Quick Reaction: Defending Scoop

I've heard several people blaming Scoop Jardine for the OT loss to UConn tonight. I have to say, I think the Scoop hate is going way too far. We all know the guy does maddening things all the time. He drives us crazy. But you're going to kill him for going for a game-tying three with 17 seconds to go? Yes, getting the quick two is the right play there. But how many times do teams actually do that when they're down by three with less than 20 seconds to go? Maybe...50% of the time? Maybe more, but the point is you see it pretty regularly. And it's right at the border of when you can argue it's time to jack up threes.

Plus, the guy hit not one but TWO THREES to end regulation and complete the comeback of the season! The bank was lucky, yes, but that's why the straight-away three is the better desperation shot. That last shot of regulation, though, was incredible. Give the young man some credit! We're going to hold Scoop to a 3-for-3 standard in the category of "3-point shooting with 20 seconds or less to go"? Absurd.

Here's the relevant play-by-play on the SU side after Scoop Jardine - the very same Scoop Jardine we're blaming for this loss - tied the game at 70 with 4:01 to go in OT.

3:16 - CJ Fair Turnover
2:49 - Scoop Jardine Steal
2:44 - Scoop Jardine missed jumper
2:40 - Rick Jackson missed dunk
2:39 - Kris Joseph missed three-pointer
2:23 - CJ Fair missed free throw (front end of one-and-one)
1:55 - Jeremy Lamb made jumper - 72-70
1:37 - Brandon Triche turnover
1:10 - CJ Fair block and rebound (!!!!!!!!!!! Glue guy!!!!!!!!!)
0:51 - Kris Joseph 1-2 free throws - 72-71
0:26 - Jeremy Lamb made jumper - 74-71
0:17 - Scoop Jardine missed three-pointer

After that the game was over. Okay, so you need more than the play-by-play to evaluate the point guard, and he deserves some blame for no FGs over the last 4:00. But I see the Orange defense forcing someone other than Kemba to beat them. (Lamb was fantastic. We haven't heard the last from him.) I see turnovers from CJ and Triche. I see a disastrous trip to the line for CJ, and a minor debacle at the line for KJ.

And after all of that, Scoop is our goat? 20 points Scoop? The same guy who hit two ridiculous threes to bring us back from the dead?

Here's some other reasons why we lost:

• Boeheim's subs. Triche stayed on the bench too long. Dion was playing well, but if that was the reason Dion stayed on the court way too long. Triche's shooting was off, and his shot selection wasn't great, but he should have played the last eight minutes. Also, my buddy Short Paul thinks Boeheim should have left Fair in on defense. CJ might have helped on that Lamb floater play, but Boeheim put in Melo to get Ricky's length out to the wing. I'm not going to kill it.
  
• The officiating was atrocious. It went both ways at times, but two series loom in my memory. The Dion-phantom-foul on Kemba, followed by the Scoop-phantom-offensive-foul. That came RIGHT after the KJ 4-point play, killing the Orange momentum. And the missed goal tending followed by the three on the other end. Instead of a tie game it was a 5-point UConn lead.
• UConn out-hustled the Orange. Syracuse fans, if you want to complain about the team, feel free to hit them here. There is no way a team that has played 4-straight games and is smaller than you should out-rebound you 45-37. There's no way that team should be killing you on the fast break. Despite Triche's off day, despite the officiating, SU should have won that game. They didn't because of shot selection, because Kris Joseph is developing a nasty ball-stopping habit, and because they played like crap most of the night.

So lay off Scoop!

Predaction: Pitt-UConn, SU-St. John's, and UConn-SU

Let's say an alien scientist came to earth just to check things out. He'd study the earth - biology and geology. He'd study human history, religion, and philosophy. We can assume he's a pretty sharp creature, you know, since he's figured out interstellar travel. So he'd probably blow through those topics pretty quickly. It wouldn't be too long until he turned to popular culture. And not too much longer before he got to sports. And eventually, he'd get to college basketball.

"Who are the best teams in college basketball?" he'd ask.
"Well," I'd say. In this reality, I'm the appointed expert on college basketball for planet earth. Me and Dick Vitale, who become BFFs from the experience.
"That's debatable," I'd say. "But the objective consensus is that the Big East is the best conference in college basketball."
"Show me this, 'Big East!'" he'd say.

That's when I would pull out the Pitt-UConn and SU-St. John's games from yesterday - two great snapshots of what Big East basketball is like in 2011; indeed, two pretty good representations of what Big East basketball has always been.

On Wednesday, Sauna Emeritis Chris twittered, "If I could choose one sporting event to attend every year, I would choose the Big East tourney. NYC, top-flight talent, great rivalries"

Well put. Thursday afternoon, we also had a buzzer-beater, ridiculously physical play (well-officiated, it should be noted), passionate effort, top-notch coaching, excellent defenses, and an awesome crowd.

The UConn-Pitt finish was so good, it 1.) solidified a legendary season for a brilliant player, Kemba Walker; 2.) probably bumped Kemba up a couple spots in the draft, and 3.) revealed a fascinating coach-vs-coach feud boiling under the surface in the conference. The finish was so good, I've just thought of three more points about how good it was. 4.) I hate UConn as much as anyone and more than Georgetown, but I'm going to link to the video of that shot anyway because it was so awesome. 5.) I hate UConn as much as anyone, but Kemba Walker is the best late-game player in the NCAAs.

Finally, 6.) I hate Jim Calhoun as much as anyone and think Jamie Dixon is as good as any man-to-man coach in the nation, but Dixon was spectacularly out-coached on the final play. If you're Calhoun, you run a screen to try to set up a mismatch for Kemba. That's a no-brainer (although it's shocking how many teams don't at least try this when you have 10-15 seconds to run your last play). He did it. If you're Dixon, you want Wannamaker to do his best to stay with Kemba through the screens. You DON'T want Gary McGee on Kemba! Anyone but Big Gary! Yikes! McGee should NOT have switched off the screen. Who cares if some guy named Jamal Coombs-McDaniel is free on the perimeter for a couple seconds?? The only Husky I'm remotely worried about is Jeremy Lamb, and as scary as his talent is, he's still pretty raw. I'm no Jamie Dixon, but if I was, in that final huddle, I tell my guys not to switch on the screen. They switched on the screen, and the step-back was that much easier for Kemba. Long story short, you know a play was great when I'm offering a mild complement to Calhoun, although I think he looked up that final play on a stolen laptop hidden under his chair.

On to St.Johns-SU...

I watched the first half, which was great, and then followed the scoreboard on my laptop during class. (Don't tell Professor Basu!) Even following the score was riveting, and I could just sense it was an amazing game. I went back and watched the second half when I got home. Yup. Classic Big East.

So you know how good Fab is suddenly playing. And Triche, of course, was massive. I think the larger story is that Syracuse is playing really, really good basketball right now. After those annual early and mid-season losses, I don't always buy into the old line, "that loss will be good for us." But in retrospect, the flow of this season really played into our hands. As Villanova's season spirals out of control, it's pretty easy to think, "that could have been us." Nova peaked while the Orange bottomed out. Now Nova bottomed out and has no time to right the ship.

Meawhile SU is better than ever. Let's start with the Freshmen. Speaking of them, Baye Moussa Keita, literally translated, means "remember when I was the best Freshman on the team?" Also, remember when CJ Fair was the best Freshman on the team? As of today, it's 1. Melo, 2. Dion, 3. CJ, and 4. Keita. Would you be surprised if Dion had a big game today? Or CJ? I wouldn't. Dion has been quietly electric off the bench. He can shoot. He can drive. I'm extremely excited about him.

Triche's improvement this season is critical for one important reason. We don't need him to have a great game on offense every night, but when he goes off Scoop doesn't need to. Against the best teams, we need one or the other to be great, but not both.

Triche, along with the rest of the vets - Ricky, Scoop, KJ - look so comfortable in their roles right now, don't they? They've been playing together for 3 years or more at this point, and it shows. That is a huge advantage. Compare them to St. John's; even though they're led by seniors, two of the Red Storm's three best players were JuCo transfers. Plus, their coach is brand new. I would say that SU's experience trumps its poor team free throw shooting in late games. And by the way, Syracuse has its best cooler [Bill Simmons' term for a clutch late game free throw shooter] in Triche since Gerry. Why wasn't the end of the game as close as the rest of the game? SU's experienced talent beat out St. John's guts. I'll say it again - I'm not taking St. John's deep in my bracket.

And now, tonight's game...

If you haven't heard, ESPN U is showing a shortened version of 6OT from 1:00-3:00. Then ESPN Classic is showing the game in its entirety from 3:00-7:00. I've got history reading to do, but you can be sure I'll have the game on in the background all day.

Here are the stakes for tonight's game:

• Building the Big East Tournament's Mystique: Casual college basketball fans will be following this game tonight. If it is as solid as the games were yesterday, it will continue to shape the legend of this tournament. If it is classic, it will take the tournament's status to another level.
• Building the UConn-SU rivalry's status: This rivalry is a strange one, because everyone knows that for SU, Georgetown is their traditional rival. Yet everyone also knows UConn-SU has been a better rivalry over the last decade. Unless Georgetown hoops falls back into something like the Craig Esherick Era doldrums, they will remain rival #1 to the Orange. UConn will be #2. But consider this...how awesome is it that Syracuse has had two legitimate super-serious rivals for over 15 years? What other consistently great program can make that claim? Not Duke, since they stopped playing Kentucky, and since Maryland fell off the map. Not UNC. Not Kansas. Not UCLA. Kentucky-Louisville is probably the best non-conference rivalry today, but neither team has a transcendent conference rival, do they?
• UConn's momentum: They'll be tired if they make the finals of the Big East, and they'll probably lose to the Irish, but with a win over the Orange the Huskies will have earned a high seed in the tourney. Plus, they will have set themselves up for comments like "They'll go as far as Kemba can take us" and "Kemba Walker might be the best player in the tournament" leading into the NCAAs.
• SU's momentum: Hang on...we're going to be using block capitals a BUNCH of times in this paragraph. Make no mistake, this is a MUCH better match-up for the Orange than that impossible Pitt defense. Syracuse is the better team; they're taller, more athletic, and more talented. The Orange SHOULD win. Still, excuse me while I gird my loins: the St. John's win probably sealed a 3-seed for the Orange, and if Syracuse plays well and loses, they'll still take a lot of confidence into the tournament. There's not much to lose tonight. Having said that, a Syracuse win DEFINITELY locks up a 3-seed, gets people talking about SU as a dark horse in the tournament, and gives the Orange even MORE confidence. Plus, they'll be the favorites in the finals against whoever emerges. (Trust me, Notre Dame fans. The bookies will pick SU in the Garden against little Hansbrough.) Have I mentioned how much I LOVE Big East titles?

I'm excited.

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.

Two links

Interesting article in NYTimes about UConn's foul advantage. Since Syracuse also has a nice foul discrepancy, I'll avoid making the point that UConn, particularly Thabeet, plays dirty.

On the ride home, Doug "I hate SU" Gottlieb noted on the radio that Eric Devendorf was called the most hated player in the tournament. I didn't catch the website, but it might be this one.

Celebrating the Demise of UConn

I think after the games are done I'll punch out a Notent Notables for the first round, but I had to give the UConn loss its own blog. Big East pride, Schmig East pride: I am delighted by their failure. What's even better is this is becoming a trend. Calhoun's teams lack heart or edge or guts or maybe all of the above. Even the commentators mentioned that they looked exactly like they did against George Mason two years ago (and in all their other games in that tournament). I believe the word they used was "lackadaisical." In fact, from now on I'm going to refer to them as the Connecticut Lackadaisical Huskies, if I remember next season.

I think Calhoun is done as a motivator. The game just ended, and I think he shouldn't even go back into the locker room. He should just head to the press conference and announce his retirement.

Meanwhile, all the other Big East teams have won, and looked pretty good doing it. Louisville and Villanova have yet to play. I like Villanova as a sleeper, and Louisville is a hot pick as a dark horse final four pick. This is win-win for the Big East. Their ugliest, least impressive, least likable team gets knocked out, and all of the rest of the teams could make a run.

OK, enough gloating. Well, one more thing. I'd much rather be a fan of a team that played with a positive attitude through a tough season and kept playing better into the NIT, than support a team that played like poop on national TV and lost as a 4-seed.

I should mention: I don't like UConn.

Ding Dong! The witch is dead!

UConn's men's basketball team isn't ranked in this week's USA/Coaches Poll, the first time that has happened in 69 weeks.

What a weird (academic) year.

During the football season, Miami was bounced from a poll for the first time in ages.

I love it. These are our rivals struggling after years of dominating Syracuse. Too bad we're also sucking it up.