Syracuse students agree: MSG is filled with more orange than red.
Syracuse is coming of an... interesting win over West Virginia in the Dome last Saturday. After a week off, and the news that Fab Melo will be back in the lineup, Syracuse heads to very familiar territory in Madison Square Garden. Can the Orange earn another win in the heart of the Big East?
Syracuse, again, has Fab Melo back in the lineup. This makes Syracuse a huge and deep team compared to St. John's. And far more experienced as well. St. John's is now starting a five freshman lineup. D'Angelo Harrison is the stud of the group, leading the Red Storm in scoring. He just hit seven 3s in their last game against DePaul, barely winning by six at DePaul. This game is simple to analyze. Syracuse is bigger, more talented, tougher, and more experienced. This game is in MSG, where there is sure to be more orange than red. Unless Syracuse can't hit the ocean from a boat, and St. John's hits ever 3 ball they take, Syracuse is winning this handily in the second half. I'm taking Syracuse by 15.
This game is nationally broadcast on ESPN at noon tomorrow. I'll be in the garden taking in my first game in MSG against St. John's. I've been a few times for the BET, but never a regular season game. Should be a fun time. John will be joining me, so enjoy all the various tweets and such. We look forward to running into some of our favorite friends in the city for this one. Check out Rumble in the Garden for your St. John's news. I answered some questions for those nice folks that you can read here.
Labels: Basketball, Big East, Preview
West Virginia - Syracuse Postgame Reactions OR Poor Huggy Bear
0 Comments Published on 1.31.2012 by John Brennan
At this point, it is what it is
As if Syracuse fans needed more reason to think the national media wasn't giving the Orange its proper due, we find ourselves in an officiating controversy with the game on the line. I'll get into that more in a bit, but suffice to say last Saturday's game against West Virginia ended up being a lot closer than it should have been. In a hard-fought battle before a season-high 28,740 fans in the Carrier Dome, the Orange outlasted the Mountaineers 63-61.
- CJ Fair earned another start in place of currently-ineligible Fab Melo. This marked the third game Melo hasn't played, but the first at home. Melo was with the team and on the bench, but in what is colloquially known as "street clothes."
- Player of the game awards probably go to Brandon Triche: 7-12 shooting for 18 points, two assists, and two steals in 24 minutes of action. He was the most consistent player for the Orange up and down the court, and hit shots when it counted. Of note, he was also 2-4 from three and 2-2 from the line.
- Though he didn't have a consistently good game, and at this point seems to be wasting everyone's time in shooting from three, Kris Joseph proves to be the go-to guy yet again. Clutch down the stretch, Kris finished with 13 points (including 5-5 from the line), hit the boards hard with seven, and also added three assists, two blocks, and two steals.
- Jim Boeheim was riding Kris real hard from the start of this game. Several times, Boeheim could be seen questioning Kris as "What are you doing?" or "What are you thinking?" It's clear coach is holding Kris to a high standard, and wants the very best from his senior leader.
- Also in the Boeheim doghouse was Rakeem Christmas. Rak was pulled early on in favor of Baye Keita, but as Keita got in foul trouble, Rak saw more minutes until finally fouling out. His one rebound, one block, and one steal effort in 14 minutes on the floor was anything but good. You want to know why we miss Fab Melo? That's why we miss Fab Melo.
- For his part, Keita did what he had to do. He's not gonna wow you with his play, and he won't light up the box score, but he did what he had to do. In 25 minutes: four points, five rebounds, and "three" blocks.
- With time running down in regulation and Syracuse up by two, West Virginia attempted a three-point shot. The shot fell short, was rebounded under the basket by Deniz Kilicli, who kissed the ball off the backboard before it was blocked by Keita. The ball went out of bounds, possession remaining with West Virginia with six seconds remaining. A desperation three with time expiring fell short, and Syracuse hung on for the victory.
- Keita's block was, of course, a goaltend. Had the officials called it correctly, West Virginia would have been credited with a 2-point basket, the game tied at 63, and Syracuse possession with eight seconds to go. Syracuse could have scored in that eight seconds to win the game, or the game could have gone to overtime. Instead, the officials missed the call, the Mountaineers retained possession with six seconds, and failed to score. That's it and that's all.
- Syracuse was once again killed on the boards, 40-21. Those numbers get better if Fab's on the floor, but not significantly. This is a team issue that needs to improve if Syracuse is to go deep into the Big East tournament or the NCAA tournament.
- Syracuse was 4-20 from three for the game, or 20%. Many of the misses came on wide open looks. There's the school of thought that says if you get the wide open look you take the shot. There's the other school of thought that if you can't hit the broad side of a barn you shouldn't take the shot. Each school has its wisdom, but my biggest gripe here is that these wide open misses are resulting in empty possessions. I'll take two any day and every day, over zero.
With the win over the Mountaineers, Syracuse improved to 22-1 on the season, 9-1 in the Big East; West Virginia fell to 15-7 on the season, 5-4 in the Big East. The current Fab Melo absence is coming at probably the most opportune time of the season: while ND/Cincy was Saturday/Monday, WVU followed on Saturday, and Syracuse doesn't play again until this coming Saturday at St. John's. If it is indeed an academic issue, that's a lot of time to clear up the issue without missing too many games. So we all hope things are clear for this Saturday. Syracuse loves to play in the Garden, and Syracuse fans love to be there and make it a home atmosphere. Brian and I will be joining the legions of other Orange fans at MSG on Saturday, so keep it here and on twitter for coverage of that game.
Labels: Syracuse Basketball
Syracuse students agree: The season sweep would be excellent.
Syracuse bounced back from their loss to Notre Dame last Saturday to beat a pretty good Cincinnati team at home on Big Monday. Now the Mountaineers come into a fairly packed Carrier Dome for a Saturday afternoon affair that pits the fourth place team in the Big East versus the top dog. Can Syracuse handle the leading candidate for Big East PoY?
Syracuse is again without starting center Fab Melo. He is out until further notice, with rumors swirling that he could be back next game or in "a while". Moral of the story, only Syracuse University knows at this point. Either way, this is a winable game for Syracuse at home in front of a friendly and full crowd. Over 27.5k tickets have been sold for this game, which will make it the largest on campus crowd of the season so far. And that bodes well for the Orange as the Mountaineers have had problems on the road as of late. Specifically at St. John's, where the lost on Wednesday 78-62. WVU's freshmen players have not adapted to playing well on the road in Big East play as of late. Kevin Jones (20.9ppg, 11.6rpg), is their leading scorer and rebounder however. And he has played great all season. He scored 26 points in that loss in MSG. He will score a bunch today most likely. The key is to limiting WVU to as few possessions as possible and getting in an offensive rhythm. Transition buckets, which have not come easy to the Orange the last few games will also be key. While Jones doesn't turn the ball over that much, Darryl Bryant turns over the ball quite a bit. 56 turnovers to his 57 assists. The Turkish Thunder Deniz Kilicli will be tough inside, but his main strength is rebounding. Aaron Brown, off the bench, will be the best three point shooter for West Virginia. Moral of the story, if Syracuse wants to win they need to convert easy baskets and execute good half court offense. West Virginia's strength is their defense and rebounding. WVU will have trouble penetrating the zone. Adequately guarding three point shooters and pulling defensive rebounds are needed. If Syracuse gets their transition offense going this game is over early. If not, Syracuse will have a game similar to the Cincinnati game. They might be down early, but more likely it will simply be close until later in the second half, when Syracuse will get the lead or really pull away. Syracuse is just too deep and too talented. And you have to assume Dion Waiters will wake up in front of the home crowd. Syracuse earns a nice Big East win at home by 12.
This game is broadcast nationally on ESPN U at 1:00pm this afternoon. You can also watch on your home computing device. We're in the Dome today and there's a big crowd so phone action will be spotty at best. Enjoy the game and a fine Saturday. We all hope.
Labels: Basketball, Big East, Preview
This will be worn against South Florida in the Dome.
Editor's Note: We here are used to writing about uniform changes at Syracuse. We've done it quite a bit over the years. Below are the thoughts of Correspondent John Brennan and I on the new uniforms.
Brian: Syracuse is (or should we say Nike) is shoving a new design on several schools this and next month for their uniforms. Not particularly surprising. It's what Nike does. I've long been on record as hating gray or "platinum" as a home uniform. However it makes sense for schools like Georgetown, a school who's color is actually gray. I think it's ugly anyway, but it makes sense for Georgetown. Therefore, it would make sense that for school with only one official color, like Syracuse, that a home jersey would be white, and your road jersey would be your school color. For a school like Syracuse, Alabama, or Duke where colors are part of their nickname, this takes on even more gravity. Either way, I'm on record as well as saying that I don't think wearing gray is traitorous or any sort of reference to Georgetown, but I do think it's just stupid and ugly. I said this before seeing the actual designs above. I haven't changed my mind.
When Nike tells you to wear a new uniform you do it. We understand this to be true. But why? Yes, they are shelling out millions to outfit your guys. But it it wasn't Nike it would just be Under Armor or Adidas or any other company. So why grant that much control over your uniforms to a company anyway? Without the team and the University there wouldn't be anyone to wear the uniforms anyway.
We all know this is just to sell jerseys. Syracuse is wearing their usual white jerseys at home after this, and orange on the road. So that's awesome. This is just to make a quick buck. And the worst part is they will sell. There is always a segment of people that will buy these. So thanks for being most of the problem. But this just isn't that great of a design anyway.
Every school is a gray jersey with their school's color down the side and their color sneakers. Not that creative. The designs on the back aren't that intricate. And last I checked we were the Syracuse Orange. Not the "CUSE" officially.
Either way, these are minor gripes. The real issue is that this kind of idea, were there is just a one off of a jersey just to sell them, is ridiculous and shameful. But it's just the kind of move I'd expect from Nike and Syracuse University Athletic marketing. After all, they are the ones that sold a wildly dumb 20-0 shirt.
The final point I'll leave you is the idea that complaining over what this team wears is stupid. While it maybe be "just a jersey" it represents the team. A team that would be playing in front of an empty stadium without fans and specifically alumni. The fact that Nike thinks you're a sucker and will just buy anything with "CUSE" on it should be an affront to your sensibilities. But maybe that's just me.
John: It's Nike being Nike. Let's not lose sight of that. We know they're gonna do what they need to do to make money, and if they think this is what will do that for them, then all the more power to them.
We all know this is just to sell jerseys. Syracuse is wearing their usual white jerseys at home after this, and orange on the road. So that's awesome. This is just to make a quick buck. And the worst part is they will sell. There is always a segment of people that will buy these. So thanks for being most of the problem. But this just isn't that great of a design anyway.
Every school is a gray jersey with their school's color down the side and their color sneakers. Not that creative. The designs on the back aren't that intricate. And last I checked we were the Syracuse Orange. Not the "CUSE" officially.
Either way, these are minor gripes. The real issue is that this kind of idea, were there is just a one off of a jersey just to sell them, is ridiculous and shameful. But it's just the kind of move I'd expect from Nike and Syracuse University Athletic marketing. After all, they are the ones that sold a wildly dumb 20-0 shirt.
The final point I'll leave you is the idea that complaining over what this team wears is stupid. While it maybe be "just a jersey" it represents the team. A team that would be playing in front of an empty stadium without fans and specifically alumni. The fact that Nike thinks you're a sucker and will just buy anything with "CUSE" on it should be an affront to your sensibilities. But maybe that's just me.
John: It's Nike being Nike. Let's not lose sight of that. We know they're gonna do what they need to do to make money, and if they think this is what will do that for them, then all the more power to them.
Do I like them?
No. As with mostly everyone
else's complaints, it's really the gray/platinum that turns me off. It's just not a good combination.
I'd really hate Syracuse wearing these against Georgetown, but it looks like we're safe from
that. But beyond that, why do we hate the gray? I think it's because we are the Syracuse Orange.
When the school decided to identify itself as simply a color, that became our main focus. While many schools have a color in its name (Marquette Golden Eagles, Tulane Green Wave,
Duke Blue Devils, Alabama Crimson Tide, etc.), we are JUST a
color. We don't have a tangible thing like an Eagle, a Wave, a Devil, or
a Tide to fall back on. Just
the color. So when a uniform undermines
orange, we believe it undermines The Orange, we believe it undermines
Syracuse. We take it personally.
But "we" are fans. We care about aesthetics. We care about common sense. We
care about tradition. But "we"
don't play basketball for Syracuse.
We aren't wearing those uniforms on the court, dribbling, passing, shooting, and dunking. So as long as the uniforms don't impact how the players play, then who REALLY
cares? That said, there are a few aspects of these new
uniforms that I think could improve upon what we have now. I'm assuming the fabric and venting choices are technological improvements
over the current. And while "'CUSE" isn't my first choice for
the front of the jersey, it's not horrible either. If there was going to be an alternate jersey
in the regular rotation, I wouldn't mind if it said
'CUSE. On the back of the jersey we currently have a lot going on in
that mesh thing with scenes from campus. The new alternates have a huge block S, what appears to be the top of the Carrier Dome, and a
star with an 03 in it, honoring our National Championship
season. That's nice. The shorts have a thick orange stripe down the sides,
with a block S and Syracuse bannered over it. I like that better than the current blocks of colors.
The orange shoes and orange socks?
They speak for themselves.
At the end of the day, Syracuse is only wearing
these uniforms for the South Florida game on February 22. As a fan, I can stomach that for one game, especially that one. Unless contractually obligated, it appears Syracuse would be foolish to roll them out
again, based upon all the negative feedback that has been
acknowledged by both the SyracuseU and suorangeempire twitter feeds. So for now, let's just appreciate that Nike wants to honor Syracuse as an
elite program (even if we disagree with the way they do it) and hope
that future experiments take into consideration the reactions
of the fan base (i.e. potential customers).
Labels: Athletic Department, Basketball, Syracuse University
Cincinnati - Syracuse Postgame Reactions OR Nice to Win Again
0 Comments Published on 1.23.2012 by John Brennan
Scoop will hit shots when he needs to
Anytime you lose a game, the next game becomes very important. A win gets you back in the right direction, but another loss sends you further down the wrong path. After Syracuse won its first 18 games last year, it lost to Pitt and then lost its next three games. We were all screaming that the sky was falling. Syracuse did eventually fall out of that rut last year, but it took its toll on the team. So this is why tonight's game against Cincinnati was so important. And it would have been easy to lose it: the Orange had just lost at Notre Dame; the middle of the zone was still reeling from losing Fab Melo; Cincy was playing well and hosting a whiteout in its first Big Monday. In a hard-fought battle, Syracuse beat Cincinnati 60-53.
- Kris Joseph was your leading scorer for Syracuse (a go-to guy?) with 17 points on 8-11 shooting. Interestingly, though, Kris shot 0-3 from three, which means that he hit all shots within the arc (including some nice dunks).
- Other double-digit scorers were Scoop Jardine with 13, and Brandon Triche with 11.
- Scoop started real slow, but poured it on when it mattered, late in the game when Syracuse was really pulling away. Scoop was 2-4 from three.
- In his second start, CJ Fair put in another solid effort with six points and six rebounds (four offensive).
- Sliding Rakeem Christmas over to cover Fab's spot resulted in nine rebounds from Rak, three blocks, and a solid player in the middle. I think he's done a lot of growing up over the past few days, and he's gained a pretty good understanding of this 2-3 zone.
- While Rak was active in the zone, he "held" Yancy Gates to 16 points. I say that because I really think Gates would have scored a lot more if the middle of the zone were exploitable like it was Saturday against Notre Dame.
- Cashmere Wright was the leading scorer for the Bearcats with 17, mostly aided from going 5-8 from three. Cincy started hot, especially from three, which gave us all that "Oh crap here we go again" feeling. Good thing that didn't last.
- Comparatively, Syracuse outshot Cincy 46.4% to 34.4%. Cincy held a slight edge from three, 32% to 25%. Syracuse edged by on the rebound battle 36-35.
Just as I said it's important to win after a loss, I'll be a bit obvious and say it's important to win after a win. That's the task this Saturday, as Syracuse hosts West Virginia in the Dome. Between now and then, Syracuse will be working on continuing to move on without Fab Melo (assuming that's the situation). Fab Melo will be working on whatever it is he needs to work on so that playing without him is not the situation. And we'll be working on bringing you all the latest in Syracuse sports. Maybe even figuring out why Dion Waiters was such a non-factor tonight.
Labels: Syracuse Basketball
Syracuse students agree: Time to bounce back in a big way.
Tough loss on Saturday. Syracuse is no longer #1. #3/4 isn't so bad though. And now they travel to Cincy to take on the pretty good Bearcats in a sold out arena. Although Cincinnati can't spell the word involved (look closely), this game will be tough.
Fab Melo is still not where the team is. That is a problem in terms of being able to stop Yancy Gates. He averages 12.2 points, 9.4 rebounds, and has one hell of a right cross. You can debate for yourself if he should still be on Cincy, but he is and will probably eat up Baye Moussa Keita and Rakeem Christmas on the inside. Which means that Syracuse has to score. Especially since Sean Kilpatrick averages 16ppg. While they don't have one individual that can consistently hit outside shots, they shoot the ball well from the outside as a team. Syracuse will have to be active guarding the perimeter but not fall into the huge trap of biting on every overload of the zone, giving Gates a really easy bucket. Really though, this preview comes down to the gut feeling and pretty standard logic that after a team has a really bad shooting night like Syracuse did Saturday, where three or four big time players had a terrible offensive night, that that doesn't happen two games in a row. Syracuse has to play Gates tough, but Syracuse has really owned Cincy for the most part since entering the league. Syracuse also has 8-9 reliable scorers, where Cincy plays eight, and only seven really do much of anything. Especially if Gates gets into foul trouble, this game could be a nice win for Syracuse. I do like the Orange, but this will be another close game and Syracuse will probably have to play from behind but should take the lead down the stretch in the second half. A nice start would also help. Syracuse needs to come out firing on all cylinders, as Cincy will probably do the same. Our good friend Scott knows I'm pretty good at picking Syracuse/Cincy games, so he'll be sad to know I'm picking the Orange by 8.
This game is again on Big Monday. ESPN national broadcast with the A Team of McDonough/Bilas/Raftery on hand, starting at 7:00pm. Should be another game that Syracuse fans will sweat out. Since this is on the road be sure to check out Twitter and harass Scott from The Bearcats Blog @BearcatsBlog, and join our tomfoolery of course. Enjoy.
Labels: Basketball, Big East, Preview
Syracuse - Notre Dame Postgame Reactions OR No Longer Undefeated
0 Comments Published on by Brian Harrison
Well that sucked to watch. Unless you're an ND fan.
South Bend: Where #1 goes to die. While the result wasn't too much of a surprise it was still unpleasant to watch. Syracuse falls, but the good news is that this was a road loss we knew would happen eventually, and Syracuse is still in solid command of first in the Big East. The absence of Fab Melo did not help either. But let's talk about this game first.
Notre Dame got off to a roll hitting two three pointers right away. Syracuse never led in this game. They had a season low half output of 23 points to ND's 35. Luckily Dion Waiters hit two back to back three pointers before the half to only make it 12 points. Then in the second half ND and SU basically traded baskets, with both teams going on mini-runs of points, with Syracuse never really getting closer than seven or eight points. Missed free throws and failing to take advantage of turnovers really never let Syracuse get back into the game. Oh yeah, and a ton of bricked three pointers. Syracuse ends up going down 67 to 58. Not bad considering how good ND played and how bad Syracuse shot in this game.
- Syracuse's leading scorer was James Southerland off the bench with 15 points. He probably played the best offense for Syracuse looking at the game in total. He was 5-10 and 3-7 from the floor respectively. He also was 2-2 from the line.
- Kris Joseph was the leading rebounder on the floor for the Orange with five. CJ Fair and Rakeem Christmas each added four.
- Scoop Jardine, as usual, led in assists with seven.
- Syracuse missed Fab Melo. They only had two blocks in the game.
- Despite the fact that Notre Dame turned the ball over the least in the Big East going into this game, Syracuse caused 17 for the Irish, and had nine steals. Sadly that didn't equate to a win like it normally would. In the circumstances, it really didn't feed any transition offense in the vast majority of the turnovers.
- Syracuse shot the ball poorly. They were 18-53 (34%), and 7-23 (30.4%) from three. Syracuse missed 14 of their first 19 field goal attempts. The worst way to start a game on the road, let alone against a team in the Big East.
- Notre Dame, conversely, shot the ball better. They shot 50% both overall and from behind the arc.
- Syracuse only got 28 points from their starting lineup.
- Scoop Jardine was 0-5 and 0-2 in the game. His only points were two free throws out of four. He couldn't hit the ocean from a boat on Saturday night.
- While Fab Melo was not the reason Syracuse lost the game, and he would have only contributed a few baskets at the most, where he was missed was simply being in the zone. A seven footer makes players alter their shots and think twice about driving in the lane. He also blocks shots. He would have given Jack Cooley a run on his scoring.
- Baye Moussa Keita can't catch the ball worth shit. And he has no excuses as his thumb is healed and unwrapped. He couldn't catch it wide open, let alone hot underneath the basket. I mean, how is that possible?
- Similarly, Kris Joseph couldn't dribble in this game. At all. What's up with that?
- I defer to our friend Russ at the Three Idiots with this post. In it, about the blocks/charges he says "The block/charge call is ruining college basketball. The refs screw it up more times than they get it right and it takes the aggressiveness out of the game -- the flopping is worse than it is in a European soccer game. In my opinion, unless a guy is an absolute statue, the call has to be a block. If the game starts getting called that way, you'll see a lot fewer guys sliding over at the last second and taking guys out too." Nailed it. And I'll add that the charge that Waiters "committed" was a block. It was a secondary defender sliding over standing directly over the arc line. Stationary or not, that is a block by the new rules. In the arc as a secondary defender? That's supposed to be a block. Higgins called it a charge.
- Cooley, in a three person trap from the press of Syracuse, swung his elbows and hit CJ Fair. It was a textbook Flagrant 1 as the rule now states and it was called that after a review. Good for the referees. It was about the second or third one he committed on the day.
- No one player played completely bad from the floor on offense, but almost every player had a good stretch where they were just awful or made a terrible shot selection. Notable examples were Watiers, Fair, and obviously Scoop.
- Yelling "Overrated" at a team you are beating devalues the win. Most people know this except the one jackass that starts it in every student section in the nation. Also, as someone pointed out, if Syracuse was so overrated why are you rushing the court?
- Chanting "Fab Can't Read" is funny. Is it also over the line? That's debatable. You want to yell that? Fair enough. I expected that at UConn,WVU, Pitt, or Georgetown, but not at ND though.
Labels: Basketball, Big East
Syracuse students agree: Everyone loves beating Notre Lame.
Syracuse, fresh off a nice win against Pittsburgh in the Carrier Dome, has had since Monday night off to prepare to play Notre Dame in the Joyce Center in South Bend. They are 20-0 and undefeated. Can that last against the Irish?
Notre Dame is interesting. They don't have consistent three point threats as they have had in the past. Statistically, their best shooter sits the bench with an ACL tear, out for the rest of the year. Also, their second best rebounder, in Tim Abromaitis. That means their best player now is guard Eric Atkins, averaging 13.3ppg, and shooting 44.3% from behind the arc. After that, it gets significantly weaker in terms of offensive production. The difference in this game will be Notre Dame's ability to handle three points. Limiting turnovers is the first. They have the least amount of turnovers in the Big East. If Syracuse cannot create turnovers or steals to get some easy baskets they could struggle. Slowing the pace of the game is the second. Syracuse is beatable if you keep them consistently playing half court basketball. While they can score (obviously) in the half court, it makes it harder for them. Additionally it limits possessions. Finally, Notre Dame has to rebound. They will probably out-rebound Syracuse like they have been for several games this year. But limiting second chance baskets will be key for the Orange. If the fail to do that, and ND gets a kick out to an open shooter, it usually bodes well for that team. Syracuse is more athletic and deep though. We should see nine guys today. I have a feeling Baye Moussa Kieta will see some significant time today, but really it is Syracuse's back court with Scoop Jardine, Brandon Triche, and Dion Waiters that will carry this team today. Scoop has been playing very well lately, averaging 11 points and 9.5 assists his past two games. He's only committed a couple turnovers in that stretch as well. He's good for one horrific turnover a game, but since it's only one it's pretty forgivable. Kris Joseph should shoot well today and I think James Southerland and CJ Fair will obviously play a huge part. While I think this game will be close, I'm taking Syracuse in a tight game. The Orange stay unbeaten by five.
This game is available nationally tonight at 6:00pm EST on ESPN. Also available online. This should be a close and probably uncomfortable game to watch for the Orange faithful, so distract yourself with some Twitter snark when you can. Enjoy your Saturday.
Labels: Basketball, Big East, Preview
