Horror flick: OU-Syracuse ’03
OU plays Syracuse on Friday night, which means another Sooner matchup against the Orange’s 2-3 zone. Send the women and children below deck.
The last time OU played Syracuse, for a berth in the 2003 Final Four, the Sooners had perhaps their worst offensive performance in the Kelvin Sampson era, which is saying something.
It’s easy to blame that loss on Syracuse getting to play in Albany, N.Y., which is 145 miles of the Syracuse campus. But the crowd, while cheering wildly for the Orange, had little to do with that game. OU had no clue against the Syracuse zone.
Six years later, the numbers remain horrific. OU made 5 of 28 shots from 3-point range. The Sooners committed 19 turnovers in the first 32 minutes, then finally settled down and committed no more, but the game was long since over. OU was outrebounded 40-28.
With 8:57 left in the first half, OU led 17-16. Over the next 13 minutes, the Sooners made one of 18 shots and committed 10 turnovers.
The Sooners’ method of offense was to stand around the perimeter passing the ball to each other. There was no aggression. There was no penetration. There was no attacking the Syracuse zone.
On a team that included senior veterans Hollis Price, Quannas White and Ebi Ere, plus freshman standout Kevin Bookout, the best Sooners that day were De’Angelo Alexander and Jabahri Brown. Alexander had 14 points and made five of nine shots. Brown had nine points and seven rebounds.
Price was 3-of-17 from the field, 2-of-11 from 3-point range. White was 1-of-8, 0-of-4. Ere was 2-of-8, 0-of-4. That’s a senior backcourt, three men strong, that combined to go 6-of-33, including 2-of-19 from 3-point range.
That Syracuse team, led by Carmelo Anthony, went on to win the NCAA title. Against OU, Anthony had 20 points and 10 rebounds. Hakim Warrick had 13 points and nine rebounds. But the star of the game was Syracuse’s zone.
-------------Berry Tramel can be heard Monday through Friday from 4:40-5:20 p.m. on The Sports Animal radio network, including AM-640 and FM-98.1. You can e-mail him here and follow him on Twitter @BerryTramel. Visit Berry's website here.
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Comments
hmm well you did have great teams-but Da ‘Cuse pulled it out. Like I think they will do Friday night.
I cringed when I saw Syracuse on the same side of our bracket when it first came out. I believe that we will handle it better this time aroung, though, for 3 reasons… 1. Blake Griffin will provide the presence we need inside 2. Willie Warren can penetrate effectively 3. Capel can coach and they won’t just pass it around the exterior for a full game missing 3 pointers. We’ll see if I’m right. Let the games begin!! GO SOONERS!!!
I was at that game in ’03. Amazing. I live in Syracuse and am a life-long fan and I have NEVER seen a team so lost against the zone as OU was in 2003. The great thing about Orange ’09 is; you wanna press? Let’s make it a track meet and Syracuse (I don’t say ‘we’ as I don’t play on the team) will put 100 on you without thinking about it. Should be a good game either way. Your boy Griffin is a player! As fans, let’s enjoy it and may the best team win. Go Orange!!
Syracuse won the Big 12 championship that year, along with the national championship. The Orange(men) defeated Mizzou in the regular season, OSU and OU in the NCAAs, Texas in the national semifinal and KU in the final.
Don’t forget Hollis Price had a torn groin muscle from the Big 12 Championship game vs. Missouri. He wasn’t himself the entire tournament.
I remember how awful it was watching that game in ’03, but I do love watching Syracuse play. I love the zone defense, think it can be powerfully effective when done well, and marvel at how seldom it’s used. The church teams I played on as a kid played zone defense all the time — including a marvelously fun-to-use zone press — and we kicked butt with it.
Of course, Chapel Hill Methodist and Syracuse University are different levels of play, but still…
Horror flick is right – as a KU fan I still remeber losing the championship game to ‘Cuse after we hit 12-30 free throws. OU and KU were awesome that year and we both picked a really bad time to throw bricks at the basket. OT: Go Sooners in 2009 and take out the Orange!