Loss Number One: Wichita State

I watched the second half of Syracuse's 64-61 home loss Saturday to Wichita State. Annie, April, Rachael and I watched the ESPN U broadcast from a local sports bar with some Syracuse townie.

After being down as many as 23 in the first half, Syracuse closed the gap to 14 points at half time. The third quarter (if you will) was a sort of holding pattern, and Syracuse was down 16 points with 10 minutes to go.

"The thing is," I said when we were still down double digits, "Darryl and Terrance just have not gotten any better since they were sophomores."

Then, suddenly, just as I said that, Darryl pulled down a huge rebound, released the ball, and Josh hit a transition three. Almost that quickly, Roberts and Watkins both started playing well. Watkins had a number of vicious blocks down the stretch. He ended up with 7. They both pulled down a number of Man-Amongst-Boys rebounds. The two-headed Roberts/Watkins monster finished with 23 points, 24 boards and only 6 fouls. Impressive.

But we lost.

Paul Harris was fantastic. He scored 14 second-half points, mostly on hard drives directly to the hole. Demitris Nichols, even while 2-14 on the game, had supreme confidence, which seems good.

But we lost.

Now, a few days later, I'm tempted to believe that those last 10 minutes might bode well for the rest of the season. If Darryl and Terrance can finally keep it stuck in drive, and if Paul Harris is always this good, and Nichols actually hits a shot or two, this team could be Deep Into March good. My heart believes this. But, I mean, we lost at home to Wichita State. That cannot be good.

I'm optimistic. I'm not dissuaded. But, uh, well, there's a chink in my armor. We gots to win at home, boys.