sutomcat
No recent Cali or Iggy awards; Mr Irrelevant
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Way back when Rutgers was known as Queen’s College, the athletic teams were referred to as the Queensmen.
However, in 1925, the Chanticleer took over as the school’s official mascot.
Famously, a Chanticleer is a character from Geoffrey Chaucer’s 14th century collection, “The Canterbury Tales.” The Chanticleer is the protagonist of “The Nun’s Priest’s Tale,” and is a of the walk, prized for his crowing abilities, who gets frisky with a hen before outsmarting a hungry fox.
RU News
Why did Kadary Richmond decide to transfer from Syracuse? (Mike’s Mailbox) (PS; $; Waters)
The season is over, but the questions keep pouring into Mike’s Mailbox.
We’ve got questions about the transfer portal and next year’s lineup possibilities.
There’s a lot to get to, so let’s get to those questions.
Q: Why do you think Kadary Richmond decided to transfer?
Joel S.
Mike: Syracuse freshman Kadary Richmond decided to transfer for the same reason that almost every other player decides to transfer: Playing time.
Richmond, who put his name into the NCAA’s transfer portal on Tuesday, averaged 21 minutes per game this past season. He had a reserve role, starting just three games when Buddy Boeheim was in Covid quarantine due to contact tracing.
Richmond obviously has a lot of potential. Despite playing in just 21 minutes per game, he led Syracuse in steals and ranked fourth in the ACC.
Like most players, he wants a bigger role. I don’t even think it comes down to starting. If Richmond thought he would play more, I don’t think he would mind coming in off the bench.
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Syracuse contacts Villanova basketball transfer Cole Swider: ‘Cole has renewed interest’ in Orange (PS; $; Ditota)
Syracuse basketball coach Gerry McNamara today contacted Cole Swider, who entered the NCAA transfer portal this afternoon.
Swider, a 6-foot-9 forward in the Class of 2018, was originally pursued by the Orange but chose Villanova from a list of finalists that also included Xavier. He was a four-star prospect out of St. Andrew’s School in Barrington, Rhode Island.
“Cole had interest in Syracuse three years ago and has renewed interest now,” said St. Andrew’s coach Mike Hart. “He’s been on campus in the past and is very familiar with the program.”
St. Andrew’s is the alma mater of former Syracuse guard Michael Carter-Williams and Brycen Goodine, who played for SU for one season before transferring to Providence. Goodine and Swider were high school teammates.
Swider, with his size and shooting ability, drew interest from a host of high-major programs during his high school career. Syracuse was among his finalists when he decided to enroll at Villanova. This season, he averaged 18.8 minutes, 5.7 points and 2.8 rebounds per game while connecting on 40.2% of his attempts from the 3-point arc.
Swider is expected to make a decision on his new destination quickly.
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Analysis: How Symir Torrence Fits at Syracuse (SI; Mcallister)
Syracuse picked up a significant addition to its 2021-22 roster in transfer guard Symir Torrence. With the departure of Kadary Richmond, Torrence is a key piece for the Orange.
AS A HIGH SCHOOL PROSPECT
Torrence was a highly regarded recruit out of high school. He had more than a dozen offers from programs across the country. Torrence was a consensus top 100 player and ranked slightly higher than Richmond by the 247Sports Composite. Torrence was originally part of the 2020 recruiting cycle, but reclassified to the 2019 class.
SCOUTING REPORT
Torrence is a true point guard who brings an attitude to the position. He plays with a chip on his shoulder, is a strong, physical guard and has above average length for a point guard. Torrence is adept at taking a defender off the dribble and getting into the lane. He can finish at the rim, hit a floater in the lane or set up his teammates for open shots. He is strong enough to finish through contact as well.
Make no mistake, while Torrence can score, he is a pass first point guard with strong court vision. He can run half court sets, lead a fast break, or break down a defense off the bounce.
As a jump shooter, Torrence is solid. He shot 37.5% from three point range as a freshman at Marquette, but that dipped to 13.9% as a sophomore. Torrence has good shooting form and showed the ability to make the outside shot as a high schooler. He can still work on this area but the truth regarding percentage is probably somewhere in the middle.
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Syracuse Basketball: Villanova transfer Cole Swider would be huge pick-up (itlh; Adler)
Syracuse basketball has already lost one of its 2020-21 forwards to the transfer portal in redshirt sophomore Robert Braswell, and more could follow him, so the fact that the Orange is reportedly showing interest in Villanova transfer Cole Swider is monumentally encouraging.
The 6-foot-9 Swider, a junior forward with terrific range from beyond the arc, revealed via Twitter that he is entering his name into the NCAA’s transfer portal.
A variety of media articles and tweets from recruiting insiders note that among the teams which have reached out regarding Swider is the ‘Cuse.
Swider was a four-star prospect in the 2018 recruiting class whom the 247Sports Composite ranked No. 44 nationally and No. 9 at power forward in this cycle.
Swider, who attended the St. Andrew’s School in Barrington, R.I., ultimately chose the Wildcats over a group of finalists that included Syracuse basketball, Duke and Xavier. Prior to trimming his list, Swider held a ton of high-major offers.
Syracuse basketball is displaying interest in former 2018 target Cole Swider.
If you want to have a look at Swider’s statistics over three stanzas at Villanova, check out his bio on the ESPN Web site. In his junior term that recently concluded, Swider suited up in 25 games for the Wildcats, averaging 18.9 minutes, 5.7 points, 2.8 rebounds and 1.1 assists per contest....
Portsmouth's Cole Swider to transfer from Villanova (newportri.com; Koch)
Cole Swider has entered the NCAA transfer portal.
The former star at Portsmouth and St. Andrew’s is exploring a move away from Villanova after three seasons. Swider and the Wildcats finished their 2020-21 season with a 62-51 loss against Baylor on Saturday.
Swider came off the bench and was scoreless in 10 minutes against the Bears, who have since advanced to the Final Four of the NCAA Tournament. He started two games this season, 15 in 2019-20 and appeared in 77 total with Villanova. The Wildcats closed 18-7 overall and captured at least a share of their third Big East regular season title in Swider’s tenure.
“I would like to thank coach [Jay] Wright for giving me the opportunity to play for such a great university,” Swider said on his personal Twitter page. “[And] all my teammates and coaches for the bonds and memories that we made over my three years.”
Swider averaged 5.2 points and 2.8 rebounds at Villanova, shooting 40.2% from 3-point range and finishing with just 10 turnovers in 471 minutes last season. The 6-foot-9-inch forward reached double digits twice, including 10 points in a Dec. 11 win over eventual league tournament champion Georgetown. Swider grabbed a season-high seven rebounds in a home victory against Providence on Jan. 23.
“Throughout his time with us, Cole has done everything in his power to become the best Villanova basketball player he can be,” Wright said in a statement. “He's been a great representative of our university and we will work with him as he navigates this process.”
Swider committed to what turned out to national championship program in both 2016 and 2018. He was a consensus four-star recruit who took official visits with the Wildcats, Duke, Syracuse and conference rival Xavier. Swider claimed offers from the likes of the Friars, Rhode Island, Connecticut, Creighton, Seton Hall, Boston College, Indiana, Purdue, Texas and more.
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Ranking the Final Four teams' chances to win it all, from the Zags to Bruins (TSN; DeCourcy)
What is the biggest upset of the 2021 NCAA Tournament?
Was it Oral Roberts over Ohio State? North Texas over Purdue? Was it UCLA surging from a First Four position to the Final Four?
Or was it, perhaps, the ability of the NCAA organizing team to construct an environment for the 68 competing teams that has allowed 63 of 64 games to date to go on as planned. Only VCU, of the 64 teams that have been eliminated to date, went home without a loss. There were so many doubts expressed about whether the NCAA could pull this off, and there has been so little appreciation apparent for getting this far with the bare minimum of significant COVID interruptions.
The NCAA has not been perfect in this. The debacle with five officials having to leave the event because of contact tracing that developed in large part because there was not sufficient hotel space available when the refs arrived — that was not a great moment. But it seems more of an isolated instance than a trend.
It may be that people are waiting to acknowledge the NCAA’s extraordinary work in planning and executing this tournament until the end, so as not to spike the football before crossing the goal line.
That’s a reasonable approach. We can hope that the three Final Four games will be unimpeded by the pandemic, as the Elite Eight and Sweet 16 were. But there ought to be some hosannas if those games go off as planned.
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https://www.washingtonpost.com/sports/2021/04/01/gonzaga-ucla-history-stat-comparison/ (washingtonpost.com; Bonesteel)
Gonzaga’s Final Four matchup with UCLA on Saturday seems only apt, considering that the undefeated Bulldogs already are being compared to some of the greatest men’s college basketball teams of all time, among them John Wooden’s Bruins teams of yore. But figuring out a way to statistically compare modern teams with those from an era without a three-point shot or shot clock can be difficult.
Enter the Simple Rating System (SRS), which we can use to compare teams from different eras. In essence, a team’s SRS number represents how many points per game it would be better or worse than an average team from that season, after adjusting for strength of schedule.
An average team would have an SRS of zero. Gonzaga’s SRS entering the Final Four is 28.23. Here’s how that compares with the dynastic UCLA teams of the 1960s and ’70s, when the Bruins won 10 of 12 national titles, including seven straight from 1967 to 1973.
| TEAM | YEAR | RECORD | SRS (NATIONAL RANK) | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| UCLA | 1971-72 | 30-0 | 33.79 (1) | |
| UCLA | 1967-68 | 29-1 | 32.56 (1) | |
| UCLA | 1966-67 | 30-0 | 29.39 (1) | |
| Gonzaga | 2020-21 | 30-0 | 28.23 (1) | |
| UCLA | 1972-73 | 30-0 | 27.98 (1) | |
| UCLA | 1968-69 | 29-1 | 26.69 (1) | |
| UCLA | 1969-70 | 28-2 | 25.02 (1) | |
| UCLA | 1963-64 | 30-0 | 22.51 (1) | |
| UCLA | 1964-65 | 28-2 | 21.33 (1) | |
| UCLA | 1974-75 | 28-3 | 21.07 (3) | |
| UCLA | 1970-71 | 29-1 | 20.91 (1) |
The Bulldogs stack up pretty well here, as only three of those 10 UCLA teams had a better SRS than Gonzaga this season: the two seasons between 1966 and 1968 (Kareem Abdul-Jabbar’s first two varsity seasons in Westwood) and 1971-72 (an undefea
For other comparison points, Indiana’s undefeated national championship team of 1975-76 had an SRS of 26.53, below Gonzaga’s number this season (the Hoosiers actually had a better SRS — 28.66 — the season before, when their only loss of the season was to Kentucky in the Elite Eight). Kentucky’s 2014-15 team that went unbeaten in the regular season but lost to Wisconsin in the Final Four had an SRS of 28.72, better than the Bulldogs. UNLV’s 1990-91 team that went unbeaten until a stunning loss to Duke in the Final Four had an SRS of 31.11, also better than Gonzaga’s.
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Other
How Ryan McMahon plans to spend $142M: sports complex, rural broadband, job grants, more (PS; $; Knauss)
Onondaga County Executive Ryan McMahon on Wednesday laid out how he plans to use $142 million in federal stimulus money, state grants and other funds to jump start the county’s economy in the wake of a crushing pandemic.
In his 2021 State of the County Address Wednesday night at Syracuse University, McMahon provided the first look at how he intends to use a windfall of cash, the largest part of which is $89 million recently awarded from the federal American Rescue Plan.
In an interview before the speech, McMahon outlined how he aims to spend the money over the next two years. The highlights include:
--A $25 million sports complex near the shore of Onondaga Lake, featuring about a dozen playing fields. McMahon said he anticipates paying cash to build the county-owned facility, which would be operated by a private vendor.
The location is not final but likely will include a county-owned brownfield property at the former Roth Steel site and may include part of a 40-acre lakefront tract acquired last year from Honeywell International Inc. Honeywell completed an environmental restoration last year at the site, which includes a former Allied Chemical waste bed. McMahon said he is negotiating to buy more land nearby.
The county is “trying to hug the lake as close as we can with the locations,’' he said.
A final market study and site location will be sent to the Legislature within 60 days, McMahon said. He first floated the idea for the sports complex last year.
--A rural broadband initiative that is estimated to cost up to $15 million. The county would pay to install fiberoptic cable in remote areas not currently served by broadband providers and would work with internet companies to arrange for service.
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