Well, it's been a pleasure, CJ

As I write this, it's about 15 hours after the Syracuse game ended last night. And I figured if I didn't write this now, I probably never would. It hurts to think about it. As fans, we invest in something -- in a belief, in a desire, in pride. So when that investment fails, we take it personally. We are at a loss. But, we're just fans. It's the players -- the ones we invested in -- that really feel the pain. They lived it. But with time and with perspective, we can all look back on this season, and be thankful for our investment. And the players can look back and be pretty damn proud of what they did this season, even if it all ended so badly. But that'll take some time. For now, Syracuse's 55-53 loss to Dayton is what permeates our thoughts.

• CJ Fair finished his brilliant college career with a double double -- 14 points and ten rebounds. He was just 4-14 from the field, not quite finding that patented CJ Fair jumper we've grown to love.
• Tyler Ennis was the leading scorer on the Orange at 19 points from 7-21 shooting. We'll remember Tyler's inspired play down the stretch that almost gave Syracuse the win here, but the ball couldn't drop in as the buzzer sounded. Tyler characteristically played all 40 minutes, but uncharacteristically had a couple turnovers, one of which was costly at the end.
• CJ, Tyler, and Jerami Grant were the only ones to make it to the free throw line.
• Jerami was basically nonexistent in this game. Four points, six rebounds, and a foul out.
• To round out his own college career, Baye Moussa Keita's only registerable statistic is three minutes played.
• Instead, Michael Gbinije got most of the minutes off the bench -- 22 -- and had a solid eight point effort on 4-5 shooting. We've seen some great things out of Silent G this season, and for Syracuse to be good next season, he'll have to be good.
• Syracuse was 0-10 from three for the game. No made threes. First time Syracuse has done that since 1995 (or at least I think that's the stat I heard on SportsCenter)
• Dayton played a decent game, shooting 41.3% for the game, and 43.8% from three. The Flyers got ten points off turnovers, eleven second-chance points, and had a more productive bench.
• Shooting woes plagued the Orange, as they have for two months now -- a putrid 38.9%. Really, that's all the recapping I need to do there. Bad shooting.

Labels: Basketball, Disappointment, NCAA Tournament, Upset Special

Labels: Basketball, NCAA Tournament, Preview

My tourney seats are analogous to my Dome seats!

The big question for Syracuse coming into NCAA play was whether it would get over its horrible shooting woes, or continue its poor play to be prime for an upset. One game doesn't answer that question, but if that one game is any indication, we're seeing the Syracuse that was 25-0, not the Syracuse that was 2-5 down the stretch. In first ("second") round action, Syracuse beat Western Michigan in Buffalo 77-53

• You knew the ability to score would be the difference in this one, and Syracuse responded: four of the five starters in double-digits, and eight players on the board -- one of them Ron Patterson -- BUSS!!
• Trevor Cooney is your leading scorer. When was the last time I said that, Notre Dame? Cooney had 18 points on 5-10 shooting, which was 4-8 from three. That's the Trevor we need for this Tourney!
• Tied with 16 points each was Tyler Ennis and Jerami Grant -- which, is basically the production we expect out of those two. They each played a great game, and were key to Syracuse winning. They each shot well -- and were perfect from the line. I like all of this.
• CJ Fair had a nice little game himself, with 14 points on 6-13 shooting and 2-2 from the line. His 11 rebounds gave him the requisite statistics for what they call a double-double, which is nice. CJ was active, especially inside and with the long jumper, and it mostly worked for him today.
• While there wasn't HUGE production from the center position, Rakeem Christmas and Baye Moussa Keita did their jobs -- a combined four points, eleven rebounds, and three blocks. The Broncos had trouble getting inside, and that was a function of the zone doing its job and the centers holding it down inside. This was nice to see.
• Syracuse shot 49.1% from the field, which is a marked improvement from, well, the last five or six weeks. So that was nice.
• Also nice was the 82.4% number from the free throw line for Syracuse. Not quite Maui numbers, but respectable.

Labels: Basketball, NCAA Tournament, Recap

Labels: Basketball, NCAA Tournament, Preview

It's that time again when the staff here at Orange::44 post our brackets for the world to see, and subsequently learn how not to pick a bracket. The above bracket is mine. Below is John's. His scanner broke. Sorry. Enjoy that to satisfy your own curiosity. Click on the brackets to enlarge.

Labels: Brackets, NCAA Tournament

Yeah, Jerami, it was frustrating for us too

As the 2-seed in the ACC Tournament, Syracuse earned the "dreaded" double-bye into the quarterfinals. I say dreaded, because Jim Boeheim is on record, at least in recent Big East history, as noting that the high seeds who get that double-bye tend not to do very well. I also say dreaded, because Syracuse shot horribly and lost this one against NC State, 66-63. Poor shooting has been the biggest story over the last five or so weeks for Syracuse, and it was the story the entire game against the Wolfpack. I'll get into the numbers below, but you can imagine how pathetic they are. That's what killed Syracuse in this loss, and if Syracuse loses an NCAA Tournament game, it'll likely be because of poor shooting.

• Despite the horrible shooting, Tyler Ennis managed to score 21 points. He was 6-18 from the field, 3-8 from three, but a solid 6-6 from the line. He had seven assists, five rebounds, and four steals. Statistically, not a terrible game; but think of how differently the game may have been, had Tyler hit a couple more of those shots.
• Jerami Grant was able to start this game, played all 40 minutes, and scored 19 points. He was the most efficient of the SU offense, scoring on 5-7 from the field and 9-13 from the line. His ten rebounds rounded out his double-double, production we haven't seen in a while. Suffice to say, it was great to have Jerami back.
• No one else on Syracuse scored more than nine. One of those niners was CJ Fair, who had (admittedly, I believe), a horrible game: 3-16 shooting, and shut out from three.
• As a team for the game, Syracuse shot 32.7%. That number was even worse in the first half: 25.93%. Looking at the three point attempts, it was a putrid 23.5% for the game.
• Syracuse won the rebounding battle, 36-33; and in fact, won second chance points 11-7. But when you consider NC State had 30 points in the paint, that's a sign the center of the SU zone just didn't get it done.
• I guess in that respect, we'll always wonder "what if" when it comes to the center position this year: what if DaJuan Coleman hadn't gotten hurt & require season-ending surgery? It's a legit what if, because it's not like he was playing lights out when he went down -- but what sort of progress would he have made at the position had he been able to continue to play? And how much did Rakeem Christmas sacrifice having to essentially play out of position for a good chunk of the season?
• Anyone who watched the game live, or a replay of it, or the highlights on SportsCenter, knows what Syracuse had a chance in the last 30 seconds to win this game. No, not a chance. Like, eleventy billion chances. Let me refresh your memory:

Labels: ACC Tournament, Basketball, Recap

Labels: ACC, ACC Tournament, Basketball, Preview

Labels: Basketball, Big East, Big East memories, Big East Tournament, Farewell Big East, Goodbye Old Friend, Preview

Maybe the best part of this picture is Donna & Mike's faces

It started March 12, 2009. It ended March 13, 2009. It spawned Marathon Men t-shirts, a website, and brought the rivalry of Syracuse and Connecticut to a new level. The 2009 Big East Tournament quarterfinal between Syracuse and UConn was a six overtime epic battle that will forever be etched into the memories of all who experienced it: whether in person, on TV, or on twitter.

March 2009 was around the time twitter was taking off. I finally bowed to the pressure on March 11, 2009, of course not knowing that my decision to register @jbren would so greatly enhance my 6OT experience. My first tweet was so i just joined twitter. i wonder if i'll actually use this thing. I can't remember how many people I started following, or who, or even who was following me. But I had my twitter all ready to use the next night.

March 12, a coworker was turning 50, so we went out that night for drinks. I was in Simon's in Horseheads, where there are no TVs. Luckily, the 7pm game ran late, so the SU-UConn game wouldn't start till approx 9:45pm. I ducked out of the celebration to head across the street to Hanover's Grille -- I knew they had TVs. I got a prime seat at the bar, ordered a drink, and got through the first half. UConn had a 37-34 lead at the half, and I decided I wanted to watch the rest of the game back at my apartment, so I left. In retrospect, great call.

Once home, I poured myself a drink. I'm sure it was either Jameson or Vanilla Vodka. For whatever reason, I didn't tweet at all during regulation. I think I was still trying to get the hang of it. I didn't have an app for my phone (a Blackberry Storm at the time) so I was literally using the mobile twitter website. The score was tied with mere seconds left in regulation, and Syracuse was to inbound the ball.

holy shit eric
That was my first tweet of the game. We all thought he had hit a three at the buzzer. He jumped on the media table and punched his chest as if to say he was king of the world. And then, that amazing midcourt floor camera from ESPN had caught the shot -- with the basket and clock -- from the perfect angle to show that the ball was still sitting on Eric's fingertips when time reached 0.0. So onto overtime we go.

this is what BET is all about!
I must've tweeted that at the end of the first overtime. I had gotten at least one more drink in since the first. I was thoroughly enjoying the game at this point.

do i have enough alcohol for this?
A tweet probably around the end of the second overtime. Things were happening fast and furious, and I was worried that I'd run dry before the game ended.

great guts shown if that means anything
That may have been a comment I picked up on from Sean McDonough, Jay Bilas, or Bill Raftery. Or it may have been some nonsense gibberish fueled by booze. Or maybe both.

this may be the best game ive ever seen
Easy to say this around the end of three overtimes. Plus some booze. You can tell I didn't much appreciate punctuation at that point.

5 overtimes? i want money or something
Well, the good news is this tweet actually mentions an event, so I can place this at the end of four OTs. If my memory serves me correctly, I think I had made a bet with myself that this game would go five overtimes. I won that bet, but I don't know if I ever paid myself.

6 is my lucky number. don't even know what to say at this point.
Obviously at this point, the game was tied at the end of five overtimes, and so onto the sixth we go. It is true that six is and always has been my lucky number, so I guess I felt pretty good about Syracuse's chances at this point.

And that would actually be my final tweet of the game, and of the night. By the time Syracuse had outlasted Connecticut 127-117, I think I was so exhausted that I didn't want to deal with that weird "SurePress" touchscreen on my Storm. I do remember at some point during one of the overtime periods, I decided to stand up. Right there. In my apartment living room. By myself. I think it was early -- may have even been at the end of regulation when Eric almost got that shot off in time.

Going to bed after that game was interesting. On the one hand, it's late, and I had been drinking, so you'd think falling asleep would be easy. But on the other hand, that was like 3+ hours of adrenaline pumping through my veins. Suffice to say, I didn't get much sleep that night.

But I still had to get up and go to work in the morning. Luckily when I had found out Syracuse would have the late Thursday game, I had blocked off my Friday morning as "KEEP OPEN FOR DESK TIME," because I didn't already have any court appearances scheduled. And it's a good thing I didn't have anything going on that morning. I was worthless. I was tired, and quite frankly, I was still shaking from the night before -- the adrenaline I think was still pumping through me.

Syracuse won the next night in the semifinals. A found a few tweets from that one:
anyone else having a hard time getting excited over this game?
OT? we've played this game before.
shut up jay bilas

But at any rate, 6OT is something I'll never forget. It was one of those experiences that, as a Syracuse fan, you remember exactly where you were and how things went down. You can close your eyes and immediately bring yourself back. You can maybe even smell the same smells. As we are now about to watch our beloved team embark on a new conference tournament, the ACC Tournament, we can only hope that someday that will provide us with another great memory.

Labels: 6 OTs, ACC Tournament, Big East, Big East Tournament, Syracuse Basketball, UConn USuck

 

Labels: ACC, ACC Tournament, Basketball, Goodbye Old Friend, Preview, RIP Big East

Labels: ACC, Basketball, Preview

Well, it WAS a successful senior class...

Labels: ACC, Basketball, Recap

Labels: ACC, Basketball, Preview

Baye, you need to wear an orange shirt that matches your jersey!

By all accounts, Syracuse had a tough task on Saturday: go into John Paul Jones Arena and beat the #1 team in the ACC, to keep alive hopes of winning the regular season ACC title. Winning also would have shown that the ship has been righted, carrying over some momentum from Monday's win at Maryland. But a tall task that all would be: Virginia plays tough defense, and Syracuse is having offensive troubles. Recipe for a perfect disaster. And yet, Syracuse started the game shooting at a decent clip, even holding onto a 28-27 halftime lead. But soon thereafter, the wheels came off. The Orange (as opposed to the orange) had a hard time getting any semblance of an offense going in the second half, marked by a 10+ minute period between field goals. Timely rebounding and transition points allowed Virginia to build a lead it couldn't and wouldn't give up. The Cavaliers beat Syracuse 75-56.

• CJ Fair and Tyler Ennis led the way for Syracuse offensively, each scoring 13 points. Trevor Cooney was close behind with 12. Rakeem Christmas scored eight, and Michael Gbinije & Tyler Roberson each had five. That's it.
• Syracuse shot a dismal 35.7% from the field in this game.
• Syracuse was out-rebounded 39-29.
• Virginia led in almost every statistical category: shooting (50% to 35.7%); assists (19-8); threes (50% to 22.7%); points in the paint (34-24); points off turnovers (9-7); second chance points (21-10); fast break points (4-0); bench points (20-10)
• Some of the justification for Syracuse's poor effort can be attributed to Jerami Grant, who only played 13 minutes in the first half, and did not see action in the second. He was limited to 0-3 from the field, and really only just a defensive rebound to show for his minutes.
• Jerami's poor play and lack of minutes goes back to his back injury. While he was able to rest it this week, get some treatment, and was optimistic enough to play -- even start this game -- it is clear that this soreness is a lot more serious than we've been led to believe. At this point, I don't know what to think... will he ever be able to return to 100%, even with some rest in between these next few games? Then, once ACC Tourney time starts, we're talking about games on consecutive days; NCAA, 2 games in three days at a time.
• We've all had back soreness at some point. It sucks. Even for us regular folks, who probably don't do such physical things as basketball on the regular. So this is going to be a big deal for Jerami -- either finding a way to play through it, or going on the shelf until he's actually 100%.
• In the meantime, we get to see more Michael Gbinije, which is nice. He's a good shooter, can cover some ground on defense, and can even get some rebounds. That said, he's still pretty green, and though we see flashes of greatness from him, he's going through some growing pains and is too inconsistent to be a regular, constant threat.
• That also means some more Tyler Roberson minutes. This Tyler is a freshman without all the talent of our starting point guard. He actually plays like a freshman. Great potential, yes, but there's a reason he's not getting serious minutes from Jim Boeheim; if he could regularly contribute, coach would play him more.
• Since we're talking about Tylers, I'll take this opportunity to mention that Tyler Ennis fouled out of this game. He had a couple charges called against him, as well as some stupid fouls in transition. He sort of played like a freshman today.

Labels: ACC, Basketball, Recap

Labels: ACC, Basketball, Preview

It's OK, Coach. Syracuse won!

It's been a streaky season for Syracuse. 25 straight wins. Followed by two straight losses. So the big question was whether Big Monday's game pitting Syracuse against Maryland would continue this losing streak, or potentially start another winning streak. Orange head coach Jim Boeheim openly lamented how in "this league" Syracuse would be forced to play -- on the road at Duke no less -- on Saturday and then turn around to play on the road at Maryland, when Maryland didn't also play on Saturday. In fact, Maryland hadn't played since THE PRIOR TUESDAY. But hey, the schedule is what it is, and Syracuse had to overcome its poor shooting of late to be able to beat Maryland. That wasn't exactly the case, as it happened, but the Terrapins did everything they could to lose this game. So, yeah, whatever works for Syracuse. The Orange survived this one 57-55.

• Tyler Ennis got his swag back, a little at least. It was a nice 20-point effort on 9-18 shooting (2-3 from three), playing all 40 minutes. Ennis had three turnovers, but he also had three assists, six rebounds, and two steals.
• The only other double-digit scorer for Syracuse was the venerable CJ Fair. 17 points on 8-17 shooting with nine rebounds.
• Trevor Cooney attempted ten long-range shots, but only hit two of them. It was a pedestrian nine-point effort for him. I guess it's too much to ask for Trevor to be consistent. I'm not talking about nine made threes per game. I just want him to play well. He's a shooter, so when he's not shooting well (and the team's offense as a whole is struggling) it's frustrating to see Cooney play poorly.
• Jerami Grant only played 13 minutes -- all in the first half -- still nursing a sore back aggravated at Duke on Saturday. Therefore, his numbers suffered: four points on two of three from the field. For whatever reason, the box score doesn't include the stat "number of times Jerami Grant fell to the floor." I'll try to keep a tally for the next game, but that would sure make for a good drinking game! I'm no doctor (well, I'm a juris doctor...) but maybe Jerami's back is sore because he fells to the floor so much?
• In Jerami's absence, Tyler Roberson was able to get some playing time. No, not 20 minutes in the second half. Five. So there's that.
• Actually, Michael Gbinije was the recipient of more playing time: 27 minutes to contribute four points. He got some great looks -- especially from three -- but only hit one.
• Boeheim played a lineup featuring both Rakeem Christmas and Baye Moussa Keita for several minutes in this game. I guess that's the "big lineup."
• Why did Syracuse win? This stat: 18 Maryland turnovers. Which leads to this stat: 26 Syracuse points off turnovers.
• There was a considerable foul discrepancy in this game: 19 calls against Syracuse, to 13 against Maryland. But it was really when those calls were made that was the discrepancy. Maryland made it to the line for 27 shots, while Syracuse only shot six. SIX!
• Boeheim wouldn't take the bait postgame to complain about the officiating -- saying he had done enough of that Saturday night -- and while the free throw deficit doesn't give these officials the look of evenness, consider the type of game Syracuse played: jump shots. I mean, really, how many times did the Orange drive the ball inside? Syracuse only managed 14 points in the paint.
• While the final score shows this as a two point game, it wasn't really that close for much of the game. Really only at the end. As late in the game as 11:46 left to play, Syracuse had its largest lead of 12 points. But Maryland started playing harder, getting to the line, and shutting down Syracuse to drastically cut into that lead.

Labels: ACC, Basketball, Recap