Duke Basketball: How will Syracuse attack the Blue Devils for a third time

The Duke Basketball team will be playing the Syracuse Orange on Thursday night at the ACC Tournament and the Orange might have a new game-plan when attacking the Blue Devils.

Prior to Thursday’s quarterfinal showdown between the Duke Blue Devils and the Syracuse Orange, the team at Ball Durham got a chance to catch up up with Paul Esden Jr., the site expert for Syracuse’s FanSided site, Inside the Loud House, for a quick Q&A.

Q: Syracuse was the first team to play Duke twice this seasons and now the Orange will be the first team to play the Blue Devils three times, could this benefit or hurt Syracuse?

A: I wish Syracuse wasn’t the “lucky” team to accomplish this feat this season.

This is a double-edged sword kind of question.

The thing that has helped Syracuse over the years in the March Madness tournament is the element of surprise when opponents see the 2-3 zone for the first time. Well not only has Duke seen the 2-3 zone on tape twice, Coach K has a close relationship with Jim Boeheim and has learned some of the intricacies of the zone even implementing it last season for Duke. On the other side, Syracuse having played Duke and having played them close has to be a HUGE confidence booster for the Orange.

I won’t cop out of the answer, I give the slight advantage to Duke seeing the zone that many times, but it’s close.

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Q: How does the potential return of Zion Williamson impact the 2-3 zone of the Orange?

A: So in our two matchups this season we got to see the 2-3 zone vs Zion Williamson.

While in the second matchup he wasn’t available. The thing he does so well is pound the paint with reckless abandon. Only good things happen: he drives it in and gets a bucket, drives it in gets fouled, or BOTH.

Syracuse doesn’t have a man on their roster to cover Zion one-on-one.

Actually the more I think about it, I don’t know if that player exists on planet Earth.

He’s just a freak and when you can get the zone to collapse inside, it provides opportunities on the outside. While Duke obviously isn’t one of the best three-point shooting teams in the league, they should have opportunities in this one.

Syracuse is going to try and pack that zone and dare Duke to shoot from deep if they have success from outside and Zion is pounding it, it’s going to be a long night for the Orange.

Q: Paschal Chukwu always shows up when Syracuse plays Duke, since Marques Bolden is out for the Blue Devils, should Chukwu have another breakout game?

A: Absolutely.

Especially with the performance he just gave in the second round vs. the Pitt Panthers. While I understand Pitt isn’t Duke, it was still encouraging nonetheless.

Chukwu is an odd cat. I’ve spoken to him countless times in the locker room after the game. Some nights he’s on: super active, aggressive, and trying to make an impact. Then there are nights where he’s complacent, a pushover, and just doesn’t play with intensity.

The key for Chukwu is to get going early. Maybe knock a few blocks in, get the confidence up, and take advantage of the mismatch with Marques Bolden out.

Q: After playing on Wednesday night against Pittsburgh, could tired legs be a factor for Syracuse

A: Last season, 100 percent.

This squad had five and a half guys and they were sucking wind at the ends of games.

This team?

They don’t have the luxury of that excuse. Obviously with no Tyus Battle vs. Pitt and he’s doubtful for the Duke game according to people I spoke with. So the depth will be tested once again for the Orange, but if they lose that won’t be a reason why.

In the Pitt game, they had three guys score at least 18 points and Oshae Brissett wasn’t one of them. If he can get going vs Duke on top of the other guys, Syracuse at the very least should be competitive in this one for a while.

Q: The Orange split the two regular seasons meetings with Duke, how can Syracuse pull off a major upset against the Blue Devils once again?

A: Divine intervention?

Obviously, a lot of things had to go right for them to win the first game. In the second game they had a great first half but just ran out of gas in the second stanza.

Syracuse will need someone to step up and have a heroic performance. Who could that be?

Oshae Brissett, Elijah Hughes, Buddy Boeheim, or the aforementioned Chukwu.

Buddy had a career night vs Pitt, the moment hasn’t seemed too big for him all year. Hughes has been super inconsistent if I’m being candid, but he was on last game hopefully he can bring that same energy.

Oshae is an odd duck. There’s no reasonable explanation for his statistical dropoff from last season to this season in field goal percentage, three-point percentage, and free throw conversion rate. But he’s struggled.

Long story short for an upset to happen: Syracuse needs to be on their A game and Duke needs to play far less then that.

The Blue Devils and the Orange will tip-off at approximately 9:30pm ET from the Spectrum Center in Charlotte, North Carolina and can be seen on ESPN.

Stay tuned to Ball Durham on Twitter, @Ball_Durham, and here at our website, balldurham.com, for complete coverage of the Duke Blue Devils vs. the Syracuse Orange.

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