This week in college basketball number one ranked Arizona suffered their first loss of the year to Cal. That means by the time this is read Syracuse will most likely be the number one ranked team in college basketball. As a Syracuse athletic fan and it being the only college somewhere close to us that has a successful athletics program (sorry UB) it makes it very relevant. This week Syracuse’s men’s basketball team came closest all year to suffering a defeat at home against duke. The matchup saw the two coach’s with the most wins in college basketball division one history go head to head. In the end is was Jim Boeheim that was victorious. Syracuse is known for their 2-3 zone defense which they play about 99.9% of the time. However Duke was able to make three’s consistently throughout the game which made it difficult for Syracuse to pull away. Then Duke was able to hit a game tying three at the buzzer to send the game in to overtime. In overtime Syracuse emerged and eventually won the game. The top ranked Syracuse team has many flaws that they will have to overcome if they want to win a championship. The largest flaw is that there is only a seven man rotation. Which what make it impossible for the team to overcome any long-term injury to one of those seven guys. Another issue is their lack of interior scoring. Their two big men do not have the ability to post up and score. With that being said this team has one of the top seniors in the country in CJ Fair who is a lefty that can make shots from anywhere on the court and had 28 points against the Duke Blue Devils. Also they have a great three point shooter at the two guard in Trevor Cooney that is a big time heat check guy. Also they have an athletic forward in Jerami Grant that can do everything, but hit jump shots. The most important player on the roster is the freshman point guard Tyler Ennis (not the Buffalo Sabre). Ennis is quickly becoming one of the top draft prospects in the NBA and has out performed many of the freshman that were hyped more than him. This guy is always in control and is big in late game pressure moments. His basketball IQ is so high he makes Albert Einstein look stupid. If he can play the way that he is and nobody on this roster gets hurt or becomes ineligible there is no doubt in my mind that Syracuse come March will be one of the favorites to win it all.
