Sunday afternoon will see the Orange take its undefeated road record to the test at Fifth Third Arena in Cincinnati, home of Lance “Born Ready” Stephenson, the hyped freshman phenom. Wait, turns out the season has started and Lance actually isn’t doing so hot. We’re in February now and Stephenson has yet to string together four straight double-figure scoring games, leaving a lot of slack for Deonta Vaughn and Yancy Gates to pick up. Of course, it takes awhile to develop chemistry anytime you trot out 11 different players to start games as Mick Cronin has done.

As I write this, Cincinnati managed just 27 first half points on the road against Notre Dame, which isn’t exactly the defensive crown jewel of the Big East. In addition, a November win against Vanderbilt in Hawaii is the only notch on their belt (they also beat UConn, but that was at home, where Cincy was favored). They say any team can pull off a surprising win in the Big East, and I can agree to an extent, but it’s just unrealistic for Sunday to be that day for the Bearcats. Read the rest of this entry »

Alright damn it!  I need closure.  I need to hand out some post season awards to the football guys before the season gets officially archived from my brain.  With the recruiting frenzy in high gear and the hoops team on a magic carpet ride, it’s high time to finish of the 2009 Football season.  Our boy Sean over at Nunes attempted to get this off the ground, but it collapsed like a house of cards, much like the real season ending awards banquet.  Well despite some pokes and prods, ok, just two emails about a month and a half ago, we still don’t have any love for the gridders.  So here are my official votes, along with comments that I made at that time.  Agree, disagree, or go back to tracking our wondrous cagers quest for another crown.  I’ll come out of hibernation again after this recruiting class is officially inked and we get a 12th opponent for next season – whichever allows me to procrastinate more.

MVP – Greg Paulus

Tough call here between Paulus, DC3 and Derell Smith.  DC3 gets props for cracking 1000 yards with a patchwork line and Smith became the unquestioned leader of the defense.  However, Paulus proved that his one year experiment was no joke.  He has set records for completions and completion percentage that may not be broken anytime soon.  He was an exemplary leader and never complained about splitting reps with Ryan Nassib.  He made me like a Dukie and for that, I think he deserves the MVP award.

LVP – Donte Davis

I’m not sure who really fits this bill the best, but I chose Davis because he was the #1 receiver a year ago and should have had some openings with Mike Williams back.  Instead he was supplanted by both Marcus Sales and Alec Lemon.  He never had the impact that I think he was capable of having.  Hopefully next year he steps his game back up to where it needs to be.
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Robert Morris.
Columbia.
Colgate.
St. Bonaventure.
Oakland.
Rutgers.

These are just some of the teams who scored more points against the Orange than Georgetown’s 56 on Monday night. It’s not often that you see the 7th ranked team in the country spotted 14 points on the road right out of the gate against a top 5 team. It’s even less often to see the home team come back as quickly and defiantly, and then pour it on.

Yep, I think this one gets it: The Farley.

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I’m going to spare everyone a regurgitation of stats and go big picture for this one.

I don’t think anyone will ever make a better (or worse?) enemy for Syracuse than John Thompson, but I get the feeling that this rivalry could be getting back towards the intensity level it had in the 1980s.* Maybe it’s the possibility of both teams playing as top-10 programs for the first time since 1989. Maybe it’s all the SU-Georgetown games I watched from that era on ESPN Classic over the last week. Either way, when I look at SU making a living in the top 5 all season and Georgetown putting aside its loss to Old Dominion by disposing of UConn and Pitt, I think this rivalry is ready to get back up to 11.

*As I was too young to have any memory whatsoever of those days, I won’t pretend to know everything about the golden age of the rivalry. From what I’ve read and been told, however, those games were some of the most outrageous, loud and hard-fought battles to ever take place in the Carrier Dome.

While the court stormings of 2007 and 2008 were exciting, they were more due to what they meant to SU’s tournament hopes than the fact that it was Georgetown, and 2009’s overtime victory also feels a little watered down because Georgetown had fallen off a cliff going into that game and never recovered. Going back further, Georgetown entered the dark ages after Allen Iverson left and didn’t really return to relevance until 2006, when SU was going through their own rough patch. Hating Georgetown will always be requisite for any SU fan, but having both programs experience concurrent success is ultimately good for the rivalry and the Big East as a whole.

That being said, tear their heads off Monday night – pack 30K in the Dome, pay no heed to Georgetown’s traveling sideshow of festering strumpets and lepers, and don’t let Austin Freeman within 50 yards of a Marshall Street eating establishment.

Saturday afternoon, we saw SU execute at their best, but we also saw them execute at their worst. The game plan was to go inside, and that’s just what the Orange did from the opening tip. In the second half, they abandoned the three altogether, taking just two attempts. When past SU teams would’ve blown possessions trying to get the long ball going or resort to dribble-driving through traffic, this year’s team made much smarter decisions and exploited the obvious size advantage down low, particularly in the second half.

Below is a rundown of a few possessions on both sides of the court, beginning with 12:15 left and the Orange leading 52-46. This series is one of the best I’ve seen from the Orange all season, not just because of the decision-making, but also because of the execution. Read the rest of this entry »

Simply put, Marquette is a team that just can’t catch a break this season.

They’ve lost four Big East games by a combined margin of six points, with two of those losses coming on last-second shots by the opposition. To boot, they just lost by one to DePaul as the Blue Demons broke their 0-24 Big East skid on Wednesday night. Their inability to close games out is reminiscent of the 2007-08 SU team, but without the excuse of a short bench resulting from injuries.

Yes, it’s easy to see why some of their fans are starting to creep up towards the ledge, but more reasonable fans see a team that stuck with #4 Villanova till the very end – twice in one week – and beat the Hoyas, who could be a top-ten team come Monday. Toss in a neutral court win against Xavier and what you have is the best 11-7 team in recent memory, with a KenPom rating higher than 9 teams in this week’s AP poll. Read the rest of this entry »

While close, down-to-the-wire finishes are always exciting to watch, I love games like Monday night’s win against the Irish. This game had a little bit of everything: a mini-3-point contest between Andy Rautins and Tim Abromaitis, a collective effort from the line highlighted by Arinze Onuaku sinking four free throws in a row, and another great night from Wesley Johnson. Of course, it wouldn’t be a true SU game without Tim Higgins making a blatant officiating error like allowing the wrong player to shoot technical free throws. It’s ok, Tim, I get Tory Jackson mixed up with oversized 16-year-olds like Abromaitis all the time. Happens to the best of us.

We didn’t see the balanced scoring attack we’re used to seeing on Monday night, with just three players hitting double figures, and Andy Rautins and Wes Johnson accounting for more than half of the Orange’s scoring. Hey, sometimes you just need guys to simply take over. It may not be a good habit to get into, but it’s great to have guys like Andy and Wes who can seize control when the supporting cast (I’m looking at you, Scoop and Rick) isn’t getting it done on offense.

Every game, I’m more impressed with Brandon Triche. One turnover in 27 minutes tonight in front of a hostile road crowd. Based on his play alone, it’s getting hard for Boeheim to take him off the court; then you factor in Scoop’s tepid-at-best play as of late, and it’s easy to see why Boeheim trusts the freshman as much as he does. Read the rest of this entry »

Two down, one to go. After topping Rutgers and West Virginia on the road, SU finds itself in South Bend, Indiana, playing for a rare sweep of a three-game conference road trip. It’s been 5 seasons since the Orange won three consecutive road games in conference play, but you’d have to go all the way back to 1990-91 for such a streak where the road games were consecutively scheduled, as they are in this instance. Read the rest of this entry »

The state of Rutgers basketball is reaching critical mass.

The fact that they haven’t been ranked in the equivalent of over ten full years is the least of their problems. First, the average RPI of the nine teams Rutgers has beaten this year is 230. Secondly, the Scarlet Knights lost center and building block Greg Echenique for the season to a detached retina, and then for good when he announced he was transferring. Lastly, the recent firing of former DePaul Head Coach Jerry Wainwright has Scarlet Knight fans clamoring for Athletic Director Tim Pernetti to follow suit and put Fred Hill out of his misery. Read the rest of this entry »

In a crazy week of college basketball, the Orange made sure they wouldn’t be among those who drop in the next poll by trouncing the USF Bulls on Sunday afternoon.

While the game was close for the first eight minutes, SU took command with a stellar run and before you knew it, we had a tune-up game on our hands. Rick Jackson converted most of his point-blank attempts (though I wish he would just flush the damn ball more often), AO was a perfect 5-5 from the field, Andy Rautins didn’t commit any turnovers* in 33 minutes and Brandon Triche enjoyed the most playing time he’s had since the Cornell game. Jim Boeheim said Triche would get plenty of run in the early part of the conference schedule, so this wasn’t that big a surprise. The surprise was that Triche outrebounded Rick Jackson and Arinze Onuaku.

Yeah, it’s a little fluky because AO was in foul trouble and only played 20 minutes, but SU has had rebounding issues for most of the season, and Onuaku and his four rebounds per game is one of the major causes behind that deficiency. Read the rest of this entry »