#110 R.P.I. Virginia Tech @ #133 R.P.I.  Syracuse:

Virginia Tech men’s basketball sojourns nor-by-nor-east to face the Orangemen of Syracuse fame.

The Hokies just got totally defensively punked @hooVa
-nearly all-time defensively punked- and now must face another brutally good systemic hardwood halt-unit scheme. The ‘Cuse, however, enters this game at 8 up and 6 down overall and at a relatively mere .333 (1-2) inside the All Coaching Conference. Nonetheless, what you wanna know is… who is gonna win Tuesday night at 9 PM and by how much? Read on; to find, out!

Syracuse Head Coach: James Arthur Boeheim: Age=75, 954*–39o (.714) overall and at Syracuse, alike. Jimmy -of course- enjoys the Dean of 2-3 Zoning reputation and for playing
old-school early Big East big-ball down-low.

$2,695,375.oo (with: $130,000 every time Syracuse qualifies for the NCAA Tournament.
He also gets $77,000 in insurance/vehicle allowance and $40,000 in deferred
compensation | i.e. a steal at this level)

Baller Boeheim was a walk-on 6′3″ Pt.Guard with the freshman basketball team at Syracuse. By his Sr. year he was the team captain and a teammate of all-American and future Mayor (of Detroit) Dave Bing. Dave was his freshman roommate, and Dave is only in the Basketball Hall of fame himself for his work with the Detroit Pistons. The pair led Coach Fred Lewis’s Orange to a 22–6 overall win-loss record that earned the team’s second-ever N.C.A.A. tournament berth. After graduating from Syracuse, Boeheim played professional basketball with the Scranton Miners of the American Basketball League, during which he won two A.B.L. championships.

Coach Boeheim has only guided the Orange to nine Big East regular-season championships, five Big East Tournament championships, and 28 NC2A Tournament appearances and one National Championship (2oo3 with ‘Melo Anthony). He only has 13 conference titles, six National Coach of the Year awards, and four Conference Coach of the Year awards. He is only a member of the Basketball Hall of Fame and the College Basketball Hall of Fame as well. He has only won six International Gold Medals three of which are Olympic. He sucks; fire him, now! Nevertheless, coach B was forced to vacate a backbreaking 1o1 total wins from the 2004–2005, 2005–2006, 2006–2007, 2010–2011, and 2011–2012 seasons due to recruiting violations. He is also down eight schollies over the next year and was suspended the first nine games of 2016.

Boeheim had prostate cancer in 2oo1, and subsequently became a major fund-raiser for Coaches vs. Cancer, he and his wife also inaugurated the Jim and Juli Boeheim Foundation to help kids from Central New York; God Bless.

Coach Boeheim had previously stated that he would retire in April 2018. However, in March 2o17 he extended his contract to beyond the 2o17-18 season.

(yes, Jimmy’s win total wears an asterisk for his (alleged) brushes/scrapes with the KayCee (Kansas City) suits rulebook(s), quite plural).

Boeheim and his wife, Juli, have three children together: Jimmy and twins, Buddy and Jamie;
he has a daughter, Elizabeth, with his ex-wife Elaine.

Syracuse at a glance:

• 8th best in Assist:Turnover ratio!! (a very solid backcourt lives here)
• 21st in most 3’s attempted! (lottsa long-rebounds and running ops live here to boot)
• 44th most Swats!
• 46th in FG percentage D allowed!
• (everything else C— to C+++, lowest was a slight negative Reb.Margin (248th best).
• 4-injuries listed. Coach God quad bless!

‘cuse Returning Starters=1

Syracuse Strengths:

Nobody is in da Zone-like Syracuse on D. Jimmy is the 2-3 (match-up) zone sensei & Jedi master.

That and this past summer, the ‘Cuse just took their bouns every few years NC2A allowed overseas trip to Italy whereby they basically gained 2-3 more weeks worth of training camp. So “si”, they should be a bit ahead of schedule for it coming into 2020 A.D.

Quickie 2–3 tutorial:
The zone-defense concept was invented due to a leaky basketball gym roof vs. … freakin’ w.v.u. back in 1914 during WWI! (of all the things!?!)

strengths: The 2-3 is a zone is designed to: force outside shots, hide weak(er) man defenders, slow/control the tempo and allow fewer offensive shots, period.

weaknesses: The 2-3 zone defense is (in theory) … susceptible to 3-point shooting (due to packing/sagging) the key) and to High-Post/wing shooting mid-range or 3-ball shots in particular. It is also known to be a so-so rebounding set (surprisingly); due to defending a spot on the floor and not blocking out a man naturalistically. Although it slows a game it is not a good D to play when giving chase on the scoreboard accordingly. And the degree of difficulty° or learning-curve effects effectively takes a minute or three to gel and get the timing/spacing of the 2-3 zone down pat.

• Bourama Sidibe is an imported Bamako, Mali spindly looking baller, who goes: 6′1o″, 21o lbs., Soph., as a C-P/F combo frontcourter who can run the floor, protect the rim and operate pretty adequately enough down low in the post. Sidibe is a defender with a few legit low-block moves. He paces the ‘Cuse with 7.6 caroms and in swats with 1.3 bpg. His 5.6 points on 63% shooting tell you where he shoots -I mean bunny and put-back dunks from- although his bricky 47% from the charity-stripe donates points to opponents. As the occasionally showy Sidibe is mo’ parts finisher, rebounder, defender and less parts developmental with regard to anything else. (although he did have some pretty decent output numbers at St. Benedict’s Prep; so, more was prolly offensively expected here. Time=tell, and so will the weight-room as Sidibe can no longer merely out-height peeps at this power-conference level of basketing).
• The second-year Marek Dolezaj is a 6′10″, 184 lb. imported Bratislava, Slovakia; rail-thin, poster-child for protein shakes and slices of cow everywhere. I mean there is string-bean and then there is Marek Dolezaj. And Dolezaj (somehow) grew an inch and then (somehow) shed 10 lbs. for it as well. Marek has been in Euro’ or global competition for five straight seasons; so, I doubt that experience is an issue for him. Dolezaj is said to be a skilled big man with the ability to score inside and out. His European digits paint the pic’ of a box score stuffer, and right now he is dropping you a nearly 300% improved 10.2 ppg, grabbing 6.6 rpg on .9 bpg, with 3.2 apg and 55% from the floor. Now imagine him if he just finds a credible high school type body to boot.
• 6′6″, 216 lb. r-Jr. year, lead-Swing Elijah Hughes is your alpha scorer this year with 15.7 ppg. He is also an East Carolina transfer baller who pirated his way to nearly 10 ppg and a few clutch-shots in his rookie season of voting. Elijah went to three high schools in his last three scholastic seasons… making Syracuse effectively his fifth team in six seasons of ball— and that is never ever a good look. Though 4.9 rpg to go with 4.7 apg on 40.5 shooting from deep is no bad look. The book here says that Hughes can dribble and pass and the same as legacy Buddy below, Elijah has something of a shooting tag at the moment. This Elijah has testified with not less than six ≥21-point games thus far on 2019-2020. He can crack the 30-point plateau and when Elijah gets it going, he’s a one-man in-game barometer for the ‘Cuse. As the high-side scoring Hughes leaves Orange opponents blue in the face.

  

• One #35, Buddy Boeheim is a 6′6″, 18o lb. second-season Wing. This Bud’ was only the 2017 All-Central New York Player of the Year after helping the Red Rams to a 21-4 record, and the Section III Class A title two years back. His twin sister, Jamie, is a freshman on the basketball team at Rochester. And oh yes… he might just have the nepotistic swagg to fetch some good seat(s) for his ‘mum’ via asking his pops to ask the… coach. Little Bo’ is second in scoring 15.7 ppg, and he nets a nifty 41.1% of his 3’s. The tag here says Buddy needs to expand or round out his offensive game to become more than just a pure shooter. It also says he gets cradle hoops (with a family tree I.V. poured into him) and he is a good setter-upper. As this Boeheim has blossomed and his scoring output is up by 230% this campaign. So pure shooter or not, this kid has the makings of becoming a high-caliber straight weapon from the outside come 2022. With the potential to be an export or overseas, Pro’. (p.s. this legacy baller has had a hot hand of late).

Syracuse Weaknesses:

• Quite a bit of roster turnover lives here… what with 4 starters and their 45 ppg and 17 rpg all gonzo.
• And at least by former Big East towering Syracuse vertical standards; this year’s Orange is not (quiet) as heighty as before.
• 6′7″, 2oo lb. back-up Swing (2.9 ppg, 50% 3-ball) Robert Braswell is done (double-leg pain shut down for the duration; St.Nikhon twice bless). Ro.Bras was a sophomoric back-up 3, who is a two-time South Carolina high school high jump champion, having won the crown in 2017 and 2018. He captured the title in the spring by jumping 6-10! Yikes, this kid has springs in his legs and he sprezhen sie Deutsch (overseas: U.S. Navy family). Robert is strangely enough not listed in my preview mags tho’ he is listed on the current Syracuse Roster tab. (go fig’ on dis?!?) Though either way; this is an extremely credible athlete to have to sit out at this stage, and he’s been down since the last week of December.
• 6′11″, 215 lb. true-C by way of Amsterdam, NLD, (2 rpg, 1 bpg, 3 ppg on 87% (no typo) shooting) Jesse Edwards is: QUESTIONABLE (bum ankle | St.Phillip bless). His older brother (Kenneth) is a star out at Nor.Iowa so the family tree blossoms round-balls here. Jesse is said to be a skillful low-post baller with legit low-post moves and a tough match-up for us if he goes Tuesday night.
• 6′3″, 186 lb. Shooting-G from Harlem, N.Y.C., Jalen “I looks 25-30 years young” Carey is done for an estimated 8-10 weeks post-right-thumb-surgery (St.Julia bless). Done as well are his second-season steadying 4 ppg, 3 rpg, a dime dropped on 39% overall as your back-up One. Jalen was only the 36th ranked baller outta high school according to ESPN. Where he was dinged-up off-n-on tho’ fielded a tag of being an: “outburst scorer” on merely so-so to kinda good teams. He is also a rhetorical studies major; which prolly helps him clap-back when he runs smack. Though the vibe here is he needs more range on his J and needs to take better care of his handles on the rock. (i.e. turnover-prone).
• 6′10″, 216 lb. Natinga, SSD native and Sudanese John Bol Ajak is (self)-elected to use his r-shirt season and has NO stats accordingly as a rookie or nugget year baller. J.B.A., who is an artist on the side— is said to be less than artistic and downright “raw” on O, although a pure Windex-wiper and defender and woulda been a good anchoring middle man in Jimmy’s 2-3 (match-up) zone. And he is supposed to be still trying to: “bulk up” to get physically ready for the stateside game.

Orangemen Bench: (depth=1 maybe 2’ish depending upon availability)

Brycen Goodine is the only remaining real sub’ for coach Jimmy Bo’… however, he may or may not be remaining as he has a busted beak. (may St.Zoe bless). And they were trying to fit him with a mask to protect his broken-nose over the weekend.

If he does go, Goodine is a 6′3″, 186 lb. pretty well beanpole looking 2016 Massachusetts state title bling wearing kid who attends with a rep’ of being a combo-Wing who can do work on the ball. Brycen gets you 1.9 ppg and appears to have a limited shooting range (24% overall, with 0% from behind the arc). From what I could find, it appears Goodine was something of a flammable/accelerant type propane scorer in scholastic terms; albeit not a pure shooting one. Just a pure scorer itself.

Canada’s alpha baller last year… Quincy Guerrier (6′7″, 222 lb. t-Fr.) was the seminal Syracuse recruit last class and more than 5.6 ppg and 4.6 rpg was expected from his collegiately ready muscular looking body here; “eh“. As Q’ has a mess of Team Canada international and N.b.a. draft camp (their eligibility rules differ from our own) experience to draw upon. As this kid runs hawt-n-cold. Like double-digit scorer hot; or goose egg cannot Great White North score at all, cold.

Illation, conclusion(s) and OPT digits:

Number of Orangemen who could man-up @Tech=3 or 4.

the takeaway:
The takeaway here is… that I am wondering how much wind archrival hooVa just took outta our young-guns Duck Pond sails?

---

As they pretty much flushed us on D over in their very own… John.

Now we face a likewise stalwart defensive systemic program and coach. Albeit a lame and hobbled one—and if you wanted to dabble in an inaugural or debut season game for Mike Young and company to steal out no the typically 30% visitors’ rate of success A.c.c. road? This might not be the worst one to dabble.

 ***

Our handy-dandy friend the so-called Forum Guide of Graham Houston fame is calling for a 12-point Syracuse home-court VicTory in round-robin common opponent terms.

The annualized year-to-date vitals say that…  ‘Cuse is up +1% in shooting percentage margin (only on D); with VeeTee up +1% in 3-point percentage margin (again; only on D); with a whopping 1/10th or .1 differential in a virtual dead-heat on the glass in rebounding margin.

The most recent 5-game metrics say that… ‘Cuse is now +3% in shooting percentage margin (with the Orange better on O and the Hokies less better on D); with ‘Cuse now up +4% in 3-point percentage margin (again; with the Orange noticeably better on O and the Hokies less better on D); with the Hokies now up a whopping +1 rpg carrom in yet another virtual dead-heat on the glass in rebounding margin for the last couple of weeks.

‘Cuse is up +2% at the charity stripe for the year.

VeeTee is +1 on rest in the last fortnight of runs,
although the Gobblers must travel here. So, ‘Cuse may just have fresher home-field legs.

1. The last time Virginia Tech was held under 40 points was on Feb. 18, 1967, at East Carolina in a 43-33 loss.
2. The Hokies are your first-best team in the nation at protecting the ball (9.5 turnovers per game)! And 30th best in 3-point makes does not suck.
3. The Hokies are also not exactly the most physical team I’ve ever studied— what with the 3rd fewest fouls “whistled” against and with being only ranked 333rd most in FTA’s on O&M O.
4. Syracuse, which has three juniors, a sophomore and two freshmen among its top six players, ranks 311th in KenPom’s experience chart.

   

5. Buddy Boeheim leads the A.c.c. in 3-pointers (53) and 3-point attempts (129), Hughes leads in minutes per game (37.5) and points produced per game (18.5), while Girard leads in free-throw percentage (95.1%).
6. VeeTee=’Cuse=44.4% from the floor. Or tied in shooting overall, (never seen that before; either).
7. Virginia Tech beat Syracuse 78-56 last season, yet the Orange has won nine of the last 11 in this series.

The call…

N.E.T. ranked 88th Syracuse at home in Will’s infamous “jiffy-pop dome” vs. a 571-mile roadie and 56th N.E.T. ranked Vah.Tech does seem reasonable enough.

At least superficially or when viewed prima facie.

In extreme particular when you read the very sanguine Syracuse injury report. As we/VeeTee will not be catching a better look here. As the A.c.c. vibes hint that the oft-cranky coach B’ has been cranking on getting his younglings back into defensive mode. Where they have slipped a bit so far this regular season.

–oOo–

However, when you view this as our first go-round vs. Jimmy Bo’s much-vaunted 2-3 zoning concepts on defense? Methinks this changes your P.O.V. (point of view) more than a scosche. And if you doubt me here?

Just ask our lowest scoring nite @uva vs. their vice-like Pack-Line halt-unit whereby we tallied our least offensive nite since before I (not Will) was born. “oh snap!”

That plus I mildly favor the Orangemen shooters
to out citrus us in their own backyard.

🍊🏀🍊

(67% confidence interval)

Virginia Tech=66, Syracuse=77

“LETS GO!”

“Hokies!”

 bourbonstreet**