sutomcat
No recent Cali or Iggy awards; Mr Irrelevant
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International Polar Bear Day, a day organized by Polar Bears International, draws attention to the threats that polar bears face in the warming Arctic, as a result of carbon dioxide and other greenhouse gases. The day is dedicated to reflecting on what can be done to help polar bears, and how carbon emissions can be reduced. Arctic warming has already had an effect. For example, in Western Hudson Bay there were about 1,200 polar bears in 1987, but by 2012 there were only 900. Climate change has lead to lower body weights in polar bears; lower body weight in females has affected their offspring, yielding smaller litters and causing fewer cubs to survive.
Warmer temperatures in the Arctic are detrimental to polar bears because they cause the loss of sea ice. Polar bears need sea ice to catch most of their prey—because that is where their prey resides. The number one food for polar bears is the ringed seal. It is high in fat—including beneficial omega-3 fatty acids—and calories, enough to keep polar bears healthy. Although ringed seals are the most prevalent, polar bears also eat bearded seals and other prey if it's available. In the summer, polar bears follow retreating ice, following their food source.
SU News
Free-throw disparity helps sink Syracuse basketball at North Carolina (PS; Ditota)
There will be discussions about North Carolina’s dominance on the backboards. There will be talk about the career scoring night of freshman point guard Coby White, who was electrifying in the Dean Dome.
But in his post-game comments following Syracuse’s 93-85 loss to the Tar Heels here, Jim Boeheim addressed an issue that significantly impacted the Orange’s ability to beat the No. 5 team in the nation on its home court.
“Our free-throw shooting was bad, and their free-throw shooting was very good,” Boeheim said. “And they got a lot more of them, so that was a contributing factor in the game.”
The raw numbers bear evidence of just how difficult an obstacle the free-throw disparity was.
North Carolina shot 37 free throws and made 34 of them. Syracuse shot 23 free throws and made 13 of them. In a game ultimately decided by eight points, the Tar Heels outscored the Orange by 21 at the line.
“We gotta make free throws,” Elijah Hughes said. “It’s as simple as that. They went to the line. They made their free throws and that was the difference in the game.”
Syracuse led 46-43 in the first half despite being outscored 19-2 at the line.</p><p class='paragraph'>Orange players were whistled for 14 first-half fouls, compared to the six fouls called on the Tar Heels. UNC big man Luke Maye, in explaining why Syracuse – a zone team – fouled so much, described the Orange 2-3 as “aggressive.” The Heels, he said, tried to attack the gaps, to find spots in which to operate their offense.
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Syracuse basketball loses to North Carolina 93-85: Brent Axe recap (PS; Axe)
Dean Dome Downer
Scoring 85 points would typically indicate success for the Syracuse University men's basketball team considering it was the highest scoring mark in regulation during the 2018-19 season.
Shooting 14-of-31 from 3-point range must really mean good things happened in Chapel Hill as the Orange's success in ACC games usually lives and dies beyond the arc.
The North Carolina Tar Heels busted those good vibes as the team that ranks third in Division I in scoring offense (87.1 ppg) and rebound margin (+9.5) lived up to the hype in both departments in a 93-85 win over Syracuse on Tuesday night.
North Carolina has won 11 of its last 12 games and may be making its move to not only win the ACC, but the whole darn thing.
"North Carolina's playing as well as anybody in the country," Syracuse coach Jim Boeheim said. "I think they've got a really great mixture of veteran guys and young guys that can help them."
Syracuse fell to 18-10 overall and 9-6 in ACC play with three games to go in regular-season league play. The Orange still sits on solid NCAA Tournament ground at this point, but needs to pick up a win or two down the stretch to keep the bubble talk at bay.
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Three takeaways from No. 5 North Carolina's win over Syracuse (sportingnews.com; Tyree)
North Carolina pulled off a 93-85 win over Syracuse on Tuesday, extending its winning streak to four games.
The Tar Heels put together some impressive runs during the game, but the Orange kept battling back to keep things competitive.
Nevertheless, UNC remains one of the hottest teams in the country.
Here are three takeaways from the Tar Heels' victory:
Coby White is an elite shot creator
White's versatility on offense has been a valuable asset for UNC all season. The guard became the first Tar Heel freshman to record three 30-point games in a season. He scored 34 points on 9-of-14 shooting against Syracuse and was a perfect 10-of-10 from the free throw line.
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UNC downs Syracuse 93-85 behind Coby White’s career night (tarheelblog.com; Bondurant)
The Coby White Show was in full effect in Chapel Hill Tuesday night as the freshman scored a career-high 34 points to help UNC clinch a double bye in the ACC Tournament with their 93-85 win over Syracuse. Carolina was able to clamp down on defense in the second half after the Orange practically shot the lights out from distance all first half.
With his 34 points (including six threes), White became the first freshman in UNC history to have three 30+ point games. That’s a very fine feather in the freshman’s cap to stand alone in such a category. Coby has truly blossomed as the year has gone on, and he’s definitely peaking at the right time.
White was one of three Tar Heels in double figures for the game with Cameron Johnson (16) and Nassir Little (11) joining him. Luke Maye, as he tends to do, managed to lead the team in rebounds with 12 boards. Unfortunately, Little had to leave the game early after being poked in the eye late in the second half. He was playing important minutes after Garrison Brooks fouled out.
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Syracuse Basketball: SU misses opportunity to clinch NCAA berth vs North Carolina (itlh.com; Esden Jr)
The Syracuse basketball squad put up another good fight but fell short once again in their bid for the upset vs North Carolina. Here’s what happened.
The Syracuse basketball squad had an impossible challenge in the last two contests vs top-10 teams in Duke and North Carolina. Despite the long odds, the Orange had every opportunity to win this game. Here’s how it all unfolded.
One of the major problems with the Orange has been their inability to start games fast. In this one, they canned a quick three-pointer at the top of the key from Frank Howard. That was followed up by a nice defensive takeaway that was converted in the transition by Tyus Battle. Before you could blink it was a 5-0 lead for Syracuse.
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How No. 20 Virginia Tech shocked No. 3 Duke to alter the ACC race | NCAA.com (ncaa.com; Northam)
The mayor of Blacksburg, Va., might want to consider making February 26 a national holiday.
It seems to be a magical day for the Hokies’ men’s basketball team.
Tuesday evening made it third time Virginia Tech has beaten a Duke team ranked in the Top 5 of the AP Poll on that day. The No. 20 Hokies fought and clawed with the No. 3 Blue Devils for 40 minutes and came out on top, 77-72 at home.
For the record, the other two times Virginia Tech pulled off its upsets over Duke on Feb. 26 came in 2011 and 2018. Virginia Tech has also won three in a row against Duke at home.
The Hokies led for nearly 33 minutes, but the game was tied with about 90 seconds to play. But Ty Outlaw buried a 3-pointer, Duke missed its next shot and Nickeil Alexander-Walker swished a pair of free throws to put the Hokies up by 5. Duke scored on its next possession, but then Kerry Blackshear Jr. made two foul shots to seal the win.
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Notre Dame Basketball: Let’s look ahead to the ACC Tournament (onefootdown.com; Vowles)
While there is basically no chance at all that the Notre Dame Fighting Irish will be in the 2019 NCAA Tournament, they still have an opportunity to live that March Madness life that has come to define the third month of the year in this country. There is, after all, still the ACC Tournament to play.
Notre Dame’s only chance at the NCAA Tournament is to win the ACC Tournament. Of course — that’s not happening, but we can all still have some fun in the sun. It’s a flashy event, and one that has some serious credibility with 1⁄3 of the conference being ranked in the Top 20.
So how might the ACC Tournament look like this year? With a handful of games left, we can still only project the seedings, and rather than do that unfruitful exercise — I’ll just us the old “if the season ended today” thing, as it serves the same purpose.
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Virginia Tech Overcomes Duke, 77-72 (DBR; Sumner)
Blacksburg, Virginia is a lovely college town, nestled in the Blue Ridge Mountains in southwestern Virginia.
But it’s become something of a house-of-horrors recently for Duke basketball, at least the Cassell Coliseum portion of the Virginia Tech campus. The Hokies defeated Duke 77-72 Tuesday night, the third consecutive Virginia Tech win over Duke in Blacksburg.
Duke was even more short-handed against VT then against Syracuse Saturday. R.J. Barrett was under the weather and still cobbled together 36 minutes. Cam Reddish took a hard fall but soldiered on.
“I didn’t even know he was sick until the game started,” Mike Krzyzewski said of Barrett. “It was something that just came up. They are human beings who work hard and have a lot of stress on them. RJ was sick the whole first half. That’s why we were subbing him. He went back in and that’s just the way it is.”
The Blue Devils shot 50 percent from the field, 79 percent from the foul line and out-rebounded Virginia Tech 29-28.
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Other
Ryan McMahon: Bring back Carnegie building, take over sewers, hire more minorities (PS; Knauss)
Onondaga County Executive Ryan McMahon is proposing to move his economic development staff into the former Carnegie Library, where he hopes they will share work space with colleagues from the city of Syracuse.
The proposal to co-locate offices, unveiled tonight in McMahon’s State of the County address, provides a striking symbol of the effort by McMahon and Syracuse Mayor Ben Walsh to heal the rift that divided their predecessors.
McMahon will also unveil a new county goal to have minorities represent at least 20 percent of the county work force by 2022. He will ask legislators to create a new position of chief diversity officer.
And McMahon said he has already made progress toward consolidating local municipal sewers under county ownership to facilitate rebuilding the system.
If his plans for the 114-year-old Carnegie building succeed, the project will reunite city and county agencies that went through an ugly divorce in 2016. After five years of sharing space, the city and county economic development teams split up amid a public dispute between former County Executive Joanie Mahoney and former Mayor Stephanie Miner.
The historic Carnegie building “deserves a rebirth, a new chapter, and we are going to do it,’’ McMahon said. The under-used building is owned by the county.
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