One of the big stories of this year's NCAA Men's Tournamenet has been Syracuse's run from Bubble Team to the Elite Eight. Students in my sports writing class at SUNY Oswego (about an hour from SU) have heard me say all year that this is the kind of SU team that always seems to make a run deep into the tournament.

(Note: I have two graduate degrees from Syracuse, but my rooting interests have always been with St. Bonaventure).

With SU, a large part of their success is always their 2-3 zone defense. But why is it so vexing to teams?

To find out, I asked one of my favorite sources from my reporting days - Albany coach Will Brown. It's a Twitter conversation, so character count issues apply, but it's addresses a question I don't see answered a lot in stories — why this zone is so vexing?

Great length, they extend it where it is almost a 2-2-1. Trap short corner. They play it for 40 min. They adjust. https://t.co/2BZ4FqI4Sl
— will brown (@UAHOOPSWB) March 26, 2016

Tough to get in a rhythm against it. Hard to simulate in practice when u prep for it. https://t.co/2BZ4FqI4Sl
— will brown (@UAHOOPSWB) March 26, 2016

Teams get impatient, settle for 3's. Don't foul alot out of it and don't give up alot of lay-ups. Play the %'s! https://t.co/JTQnPt0SIK
— will brown (@UAHOOPSWB) March 26, 2016

Cause not many teams play zone or don't play it much. They play it a little different. Tough to simulate in practice https://t.co/SxATBeJWZd
— will brown (@UAHOOPSWB) March 26, 2016