An Ugly Finish -- But a Great Run for the Cuse

In the end, the offensive inconsistency that had troubled the Orange through the second half of the season doomed their chances at the Final Four. With only CJ Fair contributing at the offensive end, with Southerland unable to hit those three-pointers that had been so important throughout the post-season, with MCW MIA, and with no one else stepping up, as Michigan's bench or Louisville's walk-on had, the Orange were unable to beat a very good Michigan team, and so did not get an invitation to Monday's night's big dance.

Considering how poorly the offense played, it was astonishing that Cuse had two chances at the end either to win, or to send the game into overtime. Or, if you want to look at it from another perspective, had Michigan not hit a couple of those thirty-foot threes in the first half, it could have been the Orange clinging to a narrow lead, and advancing to the finals. But as they say, there are no ifs in sports. They had those chances at the end because the defense played another very good game. After giving up thirty-six points in the first half, Cuse held Michigan to seventeen, until there was a minute to go, and they started fouling, allowing Michigan to crack the sixty-point barrier. Over the five games of the tournament, the Orange held their opponents to, on average, fewer than fifty points per game. And those opponents included some of the highest scoring teams in D-1.

Also, I was really pleased to see how hard the team played in the second half, reversing the pattern of the Big East tourney, where they had decent first halves, but seemed to run out of gas in the second half. Toward the end of the first half, it looked like Michigan might run away with this game, but the Orange made adjustments (largely ignored by the talking heads), and pretty much shut down Michigan's O in the second half. So not only was this game not a blowout, it came down to the wire. But as we noted many times during the regular season, we just didn't have the finishers to get the job done. Our bigs were a kind of metaphor for the offense, in the sense that they had trouble converting, even when they had the ball two feet from the basket. That inability to score down low, to capitalize on offensive rebounds, or to finish drives, foreshadowed that disappointing end, when Cuse had a couple good chances, but could not convert.  Instead of taking time to set something up, they hurried; instead of playing heady basketball, they seemed to be out of control, and unable to make the big play that was needed.

But I don't want to leave my readers with the wrong impression; I'm not complaining. It was a wonderful post-season. The Big East tourney opened with very low expectations, and everyone wondering whether Syracuse would play more than a couple games total in both tourneys. Instead, they had a great run in the Garden, beating two tournament teams, exacting a measure of revenge from the hated Hoyas, and outplaying Louisville for about 28 minutes, until they ran out of gas. But who among us figured they would get past the Sweet Sixteen? Not I. I figured that once they beat Cal in front of a hostile crowd, and earned the right to play in the regionals, that was enough for us to say it had been a successful season.  But then to beat the East's number one seed, and then to follow that with a smothering win over a very good Marquette team, well that was so far beyond my expectations that I was thrilled they would be playing for one more weekend. And even though they lost, and looked inept offensively, they came within a whisker of playing for the national championship. We are so accustomed to the Orange playing ball at this high level, that we are almost blase about the post-season, unless of course they win the whole thing. But how many programs consistently send their teams to the Sweet Sixteen?

I'm guessing that MCW opts for the NBA draft, especially in light of the hardship his family recently suffered. But if Fair returns, with Grant (who looked really good last night) Keita (whose D and rebounding have really improved) and Christmas (who's got to get better next year I think) they will have a formidable front line. There is a highly touted point guard coming next fall, and I think Cooney will relax and improve, so there is the core of another good team. Will we see them in the Final Four again any time soon? who knows? But will we see another team that can compete with anyone in the country? I hope so. Until then, Go Orange.