North Carolina State University Athletics
Passing fancy in Syracuse
3/25/2005 12:00:00 AM | Men's Basketball
March 25, 2005
By JIMMY GOLEN
AP Sports Writer
SYRACUSE, N.Y. (AP) - This is the birthplace of the shot clock, a gimmick created 50 years ago to combat the stalling offense that began to bore NBA fans.
The NCAA version of the shot clock should get a workout Friday night at the Carrier Dome when pass-heavy Wisconsin and North Carolina State play in the Syracuse Regional semifinals.
"Both teams - and every team - is trying to get the best shot they can," Wisconsin coach Bo Ryan said Thursday. "If it takes eight passes instead of six, so be it."
And if it takes 10 passes, that's also fine with Ryan, whose swing offense has helped carry sixth-seeded Wisconsin to the round of 16 for the second time in three years. The Badgers (24-8) will match up against the Princeton-style offense run by No. 10 seed N.C. State (21-13) - the lowest seed remaining in the tournament.
"There's a lot of similarities," Ryan said: "Get good shots and get more of them."
Wisconsin allowed just 59.5 points per game - best in the Big Ten and 12th in the nation; N.C. State was second in the Atlantic Coast Conference with an average of 65.1 points allowed. Part of that is good defense, but part of it is also an offense that looks for the extra pass.
"They do have an offense that requires a tremendous amount of due diligence to prepare for. It's not easy to guard," N.C. State coach Herb Sendek said. "It's built on great concepts. They have terrific spacing and they have good players running it."
Sendek has good players, too, though they haven't all been healthy lately.
Guard Tony Bethel, who takes the ball-handling pressure off star Julius Hodge, pulled his groin in the second half of the first ACC tournament game against Florida State on March 10 and hasn't played since. He returned to practice Wednesday and didn't seem to be hobbled Thursday, but acknowledged he might not be in condition to play a whole game.
"It feels good," he said. "I feel like I can play, not extended minutes, but I can give somebody a breather, get out there and give us a spurt if we need it. It depends how the game goes."
Bethel also missed four midseason games with what started as the flu and then was diagnosed as colitis. The bacterial infection caused his joints to swell and forced him to use crutches for a couple of days.
Sendek said he would see how Bethel is before the Wisconsin game before making his decision. That's what he said last week, too, when Bethel sat out victories over Charlotte and Connecticut to advance to the Syracuse Regional semifinals.
"He's making progress," Sendek said. "He's not anywhere near 100 percent, but he's made some real strides over the past several days."
Sendek is also hoping that center Jordan Collins, who has a separated shoulder, will be better. Collins missed three of four games before playing seven minutes in the second-round victory over UConn.
"I think Jordan has really turned the corner and seems to be doing fine," Sendek said.
"Fortunately, you're a little more accustomed to having guys out of the lineup. Other players have continued to grow," he said. "Unfortunately, we've probably had a little bit too much practice trying to fill holes."
Wisconsin's losses are more permanent: Devin Harris was the Big Ten player of the year as a senior last season, when the Badgers were knocked out in the second round of the NCAAs. Boo Wade left the team for personal reasons after just one game this fall.
Wisconsin, which beat Northern Iowa and Bucknell to make it to Syracuse, won Big Ten titles in Ryan's first two years there. He was the conference's coach of the year in '02 and '03 - the first to win the award in his first two years in the league.
Although his offense is more mixed than Princeton's scheme, it has the same emphasis on passing over dribbling, on half-court sets over running the floor.
"I think he's a great coach and I would love to study what he's done," Sendek said.
There's ample opportunity for that: Ryan has written three books on coaching basketball and produced five instructional videos.
Sendek hasn't bought any of them.
"I'm too cheap," he said. "I'm going to ask him if I could borrow them."
