5 Reasons Why Syracuse Lost to Louisville

1. The Intentional Foul Call - Congratulations to Tim Higgins who reached 25 games that his officiating has cost Syracuse in the Carrier Dome. By all accounts, Higgins is a good referee. You'll see him calling games in the NCAA tournament. And I'm not even going to suggest he has some deep-seeded, Gottlieb-like hatred of SU. But he consistently makes bad calls against the Orange in the dome. This is oxymoronic but true; unless its malicious, you NEVER call an intentional foul when a guy is intentionally trying to foul at the end of the game! Supreme acting job by the Louisville guy to draw it, by the way.
2. Mike Marra - The 16 offensive rebounds undersized Louisville grabbed were a major factor, and a concern going forward (as they always are for SU fans). But one was worse than all the others. Mike Marra got that devastating offensive rebound off the missed free throw and then buried that huge three on the same possession. Four 3s total. Why didn't we guard him tighter on the perimeter? Maybe because he'd only made 14 threes all season??!! After Samardo Samuels (huge down the stretch), Marra is the savior of the Louisville season.
3. Louisville was desperate. Syracuse wasn't. - Rick Jackson, before the game: "Right now we're preparing ourselves for March, trying to get ready for the tournament... We want to be great in the tournament." Syracuse has played 26 games this season. Including today's game, they've yet to see a team that is better than them. They can drop a couple games and still get a 1-seed. People (not me) have been talking about them as title contenders even more than the 2003 team to this point in the season. Meanwhile, Louisville was coming off a loss to St. John's and, like UConn on Wednesday, needed a marquee win to bolster their tourney chances.
   
4. Mookie Jones didn't get enough minutes - Just kidding. Wanted to make sure you were paying attention. I'd like to see him get a run every now and again, but if Mookie doesn't play another minute this season it won't have an affect on the team's destiny. If you don't live in Syracuse, let me explain these Mookie Jones people. They're lunatics. And they might be organizing; just like the Raptors in Jurassic Park, they've figured out how to turn a door handle. They manage to call in to every post-game and weekday sports talk shows to the point where the hosts now burst out laughing when Mookie's name is mentioned. Until further notice OR the end of this season (whichever comes first) Mookie Jones is banned from the Spots Sauna.
5. Louisville's defense - What is the number one commonality in Syracuse's two losses this season? Excellent half-court defense. Syracuse has so many weapons, it's not enough for the Orange to merely have an off-night on offense. They have to be off for a reason. Louisville's full-court press didn't force a ton of turnovers, but it did shorten the shot clock in the half-court, where the Cardinals' inspired effort was the differene.
6. Syracuse's offense - Folks around here like to think Wes Johnson's 5-20 FG performance is indicative of him still feeling the effects of that tumble he took in the Providence game 12 days ago. I hope that's true, but I suspect it's more indicative of Wes's learning curve flattening out against some tough opponents. Is Wes capable of consistently demonstrating the kind of ability off the dribble that Kris Joseph showed us once again on that late dunk (the one that cut the lead to two before the intentional foul)? Or will he continue to settle for that pretty, NBA-ready jumper? The answer to that question might be the difference between the Elite Eight and the Championship. Meanwhile, Brandon Triche is in a slump, and his confidence seems to be faltering a bit, particularly with his three-point shot. He's hit 2 of his last 10 from outside over the last seven games. He turned the ball over 5 times against UConn, and played only 14 minutes today. My buddy Becker wondered if Scoop might get twice as many minutes than Triche from here on out. Bottom line: Wes and Scoop (ironically, the best and the worst of the top 7) are the two biggest question marks on offense right now for the Orange.

Five regular season games left. Even if Syracuse plays well, it could lose three of them. We circled this part of the schedule months ago, and now the Orange head into it playing their worst basketball of the season.

Geheyeheyeheyeheyehey! (grabbing collar)



OK, OK... let's not jump off any bridges yet. Here's some perspective from Rick Pitino. Click on his post-game press conference and skip to about 4:15 in the clip. It's good stuff, and mandatory viewing for all SU fans.