Guys,
Let me preface this by saying I had Butler last night and narrowly won. But Shumpert was dead on last night. I watched the game and both of those FTs were halfway down and amazingly came out. One was like a repeat of the other. He didn't shoot them badly, back rimming or side rimming. Shumpert was in the zone all night the same way he was vs. St. Bonny. His 3-point touch is back and Syracuse was foolish in not pumping the ball to him. Selfish Deshaun Williams would have to get his every once in a while and go one on two to try and score and throw possessions away. If the Orange patiently ran the offense through Shumpert, they would've won easily, because Butler had no match for Shumpert. He either got scored or fouled on nearly every touch. I blame Boeheim for that. Defensively, the Syracuse zone stymied Butler in the 2nd half and Butler was literally just passing the ball around at the top of the key 30 feet from the basket for 30 seconds each possession before they would pump up a desperation 3. Butler had zero inside game and couldn't even pass the ball to the interior. They were staggering down the stretch and if it wasn't for a few big individual plays (especially the small guard on Butler, Jackson I think it was, who was smart enough to pump fake on a three-pointer with under a minute left and draw a foul and nail all FTs), Syracuse would've gotten the win despite playing atrociously offensively.
Best of luck to all in the future and I think Syracuse might be a decent play at Richmond. Hopefully the Big East bias won't come into favor and Syracuse can get a few points.
Good luck to all.
Pipeville