Who the Orange Should Root for this Week

With one less game to play than the three teams Syracuse could pass in the standings, SU has a decent shot at moving into the top four in the Big East and grabbing the coveted double-bye in the Big East tournament. (That's a double-bye as in sitting out the first two rounds, not to be confused with the double-bye-pass procedure for Orange fans Derrick Coleman is hawking on TV ads for Upstate Hospital - also known as a "Heart Scoop.")

But first, don't forget last year's Big East tournament, when 3 of the 4 double-bye teams lost their first game, including 1-seed SU to 8-seed Georgetown and 2-seed Pitt to 7-seed Notre Dame. That said, it was the surviving 3-seed, West Virginia, who ended up taking the championship. I don't have the statistical evidence on hand, but I'm pretty sure it's easier to win 3 games in a row than 4 games in a row.

Here's how the final week of the regular season looks from SU's perspective:

Syracuse - SU's home finale is against the worst team in the Big East, DePaul. Syracuse is playing too well, and Boeheim is too paranoid to let the Orange get caught by surprise. The script says its a 12-6 finish in conference.

Pittsburgh - At 13-3, Syracuse can't catch them. The Panthers will ice the regular season championship Wednesday at USF before their regular season finale home against tailspinin' Villanova.

Notre Dame - Unfortunately, Syracuse needs a good game from that same Villanova team. 12-4 Notre Dame hosts the Wildcats before finishing the season at UConn. Those are two very losable games, and, if the Irish do lose both, Syracuse holds the tie-break thanks to their win over Notre Dame back in January.

Louisville - SU doesn't have the tie-break on the Cardinals, so their home OT win over Pitt on Sunday really hurt Syracuse's chances. They would need to lose out against Providence at home and at West Virginia. The Friars have lost six straight despite Marshon Brooks playing out of his gourd. At the very least, they'll give Louisville a tough game. A Providence upset would put me in the confusing position of rooting for Bobby Huggins on Saturday. (Speaking of the Friars, I would rather see a player like Brooks in the tournament then a crappy West Virginia team. I wish the committee factored in individual entertainment value. Ironically, Brooks is exactly the kind of player West Virginia lacks this year.)

St. John's - Again, thanks to a January win, the Orange have the tie-break over the 11-5 Red Storm. Unfortunately, St. John's will coast to the finish with games at Seton Hall and home against USF. USF is crap, and I can't think of any good teams Seton Hall has beaten this year, can you? What? What's that? I'm sorry, I can't hear you with these forks jabbed in my ears!!

------------------

So, the best bet for the Orange is probably a 2-game losing streak by the Irish. Failing that, St. John's would need one slip up. Louisville would need two.

If Syracuse stays at the 5-seed, they'll get the winner of the first round's 12-13 game. History demands that I remind you Connecticut LOST as the 12-seed last year. Hee hee hee... The last time Boeheim sniffed a "12-seed" it was in his stool after eating a bag of sunflower seeds! (Also, 2006 when 12-seed Texas A&M knocked out the Orange in the first round of the NCAAs...but that's not as funny.)

So even if Syracuse doesn't move into the top-4, they'll still be in a good position. As bubble watchers know, the drop from 11th to 12th is sharp in the Big East. Right now 9-7 Marquette is 11th, 5-11 Seton Hall is 12th, and 4-12 Rutgers is 13th.

Bottom line - for a week at least, and hopefully throughout the DePaul finale, Orange fans can relax and enjoy other teams going through early March Madness.

Syracuse's 2010-11 Season So Far: The Joys of Phase 6!

The underpants gnomes in South Park had 3 phases.

The moon has 6 phases.

The card game Phase 10 has...well, I can't remember how many phases.

And so far the Syracuse basketball season is at 6 phases. Here they are...

Phase 1: Sprinting the First Mile - Games 1 (Northern Iowa) - 9 (Michigan State)

Best Win(s): Michigan St (72-58) will probably make the tournament and Izzo could once again perform some March magic, but the Spartans haven't been the team we thought they were. Michigan (53-50) hasn't been great either, NC State (65-59) has been mediocre, and Georgia Tech (80-76) has been downright horrendous.

Worst Loss: none, although the 3-point win over the 2nd-to-worst Colonial team, William & Mary, was pretty stinky.

Player Who Made a Leap: Honestly? It was probably Scoop Jardine. Ricky's play wasn't a surprise but while everyone waited for KJ to dominate Scoop grabbed the emotional reins of this team.

Momentum: Soaring. Syracuse started the season ranked 13th and rode the Michigan St. win to a 5th place ranking. The 2-3 zone seemed to have picked up where last year's team left off.

Boeheim's Rotation: Deep. As early as the end of Phase 1, Keita had established himself as the best Freshman center, as evidenced by his 27 minutes against Michigan St to New Melo's 13. Waiters was getting more minutes than CJ. And Southerland and Mookie were getting a few runs in all but the toughest match-ups.

The Scoop Situation: His stats were up and down, but by the end of this stretch it was clear he was the general of the team. Would you believe Scoop had zero points in the opener against Northern Iowa and again against Cornell? It's true! On the other hand, he had back-to-back 23 and 19 against NC St. and Michigan St. He racked up the assists and steals against the weaker opponents.

Phase 2: Toying with Mice - Games 10 (Colgate) -13 (Drexel)

Best Win(s): Both Iona (83-77) and Drexel (93-65) are upper division teams in decent mid-major tournaments who could conceivably make a run to win their conference tournaments and appear in the NCAAs. Drexel was two games removed from a win @Louisville when the Orange hosted them.

Worst Loss: none

Player Who Made a Leap: Looking back this might have been the turning point in Brandon Triche's career at SU. Triche scored in double-digits only once in Phase 1, but did it three times in these four games. Since then he's missed double-digits only four times!

Momentum: Flying high. Syracuse wasn't pouring on the points in Phase 1, suggesting flaws on the offensive end a top-5 team probably shouldn't have. Against four easy opponents, SU scored 100, 83, 97, and 93 points.

Boeheim's Rotation: Very deep. Southerland was first off the bench, playing more than 20 minutes in 3 of these games.

The Scoop Situation: Solid. 19 Ast to 6 TO. His minutes-per-game dipped here, though, because the Orange were winning so easily.

Phase 3: Coasting into the Conference Schedule - Games 14 (Providence) - 18 (Cincinnati)

Best Win(s): In retrospect the 76-59 shellacking @St. John's looks great, but the Red Storm were a different team in January than they are now. The almost equally easy 70-58 home win over then-15th ranked Notre Dame was probably the best win.

Worst Loss: none

Player Who Made the Leap: KJ. Training with the Big Ball suddenly gave him range, making him a terrifying match-up.

Momentum: Peaking. 18-0 earned SU a #3 ranking, but everyone knew there were losses on the horizon - we just weren't sure how many...

Boeheim's Rotation: Stabilizing. Starting center New Melo got double-digit minutes in only two of these games. CJ was still nursing his injured ankle heading into this stretch; he didn't score more than 4 points in any of these games. Southerland's minutes started to dip. Dion's were up and down.

The Scoop Situation: Good, but signs of trouble. Scoop dropped to 2nd in ppg as KJ heated up from outside and claimed his rightful spot as top scorer on the team. Ricky, on the other hand, wasn't getting the ball enough. Throughout all the wins, Scoop's mistakes remained.

Phase 4: Reality Check - Games 19 (Villanova) - 22 (Marquette)
Best Win(s): none

Worst Loss: The game that shall never be mentioned.

Player Who Made the Leap: I'll give this to Ricky by default. With three double-doubles, he deserves slim to no blame for this ugly stretch.

Momentum: In flames (the bad kind). KJ was hurt. Rumors about point-shaving swirled. And Dion sat out the Marquette game for cursing at Boeheim during the game that shall not be named.

Boeheim's Rotation: Squeezed/Crisis Mode. When the going gets tough, Boeheim shortens the bench. Against Villanova 9 players played 8+ minutes. By the Marquette game that had shrank to 7, with Ricky, KJ, and Scoop sitting a combined 4 minutes!

The Scoop Situation: Debacle. He shot 33% from the field. Other than the Marquette game when he started to turn the corner with 13 assists, Jardine had 9 ast to 7 TO. Plus he was LITERALLY a train wreck in the Villanova game! Denzel Washington and Chris Pine couldn't even set him right!

Phase 5: Boeheim Presses the Reset Button - Games 23 (UConn) - 26 (Louisville)

Best Win(s): The 66-58 win @ #7 UConn prevented Boeheim's first ever 5-game losing streak and brought SU fans back from the ledge.

Worst Loss: Dropping the home game against Georgetown 64-56 was much more troubling than the Louisville loss. The Cardinals game, if you recall, saw crazy momentum swings. By the end of the game I was certain SU was the more talented team but didn't have quite enough time to dig themselves out of the halftime hole.

Player Who Made the Leap: CJ. Great point by my buddy Chris - Syracuse had two great glue guys on the 2003 team (Josh Pace and Kueth Duany) but (The Belgian not withstanding) recent teams have lacked those solid complementary players who will fill up the box score without Boeheim running plays for them. Right now and maybe in the long run CJ is one of those guys. He's like a lankier, more front court-oriented version of Pace. They even wear the same number!

Momentum: Stabilizing.

Boeheim's Rotation: After getting injured, New Melo finally dropped out of the starting lineup to make way for Keita. CJ became the first guy off the bench. Dion jumped out of the doghouse. Southerland and Mookie disappeared. As I wrote at the time, it felt like Boeheim was re-establishing the foundation of the season. The defense showed signs of improving, while KJ's health improved and Triche kept playing well.

The Scoop Situation: The Scapegoat. Until the Louisville game, Scoop remained ice cold on offense. Still, despite Syracuse fans calling for Triche to take over at PG, Scoop started managing the offense a little better, limiting turnovers and passing the ball well. His 20pts, 4-8 3pts against Louisville was also promising.

Phase 6: The Return of Optimism - Games 27 - present
Best Win(s): Syracuse caught Georgetown without Chris Wright and Villanova playing poorly. Of the two, the Villanova game was a tougher, gutsier win.

Worst Loss: none. Sure Rutgers took the Orange into overtime, but except for a brief moment after Ricky missed that late free throw, I never thought Syracuse was going to lose.

Player Who Made the Leap: Scoop! Especially if you focus on the last two games. When he is making shots AND dishing 6+ assists Syracuse can play with any team in the country.

Momentum: Moving into the passing lane. With Louisville playing Pittsburgh today, and with only a home game against DePaul left for the Orange, Syracuse is in great position for a top-4 finish in the Big East, earning the coveted double-bye in the Big East Tournament.

Boeheim's Rotation: Expanding. In the first half against Rutgers, Boeheim confidently moved players in and out as though he were facing a non-conference opponent. Against Georgetown, even New Melo saw important minutes in the second half. CJ was quieter, but Southerland re-emerged. And Dion seems to hit one big three every game.

The Scoop Situation: The stuff that makes you throw your remote control across the room? That's not going away. Ultimately, Scoop will make a couple terrible decisions that lead to SU's downfall in the NCAAs. We all know it's coming. Until then, though, this is a Scoop that Syracuse can go to war with. Like it or not, SU's ceiling is the same as Scoop Jardine's. The good news is, if he stays this hot anything is possible. Hopefully Phase 6 lasts a looooonnnnng time.

Predaction: Rutgers and Villanova

As we walked out of the dome after the Rutgers game, Sports Sauna Emeritis Chris and I tried to explain why SU struggled against one of the Big East's bottom tier teams. Was it the same old Scoop story? Well, yeah, he was typical Scoop. Then again, when the four guys around him all score at least 17 points, the point guard must be doing something right. Was it the same old zone-weak-at-the-top story? Mmmm, Rutgers did make 9 threes, but their 39.1% shooting from three was nothing compared to what Syracuse has been allowing in their losses. Was it Ricky's 4th foul and subsequent benching, which let Rutgers back into the game at a critical moment? Yes, that was huge.

Then I overheard some other guys talking in the men's room at the University Sheraton. (Ladies, that's where a lot of the best male thinking gets done - the men's room, I mean. Not specifically the one at the Sheraton, although I have done a lot of good thinking in that particular bathroom over the years.) The one guy said, simply, "We didn't shoot well tonight." Bammo. Epiphany. Maybe my thinking on this case has been very uptight. Syracuse didn't shoot well. Yes, SU's 43.1% shooting was only 3% off their season average. But if you watched the game, you know SU were missing a lot of shots inside. Plus we seemed to miss shots at the wrong moments, just when SU was on the verge of putting the game out of reach and just when Rutgers was about to make a run. If Syracuse shoots its average, the game doesn't go into overtime, and maybe Rutgers doesn't even make that late run, and everyone leaves feeling better.

They didn't shoot great on Saturday. They must shoot better tonight, because this is a nice win there for the taking. Villanova is ripe. The Wildcats lost two straight @ Rutgers and home to Pitt before winning @ Seton Hall and @ DePaul by a combined 5 total points. They needed OT to knock off DePaul Saturday, the worst team in the Big East. They are vulnerable. Based on the boxscore from the first time they met, here's what SU needs to do against Villanova tonight:

• Defend the three. The perimeter of the zone must be active. We know this. Boeheim knows this. Scoop and Triche know this. It was one of the last things my dog, Sydney Sue, said to me before she passed a few weeks back. "Rrrrroooowww! Defend the Perrrrrrimeterrrrr!" she said. (...too soon? I was just thinking of her because she hated cats, especially Wildcats.)
  

• Maximize second-chance points. Villanova is small. Syracuse is big. In the first game, SU out-rebounded the Wildcats 32-26 and grabbed 15 offensive rebounds.

• On a related point, keep Fair going. The last meeting came before C.J. Fair made The Leap. He played 10 minutes, took only one shot from the field, and grabbed only one board. His presence on offense playing off of Ricky and attacking the glass will give Villanova fits.

• Limit turnovers. SU had 15 in their first meeting, but it wasn't from who you might think. KJ and Ricky had 5-a-piece. Credit the swarm-ability of Jay Wright's defense which makes up for their height disadvantage. (You like "swarm-ability?" I just made that up! Jay Bilas feel free to use it, but you have to set up my dream dinner with Dicky V.)

• Limit fouls. Villanova made 22 of 24 free throws in the dome. Syracuse attempted half as many. Ironically, that was about the time Sports Illustrated ran that statistical analysis book excerpt about the key to home field advantage being referees' tendencies to make calls favoring the home team. I think Jim Burr and the rest of that crew must have read that article before the game and vowed not to fall into that pattern. Not that I'm still bitter...

Honestly? I feel like the Orange can do it. There are friendlier places than Monday night in The Pavilion, but as unsteady as the Orange have been, Villanova is playing its worst basketball of the year.

Prediction: Syracuse scores the same number of points as they did in the first meeting and wins, 72-70.

Apples and Oranges, Kisses and Huggins

Someone smarter than me once said, "Comparison is the thief of joy." I like that a lot. Take Wes Anderson movies. Could you sit down and make a strong case that The Royal Tenenbaums is better than The Darjeeling Limited? Absolutely. But what's the point of that exercise? They're both delightful. Worse, if you're comparing the two films while you're in the theater watching Darjeeling, you'll end up ruining the experience for yourself.

Or take this year's SU team compared to last year's team. Wes-Rautins-Uncle Aku-Ricky-Scoop-KJ was better than Ricky-Schoop-KJ-Triche-Keita-Fair. Obviously. SU is probably about the 15th best team in the nation, which can feel like a let down, not only after the start they had but also because Syracuse was so good last year. But +/- 15th is pretty good considering Syracuse is (as much as it kills me to say this in Ricky's senior season) in a transition year.

Then again there are times when comparison ISN'T the thief of joy. Like, say, when you're comparing this year's team to West Virginia! Check this out...


Think SU isn't trying hard enough...?
...Did you see that play early in the first when SU went on a fast break and 3 of the Mountaineers didn't bother to run down the court? SU ended up 5-on-2, getting an easy KJ lay-up out of the deal. According to the ESPN.com play-by-play he made that basket 6 seconds after the turnover. Six seconds! I can almost walk the length of the court in 6 seconds!

Displeased with Boeheim's in-game coaching...?
...How about that Huggins timeout 6 minutes into the game after SU had hit its first basket in 5 and a half minutes, and still trailed? What the...? It was a minute later when that 5-on-2 break occurred - the kind of play that SHOULD trigger a timeout from the coach. But Huggins couldn't call a second timeout so quickly after the first one. Or how about Huggins getting a technical trailing by only 3? Terrible.

Chagrined at Boeheim's motivating...?
...Did you see West Virginia's body language the entire game? They looked like what I imagine Hosni Mubarak might look like if he had been out in Dubai playing a round of golf alone this weekend, hoping for a moment's peace...only to realize he just putted his ball through someone's spit. (Topical humor!) Actually, here's an even better comparison.

Feel like SU lacks a great scorer...?
...Kevin Jones (13.0 ppg) is a nice player and Casey Mitchell (15.0 ppg including 31 against Vandy early in the season) can get hot from deep, but how far has Huggins dropped as a recruiter that he has no one to replace the brilliant Da'Sean Butler? He's got 5 players coming in next year, but none of them are in ESPN's top 100. Hey West Virginia's athletic director! I bet if you ask nicely, U of Michigan will trade John Beilein back to you in exchange for Huggins! (Wait...why am I telling you this? I mean...Bobby Huggins is the kindest, bravest, warmest, most wonderful human being I've ever known in my life.)

Disgusted with Syracuse's losses, especially against a certain team from New Jersey who I will NOT mention by name because that game was such a debacle...?
...West Virginia has lost to Minnesota, @ Miami, St. Johns, and home to Marshall. Marshall! Ha!

Displeased with Scoop's shot selection...?
...Imagine having Deniz Kilicli on your team. It's actually not that hard, if you've ever played a pick-up game with a big sweaty awkward white dude who keeps shooting jump hooks. You know the guy; every time he misses, he curses and insists that he always makes that shot, and that he'll get it going next time. While we're talking about Scoop, did you know he's 19th in the nation in assists? 19th! Sean McDonough said so! Let's give him a little bit of credit for running the point at an above-average quality.

Feel like the season is headed in the wrong direction...?
...Be thankful Syracuse's trips to Villanova and Georgetown are sandwiched between two home games against Rutgers and DePaul. West Virginia has now lost three of its last four, and plays four of its five remaining games against ranked teams. While Syracuse fans are wondering what seed the Orange will get in the NCAAs, West Virginia fans will be pumping themselves up for their NIT home games.

So you see, this season really isn't that bad. I hope tonight's game brightened your Valentine's Day, and for once, let comparison be the bringer of joy!

Notent Notables: 2 More Losses

We're going with a bullet point format since I don't think I can formulate a coherent paragraph. I apologize if my sentence structure is red bicycle pork taco argh.

• Does anyone else throw up in their mouth a little whenever they see Kyle Kuric?

• The worst part about today's loss is the absolute certainty I have that Syracuse was the more talented team. The 48% 3-point shooting is ridiculous, but the Cardinals just played harder during that first half run. By the time the talent-differential kicked in, it was too late.

• What's wrong with Ricky? He was 1-6 with 4 points against Georgetown, and 0-0 in the first half today. He's not good enough to take on a solid double-team.

• Keita grabbed some boards today, but it wasn't a good match-up for him since the Cardinals had no desire (or reason) to attack the paint.

• 41 points combined for Triche and Scoop, which makes it that much crazier that the Orange shot 51% from the field, 45 from three...and LOST!

• Only 9 points from KJ. He hit one big three, but his slashing game was taken away by Louisville's 2-3 zone.

• The silver lining of this 2-game stretch: C.J. Fair made The Leap. His 2 game totals - 10-15, 23 points, 12 rebs, 5 off rebs, 3 blocks...and all of that without being a featured part of the offense.
  

• I saw the movie The Eagle last night. I disliked the acting, directing, and writing but I LOVED the bromance. I think in the off-season Boeheim should send Scoop and Triche beyond the border of the known world to retrieve a golden Saltine Warrior.

• I'm still thinking about what went wrong in the Georgetown game. There are 3 options. 1.) Boeheim shouldn't have taken that timeout with the crowd rising to its feet around the 8 minute mark. Things went poorly after that. 2.) Boeheim shouldn't have put Ricky in when Keita got his 4th foul. Things went poorly after that. 3.) The last time the game was tied at the 4-minute mark, Scoop shouldn't have thrown that bad pass to Keita and then he SHOULD have hustled back on defense rather than give up the go-ahead lay-up. Things went poorly after that.

• OK. I'll admit it. I was so mad at Syracuse's play at the start of the 2nd half I started watching The Fast and the Furious. My rationale: Paul Walker and Vin Diesel were working harder than the Orange. I was still flipping back and forth as Syracuse made their run.

• Before you start throwing shovels of dirt on the season, at least acknowledge that the Orange didn't give up. They all showed a lot of heart. And they will beat West Virginia in the dome on Monday.

• It feels like there is potential still with this Syracuse team, but something drastic needs to change to shake them up. Something more than Boeheim starting Fair, or taking Scoop off PG. (Anyway, he almost never makes lineup changes mid-season.) Look at Louisville; they're young and they've been decimated by injuries all season long, but that's just made them tougher.

• All that said, Louisville won't be playing on the second weekend of the NCAAs. Live by the three, die by the three.

• On an unrelated note, Rooney locked up goal of the year halfway through February. (Here's the video link, although YouTube will probably take it down based on Premiership restrictions.)
  

• That's all I got. Now if you'll excuse me, I'm going to go grab a drink and take a 4-hour bath.
  

SU-UConn: Boeheim Presses the "Reset" Button

Nothing washes away 4-straight losses like beating UConn at Storrs. Seriously, I feel so much better now. Sure, it was a hideous game. But consider the following and smile:

• UConn was deservedly ranked 7th, but the Huskies were outplayed throughout the second half. SU's biggest win of the season re-establishes their top-15 credibility.
  
• Jim Calhoun and UConn haven't beaten SU since February 2009. In that short period of time, the two teams have played a total of 6 overtimes against each other! It's true! Look it up! (Giggling gleefully to myself...)
  
• Boeheim now has 8 more career wins than Calhoun.
• After all that, SU is now 1/2 game ahead of UConn in the Big East standings, and two wins better overall.
  
• Except for the small contingent of SU fans, everyone at the game had to make the long drive back to their suburban mansions sad and disappointed. I can see them now, slumped back on their leather couches, miserably munching on grapes and brie, and shouting at their butlers to go fetch a second bottle of wine from the cellar. Typical UConn fans!

So I'm very happy. But how did this happen? How did we stop the slide? How did we get our first lead since we hit the first basket of the Villanova game, and how did we not fall behind for the entire second half?

It starts with Boeheim, the man who has never had a 5-game losing streak. He never gets too high when things are going good, and he never gets too down when the poop is literally hitting the fan. That matters when you're dealing with a bunch of knucklehead 18-22-year-olds, and running the gauntlet that is the Big East schedule.

As you know, the last four games were ugly. How ugly? Well, I'll answer that with a one-question quiz. Which of the following thoughts did I NOT have today before the game started?
A) There is absolutely NO WAY we are going to win this game.
B) This team's collapse and demeanor is starting to feel like the '01-'02 Preston Shumpert-DeShaun Williams season. (Side note: I hope I never again compare ANY SU season to the team that inspired the "DeShaun Williams impregnated Julie Boeheim" joke, that was hilarious to me and my college friends because of the small-but-real chance it could've happened.)
C) I don't know if I want to go to any more Orange home games this season.
D) Maybe Jim Boeheim's lost his touch.

Obviously, the answer is D. I'm an unapologetic Boeheim...um...apologist. That brings us back to what he did with this team. For four games, other than the 2nd half against Marquette, the Orange were barely competitive. So Boeheim calmly rose to his feet, walked to his Nintendo, and pressed the reset button.

Suddenly, the Orange were back at the beginning of the season, only wiser from the experience. Syracuse started the game slow (as they did early in the season). KJ, irreplaceable down the stretch just as he should be, got off to a slow start, which left the rest of the team to feel out their roles on offense. Into that uncertainty came the freshmen, particularly C.J. Fair and Dion Waiters (having checked out of Boeheim's doghouse). Both took advantage of opportunities when they came. For the most part, neither tried to do too much. Fair ended with 6 points and 4 rebounds. Dion, I thought, played his best Big East game with 9 points, 4 rebounds, and 3 steals.

Speaking of steals, the defense looked much better. Syracuse's 12 steals were the most since they snagged a dozen against Morgan State on December 20. Half of those steals were made by Baye Keita. I'll say that again. Half of those steals were made by Baye Keita. He benefited from more activity on the perimeter, harassing the Husky guards. But the Big Lanky (I like that! I just made that up!) deserves a lot of credit - he also had 4 points, 11 boards, and 2 blocks. How can you give New Melo minutes with Keita playing this well? Coincidentally, Baye Moussa Keita, literally translated, means, "New Melo's Bane."

UConn's 58 points was their lowest total of the season. Future superstar Jeremy Lamb had 22, but no other Husky scored in double figures. That includes, of course, Kemba Walker, who didn't score a point over the final 12:55.

Back on the offensive end, the Orange didn't score a lot of points (like earlier in the season), but against the very good UConn man-to-man defense the Orange scoring was balanced, from the Freshmen to the vets.

Ricky was still Ricky. 13 points, 13 boards, death and taxes.

KJ was, as I said above, crucial down the stretch. If a pharmaceutical company figured out a way to put "KJ attacking the hoop and getting fouled" into a pill form, I would be headed to rehab for drug abuse. I love it when he gets to the line. Give me more, KJ! Give me MORE!

Triche was very good. He got the Orange off to a strong start at the beginning of the second, hitting the first Syracuse three of the game, and following that up with a looooonnnng two that I didn't like him shooting...until it went in.

Scoop? Well, Scoop was still Scoop. Massive cojones. At 5:46 to go in the game, with SU's lead a precarious three and the crowd as loud as it had been to that point (and by the way, that is NOT saying much; I know the game was ugly, but seriously, UConn, you have to bring more than that), Scoop dribbled across half-court, spotted a seam, and decided to take it himself. He probably would have missed, but the shot was goal-tended. Two minutes later, more cojones. He bricked a long three early in the shot clock. Down the stretch, more cojones. He was 3 for 4 from the foul line. And he wanted to be there.

Boeheim got the team back to basics. The defense was better. The offense was good enough. The vets led the way, but the freshmen contributed nicely. It's only one win, but the ship has been righted.

South Florida is the next destination, and they WILL NOT beat the Orange. Then it's Georgetown in the dome, followed by a trip to Louisville. The Orange could go 0-2 against that ranked pair, but I think one win is more likely. After that, the schedule isn't easy. But Syracuse is now 19-4, and 6-4 in the Big East. 4-4 over the final 8 is very reasonable, and there is no WAY the NCAAs would snub a 23-8 (10-8) Big East team (not including the Big East tournament) with the expanded 68 team field.

Take a deep breath, Syracuse fans. We're back on track.