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No Bull
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.
*To be somewhat objective, Stan Heath seemed hell-bent on making sure Andy Rautins didn’t beat his team. Maybe Heath was just conceding the inside game to the Orange and picking his battles, but Andy didn’t have the ball in his hands all that much on Sunday and was very well-covered. If Scoop can become a three point threat, coaches will no longer have this option.
I still think Jardine will see more time than Triche when all is said and done, but make no mistake that Boeheim is making every effort to be sure that when he needs to go to Triche this year against the tougher teams, he’s going to be ready to fill in capably. At the two guard spots, I think the playing time, in minutes per game, is going to shake out something like this:
Rautins – 35
Jardine – 25
Triche – 15
Mookie – 5
In limited play, I haven’t seen Mookie improve noticeably on defense, so it’s very difficult to see his role changing with the strength of schedule increasing. He’s good for a few minutes when the team is up comfortably and that’s that. At the moment, Triche and Jardine are each getting 21 minutes of per game, but as Boeheim often does, I think he’ll favor the more experienced player in Jardine.
Elsewhere, Wes Johnson turned in his third consecutive 19-point game and registered his 7th double-double in sixteen games. He’s now scored either 19 or 20 in his last five games, and has been in the 17-20 point range in 8 of his last ten games. You’d have to go back to Demetris Nichols’ senior season to find the last player to tally 19 or more points in five straight games.
Credit Wes for realizing that the thrusters in his shoes were low on fuel and altering his free throw line dunk attempt into a layup – I know I hate it when that happens. With a three-game road trip coming up (Rutgers, West Virginia and Notre Dame), I’m really looking forward to seeing what Wes can do in smelly, toothless and drunk environments, respectively.
Lastly, Kris Joseph had to leave the game after spraining his ankle stepping on the foot of a USF player, but all reports indicate that he’ll be fine by Wednesday night’s game against the Scarlet Knights, who are hurting badly for offense following the loss of Gregory Echenique. Hopefully he can pick up where he left off and continue to provide a major boost on both ends of the floor.
January 11th, 2010 at 8:03 am
Damn thrusters….