sutomcat
No recent Cali or Iggy awards; Mr Irrelevant
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1908 Syracuse Football Team
Welcome to American Football Day!
American Football Day celebrates the popular sport, American football. Like many sports, the rules of the game changed a lot over time to be what they now are. The roots of American football are in rugby football and association football—which is commonly known as soccer. The first American football game is seen as being played on November 6, 1869, but the rules were the same as soccer at the time. During the 1870's rugby gained more of an influence on the game, and the ball was allowed to be carried. Walter Camp is known as the "Father of American football", and rule changes he came up with in 1880 brought about things such as the snap, the concept of downs, and teams having eleven players on the field at once. At this time most football was being played at the college level, and a intercollegiate association that later came to be known as the National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA) was formed in 1905. In 1906 the forward pass was introduced, and changes in field sizes and points for scoring changed soon afterwards. In 1920 a professional league was formed, which came to be known as the National Football League (NFL). By the 1930's the NFL was gaining in popularity because of its emphasis on the passing game, and football in general was gaining in popularity.
SU News
Cole Swider seeking to grow as basketball player, man of God at Syracuse (sportsspectrum.coml Doering)
It didn’t take long for Cole Swider to decide what his destination would be after deciding to transfer this past offseason.
Minutes after his name appeared in the transfer portal, he was talking to Syracuse men’s basketball head coach Jim Boeheim and assistant Gerry McNamara. He committed to the Orange less than a week later.
A former top-40 recruit, Swider played in 77 games and made 17 starts in three seasons at Villanova. The return of stars Collin Gillespie and Jermaine Samuels for a fifth season made it unlikely his role for the Wildcats would expand, which factored into his decision to get a fresh start elsewhere.
Choosing to leave Villanova meant an opportunity to have more responsibility on another team. However, it also meant leaving his sister, Kylie, who is a member of the Wildcats’ women’s basketball team. His other sister, Courtney, is a junior in high school receiving Division I offers as well.
In the end, though, Swider has no doubts about the decision he made.“Entering the transfer portal was the best decision of my life,” Swider said at a recent Fellowship of Christian Athletes meeting for Syracuse athletes. “I felt like I was renewed. I had a new sense of my identity. I prayed to God and just told Him, ‘Lord, just tell me the best opportunity, the best situation for me to continue my growth not only as a basketball player but as a child of God, a man of God.'”
Syracuse basketball chaplain and FCA director William Payne had asked Swider to share his testimony at the meeting. In doing so, the 22-year-old detailed some of the struggles he went through at Villanova: being convinced other students saw him as a failure, friends from home who stopped texting the moment he was no longer a star, his battles with anxiety and depression.
Swider went to church every week as a kid and studied religion like every Villanova student is required to. But when Sunday rolled around, he would often come up with reasons not to go to the Catholic church across the street from where he lived.
In the midst of his struggles, he reached out to the Wildcats’ team priest for guidance.
“I said, ‘I don’t want to just identify as a basketball player. I want to find something else as to who I am,’” Swider told his fellow FCA members. “’How can I give myself up to the Lord, find something in my faith and grow from there? To identify as something other than my sport, other than the basketball star I was in high school, the guy who was trying to hook up with girls, the guy who was always looking for things to do to be popular.’ I wanted more meaning in life.”
Coming off a season in which he averaged 5.7 points and shot 40.2 percent from 3-point range, Swider is hoping the change of scenery and a system that fits his skillset better will result in a breakout season. Syracuse begins its 2021-22 campaign Tuesday night against Lafayette College.
Swider’s focus is on one thing above all else as he prepares to take the floor with his new team in a competitive game for the first time.
“I’m just trying to follow God’s plan,” Swider told syracuse.com. “Just every single day, not worrying about what’s going on, just trusting His plan, just keeping your head down and working hard. That’s what I’ve been trying to live my life by.”
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Buddy Boeheim emerged as a national phenomenon in the late stages of last season. Will Syracuse's best player be good enough to garner All-American honors at the end of the season? Plus, how does Boeheim stack up among the best players in the ACC? Also, which stats has he peaked and which does he have a chance to improve upon this season?
Analyzing Syracuse basketball's 2021-22 starting lineup - The Juice Online (the juice; Stechschulte)
Here’s a look at Syracuse basketball’s 2021-22 projected starting lineup:
Jimmy Boeheim – graduate student forward, 6’8”, 225 pounds
Jimmy Boeheim spent last season not playing when the Ivy League canceled winter sports, but transferred to Syracuse to use his last season of eligibility. A bigger, more well-rounded player than his brother, Jimmy Boeheim looks to slot in at one of the starting forward spots. In just over 30 minutes per game, he averaged 16.7 points and 5.6 rebounds for the Big Red in the 2019-2020 season, leading the team in both categories. While being the number one offensive option for Cornell, Jimmy was third on the team in assists at 1.9 per game.
KEY NUMBER: 35.0 percent. Jimmy Boeheim was a 29.8 percent shooter from three in his time at Cornell, but his season-high mark was connecting on 35.0 percent of his attempts from deep as a sophomore. If he is able to shoot that well on the perimeter this season, Boeheim will be able to help open things up for the entire Orange offense.
Buddy Boeheim – senior guard, 6’6”, 195 pounds
In two seasons as a starter, Buddy Boeheim has turned into a top option for the Syracuse offense, averaging 16.4 points per game in that time. Perhaps most impressively, Boeheim has improved his three-point shooting as his offensive workload has increased, as evidenced by his percentage rising from 35.3 to 37.0 to 38.3 percent. Boeheim has taken over eight treys per game in the last two seasons, but added more diversity to his game over the years, including lifting his assist mark to 2.6 per game last season.
KEY NUMBER: 41-for-73. Boeheim was scorching from long distance over the last six weeks of the season, hitting 56.2 percent of his three-point shots over a dozen games, evidence of his ability as a pure shooter. That mark was higher than his overall 50.3 percent overall shooting mark in that time. The question is what can he shoot over an entire season? Only 33 players in all of Division One shot 40 percent over last season while qualifying for the NCAA’s leaderboard (2.5 three-pointers made per game).
Cole Swider – senior forward, 6’9”, 220 pounds
Swider transferred in after playing three seasons at Villanova, including 17 starts. A proven three-point shooter, Swider hit 37.4 percent from behind the arc the last two seasons, including a 40.2 percent mark last season. Swider is not a terrific athlete and was not a plus-defender with the Wildcats, but could contribute more on that end if he picks up on the details of the 2-3 zone. During the preseason, Swider spent a little time working on the top line of the zone and could see a few sporadic minutes there over the season, where his height and length could be assets in certain matchups.
KEY NUMBER: 40. That is the number of foul shots Swider has attempted in his collegiate career, covering 1,247 minutes of play, underlining his role as a three-point shooting ace.
Jesse Edwards – junior center, 6’11”, 230 pounds
With Sidibe shelved at the start of the season, Edwards has the opportunity to seize the starting center spot long-term. Edwards got significant minutes in the final eight games of last season, logging 112 of his 160 minutes in that time. While averaging just 3.4 points per outing in that span, he was a force inside, grabbing 4.8 rebounds and blocking 0.8 shots per game in those limited minutes.
KEY NUMBER: 14 minutes per game. That is how much Edwards logged in that better stretch of play. If he can be a consistent deterrent inside without getting into foul trouble, Edwards could double those minutes per game this season and provide a new dimension to the team.
Joe Girard III – junior guard, 6’1”, 190 pounds
Returning for his third season as a starter, Girard struggled last season through asthma and a COVID infection. His shooting suffered accordingly, as he shot just 35.5 percent overall and 33.3 percent from long range. While he will never be thought of as a pure point guard, Girard improved his assist-to-turnover ratio from his freshman year, climbing from 1.39-to-1 to 1.68-to-1, putting a 2-to-1 ratio in his sights for this season. While lacking great size and athleticism, Girard finished second on the team in both steals (39) and steal rate (2.9).
KEY NUMBER: 10.2 rebounding rate. With his effort on the floor, Girard also proved to be an effective rebounder on defense, grabbing over 10 percent of all potential defensive rebounds while on the floor. That rate was better than those of bigger guards Buddy Boeheim (6.1) and Kadary Richmond (10.0).
2021-22 Syracuse men's basketball preview (dukechronicle.com; Young)
Head coach: Jim Boeheim
Tenure at Syracuse: 45th season
Career coaching record: 982-409
Home court: Carrier Dome
Starters: G Buddy Boeheim, G Joe Girard III, Cole Swider, Benny Williams, C Jesse Edwards
Bench: G Niko Ruffin, G Symir Torrence, Jimmy Boeheim, C Bourama Sidibe, C Jon Bol Ajak
Overview: Syracuse is going to be a formidable team this season. While only two starters are returning—senior guard Buddy Boeheim, coach Jim Boeheim's son, and junior guard Joe Girard III—coach Boeheim's impressive recruitment list could cultivate one of the more remarkable teams that the Carrier Dome has seen in years.
Last season, forwards Quincy Guerrier, Alan Griffin and Marek Dolezaj were regulars in the starting five. All three were towering presences on the court and each played a separate but vital role. Defensively, Guerrier and Griffin were keys to a strong season as Guerrier led the team in rebounds (8.4 per contest) while putting up 13.7 points per match. Griffin, a transfer from Illinois, led the Orange in blocks—averaging 1.6 per match with a season-high of seven at the Virginia Tech game—while recording 13.3 points per game.
Dolezaj is perhaps the team's most significant loss. The Slovakian forward played four seasons for the Orange and boasted a field goal percentage of 54.4% in that span. Though he was not Syracuse's top scorer, Dolezaj's absence leaves a gap to be filled in leadership and basketball IQ.
Working hard to see those needs filled, Boeheim brought in consensus four-star recruit Benny Williams, Marquette transfer Symir Torrence and Villanova transfer Cole Swider. Also joining them is coach Boeheim's oldest son, Jimmy Boeheim, a graduate transfer from Cornell, making this season a true family affair. Williams is Syracuse's sole recruit from the class of 2021, and it is clear that the Bowie, Md., native will make a dent on the court. Swider, on the other hand, played off the bench at Villanova but still put up impressive stats for a top-tier program, averaging 5.7 points and 3.1 rebounds per game last season.
Torrence and Jimmy are both impressive players in their own right. The former lacked starts at Marquette and the latter has not played college basketball since the 2019-20 season after the Ivy League canceled the 2020-21 campaign due to COVID-19. Instead, filling out the starting lineup will likely be junior Jesse Edwards, who at 6-foot-11 will be invaluable to the team's defensive play.
In terms of conference play, the preseason ACC media poll ranks Syracuse at seven, the same spot in which it finished last season. However, considering the Orange's impressive lineup, it is possible that they could climb even higher this season.
Team ceiling: Boeheim’s starting five lives up to its potential. The Orange place well in the ACC standings and again are nationally competitive by advancing to the NCAA Tournament's Sweet 16.
Team floor: Syracuse struggles defensively as the new starting lineup does not hold end up on that end of the floor. As a result, Syracuse sinks lower into the ACC ranks.
Syracuse's Tyler Ennis celebrates after hitting the game-winning shot against Pitt on Wednesday, Feb. 12, 2014, at the Petersen Events Center in Pittsburgh. Syracuse won, 58-56. (Matt Freed/Pittsburgh Post-Gazette/MCT)MCT
Former Syracuse point guard Tyler Ennis beats two major injuries, returns to basketball court (PS; Ditota)
Tyler Ennis is back to the place he belongs.
He’s playing basketball again.
The former Syracuse point guard, who led the Orange to a 28-6 record his freshman season before declaring for the NBA Draft, returned to the court this week after two major injuries within a three-year span.
He broke his leg in gruesome fashion while playing his fifth game for venerable Turkish powerhouse Fenerbahce in October 2018 and was released by the team the following July. He spent a season playing for the Raptors 905 in the G League, near his hometown of Brampton, Ontario. Then, last November, after signing a two-year deal with Turk Telecom in the Turkish League, he tore his Achilles. That injury requires a year of intensive rehabilitation.
After all that, Ennis played his first game for Turk Telecom on Tuesday.
Ennis played nine minutes in that contest. He went 1-of-2 from inside the 3-point line and 1-2 from outside the 3-point line. He scored five points, made an assist and collected two rebounds.
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Syracuse basketball has so many offensive weapons, it’s almost unfair (itlh; Adler)
I’m not much of a betting man myself, but one thing that I’d feel pretty confident in laying down some money on is that Syracuse basketball shouldn’t have an issue scoring the ball during the 2021-22 campaign.
In fact, I really think that the Orange could average better than 85 points per game in the upcoming stanza, provided that the ‘Cuse doesn’t go through long dry spells from the perimeter and the team makes a concerted effort to have some balance on offense.
What I mean by that is, yes, Syracuse basketball has an array of sharp-shooters in 2021-22 who can knock down 3-pointers in bunches, led by senior shooting guard Buddy Boeheim, senior forward Cole Swider and junior point guard Joe Girard III.
I can’t imagine that there will be too many games when all three of them are off from deep, however, it’s important that the Orange gets consistent scoring around the rim and in the mid-range, to supplement its points from beyond the arc.
Syracuse basketball should be lethal on offense this coming term.
Exhibition games are, well, exhibition games, so let’s all take them with the proverbial grain of salt. But Boeheim has already shown what he can do, Girard was excellent against Le Moyne, and Swider was stellar versus Le Moyne and, prior to that, Pace.
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Syracuse Basketball: 4-star commit, 5-star targets will vie for national title (itlh; Adler)
A new Syracuse basketball commit and a pair of Orange five-star prospects are suiting up for teams this coming season that are highly ranked in a recently released national poll.
Jordan Divens, the national basketball editor for MaxPreps, has released his first pre-season independent top-20 national ratings ahead of the 2021-22 stanza.
Divens notes in his piece that these rankings are for independent squads, such as prep schools, and that MaxPreps will have a separate set of national ratings for traditional high schools. I think that’s quite logical, because prep schools often have stacked rosters for which traditional high-school groups really can’t compete.
In the independent top-20 national rankings, there are multiple teams that will likely compete for a national championship whose rosters include players with ‘Cuse connections.
Syracuse basketball recruits are suiting up for top-flight prep teams.
In the MaxPreps independent rankings, the Wasatch Academy in Mount Pleasant, Utah, is No. 11 overall. The Wasatch Academy line-up includes 2022 four-star wing Chris Bunch, who recently gave his verbal commitment to the Orange after having a final three of Syracuse basketball, Mike Hopkins-led Washington and Rutgers.
The Montverde Academy in Montverde, Fla., a powerhouse prep-school unit, is No. 2. According to Divens, the Montverde Academy is the two-time defending national champs.
This team’s roster is absolutely loaded, and two new additions to its line-up for this coming season are 2023 five-star forward Kwame Evans Jr. and 2024 five-star power forward Derik Queen.
Both Evans and Queen hail from Baltimore and are top-five overall prospects within their respective cycles. A term ago, Evans played for the Baltimore Polytechnic Institute, while Queen competed for the Saint Frances Academy in Baltimore.
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ITLH Big East Power Rankings: Week 1 Adler)
Barring injury (“knock on wood”), I get the sense that Syracuse basketball head coach Jim Boeheim has a primary eight-man rotation for the time being, particularly while graduate student center Bourama Sidibe is out for at least a few weeks with an injury.
To that end, unless something shifts in the early part of the 2021-22 campaign, which officially gets underway in a matter of days, it’s likely that the Orange’s starting five will be junior point guard Joe Girard III, senior shooting guard Buddy Boeheim, senior forward Cole Swider, graduate student forward Jimmy Boeheim and junior center Jesse Edwards.
I could foresee freshman forward Benny Williams as the first reserve off of Jim Boeheim’s bench. That brings us to junior guard Symir Torrence and sophomore center Frank Anselem.
Grand proclamations before the regular season has even commenced seem a bit over the top, however, for my money, I think that Torrence and Anselem could prove huge X-factors for the ‘Cuse in 2021-22. I’ll explain why.
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Previewing the top half of ACC basketball wfuogb.com; Odakjian)
1. Duke
Duke missed the NCAA Tournament last year. That definitely will not happen again in Coach K’s final season.
Smooth forwards Matthew Hurt and Jalen Johnson are the two big names that departed in the offseason, but the group still includes guards Jordan Goldwire and DJ Steward.
Moreover, the Blue Devils are locked and loaded with an impressive recruiting class. Expectations are sky-high for Paolo Banchero, the No. 4 overall player in the class. The 6’9” athletic beast could be a top-pick in next year’s draft.
Two more five-star recruits, AJ Griffin and Trevor Keels, round out the core of incoming freshmen. Jeremy Roach and Wendell Moore are back and will be important pieces in the backcourt, and center Mark Williams will look to build on his strong finish to last season. Theo John transferred in from Marquette and will provide depth on the interior.
Duke is stacked with talent, and if Coach K can mesh the pieces, they should be the ACC’s cream of the crop.
2. North Carolina
New Head Coach Hubert Davis has big shoes to fill following Roy Williams’ departure. The Tar Heels should be a lot better than they were last year — there are certainly some key losses, but there is a lot to love about the freshmen newcomers.
The talented frontcourt of Garrison Brooks, Walker Kessler and Day’Ron Sharpe are all gone from last year. Armando Bacot is back, though, and will continue to be a dominant force down low.
The backcourt duo of Caleb Love and R.J. Davis returns, and both players are expected to take big steps forward. Sharpshooter Kerwin Walton is back, too, along with slashing wing Leaky Black.
Two key transfer additions come in finesse forwards Dawson Garcia from Marquette and Brady Manek from Oklahoma.
This team should be a legitimate threat come March, so the pressure is on Hubert Davis to find success.
3. Florida State
Leonard Hamilton has turned this program into an ACC powerhouse in recent years. The losses of lottery pick Scottie Barnes, RaiQuan Gray, Balsa Koprivica and MJ Walker definitely hurt, but Hamilton continues to replenish his team with talent.
Anthony Polite and Malik Osborne are the key returnees who will provide scoring on the wing. Two five-star freshman guards will likely start right away: Jalen Warley and Matthew Cleveland.
Another key backcourt addition is Caleb Mills, a transfer from Houston and absolute bucket getter. The Seminoles also boast three seven-footers (as they always seem to do) in returner Tanor Ngom, JUCO transfer Naheem McLeod and top-50 freshman John Butler.
Don’t expect this team to fall off much from where they finished last year.
4. Virginia Tech
Mike Young’s Hokies have surprised in back-to-back seasons, and this is the best team he’s had yet.
Bouncy wing Tyrece Radford and defensive menace Wabissa Bede are the only key losses. However, Tech brings back skilled post man Keve Aluma, scoring guards Nahiem Alleyne and Hunter Cattoor, as well as stretch forward Justyn Mutts.
The big addition is Storm Murphy, a veteran point guard who reunites with Aluma and Coach Young (they were all together at Wofford).
Murphy could be the necessary piece to elevate this returning core into a season-long top-25 team.
5. Virginia
It would be foolish to rank UVA any lower than this with the way Tony Bennett has his teams defend and play smart basketball.
The Cavaliers lost Trey Murphy to the NBA Draft, and all-conference players Sam Hauser and Jay Huff graduated. However, some under-the-radar transfer additions ensure that this roster still has top-tier talent.
Jayden Gardner is an undersized but very tough forward who joins the Cavaliers from East Carolina, and he is my dark horse pick for ACC Player of the Year. Armaan Franklin is a solid and experienced wing who transferred in from Indiana. Floor general Kihei Clark — who seems like he has been there forever — will be an important veteran presence.
The defense will be there, but there are some variables relating to the offensive ceiling of this team.
6. Notre Dame
The Fighting Irish have had a few down seasons and haven’t reached the big dance since 2017. The team excels in its continuity, something not many teams in college basketball can boast.
Interior presence Juwan Durham is gone, but that’s about it. Starters Prentiss Hubb, Dane Goodwin, Cormac Ryan and Nate Laszewski are all back. Hubb was third-team all-conference last season and should be one of the best guards in the ACC this year.
Trey Wertz, who broke Wake Forest fans’ hearts with his buzzer beater in last year’s ACC tournament, is back, too, and will be a key bench piece. Paul Atkinson is a big addition from Yale who averaged 17.6 PPG back in 2019-20. This is an NCAA Tournament-bound team.
7. Louisville
Losing the backcourt of Carlik Jones and David Johnson is a tough blow for Chris Mack’s Cardinals, but new talent and some key returnees will keep this team very competitive in the ACC.
Jae’lyn Withers, Samuel Williamson and Dre Davis all have starting experience, and Malik Williams is finally healthy again. The big additions for this team come via the transfer portal; Noah Locke enters from Florida where he established himself as a deadeye shooter.
The backcourt will also be strengthened by Mason Faulkner, who put up big numbers at Western Carolina, and Jarrod West, an all-conference player at Marshall. Junior college All-Americans, El Ellis and Sydney Curry, also join the squad. There are a lot of moving pieces here, so this is an intriguing team.
8. NC State
Coach Kevin Keatts has done a good job with NC State, but the Pack usually struggle to get over the hump and join the top half of the conference.
They lose their leading scorer from last year in Devon Daniels, along with forward DJ Funderburk and guards Braxton Beverly and Shakeel Moore. Cam Hayes and Dereon Seabron are intriguing players who are looking to build off of their solid freshman campaigns.
Center Manny Bates is a defensive anchor in the middle of the floor, and forward Jericole Hellems will push for all-conference honors. Wings Gregg Gant and Casey Morsell transfer in from Providence and Virginia, respectively and will add additional depth. This team has a low ceiling once again, but they will be very competitive nonetheless.
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https://www.newsobserver.com/sports/college/acc/article255554906.html (newsobserver.com; video; Keister)
After a tough year for ACC men's basketball teams from the Triangle region, UNC, Duke and NC State are optimistic they'll turn things around in a hurry. Here's why.
Best ACC Steals To Fouls Ratios (DBR; Jacobs)
You could make the argument, or someone could, that a rough way to measure prudent individual defensive aggressiveness is by looking at personal fouls committed compared to steals achieved.
Of course some coaches frown upon playing for steals, preferring restraint, an approach that minimizes sacrificing sound defensive position in pursuit of a calculated gamble.
To illustrate: Virginia, the ACC’s defensive standard-setter in suppressing opponents’ scoring and field goal accuracy, is not much for stealing the ball. Over the past five seasons the Cavaliers have finished higher than 10th in the ACC in team steals just once. During that same period a single Cav ranked among the league’s top 10 in steal average.
Virginia led the ACC in scoring defense in all of those seasons and in field goal defense three of five times. The worst a Tony Bennett team did since 2017 was finish third in suppressing opponents’ shooting accuracy.
UVa team’s high in steals over those years was seventh-best in the ACC in 2018, when it averaged 6.8.
Sophomore guard Ty Jerome finished seventh in the league in steals that same year, with 55 thefts in 34 outings, a 1.6 average. Jerome had 25 more personal fouls than steals in ‘18, an expensive way to gain control of the ball. He subsequently cut back.
Other programs are more apt than Virginia to produce players whose steals outstrip their fouls. Last year the league had a half-dozen performers who aptly blended finesse and defensive opportunism, including Jose Alvarado and Jordan Goldwire, the ACC’s top two in steal average.
Of the six, only Alvarado with two and Goldwire with one fouled out of a game in 2021. Both graduated and are no longer in the ACC. Goldwire transferred this season as a grad student to Oklahoma. Syracuse’s Kadary Richmond, another winner in steals to fouls, transferred to Seton Hall after a single season with the Orange.
Richmond, like Alvarado a Brooklyn product, finished fourth in the ACC with 1.64 steals per game. Despite its reliance on zone defense, Syracuse averaged the third-most steals in the ACC (8.11 average).
| DEFT THEFT ACC Regulars With More Steals Than Fouls in 2021 (Asterisk Indicates Returning Player) | ||||
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Player, School | Steals | Fouls | ACC Rank In Stls/G | Steals: Fouls |
| Jose Alvarado, GT | 74 | 59 | 1 | 1.25 |
| Kameron McGusty, UM* | 25 | 20 | NA# | 1.25 |
| Kadary Richmond, SU | 46 | 38 | 4 | 1.21 |
| Joseph Girard III, SU* | 39 | 34 | 10 | 1.15 |
| Jordan Goldwire, D | 54 | 52 | 2 | 1.04 |
| Daivien Williamson, WF* | 29 | 29 | 15 | 1.00 $ |
| # ACC reports top 15. $ Close enough. |
Stoodley pens book on NBA’s Syracuse Nats (wwnytv.com; video; Busler)
David Stoodley has written books on the Frontier League, the Watertown Athletics, and the old Watertown Speedway.
Now he has penned one dealing with an old NBA team of his youth...
David Stoodley’s newest book is titled “When the Nats Held Court,” a history of the Syracuse Nationals NBA basketball team, a team he remembers from his childhood.
Memory only goes so far. Research takes over to pen a book.
The Nats featured many great basketball players during their existence.
One man associated with the Nats actually changed the fabric of the game.
There are a couple of ways to secure the book. It’s at the courtesy desk of the Watertown Daily Times or you can give David Stoodley a call at 315-405-8853.
Other
Action in the Poker Room at the Turning Stone Resort & Casino in Verona, Oneida County. Turning Stone is hosting satellite and qualifying events for the World Series of Poker. (Robert Mescavage | Turning Stone Resort & Casino)
Turning Stone casino hosts first-ever World Series of Poker events in New York state (PS; Cazentre)
For the first time in its history, the prestigious World Series of Poker is holding sanctioned qualifying events in New York state. The host venue is Turning Stone Resort & Casino in Oneida County.
The Oneida Indian Nation-operated casino has already started hosting preliminary or satellite rounds in its Poker Room, the largest in the state, with more to come through the winter and spring of 2022. The first was held Monday, Nov. 1.
The highlight will be a WSOP “Circuit Event,” to be held March 17 to 28. Players in that tournament, to be held in Turning Stone’s Event Center, can qualify for the final round, the World Series of Poker’s 2022 “Tournament of Champions” in Las Vegas.
“We are thrilled to serve as New York’s first ever satellite host for the World Series of Poker, and provide this incredible opportunity to our guests,” Oneida Nation Enterprises CEO Ray Halbritter said in a statement. “We are proud of the fact that we are considered New York’s best poker destination, and being a satellite host for the WSOP promises to only build onto that reputation.”
The World Series of Poker, which started in 1970, bills itself as “the largest, richest and most prestigious gaming event in the world.” It has awarded more than $3.29 billion in prize money.
The events at Turning Stone are expected to generate buzz for Turning Stone, and draw players and their families who will spend money on hotel rooms, dining venues and more.
“Poker players will travel from all over the country to participate in this tournament and will take advantage of all the amenities our resort and region have to offer,” said Joel Barkin, the Oneida Nation’s vice president for communications. “So we see a number of benefits to be a WSOP host.”
In addition, there are opportunities for other visitors to watch the action. That will be a little limited in the events scheduled for the Poker Room, but the Circuit Event at the Event Center in March is expected to draw bigger and perhaps more boisterous crowds.
Local players are excited, too.
“I think it’s huge for our area,” said Fady Khabbaz of Syracuse, who has played in the WSOP for several years and has made to the final tables in Las Vegas. ”It brings the scene here, and will allow more players from around here to catch the tournament bug.”
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