The Syracuse Orange men's basketball season officially gets underway tonight in the JMA Dome. Head Coach Gerry McNamara leads his squad for the first time at home as the Orange welcome the New Haven Chargers. Tip off is 7:00 and the game will stream on ACCNX. Here's what we're watching for in the opener:
Kevin: Put it away early
Syracuse didn't look very impressive in the last two exhibition games. I'm watching to see how the Orange start in the opener. It should be a decent crowd in the Dome so will Syracuse put this game away in the first half, or will they struggle to the finish? Vibes were pretty good until the last two weeks and with Indiana and St. John's looming, there isn't a lot of time for McNamara's team to get things going.
Dom: Set the tone defensively
The state of the offense will be a talker going into the season-opener, but this roster was constructed with size, versatility, and defense being the staples. On that end of the court, frankly, there's some work to be done. It's only exhibitions, but still, forcing turnovers and stopping opponents have to be the bedrocks for this year's team. Start the year off right by handling business against New Haven.
Max: Take care of business
This is a buy game, so Syracuse should be able to play it as such. The goal is to not have much struggle taking down a brand new D1 school, who just moved up from D2 and they literally can't make it into march madness because of it. The Orange are the better team here and they need to play it as such, by dominating where they should and putting this one to bed quickly.
Sam: Will they dip into the offense?
Syracuse hasn't dipped too deep into the bag of offensive sets thus far in its exhibitions. I'm wondering if that changes as the games start to count. There's certainly been some creativity, but they were definitely holding things back too. I think it's pretty clear that a lot of this team's offense is going to have to be manufactured. While Gavin Doty could certainly score 20 points in iso scenarios against New Haven, that doesn't really prove anything about this team. Can they run clean, crisp offense to generate open looks, duck-ins, and layups more consistently than they did in the exhibitions? Or will they continue to keep those hidden (assuming they exist) until Indiana next week?
Szuba: Syracuse fanbase
Okay, given the rest of the team focused on the actual gameplay I'll send my focus elsewhere. It's the official start of McNamara's head coaching tenure at Syracuse. How does an impatient fanbase that's desperate to get back to winning ways respond? Syracuse Athletics has solid promotions with $3 tickets and McNamara jerseys to the first 5,000 fans through the door. New Haven is hardly a draw, but something tells me Syracuse fans will come out in droves for the first game in support of McNamara just days after his father's passing.
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What are you watching for in tonight's opener?
