Syracuse PPS - Are They For Real?

I don’t know if it’s because I’m lazy and like to play zone defense myself but I’m always curious as to how #7 Syracuse (13-1, 1-0) is doing so this week let’s take a look at the Orangemen. To start it off let’s check out how the team is doing as a whole in an effort to find out if this team is for real:

Player	MP	+	-	PPS
Syracuse	2800	1.04	0.36	0.67
Opponent	2800	0.75	0.40	0.35

I can’t say that Syracuse played the toughest out of conference schedule this season so it’s no surprise that they have nearly doubled their opponents when it comes to PPS. This team has been very efficient on offense but the .75 positive PPS their opponents have earned makes me think that they miss Fab Melo quite a bit. To compare Syracuse to another team…..Michigan’s opponents have had a .68 positive PPS so far this season. So, that catches my eye and tells me that come tourney time if they run into a team with a dominant post player they could be in trouble. Title contenders should be below .70 for their opponents positive PPS. That being said, the Big East season is about to start and there is still time to lower that PPS.

Onto the individual players:

Player	School	MP	+	-	PPS
James Southerland	Syracuse	352	1.12	0.33	0.79
M. Carter-Williams	Syracuse	451	1.18	0.41	0.76
C.J. Fair	Syracuse	409	1.01	0.29	0.72
Rakeem Christmas	Syracuse	287	0.94	0.27	0.67
Baye Moussa Keita	Syracuse	208	0.97	0.30	0.67
Brandon Triche	Syracuse	426	1.04	0.39	0.65
DaJuan Coleman	Syracuse	233	1.11	0.49	0.62
Jerami Grant	Syracuse	169	0.85	0.36	0.49
Trevor Cooney	Syracuse	210	0.76	0.35	0.40

With six players having a PPS above .65 the Orangemen has some of the best depth in the nation. While people love to talk about Trey Burke (Michigan) as the best point guard in the nation that award probably goes to Michael Carter-Williams (MCW). He’s also in the running for the most improved player this season with Victor Oladiopo (Indiana) if that’s even an award? I’m not sure if that’s an award or just an opinion…..There really are so many good players on this roster that I had to run the numbers twice to make sure I calculated correctly. James Southerland, C.J. Fair, Rakeem Christmas, Baye Moussa Keita and Brandon Triche are all playing very efficiently on offense and defense. That tells me that this is a team filled with players that know their roles. MCW does most of the ball handling so he’s going to have most of the negative plays but the rest of the squad is competing at a very high level while also minimizing their mistakes.

Syracuse is currently ranked #7 in the nation but they are definitely a top five team, in my opinion. Like I said, they could run into some issues if they ever face a dominant big man but it wouldn’t be a huge surprise to me to see them in the Final Four because they have so many players that contribute on a regular basis.

About these ads