sutomcat
No recent Cali or Iggy awards; Mr Irrelevant
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Welcome to Curling is Cool Day!
A Scottish game developed in the 1500’s that the Canadians seem to be exceedingly good at- if Winter Olympic Games are anything to go by- curling involves launching a stone on ice and sweeping the ice in its path as it attempts to land on a target and dislodge your competitors’ rocks. But wait, there’s more. The sweepers wear special shoes, one that slides and one that doesn’t, and the stone is more like a 40 pound granite bomb that looks suspiciously too much like a macaroon. The brooms are slightly more evolved now than the ordinary sweepers they used back in the 1900s. In fact, they’re hardly reminiscent of a witch’s broom, at all. The floors are sheets of ice with vinyl markings underneath, for the target, rather than the frozen lake surfaces that were used back in the day. The concept, though, is very much the same. You launch, you sweep, and you score.
SU News
Syracuse stuns Duke 78-75 on Gillon’s buzzer-beater (newsobserver.com; Morgan)
John Gillon hit a 3-point shot from the top of the key as time expired to give the Syracuse Orange a 78-75 win over the Duke Blue Devils at the Carrier Dome.
Gillon carried the Orange (17-12, 9-7) to a key victory by big play both inside and out to finish with a game-high 26 points.
Duke combined for 18 fouls in its loss on Wednesday, with Grayson Allen and Luke Kennard both picking up four. Syracuse shot 88 percent from the foul line to reverse a three-game skid, while breaking up Duke’s seven-game winning streak.
[Duke still in good position after loss to Syracuse]
No. 10 Duke (22-6, 10-5) played with its two guards despite the foul trouble. The Blue Devils needed it against an aggressive Syracuse fueled by Gillon, who also hit a layup to tie the game at 75 with 38 seconds left.
[Box score, game recap and stats]
After Gillon’s game-tying 3-pointer at the 13:08 mark of the second half, Duke freshman Harry Giles tipped an offensive rebound out to the corner to Matt Jones on the other end. Kennard found freshman Jayson Tatum, who had scored eight points in his first eight minutes, for his first bucket of the second, a triple that gave Duke a 52-49 lead.
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John Gillon's buzzer-beater set off a roar rarely heard in Carrier Dome history (PS; Poliquin)
Back in those days when he'd lecture on college campuses and tolerate follow-up Q-and-A sessions, Bill Russell, then in retirement after his brilliant NBA career, once acknowledged a nervous fellow in an auditorium crowd at Central Connecticut State.
"What," the kid asked into the microphone, "would you have done against Kareem Abdul-Jabbar?"
The good and great former Celtic paused up there on that New England stage, but only for a moment.
"Young man," Russell answered, "you've got the question backward."
Such was the case, kind of, in the matter of Wednesday evening's matchup at the Carrier Dome where so many folks had wondered how the Syracuse University Orange would fare against those royals from Duke, who were ranked 10th in the nation, had knocked off seven consecutive ACC foes and were coached by a savant rumored to be capable of changing basketball water into basketball wine.
Indeed, few seemed interested in pondering how the youthful Blue Devils, perhaps cruising a bit, would respond to a desperate SU squad employing a fifth-year senior backcourt before a rabid house of 30,000 or so.
Big mistake, that. And that big mistake was affirmed by John Gillon, the Syracuse guard who clanged home a 27-footer-or-so at the buzzer to allow the locals to topple Mike Krzyzewski's Dookies 78-75 in something that was more Event, capital E, than game, small G.
Oh, and the concrete-cracking noise that accompanied that winning, dead-on bank shot, of all things? Think Michael Owens scampering around the left side and into the end zone in that very building for those two points that beat West Virginia nearly 30 years ago. That's how loud the joint was even as Gillon was touching down.
"The roar I heard after John hit the shot was different from what I'd ever heard at Kansas," said Andrew White, the Orange import who spent two years as a Jayhawk playing in the bedlam of Allen Fieldhouse. "I felt like I'd seen it all up until just then.
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No. 10 Duke Falls to Syracuse at the Buzzer 78-75 (goduke.com)
John Gillon had done it before, just not quite on such a grand stage.
With Syracuse desperate for a signature victory in what has been a so-so season, Gillon hit a 3-pointer from the top of the key at the buzzer, and Syracuse upset No. 10 Duke 78-75 on Wednesday night in front of a raucous Carrier Dome crowd of 30,331.
Gillon had hit a clutch 3-pointer three weeks ago at the regulation buzzer to force overtime at North Carolina State and the Orange prevailed behind his career-high 43 points. This topped that.
"It's No. 1. We needed this," said Gillon, a graduate transfer from Colorado State. "I've always seen myself as a guard at this level and never had the opportunity until this year. Just being able to play in this game, play against Duke, it was like a dream come true for me. I'm just glad I could play like that on that stage."
With just 7.5 seconds left on the clock after a Duke miss, Gillon drove to the top of the key and banked in a desperation shot to send the huge crowd into a frenzy as they stormed the court.
"This team fights. They do what they can do to come back. They keep battling," Orange coach Jim Boeheim said. "It's been a fight all year long."
Syracuse (17-12, 9-7 Atlantic Coast Conference) had lost three straight, all by six points or fewer, and that skid had come after three straight wins that were decided by seven points or fewer. The Orange needed another signature victory to go with its two top-10 wins to bolster its resume for a berth in the NCAA Tournament.
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Feb 22, 2017; Syracuse, NY, USA; Syracuse Orange guard John Gillon (4) takes the game winning shot in the final moments of the second half against the Duke Blue Devils at the Carrier Dome. The Orange won 78-75
ACC Roundup - Another Amazing Night Of Basketball (dukebasketball.com; King)
UNC’s win over Lousville is a bigger deal and was in a general sense more exciting. The more interesting game though was Wake’s win over Pitt.
Wake was awful. Wake went down 19 points. Wake was getting killed.
Then Wake turned it around and that’s something Wake has been doing lately.
Wake’s comeback tied the school record.
Wake held Pitt to 16.7% in the second half.
In fairness though, Pitt pretty much fell apart after Michael Young picked up his fourth foul with 14:02 left.
Young sat until about the 6:00 minute mark and during that time, his teammates only managed five points.
The score was tied with :25 left when John Collins got a steal.
Wake’s Bryant Crawford missed a layup (stop us if you’ve heard this lately) with :20 seconds to go, but John Collins got the putback to put Wake up 61-59.
Pitt had a chance to take the lead on a late three pointer but a pass that Kevin Stallings described as off “by about 20 feet” sailed out of bounds.
Brandon Childress was fouled and hit both though Pitt tried to ice him. John Collins got a late steal and Wake walked off with the 63-59 win.
Let’s be clear: Wake was awful for much of the game and so was Pitt. There were 31 fouls called - in the second half.
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Syracuse Upsets Duke On Last-Second Jumper (dukebasketball.com; King)
Syracuse had a certain advantage in this game that we sometimes have referred to as ACC Desperation, or other similar terms: they absolutely had to have this one to keep their tournament hopes alive.
It was an absolutely crucial game for the Orange and they played like it. Duke showed some really good things in spots, but didn’t have the same urgency and so, not surprisingly, lost.
What was surprising was how they lost, to a running, banked in three point shot by John Gillon, who will probably never have to buy lunch in Syracuse again.
The shot gave Syracuse a 78-75 win.
Duke had some issues in this one. Grayson Allen shot 2-11 and Matt Jones hit 1-6. That added up to 3-17.
The rest of the team shot 22-47.
Duke shot 39.1% overall; Allen & Jones combined for 17.6% and took 26.5% of Duke’s shots.
Subtract their shots and Duke hit 46%.
There are some caveats. First, Jones’s primary value is not as a scorer. And second, Allen, like Amile Jefferson, isn’t practicing due to lingering injuries.
Jayson Tatum had a huge first half with a rare 20 minute double-double. He really was brilliant in the opening half.
And after a slightly slow start, Luke Kennard came on and finished with 23, including a shocking 360 in the lane.
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Grayson Allen is not having a good night; here’s what Twitter is saying (newsobserver.com; Staff)
Duke’s Grayson Allen didn’t hit a 3-pointer in the first half and had four fouls with about 12 minutes left in the game. Here’s how Twitter is reacting.
If Grayson Allen fouls out, the dome is going to erupt @BrentAxeMedia
— Gertman (@MikeyBigGertz) February 23, 2017
Loudest moments at the Domethis year:
1. Boeheim wins his 1000th vs UVA
2. Grayson Allen's 4th foul
— Uncle Joe G. (@uncle_joe_gee) February 23, 2017
This is where Grayson Allen trips someone
— Ryan (@td7757) February 23, 2017
Need Grayson Allen to start hitting his shots
— Hunt (@Hunt_Pop) February 23, 2017
Who ever said Grayson Allen was the best player in the NCAA.. #WRONG#fakenews
— Alexander Robert (@MeadeAlex) February 23, 2017
#DUKEvsCUSE Grayson Allen non factor so far
— BIG ED (@NYCKING) February 23, 2017
Grayson Allen checks back in for Duke and is greeted with a deluge of boos
— Aodhán Doyle (@AodhanDoyle) February 23, 2017
Gillion killin Grayson Allen lol
— (@BeSmooveKG) February 23, 2017
Grayson Allen on the bench again. He needs to decide if he's going to play aggressively & intelligently or continue to ride the pines
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Syracuse beats Duke at buzzer on bonkers bank-shot 3, but Orange aren't dancing yet (cbssports.com; Norlander)
This is March?
No, this is the closest thing to it, though.
After watching that highlight above, how ready are you for the greatest month in sports?
Syracuse senior John Gillon gave the longtime SU faithful a serious Pearl Washington flashback on Wednesday night as his hurried, leaning-in, racing, desperate 3-point attempt banked true at the horn to give Syracuse a triumphant, dramatic, come-from-behind win. The sequence felt so much like Washington famously did -- only from much further out -- more than 30 years ago. How appropriate that Gillon needed to cross over Pearl’s “31” that is emblazoned at half court.
Syracuse 78, Duke 75. One of the defining images of the season to date.
The moment immediately puts Gillon forever into Syracuse lore. Jim Boeheim has (unofficially) won more than 1,000 games in his career, and this one has to be in the upper echelon with the most incredible, given the urgency behind the game and Syracuse’s season feeling like it needed to get this win in order to keep upright. Here were these two epic programs going back and forth. It felt appropriate to have it decided on a final shot.
Plus, the victory is better for the ACC. It gives Syracuse a massively needed break, a win that has Orange fans believing they’re definitely headed to the Big Dance. Even Dick Vitale was lost in the moment, eager to proclaim on the air -- as Cuse students herded to the hardwood -- that beating top-10 Duke equated to lock status for SU.
But I have to pump the brakes on that.
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Watch: Syracuse fans mercilessly boo Grayson Allen (SI Wire)
Syracuse fans at the Carrier Dome did not shy away from expressing how they really feel about Grayson Allen and the Duke Blue Devils coming into town.
Fan carried signs mocking the Duke star with captions that read "50 Trips of Gray" and "Duke's Tripping They Can't Win Here." The signs are in reference to Allen's questionable incidents throughout the year. Earlier in the season, he served a one-game suspension for tripping an opponent.
Another sign also featured Ted Cruz with text that said "Grayson, I am your father."
• Bubble Watch: Time is running out for fringe teams
The boos rained down at the Carrier Dome.
Grayson Allen gets a not-so warm welcome here inside the Carrier Dome. Syracuse expecting a crowd of more than 30,000. pic.twitter.com/HJOeJD4tk7
— Duke Basketball (@dukebasketball) February 22, 2017
Syracuse is 16–12 on the season. Duke enters ranked No. 10 in the country with a 22–5 record.
Other
The Power Play burger at Ale N Angus Pub on Harrison Street in Syracuse
Central New York's best burger: See the finalists, vote for your favorite (PS; Pucci)
We asked where to find the best burger in Central New York. You answered with 480 nominations, covering 124 bars and restaurants across the region.
The eight places that received the most nominations have advanced to the final poll.
The final poll is open until 11:59 p.m. on Wednesday, March 1. You can select only one place and can only vote once, so choose wisely!
Our judges will visit the eight finalists and taste the best they have to offer. Be sure to follow along on Twitter with the hashtag #BestOfCNY as the judges travel the region. You can also follow the judges' tour on Snapchat with the username: syracusedotcom.
Once all the burgers have been tasted, we'll announce two winners--the judges' favorite and readers' choice.
So vote in our poll and decide who serves the best burger in Central New York!
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