Guest Preview: Villanova Wildcats Take Two

We asked Villanova by the Numbers for a look at the Wildcats before their second game against Syracuse this year.

Here's what Villanova by the Numbers had to say:

Meet the Wildcats:
Coach Wright has been tinkering with the starting lineup for over a month now. Of the five Wildcats who started the season opener (Scottie Reynolds, Reggie Redding, Shane Clark, Dante Cunningham and Casiem Drummond), only three (Reynolds, Redding and Cunningham) started in Villanova's last outing (a road loss at Pitt) Wednesday evening. Like Syracuse, the Villanova squad has had it's share of injuries and turnover. Among the starters Casiem Drummond has been sidelined since late December with a stress fracture in his foot and tests are being performed to determine if the source of Shane Clark's persistent fatigue is physical. Andrew Ott, a 6-10 redshirt freshman frontcourt player announced his departure from the team last Saturday. He enrolled at Penn State on Wednesday. Who will start on Saturday is, then, the source of some speculation.

The Backcourt:
Villanova has three talented guards in Scottie Reynolds (sophomore), Corey Fisher (freshman) and Malcolm Grant (freshman). Expect to see two of those three on the court throughout the game, whether they start or not, Having two point guards on the floor simultaneously, has given the Wildcats multiple options on offense.

Scottie Reynolds will start. Scottie, a sophomore, has started all 19 of Villanova's games this season and is averaging 34.3 minutes per game, so expect to see a lot of him. During the out of conference portion of the season Scottie averaged 16.9 points and 4.4 assists. In Big East play Scottie's scoring has risen to 18.5 points per game while his assists have dropped to 3.3, suggesting he is taking more of an off guard role lately. Scottie is capable of great scoring efforts like his 32 point outburst (11-22, 5-11 3 pointers) against Cincinnati. He can also be ice cold, as he was in Villanova's first game with Pittsburgh (4 points on 1-6 shooting). The 'Cats will need 17 or more points from Reynolds if they are going to win.

As for the other backcourt position, Coach Wright will most likely choose one or two from Corey Fisher, Malcolm Grant and Reggie Redding.

Corey Fisher, a starter in the last two games, will, despite a disappointing outing against Pittsburgh (4 points on 2-10 shooting), may well start against Syracuse too. Fisher, a true freshman who was named New Jersey HS Player of the Year at St. Patrick's his senior season, has struggled to develop consistency this year. He has had great shooting and scoring nights, like the Wildcat's Big East road opener against DePaul (23 points on 8-15 shooting), and nights lide Wednesday against Pitt. Corey's assist-to-turnover ratio in Big East play is 0.95:1, more evidence that he is struggling in conference play.

Reggie Redding is a 6-5 sophomore off guard who worked his way into the rotation late his freshman year and subsequently started the first fourteen games before going to the bench. He returned to the starting lineup on Wednesday (in place of ailing Shane Clark?) and will most likely start against the Orange. Redding's main contributions are solid defense with an occasional well-timed crucial play.

The Frontcourt:
Dante Cunningham is a junior who has been a constant fixture in Villanova's starting lineup over the past three seasons. For the past two seasons Dante and (now graduated) Will Sheridan covered the #4/#5 spots in tandem, with Dante playing the #4 on defense and the #5 on offense. With Cas Drummond on the court Dante will play the #4, but with Drummond's injury last month, Cunningham has returned to a "rotating" role, depending on who the staff plays beside him. Cunningham's role in the offense has increased this season, though he had more success when Drummond played the #5 and drew a good deal of defensive attention. Cunninham has averaged 8.6 points and 6.4 rebounds in Big East play to date.

Antonio Pena is a redshirt freshman (6-8, 235lbs) who has started the last five games beside Cunningham. Pena and Cunningham now continue the #4-#5 tandem as did Sheridan and Cunningham for the past two seasons. Pena averages 10.4 points and 6.5 rebounds in Big East play.

The Bench:
For the backcourt, expect to see Malcolm Grant at some point in the game. Malcolm has averaged 14.4 minutes per game in Big East play, but his run has ranged from 27 minutes in Villanova's first game with Pittsburgh (22 points) down to 8 minutes in two separate games (versus Cincinnati -- 0 points scored -- and the second Pittsburgh game in which he scored 3 points). Dwayne Anderson has seen his playing time nearly double in Big East play. If the trend holds, he will see about 16 minutes of playing time. Corey Stokes, the second MDAA on Villanova's roster, has seen about 16 minutes of play in the Big East and contributed 3.6 points and 2.6 rebounds per game in Big East play. Casiem Drummond saw 7 minutes againt Pittsburgh on Wednesday and will no doubt, depending on his progress, see some time against Syracuse as well. Shane Clark is due for some (medical) diagnostic testing this week and may or may not be available for Saturday's game. At the top of his game Shane is very effective as the third or fourth scoring option and is a strong offensive rebounder (ranked #357 in D1 by Ken Pomeroy).

What Villanova Does Best:
Offense flows from defense according to Villanova's staff. Villanova is good at forcing turnovers. When the Wildcats are playing "their game" those turnovers will translate into points. The Wildcats are agressive at both ends of the floor. If they are living at the free throw line the opponent is losing players. Villanova runs a variation of the 4 out 1 in motion offense in the half court. They look for opportunities for their guards, either Reynolds or Fisher, to get into the lane. Something good offensively most often happens then...either the guard will shoot (or draw contact), dish down low to Cunningham (or lately Pena), positioned along the baseline, or kick it out to someone on the wing for a possible 3 point shot. Villanova may be one of the quicker teams in the conference, but they do not play a fast paced game. Comeback wins were a common phenomena earlier in the season.

How to Beat Villanova:
Get up early, as Villanova tends to "start slowly" on defense. The recent spate of half-time deficits are most often the product of blown assignments on switches and playing too passively while on defense. When the 'Cats are down, the freshmen guards tend to push too hard to try and make up the scoring deficit. If Villanova presses or traps, break it quickly (usually with passes to bigs positioned in the middle of the court) and take it to the basket when you are over the half-court line. Scoring off of broken presses neutralizes one of Villanova's most effective defensive weapons
(the turnover). If you are operating your offense from half court sets, run screens and picks, as Villanova has struggled all year with switches coming off of screens. Run them enough and you should get a favorable matchup (usually a guard on one of your bigs) which maximizes your chances to score. If you have a stable of outside shooters, run plays to isolate your guard who should then hit the lane. Another defender will move over to help on the penetration, leaving his own man free on the outside to take a pass and shoot. Villanova is currently ranked #319 (out of 341) in 3 point defense.

Get Dante Cunningham into foul trouble early. The rest of the frontcourt are freshmen and not especially agressive when Cunningham is not there to set the tone.

Check back with Villanova by the Numbers tomorrow for our preview of Syracuse.

Ken Pomeroy fixes Syracuse's Depth Issues

Ken Pomeroy runs a statistical website that breaks down many different things in basketball and is a site I refer to a lot. He has a list of different individual stats that you won't see in the box score.

Well it seems Pomeroy has fixed Syracuse's depth problems because Jonny Flynn, Donte' Greene, and Paul Harris have cloned themselves twice to give Syracuse 12 actives players.

This added depth should allow Syracuse to make a strong run through the Big East. Some teams can barely handle just one Flynn, Greene, and Harris, but now three of each? That's going to be tough to beat.

Nightly Recap and Morning Preview

I watched Mr. and Mrs. Smith today, so in tribute, today's Cole Hamels Fact of the Day:

Fact 1041. Brad Pitt keeps sending Angelina Jolie to Third World countries because he's afraid she'll meet Cole Hamels.

Daily Recap:

• The Orange win in Chicago.
• The Flyers are in first place.
• Interesting interview with Larry Fitzgerald. He talks about playing with Brian Westbrook.
• The 76ers need to get rid of Andre Miller.
• This season is going to be awesome now that the Mets have Santana.
• I know I've linked to this story about T.O. already, but I finally get to link to the ladies.
• Syracuse wanted to play some half court 3 on 3 action tonight.
• Usually the UCONvicts give Syracuse some ammo, but Scoop is giving the convicts ammo this time.

Games of Interest:
Cincinnati 62, WVU 39. West Virginia shoots 20% from the floor and they lose. Pretty much came down to that.

Pitt 69, Villanova 57. 'Nova took a lead midway through the second half, but then Pitt went off and put the Wildcats to bed. Villanova has lost three straight and if things don't change quickly they are NIT bound.

Georgetown 74, St. John's 42. This game was never close. At one point it was 56-18. That's the biggets blowout in the Big East this year.

Morning Preview:
Flyers host the Rangers in an Atlantic Division battle. The Flyers couldn't be any hotter right now. They've jumped up to seventh in this week's power rankings on ESPN. Though somehow they are still behind both the Penguins and Devils.

Syracuse Finally Wins on the Road

Syracuse gets 22 points from Arinze Onuaku in the second Syracuse-Depaul seesaw battle in two nights. The ladies last night pulled out a 69-66, but tonight the men also took down the Blue Demons 60-55.

Syracuse avoided an upset in a crazy night of upsets. Vanderbilt, Kansas, Mississippi State, West Virginia all lost, and Texas was well on their way to losing to Texas A&M.

Syracuse's lead got above three points for the first time all game with three minutes left, 54-49. From there, they held DePaul and hit their free throws to seal the game for their first road win in the Big East.

Syracuse won despite terrible offensive performances from Donte' Greene and Jonny Flynn. The two combined for 20 points on seven of 26 shooting from the field, and 1-11 from three. Greene's one three was the only three pointer for Syracuse all game.

The Orange win another close, low scoring game with clutch defense down the stretch. I wrote at some point, that to be a serious title contender you need to be at least top 50 in the country in both offensive and defensive efficiency. Syracuse is quickly reaching that mark. They have been going backwards slightly in offensive efficiency and tonight didn't help, but they are still top 50. The defense has been moving up quickly. They were hanging around 90th-100th all year until now. They are currently 58th and with today's stellar performance they should jump up to around 50th.

I know this team doesn't have any depth and can get trigger happy, but what they are starting to do is quite remarkable. They may be only 5-4 in the Big East, but they are clearly playing their best basketball of the season at the right time. Assuming no one else goes down, they are only going to get better offensively as they gain chemistry with the different players getting more playing time like Scoop Jardine, Kristof! and Rick Jackson. The defense has been very solid and will continue to improve.

But back to the game, Syracuse forced DePaul into a lot of bad shots that at first the Blue Demons were hitting, but after about the first 12 minutes, the shots stopped falling. Draelon Burns and Will Walker got off to very quick starts, but soon cooled off and were cold by the second half.

Syracuse did some things extremely well. First, they got to the free throw and hit their shots. I'll take 15-19 anytime. They also stayed out of foul trouble. The first half no one picked up quick, cheap fouls that forced anyone to the bench. The second half Donte' Greene had a couple bad fouls that forced him out with ten minutes remaining, but was soon able to get back into the game. The Orange also hustled all game. The 'Cuse went after loose balls and made heads up plays all game.

Arinze Onuaku tore apart the DePaul front court. He could do anything he wanted all game. He went 10-13 from the field for 22 points. Another monster game for the S.U. center.

S.U. also did some things pretty poorly. They still can't set screens. That was evident late when Greene had to burn a timeout because no one could get open off screens. They also didn't crash the boards too well. DePaul got too many open looks. They only got credited for 14 rebounds, but it seemed like a lot more considering there was at least two possessions where they got at least two or three offensive rebounds in a row. They limited DePaul from the free throw line. The Blue Demons got to the strip just four times the entire game.

One last note, Jabari Currie for DePaul is this team's Josh Wright. He seems like an automatic turnover machine. Last year in the Dome, he flipped off the student section for making fun of his baldness and then went out and complied these numbers: 22 minutes, 0-3 shooting, 1-2 free throws, five turnovers, four assists, was blocked twice and a rebound.

Today good old Currie recorded nine minutes, no points, got blocked once, and made a couple passes that lead to turnovers.

Overall it was a huge win that puts Syracuse at 15-7 and 5-4 in the Big East. Syracuse moved up to 35th in the RPI and tied for seventh in the conference. Considering eight to nine teams will get in from the Big East, Syracuse should definitely should be in.

Milwaukee Bucks Scouting Report

The 76ers take on the Bucks tonight. Here's a short little look at the Bucks so you can get familiar with Milwaukee.

Milwaukee is on last place of their division at 18-28. The Bucks have lost seven of their last nine games. The last meeting between the 76ers and the Bucks, Milwaukee won 87-83. The Bucks are 5-21 away from home.

Milwaukee's latest struggles come without leading scorer Michale Redd who is out with a knee injury. Without Redd, the Bucks don't have much fire power.

Mo Williams is their second leading scorer at 16.7 points per game and leads the team in assists at 6.7 per game.

Their front court features a diverse group of players. An alien (Charlie Villaneuva), a Chinese man (Yi Jianlian), and an Australian (Andrew Bogut). Together they form a solid group of fairly young forwards.

In the backcourt, Charlie Bell (the link is definitely worth a read) joins Mo Williams. It's been recently documented that Bell is having one of the worst season ever in the NBA.

Despite Philadelphia's struggles since the Kyle Korver trade, the 76ers should have the upper hand in this game since Milwaukee has not been playing well on the road and without Michael Redd.

Back in First...for now

Couldn't have asked for a better start to the second half of the season. Devils lose to Pittsburgh, and the Flyers pull one out in overtime over the Kings, 3-2. That means, with 61 points through 49 games, Philly is back in FIRST PLACE alone!

Apparently it's only the second time in seven overtime games that the Flyers pulled it out, but this was a big one. Marty Biron was solid with 29 saves, and kept us in it in the extra session. Simon Gagne continues to make an impact as he returns from his injury, getting the only power play goal of the night for either team. It's clear the team didn't lose any of its momentum from prior to the All-Star break, as their hot streak continues.

- Good job on the penalty kill tonight. Sure, it was against the lowly Kings, but we'll take it.
- 12-2-2 in our last 16, and we've won 9 of our last 11.
- 28-16-5, 61 points, 1st place in the Atlantic, just 1 point ahead of the Pittsburgh Penguins.

With Pitt's win over the Devils, the constantly jumbling standings now look like this:

FLYERS 28-16-5...61 pts
PENGUINS 28-18-4...60 pts
DEVILS 28-19-3...59 pts
ISLANDERS 24-21-6...54 pts
RANGERS 24-22-6...54 pts

You can count on that order changing many times in the next couple months. Good win over Los Angeles. Now the Rangers, Ducks and Thrashers are next. Flyers should take 2 out of 3, and hopefully that would be enough to keep them on top of the division for now.

-ajd

Nightly Recap and Morning Preview

Cole Hamels Fact of the Day:

Fact #199: Pat’s and Geno’s have changed their names to Cole's and Hamels's respectively, as a gesture of respect.

Nightly Recap:

• Syracuse-Depaul Men's Preview.
• Syracuse-Depaul Women's Recap.
  
• Another look at the Flyers season so far.
• State of the Phillies Address. It's a good one.
• Mike Lieberthal has retired.
• Troy Nunes obviously has WAY too much time on his hands at work.
• No more Hall of Fame game.
• 'Cuse Scoops is now the Sport Hump.

Morning Preview:

• Milwaukee travels to Philadelphia, game starts at 7:00 is on Comcast in the Philly area.
• Syracuse travels to Depaul at 8:30. The game will be on ESPN Full Court.
  

Syracuse Beat Another Ranked Opponent

The Syracuse women's basketball team beat their first ranked foe as a ranked team. The Orange defeated 23rd ranked DePaul 69-66. The win was the first for the 'Cuse over a ranked team in more than five minutes.

Syracuse got a career high 17 points from Vionca Murray on 7-8 shooting from the field and 3-3 from the line. Erica Morrow also contributed 15 points.

The game went back and forth until Syracuse secured the lead with a late 11-2 run to break a 53 all tie. DePaul had one last run left in them, scoring the next ten points to take a one point lead.

Chandra Jones scored on a put back to give the Orange a 68-66, Nicole Michael added a free throw for the final 69-66.

S.U. also lead at the half 37-35, DePaul quickly answered, making the second half a sea-saw battle.

The Orange move to 17-3 and 5-2 in the conference.

Syracuse-Depaul Men's Preview

The ladies showcase their skills tonight against Depaul, but the men also travel to Chicago for a Wednesday night showdown with the Blue Demons.

The Blue Demons have been somewhat of an enigma thus far this year. They looked like they might struggle to make the Big East tournament, but now they are playing pretty strong basketball.

Depaul began the season 2-7 with losses to Creighton, Vanderbilt (Depaul blew a huge lead in the second half), Mississippi, city rival Illinois-Chicago, Clemson, and North Carolina A&T which is one of the most embarrassing losses for any Big East team this year.

They also have a home loss against Georgetown and road losses at Villanova and Marquette. The Blue Demons have two marquee wins on their schedule. They took down Villanova and Syracuse's last opponent Providence.

Overall, Depaul is 9-10 and 4-3 in the conference, and is 115th in the RPI.

Ken Pomeroy's statistics suggest that Syracuse should win this game 81-77 and has a 64% chance of winning the game.

Depaul has been okay on defense this year and pretty good offensively. They rank 60th in the country in offensive efficiency and 160th in defensive efficiency. They have been pretty consistent in their efficiency both defensively and offensively throughout the non-conference and conference schedules.

Depaul likes to play an up tempo game, but not to the extent of Syracuse. Depaul plays at an average pace of 68.7 possessions a game while the Orange have been playing at 73 possessions a game. They have slowed down to about 70 possessions per game in Big East play. Generally, teams that have made Syracuse play the tempo they want to play, Syracuse loses. When Syracuse plays a more up tempo game they win.

Depaul doesn't do too many things very well, but do a lot of things very poorly. They do limit their turnovers. They are 36th in the country in lowest turnover percentage. The Blue Demons are 30th in the country in limiting their opponents to get the free throw. That's been a strong point for the Orange this season, so it will interesting to see if the Orange can get the ball down low to Paul Harris shot 13 free throws against Providence.

Statistically, Depaul is absolutely abysmal, but overall their defensive efficiency isn't terrible. Teams have a 52.4% effective field goal percentage against Depaul, 268th in the country. Opponents shoot 40% from three against Depaul, which makes their three point defense 326th in the country. They are also near the bottom in opponents free throw percentage, defensive rebounding, forcing turnovers, and blocking shots. Absolutely terrible numbers, but yet they are still middle of the pack in defensive efficiency. When I figure that out, or if anyone can figure out how that's possible let me know. This one time the stats might lie, because it's hard to believe you can do everything wrong on defense, but still overall be average.

Keys for Syracuse:
Contain Draelon Burns. He's their best scoring option, and one of only a couple guys that can take a game over consistency. He's 80-95 from the line so don't foul him. Anyone else on this team, I would say hack away, but Syracuse doesn't have the depth to play hack a Shaq.

Extend the 2-3 zone. Depaul has five guys averaging making one three-pointer a game. All nine players seeing nine plus minutes a game have hit a three-pointer this year. The outcome of this game could easily just come down Depaul's ability to hit the three.

Depaul has experience players, Syracuse doesn't. Coach Jim Boeheim needs to make that a non-factor. The average player on the floor for the Demons has 1.9 years of playing experience. Syracuse's average player has 0.6 years which is second worst in the country.

Final Prediction: Syracuse 75, Depaul 68. I have confidence Syracuse will continue their stellar defensive play and will shut Depaul down. The Orange have jumped to 60th in the country in defensive efficiency, up from around 100th where they were during most of the non-conference schedule. Their three-point defense has improved greatly. They were around 250-275th most of the season, now they are 166th. This team is quickly getting better defensively. They are also getting much better at limiting offensive rebounds, moving up in the rankings at the same pace as the three-point defense. I think Syracuse will continue this trend and force Depaul into bad shots all game and finally get a win on the road in the Big East. This is their most winnable remaining game on the road.

Nightly Recap and Morning Preview

New Feature: Cole Hamels fact of the day.

For Halloween, Chuck Norris went as Cole Hamels.

Our thoughts on CuseAdelphia today:

• The Big East is either really good or really mediocre.
• The Third Edition of Syracuse bracketology.
• Depaul vs. Syracuse women's basketball preview.

What went on Monday:

• Pedro Felix is now a Phillie. Yay! Another washed up Giant. See David Bell.
• Lots of changes on the Eagles coaching staff.
• Blogger MVP/ROY NBA rankings take five.
• Syracuse comes in 11th in this week's Big East Blogger Poll.
• Idiots on Sports are inner-blogging themselves.
• Go Otto.
• Now these guys are doing the NBA. What's next hockey?
• The women's team moves up to 22nd.

What's going on Tuesday:

• The Ladies travel to Depaul to take on the Blue Demons.
• The Los Angeles Kings travel to Philadelphia. Game starts at 7 and is on Comcast SportsNet.

Games of Interest:

UCONN 69, Louisville 67. Syracuse's upcoming match up with the Huskies is looking less winnable after each UCONN game. The Huskies win again without Jerome Dyson and Doug Wiggins who were suspended for possession of alcohol. The game stayed close all game with UCONN holding the largest lead of 10, but Louisville was eventually able to tie before falling by two points. I still can't figure out Louisville. Every time they start to play well and you think they are becoming the team that the coaches voted first in the Big East with Georgetown, they lose a game.

Syracuse women's team travels to Depaul Tuesday

Syracuse's second game as a ranked team will be their first game ever facing another ranked team.

The AP voted Syracuse 22nd and put Depaul right behind them at 23rd. The Blue Demons enter the game with a 15-4 record and 4-2 conference record. Depaul enters the game as hot as the Orange, winning four of five, and is coming off a pounding win against Cincinnati 81-51.

Depaul is currently ranked 41st in the RPI and has quality wins at 15-5 Notre Dame and 17-1 Illinois State. They have bad losses at home against Tennessee and Pitt. Normally losses to those teams aren't too bad, but the Blue Demons lost 102-68 to the Volunteers and 97-68 to the Panthers. They also lost 65-56 at 11-8 Marquette ten days ago.

It's very hard to win against the Blue Demons in the Depaul. They've won all but four of their last forty home games. The Blue Demons draw pretty well as they've had a crowd of more than 2,000 almost every game.

Allie Quigley leads Depaul in points (18.2 ppg), steals, assists, and free throw shooting. She's all around one of the best players in the Big East. She's part of a strong scoring attack. The Blue Demons average 82 points per game, something many men's teams can't even do.

Natasha Williams leads the team in rebounding at 7.4 per game and blocks with 34.

Depaul is a average shooting team from three at 34.5% and hits about seven per game. They will need strong shooting from the outside to beat the tough Syracuse 2-3 zone Coach Quentin Hillsman has adopted from Jim Boeheim.

Key for Syracuse: Get all the scorers on this team involved early. They will need several girls hitting shots all game to beat the Blue Demons. They can't rely on one player to take over like in some of their previous games.

Final Prediction: Depaul 74, Syracuse 71. Depaul is a little too good for a relatively young and inexperienced Syracuse to win in. The Orange has struggled on the road, expect more struggles Tuesday.

Scoop Jardine's Suspension

I don't have an exact reason yet why he has been suspended that I can share so I thought I would compile a list of the funniest and dumbest rumors that have been presented on various Syracuse forums:


1. Scoop Jardine stayed out late at a Hannah Montana Concert and missed class.
2. He went to Craig Forth's kindergarden class as a guest speaker and missed several classes.
3. There is a poll on the forum asking why Scoop was suspended.
A) He got in a fight with a lacrosse player
B) He stole a meal card
C) He missed a bedcheck
D) None of the above.
If I were to vote, it'd be none of the above.
4. Scoop is a women.
5. Scoop went to Baskin Robins and had 31 Scoops of ice cream and got sick
6. Scoop went to class.
7. Scoop went to Utica to hang out with Josh Wright.
8. Scoop got into a fight with Billy Edlin.

Can this just end? I wish someone at Syracuse.com went onto the forums and just deleted every Scoop related topic. Almost every thread is devoted to his suspension.

Syracuse Bracketology Edition III or Nitology Edition I

Syracuse is starting to find their way back into a few brackets after their win against Providence Sunday in the Dome. They are in four of the ten most recent brackets produced by sites that are apart of the Bracket Matrix. The remaining 18 brackets that are two or more days old feature Syracuse just twice. It looks like Syracuse's win has helped momentarily.

Syracuse averages an 11 seed in the six brackets they are.

Drew Barnett at Draft Express has Syracuse in as an 11 seed playing Drake in the first round. That game scares me a lot because Drake is a much better team that a lot of people give them credit for. They continue to win in the MVC, which could probably give the SEC and the A-10 a run for their money as the sixth and seventh best conferences in the country. The second round would be the winner of Texas and Siena. S.U. already beat Siena and Texas has as much depth as Syracuse which would make that game seem more winnable then the Drake game. Draft Express also has a great Syracuse clubhouse page with articles from over last summer about the current freshmen during international play.

March Madness 2008 is the website that is run by someone named "Syracuse Basketball," so he might be a little biased towards the Orange. He updated yesterday and has the Orange in as an 11 seed. Overall it's still a pretty solid bracket, not one of the best, but still really does a good job at who should be in and at what seed.

Nuge's Bracketology is fairly new. He has Syracuse in as an 11 seed and also isn't considered one of the last four in. He also keeps Villanova out of his bracket. His bracket is very solid except for the automatic bid teams from the minor leagues. For the most part, he didn't select, at least in my mind the best teams from some of the one bid leagues.

Shelby's Wild Ass Guesses updates daily and has Syracuse in the bracket. Syracuse goes into his bracket at a 10 seed. He has 10 teams in from the Big East which kind of seems like a stretch. Syracuse again doesn't fall into his last five in. Villanova does however. 'Nova is falling, and falling fast.

Those are the only new brackets Syracuse has appeared since the last update. If the bracket matrix updates again today with Syracuse in a new bracket, I'll add it to the list.

UPDATE: Joe Lunardi of ESPN.com released a new bracket today and Syracuse is one of his last four teams in. They are an 11 seed and would play Gonzaga in Little Rock. The winner would get the winner of Texas and Cal State-Northride. Villanova isn't even part of his last four out, but part of his next four out. He has Seton Hall and Providence ahead of 'Nova.

Fiddle's Bracketology also just put Syracuse in today as a 10 seed. His other 10 seeds include Dayton, Miami, and Mississippi St. There is no Villanova or Providence in this bracket.

As for the NIT, the bracket matrix uses an S curve to determine the NIT bracket. The NIT bracket hasn't been updated since last Monday, so it will probably be updated at some point today. I will also post that update when it happens. As for now, Syracuse is a one seed and would play Virginia Tech in the first round. The winner would play the winner of George Mason and Temple. Also in Syracuse's bracket is Wake Forest, Ohio, St. Joe's and California. That bracket would definitely been winnable for the Orange since all three of their games would be at home since they are the higher seed.

The Big East is a Big Mess

When someone figures out the secret to predicting who will finish where in the Big East, please tell me. What is going on in this conference this year? (And I don't want to hear it's as simple as the home team wins all the time) As each conference game passes, it becomes more and more unpredictable and chaotic. Teams that are supposed to win handily lose inexplicably, and teams that are supposed to be walked over by the bigger programs string together a few wins. I know we're only half way through the conference season, but look at this nonsense in no particular order:

Pitt beats Georgetown
Villanova beats Pitt
Rutgers beats Pitt
Villanova beats Syracuse
Syracuse beats Rutgers
Cincinnati beats Villanova
Cincinnati beats Syracuse
Seton Hall beats Cincinnati
DePaul beats Villanova
West Virginia beats Marquette
Providence beats UConn
UConn beats Marquette
Marquette destroys Providence

If you can find a pattern there, you're good. And look at the conference records:

10 teams are at either 4-3, 4-4 or 3-4
That means 1 game seperates 13th place from 4th place!

I am in no way a college basketball expert and I don't pretend to be one. But I think I can recognize when something is spinning out of control. What gives for the unusually high number of upsets and the crowding of the teams in the middle? It's possible there's just a lot of really talented teams in the Big East that beat each other up night after night. On the contrary, is it also plausible that there are just a lot of mediocre teams in the conference and only a couple who are actually really good? Whatever the reason, it seems to me that it would be tough for this conference to get a lot of teams into the NCAA tournament if most of them finish in the 9-7 range. The committee won't be so quick to take 6-7 teams from the Big East if only 3 or 4 have 10 or more conference wins (which appears to be where we're headed with this season's trend).

Right now, I think there's only one lock. And that would be Georgetown. I do not think there is any other team in the conference right now that could be considered a lock for selection. Maybe Pitt, but what a surprise, they lost to Rutgers at home and two of their best players are out for the season. Villanova looks awful right now. Louisville appears to be on the upswing, but they have to keep playing well. Notre Dame still has to run into a tough part of their schedule. And then there are a bunch of teams who are right on the cusp (UConn, Marquette, West Virginia, Seton Hall). And of course, don't forget CuseAdelphia's favorite son, Syracuse.

That's a lot of teams competing for only a few spots. And I see no reason to believe they're all going to continue to beat each other up as the season goes on. With the way this season has gone thus far, I can't imagine more than 4 teams in the Big East finishing with 10 or more wins, and that's going to create a possible quandary for the selection committee come March. Besides Georgetown, no team looks overwhelming. Of course, no team looks particularly bad either (excluding a few teams of course). A lot of really good teams beating each other up, or a lot of average teams doing the same? Tough to tell, but it's going to mess down the stretch either way.

The bottom line here is, of course, do not count Syracuse out of tournament talk yet. As we can plainly see, anything can and will happen in college basketball. Hopefully things will take a clearer shape in February.

-ajd

Weekend Roundup

Busy weekend in Syracuse, not so much in Philadelphia:

Syracuse defeats Providence without the help of Scoop Jardine.
Another weekend of Sixers win! Sixers lose!
The Syracuse women's team dominates again.
Nick is weighing in his two cents again.
A Parrot that's an Eagles fan. This is a must-see.
A new site on the Blogroll. Two Temple journalism talking sports. Sound familiar?
A great recap from the Axeman despite the fact people were trying to take his head off for no reason.

Double Dose: a Loss and a Win

One point in the last 4:59 seconds of a game isn't usually going to add up to a win... and the Sixers learned that the hard way in an 89-81 loss to the Knicks Friday night. Each quarter was fairly close but the numbers all added up in the Knicks' favor.

Stat Line:
- Andre Iguodala: 24 points
- Willie Green: 13 points
- Sammy Dalembert: 12 points
- Andre Miller: 10 points

The Sixers are up 2-1 in the season series with one game to go on February 20.


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Saturday night the Sixers found themselves on the other side of the scoreboard, beating the Bobcats 103-96. The W snapped a three game losing skid for Philly, whose total team effort is to thank for the victory. The Sixers were down by as many as eleven points in the first half, but fought back. Usually they are the team giving up the lead, not coming back from a deficit.

Stat Line:
- Andre Iguodala: 33 points, 6 rebounds, 5 assists, 2 blocks
- Andre Miller: 23 points, 9 assists
- Sammy Dalembert: 14 rebounds
- Lou Williams: 12 points

Note: ThadYo started the game.

POST-KORVER RECORD: 4-12
(once again batting .250)

Syracuse Wins without Scoop

Scoop Jardine sat on the bench for the full 40 minutes in an Orange sweater while his teammates struggled to take down Providence. The Orange were able to pull it out in the end 71-64.

Both Providence and Syracuse struggled to score most of the game as at the half the score was just 30-21 S.U. The second half featured better shooting by Providence and less turnovers by Syracuse which led to a much higher scoring half. Both teams scored over forty points during at times a frantic up and down pace.

Scoop Jardine was suspended for today's game and the suspension could be indefinite. There is no word yet on what he did. Several students saw Jardine at the Kimmel fast-food dinning hall last night at about three in the morning. Scoop probably knew at some point yesterday that he was suspended. I don't think he would have been suspended for staying out so late, so he must have already known he was suspended. (ED Note: According to the Daily Orange, Scoop knew yesterday he had been suspended for today's game)

Down on the bench, Scoop seemed very upbeat and positive. He didn't really show any negative body language all game. His benching left Syracuse with just seven scholarship players, and only six of those play. Coach Jim Boeheim was forced to go to walk-on Justin Thomas for only three minutes.

Jonny Flynn and Donte' Greene never left the floor during the game. Green and Arinze Onuaku were able to stay out of foul trouble. Onuaku stayed on the floor for 39 minutes. Only Paul Harris and Kristof! got into foul trouble. Kristof! recorded his fourth foul with about 14 minutes left, but came back later and played very well despite the four fouls. Harris only sat for a couple minutes with his four fouls. Rick Jackson was able to come in and provide solid minutes. Jackson grabbed eight rebounds, seven points, and had a thunderous block in just 17 minutes. After his block, Jackson hustled down court and finished the play by going to the hoop and drawing a foul.

The Orange got to the free throw line very well against the Friars. They shot 37 free throws with the majority of those throughout the game. Onuaku actually hit his free throws, knocking down four of five. Harris got to the line a lot, 13 times in all and hit ten. This was what this team has to do when they struggle from the outside. Get it down low and go to work. They fought for rebounds and put backs all game and it really paid off.

The 'Cuse out rebounded PC by 16 rebounds. They pulled down 14 offensive rebounds with Arinze leading the way with seven. The Orange also blocked seven shots. Kristof! only got credited for one, but it definitely looked like he three or four blocks. Boeheim may have found something with this large lineup. They need Scoop depth wise, but with the extra big man in there it gives Syracuse an edge inside which they can really take advantage defensively. Fouling isn't as necessary when you've got other guys on the court that can step up when a defender beats you.

The biggest problem today was the Orange's turnovers. They had 22 in the game and 15 in the first. I thought for sure after they 18 with 17 minutes left they would hit around 27, but they did take care of the ball better down the stretch. A lot of the turnovers came when the players weren't ready for passes. There were many instances where big men were already turning to the basket anticipating a shot when a pass was coming. The group of players on the court weren't as used to playing with each other, but the Orange started to gel as the game went on.

Syracuse 80 St. John's 52

Syracuse defeats St. John's in the Dome handily 80-52 behind Nicole Michael and Marisa Gobuty. Michael scored 20 points and grabbed eight rebounds in a game that was never really close.

The 'Cuse continued to lengthen their lead to 30 at 80-50, the Johnnies got a late basket for the final score of 80-52.

The fans really came out for this game against and were loud. The announced attendance for the game was 3,323. It's obvious this city is really beginning to embrace the women's team.

For the Orange, Marisa Gobuty scored eight really quick points at the end of the first half to receive a standing ovation. She nailed two threes and a long two pointer. Gobuty is considered one of the best current Israeli women basketball players. She even has her own website. It was fitting she had such a great game on the day she was the player featured on the game's roster card.

5'3'' Cintia Johnson is one of the grittiest, toughest players on the floor for the Orange. She doesn't stray away from contact when trying to get the ball up court. Twice she got knocked to the floor, but both times she maintained a dribble without missing a beat. She's a nice change of pace to spell the other point guard Tasha Harris who coincidentally also wears number 11.

It was weird in the second half to see during a timeout the St. John's coaches all huddled together while their players just stood around on the bench for about 30 seconds. I don't think I've ever seen every coach from one team gather and leave the team unattended.

The ladies held St. John's to just 31% shooting in the game and out rebounded the Red Storm by 11. It was an all around solid performance for Coach Q's team. They also forced 21 turnovers and blocked five shots. The Orange improve to 16-3 on the season and 4-2 in the Big East.

Syracuse is 16th in the RPI right behind Pitt who beat the Orange. Their next game is Tuesday the 29th at Depaul. The Blue Demons are 14-4 and 3-2 in the conference.

Providence College Team Preview

We asked the Black Padres to give us insight on those pesky Friars from Providence.

Here's what Jason from Black Padres has to say.

If you're good enough to predict the winner in a Big East game this season, then you're a psychic and need to solve cold cases for the police. For the average person, we don't have a clue; if we decided to use the statistic that home teams win 78% of their games in the Big East to pick the winner, we still lost: Providence goes on to beat UConn in Connecticut, UConn defeats Cincinnati in Cincinnati, and Seton Hall rolls over Providence in Providence in just the last week. It's no use. To predict the outcome of the Providence at Syracuse game on Sunday will be difficult; however, I think three things will decide who wins this game regardless of where it's played: defensive rebounding, zone defenses, and turnovers.

First of all, whoever holds the other team to one-and-done possessions will have a big advantage. According to Ken Pomeroy's ratings, both these teams can shoot the ball very well. Syracuse is effectively making around 54% of their baskets while Providence is effectively hitting around 52% percent of their shots. Both teams can't afford to give the other team a second (or third or fourth) chance to score because it will happen.

Secondly, who will play a better 2-3 zone defense? The 2-3 zone defense which is geared to protect the paint and force the perimeter players to shoot the three-pointer. The Friars make about 39% of their three-point baskets, which looks like Syracuse will have a problem. The orange hit around 35% percent of their three-pointers, but they want to, and can, take it inside because PC lacks an inside presence. Syracuse may have no problem scoring their 55% from inside the arc even in Providence's 2-3 zone.

Finally, Providence lacks a true point guard. They need to follow Bob Huggins philosophy when his point guard went down in Cincinnati: create turnovers. Providence is fairly adept at causing turnovers on defense.

If Syracuse is hitting the offensive boards like they're known to, score inside and outside Providence's 2-3 zone defense, and Providence can't force Syracuse to turn the ball over on offense, it will be the Friars' second straight loss.

Into All-Star Weekend on the upswing

Thursday was a FANNNN-tastic day for Philadelphia Flyers fans. 1) Team wins its final game before the All-Star break, which is always satisfying. 2) Team beats the rival Penguins, which is always satisfying. 3) Devils lose, which is always satisfying. Just a great day all around for the Flyguys.

Didn't get to see the game of course, but it looks like it was similar to the Devils game in terms of pace - we would get the lead, let them tie it up, get the lead again, give it up, and so on. But thanks to a couple power play goals (they just keep on a-comin') in the third period, they pulled it out against a Crosby-less Pittsburgh team, 4-3.

Marty Biron did a pretty good job it seems. I'm glad he got to start the last game before the break, because I think he needs to rebuild his confidence as the team's #1 goalie. Like I've said before, a goalie controversy is not a bad thing in the NHL, but I think Biron needs to step up and start playing the way the organization envisioned he would when it acquired him last year - a #1 goalie who can lead a team deep into the playoffs. If he gets to that point with Nittymaki behind him, that's definitely a reality this year.

- I would like to see Georges Laraque suspended for his hit on Downie (which I did see a clip of). I guess it would be poetic justice or something like that.
- R.J. Umberger doing his thing (a goal and two assists). It's always somebody different each night on this team. Always a good sign.
- 27-16-5, 59 points, TIED FOR FIRST in the Atlantic with the Devils.

So the Flyers are back in first place going into All-Star Weekend. That's awesome, considering they have more points than they did all of last season. Couldn't have asked for anything more to this point really. Going into the break, I think we're starting to see the makings of what could really be a championship caliber team (great offense, plenty of weapons, solid goaltending). And they seem to be getting better as the season goes on. Never mind the fact that we for some reason cannot beat New Jersey. We have the third best record in the conference and hopefully we'll be able to pull away a little from the Penguins while they play without Sid the Kid. After the break, it's Kings-Rangers-Ducks all at home. I don't think two out of three is very unreasonable, especially since one of the teams is the worst in the NHL. Let's hope for a strong second half to what has been one of the best Flyers seasons in recent memory thus far.

The Women's Basketball Team's next opponent is led by a girl that goes by the name Mo-Mo

The women debut their first ever ranking tomorrow at the Carrier Dome at 2 PM. They play the Red Storm who comes in at 10-8 and 1-4 in the Big East. St. John's has really struggled in conference play with their only win coming over fellow doormat South Florida. They did play Rutgers and Pitt tough, but got hammered at home against West Virginia.

St. John's enters the game with an RPI of 62 and played a decent non-conference schedule to prepare them for Big East play. Their best win so far came at NCST who is 12-7, but win less in the ACC. The Red Storm beat them 60-55. St. John's is 2-5 on the road and 0-2 in conference play.

They are led by Monique McLean who averages 14.1 points per game. McLean goes by the nickname M0-Mo according to her bio on St. John's athletics website.

The Red Storm's second leading scorer is Kia Wright. She averages just over 11 points per game and is the team leader in assists. She's a transfer from UCONN so she must have a pretty solid game to once have played for Geno Auriemma.

The leading rebounder for the Johnnies is Joy McCorvey at just 6.2 rebounds per game. She's a six foot sophomore forward from Alabama.

Syracuse is going to dominate SJU on the glass. S.U. has had a solid rebounding margin all year, compound that with St. Johns struggles on the glass and you should get complete domination by the Orange tomorrow.

CuseAdelphia prediction: Syracuse 82, St. John's 58.

Jerome Lane 20 years later

On the 20th anniversary of Jerome Lane breaking the backboard for Pittsburgh which was the subject of Bill Raftery's famous call, "Send it in Jerome," I bring you Arinze Onuaku bringing down the backboard.


Again

And Again


And another random guy

And Shaq


Can't forget the Tractor Trailer


How bout some Kevin Love?


My favorite, Darryl Dawkins.


Can I get some ham? I mean Darvin Ham.


I think I might be the only one who remembers Nigel Dixon, but he shattered a backboard also.


A math teacher breaks a backboard.


And of course Jerome Lane.

Links and Important Games brought to you by 2017 All Pros

Tanard Jackson is going to be one of the best defensive backs according to Rivals. They projected future all pro teams for the year 2017 and named former Syracuse star Tanard Jackson to their team.

Three more Syracuse University journalism students are taking sports on their new blog Box Score Banter. They interview Joe Lunardi from ESPN recently over some bracketology issues.

New England is going to kill the Giants according to Inside the Iggles.