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The Spokesman-Review Newspaper
Spokane, Washington  Est. May 19, 1883

Methods Of Attack May Be Top Factor In Title Game

Anthony Cotton Washington Post

An hour and a half isn’t a lot of preparation time for toppling a giant - or trying to maintain that lofty stature - but when Syracuse and Kentucky took the practice floor Sunday at Continental Airlines Arena, that was the amount of time they had to work on their strategies for Monday night’s NCAA men’s basketball championship game.

The Orangemen’s hopes for upsetting the prohibitive favorites could depend on breaking the Wildcats’ pressure defense; Kentucky must solve Syracuse’s 2-3 zone that appears simple, yet has frustrated opponents - most notably Kansas in the West regional final and Mississippi State in Saturday’s national semifinal.

Which team is more successful might be decided by the point guards, Kentucky’s Anthony Epps and Syracuse’s Lazarus Sims. The bigger challenge might belong to Sims, who must navigate through the Wildcats’ clawing pressure. Although Big East teams employ trapping defenses, they might be unlike what Sims will see tonight.

According to Massachusetts coach John Calipari, the Kentucky pressure is predicated on forcing teams to make bad passes, on the in-bounds play or on the court. The latter is likely to happen when teams don’t send a player into the middle of the court - which is what happened to the Minutemen in their 81-74 loss Saturday. If the ball gets into the middle of the court, there are opportunities to beat the pressure and even get a fast break, but often, teams feel they have accomplished a lot merely by getting the ball across midcourt.

That’s because, according to UMass guard Carmen Travieso: “(Kentucky’s) intensity never drops; they come at you and come at you and come at you - it seemed like when we stopped they just kept coming. They give you a lot of opportunities - three-on-twos, two-on-ones - but you have to be aggressive and take them.”

But attacking helps revs up the pace, which is what Kentucky wants. The trick, said Calipari, is to break the press, then “look and explore” opportunities for going to the basket. If anyone can navigate the fine line between control and aggression it might be Sims, with 274 assists this season. Saturday, he had nine assists and no turnovers in playing all 40 minutes against Mississippi State. Syracuse had just five turnovers.

Syracuse could triple its miscues and still come out on top if Kentucky doesn’t have more success than the Bulldogs did against the zone. With five players packed inside the lane, it’s hard for a team to pass inside or to post a player near the basket. That, in turn, lessens the chance of players setting up outside and getting open shots created by double-teamed teammates.

But a zone does yield shots from the perimeter.

Four of Mississippi State’s first five field goals against Syracuse were 3-pointers; had the Bulldogs maintained that pace, they would have forced Syracuse out of its defense. Instead, the Bulldogs kept shooting threes in an effort to recapture early lightning.

“The hardest thing to overcome when you’re playing against a zone is when you hit some outside shots early, then you think it’s going to be easy to do that all game,” said Kentucky coach Rick Pitino. “You can’t rely on that kind of fool’s gold.” Added guard Tony Delk, “You have to go inside to your big people and score and get the other players involved.”

Kentucky could be helped by the passing ability of 6-foot-8 forward Antoine Walker. The Wildcats will try to move him into the middle of Syracuse’s zone and get him the ball. He would have three options: drive to the basket and shoot; pass to teammates Walter McCarty or Mark Pope near the basket; or, if the Orangemen converge on him, pass outside for 3-point attempts.