Running Log: Syracuse v. Connecticut
10:00am - Monday night my college buddy Dubbers IMed me to say, "I have given up on Syracuse basketball." It was 2:07am my time, 2 hours and 7 minutes after the SU-UConn game had started. I had been planning on avoiding the score all day Tuesday so I could watch the replay today, Wednesday, on NASN. So now it's time to find out if Dubbers has "given up" in the sense that he's confused by their down and up play, meaning that SU beat UConn, or in the sense that SU sucks.
10:04am - Huge redeeming factor to watching this game. McDonough, Bilas, and Raferty. Any time I can watch a game with ONE of those guys, I'm excited. The trio have been working together solidly for the past few years and have their chemistry down.
(Switching to game time)
16:15 - Paul Harris, already in the game, gets an easy put back. Remember when I said he'd be starting for Nichols by the end of January? No you don't? Thank goodness...
At the TV-timeout, they run an NCAA "going pro in something other than sports" commercial. It's weird to see that in the UK. Another thing about living here: don't even try to explain the appeal of college sports to Brits. They have no concept of why following your "uni'"team might be more excited than the professional version.
14:53 - SU is up 8-4. I have hope. If there was one person in the world who would IM me a random negative comment about SU immediately after they won a big game, it's Dubbers. Everybody who knows him are nodding their heads right now.
13:55 - Paul Harris rejected badly. He can get to the rim, he just needs to find a way to beat that last big man. Next trip down... he's SO active around the boards. There is still a lot of reasons to expect he'll be great.
11:39 - If you had told me any time during his previous 3 seasons that Nichols would be having the best season out of the three seniors, I would have laughed in your face, punched you until you were unconcious, rolled you up in a rug, driven/flown to New York City, and dumped you in the East River. But I would have apologized now.
9:30 - Syracuse is boringly up 16-9. So boringly, I've navigated over to ESPN.com, where the ombudsman has a new column up. Always interesting, although lately, if I may be the ombudsman to the ombudsman, I think he's leaning a bit too much on reader emails.
6:04 - Just replayed the Big East Quarterfinals from last year. You know, the one where Gerry hit the shot at the end? Right, that game. (It was against UConn. Gerry hit a 3 with about 7 seconds left to send it to OT, where SU pulled it out.) What a run. Meanwhile, UConn is leading 17-16.
5:05 - Suddenly, Harris is playing a heck of a game here, and the ESPN guys are loving it.
2:28 - Harris is now running the point. Fascinating. Orange have actually outplayed the Huskies in the first half. The 3-ball is keeping the Huskies in the game. 27-25 SU.
1:17 - Some freshman named Eaves just checked into the game for UConn. And he's from England! I LIVE in England!
HALF - 28-27 UConn. But the Orange are in this thing. They just need to get someone else scoring.
19:06 - Moments after Watkins picks up a cheap offensive foul, Harris comes right back and sneaks in a bucket while getting fouled by that big brute in the middle. 30-28 SU.
16:33 - Interesting nugget from McDonough. Syracuse is the all-time winningest team on the road in the history of the Big East.
14:20 - Both Roberts and Watkins are now on the bench with 4 fouls. You know what that means! It's Gorman at the five!
13:40 - I've never heard a more boring account of how a kid in Africa came to play basketball. McDonough: "Thabeet was a soccer player. He was passing by a basketball game one day. They asked him to play. He didn't WANT to play. Then he finally got talked into playing."
I think the explanation is obvious. He's mixed up his response to an interview question with the response Jim Calhoun told him to give to any police investigation he might become involved in. "I was just passing by a laptop theft one day. They asked me to take the laptop. I didn't WANT to take the laptop. Then they finally talked me into taking the laptop. Therefore, I should not be suspended from the basketball team."
10:49 - 46-46. Nichols has 16. I can see next week's Sports Illustrated now: "This week's Sign of the Apocalypse - Demetris Nichols is leading the Big East with 18.6 points per game."
9:20 - 50-49 UConn after a Gorman three. Every time UConn has looked like they were going to make a run, Syracuse has answered. That's tough to do on the road. One thing you can say about Syracuse this year is they've played well on the road. Could be a good sign for the tournament, if they get in.
8:05 - UConn is 11 of 23 from the free throw line. Syracuse has only shot 6 FTs. That disparity is so common in recent SU-UConn games. Usually I blame the referees, but haven't had too much to complain about today.
7:00 - 55-55 after a sweet Nichols mid-range fadeaway. Suddenly this is a quality basketball game. Not sure what Dubbers was talking about at this point. Even if Syracuse loses, they've done an amazing job at preventing a single UConn run on the road in a matchup that has been the best, toughest rivalry on the SU calender in the last decade.
6:07 - Roberts fouls out. The UConn fans do the old "left-right-left-right" (stolen from the Dukees, of course) as Roberts walks off. But Roberts starts messing with them, moving his feet fast then pretending to sit down and jumping back up again. SU fans behind the bench are LOVING it. The UConn fans are confused. Some of them start to cry. 57-57.
5:00 - Devendorf make his first stupid play of the game right on time, leading to a rare breakaway bucket for UConn. 62-57 UConn. Slipping away.
3:42 - Watkins fouls out. He and Roberts barely played in this game and it's taken Calhoun this long to figure out his big men are primarily facing Matt Gorman underneath. In about a minute, Nichols will be playing center. You know what? I do blame the refs for this one. No game should have that big of a foul differential. 63-57 is UConn's largest lead. 8-0 is their largest run.
3:18 - 44-28 rebounding edge to UConn. With all of Harris's effort on the glass, I hadn't noticed. But that's what you get when Roberts and Watkins are barely in the game.
2:42 - Shot-clock violation on UConn. Huskies can't close this thing out. 63-59, Orange with the ball. Aaaaannnnd Devendorf has met his quota for stupid plays in the last 5 minutes of the game early tonight (three). UConn ball.
1:54 - UConn misses a shot, Rautins gets clobbered going for the rebound. Out of bounds off Syracuse????!!!! HuhhhwhhaaaAAAA????!!!!
Marge: We're eating genetically modified vegetables! Look how big they are!
Homer: This corn doesn't look so big...
Marge: That's baby corn!
Homer: HuhhhwhhaaaAAAA????!!!!
1:19 - Huskies are doing a TERRIBLE job of getting good shots after letting the clock wind down. Remember this when you're trying to figure out how they'll do in March. Meanwhile, Harris has his fifth double-double of the year. 13 points 10 boards. 60-63 UConn.
:57 - Rautins called for a foul with 13 seconds on the shot clock just as UConn was about to take a bad three. Dyson hits both FTs to make it 65-60.
:49 - Devendorf goes over his bad plays quota. UGH! SU is not going to win this game. But I'm not ready to give up on the season. Harris had a great game. Nichols is still playing well. The fouls took Watkins and Roberts out of the game. (25 team fouls for SU to 14 for UConn.)
But the bigger problem is at point guard. Boeheim has to settle that position. He's lost faith in Josh Wright it seems, who started the season with such promising assists-to-turnovers numbers. But we the fans have lost faith in Devendorf, particularly down the stretch. Not sure what the answer is there. Either play Devendorf most of the game then Wright down the stretch, or just hope Devendorf gets better.
Final Score: 67-60 UConn.
10:04am - Huge redeeming factor to watching this game. McDonough, Bilas, and Raferty. Any time I can watch a game with ONE of those guys, I'm excited. The trio have been working together solidly for the past few years and have their chemistry down.
(Switching to game time)
16:15 - Paul Harris, already in the game, gets an easy put back. Remember when I said he'd be starting for Nichols by the end of January? No you don't? Thank goodness...
At the TV-timeout, they run an NCAA "going pro in something other than sports" commercial. It's weird to see that in the UK. Another thing about living here: don't even try to explain the appeal of college sports to Brits. They have no concept of why following your "uni'"team might be more excited than the professional version.
14:53 - SU is up 8-4. I have hope. If there was one person in the world who would IM me a random negative comment about SU immediately after they won a big game, it's Dubbers. Everybody who knows him are nodding their heads right now.
13:55 - Paul Harris rejected badly. He can get to the rim, he just needs to find a way to beat that last big man. Next trip down... he's SO active around the boards. There is still a lot of reasons to expect he'll be great.
11:39 - If you had told me any time during his previous 3 seasons that Nichols would be having the best season out of the three seniors, I would have laughed in your face, punched you until you were unconcious, rolled you up in a rug, driven/flown to New York City, and dumped you in the East River. But I would have apologized now.
9:30 - Syracuse is boringly up 16-9. So boringly, I've navigated over to ESPN.com, where the ombudsman has a new column up. Always interesting, although lately, if I may be the ombudsman to the ombudsman, I think he's leaning a bit too much on reader emails.
6:04 - Just replayed the Big East Quarterfinals from last year. You know, the one where Gerry hit the shot at the end? Right, that game. (It was against UConn. Gerry hit a 3 with about 7 seconds left to send it to OT, where SU pulled it out.) What a run. Meanwhile, UConn is leading 17-16.
5:05 - Suddenly, Harris is playing a heck of a game here, and the ESPN guys are loving it.
2:28 - Harris is now running the point. Fascinating. Orange have actually outplayed the Huskies in the first half. The 3-ball is keeping the Huskies in the game. 27-25 SU.
1:17 - Some freshman named Eaves just checked into the game for UConn. And he's from England! I LIVE in England!
HALF - 28-27 UConn. But the Orange are in this thing. They just need to get someone else scoring.
19:06 - Moments after Watkins picks up a cheap offensive foul, Harris comes right back and sneaks in a bucket while getting fouled by that big brute in the middle. 30-28 SU.
16:33 - Interesting nugget from McDonough. Syracuse is the all-time winningest team on the road in the history of the Big East.
14:20 - Both Roberts and Watkins are now on the bench with 4 fouls. You know what that means! It's Gorman at the five!
13:40 - I've never heard a more boring account of how a kid in Africa came to play basketball. McDonough: "Thabeet was a soccer player. He was passing by a basketball game one day. They asked him to play. He didn't WANT to play. Then he finally got talked into playing."
I think the explanation is obvious. He's mixed up his response to an interview question with the response Jim Calhoun told him to give to any police investigation he might become involved in. "I was just passing by a laptop theft one day. They asked me to take the laptop. I didn't WANT to take the laptop. Then they finally talked me into taking the laptop. Therefore, I should not be suspended from the basketball team."
10:49 - 46-46. Nichols has 16. I can see next week's Sports Illustrated now: "This week's Sign of the Apocalypse - Demetris Nichols is leading the Big East with 18.6 points per game."
9:20 - 50-49 UConn after a Gorman three. Every time UConn has looked like they were going to make a run, Syracuse has answered. That's tough to do on the road. One thing you can say about Syracuse this year is they've played well on the road. Could be a good sign for the tournament, if they get in.
8:05 - UConn is 11 of 23 from the free throw line. Syracuse has only shot 6 FTs. That disparity is so common in recent SU-UConn games. Usually I blame the referees, but haven't had too much to complain about today.
7:00 - 55-55 after a sweet Nichols mid-range fadeaway. Suddenly this is a quality basketball game. Not sure what Dubbers was talking about at this point. Even if Syracuse loses, they've done an amazing job at preventing a single UConn run on the road in a matchup that has been the best, toughest rivalry on the SU calender in the last decade.
6:07 - Roberts fouls out. The UConn fans do the old "left-right-left-right" (stolen from the Dukees, of course) as Roberts walks off. But Roberts starts messing with them, moving his feet fast then pretending to sit down and jumping back up again. SU fans behind the bench are LOVING it. The UConn fans are confused. Some of them start to cry. 57-57.
5:00 - Devendorf make his first stupid play of the game right on time, leading to a rare breakaway bucket for UConn. 62-57 UConn. Slipping away.
3:42 - Watkins fouls out. He and Roberts barely played in this game and it's taken Calhoun this long to figure out his big men are primarily facing Matt Gorman underneath. In about a minute, Nichols will be playing center. You know what? I do blame the refs for this one. No game should have that big of a foul differential. 63-57 is UConn's largest lead. 8-0 is their largest run.
3:18 - 44-28 rebounding edge to UConn. With all of Harris's effort on the glass, I hadn't noticed. But that's what you get when Roberts and Watkins are barely in the game.
2:42 - Shot-clock violation on UConn. Huskies can't close this thing out. 63-59, Orange with the ball. Aaaaannnnd Devendorf has met his quota for stupid plays in the last 5 minutes of the game early tonight (three). UConn ball.
1:54 - UConn misses a shot, Rautins gets clobbered going for the rebound. Out of bounds off Syracuse????!!!! HuhhhwhhaaaAAAA????!!!!
Marge: We're eating genetically modified vegetables! Look how big they are!
Homer: This corn doesn't look so big...
Marge: That's baby corn!
Homer: HuhhhwhhaaaAAAA????!!!!
1:19 - Huskies are doing a TERRIBLE job of getting good shots after letting the clock wind down. Remember this when you're trying to figure out how they'll do in March. Meanwhile, Harris has his fifth double-double of the year. 13 points 10 boards. 60-63 UConn.
:57 - Rautins called for a foul with 13 seconds on the shot clock just as UConn was about to take a bad three. Dyson hits both FTs to make it 65-60.
:49 - Devendorf goes over his bad plays quota. UGH! SU is not going to win this game. But I'm not ready to give up on the season. Harris had a great game. Nichols is still playing well. The fouls took Watkins and Roberts out of the game. (25 team fouls for SU to 14 for UConn.)
But the bigger problem is at point guard. Boeheim has to settle that position. He's lost faith in Josh Wright it seems, who started the season with such promising assists-to-turnovers numbers. But we the fans have lost faith in Devendorf, particularly down the stretch. Not sure what the answer is there. Either play Devendorf most of the game then Wright down the stretch, or just hope Devendorf gets better.
Final Score: 67-60 UConn.
posted by Prof. A at 6:53 AM
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