Tournament Thoughts: #10 Syracuse vs. #11 Gonzaga

What an awful start for the Orange.

Gonzaga is made to attack the zone. They have good big men who can pass, and good outside shooters. And in the case of Wiltjer, both.

SU getting their hands on everything but can't grab a loose ball.

It's such a joke that SU's defense is so good and that teams can't figure it out. It's not that revolutionary, and it's not like no one else plays it. And you know exactly what you're getting. It's not that hard to figure out, you just have to have the right personnel to attack it. And Gonzaga does.

SU weathered the early storm, but they're not just at a disadvantage on defense, on offense they're also having trouble with Gonzaga's size, every inside shot is contested.

After that early barrage by Gonzaga, Syracuse has to be pleased only trailing by 1 at the half.

Combined halftime points in Syracuse's 3 tournament games: 58 (30-28), 58 (31-27) and now 57 (29-28).

Frank Howard is playing the game of his life. He made a 3-pointer. Only his second all season.

Wiltjer is just unbelievable. He will not miss.

Reggie Miller can't add. When Gonzaga had 41 points he said Wiltjer has 23, Sabonis has 8 and everyone else has 5.

Gonzaga went through four stretches in this game, they were attacking the zone inside out and nailing threes, then they stopped, played one-on-one and missed everything. Then they went back to getting it to Sabonis and he dominated and they almost put the game away. But then they went cold again. And on those last two possessions, in 20 seconds, they never got it in to Sabonis.

That call was terrible. It was a great steal by Cooney and the referee was not in position to see it. He was 25 feet away behind the play. He cannot be expected to see the 1/4-inch piece of floor between Cooney's sneaker and the line. That's why they have replay. For them to rule it wasn't indisputable evidence was bullshit. At that point it was karmic justice that we find another way to hold on to that 1-point lead.

Beautiful block by Lydon to save the game.

Two great steals by Cooney. Also couldn't have won without those.

One adjustment Boeheim did make was encouraging the guys to drive to the basket. Richardson and Gbinije made some key plays by driving it to the hole.

Wiltjer and Sabonis were freaking awesome. No one else on their team did anything. And I felt like they still weren't making enough effort to get those two guys the ball.

Amazing victory in continuing what has been an amazing tournament run.