The veteran coach changed tactics radically in Syracuse's comeback victory over Virginia, but a path to the Final Four littered with transgressions doesn't make his team a Cinderella. CLEVELAND, Ohio -- Not many teams play a zone defense as their basic method of deterrence in college basketball, but Syracuse does. The 2-3 zone the Orange use brings with it the inherent drawbacks of players guarding spaces and not human beings. This leads to an inability to box out an assigned man, thus bringing difficulty in rebounding. Opponents try to exploit the endemic vulnerability in the middle of the defense. Syracuse offsets this by recruiting for "long" players, whose wing span leads to blocked or altered shots and sows doubt and fear in opponents' minds. The only national championship Jim Boeheim has won in his 40-year career as the head coach at his alma mater was in 2003 when a pterodactyl named Hakim Warrick blocked a potential game-tying 3-pointer by Kansas' Kirk Hinrich in the last second of play. Now the controversial septuagenarian from Central New York is seeking a second one. Suspension This quest, improbably, follows on the heels of the coach's nine-game suspension at the start of the season from the NCAA. It was for a grisly bill of particulars, including improper benefits for players, rogue boosters, academic hanky-panky, 108 victories un-won by NCAA decree because of player ineligibility, and skirting drug-testing guideline
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