sutomcat
No recent Cali or Iggy awards; Mr Irrelevant
- Joined
- Aug 15, 2011
- Messages
- 25,250
- Like
- 108,905
Welcome to Rockefeller Center Christmas Tree Lighting Day!
The Rockefeller Center Christmas Tree is a large Christmas tree placed annually in Rockefeller Center, in Midtown Manhattan. The tree is erected in early to mid November and lit in late November or early December. In recent years, the lighting has been broadcast live, nationwide, on NBC's Christmas in Rockefeller Center show and scheduled for the Wednesday after Thanksgiving with the tree lighting ceremony held at the end of every broadcast.[1] The tree, usually a Norway spruce 69 to 100 feet (21 to 30 m) tall, has been put up every year since 1933.[2] The 2015 Christmas Tree Lighting took place on December 2 and remained on display through January 6, 2016.[3]
SU News
Wisconsin's Ethan Happ proves his worth in win over Syracuse (espn.com; Medcalf)
Prior to Wisconsin’s 77-60 win over Syracuse in the ACC/Big Ten Challenge on Tuesday night, a young man in a fashionable black vest and a pair of sleek Steve Maddens, gazed from the front row as the two teams prepared for their matchup at the Kohl Center.
The NBA scout, one of 10 in the building, represented a team that will probably pick high in next summer’s NBA draft.
He flew into Madison to see Tyler Lydon and Tyler Roberson, a pair of Syracuse forwards many envision as potential first-round picks.
He also discussed Nigel Hayes, the preseason Big Ten Player of the Year who withdrew from last summer’s NBA draft. “I just want to see Nigel,” he said, “take his game to the next level.”
Ethan Happ, who finished Tuesday’s game with a monstrous 24 points (10-for-12 shooting), 13 rebounds, four assists, one block and one steal, along with four turnovers.
He did not mention the 6-foot-10 sophomore from Milan, Illinois, a town so small and anonymous, Happ is already listed as one of its three most famous natives on Wikipedia.
The scout did not ask about the relentless forward who outplayed Lydon and Roberson -- 4-for-11 combined -- and the others who tried to challenge him after he bought a piece of land in the middle of Syracuse coach Jim Boeheim’s zone, set up camp and started a fire.
...
Syracuse basketball loses to Wisconsin 77-60 (Brent Axe recap) (PS; photo gallery; Axe)
The Dark Side
- Ball Movement
- Delayed Defense
- Badger Boards
- Different Stories from Long Range
- Fade for White
- Rough for Roberson
Three takeaways from Syracuse’s 77-60 loss to Wisconsin (TNIAAM; Godnick)
SU’s 77-60 loss to Wisconsin on Tuesday night was an eye-opener to say the least, and if Syracuse wants to be competitive, they need to figure out who they are. An identity is needed for any team to reach their potential and right now it looks like coach Jim Boeheim and his roster don’t know what brand of basketball they represent.
The Orange have time, but the longer they wait, the shorter the season will be.
The offensive glass is an issue
The Orange 2-3 zone is supposed to force the opponent into a tough shot that leads to easy offensive opportunities. The last thing you want from a zone is second chance opportunities—the Syracuse Orange don’t understand that.
The Wisconsin Badgers finished with 14 offensive rebounds, a stat that will hurt any team’s chances of winning a basketball game. The Orange need to learn that watching the ball won’t lead to rebounds; instead, the second a shot goes up all members of the zone need to find a man and move him out of their property.
One shot is enough, and for the Orange to bounce back they need to take more pride in possession of the basketball.
The Orange are one step behind on defense
The 2-3 zone is supposed to be the Orange’s bread and butter—it’s supposed to be the reasonthey win basketball games. Tonight’s performance was an eye opener for the Orange—they need to work on defense. The last place Syracuse wants the ball on defense is in the middle, and countless times again the Orange found their defense broken from middle by the Badgers.
...
ACC Roundup - Challenge Day II (dukebasketballreport.com; King)
Given the late finish in Cameron Tuesday night, we won't have time to do what we normally do, so for tonight, here’s our condensed ACC Roundup.
Well you can just rock us to sleep tonight - what the heck did Pitt pull off?
The Panthers just beat the snot out of Maryland, having a 25 point lead at one point before winning by 14.
Pitt just dominated this game, shooting 67% in the first half and going up 46-25 at the half.
Michael Young had 25 for Pitt. Jamel Artis added 22.
Melo Trimble had 13 for Maryland but shot poorly (4-13).
Syracuse took a whipping, losing to Wisconsin by 17. Add that to the loss to South Carolina this weekend and you have to wonder: has this team been exposed?
Syracuse was not supposed to be that bad. Well, right now they’re pretty bad - or at least not what they’re supposed to be.
Give Georgia Tech credit: that team didn’t just meet expectations; it probably surpassed them.
That’s easy considering how far down they were after hiring Josh Pastern in the off-season, but still. Tech has some hope for the season.
Quinton Stephens and Ben Lammers had 11 and 10 rebounds apiece and combined for 11-23.
Overall though the team shot just 36.4%, led by Josh Okogie, as the freshman big man shot just 5-21.
...
Wisconsin's use of Sterling basketballs reflects inconsistency throughout NCAA (DO; Schewedelson)
Every time Andrew White steps on the court before a shoot-around, he walks to the rack of balls and picks one up. Then he slaps it, feels it out and begins his preparation for the upcoming game.
It’s a process he needs to perform because the ball at each venue in the college game is different.
Syracuse uses the Nike Elite ball in the Carrier Dome. On Saturday at the Barclays Center, the Orange played with an Adidas ball. SU will play with a Sterling ball on Tuesday night when it visits Wisconsin, the only school in a Power 5 conference and one of the only in the country to use that brand.
“You kind of take for granted the feel of the ball,” White said.
The No. 22 Orange (4-1) travels to the Kohl Center to face the No. 17 Badgers (5-2) on Tuesday at 7:30 p.m. The NCAA doesn’t regulate what ball to use outside of the NCAA Tournament and the home team is tasked with providing it. While players nationwide and on SU say the ball has no effect on games, research has proven otherwise and some have said they’d prefer the ball to be the same for every game.
Wisconsin has used Sterling dating back to 2001, when Bo Ryan took over as head coach. The company based near Tacoma, Washington, sponsored the balls at the University of Wisconsin-Platteville when Ryan was the head coach there. Throughout the rest of his coaching career, his teams used Sterling.
Before this season, only two brands were used by just one Power 5 team — Sterling (Wisconsin) and The Rock (Michigan) — but the Wolverines recently switched to Nike, making UW’s the most uncommon among the game’s biggest powers.
...
Who wins next week’s UConn/Syracuse showdown? (dailycampus.com; Keating and Busar)
On Nov. (he meant Dec.), longtime rivals UConn and Syracuse will face off at Madison Square Garden in a highly anticipated showdown between two storied men’s basketball programs. With that in mind, The Daily Campus sports writers Josh Buser and Tyler Keating batted around the big question: who wins this rivalry match?
Josh Buser: At 2-4, UConn has had its fair share of struggles early in the season. One of the most noticeable downfalls has been the inability to score against a zone defense. Without Daniel Hamilton to take up space in the middle of a zone, UConn has yet to figure out an efficient offensive strategy. As we all know, Syracuse has run their notorious 2-3 zone for years. The Huskies have had trouble against the weaker zone defenses of Wagner and Northeastern, so to expect UConn to turn it around against the No. 22 Orange is ambitious at best, perhaps even unrealistic.
Meanwhile, Syracuse began the season on a four-game winning streak before recently losing to South Carolina. The Orange only scored 50 points in the loss, the first time this year that they were held under 70. The loss could be chalked up to a bad shooting night, as Syracuse went just 14-44 (31.8 percent) from the floor, well below their 49.3 percent season average.
Tyler Keating: It's going to take a tremendous effort for this depleted UConn team to bring down the Orange, no doubt about it. Head coach Jim Boeheim lost some valuable contributors from last year's squad, which made an unlikely run to the Final Four, but he brought back some crucial ones too in forwards Tyler Lydon and Tyler Robinson, as well as adding transfer Andrew White III. They're certainly good. But they're not appreciably better than Oregon, who UConn fought to the wire with down in Maui.
If the Huskies get the same Jalen Adams and Rodney Purvis they got in Maui, the ones that sliced into the defense at opportune times while also knocking down perimeter shots, it's going to be a competitive game, and those types of game seem to swing UConn's way when they're played at Madison Square Garden. I'm a believer in home court advantage, when it's noticeable. There are going to be plenty of Orange fans Tuesday, but there should a better Husky fan presence.
...
Other
Wills Mahoney leads disruption in the $80 billion snow-plowing and lawn-mowing industry (PS; Linhorst)
Wills Mahoney's mom was snowed in and couldn't get out of her driveway. She called her son for help.
Mahoney said he told her: No problem, Mom. I do the IT service for 15 landscaping companies.
He called every one of them, but no one answered the phone - they were on the road going to plow other driveways.
Mahoney was shoveling snow from his mother's driveway when inspiration struck.
"There were plow trucks driving by," Mahoney said. "I would have gladly paid them. I thought: There has to be a solution."
There was.
Mahoney, a 2005 graduate of Syracuse University's iSchool, had already founded Express Computer Service in Manlius. He understood how digital technology can solve problems. So, Mahoney and partner Andrew Englander created Plowz & Mowz.
Through a smartphone app or the web, the company matches people who need snow-plowing and lawn-mowing with landscapers and has grown to 30 markets nationwide.
Give me the elevator speech for your companies.
Express started 11 years ago. I had a business partner, and I bought him out after he decided to leave the area. I'm the sole owner of that company.
We started in the home market. Over the past few years, we've focused on business and managed services. The company started with just two people. Now there are eight full-time techs that basically manage I.T. from small home needs to larger clients in Central New York.
Plowz & Mowz started nearly three years ago. We offer on-demand snow-plowing, lawn-mowing and leaf removal. We are now one of the largest on-demand outdoor home-service marketplaces in the country.
Using GPS technology, we did something that no one ever did before. We were first to market doing this.
...
