sutomcat
No recent Cali or Iggy awards; Mr Irrelevant
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Welcome to Kraken Day!
Kraken Day, also known as Myths and Legends Day, is part of International Cephalopod Awareness Days, or Cephalopod Awareness Week, which takes place from October 8-12 each year. Since octopuses have eight arms and squid have eight arms and two tentacles, the holiday week begins on the eighth day of the tenth month. Cephalopods are a class of marine invertebrates. Related to snails and clams, they have arms and tentacles, three hearts, large brains, and blue blood. Today we celebrate cephalopods of myth and legend, especially krakens.
Krakens come from Scandanavian folklore. Nordic sagas say kraken live off the coasts of Norway and Greenland and terrorize the sailors of the area. Krakens have been a legend for centuries, with Nordic sailors long telling tales about them. The beasts were described in detail around 1250 CE, in the Konungs skuggsjá, an Old Norwegian natural history written by an anonymous author who had returned from Greenland. Carl von Linné of Sweden included krakens in the first edition of his systematic natural catalog, Systema Naturae, published in 1735.
SU News
Syracuse Basketball: Orange slotted No. 8 in ACC preseason media poll (itlh; Adler)
The Syracuse basketball squad is projected to finish eighth in the Atlantic Coast Conference, according to the annual preseason media poll.
The Syracuse basketball team didn’t get a lot of love in the Atlantic Coast Conference’s annual preseason media poll, which got released on Thursday. Journalists who cover ACC crews forecasted that the Orange will wrap up the 2019-20 campaign at No. 8 in the league – or right smack in the middle of the conference.
This prognostication for the ‘Cuse is not surprising in the least. Syracuse only returns one starter from a stanza ago, and its roster, while plush with depth and offensive weapons, is relatively young and could struggle on the defensive side.
Beyond the ballot unveiled on Thursday, in recent weeks a bunch of other college-hoops analysts, bracketologists and writers have opined that the Orange will likely fall somewhere around the center of the ACC pecking order, and the ‘Cuse is also anticipated to hover on the proverbial Big Dance bubble. Before we all lament, don’t forget that Syracuse often performs well when its expectations are tempered, and of course, a single game has yet to occur.
In case you’re wondering, the favorite to capture the ACC’s regular-term crown is – wait for it – Duke.
The Blue Devils, an Elite Eight participant this past spring, saw a ton of talent head to the pros after 2018-19, but Duke always reloads with a new cadre of five-star prospects. Following the Blue Devils in the league’s preseason media poll are North Carolina, Louisville, defending NCAA champions Virginia, Florida State, N.C. State, Notre Dame, the Orange, Miami, Pittsburgh, Clemson, Georgia Tech, Boston College, Virginia Tech and Wake Forest.
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Syracuse Orange Unveil New Basketball Court Design (sportslogos.net; Lind)
Syracuse’s Jim Boeheim Court will have a new look this season, as the Orange are set to officially unveil the redesigned hardwood during their annual Orange vs. White scrimmage on Oct. 11.
Naturally, Syracuse’s Block “S” and Jim Boeheim’s signature remain at center court. But the court, which has been predominantly orange since the 2006-07 season, now features blue baselines with “Syracuse” and “Orange” at opposite ends an orange block font.
The sidelines, meanwhile, share design elements with Syracuse’s recently unveiled uniforms and prominently display the program’s retired numbers, including Vic Hanson’s No. 8, Dave Bing’s No. 22, Dwayne ‘Pearl’ Washington’s No. 31, Sherman Douglas’s No. 20, Wilmeth Sidat-Singh’s No. 19, Derrick Coleman’s No. 44, Rony Seikaly’s No. 4, Billy Owens’s No. 30, Billy Gabor’s No. 17, Carmelo Anthony’s No. 15, Louis Orr’s No. 55, Roosevelt Bouie’s No. 50, Dennis DuVal’s No. 22 and Lawrence Moten’s No. 21.
While the off-center numbers immediately stand out, it’s likely the Orange left the right portion empty in hopes — or with plans — of adding more in the near future.
The court is complete with two advertisements for Carrier Corporation, the...
Check out these 5 interesting points from the ACC preseason awards and rankings (C-J; Aulbach)
Celebrate preseason rankings and awards at your own risk. But if that's your thing – and hey, don't let us stop you – you have a good amount to celebrate this year if you're a Louisville fan.
Junior forward Jordan Nwora was chosen by Atlantic Coast Conference media members as the league’s preseason player of the year, the ACC announced this week, and the Cardinals were picked to finish third in the final standings behind, predictably, Duke and North Carolina.
Those were the headlines when the results of Tuesday’s vote at ACC media day were released on Thursday. Here’s a closer look at a few other points that stood out.
The Jordan Nwora hype is real
Jordan Nwora was all smiles at ACC media day, and for good reason. (Photo: Nell Redmond, AP)
Nwora was a popular breakout pick by fans in Louisville heading into last season after a quiet freshman campaign, but he kind of snuck up on teams that were less familiar with him. Needless to say, that won’t be the case for the preseason ACC player of the year in 2019.
Nwora has the league on watch at this point after spending 2018-19 as the focal point of the Louisville offense. He racked up 17 points and 7.6 rebounds per game, both team highs, and was pretty much the one guy the Cardinals could rely on to show up and hit shots every night, with 31 double-figure scoring performances in 34 games.
He ranked sixth in the league in scoring last season, and all five players ahead of him either graduated or went pro. So it wasn't much of a shock when news broke of the accolade on Thursday. But his margin of victory – Nwora received 55 votes, while second- and third- place finishers Cole Anthony (UNC) and Tre Jones (Duke) had 50 total votes between the two of them – may have been a little higher than some expected.
Defenses will be keying in on Nwora this season. He's a star in 2019, not a breakout candidate.
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Louisville basketball: Why the ACC made the right call with Jordan Nwora (BRL; Lane)
Louisville basketball junior Jordan Nwora was selected as the ACC Preseason Player of the Year. Why I believe the ACC media made the 100 percent correct decision.
After winning the ACC Most Improved Player of the Year award in 2018-19 due to a breakout season for Louisville basketball, this year there is still another level to rise to for star wing Jordan Nwora.
It looked all offseason like it was only a matter of time before Nwora officially announced that he’d be leaving Louisville after just two seasons to head off to the NBA. after his breakout sophomore season But due to an untimely injury, Nwora ultimately decided to return to college and focus on taking his game to the next level.
The expectations for Nwora heading into his junior season are already high, as many of college basketball’s talking heads have already declared the 6’7 wing as the player most likely to win the ACC Player of the Year in 2019-20.
Last season Nwora developed into one of the most promising scorers in the ACC, going from averaging 5.7 to 17 points and 7.6 rebounds per game while bosting a 26 percent usage rate and hitting 37.4 percent of his threes – doing so without a ton of elite talent around him.
This year, he’ll look to make another big jump in his play – high enough to match the expectations placed on him by ACC Media.
After the conclusion of ACC Operation Kickoff, it wasn’t much of a shocker when the ACC media voted the junior as the preseason selection for the award. Nwora received 51 total votes, with North Carolina freshman guard Cole Anthony projected to finish second with 33 votes.
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Wake Forest Basketball Picked to Finish Last in the ACC (bloggersodear.com; Foster)
Earlier today the Atlantic Coast Conference media released the preseason men’s basketball poll for the 2019-2020 season.
Wake Forest was picked to finish last, receiving a total of 328 points. This was 6 below 14th place Virginia Tech.
In addition, no Demon Deacons received votes for any of the Preseason All-Conference teams or awards. This is after last season not a single Wake player was named to any postseason All-Conference team or award.
This is the first time since the league expanded to 15 teams in 2014 that Wake Forest has been picked to finish last in the preseason poll.
Last year the Deacs were picked to finish 14th in the league, and ended up finishing 13th ahead of Notre Dame and Pitt.
Duke was once again picked to win the league with 51 first place votes. North Carolina, Louisville, Virginia, and Florida State rounded out the top five.
Boston College, Georgia Tech, and Clemson joined Wake Forest and Virginia Tech in the bottom five.
Louisville’s Jordan Nwora was selected as the ACC’s Preseason Player of the Year, and North Carolina’s Cole Anthony was selected as the ACC’s Freshman of the Year.
The football team has done well recently with being picked low in the preseason polls, so here's hoping that the basketball team can follow suit this year.
https://www.newsobserver.com/sports/college/acc/article235897457.html#storylink=mainstage (newsobserver.com; Giglio, Wiseman & Alexander)
The News & Observer surveyed 29 student-athletes during the the ACC’s men’s basketball media day Tuesday at Marriott City Center in Charlotte to get their thoughts on the conference and the issues facing college athletes.
Twenty of those surveyed believed they should be able to profit from their names, images and likenesses, and 20 — though not the same 20 — said they should be paid beyond the cost-of-attendance stipends they now receive.
Below is a highlight of the responses. The players were given anonymity to allow them to speak freely without fear of repercussions.
- Mike Krzyzewski, Duke (8 votes)
- Jeff Capel, Pittsburgh (3)
- Tony Bennett, Virginia (3)
- Jim Larranaga, Miami (2)
- Jim Boeheim, Syracuse
- Jim Christian, Boston College
- Roy Williams, UNC
- Mike Brey, Notre Dame
- Kevin Keatts, N.C. State
- Chris Mack, Louisville
- Leonard Hamilton, Florida State
Player: “Yes. Definitely. The NCAA, they are stealing from us. You are using my name to make you money. Why can’t I?”
Player: “Yes. Definitely. We’re actually starting to build our brand, and we should be responsible for our own image. “
Player: “It’s been a very touchy conversation in our locker room, but I think a lot of us agree that players should be able to. I just think usually players bring a lot of attention to the school with big names and what not. I think there should be certain limitations to it but I think it should be allowed. But there should be limitations so players don’t get millions because that’s when a player wouldn’t care about playing for the school. They would just care about where they would get the most investment.”
Player: “Cost of attendance has been very nice to us. I don’t know. That’s a difficult question. Maybe. Yeah.”
Player: “Of course. I’m all about the money.”
Player: “I’m kind of neutral on it. I think it is fair, though. That’s something guys should be able to do because it is their name, and I’m excited to see how it turns out. “
Player: “No. I’m one of those who doesn’t have a problem with our current situation. I’m thankful we get charter flights and free meals.”
Player: “I don’t want to mess with the integrity of college basketball but it would definitely help.”
Player: “I think so. I think we receive a lot of stuff now, but I think more could be done for sure.”
Player: “I’m really neutral on that. Because I really feel like they should, but there’s two sides to the story. So I try to stay neutral until I see how it goes, and then I try to make a decision.”
Favorite video game?
- NBA 2K (9)
- Fortnite (5)
- Call of Duty (5)
- Grand Theft Auto (2)
- Mortal Kombat (2)
- FIFA
- Forza Horizon
- Madden
- Tom Clancy’s Ghost Recon
Player: “Virginia Tech. First of all, the city is kind of dead. It’s dark in there, too. It kind of throws you off a bit.”
Player: “Duke. The Cameron Crazies are on you as soon as you walk on the floor, from warmups until the end of the game there. They are heckling you. They are cursing at you. But again that’s fun. That’s a good environment to play in.”
Player: “Oh, Duke by far. It’s so little and so loud in there, you can barely hear your huddle when you talk.”
Player: “Duke. Duke is very tough. That crowd gets into it, and they feed off it. That’s tough to play against sometimes.”
Player: “Definitely Syracuse. You cannot shoot there.”
Player: “Pitt. We played there and someone threw popcorn on me. I was not ready for that one.”
Player: “Wake Forest because they don’t have many fans. No disrespect to them.”
Which ACC player not on your team would you most want to have on your team?
- Jordan Nwora, Louisville (3)
- John Mooney, Notre Dame (3)
- Steven Enoch, Louisville (3)
- Brandon Robinson, UNC (2)
- Mamadi Diakite, Virginia (2)
- Chris Lykes, Miami (2)
- Armando Bacot, UNC
- Juwan Durham, Notre Dame
- Trent Forrest, Florida State
- Tre Jones, Duke
- Brandon Childress, Wake Forest
- Jordan Usher, Georgia Tech
- Braxton Key, Virginia
- Vernon Carey, Duke
- Jae’Lyn Withers, Louisville
- De’Andre Hunter, formerly Virginia
- “Anybody from Virginia.”
Player: “FaceTiming friends. Just checking up on them...Or play spades. I love spades.”
Player: “If I’m in Miami, I might walk down the strip or something like that. If I’m in Pittsburgh, I’m going to the (Milk Shake Factory). Super good milkshakes. In Boston I’ll walk around and do some sightseeing. In Blacksburg at Virginia Tech, I’m just going to stay in the hotel room. Depends where I’m at.”
Player: “We use it as bonding time. We have NBA 2K tournaments.”
Player: “Usually I’m listening to music to prepare myself.”
Player: “I watch a lot of YouTube videos.”
Player: “I play NBA 2K with my teammates.”
Do you think college athletes deserve to be paid beyond a scholarship and cost of attendance?
Player: “Speaking for myself and myself only, I’m OK with (just scholarship and cost of attendance). That’s fine with me. I don’t really ask for much so I’m cool with that.”
Player: “I think there’s an image around the whole thing that we are not getting anything. But we are getting the stipend. We are getting free education. We work camps and stuff like that. So we are getting extra checks here and there. So to be honest, no because I think that will produce even more corruption than there already is.”
Player: “I don’t know. I feel like we get a lot right now. But at the same time, being a college athlete is very demanding, time consuming. Maybe not necessarily being paid, but definitely being able to mak e something off their name and likeness.”
Player: “I do think they should be paid. I don’t think they should be paid a lot. Probably $3,000 or $4,000 a month.”
Player: “If they had a set stipend, that would be more fair than the NLI (National Letter of Intent). If they broke down the bread from the tournament and it trickled down, that would be a fair way to do it.”
Player: “Some kids have different struggles. I think it should be structured on how the kids struggle. Some kids grow up with nothing. Kids send money back home to help support them because it is hard. So, yeah, a little bit more wouldn’t kill anybody.”
Player: “Yes. At the end of the day, the school benefits more than the NCAA does.”
Player: “ I think so. Like I said, a lot of people are making money off our image, and likeness. It’s above me, so I don’t know how it would work, but I’m sure something could be done.”
Player: “A little bit. I believe it’s a good idea. I just think it would be very hard to distribute.”
Player: “Not really. I think what they have now is pretty good. I think the only question I have is it shouldn’t make a difference whether you are on campus or off campus. It should be like since you are on the team you should be getting the same whether or not you live on campus and it’s closer or you live off campus. But I really like what they have now. But they should change the rule (for) kids who come from supportive backgrounds, maybe a silver spoon background.”
Player: “Just based off the NCAA makes, we should get paid. I know they make a lot of money off of us.”
Nicest road arena?
- Louisville (9)
- UNC (8)
- N.C. State (3)
- Syracuse (3)
- Duke
- Georgia Tech
- Virginia
Full Hunter’s Moon to cast spectacular orange glow in the sky this weekend (PS; Axelson)
A brilliant orange Full Hunter’s Moon casting its spectacular glow across the October sky is an icon of the Halloween season, and this weekend is your chance to see the phenomenon for real.
The Hunter’s Moon is the name given to October’s full moon, which is also the first full moon after the Harvest Moon—the one closest to the autumn equinox in the Northern Hemisphere.
Thanks to the “moon illusion," the Full Hunter’s Moon appears huge and bright while it hangs low in the sky close to the horizon, and thanks to its hourly proximity to sunset, it should reflect the sun’s orange color around that time.
This year, the moon will reach peak fullness on Sunday, October 13 at 5:07 p.m., EDT, but it won’t rise above the horizon until twilight settles in, after 6:30 p.m.
If the skies are clear, sky-gazers should be in for a big orange treat, and to that end, here’s a look at the cloud cover forecast around that time in Upstate NY. Temperatures are expected to be in the 40s across Upstate NY on Sunday night, so if you’re going out, bring a coat.
- In Buffalo, partly cloudy skies with a 20% chance of precipitation
- In Rochester, mainly clear skies with a 10% chance of precipitation
- In Syracuse, mostly clear skies with a few clouds
- In Albany, mostly clear skies with a 10% chance of precipitation
- In the mid-Hudson Valley, partly cloudy skies with a 20% chance of precipitation
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