Enough Already

Syracuse basketball fans are in for several more years of rude condescension and unbending adherence to a system that every opponent knows is coming.
That's because Jim Boeheim knifed his most loyal assistant in the back and then stepped over his grave.
Mike Hopkins waited patiently for Boeheim to retire, and when the old man finally announced he would coach for only 3 more years, 2 years ago, Hopkins was named the coach in waiting.
But suddenly, a few days after the end to a disappointing season, Mike Hopkins accepted the job to be the head coach at Washington. Almost as suddenly, Syracuse offered a new contract to Jim Boeheim, which he happily accepted.
While everyone is saying the right things, there is absolutely no doubt in my mind that Hopkins would not have left if he was 100% sure he was getting the job after next season as promised.
For whatever reason, he must have felt there was at least some chance he was going to get screwed so he took a head coaching job while he could get one.
Clearly, Boeheim still wanted to coach, and Hopkins knew it. Boeheim, it seems, did nothing to try to keep Hopkins, offering nothing in the way of assurances he would get the job, and he certainly wouldn't do something as noble as retiring immediately, so instead Syracuse lost its head coach in waiting and is stuck with several (many) more years of the Jim Boeheim era.

No One To Blame But Themselves

The Syracuse Orange will be watching the NCAA Tournament for the second time in 3 years (not the way Jim Boeheim wanted to spend his latter years, but that's another post for another time).
The Orange were squarely on the bubble with an 18-14 record. Working against them, 4 horrible losses (St John's, Georgetown, UConn and Boston College), a poor road record (2-11) and a miserable RPI (80-something), which would have been the worst RPI to ever get an at-large berth, breaking the record they set last year.
But working in their favor, Syracuse finished 10-8 in the top conference, won 6 games against the RPI top 50 and was a completely different team that they were in November and December.
But when you lose 14 games, and blow several chances at a statement win, or even an easy clinching win, and don't get it, you really can't blame the committee.
Every team ahead of the Orange has pros and cons when rated head-to-head.
My only issue is with what seems to me to be some inconsistency in the criteria from year-to-year. It seems like last year SU was rewarded for big wins, this year those didn't matter as much. Perhaps the committee didn't want to keep stretching their criteria for the same team, and certainly it didn't seem like last year's Final Four run mattered at all.
But at least I have the Virginia game saved on my DVR.

Which is Better: New York City or Greensboro

A leader who is often surly, nasty, dismissive and vindictive towards the media. He often picks fights with the media, especially over petty issues. And he mocks anyone who questions him.

Yes, I am talking about Jim Boeheim.

After his team lost in the ACC tournament he explained why he thinks the tournament should be in held in big cities every year.



The city of Greensboro responded with a snarky tweet:

Now personally, I believe representatives for a city should behave with a little more civility, but I understand that this is the culture of our youth, especially on Twitter, and you don't get attention if you don't "clap back" or retweet.

But in Boeheim's defense, he was asked the question. And it seems like someone followed up asking specifically about Greensboro. Sure he didn't have to answer so rudely. He made fair points which would have been better received had he not doused them with jerkiness.

The Greensboro Grasshoppers, a single A affiliate of the Miami Marlins will host "Jim Boeheim (No) Value Night" on April 11.

All fans with a valid Syracuse, NY Driver's License will be given a free ticket, $20 in food and beverage vouchers, and a pre-game meet and greet with retired Hall of Fame Bat Dog, Miss Babe Ruth.

"Contrary to what Jim Boeheim thinks, Greensboro is a great place and we want to show off our city, our ballpark and our southern hospitality to our friends from Syracuse. We know that not all of them are whiners and grouches like their basketball coach," said Grasshoppers Team President and General Manager Donald Moore.

Boeheim will be honored during the "Whine of the Game" that night sponsored by Carolina Pediatrics of the Triad. "We may invite the coach to attend, although his presence will bring us no value, none," Moore continued. "I suspect he may already have plans to be at a game in New York, Washington, or Atlanta that evening and unable to come."

Cardiac Cuse

The latest in a long line of heroic last second shots for Syracuse this season came from John Gillon nailing a 3-pointer off the glass to beat Duke 78-75.



It's always exciting to beat Duke. It's always exciting to win on a last-second shot. When both happen and the game is nearly essential for your tournament hopes, then it's even better.

And the Gillon shot joins a long list of buzzer beaters and game winning shots.

To Storm or Not to Storm

Syracuse fans were criticized nationally for storming the court after the team's upset victory over then #6 Florida State.

The thinking goes, that yes, this year Florida State was having a better season than the Orange, but when you compare the histories of the programs, a win over Florida State should be expected.

That debate was rekindled, a little, today, when the Orange beat a top ten team at home for the second straight week, this time knocking off #9 Virginia.

This game had some added juice to it because it would have been Jim Boeheim's 1000th win had some wins not been forfeited as part of the NCAA's sanctions against the coach and the program.

I will say I agree with the old grumps that it is "beneath" Syracuse to charge the court after a win over Florida State.

But I charged the court after a big win over Georgetown, and I charged the field after Donovan McNabb's famous "throwback to Brominksi" victory over Virginia Tech. Both were indelible experiences of my college experiences and I don't blame the students one bit for wanting to have their own special memories.

Note: One of my favorite posts is about an NC State student who did the same. Please click if you don't remember the story.

3000 Words

Khabib Nurmagomedov lends Joe Rogan his hat during the post-fight interview at UFC 205 at Madison Square Garden.

The Yale-Harvard game was delayed by naked Yale students participating in the Saybrook Strip.

Syracuse defeats Dartmouth in the NCAA men's soccer tournament on a typical, snowy November day in Syracuse.

Prayers For Pearl

Syracuse legend Dwayne "Pearl" Washington died Tuesday after a battle with brain cancer. Pearl was 52.

You saw this year's team wearing shirts bearing his name during their surprising run to the Final Four, as part of the fundraising effort to pay for his medical care.

He played for Syracuse from 1983-1986 and was the first real star the school had. His battles with Patrick Ewing and Georgetown were part of what helped build the Big East into the best conference in the country.

It was Pearl who helped blaze the trail of top recruits like Rony Seikaly, Sherman Douglas, Derrick Coleman and Billy Owens to make their way to cold, snowy Syracuse to play for a curmudgeonly coach.

He never reached his potential in the NBA, playing only three years of the Nets and Heat.

It was with the Nets that Pearl played alongside Duane Washington and due to their similar names, they were often confused.
People thought Pearl had a drug problem, but that was Duane.
In fact, ESPN.com ran a picture of Duane with the article announcing Pearl's death.

Even though he never had the pro career he wanted he was always remembered fondly at Syracuse, and became a fixture around the program.

I saw him once at the bookstore, Dick Vitale was doing a book-signing there ahead of broadcasting a Big Monday game, and Pearl walked in. Vitale stopped his canned speech about young people and began to talk about Pearl as a player and as a person. I skipped class that day.

I Can't Make It Song of the Week Again

I already made "Danger" by Blahzay Blahzay the Song of the Week back in March of 2009.
Being a Syracuse alum of a certain age, a great run by the basketball team always reminds me of this song which became the anthem for the team's run to the 1996 Championship game, with one minor lyrical adjustment.
"When the Cuse is in the house..."

It Was An Honor Just to Compete

So the dream scenario did not play out the Syracuse women's basketball team got decimated by UConn, just like everyone else.
It doesn't even make sense to analyze the game, because in a 31-point loss, 1 or 2 or 10 different plays wouldn't change the outcome.
But I do wish they had gotten off to a better start and kept it competitive for a while.
I also wish Syracuse's best two players, Alexis Peterson and Brianna Butler, hadn't played their worst games and the worst time, though surely UConn deserves a lot of credit for forcing them into it.
Peterson averaged 24 points per game in the tournament, but had only 11 in this game, on 0-6 from 3-point land. She also had only 1 assist and 4 turnovers.
Butler, who set the national record for most 3-pointers made in a season in the Washington game, added only 1 to her total, shooting 1 of 8 from the field.
But these ladies should be very proud of what the accomplished. They have set all kinds of high-water marks for the program, brought a lot of joy to the Syracuse community and put the program on the map.
Butler, Maggie Morrison and Cornelia aka Corn Fondren are moving on, but Peterson will be joined on next year's team by Isabella Slim, the Day sisters, and possibly Brittney Sykes, who could come back for a 5th season because she played in only 3 games last year after suffering a knee injury.

Hopefully the program will continue to build on the success of this year's team, bringing in more and better recruits and building a national power that can one day compete with UConn.

So You're Saying There's a Chance

Oddsmakers have Syracuse at +4000 in tonight's National Championship game against UConn. That means a $100 bet returns $4000. Also known as 40-1.
So essentially, if the two teams played each other 41 nights in a row, UConn would win 40 times, Syracuse once.
And that seems about right to me. This UConn team is great. They have great players, and they play great together. They have won 3 straight titles and 74 games in a row. Their average margin of victory is 40 points. They've played all the toughest teams and beat them, no, slaughtered, them all.
So that's the case for the 40 games, what about that other one time?
If tonight is to be that 2.5% chance come true, here's how it could happen.
UConn is thin, they really only play 7 players, and one of them, Katie Lou Samuelson broke her foot in the National Semifinal and will not play.
Syracuse is a great pressure team that routinely plays 9 players. It will be hard to press successfully with Moriah Jefferson running the point, but they need to force some turnovers and wear out UConn.
On offense Syracuse needs to attack the basket to draw fouls, and also to kick out for open 3s. Syracuse made 12 out of 33 3-pointers against Washington (36%) and 14-30 (47%) against Tennessee. They will need to shoot at least 40% to have a chance.
So if they can do that, press effectively, wear out UConn and get them in foul trouble, while shooting the lights out from distance, they may have a chance.

It Wouldn't Have Mattered

Jim Boeheim was praised for changing his strategy against Virginia, shifting to a press and turning the game around.
He made no such chance against North Carolina, but even if he had, it wouldn't have mattered.

All week leading up to this game, I was hopeful that Boeheim would use a different version of zone, essentially packing it in around UNC's excellent interior players and daring their suspect guards to shoot over the top.
Clearly, that didn't happen in the first half as UNC missed every single 3-pointer (0-11) and made almost every inside shot.
I was begging for him to change their approach and set up Cooney and Gbinije basically at the free throw line, and keep the wings down on the baseline instead of having them jump out to contest.
But when Syracuse finally started to make a run, scoring 10 straight points to turn 57-40 into 57-40, Marcus Paige nailed an open 3.
And every time Syracuse tried to get back in, UNC nailed another one. Missed their first 12, made 4 of the next 5.

They just ran into a better team playing better.
But we will always remember and appreciate the great tournament run they went on.
I hesitate to call it a great season because it was actually so bad they almost didn't even make the tournament. But four great games in a row at the right time is very special.
As are Trevor Cooney and Michael Gbinije.

And with Malachi Richardson and Tyler Lydon, I feel a little more optimistic about the remainder of Jim Boeheim's tenure as the head coach.
If only he would continue with the defensive adjustments.

It's Really Real

Just because I was sure that I had fallen asleep on the couch when Syracuse trailed Virginia by 15 points with 9 minutes to go and dreamed what happened next, I decided to go back and watch that final stretch again.

And since Texas A&M's epic comeback against Northern Iowa deserved a breakdown in its own post, this one did as well.

Syracuse score listed first, throughout:

9:47 left: Michael Gbinije hits two free throws. 39-51
9:31: London Perrantes hits deep 3, his 6th of the game, taps his forehead. 39-54

9:17: Trevor Cooney drives, dishes to Tyler Roberson for a dunk. 41-54
8:52: Malcolm Brogdan drives, misses, Tyler Lydon rebounds
8:46: Trevor Cooney drives, gets a layup. 43-54
8:33: Virginia breaks the press, Darius Thompson hits a layup, 43-56
8:23: Malachi Richardson gets fouled, hits 2 free throws, 45-56
8:17: Virgina breaks the press but Anthony Gill travels under the basket
7:56: Richardson drives and hits one over Gill, 47-56
7:50: Gbinije strips Thompson, Thompson falls, takes out Lydon
7:37: Richardson drives & misses, Roberson fouled going for rebounds, makes both free throws 49-56
7:31: Virginia breaks the press, Devon Hall gets easy layup, 49-58
7:13: Richardson hits step-back 3. 52-58
7:05: Perrantes throws bad pass, Richardson knocks it out off Brogdan
6:51: Tyler Lydon hits a 3, 55-58
6:40: Brogdan drives, misses
6:37: Gbinije streaks full-court for layup, 57-58
6:00: Perrantes misses floater
5:50: Richardson knifes through the lane for a layup, 59-58
5:26: Brogdan drives, shot blocked by Lydon
5:18: Perrantes fouled by Roberson
5:00: Perrantes missed 3
4:38: Richardson face up for another 3, dons the 3-goggles, 62-58

3:56: Hall missed shot, Lydon taps rebound to Cooney
3:27: Richardson drives on Brogdan, misses, Roberson taps rebound off the glass, Richardson grabs it, fakes Tobey and goes up for a layup, 64-58

And there you have it. That's what a 6-minute, 25-4 run looks like when you break it down.

And this is what it looks like when you edit it all together in one 3-minute video:



11 possessions (12 if you include the Gbinije free throws) and Syracuse scored every time, missing only one shot.
Over that same span, Virginia made 2 out of 7 shots and turned it over 3 times (the travel, the bad pass, and the strip steal)

Now let's get back to Boeheim. He absolutely deserves a ton of credit for pushing the envelope and going into the zone. But (and it's not just me saying this, Charles Barkley said the same thing) you have to imagine they could have won more games over the years had he been as willing to abandon his game plan and try something different.

Also, the players play. Yes, he surely coached them to drive to the basket, but he couldn't have coached them to hit those 3s. The players did that. And they needed every single one of those plays to win this game and make the Final Four, where it may require more coaching strategy, and more incredible play to beat North Carolina and eventually take home the title.

It's So Crazy I Feel Like It's Not Real

I admit it. I gave up. And this wasn't one of my half-hearted, prepare-for-the-worst give ups, this was the real-deal, game's-over, start-dealing-with-the-hurt give up. There were 9 and a half minutes left. The Orange had gotten behind by 16 points. Then they cut it to 8.
Virginia hit 3 3-pointers and it was back to 15.
And I'm pretty sure everyone reading this had pretty much the same thoughts.
But not Chase. I told him it was over, hoping that if we started mourning early, the grieving process wouldn't result in tears when the stone-cold truth finally set in.
Chase said "it's never over til it's over." And even more importantly, he believed it.
It's great to be 8.

I'm still in shock over what transpired over the next 10 minutes and I promise to watch that stretch again and have a more detailed, thoughtful, basketball analysis of one of the greatest comebacks in the history of the NCAA Tournament.

But for now I just want to speak from the heart.

I have always given Coach Boeheim a tough time for mostly 3 things but they all changed tonight:

1) His prickliness. He's a grumpy old curmudgeon. Sometimes it's cute and acceptable, other times it's rude and condescending. Tonight, even though he barely cracked a smile he said he's never been prouder of a group than he was of this team.

2) His tournament record. Yes, it's good, and he's now going to his 5th Final Four, but with all the great teams, 1 title seems too few, especially considering all the upsets (Navy, Richmond, Vermont, Texas A&M, Marquette, Dayton) all double-digit seeds that knocked off superior Orange teams. And until tonight, the Orange had never pulled off a major, shocking upset in the tournament.

3) His strategy. He plays 2-3 until the cows come home and if you can beat it, well then, he'll shake your hand and offer kind wishes for luck in the next round. Tonight he changed, he adjusted. He saw that when given time Virginia was picking apart the zone and nailing 3-pointers from the place now known as Curryland. But he made an adjustment, threw something at them that they weren't expecting and it helped them win the game.

As I tried to rationalize with an 8-year-old I explained that Syracuse would have to score nearly every time they had the ball.
And wouldn't you know it, they pretty much did, scoring on 12 straight possessions that turned a 54-39 deficit into a 64-58 lead.

Malachi Richardson provided the spark offensively, nailing 3s, and even more importantly driving to the basket and getting fouled. You were impressed when a freshman named Gerry McNamara scored 18 points in the first half of a tournament game (yes, I know it was the Final), how about a freshman scoring 21 in the second half, when every single one was crucial.

And even more amazingly perhaps, Tyler Lydon, helped seal the victory with his defense (5 more blocks, 2 down the stretch) and his rebounding.

He also made a 3-pointer with one shoe, though that part may have been forgotten with all the other much more improbable things that occurred later.

And as always it was the senior duo of Trevor Cooney and Michael Gbinije who led this team back by always making plays and finally closing out on shooters. They don't just lead emotionally, the lead with their play and their effort. They deserve all the adulation they received from the Orange fans in Chicago.

And speaking of adoring fans, they had a pretty good party near campus, 500 kids, at least, turning up on Walnut.

But that wasn't all they were celebrating.

The Syracuse Orange women's basketball team also made the Final Four. Suffering no letdown after their big upset of #1-seed South Carolina, pounding the Tennessee Lady Vols, who while good, ain't what they used to be.

Alexis Peterson had another great game, this time scoring 29 points to go along with 6 assists on 11-20 shooting (3 of 4 from deep).

And always bringing the emotion and energy we have come to expect from her.

And of course, keeping true my adage about the women's tournament: win or lose, everyone on both teams cries after the game.

And then leading the team in a rousing rendition of "what up squad?"

The other big star was Brianna Butler who had been in a shooting slump until she nailed 4 of 10 3-pointers against South Carolina and then 6 of 15 against Tennessee, including 2 in 30 seconds in the 4th quarter that turned a 4-point lead into a 10-point lead from which the Orange never looked back.

They're going to need all the 3s from Butler, Peterson, Maggie Morrison and everyone else to have any prayer against UConn in the National Championship game. But the Orange do have a winnable game coming up against Washington, another surprise regional winner, coming from the 7 seed to knock off Stanford (which had vanquished Notre Dame) to earn its spot in the Final Four.

These two teams met in a preseason tournament and the Orange won by 4, but had a much bigger lead before holding on.

But that's an issue for another time, for tonight we will celebrate and try to hold on to the feeling of the best day in the history of Syracuse sports. The day the men's and women's teams overcame great odds and tough opponents to make it to the Final Four.

What A (Bria or Briana) Day!

Today has the potential to be a monumental day in Syracuse basketball history.
By the end of the day, we could have not one, but two teams in the Final Four!
At 3:30pm the women play followed by the men at 6.
Entering the women's tournament it seemed like a 3-team race. UConn would likely win, Notre Dame and South Carolina had a chance. Both those teams lost only one game all season, to UConn.
But Friday night, not only did #4 Syracuse knock off South Carolina, but Stanford beat Notre Dame.
In both those regions the 7-seed beat the 2 and the 3, setting up 4 vs. 7 in both regionals for a date in the National Semifinals.
Syracuse's 7th-seeded opponent however is Tennessee. The second-best program in women's college basketball history.
But this is not the Tennessee teams you may remember under Pat Summitt.
This is the highest seed the Lady Vols have ever gotten. Syracuse lost to them once already this season, 57-55 in Tennessee.

A brief aside about why I like women's basketball: Yes, I prefer men's. But the games are close enough to still be basketball and different enough to still be interesting.

The skill level in men's is obviously higher. But the women play a more wide open game (because they're smaller, they cover less floor space), they pass more and because they don't shoot 3s as well (Syracuse has 3 players shooting 31% or higher on at least 145 attempts), they don't just stand there jacking them up.

But my favorite difference is the emotion. The players aren't in college trying to kill time before they go pro. In the NCAA Tournament, win or lose every player on both teams cries.

And Syracuse fans get one extra reason to enjoy the game: Alexis Peterson.
A pound guard who relentlessly pushes the ball, plays tough defense, shoots 3s and most importantly, makes her free throws, 86% on 29 attempts in the tournament.
And as for the aforementioned emotion -- she's got that too.

The men will also be trying to reverse an earlier defeat against conference rival Virginia. In fact, it's not much of a rivalry, Virginia has beaten Syracuse all 3 times they played since the Orange entered the ACC.

The narrative (that I don't quite believe in) is that non-conference teams can't figure out the 2-3 zone, but conference foes know just what to do. But as the great Pete Bell said "it's know what you do, god damn it, it's how you do it." If SU aggressively doubles the post, and still gets back out on shooters, it's more difficult for teams to beat the zone. If the opponent makes their 3s, contested or otherwise, then the zone is beat.

I don't have high hopes for their chances against Virginia but for a team that wasn't even supposed to be here, it's been a great tournament run, no matter how it ends.

And we can also remember the senior seasons of Trevor Cooney and Michael Gbinije fondly.

But both these teams have surprised us before, maybe they have more in store.

Tournament Thoughts: #10 Syracuse vs. #11 Gonzaga

What an awful start for the Orange.

Gonzaga is made to attack the zone. They have good big men who can pass, and good outside shooters. And in the case of Wiltjer, both.

SU getting their hands on everything but can't grab a loose ball.

It's such a joke that SU's defense is so good and that teams can't figure it out. It's not that revolutionary, and it's not like no one else plays it. And you know exactly what you're getting. It's not that hard to figure out, you just have to have the right personnel to attack it. And Gonzaga does.

SU weathered the early storm, but they're not just at a disadvantage on defense, on offense they're also having trouble with Gonzaga's size, every inside shot is contested.

After that early barrage by Gonzaga, Syracuse has to be pleased only trailing by 1 at the half.

Combined halftime points in Syracuse's 3 tournament games: 58 (30-28), 58 (31-27) and now 57 (29-28).

Frank Howard is playing the game of his life. He made a 3-pointer. Only his second all season.

Wiltjer is just unbelievable. He will not miss.

Reggie Miller can't add. When Gonzaga had 41 points he said Wiltjer has 23, Sabonis has 8 and everyone else has 5.

Gonzaga went through four stretches in this game, they were attacking the zone inside out and nailing threes, then they stopped, played one-on-one and missed everything. Then they went back to getting it to Sabonis and he dominated and they almost put the game away. But then they went cold again. And on those last two possessions, in 20 seconds, they never got it in to Sabonis.

That call was terrible. It was a great steal by Cooney and the referee was not in position to see it. He was 25 feet away behind the play. He cannot be expected to see the 1/4-inch piece of floor between Cooney's sneaker and the line. That's why they have replay. For them to rule it wasn't indisputable evidence was bullshit. At that point it was karmic justice that we find another way to hold on to that 1-point lead.

Beautiful block by Lydon to save the game.

Two great steals by Cooney. Also couldn't have won without those.

One adjustment Boeheim did make was encouraging the guys to drive to the basket. Richardson and Gbinije made some key plays by driving it to the hole.

Wiltjer and Sabonis were freaking awesome. No one else on their team did anything. And I felt like they still weren't making enough effort to get those two guys the ball.

Amazing victory in continuing what has been an amazing tournament run.

Women Are Oranges Too

While most of the Syracuse University community is thrilled, rightfully so, with the surprising run of the men's team to the Sweet 16, we shouldn't forget about the women.
The women's team is continuing to set new high-water marks in program history.
This year it was most wins (27 and counting) and highest tournament seed (#4) which entitled them to host the first two rounds at the Carrier Dome.
They dominated #13 Army in the first round and then dispatched #12 Albany in round 2.
Unfortunately in the Sweet 16 Syracuse will face one of the best teams in college, 1-seeded South Carolina, led by Coach Dawn Staley and 6'5" sophomore star A'Ja Wilson.
The Gamecocks beat the Orange twice last year, once in a close game at a preseason tournament in the Bahamas, and again in the NCAA Tournament's second round, this time by 29 points.
But this year the Orange are healthy (several key players missed that game last season) and improved.
I don't have high hopes for them winning this game, but one of the most exciting developments around the athletic department in recent years has been the improvement in other sports, besides just men's basketball and men's lacrosse.
The ascension of the women's basketball team has been a key part of SU's emergence as an intercollegiate athletics power.
And these young ladies deserve our support. Their game will be on ESPN tonight at 7, before the men's game.
Especially point guard Alexis Peterson who is one of the most fun players to watch.

Tournament Thoughts: #10 Syracuse vs. #15 Middle Tennessee

Let's Go Orange!

Michael Gbinije drinks pickle juice? And grape pedialyte? I actually read something about the company marketing pedialyte to adults as a hangover cure.

I liked Reggie Upshaw more when he had the Kid N Play haircut.

DaJuan Coleman: foul machine. Not even a minute in and Boeheim yanks him.

When Franklin Howard has the ball in his hands something bad is bound to happen. I actually thought he was going to make a shot, before he committed an offensive foul.

When Cooney gets hot he is tough to stop. And there were a couple possessions where he threatened a deep shot and was able to pass and get an open lane for a driver.

Huge swing on that waved off 3-pointer, it was close but waving it off was the right call.

Can't give Roberson the ball. He's basically had it twice and committed offensive fouls both times. If he gets in foul trouble and has to come out of the game SU won't get a single rebound.

1 for 7 from the line in the first half. Typical Syracuse. But that is not going to get it done if they want to make the Sweet 16.

31-27 at the half. It was 30-28 vs. Dayton before Syracuse came out line a house on fire.

As much as I tend not to say it, Syracuse does do a good job defending the 3, percetage-wise. But if they are lazy closing out on shooters, that's when they get open shots and pick apart the zone.

You knew that Middle Tennessee wouldn't be able to keep up their level of play and shooting accuracy they had against Michigan State, probably a once in a lifetime performance for that team. But Syracuse played great defense, other than a few lapses, and got the ball inside and worked the offense, and came out with another big second half run.

I've also been critical of Tyler Lydon's ability to play the middle of the zone. But he has stepped up the aggressive, two strong blocked shots in a short sequence. He's almost too aggressive. He almost killed Tyler Roberson with overaggressive pursuit of a rebound.

Great victory. It often happens that a team no one thinks should be gets a win, a favorable draw and then they are shoving it up everyone's ass in the Sweet 16. And they have a great chance to advance to the Elite 8 though Gonzaga with Wiltjer and Sabonis will be a tall task. Literally.

Let's Go Orange!

Tournament Thoughts: Syracuse vs. Dayton

First two shots are missed 3s by Cooney and Gbinije. Syracuse has no inside scoring, but they can't just settle for 3s. They need to drive and dish.

DaJuan Coleman can't catch a pass or make a layup. And he's often out of position defensively. The team might be better off without him next year.

The nets were too long? Who even makes extra long nets? For what purpose? And I see why that is less than optimal, but why would they have a major impact? A major distraction for shooters?

Billy wanted you all to see this:



Syracuse must make shots to win this game, or any game. They started off 1 for 9 and the 1 was a putback by Roberson. It took nearly 10 minutes to make a shot from beyond 2 feet.

Syracuse should not make this game a 3-point shooting contest because it's much easier to get open shots against this zone than Dayton's man defense.

Franklin Howard is now 1 for 16 on 3-point attempts this season.

Malachi Richardson was the best player in the first half. He kept the team in it when no one could make a shot.

Huge shot by Gbinije to give SU a 10-point lead with 15 minutes left.

Huge run of 3s to give SU a 26-5 start to the second half.

Interesting decision to leave Richardson in with 3 fouls and 16 minutes. The other option is Frank Howard who can't shoot, do I don't necessarily disagree with the decision. He ended up playing 8 more minutes before picking up his 4th, another dumb one, but he played a pick part of that huge SU run.

We entered the part of the game where Syracuse implements what I call the Jim Boeheim Memorial No Points Offense. Lots of teams do it, they try to bleed the clock, which is strategically sound, but they do it too well and end up getting bad shots. There has to be a balance between using time and still getting good shots.

Great game for Richardson, 21 points when he fouled out. Tyler Lydon was second with 14 points.

And Roberson was critical with 18 rebounds. One short of Derrick Coleman's school record for a tournament game, which game in the 1987 title game against Indiana.

Those three guys will all be back next year. Maybe there is hope for the future.

Two things I don't often get to say about Syracuse. They outrebounded their opponent by 20.
And they shot 87% from the line (20-23) while their opponent was 44% (9-19).

Huge victory to at least partially validate their inclusion to the tournament. But that's not important. What matters is beating Michigan State.

Final Score:
Syracuse 70 Dayton 51

Otto feels like break dancing

Committee Does Boeheim a Favor

Syracuse made the tournament by the skin of their collective teeth (though not one of the last four at-large team) despite being the lowest rated team in the RPI (#72) to ever receive an at-large berth.
I don't agree with the decision and thought a bunch of horrible losses (St. John's & Georgetown especially and Clemson too) would have kept the Orange out. Especially because they lost 5 of their last 6 games including what I thought were play-in games against Florida State and Pittsburgh.
But as usual the committee chose to punish mid-major teams that didn't win their conference tournaments.
I'll assess that in another post and I'll conclude here with two things that worked in Syracuse's favor.
Possibly legitimate: Viewing the 4-5 stretch without Boeheim as if they'd lost a player to injury. With him they were 14-8, and were maybe given a little leeway on that regard.
The committee chairman says this was not a factor.
Very legitimate: Syracuse was 5-6 against the RPI top-50. That includes wins over Texas A&M, UConn, St. Bonaventure, Notre Dame & Duke. Obviously that had a serious weighting with the committee.

I feel happy that Trevor Cooney and Michael Gbinije get a chance to play in the tournament in their senior seasons.

Stick To Your Guns

Ten years ago, I attended the game when Syracuse retired the #44 and I wrote about it one of my first posts on this blog.
At the time I expressed disappointment with the decision, because there really wasn't a need to do so. It's not like past #44 wearers were disrespected by it, they're honored everywhere all the time at the school.
And SU forfeited the ability to use the number as a tool in recruiting.
Now SU has reversed course, and decided to unretire the number.
I disagree with it again. If you're going to do it, even if the decision maker is no longer around, I think you just need to stick with it.
Now the University looks even worse, and perhaps it can be interpreted as a gentle insult to those they were supposedly honoring.
Generally I try not to worry about how things look to the idiotic public, but seeing as how this is a total PR move, public reaction has to be considered, and I think reversing course on this is quite embarrassing.
To make matters worse, after receiving negative press for reversing course tried to make it seem like they weren't reversing course.

Senior Vice President for Public Affairs Kevin Quinn told syracuse.com's Chris Carlson that the No. 44 will continue to be worn in a "special circumstance," and that it would take "someone extraordinary given the honor it would be to wear 44."
"Yesterday's announcement was simply a reiteration of that commitment and another opportunity to celebrate the great accomplishments of those who have worn the number with Syracuse pride and honor," Quinn wrote. "The retired #44 jersey will continue in its place of honor at Dome — as a symbol of past glories and future successes."

This adds to the embarrassment of the serious NCAA sanctions, and the ridiculous misspelling of the last name of Roosevelt Bouie on the jersey given to him at a ceremony honoring him

and wide receiver Steve Ishmael also taking the field with a misspelled jersey.

Note: I can't believe I didn't post about this misspelled jerseys when they happened considering my love for such goofs.