With just three nonconference games remaining, Syracuse’s (7-3) season is taking shape. Many preseason questions have been answered while others have emerged. Beat writers Sam Blum, Jesse Dougherty and Matt Schneidman, take a look at three questions that currently surround the Orange, which has lost three of its last four. SU next plays Cornell in the Carrier Dome on Saturday at noon.

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1. Who really is the backup point guard?

Sam Blum: There is almost no real backup point guard. Michael Gbinije, the starter, has the ability to become more of a scorer when he’s moving without the ball more, but neither sophomore Kaleb Joseph nor freshman Frank Howard have separated themselves behind him. We first saw in Syracuse’s win over Connecticut in the Bahamas that the Orange will stick with Gbinije when everything’s clicking. But not everything is clicking for Syracuse, and the backup at point has proven to be a weakness. Howard has played more minutes under interim head coach Mike Hopkins. He has limited turnovers on offense and played strong defense. As long as he is getting the bulk of the backup minutes, he’s the de facto backup.

Jesse Dougherty: Syracuse really doesn’t have a clear-cut backup point guard right now. After Trevor Cooney and Gbinije — who are both top 20 nationally in minutes percentage, according to Kenpom.com — neither Joseph nor Howard has taken that title. Hopkins has favored Howard in the Orange’s last two losses, at Georgetown and St. John’s, but that was situation-based because of Howard’s ability to get to the rim and create turnovers when Syracuse needed a late comeback. In the flow of a normal game, I don’t think Hopkins has a default preference between the two. Neither has been very good on defense and that’s the biggest reason why they haven’t played all that much, and SU’s last three nonconference games seem like a good opportunity for one of them to pull ahead in the rotation.

Matt Schneidman: Joseph is still Syracuse’s backup point guard. If we get to conference play and Howard is still the second option behind Gbinije, then we can talk. But Joseph is averaging more minutes than Howard even though it’s seemed the freshman is head coach Jim Boeheim and Hopkins’ option off the bench to run the offense.

 

 

2. What must Syracuse improve so it doesn’t continue to get pounded on the boards in conference play?

S.B.: Syracuse will continue to get pounded on the boards in conference play. Boeheim has said it. Hopkins has said it. Every box score since the Orange has come back from the Bahamas has said it. The Orange is not going to be a good rebounding team — it’s tough to be one when you play a 2-3 zone defense. But despite that, SU’s best rebounder is Tyler Roberson and then there’s a significant drop off. The Orange has shown a supreme ability to stay in games where it can’t rebound by hitting 3-point shots and keeping a good turnover margin. That’s what Syracuse needs to do to win, and everything else is just a bonus.

J.D.: Find a way to be more offensively effective with Dajuan Coleman on the court. Even if he hasn’t been consistent this season, Coleman is the Orange’s biggest player and its best bet to hedge its rebounding issues. Right now, SU doesn’t space the floor well with Coleman and playing Tyler Lydon at center gives it much more offensive versatility. But having Lydon at the five, and usually Roberson at the four, hasn’t cut it on the defensive glass. Because Coleman isn’t a mid-range shooting threat, teams will often play off him and zone a center in the paint. A possible solution is for Coleman to use the soft pressure to his advantage by setting more high ball screens for guards, who then won’t see Coleman’s defender when they come around the screens. It would help the offense flow better with him on the court, and have adverse effects on SU’s rebounding success.

M.S.: I don’t think there’s a solution to this one. Unless you snap your fingers and Paschal Chukwu becomes eligible, Syracuse will continue to get outrebounded. Roberson can hold his own, but the combination of Lydon and Coleman down low is just too skinny and rusty, respectively. SU was outrebounded by 15 against St. John’s and nobody seemed to notice just because it’s become the norm.

 

 

3. Can any of Syracuse’s recent struggles be attributed to the head coaching change?

S.B.: This is an interesting question and one that’s almost impossible to answer. Who’s to say how Boeheim would be handling this situation, since I have no idea. The biggest change for me is that you go from having four coaches to three coaches. At this level, that’s fairly significant. Would Boeheim had gone to the press earlier against St. John’s? Would Boeheim play this person more or another person less? Those are all hypotheticals that no one besides Boeheim has an answer to. It’s tough when you lose your head coach on two days notice. He’s been at Syracuse for 40 years for a reason, he knows what he’s doing. I don’t think him leaving helped, but I have no idea if it hurt.

J.D.: I think it could have something to do with it, but not because Hopkins is doing anything wrong per se. It just must be a little weird for everyone not having Boeheim around, because at the end of the day he knows this program better than anyone. Logic would say that a coach with 40 years of experience would have better luck pressing the buttons for a team with a short-handed frontcourt and two freshman playing starter minutes.

M.S.: I don’t think so, even in the slightest. It’s so hard to measure the effect a coach has on a game unless he makes some drastic substitution changes, which Hopkins hasn’t done. Boeheim was still around when SU lost to Wisconsin and look how the Badgers have turned out. Georgetown was simply bigger and St. John’s shot the lights out and Hopkins can’t be to blame.

Published on December 17, 2015 at 6:56 pm