sutomcat
No recent Cali or Iggy awards; Mr Irrelevant
- Joined
- Aug 15, 2011
- Messages
- 26,564
- Like
- 115,654
Welcome to Feast of the Ass!
The Feast of the Ass was a Christian feast during medieval times, which was mainly celebrated in France. It celebrated all of the donkeys of the Bible, especially the one that was believed to have brought Jesus and his family into Egypt after Jesus' birth, during what is known as the Flight into Egypt. At that time, the family was fleeing the killing of young boys by Herod the Great. Another example of a donkey in the Bible is the one that Jesus rode on into Jerusalem on Palm Sunday. It is also believed that a donkey was in the stable in which Jesus was born. First celebrated during the eleventh century, the holiday is connected to the Feast of Fools, and was inspired by the pagan Roman festival Cervulus.
SU News
Will BC’s 2 injured starters play against Syracuse? (PS; Waters)
Boston College will be without one starter and possibly two when the Eagles face Syracuse on Wednesday at the Carrier Dome.
Starting center Nik Popovic and starting guard Derryck Thornton have both missed recent games due to injuries.
Popovic, a 6-foot-11 senior, has missed the Eagles’ last seven games after injuring his back. Popovic last appeared in a game on Dec. 3 against Northwestern. In BC’s first nine games, Popovic had averaged 11.8 points and 5.9 rebounds.
Popovic will not play in Wednesday’s game, according to a BC representative.
Thornton, a 6-3 graduate transfer from the University of Southern California, has missed BC’s last two games after injuring his ankle in a loss to Duke on Dec. 31. Duke center Vernon Carey landed on Thornton’s right ankle.
Thornton, who began his college career at Duke before transferring to USC, didn’t play in BC’s win over Virginia last week or the Eagles’ loss to Georgia Tech on Saturday. However, Thornton was in uniform for the Georgia Tech.
Mike Laprey, BC’s director of athletic communications, said Thornton was considered "questionable'' for Wednesday’s game at Syracuse.
Thornton leads Boston College in scoring at 13.3 points per game. He also has a team-high 48 assists (3.4 per game).
Wednesday’s game is scheduled to start at 6:30 p.m. on the ACC Network.
Syracuse basketball still alive in wide-open ACC - The Juice Online (the juice; McGlynn)
To call this season a disappointment is probably an understatement. Sitting at 9-7 in mid-January is far from ideal, but with a win over No. 18 Virginia, Syracuse’s postseason hopes suddenly have new life. While March is still a long ways off, the Orange has a chance to relevant in a wide-open ACC.
In case you haven’t noticed, college basketball is in the midst of a season of parity. No team has been able to hold onto the top spot in the country for long. Top 25 teams are falling left and right. Teams such as Duquesne, New Mexico and BYU are appearing as at-large bids in Bracketology. Men’s college hoops is in disarray. The ACC is no exception and that might make all the difference.
After picking up its second conference win, Syracuse joins the mob of ACC teams sitting at two or three conference victories. Nine of the league’s 15 teams are sitting in that group. Only Duke is undefeated. This will ultimately mean nothing if the Orange limps through this next five-game stretch, but we will get to that in a minute. The door is legitimately open for Syracuse to finish in the top five of the conference and make a case for reaching the NCAA Tournament.
I know better than to get ahead of myself, but let’s consider the competition. Is Syracuse better than Boston College or Clemson? How about Virginia Tech, Notre Dame or Pittsburgh? We cannot answer those questions until after the Orange plays all of them to close out January. The thing is, the question legitimately exists because of how wide open the ACC is this season. As bad as Syracuse was early on in the season, it seems like this team is closer to breaking through than at any point before the calendar read 2020.
...
Syracuse Basketball: Orange can ill-afford home loss to Boston College (itlh; Adler)
Syracuse basketball just notched its premier win of the current stanza, and now it has to keep that momentum going against Boston College.
Syracuse basketball remains a long way from re-entering the conversation for an at-large berth in the Big Dance, but the Orange’s overtime upset of then-No. 18 Virginia in Charlottesville this past Saturday is surely a step in the right direction.
For the ‘Cuse (9-7, 2-3) to even consider sniffing March Madness, or frankly even the NIT, Syracuse must get on a roll and begin to stockpile successes in Atlantic Coast Conference play. The Orange is presently 0-3 versus league opponents at home during the 2019-20 campaign, and, suffice it to say, that disturbing record has to reverse – pronto.
The ‘Cuse possesses a primary occasion to garner an ACC victory on the Hill when Syracuse hosts Boston College (9-7, 3-2) this Wednesday night. Without question, the Eagles are a beatable foe, but that by no means ensures the Orange will come out on top.
For one, at this juncture, Boston College is a game ahead of the ‘Cuse in the conference race. Secondly, while Syracuse should feel proud of dethroning the Cavaliers several days ago, the Eagles recorded an identical feat – knocking off UVA – a few days prior to that, although Boston College did suit up on its own turf in that encounter.
On the year, the Eagles have a handful of additional solid victories, over the likes of Wake Forest, South Florida, Notre Dame (which bested the Orange by one point) and California. Boston College’s setbacks are to Georgia Tech, Duke, Northwestern, Richmond, Saint Louis, DePaul, and Belmont. Not an overly impressive resume for the Eagles, but certainly not terrible, either.
...
D.O. Sportscast: Men's basketball beat reflects on SU's upset win against Virginia (DO; podcast; Staff)
Syracuse upset No. 18 Virginia 63-55 in OT on Saturday. Our beat writers break down the victory and what it means for the Orange’s season going forward.
ACC Roundup - It’s Clemson’s World, We Just Live In It (DBR; King)
Only one game Sunday as Miami beat up Pitt only to see the Panthers rally before Miami snatched control back and won 66-58.
Miami had some major runs in this game but Chris Lykes fouled out with eight minutes left and they were vulnerable.
Fortunately for the ‘Canes, freshman Harlond Beverly was up to the challenge and brought the team home. Pitt was down just four with 6:24 left but couldn’t get any closer.
After the game Jeff Capel said Pitt has some lessons to learn yet and used a phrase that Duke fans will certainly recognize: “It was a disappointing loss for us. We had an amazing opportunity coming off a big win, and we didn’t have the maturity level necessary as a group to move on to the next play. Until we learn that in our program, we won’t become the consistently good program we’re striving to become.”
Ah, the famous next play.
That will now be Louisville on Tuesday.
There are no ACC games on Monday because Monday is reserved for the NCAA football championship. It looks like only 12 games are schedule nationally with the most prominent teams playing being Boston University, Cornell and NCCU.
And of course Monday is also Clemson’s chance to win its fourth national title and third in the last four years.
It’s quite a time in Tiger Town.
...
CBB Stock Report: Seton Hall Up, ACC Down (SI; Geary)
Who's trending up and down in college basketball this week? We look at the ACC, Big Ten, Washington and more.
Conference play is in full swing across college basketball, which continues to be marked by a 2019-20 season of drama and upsets. Who's trending up and down this week? Our stock report looks at the latest from the Big Ten, ACC, Seton Hall, Ohio State and more.
STOCK UP
Ending Single-Opponent Road Losing Streaks
If you were immersed in NFL wild-card weekend, you might've missed history on Saturday: For the first time ever, the Clemson Tigers have won in Chapel Hill. Clemson men's basketball was 0–59 all-time on the road at North Carolina, an inexplicably long skid that was the longest home winning streak against a single opponent in NCAA history. But the 2019-20 UNC team isn't your father's Tar Heels (just ask Roy Williams), and the Tigers sensed an opportunity against the struggling home team. At 8–7, Clemson isn't likely to make a run at the Big Dance this year, but it still got a major monkey off its back.
The Tigers weren't the only team to end a road skid, though. No. 4 Baylor went into Phog Allen Fieldhouse and beat No. 3 Kansas by 12, putting the nation on notice and earning its first-ever win in Lawrence (in 18 tries). Over in the Big Ten, Illinois snapped a 15-game losing streak to Wisconsin and also grabbed its first win in Madison since 2010 thanks to the heroics of Ayo Dosunmu. And on the women's side, a different kind of streak ended: Baylor handed No. 1 UConn its first home loss since 2013—a span of 98 games.
Big Ten Chaos
When you have an astounding 12 teams in the KenPom Top 40 (for context, the Big East and SEC have five, the Big 12 has four and the ACC and Pac-12 have three), things are bound to get wild. That's what's playing out in the Big Ten this year, where all 14 teams already have at least one conference loss—and 13 teams have at least two. The Big Ten entered last week with three teams ranked in the top 12 of the AP poll ... and all three went on to lose at least one game by double-digits. No. 12 Ohio State (more on the Buckeyes below) fell on the road to No. 12 Maryland, then had a similar fate against Indiana in Bloomington on Saturday. After their big win, the Terps proceeded to get routed in Iowa City on Friday night. The weekend then closed with Purdue handing Michigan State its first conference loss in a rousing blowout at Mackey Arena.
Get used to this kind of chaos. The Big Ten is somehow even more of a juggernaut than it was last season, and winning on the road has been almost impossible: home teams are now 32-5. Even the Spartans, who currently lead the race at 5-1, had the advantage of playing four of their first six games at the Breslin Center. After hosting Wisconsin next Friday, eight of their final 13 games will come on the road. Things could get very bumpy in the Big Ten conference race—don't be surprised if some unlikely contenders emerge.
Seton Hall
When Sandro Mamukelashvili went down with a broken wrist in Seton Hall's Dec. 8 loss at Iowa State, it was a blow to the Pirates. And when star Myles Powell left their next game—a 20-point loss to Rutgers—with a concussion, it was a big blow. Down its top two players, times were rough for a Seton Hall team that was 6-4 and about to face top-10 Maryland. But the short-handed Pirates found a way to beat the Terps, kicking off a six-game winning streak that now has them at 12-4 and 4-0 in the Big East. Powell returned to start conference play, but Mamukelashvili is still sidelined—and yet Kevin Willard's team keeps winning. Powell is putting up All-American numbers, averaging 21.5 points, 4.9 rebounds and 2.4 assists, and Seton Hall has become a ferocious team defensively anchored by 7-footers Romaro Gill and Ike Obiagu in the paint.
...
Paramount to broadcast UVA Men's Basketball ACC away games in February (cbs19news.com; Staff)
The Paramount Theater will live broadcast three University of Virginia Men's Basketball ACC away games in February, according to a press release from The Paramount.
The following matches will be broadcast on the big screen:
UVA vs. Louisville on Feb. 8 at 4 p.m.
UVA vs. UNC on Feb. 15 - TBA
UVA vs. Pitt on Feb. 22 at 12 p.m.
The live broadcasts are free and open to the public.
Concessions are available throughout the game.
Pre-registration is encouraged and can be done by calling The Paramount's Box Office at (434) 979-1333, online at www.theparamount.net or at the Box Office in person Monday through Friday from 10 a.m. to 2 p.m., according to the release.
Other
We sent an 8-year-old to check out Trombi's Tower, a new play place and kids' obstacle course in Destiny USA. Video by Katrina Tulloch and Kevin Tampone. More details here: Video: Get a kid’s-eye view of Trombi’s Tower at Destiny USA
