The Eastern Regionals - Suffocating D

I hope the kids from Marquette and Indiana were able to breathe on their flights home, because the 2-3 zone practically suffocated them at the Verizon Center in DC over the weekend. Cuse held two top seeds to a total of 89 points over the two games in the Eastern Regionals. Indiana -- number one seed in the East, and ranked number one for more weeks this past year than any other team -- was held to only 50, their season low. That was really remarkable considering that Indiana was number three in all of Division I in scoring average. And then, just in case anyone had doubts about the zone, Cuse held Marquette to 39 points, not only their season low, but apparently a record low for the regionals in the modern era (meaning any time after TV was invented). So far, for the four games of the tournament, the Orange have held their opponents, on average to under 50 points. (45.8 to be exact). Another stat I really like from these past few games is that Orange opponents have more turnovers than field goals. Plus we had double digit steals in each game this past weekend and  loads of blocked shots. I imagine Zeller is seeing Orange in his dreams right now.

On the offensive end, the big difference this past weekend was the guard play. Triche and MCW were able to get into the lane for some easy baskets, and especially Friday, able to hit from the outside as well. The two are related, because once defenders come out to guard against the three, it's easier for those guys to find room inside. CJ Fair had some big shots in both games; he remains the most consistent offensive contributor. But yesterday, even though his shot was off at times, I thought Southerland may have had the biggest shots of the game. At the end of the first half, after Marquette had staged a comeback, and cut the lead to three, Southerland drained a three to push the deficit back to six and give the Orange some breathing room. Then, with about two minutes left in the game, and the shot clock about the expire, and with his defender draped all over him, Southerland hit another three that effectively ended the game, and put Cuse in the Final Four.

One thing that ticked me off yesterday was the pundits' lack of respect for Coach Boeheim. During the pregame show, even though the commentators were split two and two, I was irked to hear Barkley and Greg Anthony talking about how coaching made such a big difference in the tourney; how Buzz Williams was such a great game coach; and how in a one game matchup, Williams would make the difference and Marquette would win. What all those geniuses overlooked was that during this late season run, Cuse had beaten a number of teams that had beaten them earlier in the regular season. Pitt, Georgetown, and Marquette all lost their rematches with the Orange. Now how does that happen without good coaching? And just because Boeheim sits there and twists his nose the whole game, without jumping around and losing his voice, doesn't mean he isn't coaching.

The upshot of course, is a trip to Atlanta for another Final Four appearance. The Orange have accomplished that once every decade since Roy Danforth's time, and throughout Boeheim's career. We've become pretty spoiled by Cuse's consistency -- almost every year in the tournament; making the sweet sixteen more often than not, certainly in recent years; and then playing for the championship once every ten years. And when we get to Atlanta, who knows? Ever since this post-season has begun, I've said that that Orange are good enough to beat anyone, but at times have played badly enough to lose to anyone. Same will be true next weekend. One thing to consider though, is that even with the defense playing so well, there is a lot of room for improvement on the offensive end. They really haven't been shooting that well -- missed lots of open jumpers yesterday. And our big guys were woeful from in close -- missing layups and dunks (!) in both games. So if the zone remains effective, and they shoot the ball just a tiny bit better --- better not go there. It's better to leave it unsaid. Instead, let's just say, "Go Orange."

Sweet Sixteen

Tonight the Orange play once again in the sweet sixteen. John says you don't need to be pretty to get invited to the sweet sixteen. Lucky for us, because last Saturday's win over Cal was about as ugly as it can get.  Thirty-nine percent from the field; sixteen missed foul shots; unforced errors; and another AWOL evening for Brandon Triche. He hit his first shot of the night - a pretty deep three - and then couldn't hit another shot all game. He was on the court for 40 minutes, and went one for eight. Fortunately, CJ Fair has assumed the role of senior leadership, and has not only steadied the offense, but has occasionally given Cuse that go-to guy for those times when the rest of the offense becomes stagnant. I said occasionally, because there seemed to be a long stretch in the second half when no one, including Fair, could do much of anything. But an ugly win is still a win, and the Orange have once again been asked to the sweet sixteen.

 

In years past, they have done well playing out west. For example, in 96, they had to play in New Mexico, and then in Denver, before moving on the final four. And they were a decent road team at times this year, so when I heard they were playing in San Jose, I didn't think much of that. However, it turns out that Cuse was the only top seed (4 or higher) who had to travel out of region in order to play the opening rounds. What's up with that? Especially in light of the fact that several of the top seeds, who weren't asked to travel cross-country, got sent home early.  Nice that one of those teams was Georgetown, and come to think of it, that means that after humiliating the Orange in the final Big East regular season game, Georgetown lost two in a row, first to Cuse in the Garden, and then to Florida Gulf Coast in the opening round. Couldn't happen to a nicer team.

 

We all know that when they're playing well, the Orange can beat anyone in the country. But they haven't played well for forty minutes in a long long time (not counting Montana, because after all, there’s no one left in their bracket who resembles Montana), and then the question becomes how badly will they play and for how long, during those stretches when they can't seem to buy a basket? They squeaked through a couple games in the Big East tourney by having strong first halves, and then managing to hang on when their offense went cold in the second half. Of course, that recipe didn't cook up so well against Louisville.  In light of that, it's hard to imagine them getting much further in this tournament, but who knows?

 

And really, the sweet sixteen is a decent outcome for this team. We shouldn't complain when year after year, the team not only gets to the tourney, but gets to play in the second weekend. Still, they're tantalizingly close, and we all know that if any two guys could hit their shots in the same game -- think of how far they got when only Southerland was drilling all his threes in the Garden -- they could be playing a week from now. So ugly or not, Go Orange!

Schizoid

Four days ago, who expected the Orange to be playing for the Big East Championship last night? And even going into the final game, who expected them to be leading Louisville by 17 in the second half?  So on the one hand, the played better than we expected, and probably raised their seed a couple notches or so. Joe Lunardi has them as a number three. And for three and one half games, they reminded us why this had, once again, been a season of high hopes. But then, the second half meltdown against Pitino and the Cardinals, reminded us why this has ended up being such a frustrating year.

For example, what happened to the free throws? Triche was an 80 percent shooter last season; Fair was shooting at close to that percentage for a while. And now they can't seem to buy a foul shot. In the OT against Georgetown the night before, the game was so close mainly because the Orange went one for six from the stripe. At one point last night they were one for seven. Carter-Williams ended up two for nine. Next weekend, late in the game, I expect every opponent is going to foul, and make The Orange hold any lead they may have built up at the foul line. The only guy who stepped up was Keita, who did not miss against Georgetown, and shot a respectable four for six last night.

Assuming Southerland stays healthy, we may not see as much zone as teams were playing late in the season. But teams that can press are definitely going to press this group. I was amazed at how poorly they handled Louisville's press, because not only did they turn the ball over too frequently, many of those turnovers were really unforced -- Carter-Williams dribbling off his leg; Triche letting passes slip through his hands. Didn't Brandon look like he was walking in his sleep?

And lastly, even though the Cuse made it all the way to the second half of the final game, they played poorly in most of the second halves all week long. Against Pitt - 40 points in the first half, double digit lead, and then they could manage only 22 points in the second half.  Pretty much the same thing with Georgetown, again able to score only 22 points in the second half. So while their defense kept them in both of those games, and allowed them to cling to narrow leads at the end, where was the second half offense on both of those nights?

Let's close on a more optimistic note. Last night was their fourth game in four nights, and if you want to consider the OT period, by the time they melted down, they had already played almost four complete games in the Garden. So maybe they were just tired. And next week, of course, they can only play two games each weekend, max, and even then they'll get a night off in between. Plus, this team that seemed so deep in December is really down to a six man rotation, with a few minutes here and there for Cooney and Grant. So the four guys that now anchor this team -- Fair, Triche, MCW and Southerland, were all playing more than 35 minutes a night, often 40. So the missed foul shots late in games, and the trouble with Louisville's relentless press, those might have been symptoms of exhaustion, who knows?

I think they are a realistic shot for the sweet sixteen, and a long shot for the regional finals. But at the same time, I wouldn't be all that surprised if they go home after the second game.

Lastly -- Southerland is definitely going in this year's draft. Someone will pick him up for a possible two-guard spot. And you know what? If he continues to shoot like he has this week, he'll be playing someone in the NBA. Good for him; he singlehandedly carried this team through much of that tournament. I guess that's just another part of the frustration. Southerland was on fire; and Keita stepped up. But Fair struggled; MCW played poorly, and Triche often disappeared. If they want to play deep into the NCAAs, they need more than two guys playing well. Why does that seem so difficult right now? Lunardi has them going out west (he really doesn't know that) but maybe it would be better for this team to play away from home. Who knows? I can't figure them out. But still, Go Orange.

Tulip

Our second stop on the wine trail was the Tulip winery in the western Galil. In an earlier post, I mentioned that Tulip was the first good Israeli wine I ever tasted, so naturally we wanted to pay them a visit. But Danny discovered that there was a far better reason to support this winery. Tulip is located in K'far Tikva, which translates roughly as village of hope. It's a former kibbutz that disbanded, or went out of business, or whatever happens to kibbutzim when their useful life has expired. It was then converted into a residential center for adults with developmental and emotional disabilities. The winery is on the grounds of the former kibbutz, and employs several of the adults who reside in K'far Tikva.

Several years ago, Tulip decided that it wanted to begin marketing its wines as kosher. That might not be much of a calling card elsewhere, but in Israel, it enhances market share for any winery to be kosher. Plus, they can sell abroad, to markets with a large observant Jewish population -- think New York, London, Los Angeles. Now I don't want to get into a complicated exegesis of the interplay of wine and kashrut, but it's my understanding that there are two ways to go if you want to make kosher wine. The first is to boil the juice, and that's what was done for a long time, and that's the reason so many Israeli wines were lousy. (My editorial opinion, of course, but really, twenty years ago, when you tasted a kosher wine with a meal, did you ever ask for a second glass?) The second way is to have only observant Jews handling the wine before it gets into the bottle. So anyway, when the Tulip guys wanted to get the rabbinic seal of approval, they were told they had to fire the disabled workers; or rather, they could not have disabled workers handling wine if they wanted it to be kosher.

Tulip, to its credit, told the rabbis no thanks. Perhaps they used stronger language, or maybe not, because they kept negotiating with them for several years. Finally, they came to a compromise that allowed Tulip to continue employing the residents of K'far Tikva, and to receive the good housekeeping seal of approval. And once they received rabbinic approval, their sales increased very significantly. Which means that Tulip lost money for several years rather than turn its back on its disabled workers. I've been trying hard not to editorialize, but I cannot help myself. I'm a lawyer, and lawyers have to be practical to solve problems. I meet lots of lawyers who may be intellectually smart -- they probably have high IQ scores -- but when it comes to being practical, they are completely fucking stupid. That's what strikes me about these rabbis. I'm sure they are great scholars of Torah, Talmud and other sacred texts. But anyone -- rabbi, lawyer, cab driver -- who advised Tulip to turn its back on the disabled residents who worked at the winery, is nothing more than a fool, no matter how learned. (I wanted to use stronger language, but my editor vetoed that suggerstion. Use your imagination. What would you call someone who wanted the disabled workers fired?) I hope that when these rabbis go to their next reward, their job is to clean the latrines for all the disabled people who got there before them.

Anyway, we loved Tulip, not just because the owners were so principled, but also because they make great wines. And of all the wineries we visited, I think Tulip delivers the best value. Their wines range from around $22 to maybe $50 for the fanciest, and all of them can compete with wines selling for much more. We spent a long time with Tulip's head of marketin -- a young woman named Orr, who was sweet and knowledgeable -- and we tasted several excellent wines. Mostly Tulip sells varietals, and I would recommend their Syrah, and Reserve Syrah, both excellent. One night in Tel Aviv, Dan & Randy ordered a bottle of Black Tulip, their high end blend, and it was terrific -- full bodied, great food wine, think Bordeaux style blend.

However, my favorite Tulip wine, and in fact, one of my favorite wines from the entire trip was an inexpensively priced Cabernet Franc. Cab Franc is apparently a tough grape to work with, and it has a reputation for making rough rustic wines. It's often used for blending, but rarely bottled as a varietal. What a shame! I loved this Cab Franc. It was the earthiest wine we tasted all week; closing my eyes, swirling the wine around my mouth, I could see and feel and taste all of the Land of Israel. One swallow, for me, captured the entire trip through the north. Orr says that Tulip is now exporting to the U.S., so I'm hoping that some of this wine makes its way to Rochester. Or maybe Tulip will begin selling through the website: Israeliwinedirect.com.  Big mistake not to order a case of this Cab Franc when we were at the winery.

From Tulip we drove further north to Rosh Pina, a little hilltop town overlooking the Galil. I don't really have time for a full description of Rosh Pina, or Hamieri Estates, the beautiful inn where we spent the night, other than to say that it was only a few steps short of heaven. Unbelievably gorgeous. The end of a perfect day.

Amphorae

Our travels along the Israeli wine trail began in the Carmel hills south of Haifa, with a visit to the Amphorae winery.  And even for those who don’t necessarily care for wines, or don’t care enough to schlep all over the north of Israel in search of boutique wineries, Amphorae was worth visiting, just for the gorgeous setting of this little winery. Amphorae is located in an undeveloped valley (they call them wadis over there) in the western Carmel. (The nearest town and mailing address is Zichron Ya’akov, but the winery is actually to the north of there; on the map the closest place is Kerem Maharal.) This year, after an unusually wet winter, the valley was lush and green; in fact, all of the north was greener than I had ever seen before. Amphorae has some kind of organic thing going on, where the waste water is discharged into a series of pools that drain, one into another, and water an organic herb garden. So the stone building that houses the winery is approached as you walk alongside these herb gardens. Very peaceful; very beautiful setting, and as it turn out, one that’s perfectly matched with Amphorae’s carefully hand-crafted wines.  (The vineyards are located elsewhere, in the upper Galil and on the Golan, so all we saw was the winery.)

 

What we noticed about Amphorae was the great attention to detail. They are fussy about everything that goes into their winemaking – from the grapes, which are hand selected after they are picked, to the French oak barrels, to the time they allow their wines to age in the barrel – up to 36 months for many of their wines.

 

After our hostess, Riva, showed all through the winery, and told us all about Amhorae and their philosophy of winemaking, we sat outside in the sun, on a gorgeous spring morning (yes, February is springtime in Israel, even in the north) and tasted a number of their wines. I was most impressed with their red blends. Under the Rhyton label, they offer a Bordeaux style blend, primarily cabernet sauvignon, blended with syrah and merlot. Think left bank Bordeaux.  Then we tasted a couple wines in their Makura collection – the first being a Rhone style blend, with Syrah predominating.  Both of these were big bodied, but not overly tannic – surprisingly mellow for their young age.  However, our favorite was an interesting blend of merlot and barbera, which Riva claimed was unique. Now I don’t know if that means unique in Israel, or unique unique. (I would think that somewhere among the supertuscan producers, another winery is blending those two grapes, but who knows?) None of us claim to be big fans of merlot, although I have to confess that we drank more than one merlot blend that knocked us out. Think right bank Bordeaux here, softer than the other two reds, but big and flavorful nonetheless. I can’t give detailed notes on this wine just yet, but I can report that there are three bottles somewhere in Monroe County, having been shipped to Danny, that will shortly arrive at our domicile. And maybe next summer, when the snow has melted, and the grills are fired up, we’ll crack one of these beautiful blends from the Carmel hills, and report the details.

 

Sitting in the Israeli sunshine, drinking Amphorae’s luscious wines, and munching on artisanal cheeses made somewhere in the Galil, it was fun to think that folks have been drinking wine in this region for thousands of years. I’m not sure it was always as good as Amphorae’s wines were, but it was nice to think of ourselves in that long tradition. And many thanks to Tomar, and to our hostess, Riva, for this gorgeous start to our tour of Israel’s fine wines.