Why do we own Syracuse?

by johnnyjoejohnson on Feb 13, 2012 12:32 PM EST

The secret's out. We own Syracuse. We haven't lost to Syracuse since Austin Montgomery was still in diapers. The last time we lost to Syracuse, Saddamn Hussein was still running Iraq, Howard Stern was still on terrestrial radio, the housing market was bullish, and UK fans thought Calipari was a dirty, cheating, felon. We haven't lost to Syracuse in so long, that I can't remember who was president the last time we lost to them. Pretty sure they had Derrick Coleman and Carmelo Anthony on that team, though. Pitino may have still been an assistant coach, i don't know.

The question is: Why?

People say it is because Pitino knows how to beat the zone. How exactly? I always assumed he penetrated with quick guards and had them outlet to Kyle Kuric (who made roughly 42 3 pointers in last years game). If this is the case, we have something to worry about because this year's team is the worst 3-point shooting team of the Post Brandon Bender (PBB) Era (which, we all know, was the low point in UL basketball history).

A closer look reveals that, as I always suspected, I know nothing about basketball.

	3pt	season 3pt	difference
2011-2012		32.8
2010-2011	48.1	36.2	11.9
2009-2010a	30	33.7	-3.7
2009-2010b	30	33.7	-3.7
2008-2009a	25.8	36.9	-11.1
2008-2009b	35.7	36.9	-1.2
2007-2008	24	35	-11
2006-2007	25	33.3	-8.3

With the exception of last year's game, we've shot worse than our season average from 3 point range against Syracuse.

What is it? What do we do that this zone just can't handle? Can someone who knows more about basketball than me (e.g., Remote Cardinal) explain this to us?

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We take more threes against Syracuse than average. Sometime it's the quantity of makes, not the percentage.

Last season, we took 27 attempts compared to an average of 24 for the season. The season prior, we averaged 35 attempts in the two-game series compared to our season average of just under 24. That year, our percentage was down, but our makes were way up.

Making them close out so much on three point shots opens up the middle for rebounds. And, importantly, it wears them down. They’re deeper this year, so we’ll see if that is as much of a factor.

Stout Out!

by tdstout on Feb 13, 2012 2:24 PM EST reply actions

We play well against Syracuse for two reasons:

1. Under pitino, we’ve been a very good quick-passing team. The zone’s biggest deficiency is that it gets you out of position if you move the ball quickly.

2. We keep Syracuse out of transition. Syracuse loves to run. If you keep them from running, they aren’t near as good.

by Centre24 on Feb 13, 2012 4:30 PM EST reply actions

Ding.

is very important, we get good looks. But #2 is a partial winner here. It’s our defense. I don’t know who keeps advanced statistics archived, but I know live during the last several games against Cuse showed infographics of points in transition and we owned them.

A stat that I also find incredibly important against Syracuse (or any 2-3 zone team) is Rebounding and especially Offensive Rebounding . Zone Defenses tend to give up OR, and Louisville has rebounded well over 40 of it’s misses in conference play against Syracuse since the 2006-2007 season. We have also out-rebounded them by almost 20 total rebounds in this stretch as well. They are an excellent rebounding team, so keeping the boards close is key.

by Remote Cardinal on Feb 13, 2012 6:02 PM EST up reply actions