1. Improve on the boards

After Syracuse’s regular-season finale Saturday, Scoop Jardine pointed to one key area the Orange needs to work on for the postseason: rebounding. It has been the team’s one glaring weakness throughout the year and has contributed to the many close games SU has played.

When the Orange has struggled on the glass, opponents have managed to hang around and push Syracuse to the final minutes. Upset bids from Marshall, West Virginia, Pittsburgh, Georgetown and South Florida among others all fell just short despite their dominant performances on the boards.

And then there’s that one blemish on Syracuse’s record in which Notre Dame outrebounded the Orange 38-25 to hand SU its sole loss of the year.

For a team with size, length and athleticism at every position, it has been difficult to pinpoint any specific reason for the rebounding woes. Explanations have ranged from the Orange guards not being active enough on the glass to it being a natural part of playing zone defense to a simple lack of hustle when shots go up.

But whatever the reason, the conference’s third worst rebounding margin of -3.8 boards per game in Big East play won’t cut it in the postseason. Opponents will be well aware of those deficiencies and will crash the boards looking to expose one of SU’s few weaknesses.

Jardine said it will take more effort on the glass for the Orange to survive the Big East tournament unscathed. If it can stay around even or win the rebounding battle in those contests, Syracuse should have the conference tournament title to add to its regular-season championship.

2. Keep Fab Melo on the court

Gerry McNamara simply shook his head, a smile stretched across his face. The Syracuse assistant coach couldn’t immediately find the words to describe the lift Fab Melo gives the SU zone defense. 

He finally settled on a single word, one that indicates the incredible value the 7-foot center brings on the defensive end of the floor.

 ‘Unbelievable.’

Melo, a sophomore from Brazil, is one of the principal reasons why Syracuse is ranked second in the country and owns a menacing 30-1 overall record.

Oh, and that one loss? Melo didn’t play in the nine-point defeat on the road at Notre Dame.

The Big East Defensive Player of the Year has chipped in 7.7 points and 5.8 rebounds per game in addition to his 87 total blocks on the season. What’s more, he’s shown a proclivity to draw charges at key moments for the Orange, making his presence in the lane very dangerous.

What does all this mean? It means that Syracuse must keep Fab Melo out of foul trouble if it wants to win the Big East tournament.

In the three games Melo missed with an unresolved academic issue, Syracuse wasn’t the same team. Yes, Rakeem Christmas played a great game against Cincinnati in Melo’s place, but that is certainly not the norm.The norm is Christmas playing less than two minutes to start the game — or less than one minute as he did Saturday against Louisville. The norm is Baye Keita fumbling point-blank passes and hurling horrific layups at the backboard — see Connecticut game.

It’s clear that Syracuse needs Melo. And the longer he stays on the court, the more likely the Orange is to walk away with the title. 

3. Brandon Triche has to build off of Louisville

Saturday certainly couldn’t have hurt Brandon Triche. While he said his confidence has remained the same down the stretch, the junior guard’s sparkling, 18-point performance in Syracuse’s win over Louisville was needed.

Think back to early in the season and remember how Triche was key to the Orange’s success. In the NIT Season Tip-Off, Triche was on the floor down the stretch. He and Dion Waiters were the guards on the floor as Syracuse closed out Virginia Tech. Scoop Jardine played only five minutes in the second half.

The two games in the NIT Season Tip-Off were part of a four-game stretch in which Triche averaged 15.3 points per game. But he has scored in double digits in only nine of Syracuse’s other 27 games.

A slump in the six games leading up to last Saturday meant Triche ended the regular season averaging 9.4 points per game, nearly two points less than what he averaged his sophomore year.

But his hot-shooting performance against Louisville — 3-of-6 from 3-point range — is an encouraging sign. If Triche can find a rhythm shooting the ball, and Jardine and Waiters continue to play at a high level, Syracuse’s three-headed guard attack will be hard to defend.

Orange head coach Jim Boeheim has stayed confident in Triche’s abilities all year. Jardine said Triche was never really in a slump but just struggled to find his rhythm in some games.

Once his rhythm is found, though, it can lead Syracuse to a win, as it did against the Cardinals.

Published on March 5, 2012 at 12:00 pm