sutomcat
No recent Cali or Iggy awards; Mr Irrelevant
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Welcome to Happy Buffet Day!
January 2nd is National Buffet Day! The “Day to Feast” before the great diet begins. Dig in!
SU News
SU Seeking Success in 2019 (spectrumlocalnews.com; video; Callaway)
The SU men's basketball team is feeling confident heading into conference play. The Orange will open up the ACC slate on the road at Notre Dame Saturday.
Syracuse Basketball: ACC play will prove whether Orange are for real (itlh.com; Esden Jr)
The Syracuse basketball team has completed nonconference play, up next the challenge gets even greater in the highly competitive ACC.
The Syracuse basketball squad has finally finished nonconference play. It didn’t go exactly as planned with the team losing four nonconference games.
No Jim Boeheim team has ever made the tournament after losing four or more nonconference games, so safe to say the Orange have work to do.
But there’s a few positives to look at to make you feel a little bit better heading into ACC play:
- Syracuse has some mojo right now. The team has won two games in a row and in-particular seemingly found that special something in the second half vs Arkansas State and used that to annihilate St. Bonaventure. For context, the Bonnies aren’t very good this year but it was arguably Syracuse’s most complete defensive game of the season.
ND guard Prentice Hubb
Noie: Familiar finish for Notre Dame in ACC opener (ndinsider.com; Noie)
Get used to it.
The script shown Tuesday in the Atlantic Coast Conference opener against one of the league’s elite might be one offered often over the next few months by the Notre Dame men’s basketball team.
At home and on the road. On holidays or weekends or during the week. At night or like Tuesday’s matinee. Notre Dame will be good in some areas, not so good in others. There will be times when the offense flows and the defense digs in. Others, when nothing seems to work. Anywhere. From anyone.
League games when Notre Dame battles and stays close, but just not close enough. Or good enough.
Notre Dame made it interesting in segments against No. 10 Virginia Tech, but when it came time to shift everything into another gear, the Hokies did. The Irish (10-4; 0-1) remained stuck in neutral while being handed an 81-66 loss at Cassell Coliseum.
Virginia Tech pilfered a page from previous Notre Dame playbooks in this one. The Hokies flooded the floor with old guys who can make shots. A lot of them. Guys who moved the ball and made the extra pass and just kind of played. Especially in the second half. Down by two at intermission after trailing by as many as 13, Notre Dame really didn’t have a chance. Not when the Hokies shoot 71.4 percent from the field and a staggering 88.9 percent (eight-for-nine) from the 3-point line. They hit step-backs. Contested looks. Open offerings. Even when Justin Robinson throws one up at the end of the game to beat the horn, of course it goes in.
There’s a reason why the Irish trailed by as many as 18 in the second half. The Hokies were too good. In a lot of ways, they looked like so many Irish teams past on offense. They kept attacking and kept the Irish on their heels. Eventually, Notre Dame ran out of answers. And options. And chances.
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Syracuse Basketball: Orange can change the history of Jim Boeheim (itlh.ciom; Esden Jr)
The 2018-19 Syracuse basketball squad is a victim of history, but it doesn’t have to end that way. In 2019 the team can change their fortunes, here’s how.
No a time machine hasn’t been invented yet, despite it being 2019. But the 2018-19 edition of Syracuse basketball has an opportunity to re-write their own destiny.
Only three times in the history of Jim Boeheim being the head coach of the Syracuse basketball squad has his team lost four or more regular season nonconfernce games. In none of those years did those teams make the big dance.
Well make it four times in history. After losing to the Buffalo Bulls earlier in nonconference play, Syracuse has officially lost four games so far this season before ACC play begins. If history does really repeat itself, then the Orange should just pack in their season because it is already over. But what if it isn’t?
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Three Burning Syracuse Questions Ahead of ACC Play – Orange Fizz – Free Syracuse Recruiting News (orangefizz.net; Hoppe)
Syracuse gave fans a glimmer of hope last weekend with an 81-47 win over St. Bonaventure. That win though, doesn’t overshadow an overall disappointing non-conference performance by the Orange. Not only did they lose four games, but they didn’t look all that great in most of their wins either. The unexpected poor play gives us plenty to talk about in 2019.
1. Will the Orange rise to the level of their competition?
Over the years, Jim Boeheim’s teams have faired well in the big games. Whenever a marquee opponent invades the Carrier Dome, you can almost guarantee the Orange will come in ready to play. Will that happen again this year? Syracuse’s biggest tests this season have come on the road: Oregon (Madison Square Garden) and Ohio State. The matchup with the Ducks didn’t go so well, granted that was during the Orange’s brutal shooting slump. The Ohio State game is the one that sticks out. The Orange showed up to play in Columbus and left with their best non-conference win of the season. The opponents get tougher in the ACC. Will Syracuse rise to the occasion?
2. Does the three-point shooting finally get going?
Undoubtedly the biggest disappointment of the season so far. Elijah Hughes and Buddy Boeheim were supposed to come in and save the day from downtown. That hasn’t happened. Instead, Boeheim is connecting from deep just over 20 percent of the time. Hughes has been more consistent, but there’s still plenty left to be desired from Syracuse shooting the three. For me, this is the singular most important key to the next several months. The defense is going to be there, there’s no question about that. But can SU find any sort of consistency from beyond the arc?
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ACC Roundup - Virginia Tech Draws First Blood (DBR; King)
Virginia Tech and Notre Dame started the ACC season on Tuesday with about what you’d expect: an experienced, confident and talented Virginia Tech team had little trouble with the Irish, winning 81-66.
You can tell that his team is learning but Mike Brey has a very young group and on a big stage, they were hesitant and uncertain. You could see it on some open jumpers for instance - the shooters just lacked confidence.
And on a couple of occasions, on breaks there was some confusion.
These are things that can be overcome but it will take a while. There is talent to work with though and Brey has proven he knows what he’s doing.
If this game had been played at Notre Dame, it would have been a lot closer and Notre Dame might have pulled off an upset.
Not when Virginia Tech shoots 60% though. Not when Ahmed Hill and Nickeil Alexander-Walker both shoot 7-8. And not when you only force seven turnovers.
It’s just not a winning formula but despite the bad defense and the lack of confidence, the Irish hung around and were down by 11 with just under 4:00 to play.
They showed some heart in other words.
Virginia Tech and Notre Dame started the ACC season on Tuesday with about what you’d expect: an experienced, confident and talented Virginia Tech team had little trouble with the Irish, winning 81-66.
You can tell that his team is learning but Mike Brey has a very young group and on a big stage, they were hesitant and uncertain. You could see it on some open jumpers for instance - the shooters just lacked confidence.
And on a couple of occasions, on breaks there was some confusion.
These are things that can be overcome but it will take a while. There is talent to work with though and Brey has proven he knows what he’s doing.
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5 things to watch in Wednesday night’s Cornell-Wake Forest game (journalnow.com; O'Neill)
One more chance for a bounce-back game before the gamut of ACC basketball.
That’s the simplistic situation for Wake Forest’s men’s basketball team, which plays Cornell on Wednesday night in its final non-conference game of the season. Eighteen straight ACC games will follow, with the Deacons currently projected to win none of them, per KenPom.
It falls on the Deacons to bounce back from Saturday’s 73-69 loss to Gardner-Webb.
Here are five things to watch in Wednesday night’s game, which is Wake Forest’s final non-conference game of the season:
1. Completing passes
Wake Forest had a combined 28 turnovers in the previous three games before committing 18 against Gardner-Webb. That includes an eight-turnover performance against Tennessee. At issue, Coach Danny Manning said after the game, was the Deacons’ ability to catch passes.
Turnovers were, at times, also a problem last season.
“Sounds fundamental. We only had eight last game. (Saturday) we come in here and we have 18. So you give Gardner-Webb credit, but for us we have to do a better job of being strong with the ball,” Manning said. “When you have the ball, make sure you secure it.”
2. Too much rest?
The Deacons had four days off after the game in Knoxville, Tenn., and then returned for four practices in three days leading up to the game against Gardner-Webb.
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TOP 25 THIS WEEK: League play offers tests in ACC, Big Ten (AP; Beard)
It's time to find out just how well the nonconference schedule has prepared AP Top 25 teams for the rigors of league play.
Four of the power conferences — the Atlantic Coast, the Southeastern, the Big 12 and Pac-12 conferences — will play their first league games this week, while the Big Ten and Big East already have squeezed in a few. The list of matchups includes a top-10 contest between No. 4 Virginia and No. 9 Florida State in the ACC and eighth-ranked Michigan State visiting No. 14 Ohio State in the Big Ten.
It's a meatier schedule following Monday's poll than last week, when there were no matchups between ranked teams, with five Top 25 teams not even taking the court because of Christmas.
CAVALIERS START ACC PURSUIT
The Cavaliers (12-0) are still unbeaten after Monday's win against Marshall, and Saturday's home game against the Seminoles will be the first step in their bid to sweep the ACC regular-season and tournament titles outright for a second straight season.
That would make them the first league team to do so since Duke in 1999 and 2000.
Virginia is ranked second in KenPom's national rankings, including eighth in adjusted offensive efficiency (116.5 points per 100 possessions) and fifth in adjusted defensive efficiency (87.7).
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Other
Why Jim Boeheim and Dino Babers are TV pitchmen for county sewer department (PS; Knauss)
Onondaga County has spent $200,000 a year since 2015 to advertise its storm water management program, which aims to stop sewage from overflowing into Onondaga Lake.
The challenge: Get people interested in things like porous paving materials, rain barrels and picking up litter – all of which can help keep the lake clean.
This year, the county is banking on star power – namely Syracuse University coaches Jim Boeheim and Dino Babers – to bring some glitz to the gritty message. Boeheim, his popular wife, Juli, and Babers are appearing in TV and radio ads, on billboards and in social media promoting the “Save the Rain” county program.
The man who made that happen is Mike Bristol, who works behind the scenes as a publicist for Boeheim. Bristol owns a one-man advertising agency that represents Boeheim, Babers and other SU sports figures.
Bristol's company is behind those ubiquitous TV ads featuring Boeheim, Babers and SU lacrosse coach John Desko touting a local orthopedics practice, among other ad campaigns. Onondaga County sewer officials said they jumped at the chance to have high-profile SU coaches promote Save the Rain.
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