Morning News: Syracuse Offense Struggles, SMU Gets A Reality Check, Southern Miss Wins At North Dakota St

Florida fans are getting a little bit sick of this.

Shooting (And The New Rules) If you missed it last night, I wrote a long post about shooting percentages and the new "Jay Bilas Rules". Read it here. Warning: Excel plots. Spoiler alert: The idea that shooting has gotten worse in recent years is a myth.

Syracuse Offense Struggles I've had some Syracuse fans angry at me for being down on their team (while they're ranked in the Top 10 in the human polls, I have them as a 7 seed), but their six point win over St. Francis (NY) represented my exact concern. Syracuse is going to have a good defense this season, but they lack offensive playmakers. They finished 35.6% on two-pointers in this game simply because they couldn't create good shots. One game isn't proof anything, of course. But this game represents the fear for the Orange this season.

SMU Gets A Reality Check At Arkansas Mike Anderson teams are always significantly better at home than on the road, and so a win over SMU is not a shocker by any means. But it's a little bit of a reality check after SMU's 31 point thumping of Rhode Island. They are improved, but they're a bubble team at best. Houston transfer Alandise Harris was the star for Arkansas, scoring 21 off the bench. SMU struggled with turnovers (18), though that's typical for road teams at Bud Walton Arena. Both of these squads are potentially intriguing bubble teams, so keep an eye on both of them during Thanksgiving week.

Southern Miss Gets An Impressive Road Win It was a game way off the casual sports fan radar. It wasn't even on tv for most of the country. But Southern Miss/North Dakota State looked like it would be a good game, and it lived up. In the end, Southern Miss walked away with a 70-69 road victory. The difference in the game was foul trouble for North Dakota State's front line, which allowed Southern Miss to own the paint offensively. This marks two straight tough losses for North Dakota State, coming off the road loss at St. Mary's. They're a very dangerous team, but it's extremely likely that they're going to need an auto bid to make the NCAA Tournament. Southern Miss, though, will really like what this win does for their RPI. I don't think they're a Tournament team, but it's definitely a real possibility.

More Florida Injury Woes Between suspensions and injuries, Florida has been awfully shorthanded all season long, and that problem is going to get worse before it gets better. Kasey Hill has a high ankle sprain and will likely be out for around a month. Hill had been the point guard and primary offensive playmaker for Florida with Scottie Wilbekin out. Now? Florida doesn't really have a point guard. I'd probably just run the offense through Casey Prather. Either way, the Gators are running out of time to get their roster together before SEC play tips off.