sutomcat
No recent Cali or Iggy awards; Mr Irrelevant
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- Aug 15, 2011
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Moon Day celebrates the anniversary of the day in 1969 when humankind first walked on the Moon. The Apollo space program had begun under the Eisenhower administration, but a tightened focus on placing a man on the moon before the end of the 1960s occurred after President John F. Kennedy gave a speech before a joint session of Congress, on May 25, 1961, during which he said, "I believe this nation should commit itself to achieving the goal, before this decade is out, of landing a man on the Moon and returning him safely to Earth." This speech was given in the context of the Cold War when the United States was still behind the Soviet Union in the space race but wanted to beat them in landing a man on the Moon.
Over the course of the decade, the United States placed itself on the trajectory to complete a Moon landing, by making progress with the Apollo program. The first unmanned Apollo mission took place in 1966 and tested the launch vehicle—the Saturn rocket—with a spacecraft. Tragedy struck on January 27, 1967, when a fire at a launch rehearsal of Apollo 1 killed three astronauts. The first manned Apollo mission, Apollo 7, took place in October 1968. The spacecraft orbited Earth and tested things that would be needed to journey to the Moon and land on it. Apollo 8 of December 1968 brought three astronauts to the dark side of the Moon. Apollo 9 of March 1969 tested the lunar module for the first time. In May of 1969, the Apollo spacecraft went around the Moon, in a trial run of the Moon landing.
SU News
Which Syracuse Basketball Recruits Qualified for Peach Jam (SI; McAllister)
Several Syracuse basketball recruiting targets were in action last week in the EYBL. The EYBL stands for the Elite Youth Basketball League and is run by Nike. The EYBL is considered the premier AAU basketball league, and culminates every summer with the Peach Jam. The Peach Jam is essentially the playoffs for the league, where a champion is crowned. It is a tournament style event, with single elimination games used for teams to advance similar to the NCAA Tournament.
For the first time ever this year, the Peach Jam semifinals and finals will be televised on ESPN.
Most Syracuse recruits' AAU squads qualified for Peach Jam. There were, however, a pair who did not. Here are the specifics including player, their respective AAU teams and EYBL record entering Peach Jam.
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Syracuse Basketball: Rankings for 4-star Quadir Copeland are ludicrous (itlh; Adler)
Syracuse basketball coaches have been involved with stellar 2022 point guard Quadir Copeland since late last year, and his stock is on the rise, according to numerous national recruiting analysts.
The 6-foot-6 Copeland is playing quite well on the AAU circuit with the Millburn, N.J.-based New Jersey Scholars Elite Basketball Club, and he’s headed to a national prep-school powerhouse for his senior year, which will increase his exposure.
One of the main recruiting services recently gave some love to Copeland, but for reasons I can’t understand, he is still vastly under-rated by other recruiting Web sites as it pertains to the 2022 cycle.
Look, I get that these sorts of rankings are subjective, and they have to get taken with the proverbial grain of salt. But for my money, Copeland is undeniably a four-star, top-100 prospect in his class. He could end up even higher than that when all is said and done.
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Syracuse Basketball: Kentucky is latest blue-blood to offer top 4-star target (itlh; Adler)
Syracuse basketball appears to remain in the mix for 2022 high-priority target Kyle Filipowski, but the competition continues to intensify for the four-star big man.
By the time that the Orange offered the 6-foot-10 power forward a few months ago, he already had a slew of offers. Then more recent offers arrived for Filipowski from the likes of Duke, North Carolina and Michigan.
The Blue Devils, by the way, are getting a flood of predictions for Filipowski from national analysts and other recruiting insiders on the 247Sports Web site and https://n./content/prospects/2022/kyle-filipowski-268985.
But now another blue-blood squad and recruiting heavyweight has entered the fray for him. According to Filipowski’s Twitter page, he has received an offer from Kentucky out of the Southeastern Conference.
Ugh. Kentucky head coach John Calipari is tremendous on the recruiting trail, his teams often do quite well in the Big Dance, and Calipari sends a ton of Wildcats players to the NBA. This is rough news for Orange fans hoping that Filipowski will choose the ‘Cuse.
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Syracuse Commit Kamari Lands Has Big Week in the EYBL (SI; McAllister)
Class of 2022 wing Kamari Lands surprised most in the recruiting world when he committed to Syracuse in April. Lands was considered one of the best wings in the 2022 cycle.
"I've liked Kamari all year over at Prolific," SI All-American's Jason Jordan said after Lands committed. "It's just kind of the way the game is going. 6-8, covers a lot of ground, especially in that zone. He's going to cover a lot of space in that zone. He's just a great defender anyway. I've seen him cover all five positions this year, and effectively. He's a guy who's going to be really key, specifically in that matchup zone covering that backline for sure.
"On the offensive end, multi-talented. I think he's an underrated shooter. If they watch the numbers, I think he was around low 40s on the three point efficiency this year. That's obviously really good. Obviously he's on a really talented team. He knows how to play with talent, plays well with talent. I think he plays better with talent."
All of that was on display in the EYBL last week as Lands was undoubtedly one of the top performers in the league. In seven games for Team Why Not, Lands averaged 15.9 points, shot 42.5% from the floor, made 10 three pointers, averaged 6.7 rebounds, 2.3 assists and 1.4 steals per game. Lands flat out did it all.
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Jerami Grant clears Covid protocol; how did the former Syracuse player fare in USA’s final exhibition? (MSN; Waters)
After spending three days in quarantine due to Covid protocol, former Syracuse University basketball player Jerami Grant was cleared to play and appeared in USA Basketball’s final exhibition game on Sunday.
Grant, a 6-foot-9 forward, had been named to the U.S. men’s Olympic basketball team following a break-out season with the Detroit Pistons this past year.
Grant had played in the United States’ first two exhibition games, but last Thursday he was placed in health and safety protocol. USA Basketball described Grant’s quarantine was done “out of an abundance of caution.”
Another member of the USA’s team, Bradley Beal, had been ruled out of the Olympics after testing positive for Covid last week.
Grant never tested positive for the coronavirus and eventually cleared Covid protocol.
Grant, who played at Syracuse from 2012 to 2014, came off the bench in the USA’s 83-76 win over Spain on Sunday night. In 11 minutes of action, Grant scored five points on 2-for-5 field goal shooting. He also pulled down three rebounds.
The U.S. men’s basketball team will now head to Tokyo, the site of this year’s Olympic Games. The USA will begin action in Group play on Sunday with an opening game against France. The game is scheduled to start at 8 a.m. Eastern time.
Andrew White III with a three pointer. Dennis Nett
Boeheim’s Army holds first practice; Andrew White is the team’s designated 3-point shooter (PS; $; Ditota)
Boeheim’s Army players are beginning to trickle into town to start practice for their The Basketball Tournament game scheduled for noon Saturday on ESPN.
New Boeheim’s Army head coach Jeremy Pope put five guys through a workout Monday morning at Liverpool High School. The group (Eric Devendorf, Malachi Richardson, C.J. Fair, Andrew White and Tyrese Rice) was coming back Monday night for a second practice.
Pope, an assistant basketball coach at the University of Portland, huddled up his players before Monday’s workout to lay out his expectations. Mostly, he wanted them to understand that just because plenty of people are picking Boeheim’s Army as a TBT favorite this summer, that designation should not impact the way the team approaches games in the single-elimination quest to win $1 million.
“For our team,” he said, “it’s understanding that we want to share the ball, we want to share it fast and the guy you’re throwing it to is a really good player as well. So what you might be trying to accomplish on your own, it can be accomplished, but you don’t have to be the main conduit of getting it accomplished. It was basically setting the foundation for what these hopefully next two weeks are going to look like.”
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Introducing Boeheim’s Army: Eric Devendorf – Orange Fizz – Daily Syracuse Recruiting News & Team Coverage (orangefizz.net; podcast; Bonaparte)
Matt Bonaparte sat down with perhaps the most electrifying personality in Syracuse basketball history. Hear what Eric Devendorf has to say about this Summer’s roster, his best memory from SU, his podcast, and more.
Michael Lehr "Orange Nation" 7-19 (ESPN; radio; Paulie & Mario)
Voice of Boeheim’s Army Michael Lehr joins Paulie and Mario to preview the Army’s first TBT match-up against Forces of Seoul on Saturday, July 24th.
Around the ACC: Virginia Basketball Preview Featuring Legendary Columnist David Teel (pittsburghsportsnow.com; video; Michalowski)
Since 2009, Virginia basketball has become a powerhouse in the ACC under Tony Bennett, making the tournament eight times, winning five ACC regular season titles, and even winning a national championship in 2019.
After a disappointing first-round exit in the NCAA tournament last season, what can one expect from the Cavaliers this season, one in which the team lost its top three scorers?
To better understand Virginia’s past season, offseason personnel moves, and upcoming season aspirations, Pittsburgh Sports Now caught up with legendary columnist David Teel. Teel has covered the ACC and Virginia sports for over 35 years and is a member of the Virginia Sports Hall of Fame. After a long tenure with the Daily Press, Teel moved on in 2020 to write for the Richmond Times-Dispatch and Richmond.com, where he has continued his top-notch coverage of sports around the region.
After a national championship in 2019 was followed by a season-cancelling pandemic in 2020, Virginia basketball held the title of reigning national champs all the way heading into this past season.
Other
Miss Massachusetts Elizabeth Pierre, a 2019 Syracuse University graduate, will compete at the Miss America pageant.
Syracuse University grad wins Miss Massachusetts, will compete at Miss America (PS; $; Herbert)
Here she is: A Syracuse University graduate is headed to the Miss America pageant after being crowned Miss Massachusetts.
Elizabeth Pierre won the 2021 Miss Massachusetts Scholarship competition on Saturday. According to Wicked Local, she shined with a contemporary dance performance to “Wind Beneath My Wings” for the talent portion of the state competition.
The 23-year-old beauty is a 2019 graduate of SU, where she majored in human development and family science. According to the Miss Massachusetts website, she plans to attend Boston College in the fall to get her master’s degree in social work.
Pierre, who previously won Miss Cambridge in February 2020, will next compete for the title of Miss America 2022. Her competition will include Miss Pennsylvania Meghan Sinisi, a 2017 graduate of Syracuse University who was SU’s baton-twirling Orange Girl.
Previous Miss America winners include another SU alumna, Vanessa Williams, in 1983, and Syracuse native Nina Davuluri in 2013.
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