Tournament Thoughts: Syracuse 77 Western Michigan 53

I don't want to get too excited about a blowout victory over a #14 seed but for a team that limped into the tournament on a major shooting slump this was certainly a welcome result.

The biggest bright spot was Trevor Cooney who had been 10-51 from 3 since his explosion against Notre Dame in the beginning of February. He made 4 of 8 from deep and led the team with 18 points. And he showed some confidence, which he had probably lost because of his prolonged slump. SU needs him to be a threat from deep in order to keep the middle open for drives by Ennis and Fair.

Jerami Grant was another bright spot, showing no lingering effects from his back injury, leaving Western Michigan's bigger slower defenders in the dust on several nice moves to the basket.

Tyler Ennis was back to his steady self, making the team run and setting up other guys. He had 6 assists and only one turnover. He also had 16 points on 7 of 11 shooting.

CJ Fair was also great getting 14 points and 11 rebounds despite frequent double teams which forced him into 5 turnovers.

As is often (but not always) the case, a team that doesn't see a zone like ours played by a team with athletes like ours, Western Michigan was completely flummoxed in the first half and by the time they settled down it was too late.

As is always the case, the cameras caught Jim Boeheim making a stupid face.

Syracuse may have caught a break with Ohio State getting knocked off though Dayton is a pretty good team as well. In 2011, SU was in a similar situation, a 3-seed, having beaten Indiana State in the first round. #11 Marquette (then a conference opponent) knocked off Xavier, and beat Syracuse as well, before losing to #2 North Carolina in the Sweet 16.

We'll see what happens tomorrow at 7:10 PM.