During points in home doubles matches, Syracuse head coach Younes Limam stands in front of a bench on the left-hand side of Dina Hegab and Guzal Yusupova’s court, his eyes following the action. The SU head coach has to be “locked in,” he said, trying to find patterns that his players can exploit or prevent.

If an opponent prefers to go wide on the serve, he’ll tell players to move an extra step to cut it off and force a shot down the middle. If the opponent has a strong inside-out forehand, he’ll tell his players to attack the forehand side before switching to the backhand.

“I really enjoy having that thing where you sit with your players and you talk to them about the strategy and remind them of their strengths,” Limam said, “because there is a lot of stress during those moments and just trying to keep them loose and relaxed and execute basically.”

In most cases, Limam wants his players to avoid over-analyzing their opponent. He just wants them to play to their strengths. Since coming to No. 29 Syracuse (8-5, 2-3 Atlantic Coast) from Rice, he’s changed how the Orange prepare for matches, compared to how they strategized under former head coach Luke Jensen. Before, Syracuse endlessly reviewed film and put together detailed scouting reports. Now, the Orange make more adjustments in-game, Limam said. It’s given Syracuse its first two NCAA Tournament appearances, and its biggest win in program history against No. 3 Georgia Tech last year.

“Coach (Limam) is very good at reading our opponents,” Hegab said. “So whenever something needs to be fixed, or small adjustments, he’s really on top of that, and he gives us tips right away, so we can switch that.”

Under Jensen, Syracuse did “as much homework as you possibly could to get ready,” Jensen said. Jensen read the nuances of opponents were playing and point out tendencies. But he put more of an emphasis on pregame scouting and film review in preparation of matches. That helped decide how Syracuse would set up its own “offense,” Jensen said.

Then, to complete scouting reports, Jensen exchanged notes with other coaches around the country and created bullet-point reports to give to his players. It included basic strengths, weaknesses and expected performance through matches. He also tasked his players to create post-match scouting reports.

“There’s a lot that goes into preparing for those matches,” Jensen said, “which is a lot of fun.”

After joining the coaching staff in 2014 following Jensen’s departure, Limam hasn’t prioritized film review and scouting as much. While Limam still puts together pregame reports, he said it’s tough to set up a plan for his players when lineups aren’t announced until an hour or so before the match.

The level of detail varies by player, Limam said. Certain ones, like Hegab, said they don’t like to have too much on their mind before going into the game. Too much information about the opponent can alter a player’s mental state heading into a match, she said. For Syracuse, it comes back to “playing on its own terms.”

“The reality of it is,” Limam said, “we’re not going to change one of our players the way to play just to have a good matchup with somebody.”

— Staff Writer Andrew Crane contributed to the reporting of this story.

Published on March 6, 2019 at 10:53 pm

Contact Arabdho: armajumd@syr.edu | @aromajumder