March Madness: Teams Built to Beat the Syracuse Orangemen

One of the most memorable scenes in the movie “Hoosiers” depicted Gene Hackman surrounded by Hickory High’s players in their pregame locker room. Hickory was a tiny school in a farming community and they were getting ready to take the floor against Indiana high school powerhouse and prohibitive favorite South Bend Central in a game for the Indiana State Championship.

Just before taking the court, the town pastor came in for the team prayer. After the customary “Our Father”, he added this little biblical ditty:

“And David put his hand in the bag and took out a stone and slung it. And it struck the Philistine on the head and he fell to the ground. Amen.”

The David and Goliath passage was perfect for the situation and the rest, as they say, is history.

There will be many a prayer said in the pregame locker rooms of the teams getting ready for the Madness. And quite frankly, I’m a sucker for biblical stone throwing, but in the big dance I’m more interested in who’s got bigger stones and a more accurate sling shot to take on a Goliath or three. In this tournament the giants are Kentucky, Syracuse, and Kansas, and I’m going to tell you which Davids match up best with these one seeds and why.

First up, is Syracuse.

Syracuse

Strengths —Syracuse is Goliath. Literally. It wouldn’t be more literal unless the giant Philistine hailed from Brooklyn and had a nice half-hook. The Orange are about as Goliath as you’re going to get with the presence of the big and physical duo of Rick Jackson and Arinze Onuaku.

They also have elite players at all three levels: backcourt, wing, and post, in Rautins, Johnson, and Onuaku/Jackson.

But the most important strength of all is the zone defense and the fact that it’s so unique to the game that most teams are unprepared for it. The inability of opponents to prepare for the zone becomes even more of a strength for Syracuse come tournament time, when teams might have a single day to practice against it.

Tools needed to slay this Goliath— First and foremost, a team has to have athletic size that can compete on the glass. If you don’t have big, athletic frontcourt players that can close out defensive possessions with boards above the rim, Syracuse will wear you down on the backboards, much like they did to Villanova.

On offense, the team looking to upset the Orange has to have athletes that can challenge and finish at the rim against a veritable phalanx of frontcourt players. Jackson, Onuaku, Johnson, and Joseph are all terrific above-the-rim defenders. In fact, Syracuse designs its defense to take away perimeter offense in an effort to funnel smaller perimeter players to the rim to face these monsters. Most guards, and sometimes forwards, are too small to finish, with the result often being a blocked shot and turnover. Again, see Villanova.

With the arc and the rim taken away, guard-centric teams struggle to find offense especially when it comes in the form of uncomfortable midrange shots. You have to have big athletic forwards that go to dunk the rock. Your guards and wings must be big enough to shoot over the top of the zone or adept at feathery midrange jumpers, which will be available all game.

Finally, ball-handling is key. You must put three ball-handlers on the floor against the Syracuse zone. If you have forwards that can handle, all the better, because you can attack from the short corner, especially on Rick Jackson’s side. But if your forward does indeed feel comfortable putting the ball on the deck, he better be athletic enough to take it to the chest of Onuaku and finish. Otherwise, the ball will end up in the sixth row.

Darkhorses that meet the David description.

First, I’m choosing teams that would be signficant underdogs, because I get that two’s and three’s knock off one’s all the time. Also, please keep in mind that I’m not saying these teams WILL beat Syracuse. I’m just saying these are the kinds of teams that can give them problems.

1) Texas

They’ve got size and athleticism in their frontcourt so they’re not going to be dominated on the glass. The Longhorns can also put four ball-handlers on the floor when they play a lineup that includes Damion James, Jordan Hamilton, J’Covan Brown, and Avery Bradley.

Additionally, they can field a really good collection of midrange shooters if they so choose. Guys like Bradley, Hamilton, James, and 6'7'' forward Gary Johnson all are adept at hitting little 15 footers. These guys are also tall and athletic enough to get their shot.

Defensively, Dexter Pittman is a physical clone of Arinze Onuaku and he’s proven he can handle elite centers without help. Just look at what he did to Cole Aldrich of Kansas as proof. Damion James against Rick Jackson would be an interesting battle that Texas would have to adjust to on defense, and exploit on offense.

2) Baylor

The Bears have two crazy-athletic forwards in the Big 12’s leading shot blocker, 6'10'' Ekpe Udoh, and the 6'10'' version of Stacey Augmon, sophomore wing Anthony Jones. Udoh can give Jackson and Onuaku fits inside with his length and leaping ability, and Jones is a great matchup for Wes Johnson. If the Bears want some beef to bang inside, they have 7'0'' 280-pound senior Josh Lomers.

Baylor’s backcourt is a solid shooting group that includes sniper Lacedarius Dunn and point guard Tweetie Carter. Quincy Acy is another nice athletic 6'7'' wing that won’t be overwhelmed physically by the Orange.

It’s also important to note that Baylor plays a lot of zone as their base defense, so they shouldn’t be as bothered by zone defense as most teams considering they practice against it every day.

These are two of the teams that would have a decent chance of pulling off an upset of biblical portions against Syracuse, even if there is no Jimmy Chitwood on the roster.

Amen.

Next up, the Kansas Jayhawks.

This article originally appeared on March To March

Follow Kevin Berger on Twitter: @MarchToMarch