MORGANTOWN, W.Va. – For 19^th-ranked San Diego State, Syracuse's 2-3 zone proved to be a riddle, wrapped in a mystery, inside an enigma on Friday night.
 
The Aztecs shot just 22.6% in the first half and trailed by as many as 27 points with six minutes to go in a game they eventually lost 78-62.
 
Nobody has played the 2-3 better or longer than Jim Boeheim has at Syracuse. It's helped him win 981 games in 45 seasons leading the Orange. Anybody who has even a rudimentary knowledge of college basketball has heard about the Syracuse 2-3 zone.
 
"He's the foremost authority on it," West Virginia coach Bob Huggins said earlier today.
 
Even freshman forward Jalen Bridges, who has never faced the Syracuse 2-3, knows a lot about it.
 
"I've known about the Syracuse zone forever," he explained. "When I first started playing AAU basketball, we put in a zone offense and called it Syracuse. We also called our zone defense Syracuse because that's just what they are known for."
 
So, what makes it so special? Why has it been so good for so long, and why don't more teams play it?
 
There are dozens of videos on YouTube about the Syracuse 2-3 zone, including several from Boeheim himself. In one video, posted in 2016, the veteran coach listed two simple rules he has for his zone.
 
One, on every pass, all five defenders must move. They don't just stand around like we all did when we used to play a 2-3 in rec-league games.
 
"We don't care where the cutters are, we don't care where the post people are and we don't care how many people they have in one position," Boeheim said. "(They) can have four (in one place) and one (in another) or whatever, we're playing ball position. Wherever the ball is we want to be in a certain position all the way around (the perimeter) and all the way back every time."
 
His second basic rule is to defend the 3-point shot with everything they have. That means the forward cheats up to protect the wings and the two guards put pressure on the ball to force it to one side of the floor or the other.
 
When Boeheim first began playing the 2-3 in the late 1970s, it was to protect the basket against all of the teams that had talented big men. Today, it's used more to pressure the wings and force the player with the ball to dribble down to the baseline.
 
That's where they want the ball to go because it creates an instant trap. And the reason why the baseline trap has worked so well for so long is because Syracuse has always had long, athletic wings that make it difficult to get the ball out of the trap. The key to the trap is making sure the offensive player remains contained, and those two long-armed, athletic wings are usually capable of doing it.
 
What also helps is the weak-side forward sliding across to protect the paint. If he's late, that creates an opening to get a shot opportunity close to the basket, but if he's on time it leads to a lot of turnovers by taking away the entry pass from the baseline.
 
In the meantime, the strong-side guard is required to defend the pass back out to the wing and cover the wing shooter.
 
If the ball enters the soft spot in the middle, then the 2-3 morphs into a matchup defense.
 
"They just don't stand around like in your typical 2-3 zone," Huggins said. "They raise the wings, they sink the wings, they change how they're going to play the middle guy, they'll pressure you and then they won't pressure you. They try and gap everything. 
 
"It's got a lot of man-to-man principles when the ball is in the middle of the zone, for sure," Huggins added.
 
"It's not even really a true zone," Bridges said. "As soon as the ball goes into the middle it becomes a matchup so the guy in the back will take the guy in the middle and everyone on the perimeter just matches up."
 
Again, what makes it work so well is the movement of the defenders and the athleticism and length of their forwards and centers. They give you false reads hoping the ball will go to specific areas where they can either deflect the ball or force a contested shot.
 
It's something many teams outside the ACC don't face on a regular basis, and that's why it's been so effective for the Orange in NCAA Tournament play.
 
There were times yesterday when San Diego State looked completely lost, particularly early in the second half when Syracuse had built its insurmountable lead.
 
According to Boeheim, the way to beat the 2-3 zone is by lots of ball movement and passing. The more the ball moves around the perimeter and the more it can be reversed, the chances increase of getting a defender out of position.
 
Conversely, if the ball is stuck in one place and there is a lot of dribbling, that plays right into what Syracuse wants to accomplish.
 
"(Boeheim) does such a great job of changing it up and when you start to attack a certain area, he does a great job of making adjustments," Huggins explained.
 
It's certainly worked through the years against West Virginia. 
 
Boeheim is 22-6 all-time against the Mountaineers through the years when the two schools played against each other in the old ECAC and then in the Big East in the late 1990s and 2000s. Boeheim's zone was effective in slowing down Gale Catlett's UCLA high post offense and his intricate sets, it was successful disrupting John Beilein's motion offense and outstanding wing shooters, and it was successful against Bob Huggins' offensive system.
 
Huggs' Mountaineer teams beat Syracuse just once in six tries – an 81-61 victory the first time he faced Syracuse in 2008. However, three of the five defeats from 2009 to 2012 were by five points or less.
 
Bridges said he doesn't remember those West Virginia-Syracuse games because he was too young.
 
"But I'm really excited for this matchup," he said.
 
Bridges and Emmitt Matthews Jr. are long enough to shoot over Syracuse's guards and forwards on the perimeter. Guards Mile McBride, Sean McNeil and Taz Sherman will also have to make shots when they get open opportunities, and forwards Derek Culver and Gabe Osabuohien must make good decisions when the get the ball in the paint.
 
Overall, teams have not been very successful shooting the ball against Syracuse's 2-3 zone this year. The Orange are allowing their opponents to shoot 41.3% from the floor and just 31.5% from 3, but Syracuse is giving up on average about the same amount of points per game West Virginia has this year.
 
Yet another riddle, wrapped in a mystery, inside an enigma.
 
"I don't know," Huggins said when asked to explain the two. "All through last night and this morning I've been watching film, but that's a question (Boeheim) would have to answer. I know why we give up so many points, but I couldn't even take a stab what they're saying and what they feel."
 
Sunday's game will tip off at 5:15 p.m. ET and will be televised nationally on CBS (Jim Nantz, Bill Raftery and Tracy Wolfson). Mountaineer Sports Network from Learfield IMG College radio coverage on stations throughout West Virginia begins at 4:15.
 
The game will be played at Bankers Life Fieldhouse in downtown Indianapolis.