Cornell, Columbia, and now Colgate. SU looks to continue its feast Monday night when it meets a perennial foe (but more like a pesky little brother) in the Raiders. When Colgate and Syracuse tip off, it will mark the 162nd game between the two, and loyal SU fans know that Syracuse hasn’t played any team as many teams as it has played Cornell.

Head Coach Emmett Davis trots out a winless squad that has looked very bad for most of the year, with the exception of one half where they kept things close with UConn in its first game. It’s a very weak offensive attack; the team’s high watermark in offensive production came in its most recent loss to St. Francis, when it posted a meager 65 points. The Raiders’ two leading scorers are senior Kyle Roemer (18.4 ppg) and sophomore Yaw Gyawu (15.4 ppg). The scoring pretty much starts and ends there, with no other Raider averaging more than 9.3 points per game. By contrast, SU has four players averaging double figures with two others right behind at 9.7 a game. Read the rest of this entry »

I hope everyone had a great Thanksgiving and you’re taking advantage of all of the Black Friday Specials.  I’d offer up these picks but if you’d seen my record the last several weeks, you’d know it’s not much of a bargain!  Again, all lines used are provided here:

Last Week: 1-2    Year to date: 50-10

ATS: 1-2                Year to date: 26-21

Friday:

Rutgers at Louisville: Line Rutgers -3;O/U 44.  The Knights have some explaining to do after rolling over last week against our Cuse.  This game is at 11 am, so we’ll see who is still hungover from all that turkey yesterday.  An estimated 18K is expected to witness Steve Kragthorpe’s last stand.  I don’t think Rutgers will be taken by surprise this week.  Knights 33 – 21.

Illinios at Cincinnati: Line Cincy -20.5;O/U  57.  Last exhibition game for the Bearcats before next week’s showdown with Pitt for the BE BCS berth.  Tony Pike gets a start this week and he should carve up an Illini as they have been very giving against both the pass and the run.  I don’t see why UC can’t make a statement to the pollsters this week.  UC 56-17.

Pittsburgh at West Virginia: Line Pitt -1;O/U 48.5;  Backyard brawl has a ton of implications.  WV came into this game two years ago needed a win over a 4 win Pitt team to reach a possible BCS title game.  What they got was painful W that has springboarded the Panthers to their current slot as an undefeated in conference team.  The Mountaineers offense has gone stagnant in recent weeks.  How they handle Mick Williams and Greg Romeus will determine if they Eers are spoilers or spanked.  I like the Panthers balance in this one, it will be a brawl but Lewis is the difference Pitt wins 24-20.

Saturday:

Syracuse at UConn: Line UConn – 13.5;O/U 47.  The Cuse was the huge surprise last week in stunning Rutgers.  UConn finally got a win to honor Jazz Howard in its victory over BE doormat Notre Dame.  The Orange has hung in valiantly despite their atrocious special teams play the last two weeks.  I expect UConn to expoit that in a big way.  Still the game is tight and I don’t see UConn’s vaunted running game being able to do enough to run away with this.  I like UConn barely, 27-23.

Miami at South Florida:  Line UM – 7;O/U 53.   Another big in-state rival for USF as the Hurricane’s visit the Bulls.  South Florida was able to confuse FSU with their defense and the newness of BJ Daniels.  I’m not sure they will have much advantage, save for the home crowd, this week.  Miami has alot of speed on defense and Daniels has been very ordinary over the last month.  Still it will be an emotional game, but expect Miami to pull away late.  31-21.

The 10th ranked Syracuse Orangemen showed no ill effects from their recent poundings of two top 15 programs in defeating Cornell by 15 last night.  Much like creating your pre-shopping list for Thanksgiving there were a number of items that were checked off the list.

For starters there was the top 10 ESPN worthy highlight, we got that compliments of Scoop Jardine to Kris Joseph alley-oop slam.

Next you had the steady senior leadership, thank you for that Andy Rautins, your efficient 18 points on 5-7 shooting from 3 and just 8 shots overall shows how valuable a piece to the puzzle you are.

(Via AP)

Solid point guard play, bingo ring it up Brandon Triche.  Triche led all scorers with 21 points and knew that his opponents did not match up well physically so he did what he does best using his size to get to the lane.  He even ripped the nets for 3-6 from the trifecta land.  That kind of percentage will keep defenders honest.

How about the deferential teammate?  Sure just check out Scoop Jardine.  The guy who shined in New York was happy to defer to his teammate Triche as Scoop logged only 17 minutes, but didn’t cause a fuss.  You gotta love this quote about Triche:  “He’s a confident player and I just want to help him anyway I can”.

How about your star turned glue guy.  Hello Wes Johnson, you got that right?  Wes’ 10 boards, 4 assists, 3 blocks were indicative of his all-around effort which is quite contagious.

Of course you have to your yam like items on your list (who eats that stuff??) and this is Syracuse basketball after all.  We’ll take a look at a couple of them at the jump.

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As Steve pointed out, last weekend was a great time to be a ‘Cuse fan. The football team cranked out a solid victory over Rutgers on Senior Day, and the basketball team put to rest all sour grapes over losing out on Tobias Harris by stomping a pair of ranked teams on consecutive days in front of a national television audience and vaulted all the way to the top ten. The leap from 24th to 10th is the third largest in the history of the AP poll and on Tuesday night, the Orange returns home from their triumphant weekend to face the Cornell Big Red at the Dome. Read the rest of this entry »

It has been a most stunning weekend for sure for the Syracuse Athletic department.  First the Orange hoops team knocks off North Carolina.  Then the football team tops it with a win over Rutgers 31-13 Saturday afternoon.  You saw this coming right?  It was that amazing.   A week after witnessing first hand, one of the most difficult contests to endure as a fan, we get the pleasure of seeing off a victory over our media obsessed “rival” (I’ll get to that shortly).

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It’s quite fitting, actually. In a de facto tournament sponsored by a line of sports video games, SU took their title matchup in the 2K Sports Classic and made it look like just that – a video game. Before Friday night’s blowout of UNC, the 4th straight by SU to open the season, where else could you find a 22-1 run over eight minutes against the 4th ranked team in the country? Additionally, where else could you find lines like Andy Rautins’ final tally of 11 points, 7 rebounds, 7 assists, and 7 steals, and Wes Johnson’s 16 first half points?

SU stormed out of the gate in the first half with an 8-0 run, and just when it took UNC the remaining 17 minutes to finally take the lead going into halftime, it was lost and gone forever just seven seconds into the second half. The Orange was a white-hot 43% from beyond the arc, thanks largely to another fantastic outing from Wes Johnson, who turned the ball over just once.

Read the rest of this entry »

After last weeks crushing loss to the Cardinals – the Orange wrap up this seasons slate of home games this Saturday against Rutgers.  A bowl game is out of the question as the Orange can finish no better 5-7 but it’d be great to head into 2010 with a two game winning streak.

When: November 21st, 2009 – 3:30 PM

Where: The Carrier Dome in Syracuse, New York

Capacity: 49,262

Television: None

The Spread: Rutgers by 8.5

Rivalry info: This will be the fortieth meeting between these schools.  Syracuse owns a 28-10-1 advantage in the series but Rutgers has won the last four against the Orange.  Syracuse is 677-479-49 all time. Rutgers is 607-591-42 all time.

Coaches: Rutgers – Greg Schiano – 9th season at Rutgers (53-53 overall.) Syracuse- Doug Marrone – 1st season at Syracuse (3-7 overall.)

Read the rest of this entry »

Sorry, couldn’t resist.

For the third straight game, SU rolled to a blowout, and for the third straight game, a different player led the scoring attack. This is something I can very easily get used to, and personally, I find it to be more interesting than the decisive outcomes in the early going.

Against Albany it was Arinze Onuaku, then Wes Johnson and Andy Rautins leading the parade against Robert Morris, and Thursday night, it was Scoop Jardine pacing the team with a career-high 22 points*.

*I try really hard not to get too wrapped up in November games, but you couldn’t help but notice that Triche was pulled very early in the game. About one minute in, Scoop checked in and maximized his playing time. Are we seeing the makings of a starting point guard controversy, or is Triche going to be like a Craig Forth this season, starting but without necessarily getting starter’s minutes? I’m not predicting Scoop to start tomorrow, or that Triche will never be anything more than merely capable , but I will be interested in seeing how much slack Triche is given against a bigger team in UNC, and if he tones down his bull-in-a-china-shop routine. Read the rest of this entry »

It’s a full day of blogging at CO today, should be previews and reviews galore.  Let’s kick this off with the week’s football picks.  For entertainment purposes only, as if my overall record isn’t a clue to that!  Again, all lines used are provided here:

Last Week: 2-2    Year to date: 49-8

ATS: 2-2                Year to date: 25-19

Louisville at South Florida: Line USF -11.5;O/U 45.5.  Cards as we know escaped the basement but were completely lackluster offensively.  USF has gone into it’s familiar November swoon but getting routed at Rutgers.  The Cards are pretty beat up across both sides of the ball.  BJ Daniels has regressed some at QB as teams have figured out his limitations.  Still UofL has never played well in Tampa so don’t expect them to cover here – USF 30-14.

Connecticut at Notre Dame: Line ND -6;O/U 57.5.  Lots of neat angles to this game.  Zach Frazer back against his old team, Weis sporting the same win percentage as his predecessors now squarely has his ass on the hot seat.  UConn gave up loads of yards in the air two weeks ago to Cincy.  That should have Clausen and Tate salivating.  On the flip side, ND has given up a slew of yards on the ground and guess who can run the ball?  UConn has been snake bit and I assume something again will crop up to cost them the win, although they should keep this close.  ND barely – 27-26.

Rutgers at Syracuse: Line RU -8.5/9;O/U 44.5.  Battle for NYC supremacy?  Rutgers has used its sad schedule to beef up and build confidence.  Syracuse has used its tougher slate to play well enough to show improvement everywhere but in the W column.  Now SU looks like a M*A*S*H unit.  I’m not sure how they can survive these last two games.  I expect the same pride and intensity with the lack of results.  Rutgers should cover easily 27-10.

With or without Tobias Harris in tow, the Orange will make its way to Madison Square Garden Thursday for the first time since last season’s historic Big East Tournament run. The final rounds of the 2K Sports Classic also include North Carolina, Ohio State (who beat the Orange at MSG two years ago) and SU’s opponent for Thursday night, California. It’s a major test early on for SU, who comes in ranked 25th, suddenly staring up at three teams in the top 15. The two rounds at MSG also include an impressive quartet of coaches with over 2100 wins and ten Final Fours shared between Jim Boeheim, Roy Williams, Mike Montgomery and Thad Matta. Read the rest of this entry »