Len Elmore is the worst

[RF2044]

Literally, the worst college basketball announcer out there.

Could the guy overtly root against us any more blatantly?

Cripes--there are guys of varying ability who announce college hoops, but Elmore is awful

 

[Orangezoo]

Even that whiny tone in his voice is annoying. Id rather listen to bobby knight talk about a player on the bench making a play.

 

[SUintheVille]

He's not the best, but he really didn't annoy me that much. Learn to disregard the announcers and concentrate on the game. That's my philosophy.

 

[RF2044]

He's not the best, but he really didn't annoy me that much. Learn to disregard the announcers and concentrate on the game. That's my philosophy.

I agree in general--I don't look to the announcers to provide insight. Mostly, I consider them white noise. But Elmore is particularly trifling.

 

[OttoMets]

"The worst" is an expression that's thrown around loosely.

Len Elmore, by the strictest definition in our language, is the worst. The worst.

 

[orangefan13]

Literally, the worst college basketball announcer out there.

Could the guy overtly root against us any more blatantly?

Cripes--there are guys of varying ability who announce college hoops, but Elmore is awful

Agreed 100%,
I don't know what was the worst tonight.

A) giving up a 15-2 run down the stretch
B) The refs playing 6th and 7th man for iowa during a 6 minute span in the second half.
C) Listening to elmore tonight. Another thing is the halftime shows talking about other teams and what they need to do to win against us (we never get this). We were down by 12 at halftime against cal and all they did was talk about cal, if we were up by 12 we would have seen the same thing assured without a shadow of a doubt in my mind. Same treatment for Iowa tonight.
The media has a opinion we are there to anaylize against, and if one player beats our zone they make him sound like superman. And man does it gets old.

.

 

[Cowtown]

Could the guy overtly root against us any more blatantly?

I think it's the zone D thing. You can tell soon enough he has no idea how it works, so rather than learn it and offer intelligent comments, he just dumps on the team.

 

[triplethrea]

Look at the bright side: they invented something called the "mute" button. I use it every time a game is on ESPN.

 

[OttoMets]

I think it's the zone D thing. You can tell soon enough he has no idea how it works, so rather than learn it and offer intelligent comments, he just dumps on the team.

He hates it so much. You can tell by his tone, he thinks zone is some kind of weak gimmick.

He's the worst.

And, no, Len, it's not "a problem with the zone" that our guy doesn't get a defensive rebound when he doesn't block out.

 

[scottynguyen]

Len's worst (best?) moment of the night was calling for a basket interference or goaltend late towards the end of the 1st half. And continued to talk about it, after he was clearly wrong on replay, for a solid 2 minutes.

 

[donniesyracuse]

I turn down the television and listen to the radio broadcast. I usually have to pause the DVR for a few seconds to get the two synchronized.

Unfortunately last night I had to DVR the game and watch it two hours later. I was forced to hear Vitale. He is my least favorite now that Packer is gone.

 

[JDubbin]

Sweet spot.

 

[HoustonCuse]

Agreed 100%,
I don't know what was the worst tonight.

A) giving up a 15-2 run down the stretch
B) The refs playing 6th and 7th man for iowa during a 6 minute span in the second half.
C) Listening to elmore tonight. Another thing is the halftime shows talking about other teams and what they need to do to win against us (we never get this). We were down by 12 at halftime against cal and all they did was talk about cal, if we were up by 12 we would have seen the same thing assured without a shadow of a doubt in my mind. Same treatment for Iowa tonight.
The media has a opinion we are there to anaylize against, and if one player beats our zone they make him sound like superman. And man does it gets old.

.

See I think item C is more that it is a big deal if we are down to anybody by 12 at the half. A team like Cal (a P5 team, btw) - that win was the crowning achievement of their program over the past 5 years or so, so it's natural that it will be the focus. On the other hand, if Syracuse is up 12 - well to the general audience, that is expected and so they have to spice it up to make viewers stick around. Honestly, if you flip through channels and see Kansas is up 12 in the second half against Texas A&M are you really going to feel compelled to stay watching? Probbly not.

 

[pearl31]

It's a given Elmore is pretty much unbearable, as has been established here for years now...
But let's not forget Saunders. Could a play-by-play guy sound more disinterested or less engaged than him? I'm not sure he really understands the basic principles of basketball whatsoever. It really just seems like he has no business being anywhere near a basketball game.
So yeah, Elmore and Saunders - a dynamic duo.

 

[DoctorBombay]

Agreed 100%,
I don't know what was the worst tonight.

C) Listening to elmore tonight. Another thing is the halftime shows talking about other teams and what they need to do to win against us (we never get this). We were down by 12 at halftime against cal and all they did was talk about cal, if we were up by 12 we would have seen the same thing assured without a shadow of a doubt in my mind. Same treatment for Iowa tonight.
The media has a opinion we are there to anaylize against, and if one player beats our zone they make him sound like superman. And man does it gets old.

.

We are the headliners for this MSG event...not Cal, not Iowa.
We have a bigger/better brand than those 2 teams, so it shouldn't surprise that we get the bulk of attention before and after the games.
The amount of attention we draw, because of our winning culture/zoneD/HOF HC/history/etc., is directly related to those facts. Its a compliment that should be embraced...we've earned it.

 

[orangefan13]

We are the headliners for this MSG event...not Cal, not Iowa.
We have a bigger/better brand than those 2 teams, so it shouldn't surprise that we get the bulk of attention before and after the games.
The amount of attention we draw, because of our winning culture/zoneD/HOF HC/history/etc., is directly related to those facts. Its a compliment that should be embraced...we've earned it.

I see where you are coming from but I see the opposite I see it as a momentum builder for our competition, and what they want the casual college basketball fan, and sportsbetters, who just turned into the game to root and cheer for. I defenetly see a bias the first minute they say "what do you have to do to BEAT SYRACUSE, and the other announcer talks". How many teams do they do that to at halftime? Probably only 2-3 and we are the prime example.

They have been doing that to us the last 3-4 years 95% of the time religously. The big story at halftime is how to beat syracuse zone not even what happened in the first half or reguardless of the score. We could be up by 50, or down 30 needing a boost, and they would be prepped for the how to beat the syracuse zone.

Maybe its just my perception but its the way I view it, I don't feel like they are ever excited about our players, but want to see opponents challenge us. Maybe some of it has to do with scoring and high scoring games are more liked then defense, especially for tv ratings.

This is where someone like bobby knight would be great, he would just break down individual plays at half time, basics and stats, instead of giving a bias example of what to hope for and saving the stats to garbage time right before the second half tip.

 

[Cuse'91]

I muted the sound during the entire game...
Elmore can take a long walk off a short pier, maybe with Kirk Herbstreit on his shoulders...

 

[CU44SE]

Len's worst (best?) moment of the night was calling for a basket interference or goaltend late towards the end of the 1st half. And continued to talk about it, after he was clearly wrong on replay, for a solid 2 minutes.

Hahahaha, he even read the rules of goaltending (to which there was nothing in the rules about what he was talking about) and proceeded to say, the bottom line is that it is goaltending and they missed one right there. Ummm, Len you just read the rules to the audience and that wasn't in the rules. I was dying when this happened, may be my least favorite announcer in all sports.

 

[Coach Orange]

My favorite "Elmorism" from last night was when he claimed that McCullough missed setting a ball screen when he had, in fact, slipped the screen after his defender left him early to double the ball handler. McCullough performed a fundamentally sound play, and Elmore had no idea what happened. Ugh.

 

[tbonezone]

in len's defense if you touch the net while the ball is in the cylinder you will get whistled every time.
that said while i know it's fudd's job to fill air time with comment i would be hard pressed not to climb over the table and attack him with the carving knife at thanksgiving feast.

 

[DoctorBombay]

I see where you are coming from but I see the opposite I see it as a momentum builder for our competition, and what they want the casual college basketball fan, and sportsbetters, who just turned into the game to root and cheer for. I defenetly see a bias the first minute they say "what do you have to do to BEAT SYRACUSE, and the other announcer talks". How many teams do they do that to at halftime? Probably only 2-3 and we are the prime example.

They have been doing that to us the last 3-4 years 95% of the time religously. The big story at halftime is how to beat syracuse zone not even what happened in the first half or reguardless of the score. We could be up by 50, or down 30 needing a boost, and they would be prepped for the how to beat the syracuse zone.

Maybe its just my perception but its the way I view it, I don't feel like they are ever excited about our players, but want to see opponents challenge us. Maybe some of it has to do with scoring and high scoring games are more liked then defense, especially for tv ratings.

This is where someone like bobby knight would be great, he would just break down individual plays at half time, basics and stats, instead of giving a bias example of what to hope for and saving the stats to garbage time right before the second half tip.

Fair enough.
But how many teams play the 2-3 EXCLUSIVELY game in and game out? And, here's the good part, how many have been as successful using such a "basic" defence that flummoxes most of their opponents, even though they KNOW its coming?
This isn't just about "Syracuse the program", its about the 2-3 and why teams have such issues with it. On paper, you can dissect the 2-3 and figure out ways to beat it...theoretically.
The fun starts with the other team's execution of that plan and how they adjust and deal with OUR special version. We're the ONLY team in the NCAA that I can recall, plays and wins at the highest level, year-in and year-out, using what seems to be the easiest (tavern-league is what Igor likes to call it) defence ever invented.
For petes sake, the architect of that defence is 2nd in wins in the HISTORY of college bball. THAT's just not typical of any other program.
That, IMHO, is the novelty...and thus, should be welcomed AND embraced.

 

[Chicago44s]

Literally, the worst college basketball announcer out there.

Could the guy overtly root against us any more blatantly?

Cripes--there are guys of varying ability who announce college hoops, but Elmore is awful

I've hated this wannabe announcer from the moment he started calling Hakim "Warwick".

 

[Bornorange]

Let's look at the bright side for a second. Tapes of Len have replaced Ambien as my go to sleep aide.