NCAA Tournament Predictions: Arizona State vs Syracuse

Written March 21, 2009 by Anthony Moretti

arizona-state-syracuse-march-madness-predictions-032109 The sixth seed meets the third seed in second round NCAA tournament action as the Arizona State Sun Devils square off against the Syracuse Orange. Arizona State controlled their first round game for the most part against Temple, eventually pulling out a 9 point victory despite a sub-par performance from their leading scorer, James Harden. The slack was picked up by the team’s starting point guard, Derek Glasser, who turned in a career-high 22 points to help Arizona State advance to the second round with their win over the Owls. Syracuse had little trouble in their first round game against Stephen F. Austin, winning by 15 points, but you got the feeling during the game that it could have been much worse had the Orange wanted to pour it on a little. Nevertheless, Syracuse won the game and finished with four players scoring in double-digit figures. Sophomore forward Rick Jackson turned in an impressive performance with 12 points, 10 rebounds, and 5 blocks, but what’s impressive is that he only lead his team in blocks on Friday. Syracuse’s dominance was to be expected in their first round match up, but now they’ll get their first true test of the tournament with a very talented Arizona State team. Odds makers have Syracuse as 2 point favorites over the Sun Devils.

Arizona State quietly turned in a very good regular season and now they are getting to show their skills on more of a national stage. As previously mentioned, the team is most often lead on offense by James Harden and his 20.4 points per game, but it is nice to know that they have other scoring options should he have an off night. Jeff Pendergraph is usually the player that steps into the void as he averaged 14.7 points per game during the regular season. In addition to Pendergraph the Devils also get help inside from Rihards Kuksiks. It was a bit surprising to see point guard Derek Glasser score 22 in the win over Temple on Friday, and if he can present himself as a threat to score more often, that is only going to open up the rest of the offense for the team’s true offensive leaders. Syracuse has good athletes inside and Arizona State may have a more difficult time finding room to breath in the paint, but they have some very talented guards that could very well win this game for them.

With their performance in the Big East Tournament this year, Syracuse was suddenly on every one’s radar, but the fact is that this has been an excellent team all season. It’s just that they get lost in the Big East shuffle with Louisville and UConn and Pitt all garnering so much attention. This team has been built with one major goal in mind and that is to outscore their opponents. The Orange have 5 players that average double-digit points per game this year and a pair of players that put up more than 15 points per game. Their leading scorer, Jonny Flynn, averages 17.5 points per game and scored 16 points in an impressive, albeit understated performance on Friday against SF Austin. As a team the squad puts up over 80 points per game, and while that number is impressive it is not without cost as ‘Cuse gives up over 70 points per game. Whether or not Syracuse will be successful will be decided by the pace at which they can play this game. If they play it at their own pace and get into a shootout with Arizona State, they have a very good chance of coming away with a win. If the Orange decide they are going to slow down their play and try to beat Arizona State at their own game, they could be in for trouble.

At the end of the day I think this Syracuse team has more raw talent and they are more battle-tested. Winning the way they did in the Big East Tournament surprised a lot of people, myself included, and woke us up to the fact that this is a very good basketball team. While I like Arizona State’s style of play I really don’t think they will be able to keep pace on the offensive side of the ball with the Orange. What they really need is for Harden to step up his game to have a chance, but even if he does it will be difficult for Arizona State to stay in the game.

Pick – Take Syracuse -2

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