King Billy? Prince Jonny.
When Edelin played in Orange, he owned the court. In the most high school sense of the word, Edelin was the "coolest." Even though he was a late arriving freshman in 2003, I have vivid memories of Edelin, after fouls and before free throws, interacting with guys like Melo in a way that I'd never really seen on a basketball court. I'm not sure I 100 percent liked it, but it seemed impossible for me to ignore. I called him "King Billy."
I think Jonny Flynn has some King in him. Twice during tonight's second half -- at the 7:40 mark with Devendorf, and at the 1:40 mark with Donte Green -- he interacted with the other guys in a way that clearly indicated that he is the team's leader. I liked it. No. I loved it. Prince Jonny!
Devendorf was a pretty big disappointment for me. I felt throughout the second half that he was our least disciplined defender, and his crazy jawing as the game wound down clearly drew Tim Higgins ire. That's no good. I'm worried about him.
A.O. is a stud. Craig Forth with talent, anybody? Did we all catch the dean's list references that Elmore made on the telecast? Hells yes. Brains in the middle of the zone? Athletes everywhere else? That works.
Finally, and perhaps most importantly, I said outloud during the first-half that "We feel like UConn." Forget the competition. We looked fast. We were quick. We were making cuts and plays and hop-steps that past Syracuse teams simply couldn't. This should be fun.
Labels: Devendorf, jonny flynn, Syracuse Orange
posted by Chris at 1:26 AM
4 Comments:
Saw the game on Monday in the dome, boys. It was a hoot. The 3 back-to-back 3s Flynn hit in the second half? Amazing.
Thing is, they have just as many poor possessions as they did last year, where they settled for low percentage shots after one pass at most. So far, they've managed to hit an absurd number of them.
But they won't be able to do that against many Big East teams. It's a fixable problem, which is good. Much better than having to learn how to shoot. Yet they didn't manage to figure out that end of the game all last year...
--justin
I'm hopeful about our learning curve. As usual, Boeheim is right in scheduling a weak pre-conference schedule. With the youth we bring in year after year, we need some warm-up teams before the Big East. In this day in age, you are who you are in conference. If you end up a couple games over .500 in the Big East and win a game or two in the conference tournament, you'll make the NCAAs. Except in a year when the Big East isn't represented on the selection committee, while the other bubble teams around you are.
Also, love the "We are UConn" comment, except that I think UConn is a bunch of laptop stealing bastards, illegally recruited. But that's just me.
Yes, we score like UConn. That one resonated. But Onuaku can't hit a shot from beyond six inches from the rim. Foul shots were an adventure against St. Joe's. Jackson? No clue about that guy, he seems to take up a lot of space at some times and be absolutely a non-factor at others. Our big men, while better than we usually have, aren't exactly the Calhoun prototype.
Despite all that said, "we feel like UConn" seems like it's an accurate sentiment to me for some reason.
Our conference schedule notwithstanding, I do hope that we get to play A&M in the garden and that we show up for that game and for the @UVA match December Five. The lack of empirical evidence of a Big East team's superiority (or, I must concede, its possible inferiority) due to a dearth of actual matchups with other major schools in season has gone too far. I love my 16 team BE conference, but it does have its problems. I cite the British Royal family, RE: inbreeding.
Basketball and genetics. What just happened here?
Onuaku doesn't need to hit a shot outside of 6 inches if he keeps making 67% inside 6 inches. I think I'm more afraid of Ohio State than Texas A&M. Ditto Virginia. But all that will be clarified by my NCAA ultimate ranking...
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