NCAA Tournament: Beoheim Begins Quest for Second Syracuse Championship

Jim Beoheim has been the coach of the Syracuse Orange men’s college hoops team for 32 years. He has the second most victories of any active head coach after Dukes’ Mike Krzyzewski. He has taken teams to the national title game three times: in 1987 versus Indiana, 1996 versus Kentucky and in 2003 versus Kansas. Against Kansas in 2003, with freshman Carmelo Anthony leading the way, Syracuse won the championship.

Beoheim and the Orange will be looking for another title at +700 college basketball odds in the sportsbook starting this week when they take on Vermont as the #1 seed in the West.

West: #1 Syracuse Orange

The Syracuse Orange still garnered the #1 seed in the West even though they were knocked out of the 1st Round of the Big East Tournament by their rivals, the Georgetown Hoyas. The ‘Cuse went 28 and 4 during the season. Besides losing to Georgetown, their only other losses were to Louisville twice and Pittsburgh once.

Offense: The Orange averages 81.5 points per game. They shoot an amazing 51% from the field on average. 6’7” 200 lb forward Wesley Johnson average 15.7 points per game and 8.5 rebounds per game. More often then not, Johnson dominates the paint. Guard Andy Rautins averages over 11 points per game and close to 5 assists per game. Rautins attempts to spread he ball around before going for points himself. The one weakness is free throws where Syracuse shoots only 66%.

Defense: Syracuse allows 66.9 points per game on average. Teams shoot 39.9% from the field on them. Rautins is a terrific defender. He averages 2 steals per game. Like most of Beoheim’s team, the Orange play a formidable brand of zone defense.

Prediction: Because Syracuse is from the Big East, they face a double-edged sword going into the 2010 NCAA Tournament. The Big East, no doubt, will have prepared them for the tournament. But the Big East may have also tired them out. As good as the Big East is year in and year out, their best teams, like Pittsburgh in 2009, sometimes fall flat because Big East teams simply get tired as the tournament goes on.

Because of that, losing to Georgetown in the 1st Round of the Big East Tournament may have been a blessing in disguise. Beoheim got a chance to calm his team down and make adjustments before the NCAA Tournament. He also got a chance to rest his players.

At the odds, this team is a pretty good bet to win the NCAA Championship because there isn’t a single team in the West, including 2nd seeded Kansas State and 3rd seeded Pittsburgh, even though they lost to Pitt, that they don’t match up well with. They should make the Final Four with ease. At that point, they will need to buckle down in order to beat Kansas and get to the championship game.

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