sutomcat
No recent Cali or Iggy awards; Mr Irrelevant
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Welcome to Appomattox Day!
Appomattox Day marks the date when the terms of surrender were signed to end the Civil War, after almost four years of fighting. Confederate commander Robert E. Lee had recently abandoned the Confederate capital, Richmond, as well as Petersburg, Virginia. His goal was to regroup his troops, who were low on supplies and food, and fight on. On April 8, his troops were almost completely surrounded near Appomattox Court House, Virginia. Still, on the following morning, the Confederates mounted an offensive under the command of Major General John B. Gordon. At first it was going well for the Confederates, but eventually they were turned back as they were outnumbered. General Lee is noted as saying, "There is nothing left me to do but to go and see Gen. Grant, and I would rather die a thousand deaths."
Robert E. Lee surrendered to commanding Union general Ulysses S. Grant in the front parlor of the home of Wilmer McLean. Lee had sent a message to Grant earlier in the day saying he would surrender, and they met at 1 pm. Representative of the nature of the two men, Lee arrived impeccably dressed, with sash and sword, while Grant wore a field uniform that had mud splattered on it. Grant quickly wrote the terms of surrender after Lee asked for them. The Confederate troops were pardoned. The soldiers were allowed to keep their horses, which would be helpful for spring planting, and were allowed to return home. They also were given Union rations so they wouldn't starve. Confederate officers could keep their swords and sidearms.
SU News
(youtube; podcast; Light It Up)
On today's episode, 2024 PF Donnie Freeman breaks down his decision to commit to Syracuse, the transfer portal, playing alongside Eddie Lampkin next year, and much more. If you enjoyed the episode, subscribe to the channel for more Syracuse basketball interviews and content. Also, follow Donnie on his socials below!
30 Minutes in Orange Nation 4-8-24 (ESPN; radio; Orange Nation)
Steve Infanti and Paulie Scibilia kick off today’s show discussing Syracuse men’s basketball’s roster and which players that the team has been linked to in the portal could be a good fit. Then, the guys hear some quotes from a Syracuse football commit about Fran Brown’s activity recruiting locally. Later, Jordan joins the guys to discuss this past weekend’s women’s basketball National Championship as well as a gripe Paulie had with WrestleMania.
Syracuse Basketball is a TOP-10 TEAM + The Orange NEED Malik Mack, Kadary Richmond or Erik Reynolds (youtube; podcast; Locked on Syracuse; scheduled for 9 AM today)
Syracuse Basketball was named a way-too-early top-ten ranked team by The Sporting News. Should Adrian Autry's squad really be ranked that high thanks to the addition of Eddie Lampkin and JJ Starling and Chris Bell returning? Plus, Malik Mack, Kadary Richmond or Erik Reynolds would be excellent replacements for Judah Mintz.
Syracuse Set To Lose Key Player But Could Have Several Transfers Lined Up (orangefizz.net; admin)
Sources have revealed that Syracuse guard Judah Mintz will not be returning to the Orange and will instead enter the upcoming NBA draft. This decision comes after a standout sophomore season in which Mintz led the team in scoring, averaging 18.8 points per game. He was also recognized as a second-team All-ACC player for his remarkable output over the course of the season.
This is not the first time Mintz has considered entering the NBA draft. Last year, he went through the draft process and even participated in the NBA Combine after his freshman campaign. However, he ultimately decided to return to Syracuse for his sophomore year. This time around, it appears he has made up his mind to pursue a career in the pros.
The guard told reporters he was planning to discuss his future with his parents after the Orange lost to NC State in the ACC Tournament, a game sports betting apps in North Carolina had likely received an overwhelming number of bets on following the recent arrival of legal betting in the state.
Mintz’s departure is a significant loss for Syracuse as he had been a key player for the program over the past two seasons. In addition to leading the team in scoring, he also ranked third in the ACC in assists and second in steals.
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Way Too Early Predictions for Syracuse Basketball (orangefizz.net; Aitken)
With the national championship going on today, it’s the perfect time to start thinking about tangible results for next season. Is the roster finalized? Not even close. Is the landscape of the ACC certain? Nope. Is it fun to make predictions anyway? Absolutely. These are just guesses, so have some fun with it.
Preseason Ranking: Unranked
This seems like an obvious one, but not everyone agrees. One website even put Syracuse as the tenth-ranked team in the country, but that’s just silly. Unless they know something everyone else doesn’t, then the Orange aren’t close to that ranking. A major transfer might change that, but even if SU does well in the portal, the top-10 (and even the top-25) is way too lofty of a goal.
MVP: JJ Starling
JJ Starling will be the MVP of the team next year regardless of any roster changes. After a full year of getting comfortable with the Orange, he’s ready to take the next step.
Judah Mintz is likely gone, but even if he stayed, it feels like Starling was catching up at the end of last season.
Freshmen Donnie Freeman and Elijah Moore are exciting, but the current college landscape favors experience. Amongst all the Final Four teams, there are just three freshman starters, and all the stars are upperclassmen.
Other options would be transfer center Eddie Lampkin, returning wing Chris Bell, or any other transfer that comes in. Unless it’s a true elite player, Starling will be the MVP for Syracuse.
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Syracuse Basketball: With John Calipari leaving UK, former 5-star recruits to monitor (itlh; Adler)
Long-time head coach and ace recruiter John Calipari, who has gone to multiple Final Fours and won a national championship at Kentucky, is reportedly moving on to take the same role at fellow Southeastern Conference school Arkansas, a move that caught many Syracuse basketball fans, myself included, by surprise.
Now, on the face of it, Calipari heading to Arkansas isn’t super impactful as it relates to the Orange, although as numerous experts noted in the wake of this development, his departure from the Wildcats is seismic news in the sport of college basketball.
For ‘Cuse fans, I’m writing this column because with Calipari bolting for another school, we’ll have to see what sort of domino effect that creates with the existing Kentucky roster, as well as its incoming freshmen.
As many Syracuse basketball recruiting enthusiasts know, the Wildcats line-up during the 2023-24 season featured multiple highly ranked prospects who held scholarship offers from the Orange, and one of Kentucky’s 2024 commits also was a former ‘Cuse recruiting target.
Might Syracuse basketball pursue Kentucky recruits in the wake of John Calipari reportedly leaving?
The Wildcats, in 2023-24, went 23-10 overall and were a No. 3 seed in this spring’s NCAA Tournament. Kentucky, though, got upset in the round of 64 by No. 14 seed Oakland.
That stunner left some Kentucky fans ready for the program to move on from Calipari, even though he’s guided the Wildcats to a string of Final Fours and Elite Eights during his tenure in Lexington, Ky.
In any event, three Kentucky players in 2023-24 had been offered by Syracuse basketball while in high school. They were freshman wing Justin Edwards, a five-star, top-10 national prospect in the 2023 class from Philadelphia; freshman point guard D.J. Wagner, a five-star, top-10 overall player in the 2023 cycle from Camden, N.J.; and sophomore power forward/center Ugonna Onyenso, who is from Nigeria, played prep ball in Connecticut and was a four-star, top-40 national prospect in the 2022 class.
Additionally, while in high school, freshman big man Aaron Bradshaw received interest from the ‘Cuse coaching staff. He was a five-star, top-10 national prospect in the 2023 class from Rahway, N.J.
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Winfred Walton, a 1996 McDonald’s All-American who committed to Syracuse, has died at age 46 (PS; $; Waters)
Winfred Walton, a McDonald’s All-American who in 1996 committed to Syracuse, died on Monday at the age of 46.
Walton, a 6-foot-9 forward out of Detroit’s Pershing High School, never played for Syracuse after issues arose concerning his standardized test scores.
According to one report, Walton died as the result of a car accident.
Walton’s family confirmed his death on social media. Former Syracuse player Todd Burgan, who also played at Pershing High School, posted a message of condolence on social media.
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ACC Basketball Power Rankings: Who finished the 2023-24 season No. 1? (fightinggobbler.com; Roche)
The 2023-24 men's college basketball season is over and what a season it was in the ACC. In the final season before SMU, Stanford and California join the conference, North Carolina captured the regular season title and they were the clear-cut favorite and top team all season long, beating rival Duke twice who finished in second.
Things changed, however, once the ACC Tournament began where North Carolina State won five games in five days to win the tourney in Washington, D.C., and claim the automatic NCAA Tournament berth. It didn't stop there for the Wolfpack. They carried that momentum into the NCAA Tournament, and reached the Final Four, before falling to Purdue Saturday night. What a ride they took their fans on for a month, beating nearly everyone who got in their way.
They beat Louisville, Syracuse, Virginia, Duke, and North Carolina in five days in the ACC Tournament, which was an amazing feat in itself. Then in the Elite Eight of the NCAA Tournament, they once again took down Duke in the West Regional Final.
Now that the dust has settled on the season, here are th e final ACC Men's Basketball Power Rankings for the 2023-24 season.
15 Louisville Cardinals 8-24
14 Miami Hurricanes 15-17
13 Georgia Tech Yellow Jackets 14-18
These three teams have nowhere to go but up. Louisville ended the Kenny Payne era and Miami finished the season losing their last 10 games and starting a roster overhaul with the transfer portal, adding Lynn Kidd from Virginia Tech. Damon Stoudamire now has an opportunity to build his roster at Georgia Tech. We'll see.
12 Notre Dame Fighting Irish 13-20
11 Boston College Eagles 20-16
10 Virginia Tech Hokies 19-15
9 Florida State Seminoles 17-16
Notre Dame made strides under Micah Shrewsberry toward the end of the season and will only get better moving forward. Boston College had an impressive win over Providence in the NIT and Virginia Tech has had several players enter the transfer portal since losing in the NIT to Ohio State. Mike Young has a lot of transfer portal work to do. Florida State beat the Hokies in the first round of the ACC Tournament but was bounced by UNC in the quarterfinals and they too have portal work to do this offseason.
8 Syracuse Orange 20-12
7 Wake Forest Demon Deacons 21-14
6 Pittsburgh Panthers 22-11
5 Virginia Cavaliers 23-11
Syracuse was a disappointing one and done in the ACC Tournament, while Wake Forest and Pittsburgh were left on the outside looking in for the 68-team NCAA Tournament field, instead, the committee decided to take Virginia. What a mistake that turned out to be.
4 Clemson Tigers 24-12
3 Duke Blue Devils 27-9
2 North Carolina State Wolfpack 26-15
1 North Carolina Tar Heels 29-8
All four of these teams reached the Sweet 16, which was impressive for a conference that was thought of as just a two-bid league. Go figure. NC State lasted the longest of these four getting to Phoenix but falling short. It's hard to argue that despite beating North Carolina in the ACC Tournament Championship game, NC State had a better season than the Tar Heels, who finished the season where they spent most of it, at the top.
Other
An architectural rendering shows the proposed design for a new fountain to replace the broken on at Hanover Square in downtown Syracuse. (Provided by city of Syracuse)
See Syracuse’s vision for a dramatic new look at the Hanover Square fountain (PS; $; Boyer)
A downtown Syracuse pocket park’s fountain will get new life — and a new look.
City officials have unveiled renderings for a new design of the Hanover Square fountain, which has not been operable since 2022 because of weather-related deterioration. The city’s Department of Parks and Recreation has hired QPK Design to help plan the $550,000 project.
The new design includes a more resilient facade, improved lighting and expanded seating, city officials said. The park, located at East Water and South Warren streets, is often used for outdoor events, including the Hanover Thursdays live music series in the summer.
The original fountain was built in the early 1980s. After shutting it down, the city worked with QPK on new designs after a complete assessment of mechanical, electrical and plumbing systems.
“We’re excited to move forward with the rehabilitation of the fountain,” said Parks & Recreation Commissioner Tony Williams in a news release. “Investing in our aging park infrastructure is restoring the vibrancy of this gathering place for the community to continue to enjoy and invest in for many years to come.”
City officials aim to have construction work started by the fall, with the project completed by the spring or summer of 2025.
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Long lines at restaurants, no vacancies in hotels in Syracuse for eclipse: ‘It’s been crazy’ (PS; $; Moss & Alba)
Would there be enough brisket?
It’s something Marie Paoff, who has worked for nearly 30 years at the flagship Dinosaur Bar-B-Que on North Franklin Street, usually doesn’t have to think about. But the restaurant’s barstools were full around 6:30 p.m. Sunday, with a two-hour wait for a table.
“It’s been crazy,” said Paoff, a manager known to her co-workers as “Sarge.”
More than a million people are expected to travel to New York state for the Monday afternoon solar eclipse, Gov. Kathy Hochul said at a Sunday news conference.
Every hotel room in and around the Syracuse area was booked Sunday night, according to Visit Syracuse, the county’s tourism agency.
The peak of the eclipse, called totality, will last about 90 seconds in Syracuse. In neighboring Oswego County, the moon will cover the sun for about three and a half minutes.
Restaurants in downtown Syracuse, including Dinosaur, were busy for dinner Sunday.
Paoff said she had seen diners this weekend from all over the East Coast, and even as far away as Alaska.
“This is great for everybody, for the economy‚” she said. “I can’t believe all of these people are here.”
Among those waiting in line was Dwayne Mui and his family.
Mui said they had made their reservation at the Hampton Inn in Salina a year ago, before prices really started to skyrocket. They had travelled from New York City to Syracuse for the eclipse, he said.
“It’s the closest good location,” he said.
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Dr. Neil DeGrasse Tyson coming to Syracuse with ‘The Search for Life in the Universe’ (PS; $; Herbert)
Superstar astrophysicist Dr. Neil DeGrasse Tyson is coming to Syracuse this fall.
Tyson will present “The Search for Life in the Universe” on Oct. 15, at the Landmark Theatre. The show will begin at 7:30 p.m.
“Beginning with Mars, we review the ongoing effort to search for habitable planets, liquid water, and life in the cosmos. Culminating in the search for intelligent life, whether or not it already exists on Earth,” an event description says.
Tickets go on sale Friday, April 12 at 10 a.m. through Ticketmaster. Prices have not been announced.
Tyson was last scheduled to speak at the Landmark Theatre in 2022, but the “mind-expanding” science lecture was canceled days after it was announced “due to a scheduling issue.” Ticketholders were automatically refunded.
The planetary scientist, educator and author has become a pop culture icon with TV shows like “Cosmos: A Spacetime Odyssey” and “StarTalk,” plus appearances on “The Big Bang Theory,” “The Simpsons,” and “The Late Show Starring Stephen Colbert.” He also serves as director of the Hayden Planetarium at New York’s American Museum of Natural History.
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