sutomcat
No recent Cali or Iggy awards; Mr Irrelevant
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Welcome to Leap Day!
Leap Day is every fours years...almost. It's every four years except years ending with "00" that are not divisible by 400. The year in which Leap Day occurs, is called a Leap Year.
Why the fancy calculation? The earth rotates around the sun once every 365 and about 1/4 days. So, by adding an extra day every four years, we get mighty close to keeping the calendar consistent with the earth's annual trip around the sun. And to be very precise, the earth orbits the sun every 365.242190 days. So, on years ending in "00", (except those not divisible by 400) we skip Leap Year and Leap Day. With all that fancy calculating out of the way, let's just celebrate the day.
Did you know? There are occasional "Leap Seconds". We will spare you the detail on those, except to say it helps to correct minor variations. On December 31, 2015, the folks who maintain the official time for the planet, will add an extra second to the day!
If your birthday is on Leap Day, congratulations, you finally get to celebrate your birthday on your birth date. Just how many of us are celebrating our Birthday on Leap Day? Only about one in 1461 people. If you were born on this day, consider yourself very, very special.
SU News
Syracuse's Biggest Challenge Monday: Defending UNC's Diverse Offense (DO; Dougherty)
Tyler Lydon doesn’t remember much from Syracuse’s home loss to North Carolina earlier this season. It was nearly two months ago. The Orange has won nine conference games since, and it’s a little easier to think about those wins.
But when defending the Tar Heels’ vaunted frontcourt came up — specifically in the high post and short corner — Lydon recalled one specific thing about the Jan. 9 game.
In the final 8 minutes and 15 seconds, North Carolina shot 12-of-13 from the field and made 10 shots in the paint. A handful of those in-paint buckets came on one high-low play. A pass to Brice Johnson in the high post, a quick dump down to Isaiah Hicks in the short corner, and a dunk.
Johnson, Hicks, dunk.
Tic, tac, toe.
“Yeah, we’re really going to look at that play and try to improve in how we defended it,” Lydon said after Syracuse beat N.C. State on Saturday. “I mean we have to look at that.”
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http://www.scacchoops.com/tale-of-the-tape-unc-vs-syracuse
Tale of the Tape: Syracuse vs UNC (scacchoops.com)
The numbers certainly favor UNC in this match-up and after the way the Tar Heels eviscerated the Orange zone in early January there is no reason to believe UNC won't again exploit advantages. The Syracuse zone makes like easier on the offensive glass for the Tar Heels with the Orange being one of the worst defensive rebounding teams in the country. That plays into UNC's hands as a team that thrives on second chance points.
The biggest danger Syracuse poses to UNC is three point shooting. The Orange have multiple three point shooters including Michael Gbinije who hit eight threes on Saturday in a win over NC State. Beside Gbinije there is Trevor Cooney, Tyler Lydon and Malachai Richard all capable of hitting threes.
Since UNC set the Orange to an 0-4 start in ACC play, the Orange have gone 9-3 with a win at Duke in the mix. In that same span UNC has gone 8-4 in the ACC. In that respect these two teams have been on equal footing over the past 12 games making this an awfully interesting match-up.
UNC Senior Night Offers a Rare Sight in Today's College Basketball (newsobserver.com; Carter)
Marcus Paige has been at North Carolina for so long that he forgot, in a sense, what he looked like three years ago during his freshman season. And so recently he sat down and watched some old highlights.
There he was on screen: the old familiar undershirt under his jersey, his frame even more slender.
“I just wanted to remember what I looked like, wearing the t-shirt and ankle braces and stuff,” Paige said late last week. “And I was like, man, I looked like a 14-year-old out there. But it’s been fun, man.”
Paige and his teammates at UNC hope there’s still a lot of season left. They hope, more precisely, to still be playing a month from now. If they are, it’d mean that the Tar Heels would be headed to Houston, and to the Final Four.
But now comes something of an ending, too. UNC’s game against Syracuse on Monday night will represent the final game at the Smith Center for Paige and fellow seniors Brice Johnson and Joel James (and also for senior walk-ons Spenser Dalton, Toby Egbuna and Justin Coleman, who earned a scholarship).
Paige said Friday, before his team’s 79-74 loss at Virginia on Saturday, that thoughts of his final home game have been difficult to escape. He has looked around the enormity of the Smith Center, the banners above, the blue seats and thought … one more time running out of the tunnel, and one more game on the Smith Center court.
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Other
Uncertain Snow Chances for Wednesday in CNY (PS; Montreuil)
A storm system will move through Central New York Tuesday night into Wednesday, spreading another batch of mixed precipitation through the area.
As has been the case numerous times over the past few weeks, storm track is everything and even the slightest of shifts will change what we can expect in Central New York.
The good news is that, even in the worst case scenarios, this storm system is not going to be a major event, and the uncertainty is between a few inches of snow, or none.
Before we get to that system though, there are two others to talk about. The first is a cold front quickly moving through Central New York this morning with some rain. Cold air will try to work in behind this, but increasing sunshine Monday afternoon will help balance that out and temperatures should remain in the 40s.
A second, very subtle system will swing through Monday night with a couple of flurries, No more than a light dusting of snow is expected and skies may be clear again by Tuesday morning.
Temperatures on Tuesday will be a touch cool behind these systems, with daytime highs in the low 30s and increasing clouds. Temperatures should rise overnight as the aforementioned storm system begins to roll in.
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