sutomcat
No recent Cali or Iggy awards; Mr Irrelevant
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Welcome to Blackout Wednesday!
Blackout Wednesday, sometimes referred to as Drinksgiving, takes place the night before Thanksgiving Day, and in some parts of the United States is one of the biggest drinking and party nights of the year. Many college students come back to their hometown for Thanksgiving, and go to bars the night before to meet their friends whom they haven't seen while away at school. Many bars mark the occasion by having promotions and drink specials as well. Thanksgiving is usually a low stress holiday for college aged kids, where gifts don't need to be purchased, and older family members do the preparing of meals. This leaves college aged kids with more expendable cash, and the luxury of eating a big meal the day after drinking without having to prepare it.
SU News
Syracuse basketball vs. Colgate: 10 things to watch for (PS; Waters)
The Syracuse Orange's trip to New York last week didn't go so well.
Syracuse lost to Connecticut and Oregon on back-to-back nights at Madison Square Garden.
After being 15th-ranked entering the week, Syracuse fell out of the AP Top 25 following the pair of losses.
The Orange (2-2) returns home Wednesday for a game against Colgate (4-1) at the Carrier Dome. The game is scheduled to start at 7 p.m. and will be available on ACC Network Extra.
Syracuse's starters
Syracuse coach Jim Boeheim made a change to his starting lineup for the Orange's game against Connecticut last Thursday.
After starting freshman Buddy Boeheim at shooting guard in the first two games of the season, which meant employing shooting guard Tyus Battle at the point, Boeheim inserted freshman Jalen Carey (No. 5) into the starting lineup for the UConn and Oregon games.
That allowed Battle to move back to his natural position.
While Syracuse fans await the return of injured point guard Frank Howard, expect the starting lineup to remain the same.
The Orange's starters are: Carey, Battle, forwards Oshae Brissett and Elijah Hughes and center Paschal Chukwu.
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Beat writers predict Syracuse to get back on track against Colgate (DO; Staff)
Syracuse (2-2) enters its meeting with Colgate (4-1) coming off two losses at Madison Square Garden. The Raiders have won four in a row, including on Monday night against Binghamton. SU and Colgate will be meeting for the 171st time in their histories, making it the most-frequent matchup in Syracuse history. The Orange have won the last 52.
Here’s what our beat writers think will happen on Wednesday night in the Carrier Dome.
Charlie DiSturco (3-1)
Don’t panic
Syracuse 67, Colgate 56
Originally, this game seemed to be an easy win in between a tough Madison Square Garden trip and a road game at Ohio State, who’s now in the Top 25, the following week. But now, this comes in the middle of a crisis where Syracuse is searching for its identity and struggling both offensively and defensively. This is the perfect game, however, for the Orange to get back on track — and who knows, Frank Howard may make his season debut on Wednesday. It may not be a pretty win, but it’ll be one for the Orange nonetheless.
Billy Heyen (3-1)
Feeling 22
Syracuse 75, Colgate 60
Syracuse needs to find a way to get its offense and defense going. Against Colgate, the Orange should at least solve some offensive woes, as size and talent advantages exist all over the floor. I’ll be covering the game on my 22nd birthday, and if Syracuse doesn’t have a player score 22 points, that spells worry for the Orange. But regardless, as long as SU prevents the Raiders from making an obscene number of 3s, this should be a relatively easy move back into the win column for the Orange.
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Episode 98- Syracuse Basketball/Colgate Preview, Syracuse Football/Boston College Preview! - Armchair All-Americans (armchairallamericans.com; podcast; Cuse Militia)
Episode 98- Syracuse Basketball/Colgate Preview, Syracuse Football/Boston College Preview!
Syracuse is no longer a ranked team and that is perfectly fine (itlh.com; Patrick)
The Syracuse basketball team dropped out of the AP Top 25 this week after they suffered two straight losses at the 2K Empire Classic.
Two weeks ago, the Syracuse basketball team was riding high in anticipation of the 2018-19 season. After two games, the Orange were 2-0 and No. 15 in the AP Top 25.
Then came Syracuse’s appearance in the 2K Empire Classic inside Madison Square Garden, their home away from home. The Orange played two games and suffered two losses.
First, Syracuse fell to their old rival, UConn, in a hard-fought matchup that came down to the last few possessions. Then came the Orange’s contest against No. 21 Oregon.
Syracuse went into the half down 13 points to Oregon and they eventually lost by a final score of 80-65. The Orange’s most recent appearance inside Madison Square Garden will certainly not go down as one of their best.
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NC State’s Keatts: ‘We have played extremely hard’ (islandpacket.com; video; Hyman)
NC State coach Kevin Keatts talks about the team's play in its first five games after the Wolfpack's victory over Saint Peter's at PNC Arena in Raleigh, N.C., Tuesday, Nov. 20, 2018.
Three things to watch as the No. 4 Virginia men's basketball team plays in the Battle 4 Atlantis (godanriver.com; Needelman)
The Virginia men’s basketball team is spending Thanksgiving in paradise.
Nassau Paradise Island, Bahamas, that is.
After breezing through three games against lesser opponents to start the season, the Cavaliers are spending Thanksgiving weekend playing in the Battle 4 Atlantis tournament, which will include seven other teams.
Virginia kicks off the 12-game, three-day tournament on Wednesday night against Middle Tennessee at 9:30 p.m. The No. 4 Cavaliers could also end up playing against the likes of Butler, Florida and No. 25 Wisconsin. This will be Coach Tony Bennett’s team’s real first test of the season, and will reveal a lot about the squad going forward.
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Thanksgiving Week ACC Basketball Betting Preview (streakingthelawn.com; Reese)
It’s feast week and that means instead of sweating your dear Grandmother making an inappropriate joke at the dinner table, you can sweat college basketball games and see if Vegas has the stones to make the Virginia Cavaliers’ over/under low enough. For those of you in Nevada, Mississippi, West Virginia, Delaware, New Jersey, and Rhode Island please feel free to fade these picks as they’re likely terrible and could cost you actual dollars. For the rest of us in the degenerate backwoods, use these to brag to your friends or gain an edge with your offshore book.
Unfortunately, most college basketball lines don’t come out until the day of the game, so I’ll be using the game prediction from Ken Pomeroy for lines and over/unders (unless I have access to the Vegas line, in that case I’ll provide both). Check back the day of the game to see if there is any value to be had.
Now, onto the picks:
Tuesday
Duke vs. Auburn
KP: Duke -6, O/U 158
Vegas: Duke -10, O/U 161
Finally the Duke Blue Devils get a test from a top-ten team (the Kentucky game doesn’t count) when they take on the Auburn Tigers. Auburn is good—really good. They’re experienced with Bryce Brown, Jared Harper, and Anfernee McLemore and have talent with Chuma Okeke and Austin Wiley. I see this as a high scoring game, and while it won’t shock me to see Auburn pull the upset, I think Duke gets the win. Ten is a lot of points and if the number goes much higher, Auburn might be the play. However I like the total more than the spread. (Eds. note: the line has already been bet up to 164.)
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Finally threatened, No. 1 Duke was never scared as it toppled No. 8 Auburn (thestate.com; Wiseman)
Mike Krzyzewski knew the lesson would come sooner or later for his unbeaten team.
The No. 1 Blue Devils had yet to be in a single-digit game with less than 10 minutes to play this season.
From the 118-84 domination of then-No. 2 Kentucky to runaway wins over Army, Eastern Michigan and San Diego State, the Blue Devils had won their first four games by an average of 30 points.
Duke appeared to be headed toward another cruise of a victory Tuesday in the Maui Invitational semifinals when it built a 17-point, first-half lead over No. 8 Auburn and led by 16 points early in the second half.
The seasoned Tigers, starting three juniors and a senior, kept cutting the deficit back to single digits. They trailed by five points with 8:19 to play.
They never got closer, though. Facing such a test for the first time in the young season, the young Blue Devils didn’t blink.
“We threatened them,” Auburn coach Bruce Pearl said, “but they were never scared.”
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NC State turned a crazy bounce into an impressive full-court display. Torin Dorn picked up a loose ball that bounced hard off of the Wolfpack backboard, before throwing a full-court bounce pass to a streaking Markell Johnson. Johnson threw down a vicious slam with a man in his face for an ACC Must See Moment presented by New York Life!
ACC Basketball Power Rankings Week 3: Ahead of the holidays, Duke holds court, Syracuse dips - ACCSports.com (accsports.com; Geisinger)
If a headache could be fun, it would manifest itself out in the form of these ACC Basketball Power Rankings. Currently, 10 of the top 35 teams in the nation, per KenPom’s efficiency rating, reside in the ACC. To put this together is an exercise in agonizing over which hairs to split.
The bottom line: man, this league is really freaking good. Let’s dive in.
No. 1 Duke
Duke has looked absolutely overwhelming to start the season. Zion Williamson has been utterly ridiculous, too. Williamson and Cam Reddish have combined to score 1.83 points per possession (77.8 FG%) on isolations, per Synergy Sports.
Duke made 20 shots in the first half. 16 of them came at the rim. pic.twitter.com/1vGPRMfSqc
— ESPN Stats & Info (@ESPNStatsInfo) November 15, 2018
No. 2 Virginia
No one will confuse Coppin State (No. 350 in KenPom rankings) with the Golden State Warriors, but De’Andre Hunter (75 FG% on cuts this season) did some pretty cool stuff the last time UVA was on the floor. In 15 minutes of action, Hunter scored 20 points on nine field goal attempts. Going back to the 2010-11 season, Hunter became just the 40th Division I player to score 20+ points in 15 or fewer minutes on 10 or fewer shot attempts.
No. 3 North Carolina
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ACC Basketball Power Rankings: Week 3 (arheelblog.com; Valentine)
The ACC is down to just six teams in the top 25 after Syracuse hit a bumpy stretch, but the conference has still arguably been the best such so far this season. Virginia Tech’s win over Purdue and Virginia nearly cracking triple figures are among the notable stories from this past week. Without further ado, here are your ACC power rankings for week 3:
1. #1 Duke (4-0)
The Blue Devils dominated San Diego State, 90-64, in their first game of the Maui Invitational, but things don’t get easier. Duke has a top 10 matchup with Auburn tonight and could potentially face #3 Gonzaga in the championship. We should figure out if that opener against Kentucky had more to do with Duke’s firepower or the Wildcats’ incompetence.
2. #7 UNC (5-0)
The Tar Heels let St. Francis hang around for a while last night, but ultimately ran away with it in the second half, winning 101-76. Assuming they can clean up the turnovers, it’ll be fun to see how Carolina fares in its first true tests of the season in the Las Vegas Invitational as it takes on Texas and then either #11 Michigan State or #17 UCLA.
3. #4 Virginia (3-0)
Virginia hung 97 on Coppin State, a score you don’t often see from the Cavaliers. This team looks determined to prove that its historic loss in the NCAA tournament was nothing more than an anomaly, but it’ll have to wait until the schedule picks up a bit.
4. #13 Virginia Tech (4-0)
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Duke is dominant, but the ACC Power Rankings are not that simple (newsobserver.com; Giglio)
Of all the compelling arguments for Duke in the top spot, Eastern Michigan might have inadvertently made the most convincing one.
You might remember the Eagles lost at Duke 84-46 on Nov. 14. It was a paint-by-the-numbers dominant performance by Duke. EMU will remain in the highlights throughout the season because it was on the wrong end of an incredible Zion Williamson dunk.
But what happened next is actually the most impressive thing about Duke. The Blue Devils beat the Ypsilanti upstarts, a 22-win team in 2017-18, so bad they broke them.
How? EMU lost to Rutgers on Monday. The Eagles scored four points (four!) in the entire first half in a 63-36 loss to Rutgers (Rutgers!).
Now that’s powerful. Almost enough to convince me to move the Blue Devils to No. 1. Almost. If Duke beats Gonzaga, my preseason choice to win the national title, this week in Maui, I’ll move them up.
Until then, it’s status quo.
On to the “Only* ACC Power Rankings That Matter:”
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Good Beginnings For The New ACC Coaches (dukebasketballreport.com; Jacobs)
The ACC’s new coaches are off to a strong start that could, by tomorrow night, put them in select company, better than any group since 2014.
Only one of the 2015 crew – Jim Christian, Danny Manning, Rick Pitino, Buzz Williams – won more than two in a row in his debut ACC season. That year the big winner was Louisville’s Rick Pitino, whose Cardinals opened with 11 straight victories.
Only two ACC coaches ever started better than Pitino, Syracuse’s Jim Boeheim in 2014 (25) and UNC’s Bill Guthridge in 1998 with 17 in a row.
So far Pittsburgh won its first five under Jeff Capel, tying him with NC State’s Kevin Keatts for the third-best debut by an active ACC coach. And Chris Mack has led Louisville to three wins out of the gate.
Pitt faces St. Louis on a neutral court, Brooklyn’s Barclays Center. Win that and Capel ties UNC’s Roy Williams for the No. 2 start by a current coach, and then goes to Iowa in the ACC/Big Ten Challenge. Then come in-town opponent Duquesne and Niagara,.
Mack has a tougher row to hoe, facing top-10 Tennessee and Rick Barnes in the NIT Season Tip-Off. Barnes won his first 10 as Clemson’s coach in 1995.
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No. 3/3 Gonzaga Faces No. 1/1 Duke for Maui Title - Gonzaga University (gozags.com)
THE TIP-OFF:
- Gonzaga faces Duke in the championships of the 2018 Maui Jim Maui Invitational on Wednesday, at 2 p.m. Pacific, in Lahaina, Hawaii.
- Duke owns a 3-0 lead in the all-time series, winning the most recent meeting, 66-52, in the South Regional Final of the 2015 NCAA Tournament in Houston, Texas. The Blue Devils would later win the 2015 national championship.
- The Zags are 12-10 against Atlantic Coast Conference competition, including 11-10 under Mark Few.
- GU lost its last meeting against an ACC foe, falling to Florida State in last season's Sweet 16.
- The Zags knocked off Arizona in the Maui Invitational semifinals. Rui Hachimura led GU with 24 points. Zach Norvell Jr. scored 20 points, grabbed 10 rebounds and dished out six assists.
SERIES NOTES:
- This is the third all-time meeting between Gonzaga and Duke. All three meetings have come on a neutral court.
- The Blue Devils won the most recent meeting, 66-52, in the South Regional Final of the 2015 NCAA Tournament in Houston, Texas. Duke would later win the 2015 national championship.
- The Zags are 12-10 against Atlantic Coast Conference competition, including 11-10 under Mark Few.
- GU lost its last meeting against an ACC foe, falling to Florida State in last season's Sweet 16.
- Duke won the first-ever meeting, 61-54, in New York City on Dec. 21, 2006.
SCOUTING THE BLUE DEVILS:
- Top-ranked Duke defeated No. 8 Auburn in Tuesday's semifinals, 78-72.
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Other
Survival guide for Thanksgiving, Black Friday 2018 shopping at Destiny USA (PS; Buckshot)
Destiny USA is preparing for thousands of shoppers to hit the Syracuse mall on Thanksgiving and Black Friday.
Whether you're traveling five minutes or 500 miles, and whether you're a veteran Black Friday shopper or new to the experience, every consumer could use a survival guide.
Make a game plan: Destiny USA suggests that visitors research the Thanksgiving and Black Friday deals in advance. The most popular stores at Destiny USA are typically Apple, Best Buy, Disney, Pink, Victoria's Secret, Coach and Michael Kors.
Make an itinerary: Be sure to check when each store opens. This may determine the order of the stores that you visit. Best Buy, which typically draws a crowd that waits for the doors to open, will be open at 5 p.m. Thursday. See a list of all holiday hours for Destiny USA stores.
Make a night or weekend of it: Some rooms are still available at the mall's new onsite Embassy Suites hotel at Destiny USA, which feature a midnight breakfast for hotel guests.
Create a map: The easiest way to hit the most stores at Destiny USA is to create a map of your target retailers and identify the most efficient route between them.
Plan where to park: Once you have your itinerary and map of where you want to go, planning where to park can save time. Shoppers at Destiny USA can utilize valet parking at the Cheesecake Factory entrance.
Don't forget to eat: There are a handful of restaurants inside Destiny USA that are open until late in the evening on Thanksgiving Day and opening early on Black Friday, so that visitors can take breaks and refuel. Check the list of times on the mall's website.
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