1. At what point does the assessment of Dajuan Coleman’s play shift from, ‘he’s still knocking off rust’ to ‘this just is what he is’?

Sam Blum: Dajuan Coleman hasn’t been a total bust this season by any means. He struggles as an offensive player. He’s not an A-plus rebounder and he can’t stay on the court for a long period of time without getting in foul trouble. That’s all true. But he provides a big defensive presence that Syracuse doesn’t have anywhere else. When he’s in the game, Tyler Lydon can go out to the wing and his shooting can space the floor too. He might never be the five-star recruit that he was projected to be, but give the guy credit. He’s coming back from two years of not playing this game at full speed and is doing a half-decent job at it.

Jesse Dougherty: This may seem like a way of sidestepping an answer, but Coleman is likely always going to be a player “knocking off the rust.” It’s near impossible to endure two major knee surgeries and miss 22 months in the middle of your college basketball career and then come back as your “normal” self. From now on, it seems that Coleman’s normal self is a center with limited athleticism and only truly effective in the right matchup. All Syracuse can do is recognize those matchups and squeeze out all of Coleman’s slashed potential which, at this point, is solid defensive minutes and a handful of defensive rebounds. Anything after that can only be expected on a game-by-game basis, not as consistent production.

Matt Schneidman: I think we’ve reached the end of thinking that Coleman can be something more. He’s never going to score or rebound in double digits and that’s not because of talent. His body simply can’t play the minutes needed to assert himself in a frontcourt shared by players who can rebound better and score more effectively. It’s a shame, really, since his downfall came after two knee injuries. But such is the reality of where Coleman is, whether Syracuse fans and others around the program choose to accept it or not.

2. How significant is it that Syracuse hasn’t allowed any fast-break points in the past four games?

S.B.: Let me first just say that this is a ridiculous statistic. But it is also a very good indicator of the way Syracuse has controlled the tempo and protected the basketball the past four games. In SU’s three wins, Jim Boeheim said each time that it was the best defensive performance of the season, and each time he was right. When you look at the Miami and Pittsburgh losses, sloppy turnovers led to run-out points late in games. When SU started winning, that completely stopped happening.

J.D.: There are two sides to what this means. The first is offensive, that the Orange is shooting well from 3 (no long rebounds turning into easy transition buckets) and evidently taking care of the ball well enough. The other is that SU, by limiting transition and not allowing teams to score on the break, is making teams work for every single bucket. This is very significant because teams, for the most part, get lower-percentage shots in their half-court offenses and will also be a little more tired on defense if they have to grind for 20 seconds to get a good look against the zone. There is a slim margin for error in every Atlantic Coast Conference game, but limiting an opponent’s transition opportunities can only make it a little wider.

M.S.: This stat is a testament to Syracuse’s ability to take care of the ball in the backcourt. That’s what will happen when two fifth-year seniors are your primary ball-handlers and that’s never a bad thing. I don’t think it’s as significant as what meets the eye just because it’s negated when teams like Duke and Virginia are scoring in their half-court offenses against Syracuse. The benefits of not allowing points in transition for an already thin SU team is that the game is slowed down and it conserves the few Syracuse players that see big minutes. Still, there are many other ways to beat the Orange than in transition.

3. What must Syracuse do, either in terms of wins and losses or quality of play, to make these next four games (all at home against Notre Dame, Georgia Tech, Virginia Tech and Florida State) a success?

S.B.: Pretty simple answer is to win. When you start out 0-4 in conference, your margin of error against teams you can beat because almost zilch. Syracuse has a chance now to completely right the wrongs of the start of its conference season. And the good news is that the Orange is playing the type of games it needs to to make that happen. Michael Gbinije has found his stroke, Malachi Richardson has looked like the superstar we all knew he could be this conference season. Syracuse has what it takes to make the NCAA Tournament and the next four games provide it the chance to get in that conversation.

J.D.: The only one of these games SU can afford to lose, considering the bigger picture and its developing tournament resume, is Notre Dame on Thursday. After that, the other three games would be less-than-impressive home wins but extremely questionable home losses. From a basketball standpoint, the Orange has to keep making strides defending the paint and figure out how to balance touches on the other end. Gbinije continues to be the quarterback of the offense, but he’s also regaining his shooting touch to the point that Syracuse should consider getting him off the ball when it can. Nailing down an offensive identity, aside from the high pick-and-roll that helped SU edge Duke, could go a long way in maximizing all of the Orange’s perimeter talent.

M.S.: At this point in the season, every loss — no matter how well the Orange plays — pushes it further off the bubble it’s already on the outside of, in my opinion. Three of the next four games are against teams outside the top seven in the ACC. Those are all MUST-win games for Syracuse. A win against the Fighting Irish would certainly put a check mark on the resume come March while the other three would simply keep SU afloat. Anything other than a 4-0 stretch isn’t a success, since this stage in the season calls for more than just succeeding.

Published on January 25, 2016 at 5:28 pm