sutomcat
No recent Cali or Iggy awards; Mr Irrelevant
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Back to the Future Part II, released in 1989, starts out set in 1985 where the previous film in the series left off. Marty McFly, played by Michael J. Fox, along with Doc Brown, played by Christopher Lloyd, and Jennifer Parker, played by Elisabeth Shue, travel to the future in Doc's DeLorean to save Marty and Jennifer's future children. The date they travel to is October 21, 2015, the date which would become the first "Back to the Future" Day. In the years leading up to the day, photoshopped images appeared online that claimed the day of the DeLorean's twenty-first-century time travel had arrived. But true fans of the film series knew they had to wait until 2015.
Many events were held during the inaugural celebration, some of which raised money for The Michael J. Fox Foundation for Parkinson's Research. Screenings of the film or the whole series took place in almost 2,000 theaters on the date and on the following weekend. Similarly, Esquire Network showed the trilogy all day and on the following weekend. We're Going Back was held at filming locations in California, the documentary Back in Time was released, and The Million McFly March was held. Michael J. Fox, Christopher Lloyd, and Lea Thompson appeared on Today, and Michael J. Fox and Christopher Lloyd appeared in character on Jimmy Kimmel Live. The day prior, Universal Pictures re-released the Back to the Future trilogy on DVD and Blu-ray. "Back to the Future" Day has continued to be marked by fans of the film in subsequent years.
SU News
INDIANAPOLIS, INDIANA - MARCH 19: Buddy Boeheim #35 of the Syracuse Orange reacts during the second half against the San Diego State Aztecs in the first round game of the 2021 NCAA Men's Basketball Tournament at Hinkle Fieldhouse on March 19, 2021 in Indianapolis, Indiana. (Photo by Andy Lyons/Getty Images)
How have Syracuse’s finishes compared to its rankings in the ACC preseason poll? (Mike’s Mailbox) (PS; $; Waters)
What does the ACC’s annual preseason media poll really mean?
That’s what one reader wanted to know when the ACC revealed the results of this year’s media poll on Tuesday.
The intriguing question leads off this week’s Mike’s Mailbox followed by more questions about Buddy Boeheim’s goal to rebound better, a look at the best shooters in SU history and how much did the Orange rely on the 3-point shot last season.
Q: Seeing Buddy Boeheim on the first team All-ACC team makes me wonder what other Syracuse players have been named to the ACC’s preseason first team. And what is the highest Syracuse ever was picked pre-season ACC poll. Did they live up to it?
Pat B.
Mike: The ACC’s preseason poll and the all-league selections were announced on Tuesday.
Syracuse was picked to finish seventh in the poll of media from around the conference. Orange senior Buddy Boeheim was a first-team selection.
Chris Bunch Announcement Primer (SI; McAllister)
Player: Chris Bunch
Height/Weight: 6-8, 190
School: Wasatch Academy
Hometown: San Francisco (CA)
Finalists: Rutgers, Syracuse Washington
Announcement Date: Thursday, October 21st
Announcement Time: 5:00 p.m. eastern.
Announcement Medium: CBS Sports HQ
Recruitment Recap: Bunch became a high major prospect in the spring of 2020 when he received offers from Rutgers, Seton Hall and Syracuse. During that summer, interest in the long, athletic forward grew. Several other high majors offered over the summer. Bunch was unable to take unofficial visits due to the pandemic, and instead conducted virtual visits while developing relationships with various coaching staffs. During the summer of 2021, the NCAA lifted visit restrictions and he took officials to Syracuse and Rutgers. As Bunch performed in the EYBL, more high majors took notice of his abilities. An offer came from Washington in August. In September, Bunch took an official to Washington followed by a second to Syracuse. He trimmed his list to three schools (Rutgers, Syracuse, Washington) in early October and set a commitment date for Halloween. He then moved the commitment date up to the 21st.
Post Syracuse Visit Quote: "The Syracuse visit was good," Bunch said after his first Orange official. "I finally got to meet coach Boeheim in person. We got to talk a little bit. It was my first time being in the Dome, I got to put on a jersey. It felt like the whole Syracuse experience. I got to watch workouts and played a couple pickup games with them too. It was good."
5 burning questions for the 2021-22 Syracuse basketball season - The Juice Online (the juice; Gustin)
In his 46th season as head coach at Syracuse, Jim Boeheim looks to lead a veteran-based team that he claims is one of the most experienced he has ever had.
After Syracuse basketball made an underdog Sweet 16 run in the NCAA tournament as an 11 seed, the return of veteran players along with some new faces brings anticipation following the strong end to last year.
Here are the biggest questions heading into the 2021-22 that have been brewing since the Orange run last March.
#1: Where is Syracuse’s first real test?
Syracuse will host two exhibition games and then Lafayette, Drexel, and Colgate all in the Dome. After that, the first test of the season for Syracuse comes in the Battle 4 Atlantis tournament.
In 2015, Syracuse took home the Battle 4 Atlantis title and looks to do it again with a tough pool of competition. Beginning with VCU, the Orange are set for a three day tournament with other teams including Baylor, Arizona State, Auburn, Connect, Loyola-Chicago and Michigan State.
This tournament is always an early season test and challenge for all teams. A weekend in Atlantis could really help the Orange, or show them where their weaknesses are in a tournament style setting.
#2: Will Syracuse be ranked?
Despite the strong finish to last season, the Orange saw a lot of their depth depart from the team in the offseason that finished 25th in the Coach’s Poll. These moves along with transfers from other schools have made ultimately dropped Syracuse out of the Top 25 preseason rankings.
Syracuse had five votes in the AP Top 25 Preseason poll, not enough to be considered in the early rankings. The Orange have work to do before they’re back in the polls.
#3: Where will Syracuse rank among the ACC?
There was plenty of action in the transfer portal throughout the ACC in the off season. Along with departures and incoming freshman, the league looks a lot different just five months later.
Syracuse finished eighth in an ACC that saw Duke and UNC outside of it’s top 5 last season. Now, both blue bloods have strong incoming classes along with strong transfers for Clemson, UVA, Virginia Tech and FSU. Add onto that a determined Louisville team that felt they got snubbed in last years tournament, and it makes for an interesting league.
Syracuse has their work cut out for them if they want to finish better than last year at eighth in the conference. They were selected seventh in the preseason poll released earlier this week.
The Orange has a lighter first half ACC schedule, before they finish with tough teams like Louisville, Virginia Tech, UNC, and Duke. Syracuse has to win early and often in the beginning of league play to finish strong.
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Can Syracuse Make a National Championship Run? – Orange Fizz – Daily Syracuse Recruiting News & Team Coverage (orangefizz.net; Ezier)
What is the media good for if it doesn’t provide “way way too early” tournament predictions. Well at least it’s from a Syracuse scope and not a 68 team pool. But in all seriousness, Syracuse can make a national championship run. Yeah, you read that right.
In regards to a title contending program, it needs to fulfill three categories: comradery, depth and an identity. So, let’s break it down one by one.
Comradery
This is where most readers will click off this page or comment below that the writer of this article is crazy, mainly because this year’s group is filled with newcomers. That is true but the counter argument would be practice time and reports from the players themselves.
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Buddy Boeheim intent on making Syracuse an ACC contender (yahoo.com; AP; Kekis)
Jim Boeheim is quick with a smile as he gets set to begin a season that will be oh-so-different in his long career at Syracuse — he'll be coaching sons Buddy and Jimmy.
“Obviously, it's fun. It's great to be able to do that," Jim Boeheim said Tuesday. "They're good players.”
They'll be counted on to raise their games. The Orange lost a lot from last year’s team, which finished 18-10 overall and 9-7 in the Atlantic Coast Conference but made a surprising run to the round of 16 in the NCAA Tournament.
Forward Quincy Guerrier transferred to Oregon, swingman Alan Griffin went chasing the NBA and forward Marek Dolezaj will be playing professionally in Europe. The trio combined to average nearly 37 points and more than 19 rebounds per game.
Point guard Kadary Richmond, who shared duties with Joe Girard, also transferred (Seton Hall) and leaves a void in the Orange defense — he led the team with 46 steals. Girard, who hit 50 3-pointers, averaged 9.8 points and led Syracuse in assists (99) and turnovers (59), returns for his third year.
Helping fill the voids will be three transfers — junior forward Cole Swider from Villanova, junior point guard Symir Torrence from Marquette and Jimmy Boeheim, a graduate transfer forward from Cornell. Freshman small forward Benny Williams brings high expectations.
Last season, Buddy Boeheim led the team in scoring, averaging 17.8 points, and his 3-point shooting (77 for 201, 38.3%) and all-around game reached new levels of efficiency. In the NCAA Tournament, he scored 30 points in a first-round win over San Diego State and 25 in a second-round victory over West Virginia, hitting 13 of 23 from behind the arc before Houston stopped him cold (1 of 9) and the Orange lost.
“It showed everyone what I’m capable of doing on a nightly basis,” said Buddy, now a senior. “I think it showed me more than anything that I can do a lot of things besides shoot the basketball — make plays, get in the lane."
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Syracuse Basketball: New big-man commit to be ‘versatile weapon’ in zone (itlh; Adler)
Syracuse basketball has seen the size of its 2022 class grow to four verbal commits after a pair of big men recently elected to don an Orange uniform in the future.
First up was the talented and under-rated Peter Carey, who in late September picked the ‘Cuse a few days after he took an official visit to the Hill.
The 7-foot power forward/center, a senior at Northfield Mount Hermon School in Mount Hermon, Mass., had other scholarship offers from the likes of Rutgers, St. Bonaventure, Iona, UMass, Bryant, Brown and Albany.
Then, this past weekend, three-star power forward Maliq Brown from Virginia said on Twitter that he would also suit up for the Orange in about a year’s time.
The 6-foot-9 Brown, a senior at the Blue Ridge School in St. George, Va., selected the ‘Cuse over four other finalists, which were Georgetown, Penn State, Virginia Tech and N.C. State.
Syracuse basketball has two excellent big men in its 2022 cycle.
We recently documented in a column some of the terrific skill-sets that Carey possesses, and now we’re doing to do the same thing as it pertains to Brown, who is a top-30 power forward in the 2022 class, according to .According to comments from several analysts and scouts, Brown is an athletic, active and physical big man who has a long wingspan and should thrive in the Orange system.
ESPN scout/recruiting analyst Adam Finkelstein had some encouraging things to say about Brown in separate posts on Instagram and Twitter.
Finkelstein says that Brown is agile and has a high motor, he boasts “lots of defensive tools,” he has good hands, and he has the “potential to drive less mobile bigs.”
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Syracuse Basketball: 5-star target had high SU interest, opts for blue-blood (itlh; Adler)
Syracuse basketball has scholarship offers doled out to a wide range of elite prospects in the 2023 class, and the Orange has the potential to haul in a stellar group of players in this cycle.
One of those top-flight 2023 prospects, however, has already announced his verbal commitment. And it’s to another Atlantic Coast Conference group, rather than the ‘Cuse or the many other teams that were pursuing him.
Five-star combo guard Simeon Wilcher, a consensus top-20 prospect in the 2023 class, recently said via Twitter that he has verbally committed to blue-blood squad and fellow ACC foe North Carolina.
This is a bummer for the Orange, as I really thought that the ‘Cuse had a solid chance of ultimately winning the recruiting battle over the 6-foot-4 Wilcher, who is a junior at Roselle Catholic High School in Roselle, N.J., and suits up on the grassroots basketball circuit for the New York City-based NY Renaissance, which is one of the best AAU teams nationwide.
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ACC Men's Preview: Can League Powers Bounce Back? (SI; Jordan)
As part of Sports Illustrated’s preview of the 2021–22 men’s college basketball season, we’re breaking down each of the seven biggest conferences (AAC, ACC, Big 12, Big East, Big Ten, Pac-12 and SEC), plus a “best of the rest.” All will be complete with our analyst’s breakdown of each team, plus a projected order of finish drawn from SI’s master 1–358 rankings, to be revealed before the season’s kickoff. Next up is the ACC.
The big picture
Don’t let Mike Krzyzewski’s last-ride story line distract you from the fact that the ACC was bad last season. Really bad. Yes, Duke’s coaching titan will hang it up after his 42nd season, but 2020–21’s league-wide historical flop makes this season more about redemption than any swan song. Since 1979, the ACC had never not had a team seeded in the top three of the men’s NCAA tournament, but last March, Florida State and Virginia checked in with the highest seeds at No. 4. North Carolina got booted in the first round, as did the league’s tournament champion, Georgia Tech—and Duke wasn’t even invited.There’s more depth, and more stars top to bottom this season, but no one is scary—a luxury the league usually boasts at the top. To say this season is about showing and proving would be putting it mildly.
Conference Player of the Year: Paolo Banchero, Duke
Even with capable transfers all around the league thanks to the NCAA’s blanket eligibility waiver, Banchero is the clear pick to take the conference by storm with all of the physical tools and the platform to thrive as a freshman. At 6' 11", Banchero plays all five positions, dominates on both ends of the floor and has a motor that remains in overdrive. With those attributes it makes sense that he signed an endorsement deal with 2K Sports to become the first collegiate athlete to appear in any NBA 2K video game. As a senior he was named to the SI All-American first team, averaging 32.5 points, 11.6 rebounds, 3.0 assists and 2.3 blocks a game. Duke needs Banchero to be special to give Krzyzewski his best chance to win his sixth national title in his final season, and good things happen when Banchero is the focal point of the offense.Newcomer of the Year: Jayden Gardner, Virginia
The 6' 7" forward was a hot commodity in the transfer portal this summer after three dominant seasons at East Carolina. Last year, Gardner averaged 18.3 points and 8.3 rebounds a game for the Pirates and scored 20 or more points in 10 games. His versatility and ability to keep pressure on the opposition in the paint will give Tony Bennett a much-needed boost to the Virginia offense.Dark-horse team: Virginia Tech
Mike Young returns three starters from last year’s NCAA tournament team that gave Florida everything it could handle in a first-round overtime loss. Keve Aluma took his name out of contention for the NBA draft in June and his presence elevates the Hokies on both ends of the floor. Young will also reunite with Storm Murphy, a grad transfer from Wofford who ranked fourth in the SoCon in scoring (17.8 ppg) and second in assists (4.3 apg). Add in Justyn Mutts and Young easily has one of the top frontcourts in the league.First-team all-conference
Armando Bacot, North CarolinaPaolo Banchero, Duke
Keve Aluma, Virginia Tech
Buddy Boeheim, Syracuse
Isaiah Wong, Miami
SI’s predicted order of finish
1. Duke
Try as it might, Duke won’t be able to escape the “win it for K” story line this season, but Krzyzewski will have to live up to the GOAT moniker if he’s going to end his career with a sixth national title. The good news is that he’s got Banchero, a 6' 11" matchup problem in every sense of the term. Add in three returning starters—Wendell Moore Jr., Jeremy Roach and Mark Williams—to build around, plus the No. 3 recruiting class in the SI All-American team rankings, and Krzyzewski will have a legitimate shot. Three keys to Duke’s success: Roach’s elevation at the point, Moore’s consistency and Williams’s building on the star flashes he showed toward the end of last season.2. North Carolina
Following a Hall of Fame coach (Roy Williams) doesn’t typically bode well right away, but first-year head coach Hubert Davis returns a strong core that should earn the trust of the Tar Heel faithful. North Carolina won’t have its traditional frontcourt depth with mass depletions in the paint, but the best of the bunch, Armando Bacot (12.3 ppg, 7.8 rpg), is back to anchor the inside. Transfers Dawson Garcia and Brady Manek should complement Bacot’s power game with versatility, and there’s plenty of firepower on the wing led by sniper Kerwin Walton, who made 42% of his three-pointers last season. The key for Davis’s offense is sophomore guard Caleb Love and how consistent and under control he can be. The answer to that question could be the difference between a deep tournament run and another uncharacteristically dismal season.3. Florida State
Leonard Hamilton picked a great time to bring in the highest-ranked recruiting class of his Tallahassee reign after losing four of his top-five scorers from last season’s top scoring offense (77.1 ppg.). All three freshmen—Matthew Cleveland, Jalen Warley and John Butler—are capable of contributing right away, as are key transfers Cam’Ron Fletcher and Caleb Mills, the latter of whom proved to be a capable scorer as a freshman at Houston (13.2 ppg) before dealing with ankle injuries last season. Hamilton’s got his trademark versatility, depth and length in the frontcourt (Malik Osborne, Naheem McLeod and Tanor Ngom), plus Anthony Polite and Wyatt Wilkes as shooters on the wing. Hamilton has all the tools to break past the Sweet 16 hurdle he’s failed to clear in the last two tournaments.4. Virginia
Tony Bennett will certainly have his work cut out for him with the losses of Trey Murphy III, Sam Hauser and Jay Huff—who accounted for 59% of the Cavaliers’ offense—plus three capable contributors to the transfer portal (Casey Morsell, Justin McKoy, Jabri Abdur-Rahim). As the lone two starters returning, Kihei Clark and Reece Beekman will be asked to produce more offensively while applying their trademark defensive pressure on the perimeter. Still, Bennett will be heavily reliant on key transfers Jayden Gardner and Armaan Franklin to produce immediately. Gardner has all the tools in the paint (18.3 ppg, 8.3 rpg at East Carolina), and Franklin pumped in 11.4 points a game serving as lead sniper at Indiana last season.5. Virginia Tech
Reigning ACC Coach of the Year Mike Young downplayed expectations after last season’s third-place finish, but the Hokies return a talented core that could have them challenging to be a mainstay around the top of the league this season. Aluma (15.2 ppg, 7.9 rpg) is back, which bodes well for the Hokies in multiple facets, and versatile point guard Murphy reunites with Young after transferring from Wofford. Add in key guards Nahiem Alleyne and Hunter Cattoor and capable forward Mutts (9.5 ppg, 6.4 rpg), and Young has a solid core with talent and experience in key positions.6. Louisville
Chris Mack lost significant firepower in Carlik Jones and David Johnson (29.4 ppg combined) but has a potential breakout star in Jae’Lyn Withers and capable bigs in Samuell Williamson (9.6 ppg, 8.1 rpg) and Malik Williams (5.0 ppg, 6.0 rpg). Still, the Cardinals will need the newcomers in the backcourt to provide much-needed offensive punch after finishing a cringeworthy 12th in the league in scoring (68 ppg) last season. The good news for Mack is he’s got talented options in top juco guard El Ellis and key transfers Jarrod West and Noah Locke, the latter of whom ranked fifth in the SEC in three-point field goals at Florida last season.7. Syracuse
The Orange lost three starters and a couple of key reserves from last season’s surprising run to the Sweet 16 but brought back one of the top returning scorers in the country in Buddy Boeheim, who averaged 22 points over Syracuse’s final 12 games. Freshman wing Benny Williams has the talent and skill set to make a major impact from Day One and key transfers Symir Torrence, Cole Swider and Jimmy Boeheim will keep the Orange in the hunt....
ACC basketball previews: Keatts eyes Wolfpack’s return to NCAA Tournament - Salisbury Post (AP; Beard)
Kevin Keatts has had North Carolina State routinely pushing for 20-win seasons in his first four years, though he has just one NCAA Tournament berth — partly through bad luck — to show for it.
The plan is to make those trips a more consistent outcome, starting with this year’s team that has Keatts excited about its versatility.
“I like the brand that we’re building,” Keatts said. “We’re getting there. We’re putting some pieces on the floor that can be effective every night. I like the direction our program is going in.”
N.C. State made the NCAAs in Keatts’ first year, then fell on the wrong side of the bubble on Selection Sunday despite having 22 wins in 2019. His third team had hit 20 wins again and looked in position to claim a bid entering the Atlantic Coast Conference Tournament before the COVID-19 pandemic shut down the rest of the season.
Last year, N.C. State (14-11, 9-8) had its lowest win total under Keatts while losing leading scorer Devon Daniels to a season-ending knee injury in late January. That team went on to win a game in the NIT. Keatts’ is counting on that team’s response as a reason for optimism. N.C. State won five straight league games after a 4-8 start, and returns multiple players with experience — namely full-time starters Jericole Hellems and Manny Bates.
“The thing about this team I think that you guys will like is we’ve got several guys that can play multiple positions,” Keatts said. “I’m excited about the veterans who are returning. Unfortunately when Devon Daniels went down, we had to shift everything. But it helped some guys grow.”
Hellems, a 6-foot-7 senior, is the top returning scorer at 12.9 points and can shift between forward and what Keatts prefers to call a “big guard” spot. Then there’s Bates, a 6-11 redshirt junior who has become a defensive force.
Bates averaged 9.8 points and 5.9 rebounds while ranking 11th in Division I with 2.7 blocks per game. The team also returns two guards with at least 14 starts in sophomore Cam Hayes (7.8 points per game) and senior Thomas Allen (7.4).
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The Ways ACC Teams Scored Their Points Last Season Reveals Strengths And Weaknesses (DBR; Jacobs)
Ball goes in basket, points awarded: A simple equation familiar to every player and fan. (Unless the officials find a reason to wave off the score, but that’s another story.)
Looking at the ways ACC teams derived points in 2021 tells you a lot about what they tried to do, and how well they succeeded.
Consider, for instance, that two of the top teams in points via 3-pointer were laggards during the regular season, paddling desperately to keep pace with the team that fared best by cashing in most heavily from the bonusphere.
Wake and BC finished at the bottom of the standings, trailing the field in accuracy from floor and foul line. BC had one player in the top 20 in rebounding (Steffon Mitchell), bespeaking a weak interior game, and Wake had none.
Clearly the teams tried to compensate from beyond the arc.
Two Eagles, Jay Heath and Rich Kelly, were among the ACC’s top 10 in threes made per game. (Both are gone this year.) BC also had a player in the ACC’s top 15 in field goal percentage (Heath) and assists (Makai Ashton-Langford). The Demon Deacons had none.
BC finished last and fired its coach before the season ended. Wake had a new coach and finished next-to-last, its struggles surprising no one.
Virginia, on the other hand, settled atop the ACC standings with the league’s second-best scoring margin, field goal and 3-point accuracy, and its top free throw acuity. In fact, the Cavs’ .816 foul shooting was best in ACC history.
UVa also paced the conference in the portion of its points derived from long range (41.3 percent), a significant jump from 2020 (29.8).
Those ’21 strengths compensated for the next-to-worst offensive rebounding in the league. Conservatism (or was it ineffectiveness, or both?) in crashing the boards contributed to Virginia’s getting only 13.8 percent of its points via free throw.
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The Ben Walsh method: Syracuse mayor is ‘always willing to listen’ but moves too slowly for some (PS; $; Knauss)
Mayor Ben Walsh announced in 2019 that Microsoft Corp. would establish a “smart cities hub” in Syracuse. The hub would complement Walsh’s “Syracuse Surge” strategy to make the city a hotbed of cutting-edge economic development.
Two years later, it’s still unknown what that hub would do -- or even whether Microsoft plans to open a physical location here.
Walsh said his administration will develop a “one-year action plan” next month to help define the collaboration with Microsoft.
“It’s my goal to be able to get clarity on what that physical presence and investment looks like,’’ he said last week.
During his four years in office, Walsh, 42, has encountered similar delays with some of his most ambitious undertakings. The Covid pandemic has been a significant factor bogging down his plans.
Walsh also is famous for being cautious. His governing style prioritizes extensive listening, study and collaboration. He appoints committees.
Walsh’s critics say he lacks decisiveness and makes progress in baby steps. Walsh and his supporters see it differently. They say he takes the time necessary to build consensus and get the decisions right.
“Sometimes people confuse being deliberative and listening with indecision,’’ Walsh said. “I’ve made plenty of difficult decisions throughout the four years, but I’m always willing to listen to all sides before I make those decisions.”
In any case, as he seeks re-election in November, significant elements of Walsh’s policy agenda are just getting started. For example:
-- Walsh promised during his 2017 campaign to address lead poisoning. The city is just now hiring a lead program director and new lead inspectors, after passing legislation a year ago to increase the city’s authority to inspect houses with suspected problems. When the new personnel is in place, Walsh plans to use $4.5 million in federal stimulus money to correct lead problems in about 200 households. The city also joined with the state attorney general’s office last month to sue Syracuse landlord John Kiggins for violating lead paint laws since 2015.
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