Breaking Down the Syracuse Basketball Team

The Notre Dame men’s basketball team is set to play Syracuse this weekend, so it seems fitting that we should take a look at the Orange and see where they have weakness. A good place to start, when you’re trying to get an idea about a team is kenpom.com, an excellent source for college basketball stats.

Syracuse Strengths:
  • Points in the paint – Syracuse has one of the nation’s best 2pt field goal percentages (57.1), ranked seventh in the nation in that category. They also have the seventh best effective field goal percent at 56.1.
  • Defending the perimeter – The Orange make sure their opponents can’t get a three point barrage going, having the nation’s ninth best three point field goal percentage on defense (28.1).
Syracuse Weaknesses:
  • Free throw shooting – If the Irish want to win, they might want to consider fouling the Orange big men late in the game, as the have a 63.4% free throw percentage as a team, ranking them 299th in that stat. Their guards are actually pretty good at shooting from the stripe, but everyone over 6-5 is suspect.
  • Steals – Syracuse gets a hand in shooters’ faces, but they don’t force turnovers very well, ranked 304 in opponent turnover percentage. Is it the fact that zone is practiced so much in college?

To get NCAA basketball tickets, go to StubHub.com.

Permalink - Posted in General on January 15, 2009 - Post a comment