As the Orange hit the books for exam week and have a week without games, they're coming off what was a huge learning process on the court. Playing three games in six days last week excelled the team's learning curve, while fairly easy wins over Eastern Michigan, Long Beach State and Monmouth made it well worth their while.
"There are lots of little things, defensive things," says Boeheim, "we haven't worked on that press that much so there are some adjustments we can make there. There are some real different things there. There are always mistakes. If you make 15 turnovers there are 15 teaching moments."
"We did get a lot of reps," says Brandon Triche, "a lot of guys played and a lot of guys produced."
The first year players seemed to turn a corner in their seasons thanks to the busy week, including guard Trevor Cooney who hit five three pointers in Saturday's win over Monmouth. Freshman Dajuan Coleman was also very pleased with his 11 points and 14 rebounds.
"It helped me a lot," admits Dajuan Coleman, " and on top of that it was a lot of fun. I just wanted to score when I can and just rebound the ball, just play a great teammate and just get the win."
"It's a slow process," says Boeheim on Coleman's progress, "it's going to take time. He is slow in the post. He's just not quick enough when he moves in the post and it's a process. It's just going to take some time and adjustment from being a low-post player in college from high school. It's a different world and it's just going to take time. Everybody is just going to have to be patient and work through it."
The # 4 Orange will continue to work through it this Saturday night when they host Canisius.
