189 Days til We Start Hyping Up the UCONN Game

College Basketball always begins around November 5th or so which means college basketball is approximately 189 days away. Everyday I will have a new reason to look forward to the 2008-2009 season. I started this countdown about 205 days before the season, so some of these are going to be lame, but hey I need 205 freaking reasons why you should be looking forward to the 2008-2009 season.

Reason 189: Hasheem Thabeet is returning to UCONN for the 2008-2009 basketball season. If both Syracuse and UCONN pan out to be top 25 and even top 15 teams, this game could be one of the best in the rivalry in recent memory. UCONN basically loses no one from the 2007-2008 team while SU only loses Donte' Green, but gets back Eric Devendorf and Andy Rautins.

190 Days Until Collegiate Roundball

College Basketball always begins around November 5th or so which means college basketball is approximately 190 days away. Everyday I will have a new reason to look forward to the 2008-2009 season. I started this countdown about 205 days before the season, so some of these are going to be lame, but hey I need 205 freaking reasons why you should be looking forward to the 2008-2009 season.

Reason 190: The start of basketball season means we begin a new countdown until Syracuse plays UCONN in women's basketball. I'm looking forward to it after getting a response from the director of women's basketball at UCONN almost four months after I emailed him my post on good old Geno Auriemma. Coach Eisenmann thanked me for my comments and appreciated my input. Overall the email was very nice and I don't want to criticize Eisenmann since he actually got back to me, but his email came off like he didn't read my post on Geno. Who knows, maybe Coach Eisenmann is just a really nice guy and really has nothing negative in response. Anyways, I really appreciated him getting back to me and hope he responds to the next email I sent him further explaining my stance.

191 Days Until We Begin Wondering When Sean Williams Is Going Pro

College Basketball always begins around November 5th or so which means college basketball is approximately 191 days away. Everyday I will have a new reason to look forward to the 2008-2009 season. I started this countdown about 205 days before the season, so some of these are going to be lame, but hey I need 205 freaking reasons why you should be looking forward to the 2008-2009 season.

Reason 191: As soon as someone on any college basketball team who has NBA potential has a monster game, people begin asking is he leaving school and going pro. So I declare if Sean Williams sees action next year and has a breakout game, the Syracuse sports world begin question when he's going pro to mock the ridiculousness of sensational journalism.

194 Days Until SOB Moments Start Happening Again

College Basketball always begins around November 5th or so which means college basketball is approximately 194 days away. Everyday I will have a new reason to look forward to the 2008-2009 season. I started this countdown about 205 days before the season, so some of these are going to be lame, but hey I need 205 freaking reasons why you should be looking forward to the 2008-2009 season.

Reason 194: At the end of every season Syracuse Orange Bloggers give out the SOBawards for many different categories. We are just 194 days away from experiencing moments that will be SOB worthy.

Check back at 6PM today for the award for Favorite Player Quote.

195 Days Until a Potential Kansas Game

College Basketball always begins around November 5th or so which means college basketball is approximately 195 days away. Everyday I will have a new reason to look forward to the 2008-2009 season. I started this countdown about 205 days before the season, so some of these are going to be lame, but hey I need 205 freaking reasons why you should be looking forward to the 2008-2009 season.

Reason 195: Mike Waters reported the CBE tournament the Orange will be playing has the four host schools play each other at the finals location. That means Syracuse will have the opportunity to play two of three following schools: Kansas, Florida, and Washington. That will be a big time strength of schedule booster.

Women's BBall in 196 Days

College Basketball always begins around November 5th or so which means college basketball is approximately 196 days away. Everyday I will have a new reason to look forward to the 2008-2009 season. I started this countdown about 205 days before the season, so some of these are going to be lame, but hey I need 205 freaking reasons why you should be looking forward to the 2008-2009 season.

Reason 196: When TNIAAM linked to this article, I realized that I was leaving out women's basketball in my countdown. So today's reason is what's pointed out in the article linked to. Coach Q turned this team around by 13 games, in 2008-2008 we will see another solid improvement for the women's team.

Paul Harris Flops 197 Days Away

College Basketball always begins around November 5th or so which means college basketball is approximately 197 days away. Everyday I will have a new reason to look forward to the 2008-2009 season. I started this countdown about 205 days before the season, so some of these are going to be lame, but hey I need 205 freaking reasons why you should be looking forward to the 2008-2009 season.

The title of this post gives away reason 197 to be excited for basketball season. Do it all Paul really does it all. At least acting wise. He flails arms and body in the air, flops, pretends to get hit a lot harder than he really does. As annoying and Duke-like this is, it actually works. Now it can get frustrating and overdone, but that one time a game Harris goes flying or flailing makes for a good time.

198 Days til Tip

College Basketball always begins around November 5th or so which means college basketball is approximately 198 days away. Everyday I will have a new reason to look forward to the 2008-2009 season. I started this countdown about 205 days before the season, so some of these are going to be lame, but hey I need 205 freaking reasons why you should be looking forward to the 2008-2009 season.

Reason 198: SU will open the season against some cupcake like Cansius or Fordham and steam roll them by 25. This will spur talk about how weak the schedule is. That will end when SU hosts Virginia in the Dome and goes on the road against Memphis. Plus the CBE classic will give SU a chance to play the likes of Kansas, Florida, or Washington.

So Reason 198 to be excited for basketball is a strong strength of schedule will put SU near the top of the RPI ratings heading into the conference season.

Basketball in 199 Days

College Basketball always begins around November 5th or so which means college basketball is approximately 199 days away. Everyday I will have a new reason to look forward to the 2008-2009 season. I started this countdown about 205 days before the season, so some of these are going to be lame, but hey I need 205 freaking reasons why you should be looking forward to the 2008-2009 season.

Reason 199: The talk of whether Jim Boeheim should step down will be put off for a year. He's going to lead Syracuse back to the NCAA tournament which will spur talk of Boeheim taking this team to another national title in 2009-2010.

A Mere 200 Days 'Til Basketball!

College Basketball always begins around November 5th or so which means college basketball is approximately 200 days away. Everyday I will have a new reason to look forward to the 2008-2009 season. I started this countdown about 205 days before the season, so some of these are going to be lame, but hey I need 205 freaking reasons why you should be looking forward to the 2008-2009 season.

Reason 200: Home crowds will be larger than usual next if this team pans out to be a top 25 team. I'm salivating at the thought of having either Georgetown or UCONN at home. Depending on the home schedule. Look for several games to be pushing 25,000 with some closing in on 30,000.

College Basketball: 201 Days Until SU Domination

College Basketball always begins around November 5th or so which means college basketball is approximately 201 days away. Everyday I will have a new reason to look forward to the 2008-2009 season. I started this countdown about 205 days before the season, so some of these are going to be lame, but hey I need 205 freaking reasons why you should be looking forward to the 2008-2009 season.

Kris Joesph will rapidly turn into a glue guy like Kristof!, but can score at times and not be an offensive liability. He's one of the few recruits I've seen for any team that says he wants to do a the little things first and scoring comes second. He's said he recognizes all the great scoring threats and SU needs a guy to put everything together.

Kris Joesph, a player who wants to play both ways and knows his role already, is the 201st reason any Orange fan should be excited for Syracuse basketball in 2008-2009.

Basketball Frustrations: 203 Days Away

College Basketball always begins around November 5th or so which means college basketball is approximately 202 days away. Everyday I will have a new reason to look forward to the 2008-2009 season. I started this countdown about 205 days before the season, so some of these are going to be lame, but hey I need 205 freaking reasons why you should be looking forward to the 2008-2009 season.

Reason 202: If Syracuse plays UMASS next year, the Orange doesn't have to deal with Minutemen coach Travis Ford. He's gone, outta hear, no longer in the A-10. He's gone west to coach Oklahoma State. Ford was the first coach since 1926 to win
twice on the road against Syracuse. Bon Voyage Mr. Ford, don't let a tornado hit you on the ass on the way out.

With the current state of Syracuse basketball, the ghost of Travis Ford will probably still find a way to haunt the Orange.

203 Days Until Basketball Season

College Basketball always begins around November 5th or so which means college basketball is approximately 203 days away. Everyday I will have a new reason to look forward to the 2008-2009 season. I started this countdown about 205 dayss before the season, so some of these are going to be lame, but hey I need 205 freaking reasons why you should be looking forward to the 2008-2009 season.

Since we are about 203 days away from basketball season, then that means we are about 200 days away from the first Syracuse.com Basketball article that is in the least controversial in anyway. What does that mean you ask? Well it means about 13 different people on ridiculous screen names will post completely idiotic statements, rumors, and unrelated comments on the articles. These comments equal humorous, funny reading material.

So in 203 days look forward to wonderful Syracuse.com articles ruined by dumb comments. I pity Mike Waters, Donna Diota, and Brent Axe for having to put up with that.

Basketball Season is Just 204 Days Away

College Basketball always begins around November 5th or so which means college basketball is approximately 204 days away. Everyday I will have a new reason to look forward to the 2008-2009 season. I started this countdown about 205 dayss before the season, so some of these are going to be lame, but hey I need 205 freaking reasons why you should be looking forward to the 2008-2009 season.

Reason 204: The Big East is going to be absolutely awesome in 2008-2009. Depending on what players come back for next season, the Big East could have one of the best seasons any conference has had ever. Look at the top nine teams in this conference from 2008 and most of them are getting much better, several will stay strong, and a few won't be quite as good, but teams like that for example Georgetown will still be very strong. The Hoyas bring in a strong recruting class to replace Jonathon Wallace and Roy Hibbert. I'll have more on this to come during the next month or so, but I'll leave you with "Bracketologist's" Joe Lunardi's early 2008-2009 bracketology which feautres nine, countem' nine Big East teams. SU slips in as seven seed.

2008-2009 College Basketball Season is Near

College Basketball always begins around November 5th or so which means college basketball is approximately 205 days away. Everyday I will have a new reason to look forward to the 2008-2009 season. Some of these are going to be lame, but hey I need 205 freaking reasons why you should be looking forward to the 2008-2009 season.

Reason number 205: Syracuse gets a shot at the nation's most notable terrible free throw shooting team December 20th. Syracuse will reportedly travel to Memphis. Remember the year SU won the national title? Yeah they played Memphis. Let's hope this is an omen.

My prediction for this game, Syracuse goes 17-28 from the line led by a 4-11 peformance by Arinze Onuaku. Memphis shoots 11-20.

Of course everyone thought having a stud point guard and a SF/PF combo from Towson Catholic coming off an NIT year like 2001-2002 meant SU was going to win a national title in 2008 and we all know how that worked out.