For ‘Cuse, It’s Jardine At The Gard-ine
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.
In addition to the scoring output, Jardine totaled an impressive-for-a-point-guard six rebounds, four steals and six assists against just one turnover. Right behind him was Johnson, who again was a jack-of-all trades, launching threes, blocking shots and Cal had no answer. Johnson is quickly becoming the player we hoped Paul Harris would become before leaving SU: a do-it-all stat stuffer capable of a double-double every night out with a couple blocks and steals thrown in for good measure.
The Orange had seven players with eight points or more , and when seven is about as deep as Jim Boeheim’s teams go, that’s a great sign. Yeah, there was a span where SU got a little too comfortable and nearly let Cal back into the game with a 9-0 run thanks to some sloppy play, but it can be forgiven.
SU also won in a way that wasn’t expected. Sizing up Cal, it appeared as though the most direct way to dominate them would be through the paint. On the contrary, AO and Jackson, while they got their easy baskets, were mostly secondary options Thursday night, playing second fiddle to the on-court edition of The Scoop and Wes Show.
The perimeter defense was terrific once again. Cal was without one of their sharpshooters, as Theo Robertson was a late scratch with a foot problem, but there was no compensating as only seldom-used DJ Seeley was able to add to Jerome Randle’s long-range attack.
Looking to Friday, Jim Boeheim will square off against Roy Williams for the fourth time in his career, and the first time outside of the NCAA tournament. North Carolina is similar to SU in that despite losing a ton of their offensive production and going through significant roster turnover, they still deploy a diverse scoring attack with a number of players capable of beating you. It’s easy to give SU the advantage going in due to their lockdown defense and team chemistry. Who’s going to be the top scorer Friday when SU looks to topple the defending champs for the second straight season? Leave your predictions in the comments section.
November 20th, 2009 at 9:06 am
Scoop was outstanding in taking care of the ball. If he turns it over only once a game we will be in great shape.
You said we didn’t emphasize the inside game, but in fact we did feed the big guys on the first 3 or 4 possession to start the 2nd half, that was a sound move by JB.
Now it’s on to big on big tonight. Should be a real interesting matchup. I’ll pick Wes to be the lead dawg tonight.
November 20th, 2009 at 9:19 am
Maybe it’s the drugs talking but I’ve always thought Scoop was very good at keeping the big men happy inside. Perhaps because he’s been playing with Rick since they were in middle school (that is the term now…right?), Scoops seems to be very effective at getting the ball inside where good things always seem to happen.
November 20th, 2009 at 9:43 am
Nah…probably the drugs.
Just kidding.
I’m not saying it’s a bad thing they didn’t pound the ball inside as much as I thought they would, Scoop obviously had no trouble creating his own shot (crossover!) and Wes was, dare I say, tremendous, except for the missed dunk and a couple other silly plays he made once the game reached blowout proportions.
AO and Rick have been quietly efficient when they do get the ball – but I did take notice on AO’s baby hook. It’ll be very interesting to see how Scoop plays against a bigger team.