Sweet and Sour Sixteen

Notwithstanding the way it ended on Friday night, 2009 was a pretty good basketball season. On balance, as they say. A few great road wins early on, that helped raise our RPI enormously, and gave everyone a sense that this was a team with promise, unlike the past few years. Then there was that magical run through the Big East tourney, which finally fell short when the Orange ran out of steam in the second half of what was really the fifth game in four nights. Not to mention that, despite losing, they played credibly against a Louisville team that has looked downright scary at times in the NCAAs, which are beginning to look like the second Big East tourney of the spring. Maybe if we had played Oklahoma in the Garden, our second home court, we would have fared better.

There were other, less tangible things that made the season enjoyable. I liked how they shared the ball. In the first Big East tourney game against Seton Hall, Cuse tied a tournament record for single game assists. Everyone recognized Flynn for his creative dishing, especially on the break, but I also liked Rautins and his no look passes. Headphones next to me in the Dome incessantly hates on Rautins, and I have to concede that he threw a number of those passes away, all year long, because the big men weren't expecting them, because they had too much zip, or sometimes because they were off the mark. But I'd much rather see a turnover result from an entry pass than from someone dribbling the ball off his shoe as he tried to penetrate among three defenders. I liked how the team didn't finger point, how guys never seemed to get down on each other. I've noticed that even among teams advancing into the late rounds of the NCAAs, when something goes wrong, guys are quick to get on their teammates, and I almost never saw that happen among the Orange. I liked how hard PH2 worked all year, even when he wasn't scoring, and even when he ceded the star's role, first to Flynn, and then to Devo. I liked how KO came into his own, got some confidence, hustled every minute he was on the court, and once a game put an opponent on the floor with one of his Belgian blocks. He became a dome favorite, and it was great that his folks came all the way across the Atlantic for senior night. I liked how AO ate up Luke Harangody, as the Cuse ran Notre Dame out of the dome. That alone almost makes for a great season.

But there was also a frustrating aspect to the season, because the team would play so inconsistently. Some of that stemmed from the fact the offense relied on outside shooting, and when everyone was off, when no one could hit threes, the offense went stagnant. That's to be expected on occasion. But more aggravating were the games when the team played lackadaisically. When they threw those soft, casual, telegraphed passes that everyone in the dome could see coming. When they played down to the level of competition, or got way behind because they just didn't come out of the locker room with any focus or intensity.

The Oklahoma debacle was foreshadowed by the first half of the Rutgers game, when we scored only 19 points. They managed to pull that one out, not just because Rutgers was lousy, but because they played well in the second half. But we had another hint of what was coming in the second half of Stephen F. Austin. Same thing. No scoring; tons of turnovers; playing carelessly. We survived that game because the first half had built a big lead, and also because Stephen F. Austin (just to say the name finishes the thought) really wasn't very good.

But when they went into a shell against Oklahoma and Blake Griffin, they dug a hole out of which they could not climb. (Notice that even though I mixed my metaphors, I still managed not to finish that one with a preposition. Churchill once said, in response to someone criticizing his grammar, "This is the kind of nonsense up with which I will not put.") Orange hit no threes in the entire first half, as Oklahoma's Crocker had a career game, hitting six of his first eight threes. Recall that Cuse beat Memphis early on because Memphis could not shoot over the 2-3. The first half stayed close for a while, because Oklahoma was committing a million turnovers. Maybe better shooting from us, or no threes from Crocker would have made them panicky (think back to 2003), but the Sooners had their confidence, and they had Griffin inside. And then, there was a time spanning the end of the first half and the start of the second half when Oklahoma outscored the Orange 25-5. Game over. Tournament over. Season over.

Boeheim is now one win short of 800. With Jardine, Wes Johnson, young Mr. Triche, and some highly regarded big man coming in, next year should be just as exciting, with or without Flynn. Honestly. I'd love to see him return; he really makes the team go. But if he doesn't return, we'll still have two solid point guards, more experienced big men, and at least one, probably two outside threats. Maybe we can even run guys in off the bench for a change.

But the big question is whether I'll be back in Section 108. I don't have time to get into the details right now, but let's just say I've become resentful of how Dr. Gross has been breaking into my bank accounts. But whether it's in the Dome, or just on TV, I'm looking forward to 2010. Go Orange, and thanks for a lively and entertaining season.