SU has been enjoying the early rounds of the NCAA Tournament – both men’s and women’s games. I have to admit that I am much less familiar with the players on the men’s teams this year as compared to any other season. It’s a direct result of watching fewer games this year (thank you Juwan Howard for making Michigan basketball unwatchable) but also a function of the transfer portal and the impact of NIL money. Players switch teams to get more playing time or earn more NIL money every off-season and it’s hard to know who is playing for what team. When you combine that with the “one and done” players who jump to the NBA after their freshman seasons, well, you end up with new rosters every season for many teams.

Having said that, SU has observed something this year which I believe is a trend at the college level. I believe college coaches, mostly on the men’s side, run offenses that are basically exclusively one-on-one basketball. There are teams that literally don’t have an offensive scheme from what I can tell. Maybe they run a pick and roll to free up the guy going one on one. It harkens back to Mike Woodson when he was the coach of the Knicks. His offensive playbook was a pamphlet: give the ball to Carmelo on the wing, let him jab step 17 times while everyone else stands on 3-point line hoping for a pass.

SU watched the Northwestern – Florida Atlantic first round game and the FAU coach ran this offense. Northwestern’s Chris Collins knew this and had his team double team the one-on-one player as he started his move. Brilliant move as the FAU players had no idea where to throw the ball. None. Caused lots of turnover. But FAU is not alone – many other teams play the same way. Some are up tempo and it’s masked a bit but others play a slower pace and it’s all one on one.

For SU, this is unwatchable and unenjoyable. The beauty of basketball is constant movement, passing and finding the open man. It’s why I enjoy UConn women’s games so much. Those teams, no matter the talent which is top notch, are so unselfish, and they enjoy making the extra passes. There are men’s teams that do it as well – Duke, North Carolina, UConn. But so many do not and then they are exposed in the NCAAs when they play better teams who can defend a limited offensive scheme. If SU was ever coaching against one of these teams, I would do what Collins did at Northwestern. Man, that was easy and so disruptive. The FAU coach is the new Michigan coach (gulp) and I hope he does not bring that style of play to Ann Arbor.

SU saw an interesting stat on Tom Izzo at Michigan State. Preseason, his teams are always forecast to be top 10 – almost every year. And when you compare the preseason prediction with where his teams finish, well they always fall short. This tells me he is a great recruiter but not a great developer of talent. Or his talent is over-hyped. Few of the Michigan State players really shine in the NBA.

Am I old school and out of step with the times? I mean this is more of an NBA style of play in large part but it’s not fun.

Baseball starts this week! The Yankees refused to overpay for a free agent starting pitcher and will hope that Cole can return in a couple of months. For SU, this season hinges on whether Carlos Rodon is actually good. It will come down to that. SU will make its fearless predictions later this week for the 2024 season.