Syracuse students agree: Your mother's a Hoya!
Well here it is. The biggest rivalry game of the season. #11/12 versus #2. Thompson III versus Boeheim. Gray versus orange. I really don't think I'm overstating things when I say this is the biggest rivalry game in the nation aside from Duke versus UNC. Over 30,000 people in the Dome. National television. What more of an introduction do you need?
The best player on Georgetown is clearly Jason Clark, who is averaging 15.2ppg, and he can shoot the ball really well. But you can't fail to account for Hollis Thompson as well. He averages 13.7ppg and he shoots the long ball the best in the league, at 48.4%. Syracuse will allow three point shots in the zone, but the key is to contest as many as they can. They have demonstrated that they can do that luckily. The key to this game will be Georgetown's offense versus Syracuse's defense. The team that manages to win the defensive battle will win this game. While G'town's defense has played well lately they have been getting hype for limiting their last two opponents to 44 and 45 points. Those teams were UConn and South Florida. UConn has taken Pitt's place as the hot garbage fire of the Big East after their Monday night affair, and South Florida isn't an offensive powerhouse. Georgetown does have several wins against top teams in the nation however, so you cannot discount their experience against good opponents. These games are always grind out kind of games. Who can do the dirty work will win this game. Fab Melo as a presence in the zone can only help the driving of the G'town guards. Guarding against the "Princeton" back door cut will be key for Fair, Melo, and of course Christmas when he is in. Again it comes down to defense. Syracuse still has the best scoring offense in the Big East, so this match up should scare Georgetown, as well as the 30,000 plus that will be in the Carrier Dome. Rebounding should be a problem for Georgetown as well. G'town's best rebounder is Otto Porter, who comes off the bench. Nate Lubick (3.7ppg, 4.3rpg) may be the worst starter in the Big East I'm convinced. That's not a G'town bias. That is just from watching him play. He's dead weight on the floor against top talent in the Big East. Syracuse is also deeper and have several scoring options. Despite the fact I think all the matchups favor Syracuse, this will again be a close, classic battle between these two teams. If Syracuse doesn't chuck up a bunch of threes and only takes good shots this should go nicely. Syracuse is at home and more talented. I'm picking the Orange over the Hoyas by eight.
This game will be nationally televised on ESPN at 7:00pm tonight. You will be looking live at Brent Musburger and Bob Knight so you'll at least enjoy the game if you are watching on TV if you can't make it to the Dome. Now as long as we have a decently officiated game we'll all be in business. If you need another primer for the game check out this article from the Georgetown student newspaper from a few years ago about the rivalry. They interview me so you know it's got some solid anti-Georgetown statements in it. If you haven't already, see how much of a hater you are with your official Hoya Hater Certification Test here. Of course, you have to check out our old friend Matt Glaude at Hoya Suxa as well. Do remember to keep it classy to the Hoya fans, if they dare make the trip. And hopefully we'll see something like this tonight...
Labels: Basketball, Big East, Georgetown, Hoya Hate, Preview
Syracuse - St. John's Postgame Reactions OR Welcome Back Fab!
0 Comments Published on by Brian Harrison
We're glad you're back too Fab.
New season, same result. Syracuse has now beaten St. John's seven in a row and 13 out of 14. New York's College Team beat New York's Team. While St. John's can be tough in "their" building, Syracuse was just too much for the young Johnnies. The Orange roll in the city.
Syracuse started the game slowly, not scoring a field goal in the first four and a half minutes. The Red Storm had a five point lead, but that was short lived. While three point shooting was not spectacular for the Orange, they end up winning 41 to 27 at the half. After a couple more beers for myself and my friends, we were treated to a dunk fest in the second half. Syracuse just steamrolled St. John's in front of a mostly orange crowd. Syracuse was your winner 95 to 70.
- Fab Melo earned a career high 14 points. Dion Waiters and CJ Fair also had 14 points. Lots of scoring all around. Kris Joseph and Michael Carter-Williams each added 13 points each. That is Carter-Williams' career high as well.
- After being outrebounded for the past bunch of games (the last being probably the worst), rebounding was really outstanding in this game. It was led by Kris Joseph with eight and Rakeem Christmas pulled seven. SU had 38 total over St. John's 25.
- Despite having a bad scoring day, Brandon Triche did distribute the ball well earning five assists. Kris Joseph and Dion Waiters each had four. Syracuse as a team had a season high 23 assists.
- Fab went back to what he did well. He blocked two shots in the game.
- Syracuse didn't quite keep the turnovers under double digits, but ten isn't too bad. Although St. John's also only had ten. Scoop and Brandon had three each.
- Syracuse shot the ball well. Dunks are a high percentage shot. They went 55.7% from the floor. However, the threes weren't falling so easily. 33.3% (7-21). Could be far worse but still not great. Syracuse was also 10-14 (71.4%) from the free throw line.
- Respectively, St. John's was 40.4%, 46.7% (7-15), and 60.7%. While they did hit a good percentage of shots from behind the arc, most of those were later in the game, and hitting only seven isn't a game killer when you are up by 20 or more points.
- MSG was probably 80% Syracuse fans. Not too shabby.
- Brent Axe during the game tweeted that Fab is on record as being a flopper to get charge calls. He definitely wasn't flopping when he took a huge one in this game. A big time arm extension from St. John's to put him on the floor.
- Syracuse has won 13/14 games over St. John's and seven in a row.
- A lot of highlights in this game. What sticks out were obviously Carter-Williams' huge dunk and Waiters' spin move lay up. He also had a pretty great dunk.
Labels: Basketball, Big East
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
