Welcome to The Rind With TFG and lvilleorange! Two avid SU hoops fans with little better to do than spend their days posting on Syracuse message boards have joined forces to create what they hope won’t be the worst Orange basketball blog on the Intertron. Although we’re still a month away from the start of the regular season, it’s not to too early for Steve, better known to some of you as lvilleorange, and myself to attempt to bring you up to speed and ready for a season of Orange basketball filled with promise. We’re going to start off with a very rudimentary 2007-08 recap, mix in some offseason events and give a general outlook towards the 2008-09 campaign before delving into some much more in-depth player previews and projections as the season nears. By that point, we hope that just enough of you aren’t too bored by us to stop reading.

Since we’re doing individual player pieces later on, you won’t see a lot in this post about the torn ACL’s, shattered backboards, early draft declarations and consecutive minutes played streaks. Finally, once the season gets underway, we’ll look (and maybe to you!) to post some game previews and recaps. Let’s dig in!

For some, it’s the sting of yet another disappointing SU football season with little hope for the second half. For others, simply the leaves changing color. Either way, both are signs that college basketball season is upon us.

2007-08 In Review

TFG: This story has been told time and time again, but I find it to be therapeutic. It began with four new starters and fantastic performances from Jonny Flynn and Paul Harris on an exciting opening night against Siena, easily the most thrilling first game since Carmelo Anthony’s debut. As it would turn out, Syracuse’s M.O. would be a mix of bad luck and a lack of poise brought on by fatigue and inexperience that mixed to create a constant struggle to put teams away late in the game, particularly ones like Rhode Island and UMass that had no business sticking with the Orange’s talent as long as they did.

Devendorf’s ACL tear in the second half of a game that SU won by 50 left the Orange scrambling for quality minutes from its newcomer reserves, which it didn’t always get. Kristof Ongenaet and Scoop Jardine, the primary beneficiaries of minutes made available by the ACL injuries to Devendorf and Rautins, were immediately called on to contribute, but weren’t exactly put in a position to succeed, having to learn very quickly and against tough and more experienced Big East competition.

After dropping four of five Big East games, including an overtime loss on the road at Georgetown, the team seemed to hit something of a stride, taking its next three contests. At that point, the team had a decent-but-not-good 6-4 conference record. But with a backloaded schedule (six of its last eight opponents would finish the season ranked), there were plenty of chances for the team to redeem itself and arrive at the dance. Aside from its fourth consecutive home Georgetown victory, and second consecutive court-storming after a Georgetown home victory, SU stumbled through the second half of conference play, finishing with a .500 conference record that rendered its opening-round matchup against Villanova in the conference tournament a de facto play-in game. A victory would all but punch a tournament ticket, but alas, as we’ve seen numerous times, a conference foe caught fire from beyond the arc and sent SU to its second straight Not Interesting Tournament appearance.

LVO: Boy, that sure sums up last season neatly. There were high expectations on this board based on Jim Boeheim’s highest-ranked recruiting class since the NC and those raw rookies were looking to replace a class that just didn’t live up to expectations. But the losses of Rautins and Devo to injuries turned our biggest recruit into a perplexing enigma. Donte Greene, a multi-dimensional player out of the city that brought us Carmelo, was forced to take on the outside shooter role of three point threat. Much to the consternation of the fans, he settled for long range jumpers, many at inopportune times, instead of breaking down his opponent with dribble penetration. His defense, or should we say lack thereof, also drew the ire of many. At season’s end, it was about a 50-50 split for the multi-talented star to stay or leave for the NBA. With a first round pick all but guaranteed, he left.

The lasting feeling was that this was a disappointing season. Signs of trouble emerged in the 107-100 loss to UMass and it was the same Minutemen squad that put a close to our team’s NIT run and season. A team that was supposed to relieve us of the football debacle, only added to Cuse fans suffering with a second straight season missing the Big Dance.

2008-09 Preview

LVO: If you look at the previews coming out of the national media, the road back to the NCAA tournament will again be a steep one. The Big East is absolutely loaded. Eight teams, (that’s right, eight!), are ranked in top 25 by Rivals and not one of them is Syracuse. The good news is that most pundits have us near or in the Top 25 as well. Could this finally be the year that the Big East gets nine bids?

The Orange have all the ingredients to make a statement. Versatile and charismatic guard Eric Devendorf returns to give the Orange leadership and swagger. Iron man Jonny Flynn has the potential to be the best point in the nation. Arinze Onuaku mans the inside. Paul Harris has the tools to “do it all”. Andy Rautins, Kristof Ongenaet, Rick Jackson are capable role players. Kris Joseph and Mookie Jones are promising frosh. How well they gel will determine how far Syracuse can advance in the brutal Big East.

TFG: You hit this one pretty well on the head, Steve. As we see some of the rankings make their way onto the internet, a majority of them have SU positioned as a fringe Top 25 team to start the season. Many fans are surprised that a team with as much skill and experience as SU is ranked so low. The thing about rankings is that they’re inherently relative to the rest of the country, and it just so happens that the rest of the country, and particularly the Big East, has some major talent as well. While some may have all the confidence in the world in this team’s ability and potential, the fact of the matter is that until proven otherwise, Andy and Devo are question marks as they return from their injuries.

The strength of the Big East is also a big factor in SU’s status to start the season. To start the season, most prognosticators will have North Carolina as the clear-cut team to beat at the top, followed by UConn and Louisville, with Pitt not too far behind. It’s tough, if not impossible, to find a season in which the Big East was as stacked as it appears to be this year. You get the feeling that in any other season, a team with as much talent returning as SU would be unanimously picked at the beginning of the campaign to finish in the top three of the conference, and even that may be a little modest.

The starters to begin the season won’t be an issue: AO, Ongenaet, Do-It-All Paul, Devendorf and Flynn. which makes for one less problem to solve. There’s been some talk amongst the fan base that Rautins and Jackson may crack the starting lineup, but I just don’t see it happening, at least not to start the year. One of the major keys will be to utilize the squad’s depth and ease the bench into their roles in the early going.

The offseason had a few interesting developments for us to discuss. The highlight was Jim Boeheim returning from the Beijing Olympics with a gold medal, having served as an assistant on Mike Krzyzewksi’s staff. In Beijing, Boeheim was reunited with a certain one-time freshman sensation who apparently did some pretty notable things for his school.

Jonny Flynn, who is also the official mancrush of TFG, drew praise from Hornets standout Chris Paul over the summer when the two matched up at the LeBron James Academy in Ohio. It isn’t that we don’t already know what he’s capable of doing, but it certainly means a lot more coming from such an accomplished pro than it does from an overweight fan blogging during a slow work day on company time… not that that’s what I do or anything.

Finally, the Orange scored a verbal commitment from the class of 2009 in mid-September, which came from local product Brandon Triche of Jamesville-DeWitt High School, Andy Rautins’ alma mater. Triche joins James Southerland, a 6′6″ forward, in the recruiting class of 2009. The lack of scholarship seniors on the roster not named Kristof Ongenaet means that we probably won’t see much more news on this front for some time. The class of 2010, however, has been a completely different story, making tons of waves as of late, but that will be touched on at a later date. Wow, what better way to close out our debut than with a rhyme?

Be sure to stick with us throughout the season as we follow Syracuse’s journey back to Selection Sunday and beyond!

This entry was posted on Thursday, October 23rd, 2008 at 8:30 am by Brian G. . You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.
Tags: basketball, Preview