April Month In Review

April is always one of the best months in sports simply for what's going on. Baseball season is beginning, the NBA and NHL playoffs are just getting going, March Madness rolls over into April; for those of you in college towns, spring football holds their first practices and of course the NFL Draft.

With that said, a lot has gone in CuseAdelphia during the month of April. Six CuseAdelphia teams are in action and winning. Now this post comes in May, the day of the 76ers elimination from the playoffs, but the Sixers reached the playoffs for the first time in several years.

The 76ers, the Flyers, and Syracuse Lacrosse are all having tremendous bounce back years after terrible 2007s for those teams.

The 76ers completed only a five game turnaround, but their late season surge through March and April put them in the playoffs for the first time since 2005. The youthful bunch of players created some lasting memories with Andre Iguodala's thunderous slams down the lane and Thaddeus Young's emergence.

The Sixers under new GM Ed Stefanski reached the playoffs looking to pull off an absolute shocker by taking down the two seeded Detroit Pistons. Things looked good early for the 76ers after Game One. A frenetic comeback in the Motor City meant Philly would head into Game Two with a 1-0 lead.

Game Two ugly. Sixers lose badly.

Game Three. Things are much different. Mo Cheeks' crew figures out what they did in the second half of Game One and blow the Pistons out of the gym.

Then things got ugly. Really ugly again. For the next three games it would be terribly ugly.

The Pistons outscored the Sixers by 19 points in the second half of their Game Four win. Game Five was domination all game; Pistons by 17.

Game Six was the worst of all. The 76ers season was officially declared dead at 8:12 PM EST. A 10-0 lead for the Pistons was essentially as close as Philly would get the rest of the game, Pistons win by 23.

Syracuse Lacrosse has also made a very solid turnaround. After a 5-8 season in 2007, the Orange rebounded in 2008 in impressive fashion. SU finished April undefeated, beating their opponents on average 14-6.

The Orange have dominated behind the likes of Tewaaraton Trophy nominees Mike Leveille and Steven Brooks. Leveille has a team leading 61 points while Brooks has anchored the midfield all year. In goal, John Galloway has played increasingly well as the year has gone on.

The 'Cuse capped off the perfect April with an absolute handling of recent pain in the UMASS 16-3. The Orange scored the first nine goals of the game and scored more goals in each quarter than UMASS had the entire game.

Philadelphia's team in orange- the Flyers - also completed the best turnaround in the NHL this year. The Fly Guys were last, dead last in the entire NHL in 2007, but managed to reach the playoffs as the sixth seed in the East.

Being the sixth seed is one of the best seeds you can be in the playoffs. Often the third division winner is always barely worthy of the playoffs, and this year was pretty much no different. The Capitals needed a long winning streak at the end of the year to reach the playoffs, but that streak ended at the hands of the Flyers.

Seven games, several blown leads, one Alexander Ovechkin explosion, and one Daniel Briere goal scoring binge later the Flyers were moving onto the next round.

Now throw in four more games, three of which are Philly wins, lots of angry Canadians, some more blown leads, no Briere scoring binge, but rather one by R.J. Umberger and you get a 3-1 series lead against the Montreal Canadiens.

One CuseAdelphia team already has won a title. The Syracuse women's Lax team took home a Big East Championship in South Bend in dominating fashion. A 22-7 blow out followed by a 12-6 victory over rival Georegtown and the women have an automatic berth to the NCAA tournament.

Basically every scoring record you think of, Tewaaraton trophy nominee Katie Rowan broke it.

Two CuseAdelphia teams used April to get off to extremely solid starts.

The Phillies finished out April 15-13. Now that doesn't seem too impressive, but when you look at their past four Aprils, it's rather impressive. 11-14 in 2007, 10-14 in 2006, 10-14 in 2005, 10-11 in 2004. You get the picture.

The Phillies did it in probably the most improbably way: great pitching from both the starters and bullpen. The entire staff has posted a combined ERA of 3.79, the lowest its been in years.

The relievers have been much better; the Phillies' pen ranks first in the National League in ERA. J.C. Romero, Brad Lidge, Chad Durbin, Rudy Seanez, and Tom Gordon (minus the first week) have been lights out.

Cole Hamels is throwing his name in the hat for Cy Young during the early season with his 2.70 ERA and 36 strike outs in April.

Chase Utley and Pat Burrell have provided MVP moments throughout the entire month as the two are near the top of practically every offensive category. Utley ends the month with a major league leading 11 home runs.

The team that plays across the parking lot, the Philadelphia Soul of the AFL has been blistering hot. Two QB's Tony Graziani and Matt D'Orazio have combined for astronomical numbers in leading the Soul to an undefeated record through April.

Bon Jovi's team finished off the month with a 57-28 romping over the previously undefeated Dallas Desperados. Philly held Dallas scoreless in the first quarter, a monumental task in of itself.

The other football team in Philadelphia just completed the 2008 NFL draft with some disputed success. The Eagles set themselves up for a monster 2009 draft with the acquisition of the Panthers 2009 first round pick. The Iggles also got another second round pick in the same deal when trading away their first round pick to Carolina.

Now the Eagles only got one player that will have an immediate impact this year with DeSean Jackson, but it's still a major accomplishment to get one of the most explosive players in the draft half way through the second round.

The Birds also grabbed DT Trevor Laws who's a workhorse on the defensive line.

The later round picks weren't anything special, but the Eagles overall had a solid draft.

No matter how good all of CuseAdelphia's teams did, there's going to be a few bad notes that cannot go unmentioned.

In the same NFL draft, no members of the Orange heard their names called for the first time since 1975. Taj Smith, Jameel McClain, DoWayne Davis, and several others eventually found a home, but it wasn't for NFL draft level money.

Orange fans also learned they might hear the name of one of the fabulous freshmen from the 2007-2008 seasons. Donte' Greene declared he's making himself eligible for the 2008 NBA draft, but he left some hope for Orange fans when he didn't sign an agent.

Greene's team also found themselves sitting at home from the NCAA Tournament and NIT Tournament finals which both took place in April.

Finally on a sad note, we remember John Marzano who was found dead in South Philly home. The cause of his death hasn't been revealed yet.

SU Lax: Seniors Look for Revenge Saturday

UMass will enter the Dome Saturday trying to ruin senior day for the Orange's top four year players.

Tewaaraton Trophy finalists Mike Leveille and Steven Brooks will step on the Carrier Dome turf for the last time ever as players tomorrow. Their four years has seen some disappointing losses to UMass so what better way to leave your mark on the Dome by obliterating the men who have caused you so much pain.

The Minutemen are awful this year. They are just 5-7 on the season, but in their defense, eight Minutemen were suspended before the season for off the field actions.

This series isn't really a rivalry since SU has dominated overall 26-8, but it does have historical significance. A big win would be some sweet revenge for the Orange.

UMass has ended two of the Orange's most prestigious streaks during the last few years. In 2005, the 'Cuse didn't reach the final four for the first time in over 20 years after UMass defeated the Orange in the first round of the NCAA tournament 16-15. Little known face, the Orange actually played the Minutemen to end the season as well and lost in overtime.

In 2007, the Orange clinched their first losing record in decades with their 9-7 loss at Garber field in Amherst.

SU shouldn't have too much trouble with UMass. The Minutemen's best player is their goalie Doc Schneider who has a solid .610 save percentage. He leads the nation's top man-down defense.

Offensively, UMass is lacking. They've got one solid scorer in Tim Balise who has 30 goals. Basically the Orange need to do what they did against Albany. Clamp down on the rest of the team because one player, in this case Balise, isn't going to single handily beat you.

Hopefully the Orange can blow UMass out in order to get senior goalie Peter Coluccini back in the cage for a few minutes in his last game in the Dome.

The game is at 2PM in the Dome.

Troy Nunes has the women's lacrosse team and their trip to the Big East Tournament covered already. If I wrote something on them at this point it would just be over kill. So enjoy TNIAAM's coverage.

SU Lax Wins: Brett Queener Disappoints

No tights for Brett Queener didn't mean success for the Albany goalie.

One year after giving up eight goals in just 14 minutes while wearing Spandex tights, Queener returned to the Dome spandex-less.

The results for Queener were a little better in 2008, but Albany still went home with a 10-5 loss.

The opening quarter looked like it might be a lot like 2007 as the Orange jumped out to a 5-2 lead. The first quarter was played at a frenetic pace. The two teams combined for 21 shots and 21 ground balls.

Lots of hits led to a lot of ground balls which led to a very up and down pace. Brett Queener's tendency to try to move the ball up the field himself also led to a couple situations where the Albany defense was completely discombobulated.

I have to question why Queener is keen on coming out of the crease to try to make defensive plays 10-20 yards up field. His departure from the crease directly led to several goals and a couple more chances for SU when there was no goalie in net.

Queener leaving the net didn't once result in a goal for Albany off the break that ensued. So what does Albany get out of having Queener running around wildly?

The answer: pretty much nothing except a hole to dig out of.

The pace of the game slowed down quite a bit after the first quarter. The two teams combined for just eight goals the rest of the way.

Mike Leveille continued his Tewaaraton Trophy campaign moving forward with another hat trick. He's averaging almost a hat trick per game with 33 goals in 12 games. He's tallied 55 points this year.

I mentioned in the preview, Albany has only had one legitimate scoring threat this year, Corey Small. In this game, the Great Danes had none, as Small sat out with a pulled muscle.

The Orange played close to a flawless game. If I had to take one negative out of the victory, it would probably be the fact the 'Cuse only scored five goals during the final three quarters.

Ten goals is a solid total for a game, but five over three quarters is somewhat unacceptable for this team. Queener was responsible for a lot of SU's struggles. The Orange did get almost half of their shots on cage.

John Galloway was by far the bright spot of the game. The frosh played one of his best games as a member of the Orange last night. Galloway bailed the defense out several times when seams opened up, allowing Great Dane attackmen to get clear shooting lanes.

Albany seemed like they were trying to attack the upper half of the cage. Galloway recorded most of saves with his stick at eye level or higher.

SU also limited second chances, especially in the first half. The Orange was perfect on clears in the first half going 12-12.

Syracuse will look to extend its winning streak to ten games against rival UMASS next Saturday in the Dome. The Minutemen defeated the Orange at Garber Field in Amhearst to officially knock SU out of playoff contention last year.

SU Lax to Open a Can of Hatorade on Brett Queener

Tonight's match up between Albany and SU in the Dome will feature a team on a nine game winning streak against a goalie that gives the world a million reasons to dislike him.

There are so many things about Great Danes goalie Brett Queener that make fans despise the guy.

For starters, the guy is good. He's got very solid numbers this year as he gives up just 7 goals a game and has a save percentage over 56%. He can't help his team cannot win a faceoff to save his life which is probably the biggest factor for why Albany is 5-6.

Queener also likes to get out of the net and play some offense. He'll play the EMO at times. He's got five shots this year with only one on goal. He's asking SU defenders to level him all game as he's not afraid to run the ball upfield.

Third, Queener's last name is well Queener. He's asking for it with that name. It's easy to say and a funny name.

It's bad enough his name is Queener, but then he goes and plays for the Great Danes which is one of the worst nicknames in collegiate sports. Great Danes sounds like a seal on an English Coat of Arms.

Finally, Queener wears tights in goal. Not sweatpants like most goals or just shorts. He wears tights. Really Brett? You find it necessary to wear tights in lacrosse? You look like an absolute pansy down on the turf.

Alright, onto the actual game.

Albany doesn't win faceoffs. That without a doubt is their biggest problem. You cannot win against teams as efficient on offense and defense as Syracuse without winning close to half of the faceoffs, if not more.

Albany just doesn't that. It's not even close. The Great Danes win just 40.7% of faceoffs.

Albany has tried three players at X and none have worked. Jordan Levine has been the best, winning just 14 of 30 draws.

This game could simply come down to, if Albany doesn't win the faceoff battle, they aren't winning the game.

This makes Danny (not Jerome, thanks OrangeGirl2010, combined John Jerome and Brennan) Brennan for SU a major factor tonight. He leads the nation in faceoff percentage. If he dominates tonight, the Orange are going to blow the Danes out of the Dome.

Albany also only has one legitimate scoring threat. Corey Small has 28 goals in 11 games. Throw a second defender at him at times, force him to give up the ball.

Albany has two other players in double digit goals, Brian Caufield and Steve Ammann. To be fair to Caufield, he does have 14 goals in just eight games. He'd probably be close to 20 had he played the whole season.

Last year the Orange offense exploded against Albany for 17 goals. SU was able to chase Queener in just 14 minutes after allowing eight goals.

The Danes were 11-1 coming into the game as the Orange were having a disappointing season.

Sounds a lot like this year with the roles reversed.

SU Women's Lax wins 24-6 against Colgate

Katie Rowan scores 11 points, seven goals and four assists. Her performance led to a 17 goal first half for the Orange. Rowan also became the school's all-time leading scorer.

One of the referees made a classy move stopping play after Rowan broke the record to make sure the ball was taken out of play for Rowan to keep.

I was sitting third row behind Coach Gary Gait and it seemed he didn't pick up on what the ref was doing at first which gave the crowd a little chuckle during this laugher of a game (pun was totally intended there).

This game got ugly and ugly fast. I was in attendance for the first half when the Orange absolutely poured it on. The 'Cuse scored six goals in the first seven minutes, including four in a 46 second span. That's just insane and not right.

I'm not a women's lacrosse connoisseur, so I cannot break down the women's lacrosse team in detail. What is very noticeable for someone new to the game is girls who can just move the ball the around are very successful.

Katie Rowan, Haley Quillanan, Christina Dove, and company are very talented at receiving passes and making quick, deliberate actions with the ball. This allows them to move the ball faster than the defense can react which leads to a lot of one on one situations with the goalie.

Colgate goalie Sara Drexler didn't stand a chance tonight. Most of the 'Cuse's shots came at point blank range that the best goalie's in America probably wouldn't stop.

SU WLAX Finishes off its Home Schedule

Senior Day in the Dome for the Women's Lacrosse team will feature the Lady Orange against the 7-7 Red Raiders.

Only five seniors will be honored tonight from the young Orange team that has just two losses all year. Kristen Brady and injured Bridget Looney are the two most notable members of the senior class.

The last four wins for the 5th ranked Orange have been by double digits. Colgate has struggled this year against ranked opponents, going winless in three tries against ranked foes. The Red Raiders are 5-0 in the Patriot League, but just 2-7 against the rest of the NCAA.

Junior Katie Rowan will look to add to her NCAA record for points in a single season. She already broke her own record with 46 goals and 41 assists for a total of 87 points. Rowan is just four points away from tying the SU record for career points.

The game will be at 7:00 tonight.

CuseAdelphia Prediction: Syracuse 21, Colgate 5

Gary Gait's Laxapalooza

Yesterday I posted SU Athletics was going to be making a big announcement about SU Lax. Apparently they will be holding their first ever Gary Gait's Laxapalooza on Feburary 9th. Yes, a Laxapalooza. What is a Laxapalooza? Well it's:

• A 7:30-11:30 A.M. Boy's Lacrosse Clinic.
• Noon scrimmage against Harvard
• 3-6 P.M. Postgame activities that include a shooting demonstration from Gary Gait, Paul Gait, and Mikey Powell, a fan zone, and kids clinic, and Mikey Powell's band Villian's Trust.

The announcement came today during Lax Media Day in the Dome. You can check out what some of the players and coaches said on SU Athletics about the up coming season.

2008 Syracuse Lacrosse Preview

The 2007 season was one of the best and worst seasons ever for Syracuse Lacrosse. The men didn't reach the NCAA tournament for the first time in over 20 years while the women had their most successful season ever culminated with a Big East title.

Both teams return most of their key players for 2008. Here's a look at both teams.

Syracuse Women's Lacrosse:
Last year's record: 13-6
Last year's accolades: Big East Championship and trip to NCAA quarterfinals.
Key Addition: Syracuse legend Gary Gait will coach the ladies in 2008.
Key losses: Ashley Pike and Jill DePretis.

What's in store for 2008:
The Big East will be tough this year with four teams in the Top 25. Syracuse ranks the highest of the four at fifth overall. Georgetown at 11, Notre Dame at 12, and Rutgers at 19th are the other ranked teams from the Big East.

The team brings back many of their top scoring options. Among those who will be back:

• Katie Rowan: Team leading 59 goals and 86 points
• Christina Dove: 47 goals and 12 power play goals
• Haley Quillinan: 50 goals
• Kristen Brady: 28 goals and ground balls
• Bridgey Looney: 13 goals and team leading 42 ground balls.

Scoring will not be a problem for the Orange this year.

Back in the net will be Amber Pardee-Hill who allowed less than 10 goals a game for the 'Cuse.

Taking a look at their schedule, this team should easily win 12 of 16 games on the year. They only play two teams ranked ahead of them. If they play to their potential a 14-2 or 15-1 regular season is definitely possible. They should be the favorites heading into the Big East tournament again. This team could have 17 wins entering the NCAA tournament which will put them in good position for a top seed.

Gary Gait factor: Gary Gait should help this team improve their offense even further as he'll bring a new dimension to women's lacrosse never seen before. The Orange attack will be even more explosive than last year when they averaged 15 goals a game. Their scoring average this year could increase to over 17 goals a game with Gait at the helm.

Final Prediction in bold, but isn't quite so bold: The Ladies finish the regular season and Big East Tournament with a 16-2 record. They go to the NCAA finals and lose a heart breaker to Northwestern 17-15.

Now for the men's preview:

Last year's record: 5-8

Last year's Accolades: None. No playoffs and no conference tournament because the men are independent.

Key Addition: Freshman John Galloway from West Genesee could replace Peter Coluccini in net by the end of the year.

Key losses: Greg Rommel, Steve Panarelli, Danny Brennan, and Jon Jerome. Syracuse loses its top two face off winners in Brennan and Jerome.

What's in store for 2008:

I don't think 2008 is going to be a whole lot better than 2007. I do think they will have a winning record, but the team lost some very valuable players. Mike Leveille, Dan Hardy, and Steven Brooks are All-Americans and should have ridiculous offensive numbers, but defense could pose as a problem again. Which team will show up on an everyday basis? The one who blew the living daylights out of Rutgers and played top ranked Cornell tough or the one who couldn't score against Army and got hammered by nation powers like Virginia and Johns Hopkins.

Coach John Desko has eight games on the schedule of 14 that are pretty winnable games. After that, they have six tough games against ranked opponents. A 9-5 regular season record is probably the most likely with 10-4 a distinct possibility. It should be enough to get this team back into the NCAA tournament.

The Orange return their top five scorers from a year ago:

• Leveille: Team high 22 goals and 39 points.
• Hardy: Team high 22 goals and 32 points.
• Kenny Nims: 18 goals and 30 points.
• Steven Brooks 19 goals and 26 points.
• Greg Niewieroski: 19 goals and 24 points.

Final Prediction in bold, but isn't quite so bold: The Orange finish the season 9-5, but begin to find their identity late in season and show why they are Inside Lacrosse's 11th ranked team in the preseason. They go to the NCAA tournament, winning in the first round, but lose in the second round.

Check back tomorrow for the 2008 Philadelphia Flyers Preview.

How We Are Going To Do Things Here At CuseAdelphia

My goal for my fellow writers and myself will be at least 20 posts a week, we'll probably do a lot more during college basketball season because I'll be providing nightly breakdowns of games that are important to basketball fans. Here are some features we'll most likely be doing.

• Nightly games of interest for Syracuse fans.
• As we near selection Sunday breakdowns of how Syracuse compares to other teams in the nation.
• Our ballot for the weekly Big East Blogger Poll.
• Previews and post games for Syracuse men's lacrosse, basketball, football games, and women's basketball game.
• Our thoughts on the latest news in the Syracuse world.
• Recruiting news for Football and both men's and women's basketball.
• Turning to the Philly side, post game reactions to the Flyers with select previews for certain games.
• Previews and post games for Eagles games (yes I know there's one left.)
• A draft preview for the Eagles and 76ers.
• Reactions to 76ers news, transactions, and games.
• Daily Phillies news, post game reactions, and columns.
• I'll also be creating a daily link dump around 3-5 EST everyday including weekends.
• A 2008 preview and predictions for what's in store for Syracuse and Philadelphia sports.

We'll be posting new content on here within the next couple days.

I'd like to thank Troy Nunes and Inside the Iggles for letting readers know of us.

Anything else you'd like to see us do. Comment below or e-mail me at jsflemin@syr.edu.

For now, check out every single link to the right. They are all goodies, if they weren't, they wouldn't be on the blogroll.

Inaugrual Post

If somehow you stumbled across this site and see it very bare and boring, come back in about a week and you'll see a guide to Philadelphia and Syracuse sports. We'll hopefully be officially launching this site on January 1st, 2008.