sutomcat
No recent Cali or Iggy awards; Mr Irrelevant
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Welcome to Iwo Jima Day!
Iwo Jima Day marks the anniversary of the date in February 1945 when the Battle of Iwo Jima began, with the invasion of Iwo Jima island by the United States Armed Forces. The day is officially observed in Massachusetts and unofficially marked across the United States. Some of the bloodiest fighting of the Pacific Theater of World War II took place at Iwo Jima.
The Battle of Iwo Jima lasted five weeks, with the United States capturing the island at its conclusion. Although it was believed from the start that the United States would win, it was thought that the battle would last days, or maybe a week, but not five weeks. The United States had larger numbers of people and arms, as well as air supremacy, and Japan couldn't retreat or be reinforced. About 70,000 Marines fought in the battle, compared to 21,000 Japanese forces. What was not known by the United States at first was the extent that Japan had built up their defenses, consisting of fortifications in the mountains, camouflaged artillery, and underground tunnels.
SU News
SU basketball at Louisville: What to know (PS; Waters)
The Syracuse Orange didn’t have many opportunities to register high-profile wins this season, especially when it came to ACC play.
In a down year for the league, the ACC has just three teams ranked in the Associated Press’ Top 25 — Duke, Florida State and Louisville.
And Syracuse’s schedule offered the Orange just one game against each of those teams. That wasn’t what a Syracuse team of resume-boosting wins needed. It didn’t help when Syracuse came up just short in losses to Duke and Florida State.
The Orange (14-11 overall, 7-7 ACC) will get its last shot (at least until the ACC tournament) at a big win as it faces No. 11 Louisville (21-5, 12-3) on Wednesday night at the KFC Yum! Center.
The Syracuse-Louisville game will start at 7 p.m. and will be televised on the ESPN. Dan Shulman and Dick Vitale will have the call.
Here are 10 key things to know:
The historical significance
Over the years, Syracuse and Louisville have met as independents, members of the Big East Conference and how as members of the ACC.
Jim Boeheim was 0-1 against Louisville as a player. The Cardinals beat Syracuse in both the 1964-65 season when Boeheim was a junior.
But Boeheim would get his revenge in his first year as a head coach.
In the fourth game of Boeheim’s career, Syracuse traveled to Louisville and upset the Cardinals 76-75 on Dec. 4., 1976.
In the 2012-13 season, Syracuse went to Louisville and knocked off the nation’s No. 1 team with a 70-68 win over the Cardinals.
The two teams have split six games since joining the ACC.
Hughes’ health
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Beat writers unanimously predict Syracuse loss to No. 11 Louisville (DO; Staff)
After falling to No. 8 Florida State, 80-77, last Saturday, Syracuse (14-11, 7-7 Atlantic Coast) plays its second-straight top-20 opponent when it travels to No. 11 Louisville (21-5, 12-3). The Cardinals have lost two-consecutive games — to Georgia Tech and Clemson — but still sit second in the ACC standings heading into the final weeks of the season. Jordan Nwora’s 18.2 points per game leads Louisville, who at one point this season won 10-straight games.
Here’s what our beat writers think will happen during Wednesday’s game.
Nick Alvarez (17-8)
Fold ‘em
Louisville 85, Syracuse 74
I nearly picked Syracuse. I see all the requisite signs for an upset. SU hasn’t been obliterated on the road this season. Jordan Nwora has scored just seven points in his last two games and has struggled from 3. And while the Cardinals don’t force turnovers, SU’s offense has been effective. But Louisville needs a win right now, and I doubt the Cardinals lose a third-straight on their home court. The combo of Nwora and 6-foot-10 center Steven Enoch should cause fits defensively, too. Syracuse’s NCAA Tournament hopes likely end Wednesday night and we can all start scouring Twitter for NIT bracketologists.
Michael McCleary (16-9)
Poorly seasoned
Louisville 80, Syracuse 71
The Orange made it close against Florida State. Though the Seminoles were missing their best player, it’s unfortunate that SU won’t be able to utilize that bounce-back to formulate some sort of momentum in this game. That might be the difference, as always, when the Orange encounter a Louisville team that is clearly better.
Josh Schafer (17-8)
Kentucky fried season
Louisville 83 Syracuse 79
Last Saturday proved to us once again that Syracuse can compete with the best in the ACC. Even in a down year, Syracuse hasn’t been far off from the conference’s top teams. But Saturday also showed us that Syracuse is still just close. The Orange aren’t consistent in many facets of the game to complete an upset. Syracuse head coach Jim Boeheim said on Saturday that the Orange didn’t rebound well enough down the stretch. SU couldn’t get the stop it needed. No matter how close this game may be down the line, it’s hard to imagine a team that hasn’t had a signature win yet this year righting that wrong in the KFC Yum! Center. Louisville has a top-ranked offense and shoots the 3-ball as well as anyone in the country. Syracuse likely won’t stop the Cardinals. If the offense can hang with UofL, then perhaps the Orange can too.
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Axe: Syracuse vs. Louisville features the ACC’s top two scorers (PS; Axe)
Syracuse forward Elijah Hughes (33) during a game against Louisville on Wednesday, Feb. 20, 2019, at the Carrier Dome in Syracuse, N.Y.Dennis Nett | dnett@syracuse,com Dennis Nett |
Two points.
That is all that separates the top two scorers in men’s basketball for the Atlantic Coast Conference as Syracuse gets ready to face No. 11 Louisville on Wednesday night at the KFC Yum! Center.
Louisville’s Jordan Nwora has scored 474 points this season. Syracuse’s Elijah Hughes sits with 472.
Hughes averages 18.9 points per game while Nwora is at 18.2 per contest. Nwora has hit 64 3-point shots. Hughes has splashed in 63 from beyond the arc.
Hughes and Nwora are neck-and-neck in several categories and both have similar circumstances entering Wednesday’s game.
Syracuse is desperate for a signature win to sharpen its weak NCAA Tournament resume. If the Orange loses to the Cardinals, it is not a stretch to say that an automatic bid by winning the ACC Tournament will be the only ticket into March Madness.
If Syracuse is going to make a last gasp for the Big Dance, it will be on the back of Hughes, strained groin and all. Hughes overcame the injury to drop 25 points in SU’s 80-77 loss to No. 8 Florida State on Saturday. Hughes’ NBA buzz is growing and the snubs he has received from national award lists are not going to age well.
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The players had a meeting. Practice went well. Can Louisville turn the page vs. Syracuse? (C-J; Aulbach)
Last week was not one the Cardinals will look back on fondly, but defeats to Georgia Tech and Clemson weren't the first two losses of Dwayne Sutton's career.
The redshirt senior forward was feeling good Tuesday. Louisville (21-5, 12-3 ACC) has hit a rough patch, he acknowledged, but after a players' meeting and a strong practice Monday, Sutton said the mood has been "pretty upbeat, honestly."
"I feel like we’re all in positive spirits and ready to get better and get some wins," Sutton said ahead of Wednesday's showdown at the Yum Center vs. Syracuse.
A players' meeting – without coaches or others involved with the program in the room – is a common way for a struggling team to blow off steam, put everything on the table and talk about what's wrong. And the Cardinals had plenty to talk about.
Louisville never led in the 64-58 defeat last Wednesday at Georgia Tech and played its worst game of the season three days later in a 77-62 loss at Clemson. The Cardinals played well in the second half but were never able to recover after scoring 14 points (that is not a typo) in the first half against the Tigers.
The offense wasn't there to start the game. But Sutton was more concerned with Louisville's defense. The Cardinals have come out "lackadaisical" in the last two games, he said, and haven't brought the same fight on that end of the court.
So Louisville players met alone to start the week and talk about how they can get back on track. The captains – Sutton, Malik Williams and Ryan McMahon – brought the team together, Sutton said, and Williams took charge, telling the team that it's going to take a collective effort from each player for Louisville to take the next step.
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Marquette invites Lawrence Moten to help honor Markus Howard (PS; Waters)
The old Big East scoring champ will help honor the new Big East scoring champ during a ceremony prior to tonight’s game between Marquette and Creighton in Milwaukee, Wis.
Lawrence Moten, the former Syracuse University star, had held the Big East’s career scoring record for 25 years until Marquette senior Markus Howard passed him last week.
Moten, who played at SU from 1991-95, scored 1,405 points in Big East Conference games during his career. Moten’s record had stood for 25 years, during which time the Big East has undergone some major changes, including Syracuse’s departure to the ACC following the 2012-13 season.
Howard broke Moten’s record last Tuesday when he scored 24 points in a loss to Villanova. Howard hit a last-second 3-pointer to become the new record-holder.
Marquette officials plan to have a pregame ceremony to honor Howard. Moten will be part of the event, according to school officials.
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VIDEO: Chris Mack Talks Syracuse (thecrunchzone.com; video; Blankenbaker)
Louisville Head Coach Chris Mack spoke in advance of Wednesday night’s home match-up vs. Syracuse.
Louisville basketball: 3 bold predictions vs. Syracuse (BRL; Lane)
Let’s try this again. Louisville basketball will look to bounce back after an embarrassing loss to Clemson. We serve up some bold predictions for the Cards vs. ‘Cuse.
You know what’s not a bold prediction or statement? Saying that losing streaks suck. It’s true (inserts Dwight Schrute gif) and the back-to-back losses have made the last week of watching Louisville basketball extremely frustrating (but not enough to @ a player.. Folks, never @ a player on social media).
As if a loss to Josh Pastner and Georgia Tech wasn’t enough of a kick to the gut the Cards followed it up by taking an absolute drumming to Clemson in a game where Chris Mack got a little too big for his britches when it came to sending a message via lineup changes.
Even after being benched down the stretch against Georgia Tech, for whatever reasons, the decision to replace Jordan Nwora with Sam Williamson can be described as nothing short of a failure and possibly played into not only his off night but the entire teams.
After 10-straight wins where we saw Louisville find ways to win, even when they dug holes for themselves early, the Cards just didn’t have enough in the tank to get themselves in a spot to make the game competitive.
While the losses hurt us as fans, they really didn’t affect the projected seeding of Louisville in the NCAA Tournament as much as I expected, although they did likely end any chance of securing a no. 1 seed. As I wrote this week, the Cards have only slipped one or two spots while remaining in the top 15 in the rankings, and still in contention for first place. Due to them avoiding any major stains on their resume prior to the back-to-back losses, they still find themselves in the position to be able to find solid footing in the seed placement that could even allow for more favorable matchups.
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Louisville vs. Syracuse Basketball Fearless Prediction, Game Preview (CFN; Fiutak)
Louisville vs. Syracuse Broadcast
Date: Wednesday, February 19
Game Time: 7:00 ET
Live Stream: fuboTV (click to watch for free)
Venue: KFC Yum! Center, Louisville, KY
Network: ESPN
– All of the CFN Fearless Predictions
Louisville (21-5) vs. Syracuse (14-11) Game Preview
If want in on this week’s games, sign up with BetMGM
Why Syracuse Will Win
Can the Orange keep the Louisville slide going? Just when it looked like everything was rocking and rolling with a ten game winning streak, the Cardinals managed to blow it with two straight road losses thanks to an ice cold offense.
UofL has died from three, hitting just 9-of-51 in the two road losses, and now it has to deal with the Syracuse length and defense that’s a whole lot better than it’s been playing lately.
Offensively, the Orange aren’t turning the ball over, the offense is hanging around in shootouts, and …
Why Louisville Will Win
They’re losing. Syracuse has lost four of their last five games because it’s shooting worse from the outside than Louisville is.
Over this rough five-game run, all four losses came when the Orange were shooting worse than 30% from three. They managed to win a bit over the last several weeks when they weren’t on from the outside, but that’s been an aberration.
Louisville’s defensive from three is terrific, the D overall is great from the field with the attacking style to make the cold Syracuse offense deal with a whole slew of one-and-dones, and …
What’s Going To Happen
This is when the Cardinals stop the slide. The two losses were on the road, and now they’re back at home where the defense should step it back up in a bit of a slugfest.
Syracuse has been getting rocked from the outside lately, and it’ll happen again as the Cardinals pull away.
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Syracuse Basketball Individual Season Report Cards – Orange Fizz – Free Syracuse Recruiting News (orangefizz.net; Leonard)
Elijah Hughes: A-
Hard to believe there were questions going into the season on whether Hughes could take a leap. He has gone from not on any preseason All-ACC teams to an ACC first teamer and the leading scorer in the conference at 18.9 PPG. Hughes has an outside chance to be the first Orange to average 20 points a game or more in a season since Hakim Warrick in 2004. The only downside is this might be his final couple months in Orange. The Athletic has him as the 53rd projected pick in this year’s draft.
Buddy Boeheim: A-
Don’t let recency bias cloud your judgement too much. Up until the last two games, Buddy was a solid A given his preseason expectations. No one expected him to score at the 8th best rate in the conference. The pressure was on him to round out his game and add that mid-range jumper. He certainly did that. Just not sure where it has gone the past two games.
Joe Girard: B+
It was debated all summer how much Girard could make an impact as a freshman. While he has taken some shots that make you scratch your head at times and went through a minor slump in the middle of ACC play, overall he seems to be well on his way to a very strong four year career with SU. Girard has also hit some huge shots against Clemson & Notre Dame down the stretch–albeit it in losing efforts. He’s a rare freshman that you want handling the ball late.
Marek Dolezaj: B
Marek’s 2019 portion of the season was about a C or C-. His start to 2020 and play during the five game winning streak was a solid A- or even an A. Lately he has leveled off to give him a grade of B. The team still goes as he goes and his scoring has improved. The foul trouble concerns are hard to completely ignore though.
Bourama Sidibe: D
Two words: foul trouble. Way too much of it. He came in as the X factor this season. We all were just hoping with him now healthy strides could be made. While he has shown flashes, such as against Florida State, the two fouls in one minute that spoiled the 9 points and 5 rebounds is what Sidibe’s season will be remembered for.
Jesse Edwards: C
It’s hard to grade Jesse because he is so raw. All you wanted from him was growth and he’s shown that of late. At the same time some of his plays at the end of Clemson still sting to think back on.
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Syracuse Basketball: Blueprint on Louisville, Jordan Nwora struggles (itlh; Esden Jr)
Here’s a full breakdown of the next opponent for the Syracuse basketball team. What’s wrong with Louisville hoops and Jordan Nwora? Here are the details.
What the heck is going on with the Louisville basketball squad and leading scorer Jordan Nwora?
The next task for the Syracuse basketball squad is a road trip to the KFC Yum! Center to play not only one of the top teams in the ACC, but one of the best teams in the entire country.
Although Louisville hasn’t necessarily played like one of the best teams in the league recently. After winning 10 in a row suddenly the Cardinals have lost two in a row to the bottom feeders of the conference (at Georgia Tech, at Clemson).
So what has gone wrong for Louisville? Why has Jordan Nwora struggled? What’s the blueprint on this squad?
We asked all of those questions to our friends over at the Big Red Louie, our FanSided sister network covering all things Louisville basketball related. Here are the top five things you need to know ahead of this contest.
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Other
CNY under a winter storm watch; 5 to 10 inches possible (PS; Coin)
Up to 10 inches of lake effect snow are possible in a narrow strip of Central New York today through Thursday evening, the National Weather Service said.
“Travel could be very difficult,” the weather service said in a winter storm watch issued for Onondaga, Madison and Oneida counties. “The hazardous conditions could impact this evening’s and Thursday’s morning commute.”
A similar winter storm watch is in effect for Wayne, Oswego and northern Cayuga counties.
Snow is likely to start falling this morning, when wind gusts up to 30 mph are forecast. Snow and wind will lighten up this afternoon before the heaviest snow comes down overnight and into late Thursday morning. At its peak, which will coincide with the drive to work Thursday morning, the storm could drop 1 to 2 inches of snow per hour. That will reduce visibility and make it hard for plows to keep up.
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