be playing / shooting this poorly, especially at this stage of his career. The team also needs to stop trying to force the ball to him when the team goes into an offensive funk…a practice which has invariably resulted in bad turnovers or wild shots.
Substitution pattern: I love Coach Boeheim. He is a hall of famer. He has more than 700 victories. He won a national championship in 2003. His basketball knowledge, acumen, and approach to coaching should be beyond reproach. But if there is one gripe that I have with him, it’s that he does a poor job of developing his inexperienced players. Players like Devendorf, Wright, Onuaku, and even Gorman can help this team. But they need to play, and they need to play consistent minutes if they are ever going to round into form. It’s hard to envision a situation where players aren’t allowed to play through their mistakes, gain confidence, and elevate their consistency without the opportunity to play consistent minutes…let alone to expect those players to do the right thing in critical game situations when they haven’t been playing. Boeheim needs to both expand his rotation, and to substitute CONSISTENTLY so that the throng of players who are currently unproven will have the opportunity to settle into the role that the team needs from them.
Zone defense: Actually, I have a second gripe with Boeheim’s coaching—the propensity to stay in the zone when other teams are shooting well. Why play to the opposition’s strength by giving them good looks? I know that this is unlikely to ever change, so it’s a moot point. My belief is that JB assumes that in most games, his players are superior athletes, and that superior athletes will eventually make more plays than their opponents. So regardless of game situation, he plays it conservatively in tight games, expecting his players to rise to the occasion. Many times, that’s what happens [see: Cornell]. Other times [see: Vermont and Bucknell], well…
Turnovers: Simply put, the Orange have done a relatively poor job of taking care of the ball this season. The early season TO-a-thon against Bethune-Cookman has turned out to be an unfortunate harbinger of a problem that needs to be corrected if the team hopes to challenge for the Big East title. The turnover problem has been equal parts poor execution and certain players trying to do too much—which are fortunately correctable mistakes.
On the opposite side of the coin, there have been a number of things that the Orange have done that have exceeded my early season expectations, including:
** Team outside shooting [especially from Nichols and Devendorf]
** Rebounding [especially from Nichols]
** Man-to-man defense
In order to get back on track, the team needs to execute better while minimizing the mental miscues. Starting with Siena, Syracuse is in the favorable position of having what amounts to eleven consecutive home games [with the lone exception being a 12/27 contest against Towson State at an ostensibly neutral location that is near Gerry McNamara’s home town]. The operative philosophy for the Orange throughout this home stand should be “back to basics.” As in—a reemphasis of basic offensive execution, motion, decision making, shot selection, and team defense. If nothing else, the two early losses have given the team perspective on who they are and what they need to improve upon.
The key Siena personnel and statistics are listed below:
The primary cog in the Saint’s attack is senior wing guard Antoine Jordan, and athletic shooter from Baltimore, Maryland. Jordan is a four-year starter who has averaged eight points for his career, but who exploded for 22 against Penn, on 8-13 shooting [including 2-2 from three point range]. The Orange defenders will have to find the 6-4 Jordan early and often to prevent him from duplicating that success on Friday, a la Bucknell’s Charles Lee.
Running the point for Siena is the diminutive Tay Fisher, a 5-9 waterbug from Kingston, New York. Fisher did all of his damage against Penn from beyond the arc, connecting on an impressive 6 for 11 from three point range; he only attempted one shot from inside the arc. The sophomore is less of a playmaker than a scorer, in the mold of the New York Knicks’s Nate Robinson.
Joining Jordan and Fisher in the Saints backcourt is Kojo Mensah, a 6-1 sophomore from Brooklyn. Mensah is much more of a penetrator than a shooter—he made only 1 of his 13 attempts during his freshman year, and did not attempt any against Penn. However, what he does do is drive the hole and draw fouls [he shot 11 free throws in the opener, making 7]. As fearless as he is taking it to the tin, Mensah is prone to forcing, which often results in turnovers.
The most versatile—and biggest—player in the Siena lineup is 6-7 junior swingman Dave Ryan. Ryan is face the basket wing who can connect from outside or score in transition. He also excels at setting up his teammates from the high post. Ryan posted 14 points, 5 rebounds, and 4 assists against Penn.
Rounding out the starting five is freshman guard Kenny Hasbrouk, a 6-3 combination guard from Capital Heights, Maryland. Hasbrouk had a tough debut, going 0-6 from the field in 34 minutes against Penn.
Completing the seven-player Siena rotation is Mike Beers—a 6-0 junior guard with a solid shooting stroke—and Levi Osby—a hefty 6-5 226 pound swingman who went scoreless in his D1 debut.
Prediction: The Orange are literally at a crossroads. The coaches are befuddled. The players are upset. The fan base is concerned. However, the most important thing to keep in mind about the two losses that the team has sustained is that they were both out of conference. In the grand scheme of the season, neither loss will hurt SU, and might actually inspire the team to correct fatal flaws. The key is for the coaching staff to use these games as learning / teaching opportunities, and for the team to use the losses as motivation to improve.
The utter lack of size on the Siena roster makes it difficult to envision them competing with the Orange for long. Expect Syracuse to get back on track behind a well-executed, take-no-prisoners performance where everybody plays.
The Orange players now have something to prove. How they answer the bell will determine the heights to which the team will soar in 2005-2006.
Syracuse 89 Siena 64