Rutgers-Syracuse Running Diary
According to "Bill Simmons' Rules of Life," whenever your college's basketball team has a player nicknamed the Waffle who is playing his final home game against the second worst team in the conference, you have to go home and re-watch the game expediently using TiVo in order to keep a running diary. I have to agree with Bill Simmons there.
1st half, 18:46 - DeVo hits a 3 to open up the Syracuse scoring. Thank goodness! If he doesn't, we would have been standing and clapping for 9 minutes of game time! DeVo would miss his next 7 threes, en route to a rare bad game for him.
16:15 Rutgers hits it third straight 3. I feel like if they miss two of those, the whole ballgame is different. They start pressing on offense, instead of the Orange, and things go Syracuse's way much quicker.
15:32 Kristof "The Waffle" Ongenaet enters the game to a rousing applause. The student section busted out several signs and Belgium flags in his honor. His parents were in attendence, all the way from Belgium. Good times.
15:15 A-O bounces the ball of his knee for the first of about 50 times in the game.
9:50 Harris gets a hard time from the ESPNU announcers for merely finger rolling a fast break bucket. Um...hold that thought, guys.
8:16 Rutgers ends a long drought of their own with an obvious 2 that the rotting carcas of the referee formely named Jim Burr thinks might have been a 3. The only think worse than Burr's officiating was Fred Hill's coaching. He apparently went to the Bob Huggins school of attacking the zone by passing around the perimeter for 20 seconds. This is why I was never worried about a defeat. Rutgers is very bad. I can't stress that enough.
2:40 Harris tosses the ball to himself and dunks it. I mean...just go look at the highlight. Unreal. Watch it again, and watch Flynn LOVING it. (By the way, that bucket made it 20-19 Rutgers. Neither team scores from this point until halftime. Hideous basketball.)
2nd half, 19:19 - A-O's first bucket gives SU its first lead since the opening minutes, which they won't relinquish for the rest of the game. Onuaku ended up having a great 2nd half. Good sign that his knee is better.
18:50 Flynn to Harris OFF THE $)@$!! GLASS. Niagara Falls HS 4ever!
17:40 A-O makes a free throw! And...its waved off for a lane violation. D'oh!
16:17 Harris buries a 15-footer. I actually like him taking those mid-range shots as much as anyone on Syracuse.
13:36 Flynn hits the three...and celebrates! Like a slave that's made it to the north! (Note: that's an SNL reference. I'm not racist. Thank you for your time.)
13:14 They just showed a list of "close call" loses for Rutgers this year. None of the games were closer than 5 points.
6:33 An UNBELIEVABLE alley-oop pass from Rautins to Harris, who launches his head band into the crowd. (That play is in this highlight.) Is it possible for a guy to make "The Leap" in a single half of basketball against an awful team? Nobody has missed more dunks than this guy in recent Orange memory, yet he's looking like he's playing 4-on-4 in Archbold gymnasium.
5:10 Meanwhile, The Waffle puts in his 10th point. He will NOT be overshadowed! We love The Waffle!
5:00 Waffle takes a seat to a nice ovation. Well done, Ongenaet. 5-6 FGs for 10pts, 7 boards, couple steals.
2:07 Senior walk-on Justin Thomas hits his first bucket of the season. By this point, the student section is beside itself with glee. (Is it possible for a couple thousand people to be beside themselves? There's room in the dome for that...)
1:49 Harris fakes a behind the back to the other senior walk-on, Jake Presutti, who is wide open for 3, and lays it in himself. Boeheim pulls him immediately. Unbelievable game...but Harris gets crazier on the bench...
A few minutes after he's pulled, Harris takes his sneakers off and throws them into the crowd. Flynn, Onuaku, and Devendorf follow suit as the game winds down. I immediately regretted not sitting closer for a chance to catch Flynn's sneaker in his last game in the dome. (Actually, the ESPNU commentators reported that Flynn would likely go if he knew he was going to be a lottery pick. Meanwhile, no one in Syracuse is even willing to consider the idea of him leaving. I'd say its 50/50, though not because he should go. He should not. Frankly, he has been inconsistent as a point guard throughout the Big East schedule, and it feels like his stock has dropped over the last month and a half.)
1:25 Sophomore scholarship big man Sean Williams gets a block. Good point in the Post-Standard the other day, noting that Williams would have red-shirted last year if not for the injury debacle. What a nightmare last season was. And yet, certain parties still blame Boeheim...
:30 After about 45 seconds of sloppiness played out at mid-court, the loose ball bounces to Presutti on the foul line-extended. He retreats to the 3-point line and banks it in! Meanwhile, sneakers are flying into the crowd... We're just going berserk. Just a fabulously entertaining second half, more than enough to erase the ugliness of the first. Good luck in the post-season guys!
1st half, 18:46 - DeVo hits a 3 to open up the Syracuse scoring. Thank goodness! If he doesn't, we would have been standing and clapping for 9 minutes of game time! DeVo would miss his next 7 threes, en route to a rare bad game for him.
16:15 Rutgers hits it third straight 3. I feel like if they miss two of those, the whole ballgame is different. They start pressing on offense, instead of the Orange, and things go Syracuse's way much quicker.
15:32 Kristof "The Waffle" Ongenaet enters the game to a rousing applause. The student section busted out several signs and Belgium flags in his honor. His parents were in attendence, all the way from Belgium. Good times.
15:15 A-O bounces the ball of his knee for the first of about 50 times in the game.
9:50 Harris gets a hard time from the ESPNU announcers for merely finger rolling a fast break bucket. Um...hold that thought, guys.
8:16 Rutgers ends a long drought of their own with an obvious 2 that the rotting carcas of the referee formely named Jim Burr thinks might have been a 3. The only think worse than Burr's officiating was Fred Hill's coaching. He apparently went to the Bob Huggins school of attacking the zone by passing around the perimeter for 20 seconds. This is why I was never worried about a defeat. Rutgers is very bad. I can't stress that enough.
2:40 Harris tosses the ball to himself and dunks it. I mean...just go look at the highlight. Unreal. Watch it again, and watch Flynn LOVING it. (By the way, that bucket made it 20-19 Rutgers. Neither team scores from this point until halftime. Hideous basketball.)
2nd half, 19:19 - A-O's first bucket gives SU its first lead since the opening minutes, which they won't relinquish for the rest of the game. Onuaku ended up having a great 2nd half. Good sign that his knee is better.
18:50 Flynn to Harris OFF THE $)@$!! GLASS. Niagara Falls HS 4ever!
17:40 A-O makes a free throw! And...its waved off for a lane violation. D'oh!
16:17 Harris buries a 15-footer. I actually like him taking those mid-range shots as much as anyone on Syracuse.
13:36 Flynn hits the three...and celebrates! Like a slave that's made it to the north! (Note: that's an SNL reference. I'm not racist. Thank you for your time.)
13:14 They just showed a list of "close call" loses for Rutgers this year. None of the games were closer than 5 points.
6:33 An UNBELIEVABLE alley-oop pass from Rautins to Harris, who launches his head band into the crowd. (That play is in this highlight.) Is it possible for a guy to make "The Leap" in a single half of basketball against an awful team? Nobody has missed more dunks than this guy in recent Orange memory, yet he's looking like he's playing 4-on-4 in Archbold gymnasium.
5:10 Meanwhile, The Waffle puts in his 10th point. He will NOT be overshadowed! We love The Waffle!
5:00 Waffle takes a seat to a nice ovation. Well done, Ongenaet. 5-6 FGs for 10pts, 7 boards, couple steals.
2:07 Senior walk-on Justin Thomas hits his first bucket of the season. By this point, the student section is beside itself with glee. (Is it possible for a couple thousand people to be beside themselves? There's room in the dome for that...)
1:49 Harris fakes a behind the back to the other senior walk-on, Jake Presutti, who is wide open for 3, and lays it in himself. Boeheim pulls him immediately. Unbelievable game...but Harris gets crazier on the bench...
A few minutes after he's pulled, Harris takes his sneakers off and throws them into the crowd. Flynn, Onuaku, and Devendorf follow suit as the game winds down. I immediately regretted not sitting closer for a chance to catch Flynn's sneaker in his last game in the dome. (Actually, the ESPNU commentators reported that Flynn would likely go if he knew he was going to be a lottery pick. Meanwhile, no one in Syracuse is even willing to consider the idea of him leaving. I'd say its 50/50, though not because he should go. He should not. Frankly, he has been inconsistent as a point guard throughout the Big East schedule, and it feels like his stock has dropped over the last month and a half.)
1:25 Sophomore scholarship big man Sean Williams gets a block. Good point in the Post-Standard the other day, noting that Williams would have red-shirted last year if not for the injury debacle. What a nightmare last season was. And yet, certain parties still blame Boeheim...
:30 After about 45 seconds of sloppiness played out at mid-court, the loose ball bounces to Presutti on the foul line-extended. He retreats to the 3-point line and banks it in! Meanwhile, sneakers are flying into the crowd... We're just going berserk. Just a fabulously entertaining second half, more than enough to erase the ugliness of the first. Good luck in the post-season guys!
Labels: Syracuse Orange basketball
posted by Prof. A at 7:53 PM
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