How to Beat Syracuse, Georgetown

It's Basketball Night in Washington. Syracuse and Georgetown are set to tip off at 7:30 p.m. tonight on ESPN 2.

Get your popcorn ready.

Let's break the matchup down:

How to beat Syracuse's 2-3 zone
Beating a 2-3 zone requires a pretty simple formula, but against better teams, executing the plan is the hard part. But for the sake of tonight's game, let's talk about beating a 2-3 as if it is, in fact, easy.

Spread the floor. The key to beating any defense is spreading the floor, but it especially helps against a 2-3. Exhausting a 2-3 zone requires lots of ball movement and off-the-ball screens -- two things Georgetown does extremely well. Big men have to flash to the high post a lot to give the guards a chance to get the ball into the middle of the zone to collapse the defenders, who have to recoil to their positions on the floor to limit backdoor cuts and defend the big man. The other way to collapse a zone is to rotate the ball to the defense's weak side and then penetrate, forcing the defenders to quickly return to their assigned areas and leave shooters open all over the floor. It's all about catching the defense out of position and forcing it to recover rapidly. Teams get to the foul line that way, and they find open shooters and cutters that way.

Georgetown's Chris Wright, Jessie Sapp and Austin Freeman are all decent slashers, and it helps that they -- plus DaJuan Summers -- can all shoot the 3. That gives Georgetown options -- the Hoyas can spread the floor, swing the ball and penetrate, then look for open shooters, or they can rotate the ball, flash big fellas like Summers and Greg Monroe to the high post, move the ball through them, and spot open shooters and cutters.

The problem with this plan -- and a major reason why I like Syracuse tonight -- is that Georgetown can penetrate and kick all it wants, but its shooters are struggling of late. Freeman, Sapp and Wright are shooting just 22 percent from 3 in the past three games. If the Hoyas go cold tonight, it won't be pretty. Not just because cold shooting hurts, but I don't see Georgetown doing very well on the boards. The Hoyas are one of the poorer rebounding teams in the Big East.

Attack the glass. The one major problem with a 2-3 zone is that when it is extended, offensive players can sneak into gaps and snatch offensive rebounds. If a shot comes from the outside, the weak-side wing defender is most likely higher up in the lane toward the middle of the floor. That leaves the backdoor open for a crashing rebounder.

The strong-side defender is also probably out defending the wing or trying to close out the shooter, that leaves another gap for an offensive rebounder on the strong side and forces the middle defender in the 2-3 to deal with at least two guys crashing the glass.

What Syracuse does very well, though, is rebound. Obviously Jim Boeheim has figured out a way to make his teams rebound well despite the obvious issues with a 2-3 zone. Paul Harris, who's only about 6-5, is an exceptional rebounder. In fact, he leads the team with close to nine rebounds a game. To have an asset like that, especially on the weak-side block of that zone, is a great way to avoid giving up too many offensive rebounds.

Another way to overcome the problems of a 2-3 is to overplay your positions, i.e. hustle and quickly recover. Syracuse's guards can move quickly and operate well within their positions in the zone. Closing out shooters and boxing them out is something Syracuse does well. That's why the Orange are plus-five in rebounding advantage and their opponents shoot just 39 percent.

How to manage Georgetown's unique pace
Georgetown is one of the most frustrating teams in the nation to defend. The Hoyas move extremely well off the ball on offense, and their patience and ability to use the entire shot clock often catches even the most elite defenses napping. But they also play very meticulous defense.

The Hoyas have the nation's 14th-most efficient D. Georgetown's opponents shoot just 37 percent. In case you didn't notice, that pits two very good defensive teams against one another tonight.

Syracuse has to do what Pitt did in its 70-54 undressing of the Hoyas more than week ago:

1. Cut off the baseline and Georgetown's backdoor cuts, which the Hoyas will try to use against Syracuse's weak-side defenders.

2. Punish Georgetown on the glass. The 2-3 zone, like I said above, is susceptible to big offensive rebounding nights for good offensive rebounding teams. Georgetown is not a good rebounding team, period. That takes care of a big problem that Syracuse will have against dominant rebounding teams like Pitt and UConn. In fact, that's how Syracuse will get a lot of its points -- putbacks and second-chance points after the first shot, in the paint, against a condensed man-to-man defense.

3. Push the tempo when possible. Jonny Flynn, much like Pitt's Levance Fields and Notre Dame's Tory Jackson, loves to push the pace and run the fast break. Flynn floats to a wing outlet or creates space in the middle of the floor to catch an outlet pass after a defensive rebound. Because he is such a dynamic scorer himself, Flynn causes mayhem running the break. He has elite scoring options on the wings in guys like Harris, Eric Devendorf and Andy Rautins and bone-crunching trailers like Arinze Onuaku and Rick Jackson. But his ability to pull up and shoot a 3, foul-line jumper or floater, plus his flair for the slash and jam, makes him extremely tough to handle.

Hopefully this guide will help you through the game tonight. Syracuse will try to shut off the backdoor valves of the Hoyas "Princeton on Steroids" offense and control the glass on both ends of the floor. The Orange will also really want to push the tempo and run whenever given the chance.

Georgetown wants to spread Syracuse's 2-3 zone and shred it with ball movement, elusive cuts and solid screens, all while dictating a deliberate and slower pace. If the Hoyas get going early from 3-point range, this game will be very exciting. But if they struggle, and Syracuse does its thing, this could be similarly as ugly as Pitt's win in D.C. two weekends ago.

Hometown Hope

Those of you who know me know that I was born in Lexington, Ky., which is where I had my first glass of water. And, as you know, there's something in the water in Lexington that makes you crazy for hoops.

(It doesn't help that I moved to another hoops-crazy town -- Amherst, Mass. -- after my family left Lexington, but I digress.)

That said, I know what it means for Kentucky to be good. And if Jodie Meeks keeps scoring 54 points a game, the Wildcats are golden. Meeks is the man of the day in the college hoops world. And who can blame the media for fawning? Dude hit 10 3s to help UK destroy No. 24 Tennessee ... in Knoxville.

Kentucky is now 13-4, 2-0 in the conference and suddenly the team to beat in the SEC. And Meeks is a major reason why the Wildcats are clawing back to relevance. With 26 points, four boards, two assists and 1.5 steals a game, Meeks has some nice numbers.

And his team isn't half bad, either. Kentucky struggled out of the gates, losing its first two games to VMI (gulp) and at North Carolina. After a heartbreaking loss to a re-emerging Louisville, Kentucky has won its two opening SEC contests against Vandy and at Tennessee. In a down conference, Kentucky has to be thinking it can really make some waves.

With Meeks (and lottery pick-to-be Patrick Patterson) leading the way, Billy Gillispie's club is looking a lot like a Tournament team these days. Fifty-four points against a ranked team always helps, too.

Elsewhere
-- Big East Showdown of the Week: Syracuse at Georgetown. Not only is this a major rivalry between these two schools, but it also features yet another pair of ranked Big East teams battling. I say it in every post and I'll say it again here: The Big East seems like it has two ranked teams locking horns almost every night.

Who do I like? Well, Syracuse. I think Chris Wright will have a lot of trouble dealing with Jonny Flynn, Greg Monroe can be neutralized by Arinze Onuaku and the rest of the matchups seem to favor Syracuse, too.

Like I said, it's a rivalry game -- and it's at the Verizon Center in D.C., but Syracuse has more talent and a slightly deeper roster. Georgetown is good, don't get me wrong, but I think Syracuse might be the third-best team in the Big East behind Pitt and UConn. And there isn't much of a gap between those three teams.

-- Kansas City will be relevant again with Scott Pioli making personnel decisions.

-- My favorite little guy Dave Meggett is in some trouble. I have to say I'm really disappointed.

-- With Leo Lyons suspended for an uncertain period of time, Mizzou has to find a new scorer. Without him, don't expect the Tigers to keep up their fast start. But it was just a driving violation, so Lyons should be back sometime soon, I would think.

-- Pennsylvania has hopes of a Turnpike Tussle.

-- And I really don't know to react to this.

Going Gody

Luke Harangody had 31 points and 11 rebounds in Notre Dame's back-from-the-dead home win against Georgetown. Harangody put together a gutsy performance despite committing his fourth foul with 15 minutes or so left in the game.

Georgetown, which started off the Big East season in fashion, beating UConn on the road, is 1-2 to start the season. That's just how the Big East is going to go this year. The Hoyas started the season with games at UConn, home against Pitt and at Notre Dame. Big East coaches picked those three teams plus Louisville to challenge for a league title. Georgetown getting a win out of that stretch is actually a positive result, despite not winning at home.

Lots of other tidbits
-- I asked a lot of questions this weekend about an area called Western Sahara in Africa. It's a territory of Morocco's and it is giant. I always see it on a map and wonder about it. Today, I finally looked it up. Who knew it would have a city the size of Yonkers?

-- Bracketology is up and Pitt is the overall No. 1 seed. Enjoy it while it lasts, folks.

-- And while we're on the topic, people are pretty excited about Pitt being No. 1 in the nation.

-- Good work, Yale.

-- Just a quick thought for Pitt football fans: If you want to point the finger, point it at Matt Cavanaugh. Every year that Pitt struggles, it's his fault. Terrible play-calling and awful tutelage of his quarterbacks. Bill Stull stunk it up against Oregon State and Pitt didn't run the ball enough. Plus, Stull is not Michael Jordan: He can't shoot through a slump. If the dude can't complete a swing pass out of the backfield, why throw it 25 times? Why keep him in the game? By the way, that was the worst bowl game I've ever seen.

-- Interesting situation developing in Boston over BC coach Jeff Jagodzinski. Dude will be fired if he interviews with the Jets.

-- Oh, and by the way, the Big East has nine ranked teams. Nine.

Holy Hoyas!

Everyone knew Georgetown would be good. I thought the Hoyas would really come into their own in Big East play. But there were at least six teams that many thought would be better than John Thompson III's guys.

Yet here we are, the morning after the Big East opener, clearly scrambling to make sense of Georgetown's 74-63 throttling of UConn ... in Hartford! The No. 2 Huskies did very little right. Just look at the box score, where you can always find the reasons for the loss. Seventeen turnovers and six assists? (I'm going to beat this into your head this year, but there are four principles to winning -- good field-goal shooting, good free-throw shooting, few turnovers, lots of offensive boards.)

There is a laundry list of other things that went wrong for UConn -- Hasheem Thabeet only took four shots and scored four points; Jerome Dyson was 1 for 10 from the field for four points; and Georgetown scored 26 points off turnovers.

Sloppy play doesn't help you win games, let alone a Big East or national title. Jim Calhoun has to be furious about his team's performance. His Huskies won the battle of the boards and scored plenty of second-chance points, but turnovers and that lack of the extra pass killed them.

But give Georgetown credit. The Hoyas didn't have a much better stat line -- 14 turnovers, 10 assists, lost the rebounding fight, didn't shoot any special percentage -- but they just capitalized on UConn's mistakes.

This is the difference in the game: Points off turnovers -- Georgetown 26, UConn 13.

Simple as that.

Moving forward, Georgetown returns home to the Verizon Center for the ultimate chance to take advantage of its momentum and beat No. 3 Pitt. But the Panthers have a slightly different style than UConn and (I think) they match up better with the Hoyas.

This is a primetime Big East showdown with a lot on the line -- Georgetown raised the stakes with its pummeling of UConn. Pitt and G'town have the two best defenses (in terms of FG defense) in the Big East and they are both in the top three of the RPI right now.

How can I make this any simpler? In terms of efficiency, Georgetown has the No. 1 offense and No. 6 defense; Pitt's No. 12 and No. 8, respectively.

Each team has an Achilles' heel or two -- Georgetown one of the worst rebounding teams in the Big East (Pitt gets a ton of offensive boards) and turns the ball over a lot; Pitt shoots 67 percent from the charity stripe (Georgetown boasts a 75-percent clip) and doesn't have more than one legitimate outside shooter.

Let's just hope it doesn't come down to free-throw shooting ...

Monday's Must-See Matchup

If you hadn't already heard, there's kind of a big game tonight. No. 12 Georgetown at No. 2 UConn tips off tonight at 7 p.m. The game will be on ESPN. What a way to start the Big East season, with a contest showcasing two of the top five teams in the conference.

This is a tone-setting game for the conference slate, too, because both of these teams figure to be in the top five of the league, with UConn favored to win the conference. Pitt, Notre Dame, Louisville and Syracuse will be praying for a Georgetown win -- any help in derailing UConn's title run will be appreciated by the other contenders. And if Georgetown wins, the best conference in America has a new frontrunner.

Key Matchups
Everyone talks about Hasheem Thabeet. He's probably the most intriguing newcomer to the nation's elite playerdom. At 7-3, dude swats shots. Pure and simple. Thabeet will even give a Tony Parker floater its sending orders. You're about to see more of Thabeet than you have so far this year.

But a big-time showdown with freshman sensation Greg Monroe will definitely set this party off right, as Jamie Foxx would say. Monroe is a 6-11 big fella with a little mobility. He'll have to aim high off the glass tonight, and not just because of Thabeet's reach, but also because of the ability of UConn's Jeff Adrien and Stanley Robinson to come off their man and swat shots.

Which leads us to another big matchup at the 4 spot between Adrien and Georgetown's best player, DaJuan Summers. Summers is supposed to be "the next Jeff Green," but he hasn't always been the same kind of player. He has the size and skill of Green, and he can operate on the perimeter like his power-forward predecessor, but he doesn't quite have the same ability to pass the ball. Still, Summers has put together a great start to the season, averaging 15 points a game. He'll need to lure Adrien away from the basket and help Monroe with Thabeet on defense.

Why I like UConn
The Huskies gutted out a win in Seattle against Gonzaga last week. And Hartford is not an easy place to play. Trust me -- I saw Pitt blow a game-long lead against UConn as the crowd got into it. UConn is just so rugged, and Georgetown has always had trouble against teams that push it around a little bit.

Georgetown is a good club. I think the Hoyas were underrated coming into the season. But winning at UConn in December in the first Big East game of the year is a tall order. I like UConn in a good, physical game.

Weekend Preview

Because I'm away for the weekend, let's run over some of the best games ahead, starting with tonight ...

Games of the Week(end):

St. Joe's vs. No. 15 Villanova (Thursday at 8): Last year, St. Joe's put a hurtin' on the 'Cats. Villanova has the upper hand this year, but Scottie Reynolds has to be a bigger factor if 'Nova wants to go anywhere. And if Tuesday's performance against Texas was any indiciation, Reynolds has a lot of work ahead.

Iowa at Iowa State (Friday at 8:05): This one's not on TV, but a good-old in-state rivalry never disappoints, even if this one lost its relevance about three years ago.

Long Beach State at No. 13 Syracuse (Saturday at noon): It will be interesting to see if Syracuse is distracted by the whole Eric-Devendorf-hitting-a-girl-in-the-face controversy. He'll be on the floor Saturday.

Butler at No. 21 Ohio State (Saturday at noon): Ohio State made its case for being ranked; now it's Butler's turn. We know the Buckeyes are gritty and talented. Butler has a chance to get a really high-quality win on the road.

No. 8 Tennessee at Temple (Saturday at noon on ESPN): The first of many tough games ahead for the Vols. This will test their mettle.

No. 17 Memphis at No. 19 Georgetown (Saturday at 2 p.m. on CBS): Both teams are scrapping to get recognized, but these are two clubs nobody will want to play come March. Or January, for that matter.

UMass at No. 25 Kansas (Saturday at 2 p.m. on ESPN): Kansas should win this game, but UMass needs to cut down on its turnovers to start competing better with big-name clubs like KU. This would be a nice place to start for the Minutemen.

Indiana at Kentucky (Saturday at 4 p.m. on CBS): Just for the names, not for the hoops.

Utah at No. 5 Oklahoma (Saturday at 4 p.m. on ESPN 2): The Sooners should win this contest, but the Utes have a nice team.

UMBC at No. 3 Pitt (Saturday at 7 p.m.): Cause it's been too long for the Panthers.

No. 10 Xavier at Cincinnati (Saturday at 8 on ESPN 2): The Musketeers are legit, we know that much. But how far has Cincinnati come this season? Good wins against UAB and at UNLV look nice, but a loss to Florida State catches my eye.

No. 4 Gonzaga at Arizona (Sunday at 6): Jordan Hill is starting to be a major player for the 'Cats, but Gonzaga is clearly at Top 5 team that is starting to really jell. They ran over Wazzou (at Wazzou, no less) on Wednesday.

OK, folks, have a nice weekend.

We're Baaaack

I hope everyone had a nice Thanksgiving. I spent the past few days keeping a low profile and relaxing up in Boston. But that didn't keep me from hoops ...

And what a welcome-back present Louisville gave us today:

Western Kentucky 68, Louisville 54

Monday's Top 5 will not look the same as last week's. Expect Pitt to climb to No. 3, while UNC and UConn will hold firm at 1 and 2, respectively. Michigan State will also drop out of the Top 5 because of its loss to Maryland, which turned around and got slaughtered by Gonzaga and Georgetown on consecutive nights.

Gonzaga and Tennessee are going at it as we speak, with Gonzaga up by 10.

Game of my vacation: No. 11 Oklahoma 87, No. 10 Purdue 82, in overtime.

Tomorrow, we'll review who had a good break and who didn't.