Two Road Wins

A confession: I did not watch the UConn game live. If I had picked a single game on the schedule that I did not expect the Orange to win, it would have been that one. And after the four-game slide, and the defensive meltdown against Seton Hall, no way I was even dreaming of a win. Plus, good guard play is the key to handling the 2-3 zone, and UConn’s guards have historically eaten up the zone. So with Kemba Walker in the lead for Big East player of the year, I gave them little chance up in Storrs. That game may have salvaged the entire season. For now, at least it stopped the slide, and kept the Orange from losing five in a row for the first time in Boeheim’s tenure. How often did those ESPN nincompoops bring up that fact during Wednesday’s game? I think they were disappointed they didn’t get that lead on SportsCenter.

In any event, aside from the two road wins, here is the good news from the past week. The defense is back to early season form. That’s the obvious point. Maybe more important than the defensive numbers were the rebounding numbers. Cuse grabbed ten more boards than UConn. How often has that happened, ever? And yesterday, they did even better against USF, which despite their lousy record, is one of the conference’s better rebounding teams. Another good number was the contribution off the bench. The freshmen contributed 19 points against UConn, and 17 against USF. Considering that both were low scoring games, those are pretty significant numbers.

On the offensive end, notwithstanding what I just said about the bench, the best news from the last week is the same news from all season long – which maybe means by now that it isn’t news at all. In any event, Rick Jackson is carrying this team. He was the only starter who shot above .500 up in UConn, and he was just about unstoppable yesterday. If he would learn to use the glass, I think he’d be scoring thirty points a game. As it is, his double doubles are the only reliable offensive option the Orange have had of late. Yes, I know Triche hit some big threes in the second half against UConn, as did Waiters against USF. But there is no reliable offensive performer aside from Jackson. If we do have a couple shooters on any given night, and if the defense plays hard, this team can continue to win, but they’ll continue to struggle as long as the guards struggle with their three-point shooting. And that reminds me, what happened to James Southerland? How did he fall from grace so quickly? (He started against Seton Hall, and had almost no minutes during the past week.)

The schedule doesn’t get any easier. Every game from now until the close of the Big East tournament has the potential to put an L on their record. Let’s hope that things have turned around, and that the good D we saw this past week carries them through the rest of the Big East schedule, and into the tournament. Or as Buzz Lightyear would say: To Infinity and Beyond. Go Orange.