Cuse Owns Nova
There can't be more than half a dozen people in the country who don't know all about last night's game. And it's not like any of my readers might be among that obscure minority. Still, I need to post for no reason other than it's the last day of February, and I don't think there's ever been a month without a posting since the establishment of this blog.
I took time off, mainly in observance of the period of shloshim, the thirty days since Helen's passing. In truth, the period is not quite up, but four weeks have gone by, and wouldn't my folks have loved to have been in the dome last night? Especially Lew. Last night reminded me of the great big east games from the eighties, before every basketball game was accessible somewhere on TV, or on the web, and thirty thousand strong would come out every time UConn, or St. John's, or the Hoyas would come to town. I recall sitting next to Lew and being unable to communicate with him, the place was so loud.
I know the Orange won by 18, but I prefer to consider the final 31 minutes of the game all by themselves. Over that stretch, Cuse outscored Nova 81-54. Not even close. And they did it without much in the way of outside shooting. Wes was way off from the field; no one lit it up from outside. The key was that they committed only two turnovers during that stretch. So I figure if they can control their turnovers, even if they don't shoot that well, they should be able to handle anyone. The converse, however, is that they retain the ability to beat themselves on any given night. Can they go six straight without giving the ball away?
One reason to love this team is the unselfish play. They're still second in the nation in assists per game. Twenty-one last night. And six guys in double figures. In fact, they had six guys in double figures when they got to Taco Time; that's 75 points for the uninitiated. Jay Bilas says that Cuse is so tough because their go-to guy is the guy that's open. All seven guys have been the leading scorer in one or more games this year.
Another reason to love the team is that they excel on both ends of the court. Tops in the nation in field goal percentage; still pretty high in points per game. But also fifth in the nation in steals per game, and seventh in the nation in blocks per game.
And in case anyone is wondering, it was loud last night. Real loud. Real freakin' loud. Deafening. And once they started to come back from nine down, thanks to the energy of Joseph and Jardine off the bench, it stayed loud from then on. We stood more than we sat. I wasn't sure I was going to like the towel waving thing, but once they got Nova down, and began running out to a lead, it was wild to see 34,616 maniacs jumping around, arms in the air, waving those Orange towels. How Orange was the dome last night? The other crazy thing was how no one wanted to leave. Larry and I got up with under three minutes to go, and the lead almost twenty, because we had a long drive home. We were like the first people out of the dome. In fact, the buses weren't running yet. We took a South Campus shuttle and it dropped us off at Manley. Even so, we didn't get home till almost one. I'm guessing they poured a lot of beer in Syracuse from midnight on.
So the good news is that Manny's back on line, and the Orange keep winning. Let's hope we have much to post on for the remainder of March. Go Orange.
I took time off, mainly in observance of the period of shloshim, the thirty days since Helen's passing. In truth, the period is not quite up, but four weeks have gone by, and wouldn't my folks have loved to have been in the dome last night? Especially Lew. Last night reminded me of the great big east games from the eighties, before every basketball game was accessible somewhere on TV, or on the web, and thirty thousand strong would come out every time UConn, or St. John's, or the Hoyas would come to town. I recall sitting next to Lew and being unable to communicate with him, the place was so loud.
I know the Orange won by 18, but I prefer to consider the final 31 minutes of the game all by themselves. Over that stretch, Cuse outscored Nova 81-54. Not even close. And they did it without much in the way of outside shooting. Wes was way off from the field; no one lit it up from outside. The key was that they committed only two turnovers during that stretch. So I figure if they can control their turnovers, even if they don't shoot that well, they should be able to handle anyone. The converse, however, is that they retain the ability to beat themselves on any given night. Can they go six straight without giving the ball away?
One reason to love this team is the unselfish play. They're still second in the nation in assists per game. Twenty-one last night. And six guys in double figures. In fact, they had six guys in double figures when they got to Taco Time; that's 75 points for the uninitiated. Jay Bilas says that Cuse is so tough because their go-to guy is the guy that's open. All seven guys have been the leading scorer in one or more games this year.
Another reason to love the team is that they excel on both ends of the court. Tops in the nation in field goal percentage; still pretty high in points per game. But also fifth in the nation in steals per game, and seventh in the nation in blocks per game.
And in case anyone is wondering, it was loud last night. Real loud. Real freakin' loud. Deafening. And once they started to come back from nine down, thanks to the energy of Joseph and Jardine off the bench, it stayed loud from then on. We stood more than we sat. I wasn't sure I was going to like the towel waving thing, but once they got Nova down, and began running out to a lead, it was wild to see 34,616 maniacs jumping around, arms in the air, waving those Orange towels. How Orange was the dome last night? The other crazy thing was how no one wanted to leave. Larry and I got up with under three minutes to go, and the lead almost twenty, because we had a long drive home. We were like the first people out of the dome. In fact, the buses weren't running yet. We took a South Campus shuttle and it dropped us off at Manley. Even so, we didn't get home till almost one. I'm guessing they poured a lot of beer in Syracuse from midnight on.
So the good news is that Manny's back on line, and the Orange keep winning. Let's hope we have much to post on for the remainder of March. Go Orange.
posted by pops | 3:48 PM
5 Comments:
Thanks for reporting David, glad to have you back. This winter I have the best of the Division I and Division III worlds. Of course my primary passion is with the Orange, but having lived in Williamstown for 25 years, Williams College is my adopted home town team now.
The Ephs (weird name) are ranked
2nd in the country and they have a talented, disiplined, and exciting team.
Yesterday I saw them knock off Bates in the semi-final of the NESCAC tournament, then I headed home to see the Cuse dispose of Villanova; today Williams won the championship with a solid victory over a talented Middlebury team.
The excitement of Williams is sitting in a small gym with most of the town in attendance and getting close to he action. Later you can run into the coach or athletic director in the local coffee shop and actually talk about the game. It's great now to have two teams to root for in the post-season, Bring on March!
Chipper
Also glad to see your latest posting. And you can include Andy as a fan and follower of the Orange. Andy called me Saturday afternoon to discuss the pre-game matters. He continued his enthusiasm by emailing me at 6AM this morning. Great to have you on board.
Below is my reply to that email which will serve as my comment to your post.
Andy,
Watch yourself you will become an addict of college BB and be hooked on the games of the tournament. I play the tournament with my friend Larry Smith for the last 25 years head-to-head not the customary office pool. What this does is gets you engaged in outcomes of games you would normally not care about.
That was one on the best games I ever saw 'Cuse play. If they play that way in the NCAA then they can beat anyone. Very balanced as was stated many times last night. Having said that it can turn quickly in a 40 minute game.
This is always how Boeheim runs the team. He tries to get kids that will fit in and buy into his style. Zone defense that is very disciplined coupled with freestyle offense. Not really so freestyle since it is dictated by the effectiveness of the zone defense. Some times results in quick shots that don't fall and turnovers. But when their on it great fun for the players and fans.
Rautins is from JD. Derrick was there as a fan. AO has been the starting center with questionable defense that gets into foul trouble and awful free-throw shooter. The short comings have been immensely helped by the large improvement of Joseph. Joseph has taken the pressure off AO to do it all and in many situations is better than AO.
BTW SU has when of the best (top 5) recruit classes for next fall.
They should be #1 tomorrow.
Catch you later,
G
PS - 'Cuse will be #1 and seated #1 but probably in the West. Too bad the Regional in the Dome. I predict the 'Cuse will play the first 2 games in Buffalo. If they win its the Sweet 16. We now have high expectations for a team that was ranked 6-7 in the Big East pre-season coaches.
Can't wait for March.
G-man
Following my comment I was thinking about comparing NCAA Division I and Division III athletes. One of the most notable Division III athletes was Doug Swift NHS '66 who went to Amherst and, of course, went on to have a terrific career with the Miami Dolphins. He left footabll after six years and became an anesthesiologist.
Chipper
Just wanted to weigh in with the idea of setting up a group on espn.com, or another site, once things really get going.....
Uncle Rico,
Your reference on setting up a group on ESPN.com. Is that for NCAA or MLB?
G-man
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