I'm not sure how that matters anymore in today's sports and media environment. How much "more aware" of Syracuse are DMV area recruits going to be because we play 1 game every 2 years in DC? I'm guessing the answer is "none more aware".
That's GREAT!
Never expected to say this, but I agree. Probably a lot of it had to do with how bad we've been, but Georgetown just hasn't had the same excitement for me and I'd prefer a rotation for variety.
I like history as much as the next. But, for hoops, you really need 2 games per year. One there, one here. Even better is when there is a chance for a 3rd because it is a conference foe.
Yup. It's difficult, if not impossible, to maintain a rivalry if there aren't stakes involved. The stakes can be as simple as bragging rights for opponents in close geographic proximity, or can be much more meaningful, but there's gotta be something.
That's because we were @ all three of them last season.
We played them all on the road last year. We shouldn’t have to play any of them on the road this year. It will be interesting if we play Stanford and Cal on the road again next year.
They value the rivalry and Cooley has said he wants it to continue. I think it’s just a one year pause while Red tries to turn the Syracuse ship around. The Players Tournament is really sucking up a lot of our non conference schedule difficulty, and I suspect that Red wants to play in MSG/NYC against a traditional opponent.
Even a game in Boston vs Providence is probably fine. It's fan service for those of us over 30 basically but playing Big East teams makes sense from a difficulty/March resume perspective now.
Many of the Big East teams are now rivals for bubble spots in the tournament.
Fan service is a great way to frame it. We play in a largely southern-based league, so it's important to play games in accessible locations for our alumni. And that means Boston, NYC, Philly and DC.
An enterprising company could easily do some sort of event with Cuse, BC, Pitt, and three Big East teams. Play three games etc.
Hop had most of the relationships with the big New England area prep and public schools. We were really only competing with UConn and the blue bloods for the top players there. JB failed to replace Hop with a top recruiter in that area (he tried to make Gmac into the ringer there, which didn’t work). And Red has also failed to get a strong New England recruiter. Maybe it doesn’t matter in the unlimited transfer portal era. But I still think Englestad was a bad hire. One of many decisions that makes me question Red’s vision.
Recruiting is the least of our problems right now. It’s everything else.
Maybe we can keep it under 15 this year!
