SU vs. LBSU – You Mean There’s A Basketball Game Saturday?
Yes, it’s been a particularly busy ten days since the Orange walked off the court in another comeback job, against Cornell. Seems like forever ago. After digging through the newest football coaching hire and judicial board hearing, we find lower in the pile of SU sports news a game against the Long Beach State 49ers Saturday at noon. With Eric Devendorf appealing his suspension and Jim Boeheim publicly defending him, there’s no reason to believe he won’t suit up.
The 49ers arrive in Syracuse having dropped two straight under head coach Dan Monson. They also just played at Weber State Thursday in the bustling town of Ogden, Utah, so there could be some real jet lag issues. Long Beach State has played one decent BCS team in Wisconsin this season and actually stuck with them until late in the game. Still, SU’s firepower leads me to believe that LBSU won’t pose a very big problem.
LBSU is led by 6’3″ senior Donovan Morris, who scores 19.3 points per game, and freshman point guard Casper Ware is averaging ten a game himself. Morris is the 49er to key in on, after he collected All-Big West honors and has led the team in scoring in seven of its eight games. On the rebounding front, LBSU is beyond bleak: They come in ranked 302nd in the country at 34.4 a game, and no player is averaging more rebounds than Cornel Williams’ 4.5 a game. Read that again, it’s no typo. What makes that stat even crazier is that LBSU carries a pair of seven-footers on their roster.
Fine, maybe that’s a little unfair as one of those trees, Mike Vantrimpont, is sitting out this season after playing in France for two seasons. Still, when you take a look at their team stats, it’s easy to see why they finished 6-25 overall and 3-13 in their conference last season. Since Monson’s only in his second season, this team is not yet truly his. Long Beach State could contend in the Big West, but that time won’t come for another couple of seasons when he has his stamp on each player on the program.
For SU, this is the game where AO needs to have himself a romp. The Orange appears to have the upper hand in just about every matchup, but this is the perfect time for the big guy down low who leads the nation in FG percentage to reassert himself as one of the most dominant post players in the conference.
Saturday afternoon should be your run-of-the-mill cupcake non-conference game, though the student section has been entrusted to the masses with the semester drawing to a close. Even if it shows on the Dome floor that the Orange is concerned with, shall we say, impending matters, it’s still tough to picture the 49ers stealing one so far away from home.
