Cheering for the Autumnal Colors

If Syracuse shoots well, Butler won't be able to keep up with them. After that, Kansas St is not a bad match-up without A-O. Their strength is their guards. Of course, THEY would be delighted at SU not having A-O. A big reason they lost 3 games to Kansas was Cole Aldrich's defense inside. But Kansas State isn't used to the zone. And no one is used to Wes Johnson leaving his man and coming across the lane to try deflecting shots around the hoop. Does anyone do that better? I'm not sure if he's doing it more or I'm noticing it more, but I saw it a bunch of times against Gonzaga, even though he only ended with one block.

But back to Butler... well-coached... low-scoring games... tend to exert their will in the 2nd half... they're not a mid-major Pitt, are they? Ultimately, though, I'm less nervous about this game than the Gonzaga game. The Zags might even have more talent than the Bulldogs.

I, alas, will not get to see much of the Syracuse-Butler game. I'll be in the dome watching the East Regional semifinals which, for some brilliant reason, were scheduled to overlap SU's games. And since the NCAA refuses to allow the dome to show the games on a large public screen, the best I can hope for is peering into a private box to catch the action. If you have my cell number, please text me updates! But here's my rationale: the worst case scenario is that Syracuse loses tonight. If I don't see that happen, it will be less depressing then if I did. If they win, I'll be able to watch them Saturday, although it will once again have to be somewhere around the dome.

Meanwhile, the Cornell-Kentucky game is getting just as much hype as the Syracuse game here in town. Last night I crashed a Cornell rally and shook hands with Ryan Wittman, Jeff Foote, and Coach Donahue. It was very exciting. Wittman is taller than me, Foote is much taller, but Donahue is shooter. Other than that, I didn't learn much. I think Cornell might be better than Northern Iowa (Dr. Paul, Cornell class of '04, thinks the Big Red are definitely superior). Say what you will about John Calipari, he's a good game coach and the Wildcats won't be surprised. Still, I really believe the Big Red can hang in this thing. Obviously, if they keep shooting like they have, there is no reason they can't. As an upstate New York team, Cornell is legally required to throw a zone out there on occasion, so watch out for how John Wall and Co. deal with that.

The Kansas-Cornell game when the Big Red played the Jayhawks tough is revealing. Wittman hit 5 threes, and Foote was able to get 12 points against Cole Aldrich even without Aldrich getting into foul trouble. Sherron Collins went nuts for 33 points, saving Kansas that night. John Wall is not quite as explosive, so I think it comes down to whether the big forwards for Kentucky, DeMarcus Cousins and Patrick Patterson, get it going. Foote is a nice player, but he won't be able to handle both of them without a great game plan from Donahue.

Go Orange. Go Big Red.

Still missing Lundari's brackets

At this point, we're more consistently out than we are consistently in.

Perhaps this is good Bracketology news, but I'm not sure: We're still making the "Last Four Out" list.

Three games to go, then the Big East tourney.

We're back in!

Syracuse makes Joe Lunardi's most recent Bracketology released today as an 11-seed.

We missed the bracket just before this one.

We're not making the NCAAs easily yet, Lunardi ranks us as the second-to-last entrant in the tourney, and jabs "Do you trust this team for more than a week? A game? A half?," but in it we are.

Celebrate!

Scoop Jardine scoop

Because I know you know to come here first for the inside info on SU sports, I did a tiny bit of digging on the Scoop Jardine situation. My source, who gave no indication that he wants to remain anonymous but I'll give him anonymity anyway because that makes it cool, tells me that what we have here may have been a curfew violation. My source has heard that Scoop was spotted at Kimmel food court at roughly 3:00am the night before the game.

This, of course, displeased Jim Boeheim, who was interrupted in his attempt to eat 20 Kimmel Taco Bell tacos in 20 minutes. Just kidding.

Many thanks to my source for that info. The only question I have is about the timing of the supposed incident. If Jardine was in Kimmel at 3:00am on Sunday, then how did Kristof Ongenaet, according to this Daily Orange article, know on Saturday that he would be starting. Maybe Scoop was in Kimmel at 3:00am Saturday.

Of course, I don't need to add that this is reckless speculation and does not jive at all with the practices of good journalism that I was taught at Newhouse (Hail to thee!). Frankly though, I hope the truth is as fairly harmless as this rumor suggests.

P.S. If you, like me, were wondering why we didn't see Sean Williams in yesterday's game, it's because Boeheim doesn't think he's ready for the Big East. That's according to a Post-Standard quote.

Frankly, I don't quite understand why Justin Thomas can get 3 key minutes, but Sean Williams doesn't get any while A-O (I love that nickname for Onuaku by the way) plays 39 minutes. Can't we get Sean in there just to give A-O a breather here or there? Of course, Rick Jackson only played 17 minutes...

Ah, but Boeheim knows what he's doing. When I was an undergrad at SU, Mike Tirico visited campus and answered a question about Boeheim's short bench style by saying that, with TV timeouts every four minutes, you don't need a deep bench. This year is certainly putting that theory to the ultimate test. I think the Orange will get away with it, unless they have to play deep into the Big East tournament.

"Tigers are orange" or "Orange plays like a tiger" or "Tiger Woods watch is on level 'orange.'"

Significant win for the Orange today over Providence. If you missed it, Scoop Jardine began a suspension for an university policy violation of some undisclosed sort. (I'll keep my ears open.) Thus Boeheim was forced to beg former SU point guard and current Providence assistant coach Allen Griffin to suit up. SU led comfortably most of the way, got tired and let Providence briefly take the lead, then came back to pull away for the win.

Ignoring the obvious (The Scoop Issue), there were a lot of good things about the victory. First off, Syracuse held court in the dome. Also, every game against teams from the bottom half of the Big East is must-win for the Orange, since they've yet to beat anyone from the top half. Free throw shooting was excellent down the stretch. (A-O unveiled a new sky-high free throw shot that flies suspiciously like a beer pong shot. He went 4-5 from the line.) Donte Greene put the team on his back offensively when he had to. And overall, the team rolled with a late run and gutted out an ugly game.

Jim Boeheim coached a gem. He has always shown a great deal more courage and trust than the average coach in playing guys with 4 fouls with lots of time left. He did that today with Harris and Ongenaet and it paid off again. At one time, I would have disagreed with the strategy, but after years of watching Syracuse, I'm buying into it. Even if the bench was deeper, Harris would have been playing with eight minutes left. That was a pivotal part of the game.


As for Tiger Woods, he's put the Sports Sauna on notice with his 8-stroke victory over a strong field at the Buick Invitational, his first tournament of the year. As I've said before in this space, I've been waiting for Tiger to return to his turn of the millenium game when he was winning majors running away. Maybe he's dialed in now after a couple tumultuous years (swing change, wife, dad passing away, kid). I for one would love to see it.

The exodus before the storm?

Syracuse's young stars Donte Greene and Jonny Flynn both make Chad Ford’s latest freshman-who-might-be-first-round-picks list. Greene looks like the sixth pick, Ford writes. Kansas State's Michael Beasley, Memphis' Derrick Rose, Indiana's Eric Gordon, Texas A&M's DeAndre Jordan and USC's O.J. Mayo are top five.

At this point, Greene looks poised to make it six out of six freshmen at the start of the first round. He's drawing some comparisons to Marvin Williams and Rudy Gay with his size, athleticism and ability to shoot. But the truth is, as a freshman, he's already having a more productive season than either Williams or Gay had in college.

Flynn is a “Other to watch.”

I'm not sure any of that is terribly good news for a Syracuse program that might, maybe, possibly miss the NCAA tourney for a second year in a row. (Lunardi was on Seattle radio this morning. He predicted Syracuse would be on the bubble the entire year). The Orange cannot be losing its stars, particularly if they aren't even stars enough to win anything.

Good news!

Boy did I hit the coffee this morning at work!

***

Just noticed Chad Ford's Stock Watch, and Donte Greene is nowhere to be found. As much as I'd like to see him get some credit, you know he's awesome, I know he's awesome... that's enough for now. The more underrated he is, the better. I'm still saying 50/50 he leaves after this year, which is pretty good these days.

Another note: Paul Harris was quoted in the Post-Standard as saying Donte Greene has been saying that he'll say. So we got that going for us, which is nice.

But please enjoy this year! Onuaku is going to be a star by the end of the season. Our offense has remained superb post-Devo. We've got nothing to worry about with the schedule strength. Overall, I think, if not now, then by the end of the year Syracuse will be one of those high upside teams that nobody wants to play. That's a pretty fun role.

Get Well Soon Devo

After watching the first round of NFL games, I checked Syracuse.com for any update to Eric Devendorf's injury in SU's record-breaking barrage last night. Donna Ditota had the scoop...the worst. Torn ACL, out for season.

Make no mistake, losing Devendorf is a crushing blow. As I suggested after the Virginia game, Devo was contributing a critical consistency to our young offense. We all know how emotional he can get on the court, for better or for worse, but none of us know the role he was playing as an upperclassmen leader in the locker room. Quotes from Johnny Flynn in the initial post-game write-up suggested that role was substantial.

The season has suddenly taken on an entirely new look. Somehow, seeing the "Junior" next to Devendorf's name on the pre-game roster diminished the transitional aspect of this season. Now Onuaku will be the lone upper-classman listed, though we all know he's a sophomore in function and eligibility. He and Paul Harris have the personality to be leaders, but the Orange are officially a young team, through and through.

The entire bench will have to step up. I suspect, with the murmurings that Harris will be moving to shooting guard, that freshman forward Rick Jackson takes the empty spot into the starting lineup. He leads the bench in minutes. Scoop Jardine, hidden by the glare of Johnny Flynn's brilliance, has a lot of promise. Boeheim has wisely played the high school teammates, Jardine and Jackson, together for extended periods. Look for that trend to continue for the short term, until both players get comfortable in the college game. Finally, Kris Ongenaet, who has put in terrific effort in his short minutes on the court, will also see his role expand.

As for wide receiver Mike Williams, don't believe the buzz that he will have a big role on this team. He had seven points down the stretch last night, but that was a blowout. I can't imagine Boeheim using him ahead of any of the three players mentioned in the previous paragraph. At the most, he'll get the kind of minutes Ongenaet was seeing to this point: a couple minutes here or there at the end of the first half or in blow outs, and not in every game.

It's tempting to think about next season, when Rautins will return along with Devendorf, and the youngsters will have another season under their belt. But that would be shortchanging the talent this current team has, and the fact that they are still very much in contention for the NCAA field. Besides, Donte Greene is already a lottery pick. At this point, I believe it is 50/50 that he leaves after this season. Harris and Flynn could also conceivably depart.

So while we wish Devendorf a speedy recovery and look forward to his return to the court, let's not miss out on the fantastic young bunch that are still playing. Make no mistake, this will be an up and down season. It already has been. But with Boeheim at the helm, a man who has seen just about everything, there is still plenty of hope in the dome.

Rhode Island

Apparently the A-10 might be good this year. On a night when Dayton upset Louisville, Syracuse was hit with its second straight home loss to an A-10 team with Rhode Island pulling one out in the dome (UMass was the other).

We've entered the part of the schedule where five straight games are on Time Warner sports, so I probably won't be able to watch them. I'll refer you to the Post-Standard's always excellent SU coverage, led by Mike Waters. Their front page blurb got the story right, explaining how SU had a decent lead with a couple minutes to go but went cold from the field. The lesson for the boys: finishing games. We are running out of time to keep learning these lessons.

The other reason we lost was rebounding, and the reason for the bad rebounding was Paul Harris had his worst rebounding game in memory, pulling down only two.

SU-Virginia

This is a rambling post, but I have a lot of thoughts about SU, as usual. Thanks for listening. You'll be rewarded at the end.

It's funny. Two years ago, I could probably write a whole column about how big a win this was tonight for Syracuse. After last year's NCAA selection committee (which, by the by, had no representatives from the Big East) ignored SU's great finish in the Big East and left them out of the field, everyone here in Syracuse knew going in that SU had a lot to gain from a win tonight. As Bud Poliquin put it on the radio today, this was a great "scalp" for our resume. Even though the Orange are led by Freshmen, you can bet that the holdovers made it clear to everyone that this game was important.

Just for fun, let's take a look at the official Sports Sauna pre-season rankings of the teams SU has played so far this year, as well as their current records:
Siena (3-3) - 61 - W
Saint Joseph's (4-3) - 206 - W
Fordham (4-4) - 143 - W
Ohio State (4-3) - 16 - L
Washington (4-3) - 86 - W
UMass (5-2) - 215 - L
Tulane (4-3) - 198 - W
Virginia (6-2) - 19 - W

That's a pretty respectable stretch of early season games. All winning records. And note that Ohio State's only losses have been to Texas A&M, Butler, and UNC (speaking of a tough early schedule).

In fact, I believe that schedule is a bit too tough for a team made up of mainly freshmen. I think 9 years out of 10, or even 999 years out of 1000, a team with Syracuse's 2006-07 resume gets into the tournament. Given the choice, I would have preferred to be 7-1 right now with lesser teams replacing UMass and Virginia rather than 5-3 with the scheduled loss at Virginia. Then the non-conference schedule would basically be a pre-season for the Big East, where we'd find out what kind of team we really are anyway. As it turned out, we won the game tonight, which completely makes up for those two losses anyway. I'm not sure if I'm making any sense, so I'll just say that I'd rather be a 7-1 team with a few wins over Siena-like teams then risk losing a handful of games with a young team that needs time to get ready for our brutal Big East schedule. Of course, it appears we're not going to lose a handful of games after all, and now we enter a stretch of games that should put us on a nice roll heading into the Big East season:

Rhode Island (9-1) - 262
East Tennessee State (4-3) - 81
Colgate (6-3) - 237
Cornell (4-2) - 180
Northeastern (3-4) - 254

OK, so Rhode Island has already beaten two Big East teams this year (at South Florida, Providence). I think they'll wilt in the dome. ETSU is off to a slow start. And Cornell has beaten Siena, but lost to Colgate in their quest to prove me wrong and steal the wide open Ivy League. A loss in any of these games would be a setback. Look for the Orange to be on a nice winning streak entering the New Year. Almost as if Boeheim planned it that way...

* * *

As for the game itself, it was very encouraging on a few levels, the most obvious being that we beat a team of Virginia's caliber on the road. Virginia fans will say that Sean Singletary's illness was the difference, and I am sympathetic. They were a totally different team without him on the floor. I've never been so impressed by a supposed scoring machine who only had 10 points on 3 of 14 shooting. They guy is a leader, and UVA will go as far as he takes them.

At the same time, I do think the game revealed SU to be the better team. The Virginia crowd was great, and the players really fed off the emotion of that building. It's easy to see why that place is such a home court advantage, even through the TV set. But the young Freshmen, who until now had played only in the dome and the home away from the dome (MSG), battled through. Other than the start of the game, they didn't have any incredibly hot stretches to keep the crowd out of it. They just took care of business.

When your best rebounder is your small forward, you're either a very good rebounding team or a very bad rebounding team. SU is a very good rebounding team. That's an unbelievable luxury to have, and a nice safety net for a young team.

Looking ahead to this game, I wondered if the Orange might be better off starting the game right off with man-to-man defense, just to try to keep Virginia from getting hot right away from three-point range. Of course, Boeheim is a man of routine. He always starts in zone. And of course, it worked. In fact, other then when one of the best PG's in the country wasn't hyperventilating, the zone was the best it's looked all year.

Eric Devendorf is going to go down as the least-liked excellent player the Orange have ever had. Orange fans, search your feelings. You know it to be true. You're not that crazy about him handling the ball, right? You're not comfortable when he drives the lane, are you? And you'd much rather Greene, Flynn, or even Harris shoot the three, yeah? Well guess what. Devo is our most consistent player. He's a lock for 15-20 points a game. And I will bet you that doesn't change when the Big East starts. He'll even go for 30 one night and single-handedly win it for us. And yet, even I still won't really like him that much.


OK, I've vented. Your reward: here is a video we made this fall about the Arras's annual football match against my cousins.

Notent Notables

• I'm still shocked that England failed to qualify for Euro 2008. It wasn't until they drew the groups for the finals the other day that it hit me the three lions wouldn't be participating. I haven't seen a game since I left, and I'm still upset. I can't imagine what the nation is going through. If I were Steve McClaren, I'd go hide in Florida somewhere for the rest of my days. Good heavens, what a disaster.

• I think we can all agree that the NFL is the biggest sport in America. But that doesn't mean it necessarily has to stay that way. Thinking the NFL will always be king is like thinking the US economy will always stay strong or that America will always be the strongest nation in the world. Baseball used to be the biggest sport in the country. In the 80s, as I understand it, the NBA was bigger. Personally, even though I followed Michael Jordan religiously and liked college football more than the NFL when I was a kid, I've always admitted the NFL was on top. But now I'm sensing a change. I'm finally seeing Chris's point, that the parity in the NFL might have gone too far. Sunday Ticket isn't quite as appealing as it was 5 years ago because the number of worthwhile teams has dropped. I still like tuning in when all the games are ending, in case it gets exciting, but most of the afternoon the games don't have my attention. Don't get me wrong, I think the playoffs are going to be amazing this year. But I think the overall quality of the product has slipped...

• ...while the NBA is looking better. I think the number of worthwhile teams is growing this year. I also think that with the Big Three in Boston and Dwight Howard's emergence as an all-time superstar in Orlando, the East has legitimate contenders this year. In fact, I think more teams can realistically win the NBA championship than the Super Bowl. Count 'em yourself. The NBA is coming back, folks. I'm intrigued.

• College Football will always have its base with the Solid South, but the lack of a tournament is really killing it. This season has been the most exciting one that I can ever remember. It is true that the significance of the upsets would have been lessened slightly by a post-season playoff. But ask yourself this: how many of the huge upset games have been "appointment viewing" for the casual college football fan? For me, the only appointment viewing games have been the Ohio State-Michigan game, and the Missouri-Kansas game, both of which would have been on my list of games to watch even if there was a playoff system. (Think of it this way: if #1 plays #2 in college basketball during the regular season, are you going to watch?) My point is the exciting storyline of the season isn't making me actually sit down and watch more games. And I'm not really interested in any bowl game other than the national title. But an 8-team playoff, that included the 6 major conference winners plus two at-large teams...I'd watch every game that stayed close, and I'm sure other casual college football fans like me would, too.

• I have Jim Valvano's ESPY speech on our downstairs TiVo tagged with "Save until I delete" status. If you're in town and need a pick-me-up, feel free to drop by.

• On SU's loss to UMass. That was a wildly entertaining game. Well into the 2nd half I was still watching with glee. But about halfway through the 2nd half (which was, I realized later, when Donte Greene cooled off), I got one of those bad feelings that you get when you really know your team is going to lose. You know what I mean? Sometimes it can work in the opposite direction, and you'll just know your team is going to pull it out. The problem, I decided, was that we weren't playing Big East basketball, or Syracuse basketball for that matter. Syracuse basketball wins with defense. As spectacular an offensive team as we are this year, our defense needs to be a lot better. We're not going to win too many games in the Big East playing shootout basketball. I didn't see the Tulane game, but it sounded like we took a step in the right direction. I think we're going to learn a lot more about this team on Wednesday, in Virginia.
  

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.

SU's opener, via text message

The NCAA basketball preview is coming very soon. Until then, here's the text messages sent and received by my phone tonight, while SU took down Siena to tip off the season...

Me: Su on espnu tonight. You getting it? 7:03

Chris: Oh man! I don't know. And i don't feel prepared to write anything insightful on SU. We'll score. A lot. That's what I think. And we'll play more man to m. 7:05

Chris: Tv. yahoo says no SU. Blast. 7:11

Chris: We get final tomorrow though in HD. 7:13

Me: Greene, flynn, and deven all have threes. Oh Flynn just hit another. The young guys have tons of talent. Siena looks game though 7:16

Chris: Cool. Keep me updated. 7:17

Me: Yup. We can all score. Devo wants to be the guy this year. He has eleven. 540 to go first. 40 to 29 7:32

Me: 53 39 half. Mom says hi 7:46

Me: Jackson has a nice touch. But it's only 66-60. If we just give the ball to harris and onuaku they can't stop us. But fresh want to show off 8:20

Me: Tacos with 830 to go. Su by six. Flynn just hit a DEEP three. He has 24! 7 assists 8:31

Chris: Turnovers? Key stat for him, I think. 8:33

Me: Oh god. We're turning the ball over like crazy. That's the main story. They've got like 30 off turnovers. We're so raw but so talented. By ten with 7 to go 8:36

Me: Flynn broke melo's Freshman record with 29 [actually, it was 28]. Harris had 15 boards. 97 89 8:59

Chris: Wow. 9:02

Eddie Griffin Dead at Age 25

Oh no.

That was my reaction to the headline that just popped up on ESPN.com, "Ex-Wolves player Griffin killed in crash." Eddie Griffin drove through a railroad warning right into a moving train in the early hours of Friday morning. His body was badly burned and wasn't identified until today.

Chris and I remember Eddie well from his one season with Seton Hall, his Freshman year, and ours as well. He was an immensely gifted basketball player. In the one game he played in the Dome, we quickly agreed that he was the best player on the court. But he also had some personal problems that made him an underachiever.

In those days, Seton Hall was in the midst of its brief tenure as my most hated team in the Big East. A year before, PG Darius Lane and company had ended Syracuse's 19-0 season in the Dome. Then in 2001, they had again handed us our first Big East loss and only our second of the season down in New Jersey in January.

In February, we came into the Dome on a seven game home winning streak. Seton Hall, on the other hand, had struggled to a 3-6 mark in league play. Eddie was a microcosm of the team that year; talented, but disappointing in the end. Still, I knew that Seton Hall was going to give us a tough game. Darius Lane had it in for us.

Indeed, he matched his 20 points from the same fixture the year before. But it was Eddie who dominated the game. 18 points, 10 boards, 3 blocks, 3 steals. Jeremy McNeil was no match for his inside-outside game. Nor was Ethan Cole, for that matter.

In front of the largest crowd of the season, we found ourselves down eight with 10 and a half remaining. I can almost remember Boeheim calling a time out right around then. We might have even gone press. Maybe that was the day that Chris pointed out how good a team we were at pressing, an part of Boeheim's arsenal that has remained under-appreciated to this day. Whatever it was, we laid down a 10 point run to get our first lead of the second half.

From there it was a back-and-forth battle. The game report I'm reading says that there were only two points over the final 2:55. Classic Big East ugliness. They came on SU's final possession, when senior Allen Griffin hit the winning bucket. Our other senior, Damone Brown, blocked a shot on the other end and the game was over, 63-62. (No tacos.)

Griffin and Brown led the Orange to the second round of the NCAAs that year, a solid effort for a team that had lost a great senior class the year before. Seton Hall ended up 16-15, losing in the first round of the NIT. Eddie jumped to the NBA.

A year later, the Orange bottomed out with the DeShaun Williams fiasco of a season. We learned that good guys, like Brown and Allen Griffin, can help a team overachieve. Bad guys can ruin a season.

Eddie Griffin was always troubled. When a basketball player's troubles are so obvious that they reveal themselves in his and his team's performance, that's a bad sign. I knew very little about Eddie, besides that he had a drinking problem and had been suspended a bunch of times by the NBA. I don't know why he had those troubles or what his life was like.

I'll be honest, I enjoyed rooting against him. Seton Hall were the bad guys to me. It was natural as an Orange fan. But this is sad. I would have much preferred a story of redemption for ol' Eddie Griffin. Instead, at the same age as I am now, he's dead. I don't know what else to do or say, but tip my cap to Eddie for the one memory of the one day when our paths crossed.

A moment for SU football

Today's headline of the Syracuse Post-Standard sports page: "Lackluster Practice fires up Robinson."

The Donnie Webb article went on to explain that, after the Orange came off the practice field, Coach Robinson started his daily press briefing by saying that things were "Not that great."

Other facts from the article about the tirade:

1. He used no bad words
2. His voice wasn't any louder than usual
3. He had a blank-slate look on his face
4. His answers were cold and bordered on snippy
5. It wasn't a tirade

That's all I have to say about SU football for now. If I write more about SU football than SU basketball between now and Thanksgiving, it will be a miracle.

Hopkins to replace Boeheim

Andy Katz broke the story this afternoon. I'm in favor of it.

First, ask yourself this question: if you could have any coach at Syracuse right now, who would you choose? To me the answer is a no-brainer - Jim Boeheim. Yes, there are probably better game coaches out there. There are also probably better recruiters out there. But Boeheim is still a hall of famer when you combine those two categories. And in the most important category, is the coach a match for the school, Boeheim is perfect. He loves the area. He loves the school. He IS the basketball program. If you think that the SU program would be better with Coach K, Roy Williams, or whoever, you're crazy.

So I say, if it's not Boeheim, let's go with a guy most likely to be Jim Boeheim II. That's Mike Hopkins. He'll stick with the 2-3 zone, because that's the only thing he's ever known. And he's already a fantastic recruiter.

If Hop's a catastrophe, THEN you go in a different direction. I don't think Syracuse basketball will have trouble hiring a big name even if the program slips a bit after Boeheim leaves.

Of course, the question is how long will Hopkins have to wait? Boeheim is 63 right now. (I know, it's always crazy to read that, isn't it?) He hasn't said anything about retiring any time soon, but this will certainly increase the times he'll have to field the question. He's still reeling in the recruiting classes. I think he wants to make one more trip to the championship before he's done. But is he really going to keep going to 70? I'll put the over/under at 5 years. And yes, I think we'll go to the Final Four once in that time.
_________________________________________

After I wrote that, something else occurred to me. Boeheim and Jim Calhoun are currently tied for win total. What if they're waiting each other out so they can be ahead on the final list? Jim Calhoun just turned 65 on May 10. And honestly, I think Boeheim, after a rough start, is aging a little bit better than his counterpart...

Stunned

I'm devastated. Usually, you know if you are on the bubble. What the hell happened? It’s taken me a day to get on my feet.

Didn’t we get some “lock” status after the Georgetown win? Weren’t we basically assured a spot after winning a game in the Big East tourney? What? Where?

A 2-seed in the NIT? In the south? Holy hell. West Virginia got a one-seed over us! Clemson, too! Clearly, the NIT expected our 2-seed slot to go to Arkansas. They were as surprised as the rest of us.

I think there are two possible lessons here:
1) 16-team conferences don’t work. For SOS purposes, we depend on the teams we play twice, and when UConn sucks, and we split with subpar Villanova and St. John squads, our poor out-of-conference performance becomes painfully obvious.
2) Joe Lunardi is falliable. And so are the rest of them, I guess. Because I was so confident in our resume, I didn’t even watch the selection show. Whoops.

To make things worse, I think this team was easily better than last year’s, and quite possibly better than the team that featured Warrick. This year’s team was also quite likeable, but that doesn’t seem very unique at all. Evem though I love this year’s batch of players, I would have been more disappointed if Gerry had missed out his senior year than Demitris, Terrance and Darryl.

...So, anyway, next year. Right?

Half-time: SU v. ND

Halftime of the Notre Dame game and you know what? For the first time all season long, I'm content with this team.

First of all, up by three against the #16 team in the country in the post-season...AND our best scorer has one point. Anyone would take that.

But it's more than just this game that I'm content about. I went to one game while I was home over Christmas, against lowly St. Bonaventure (no offense Brian). We beat them, but the way that we beat them was just SO unconvincing. Even in victory, we were not a good team.

It took us a while: even a month ago I was still feeling crummy about this team. But since then, Jimmy's got them into shape. The only thing I feel is completely wrong with this team is an injury: Roberts's knee. Here's what's right:

Watkins: right now he's got 6 points and 4 boards, and he's playing great defense. At the end of his career, we have to be pretty pleased with what he's given Syracuse. The best Orange center since Etan Thomas.

Roberts: How much will we miss his energy on the court? The enduring image in my mind will be him pointing in one direction while the ref points in the other. I feel like that happens every other game. Right now he's gutting out 6 points and 10(!) boards.

Rautins: See Fyall yesterday. But also see that pass he whipped inside to one of the big guys in this game? (Jay Bilas compared it to Moses Malone.) And see that full-court pass he made to Watkins to punish Notre Dame for their botched fast break? Apparently, those are the types of plays his dad made. We appreciate his three point shooting now, but we're only starting to appreciate his all-around play. Exciting!

Devendorf: Finally, FINALLY settling down at the point. Right now I love the way he's prioritizing his game: 1st get teammates involved, 2nd drive to the hoop, 3rd shoot the three. Perfect, Eric. PERFECT. Keep it right there. That's FINE.

Harris: Leading Syracuse with 9 points right now. Early in the season he gave us a few tastes of his brilliance, but that was against lesser opponents. Now we're getting those same tastes against quality teams. I'm excited. Even if it does mean people will do a double-take when I introduce myself around Syracuse from now on.

Wright: At the very least, he's looked good against Notre Dame. Arguably the biggest play of the first half was Russell Carter's 3rd foul, caused by Wright's speed and aggressiveness on the break. That's the intelligent use of speed we need to see more of from him, in the 1+ year he has left.

Nichols: To be fair to Fyall, who is picking the last bit of meat off the crow on his plate right now, no one really saw this season coming from Nichols. And coming into the year, Roberts was supposed to be the go to guy. And maybe that's the reason why it took so long for this team to click. But they're clicking now.

And I'm content. Even if we lose this game to the Irish and get bounced in the first round of the NCAA, at least we'll go down playing our very best. It's nice to feel good about the Orange.

Big East draw

Interesting draw for the Orange in the Big East tournament.

First they'll face UConn. The Hukies season is probably my favorite storyline of the 2006-07 season. They're absolutely atrocious: 6-10 in the Big East after a putrid non-conference schedule. Those are the kind of seasons Jim Boeheim never has. The only thing that could make me happier is (as always) if during a game, while he was jumping up and down and screaming at the refs, a laptop fell out of Jim Calhoun's sports coat. I imagine Calhoun freezing as the game comes to halt and the arena goes dead quiet...then erupting into confused chaos as Calhoun flees the stadium.

Still, there are a couple other teams I would rather be playing. I can bash Calhoun until his last illegally recruited blue chipper gets arrested, but that won't change the fact that he plans a good game whenever he faces Syracuse. Luckily, the only team that the Huskies beat this season that finished above them in the standings was Syracuse exactly one month ago. And that was when the Huskies were still on the bubble. Remember: these guys were favored to win the NCAAs a year ago, but bombed out against George Mason largely because of poor chemistry. Somehow I don't think their motivation will be enough to beat Syracuse.

And let me just say here that I think the Orange are playing their best basketball all season. I even think they outplayed Villanova, only losing because of Villanova's ridiculous free throw shooting (and ridiculously high amount of FTs taken). How good are we playing? Sweet sixteen good, I'd say. They just have to TCB* against UConn.

If they do, they'll face Notre Dame. This season's blowout notwithstanding, Syracuse has owned the Irish in recent years. Plus, rule #2 of conference college basketball applies:
1.) It's nearly impossible to beat a team three times in a season, no matter how bad they are and how bad you are.
2.) If you embarass a solid team in the first meeting, expect to get your comeuppance in the second.

Homer: Oh, Lisa, you saved me! And after all the bad things I said about you.
Lisa: What bad things? Why?
Homer: Oh, Lisa, the important thing is I didn't get my comeuppance, and I never will.
Lisa: (notices the restauranteurs massing) Uh...Dad?
Homer: I know honey. The important thing is...run!
(fade to credits)
Homer: Oooh. Finally getting my comeuppance.

If they dispatch the Irish, Syracuse will likely get Georgetown. Of course, I recently discussed my favorable attitudes towards the Orange's chances against the Hoyas in this space.

After that is the finals. It would be remarkable, but if Syracuse does get that far, win or lose, they'll be considered one of the hottest teams in the country going into the tournament. Many will point to last year's early exit as evidence for suspecting another first round loss for the Orange. But last year Syracuse's most important player was injured. Terrance Roberts might have to have his leg amputated if he plays four straight days, but Syracuse has already learned how to win without him. So I pooh-pooh anyone who suggests the Orange might be better if they don't play four games in a row. The most important thing is to get as high a seed as possible, and the farther Syracuse goes, the better. I like their chances to go far.

Prediction: I can't ignore my own rationale. Syracuse loses by 11 to Pittsburgh in the finals.



*Take care of business.

Syracuse v. Cincinatti: Box Score

Wow. Barely won that one, eh? 77-76, final score. From 19-point blowout to 1-point squeaker. Ugly stuff. T.Rob (who dominated early, see link) and Watkins had an awful second half — two FG attempts, 1 point — and SU almost dropped the ball. Well. A win is a win. I'm a broken record, but we need our bigs to play well. Clearly.

Box score:
1. Wright: 31 min, 8 pts, 7 assists, 5 TOs, 0 steals.
2. Devendorf: 36 min, 17 pts, 8 assists, 3 TOs, 7-8 FT, 4 fouls.
3. Roberts: 34 min. 17 pts, 10 boards, 3 fouls.
4. Nichols: 36 min, 22 points, 5 boards, 7-12 FG.
5. Watkins: 29 min, 0 pts, 10 boards, 8 blocks, 3 fouls, 3 TOs.

Awful line from Wright. 5 TOs against 0 steals doesn't work. You'd need 15 assists to make that line look reasonable. Four fouls from Devendorf scares me as he's prone to trouble there, but otherwise a great game. Roberts's line looks great, but he cannot disappear like that. Ditto Watkins. 8 blocks against 3 fouls? Awesome, if not for the second half collapse. Nichols just scores. Keep it up, buddy. Finally, team stats: Cinci put up 77 shots. Syracuse put up 49. Wow. SU turned it over 21 times, Cinci 8.

I cannot believe we won. Box scores, clearly, don't tell the whole story.