Trevor Cooney, SU’s next Great White Hope (ETA: Fall 2011), took the floor for Team USA against the mighty Canadians in the semifinals of the FIBA Americas U18 championships Tuesday night, looking to bounce back from a lackluster game against Argentina. Cooney got back on the right track against the Canucks, scoring eight points and going 2-3 from three in 16 minutes of action as the Americans cruised to a 122-89 victory in San Antonio.

It was a modest performance, he was just the undercard to the main event. The big story Tuesday night was the play of shooting guard Austin Rivers. Rivers played just 22 minutes against the Canadians, but scorched the nets by draining NINE straight threes before missing (he finished 9-12 from deep with 35 points total). It’s not yet known how many moneyballs he converted.

Rivers is currently the #2 prospect in ESPNU’s Top 100, with Duke, UNC, Florida, Kansas and UCLA all vying for his services. The USA will play Brazil for the gold on Wednesday night, and I sorely wish it was on ESPN instead of something called an “NBA Free Agency Summit.”

SU commit Trevor Cooney had a rough go of it Monday night against Argentina, after two very good showings in the U-19 FIBA Americas U18 Championship in San Antonio. The US won easily, 88-67, but Cooney struggled, going 2-7 from the floor, with six of his shot attempts coming from deep (of which he made one). He finished with just five points.

Next up is a semifinal matchup with the neighbors to the north Tuesday night. No word yet on where Andy Rautins’ loyalties are, but I’ll try to keep you posted.

The US may be out of the World Cup, but the stars and stripes are rolling in international play in another sport, and a prized SU commit is right in the thick of things.

Sure, it’s not the Dream Team (or Dream Team II, or III or The Redeem Team, for that matter), but Trevor Cooney is making some noise in FIBA Americas U19 Championship currently taking place in San Antonio. He and other top young players whose names you may recognize – Kyrie Irving, Austin Rivers, LeBryan Nash, Vander Blue, to name a few – are suiting up for their home country, and the US hasn’t left anything in doubt to this point.

In its first game against the US Virgin Islands on Saturday, Team USA prevailed in a 131-63 domination. Cooney didn’t start, but had the second-highest scoring total for the US. He had a solid game in 17 minutes off the bench, scoring 15 points on 9-19 shooting, including a 4-9 effort from downtown. Only Nash put up more shots, so it looks like Cooney’s teammates trust him with the ball.

In Sunday’s action, the US rolled again, annihilating Mexico, 114-38. Cooney, along with Austin Rivers, paced the game with 16 points apiece. Cooney shot 6-12 from the floor, including another 4-9 performance from beyond the arc. He still has another full year in high school to go before arriving on campus, but it’s great to see him holding his own and then some on a team full of studs.

Team USA plays Argentina tonight before the semifinals and finals wrap up competition on Tuesday and Wednesday. In another Upstate New York connection, Buffalo head coach Reggie Witherspoon is an assistant for the US team, which is led by Oklahoma head coach Jeff Capel.

After some late rumors that Wesley Johnson could be headed to New Jersey, he will pack up for Minnesota after all, having been tabbed by the Timberwolves with the fourth pick in the draft. It was hardly a big surprise, given the omnipresence of scouting reports and mock drafts, but tonight is a night that SU fans should celebrate as another of their own makes the leap.

Time will tell whether Wes and Johnny Flynn will still be teammates when the season starts, but for now, the Minnesota Timberwolves have picked up some fans in the Northeast. I’m sure there’s no one Johnny would rather have carrying his bags than Wes. In addition, SU fans are positioned for a real treat when the T’Wolves come to the Dome October 15 for an exhibition game against the Pistons.

Wes becomes the 11th Orange to be selected in the first round, and the fifth SU player to be selected in the top five of the NBA draft, following Dave Bing, Derrick Coleman, Billy Owens and you-know-who.

Later in the night, a VelociRautins alert was issued for New York City when the Knicks took Andy with the eighth pick of the second round. Rautins was projected to go somewhere in the draft’s last five picks, if at all, so it’s another feather in the cap for one of the most popular SU players in recent memory. If Andy can crack the Knicks’ roster, he’ll have the chance to make some more memories in Madison Square Garden.

Major props are in order for these two, who went from unknown products to big-time players to hearing their name called on draft night in just a few years.

As is traditional around this time of year, the Big East has rolled out opponents for each team. Before I get to the breakdown, I want to point out how odd I think it is that they chose NBA Draft day to put out this release. I completely understand that once the players graduate or otherwise leave the member schools, the stake of the Big East has in their success becomes largely minimized, if not completely eliminated.

But wouldn’t you want to keep the attention on the draft when you have a top-five player (perhaps top-three) in Wesley Johnson, another projected to go in the top 10 in Greg Monroe and two other first-rounder candidates in Dominique Jones and Stanley Robinson? Maybe only die-hards like me care about this sort of thing, and while it’s not worth making a huge deal out of, the timing is a little strange. Read the rest of this entry »

Many a pair of eyes are fixated on Wesley Johnson this week, and why shouldn’t they? He was a megastar from the second he stepped on the court for SU and helped power the team to a surprise top-five ranking all season and earned first-team All America honors.

As draft projections become more refined, and with mock drafts changing by the second leading up to the big night on Thursday, Wes has pulled a top-five ranking of his own, currently projecting to be picked third by the New Jersey Nets, just after John Wall and Evan Turner. Read the rest of this entry »

Here we go again. The brilliant Jonathan Givony at DraftExpress has reported that the New Jersey Nets are looking to select Wes Johnson with the third pick in Thursday night’s draft, a move which would take the rug out from under the Minnesota Timberwolves, who hold pick #4 and by most accounts, were planning to use it on SU fans’ favorite transfer.

It’s been widely accepted that John Wall and Evan Turner will go 1-2, and nothing has happened to change that, but while the players connected with the three next best players (Johnson, Derrick Favors and DeMarcus Cousins) also appear firmly set, the destinations aren’t quite as clear-cut. Read the rest of this entry »

It seems like just yesterday that Wes Johnson was wowing us with his high-flying dunks and long-range accuracy three times a week, but the draft has crept up on us and is now just three days away. While it’s still far from official, it hasn’t been the best-kept secret that for the second straight year, Minnesota Timberwolves GM David Kahn is taking a long, hard look at a former Orange with a lottery pick. Read the rest of this entry »

The BCS game of musical chairs has officially begun with Colorado accepting an invitation to join the Pac-10.   Today we may hear word of Nebraska bolting to the Big 10.  Clearly the music has started.  What we don’t know yet is how many chairs are out there, 64, 65 or some number much smaller.

From a Syracuse tinted lens, it appears fortuitous that the first moves have been made against the Big XII conference and not the Big East.  This gives some hope that the when the music does stop, that Syracuse will be in the location that gives them the best fit.

Still that is not the plan of the BE right now.  Just ask our own AD Darryl Gross who had this to say about the Pac-10′s realignment salvo:

“In the Big East, we’re working to position ourselves in a way that makes us better today than we were yesterday,” Gross said. “We have a lot of assets. We’re in a lot of media markets.”

I’m curious if the BE does have a plan, will they look to poach any Big 12 leftovers and would it lead to a split of the basketball only vs BCS schools.

Overall, I am holding out hope for a merging of the northern ACC teams with the BCS football parts of the Big East forming a new East Coast Conference (an even split in naming).

It’s fascinating theater being played out across the country.  No use in speculating at this point.  The music has just started.

The next team on docket for our way too early look-in is the Washington Huskies.  This program has pretty much mirrored our situation, enduring a run of 7 straight non-winning seasons.  Now imagine having potentially the top rated QB prospect on the roster that has started the last 3 seasons.  This is the hell that Husky Nation has endured.  Now let’s take a deeper dive.

2009 Review

The Huskies made huge strides coming off of a win-less 2008 campaign that brought in USC guru Steve Sarkisian.  QB Jake Locker definitely benefited from the tutelage of Sarkisian, becoming a better passer to complement his already noteworthy running skills.  Washington posted a 5-7 record that included a win over Sarkisian’s ex employer.  For the record, the wins were to Idaho, USC, Arizona, Washington St and Cal.   The losses were to LSU, Stanford, Notre Dame, Arizona St, Oregon, UCLA, and Oregon St.

This game with Washington completes the home and home series that started in 2007 with Washington coming to the Carrier Dome and winning easily 42-12.  I know most Cuse fans won’t forget that game for it was the contest that we wore those hideous all Orange unis.  No need to link a photo as the image is already burned into our skulls.  If it’s not, I’m not going to be responsible for scarring you now.

Read the rest of this entry »