Waiters steps up for Syracuse in NCAA Tournament
Dion Waiters of the Syracuse Orange celebrates during a game against the St. John's Red Storm at Madison Square Garden. (Feb. 4, 2012) Credit: Jim McIsaac
BOSTON --Syracuse coach Jim Boeheim knows what he has in Dion Waiters over the past two seasons, and while Waiters resented the coach's tight leash at first, he has come to appreciate how Boeheim's tough love has turned him into a player who makes a difference.
As a freshman last season, Waiters considered transferring because he wasn't starting or playing as much as expected. Now, the Big East Sixth Man of the Year is taking over big games at the end of the season, and he can't wait to face Wisconsin's man-to-man defense when the Orange (33-2) and the Badgers (26-9) meet in the East Regional semifinals Thursday night.
The late semifinal matches Ohio State (29-7) and Cincinnati (26-10), who come from the same state but have managed to play each other only once in 2006 since the Bearcats won back-to-back NCAA title games against the Buckeyes in 1961-62 when Ohio State had John Havlicek and Jerry Lucas.
Wisconsin is the best defensive team in the nation, holding opponents to 52.9 points per game, but coach Bo Ryan's team strictly relies on man-to-man defense. As Badgers senior star guard Jordan Taylor said, "I've never played a second of zone defense since I've been at Wisconsin. Coach said he played it one time and got scored on, so, he won't go back to it."
That is music to the ears of Waiters, a rugged 6-4, 215-pound guard who averages 12.7 points on 48.2-percent shooting and can outmuscle opponents or bomb it over them as he did when making seven threes in a 28-point effort against Cincinnati in the Big East Tournament.
"I love man-to-man," Waiters said Wednesday. "It's best for us. Any team that goes man-to-man, it's hard for them to stop us. It works in our favor."
Syracuse struggled a bit in its opening game when North Carolina Asheville played zone. "I don't like zone," Waiters admitted. "I see why teams hate our zone. I feel their pain, man."
Of course, Boeheim's 2-3 matchup zone is famous as one of the best defenses in the country. So it's likely the two schools will play a physical, defensive battle in which Wisconsin tries to slow tempo while Syracuse attempts to speed it up. The Orange might not be as effective without the shot-blocking of 7-foot Fab Melo, who has been declared ineligible for tourney play for unspecified reasons.
But Melo's loss hasn't mattered as much for Syracuse as Waiters' 19.0-point average in four postseason games. Reflecting on how things have changed from a year ago, Waiters said, "Any freshman that's struggling, I guarantee you they second-guess themselves about going to that school. I stuck with my decision. It motivated me to get better and prove that I can play here and that I can come off the bench and have an impact like I've done this year."
Waiters said his mother, Monique Brown, changed his attitude by encouraging him to become a better person off the court. Now, he's a better teammate on it.
"I'm happy," Waiters said. "I've never been a part of a team like this where every guy is unselfish. It's bigger than basketball as far as brotherhood with everything we've faced this year with adversity off the court. It didn't bring us down. This is the best team in the world, best teammates also."
