sutomcat
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There were numerous factors that converged to create an environment that was ripe for an event like the Boston Tea Party to take place, which occurred on today's date in 1773. Some of these included the popularity of tea in the colonies, British debt, acts of Parliament that taxed colonists, the Boston Massacre, and the propping up of a British tea company. The Boston Tea Party can be seen as a tipping point that spurred the revolutionary movement forward, which ultimately allowed for the creation of the United States. It is because of its importance to the formation of the country that we mark Boston Tea Party Day.
Although Britain had been victorious in the Seven Years' War (1756-1763), they had accumulated a great national debt and looked to the American colonies for revenue. Parliament instituted taxes on the colonies, the first being the Stamp Act of 1765, which required colonists to pay a tax on printed paper such as newspapers, business cards, and legal documents. Colonists argued that only their representatives in the colonies should have the power to tax them, and that "taxation without representation" was unjust. The Stamp Act was repealed the following year, but the Townshend Acts of 1767 created even more taxes than the Stamp Act, placing them on items such as paper, paint, glass, and tea. The revenue for these taxes was to pay for the salaries of the royal colonial governors. Colonists once again bristled at the idea of being taxed without representation, and they organized boycotts of the taxed goods. Because of this pressure, in April 1770, all of the Townshend Acts except the tax on tea were repealed. The tax on tea was kept as a symbol of Parliament's power and right to levy a tax on the colonies.
SU News
3 things in 3 games: What Syracuse basketball needs to fix before ACC play (PS; Axe)
There are 21 games remaining in the 2019-20 Syracuse University men’s basketball season.
The Orange are 5-5, the worst 10-game start under head coach Jim Boeheim and overall for Syracuse since the 1968-69 season. That includes a 1-4 against power-conference opponents.
Syracuse basketball’s room for error is paper thin when it comes to qualifying for the 2020 NCAA Tournament. A strong run in ACC play is now SU’s only card to play.
With three games remaining before the full-time ACC slate begins in January (Syracuse is 1-1 in the ACC ) here are three key things the Orange need to shape up with three opponents (Oakland, North Florida and Niagara) remaining on the non-conference schedule that all rank 177 or higher according to KenPom.com.
1. Get Guerrier Going
Syracuse forward Quincy Guerrier (1) and associate head coach Adrain Autry on the bench during a game against Georgetown on Saturday, Dec. 14, 2019, at Capital One Arena in Washington, D.C. (Dennis Nett | dnett@syracuse.com)
Quincy Guerrier certainly looks the part physically.
As my colleague Chris Carlson points out, it’s the mental side of the game that hasn’t come around yet for Guerrier.
The next three games should provide ample opportunity for Guerrier to get out of his own head and just play the game.
Against Georgetown, Guerrier picked up two fouls in his first four minutes and didn’t return to the game until 47 seconds remained.
He’s on a short ...err ...not earning trust from his head coach right now.
“I’m looking for anything," Syracuse coach Jim Boeheim said, when asked what more he wants to see from Guerrier. “What more? He’s had seven fouls in eight minutes in two games. He’s got to be in the game to do something. He’s a freshman. He’s lost. I don’t think he knows what’s going on out there yet. He’s got to learn."
2. Send it in, Sidibe
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10 numbers to know after Syracuse's 5-5 start to the season - Pickin' Splinters (pickinsplinters.com; Heyen)
Syracuse (5-5, 1-1 Atlantic Coast) is in a pretty unfamiliar position after its 89-79 loss to Georgetown on Saturday. The Orange have lost five games before Jan. 1 for just the second time under Jim Boeheim as head coach. The other occurrence came in the 2016-17 season, when SU ended the season playing in the NIT and not the NCAA Tournament.
With the Orange at an even .500, here’s a look at five positive numbers and five negative numbers that sum up Syracuse’s first 10 games.
Five positive numbers
1. Elijah Hughes‘ offense
Hughes ranks 249th in the country in offensive rating, according to KenPom. He’s also top-250 in both effective field goal percentage and true shooting percentage. Considering there are 353 Division I basketball teams, that’s pretty good.
You don’t have to know exactly what those stats mean to recognize how good Hughes has been offensively. His expanded game has included more driving to the basket, finishing in the midrange and passing accumen. And of course the 3-pointers are there, as everyone expected.
Hughes is averaging 19.7 points per game through 10 games. That would top Tyus Battle‘s 19.2 points per game from his standout sophomore season in 2017-18.
2. Marek Dolezaj‘s improved scoring
Dolezaj has scored in double figures in four-straight games after putting in 13 points against Georgetown. Before this streak, he’d never had back-to-back games of double-figure points in his three-year SU career. The apparent improvements to Dolezaj’s 3-point shot from a year ago haven’t been there, but he’s shown some prowess at driving right and finishing.
On those drives, Dolezaj has often resorted to pump-faking one or more times to try and get his defender up in the air. It’s a big reason Dolezaj ranks 11th in the country in free throw rate, attempting 48 free throws this season relative to his 55 field goal attempts.
3. 3-pointers and efficiency
Syracuse ranks 67th in the country in effective field goal percentage, at 52.5 percent, per KenPom. That’s a rate that accounts for the added scoring value of 3-pointers versus 2-pointers. SU sits about three percentage points better than the national average in that stat.
That rate proves that an offense built on 3-point shooting can be an efficient one. In the Orange’s case, the numbers have been wide-ranging game-to-game due to a few blowouts in both directions. But in the overall picture, Syracuse has actually had a relatively efficient scoring offense.
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Syracuse Basketball: Porous defense paves way for Hoyas rout (itlh; Adler)
Syracuse basketball simply couldn’t contain Georgetown in our nation’s capital, and the Orange’s non-conference resume will end up sub-par at best.
Syracuse basketball faced a significantly diminished Georgetown roster on Saturday afternoon in Washington, D.C., but the Hoyas’ lost scoring production from four players recently electing to transfer didn’t faze the home team one iota. Georgetown shot extremely well from 3-point land and absolutely decimated the Orange at the free-throw line, as the Hoyas pounded their long-time rival, 89-79.
The ‘Cuse (5-5), hoping to build upon its domination of Georgia Tech in Atlanta a week ago, got crushed by its former Big East Conference foe in Syracuse’s trademark 2-3 zone.
Georgetown (7-3) passed the ball with precision on offense, and that led the Hoyas to get an abundance of wide-open looks from beyond the arc. The Hoyas also annihilated the Orange on the glass, and Georgetown’s wide margin in offensive rebounds secured enabled the Hoyas to collect a ton of second-chance points, from which the ‘Cuse couldn’t recover.
When news broke on Friday that Georgetown’s line-up would get reduced to just seven scholarship guys, I wrote that Syracuse would have to take advantage of this facet by attacking the rim hard, notching easy points from the charity stripe, and putting the thin Hoyas register into foul trouble. The opposite, unfortunately, transpired.
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Dion Waiters called in sick to Heat, then posted photos on a boat (PS; Carlson)
Former Syracuse star Dion Waiters’ most recent suspension was caused, at least in part, by the fact that he called in sick to the Miami Heat and then posted photos of himself on a boat on Instagram, according to multiple media reports.
The connection between the photos and the suspension was first reported by Ethan Skolnick of Five Reasons Sports Network, who cited three anonymous sources. It was later confirmed by Barry Jackson of the Miami Herald, who noted the photos were not the sole reason for the suspension but did play a role in the decision.
Waiters is currently serving a six-game team-issued suspension, the third time this season he’s been suspended by Miami.
The Heat have said the suspension is for "his failure to adhere to team policies, violation of team rules and continued insubordination.”
Waiters has had a troubled year from the start, ever since he was passed by Miami’s younger players in the preseason and then complained publicly about it.
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Former Syracuse basketball star Carmelo Anthony enjoying latest NBA run - The Juice Online (the juice; Dagostino)
He is back in an NBA uniform after going a year and 11 days between playing in a game. Now a member of the Portland Trail Blazers (his fourth team in the last four seasons), Anthony is back in a role where he is comfortable, on a team where his scoring is needed.
For 15 seasons between Denver and New York, Anthony was the first option on offense. He was a go-to scorer who never averaged less than 20 points per game. Give him the ball and let him do his work.
In the 2017-18 season, he was sent to Oklahoma City to help form a Big Three with Russell Westbrook and Paul George. But, like in every Big Three, somebody is forced to sacrifice more than the others. With the Thunder, that was Anthony and his scoring average dipped to 16.2 points per game.
With Houston the next season, it was even more apparent that Anthony was third fiddle behind James Harden and Chris Paul. It took just 10 games (in which Anthony was not a starter for eight of them, the only eight times he has come off the bench in his career) for the Rockets to pull the plug on the experiment. Anthony’s 13.4 points per game average sinking lower than ever before, his NBA star shining less than ever before.
Anthony had been out of the league for over a year for the same reason his role diminished with the Thunder and the Rockets: Anthony still sees himself as a 20-point scorer. Spotting up in the corner waiting for another star who Anthony feels he is on the same level as felt like a knock, a bruise to his ego.
And in a league where positionless basketball and ball movement supersedes isolation play, Anthony’s 1-on-1 offensive attack (by far, his greatest skill and the reason he has built a Hall of Fame resume) has gone by the wayside, to an extent, in today’s game.
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Other
25 Things that Make Syracuse Great: Higher Education (PS; McMahon)
The story of higher ed through the lens of a great program: Meteorology at Oswego State
Ask many college students why they chose their school, and you’ll hear a tale of romance and realism: “The academic department was the right fit, but there was just that special something ...”
That’s how Christine Gregory, a college senior and Syracuse native described choosing the meteorology program at SUNY Oswego.
A strong science student in high school, Gregory developed an interest in studying meteorology, and she wanted to stay relatively close to home. But it was the visit to Oswego that sealed the deal.
“The sunsets really drew me in,” she said. “As soon as I got here, it felt like home.”
Gregory is now among a select group of students to be taking a class with Al Roker, SUNY Oswego’s most famous alumnus and the country’s best-known weatherman.
(Fun fact: Roker did not study meteorology at Oswego. He was a broadcast journalism major. Many students at Oswego customize their own broadcast / meteorology education through extracurriculars like the campus TV station, WTOP.)
Through Oswego, Gregory has traveled the Great Plains chasing severe storms -- and she’s trekked the North Country’s Tug Hill region to launch a weather balloon. She’s interned at all the major TV stations in Syracuse.
“I think it’s really unique because you get to experience lake effect snow, thunderstorms, and your fair share of tornado warnings -- that’s always super exciting,” Gregory said.
SUNY Oswego has over the years attracted its fair share of weather whizzes.
Indeed, the meteorology major was borne from scientists who were attracted to teaching and researching close to Lake Ontario. Eugene Chermack, a professor and researcher who died in 2006, is credited with launching meteorology as its own program in Oswego in 1971.
Since then, the program has upgraded significantly from pencil-and-paper calculations to sophisticated weather forecasting technology. What started with just a handful of students has grown to a total program enrollment of 90 -- one of the largest in the Northeast.
Graduates can be seen on local TV broadcasts and working around the country. Turn on your local TV station and you’ll probably see an Oswego graduate forecasting the weather -- or involved behind the scenes. Oswego also noted recent graduates have gone on to work or research in LA, Arizona, New Hampshire, Kansas and more.
Studies show a majority of colleges students, like Gregory, attend a school within 50 miles of their family home. In Syracuse, prospective students have a whopping 37 options in that radius.
SUNY Oswego is just one of dozens of great options for students to pursue a degree and advance their careers in Central New York. SUNYs, elite private schools, a “Little Ivy,” a bevy of community colleges. Specialized schools for forestry and technology. Medical and nursing schools.
Syracuse is the opposite of an education desert.
People here tend to be more highly-educated than in other places. Onondaga County beats the national average, 32.6%, for people older than 25 who have attained a bachelor’s degree. In Onondaga County, nearly 36% have a bachelor’s degree or higher.
Central New York is a great place to learn.
It’s what drew weather.com forecaster Brian Donegan here, and kept him in the region.
Originally from southern New Jersey, Donegan was drawn to Oswego’s meteorology program, because he was looking to study the discipline, but also found the people to be friendly and warm.
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