sutomcat
No recent Cali or Iggy awards; Mr Irrelevant
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Mickey Mouse made his screen debut in the short film Steamboat Willie, on November 18, 1928. Today is seen as being Mickey's birthday, as well as Mickey Mouse Day. He was the creation of Walt Disney and Ub Iwerks. Disney needed a character to replace Oswald the Lucky Rabbit, after he had lost the rights to Oswald to Universal Studios. He asked Iwerks to draw up the new character, and various animals were rejected before a mouse was settled upon. The final choice of a mouse may have been influenced by Disney, who was inspired by a mouse he had seen while working at Laugh-O-Gram Studios. Iwerks originally called the mouse Mortimer Mouse, but was convinced by his wife to change the name. Mickey shared many characteristics with Oswald, but had some differences. For example, Mickey's ears were drawn as circles, in contrast to Oswald's elongated bunny ears. Iwerks designed Mickey's body and ears out of circles so that he would be easy to animate. Over the years there have been various tweaks to Mickey's design, whether it be with his body shape or type of eyes. He is also usually seen wearing white gloves, red shorts, and large yellow shoes.
SU News
Opponent Preview: Everything to know about Colgate (DO; Shetty)
Syracuse entered unfamiliar territory last weekend against Drexel as the Orange went into halftime without the lead. But a big run to start the second half vaulted Syracuse to a smooth victory over the Dragons, with Buddy Boeheim leading all scorers with 23 points in a 75-60 win.
Before heading to the Bahamas next week, the Orange will finish a three-game homestand against another central New York school, Colgate. The Red Raiders won the Patriot League Championship for the second time in three seasons last year. That win helped Colgate into the NCAA Tournament as a 14 seed, where it fell to Arkansas in the first round.
Here’s what you need to know about Colgate (1-1, 0-0 Patriot League) before this Saturday’s game at Syracuse (2-0, 0-0 Atlantic Coast):
All-time series
Syracuse has played Colgate more than any other school in Syracuse history. The Orange have dominated the Red Raiders, leading the series 127-45.Last time they played
The Orange and the Red Raiders last met on Nov. 13, 2019. Syracuse opened that season with a 48-34 loss to Virginia, one of the lowest point totals in head coach Jim Boeheim’s tenure. SU picked up its first win of the season, beating Colgate 70-54.Buddy, Elijah Hughes and Bourama Sidibe scored in double-digits for the Orange. That season would turn out to be Sidibe’s last full year at Syracuse as the center is currently out with a knee injury. Similar to last week’s win over Drexel, Syracuse headed into halftime with a close margin but came out on top with a second half run.
KenPom odds
KenPom gives Syracuse an 86% chance of winning, with a projected score of 80-68.The Colgate Report
Colgate opened its season with a 65-58 win over Northeastern. Point guard Nelly Cummings scored a career-high 25 points throughout Colgate’s comeback victory. Cummings went 5-for-6 from beyond the arc to lead the Red Raiders in their season-opening win.More recently, Colgate managed to scare a future Syracuse opponent, NC State. With the score tied at 74-74, the Wolfpack made three free throws in the final seconds of the game to defeat Colgate. The Red Raiders stayed close to NC State throughout the entire game as the lead from either team never stretched to more than 10 points. With experience against the ACC already, Colgate could have the experience to pull out an ACC upset in its second attempt.
How Syracuse beats Colgate
Last season, Colgate had the best 3-point defense in the nation, according to KenPom. While that number was likely skewed by the level of competition the Red Raiders faced in the Patriot League, Colgate is currently holding opponents to a 24.1% success rate from deep. The Red Raiders held NC State to a 4-for-15 performance last week, so if there’s anywhere Syracuse should attack Colgate, it’s in the paint....
Locked On Syracuse - Daily Podcast On Syracuse Orange Football & Basketball: Is It Time To Panic on Benny Williams and Where Syracuse Basketball Stacks Up in the ACC 11/17 on Apple Podcasts (apple.com; podcast; Locked on Syracuse)
Syracuse's prized freshman Benny Williams has struggled through the first two games. Is it time to panic over his development? Plus, what should his progression arc look like over the course of the season? Also, the ACC has struggled out of the gate. Are the Orange primed to make a run at a top four seed, given the state of the conference?
Tyler Aki and Tim Leonard discuss it all and more on the Wednesday edition of the Locked on Syracuse Podcast.
Follow the show on Twitter @LO_Syracuse and follow the guys @Tim_Leonard4 and @TylerAki_.
Syracuse Basketball continues its quick start. Plus, the Nets fall against one of the league's hottest teams. And finally, a career night in Buffalo ...
Beat writers predict SU will win its 54th consecutive game against Colgate (DO; Staff)
The first two tests of Syracuse’s season went as planned, with two comfortable wins — Lafayette and Drexel — serving as tuneups for more difficult opponents in the future. That point hasn’t arrived just yet, but the Orange will take one step closer to the challenges in their schedule when they host Colgate (1-2) on Saturday in the Carrier Dome. Following that game, SU will travel to the Bahamas for the Battle 4 Atlantis tournament, facing VCU on Wednesday before playing two undetermined opponents the next two days.
The Raiders have lost two consecutive games since opening the 2021-22 campaign with a seven-point victory over Northeastern. Jordan Burns, their top scorer, graduated from last year’s team that made the NCAA Tournament. Still, senior guard Nelly Cummings has averaged 21.3 points per game to start the year.
Here’s what our beat writers think will happen in the Carrier Dome when the Orange (2-0) face the Raiders.
Andrew Crane (2-0)
Freshening up
Syracuse 75, Colgate 68
After Colgate lost to NC State by just three points during the first week of the season, I’ll admit that I was slightly tempted to pick the upset here. But, as Syracuse will find out in February, should the Raiders defeating a Wolfpack group missing Manny Bates actually be considered that big of an upset? I’d argue no. Then the Raiders crashed against Cornell on Tuesday, falling by 10 though it was actually quite worse as the Big Red led by 16 with just over two minutes left, a fact that made it easier to predict this outcome.
Colgate likes to play slow on offense, and the 2-3 zone naturally slows down opponents, so look for Syracuse to possibly try and speed the Raiders up in their offensive sets. That’d force turnovers, deep and unsatisfactory 3-pointers, and empty possessions that’d allow SU’s efficient offense to build an early lead. I think Joe Girard III finally misses his first 3-point attempt of the season on Saturday, but look for the Orange to get ahead early, hold off a late push and move to 3-0 on the season — just like they’re supposed to.
Roshan Fernandez (2-0)
Handling business
Syracuse 81, Colgate 73
Colgate made the NCAA Tournament last year and nearly upset NC State in its second game of the season this year. The Raiders lost top-scorer Jordan Burns from last year but returned all of their other top scorers. According to Bart Torvik, Colgate returns 81.1% of its minutes from last season.
But Syracuse is a team that’s garnering AP Top 25 votes. It’s a team that has flashed potential early in the season, though it’s hard to judge how far that potential can take them until the Orange face higher level competition. Syracuse needs to be alert and play better than it did during the first half against Drexel, and this should be a straightforward contest. Colgate will be another test, but one that Syracuse should manage to handle its business just fine.
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Syracuse Basketball: Cole Swider, beyond shooting, having a huge impact (itlh; Adler)
Syracuse basketball senior forward Cole Swider never averaged more than 20 minutes a game of court time in his three seasons suiting up for former Big East Conference rival Villanova.
The 6-foot-9 Swider, a talented shooter who is more athletic than I think some people give him credit for, hasn’t quite found his rhythm from beyond the arc through the Orange’s first two games in the 2021-22 stanza, which were both home wins.
But as Swider adjusts to his larger role with the ‘Cuse, as he’s averaging 32.5 minutes per contest of run so far, the lengthy forward is having a huge impact for the Orange in areas that extend beyond draining 3-pointers.
Case in point, when Syracuse basketball knocked off a good Drexel team by 15 points from the Carrier Dome on Sunday night, Swider chipped in a solid 11 points, although he was “only” 1-of-4 from deep, according to a box score provided by Syracuse.com.
However, Swider also registered five boards, four assists and a stellar five steals. In his post-game press conference following the victory over Drexel, head coach Jim Boeheim said that Swider’s defense has proven really good so far in 2021-22.
Syracuse basketball forward Cole Swider does much besides just shooting.
It’s true that the current ‘Cuse roster is filled with sharp-shooters from beyond the arc, including Swider, senior shooting guard Buddy Boeheim, junior point guard Joe Girard III and even graduate student forward Jimmy Boeheim.
Opponents are going to play up quite close on these shooters, as we’ve already seen, and that means Swider and other Orange players will have to put the ball on the deck to grab scoring opportunities in the mid-range and near the rim, according to Jim Boeheim.
The Syracuse basketball head coach says that Swider is working hard to adjust to being a starter and a primary scoring option, after being more of a reserve off of the bench with Villanova.
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Syracuse Prioritizing Backcourt in Class of 2023 Recruiting – Orange Fizz – Daily Syracuse Recruiting News & Team Coverage (orangefizz.net; May)
There is a whole lot of buzz surrounding Syracuse Men’s Basketball right now. The Orange are off to a hot start and have a lot of exciting non-conference games on the docket. Plus, the recruiting class of 2022 has been hyped up to be the best in the Jim Boeheim era. So, how do you follow that talented of a class? Well, you go and target some of the biggest names in the following year.
Boeheim and company are already hard at work recruiting the class of 2023. The Orange have extended six scholarship offers, all to top-100 players. While SU has a small forward and power forward on the list, it is really the backcourt that is being targeted.
This approach makes sense when you think about the current construction of Syracuse’s roster. By the time the class of 2023 comes to town, Buddy Boeheim will be gone and Joe Girard could be depending on if he uses his extra year of eligibility. Without them, the Orange are left with Symir Torrence and Quadir Copeland, pending any transfers. So, in two years the backcourt is going to be pretty thin.
Syracuse always needs a strong big man, and the Fizz has advocated for it before. However, the class of 2023 might be the one exception that focusing on the guards is a good idea. The Orange have four offers out right now to backcourt players. Let’s meet them.
DJ WAGNER – COMBO GUARD – 5 STARS
The major headliner of the class of 2023 is DJ Wagner. The New Jersey-native is 6-foot-3, 165 lbs. and holds a five-star rating. Not to mention, Wagner is the No. 1 overall recruit in the class according to 247Sports. With the high ranking comes a lot of suitors, including the oh-so-dangerous Kentucky Wildcats. That is where multiple experts are predicting Wagner to go, so don’t get your hopes up on this one Syracuse fans.
ADEN HOLLOWAY – POINT GUARD – 4 STARS
Aden Holloway is a 6-foot-0 guard from La Lumiere School, the same high school as JJ Starling. The North Carolina-native is the No. 54 overall recruit and No. 10 point guard in his class. He has taken a dip in the rankings in recent months, but is still seen as one of the more underrated point guards in 2023. Holloway isn’t your stereotypical Syracuse guard though. The Orange usually look for lengthy guys to play at the top of the zone. Holloway isn’t that. He is smaller than most and relies on his quickness and shooting. He’d be a great get for SU, however, despite not fitting the usual mold. Just watch out for Notre Dame, who also has an offer out to Holloway.
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Syracuse Basketball: One position group’s strong start an early bright spot (itlh; Schwartz)
Fresh off a Sweet 16 run a year ago came the return of 7 players for the Syracuse Basketball program, with two of them being Junior Center Jesse Edwards and Sophomore Center Frank Anselem.
While the veteran backcourt of point guard Joe Girard and shooting guard Buddy Boeheim are off to fantastic starts to the season and garnering a rightful amount of both local and national attention, for the team to reach their full potential this season they will be looking for an increased impact from the men in the middle.
So far, led by Edwards and Anselem, the early returns have been promising.
Edwards in two games played has already compiled seven (!) blocked shots, with that 3.50 average leading the entire Atlantic Coast Conference. Edwards finds himself ahead of established shot-blockers such as Armando Bacot (UNC), Mark Williams (Duke), and Malik Williams (Louisville).
Syracuse basketball centers are performing at a solid level this season.
Frank Anselem has shown himself to be active on the offensive glass as well, bringing down five offensive boards within the first two contests. As Dan Shulman highlighted on the ESPN2 broadcast in Sunday’s game versus Drexel, the coaching staff believes that no player has improved more since the end of last season than Anselem.The results certainly have backed that up, as Anselem looks more confident and sure of himself when out there. As seen below, the footwork and composure around the basket are just some of many improvements Anselem has made in his second season.
Edwards through two contests is a perfect 8/8 from the field, while Anselem is a solid 5/7. While some may point to the level of competition and lack of size in their opponents so far, it is nevertheless a good sign that these two big men are efficiently taking some of the scoring load off of the backcourt and wings.
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Colgate's Jeff Woodward (55) reacts after hitting a shot and getting fouled during the second half of a first round game against Arkansas at Bankers Life Fieldhouse in the NCAA men's college basketball tournament, Friday, March 19, 2021, in Indianapolis. Colgate was destroyed 85-68. (AP Photo/Darron Cummings)
Colgate basketball, Matt Langel and the art of creating national buzz for a small-town program (PS; $; Ditota)
The conversation in Matt Langel’s Colgate basketball office Monday began with a basic premise.
The Raiders have won or shared the Patriot League title the past three seasons and finished second to Bucknell in 2018. They’ve made two NCAA Tournament appearances during that span. They have risen from a No. 324 ranking in Kenpom.com in Langel’s first season with the Raiders (2012) to a respectable No. 89 in 2021.
With all but one player returning from last year’s 11-2 team, they were selected this preseason to be the second-best team in the Patriot League, edged by one point in that poll by Boston University.
And while Langel will somewhat reluctantly concede that yes, it’s going pretty well these days, he winces at the proffered word “dominate” to describe what’s happening in Hamilton.
“College basketball is so fragile. Games change on plays and seasons change on games, so technically a whole season could change on a couple plays,” he said. “I appreciate your words on dominating. But there’s no guarantee that’s in the basket, that that’s taken care of. The goal is working toward having a program that’s in the hunt in late February and March at the top of the conference.”
On Tuesday night, college basketball’s fragility was evident across the nation in general and in Ithaca, New York, specifically, where Colgate lost 78-68 to a Cornell team it had beaten four straight times. The Raiders came into that game shooting 40.8% from the 3-point line; they were 6-of-32 (.188) against Cornell. They missed open looks at the rim, they put the Big Red on the free-throw line 22 times and were outscored 14-4 there. They were handily outrebounded 50-40.
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Sapakoff: Clemson basketball coach Brad Brownell joins ACC's old guard (P&C; Sapakoff)
This isn’t Brad Brownell’s first time around a King Street block. Into his third Charleston Classic already, Brownell knew where to take his Clemson Tigers for dinner the Tuesday night before a Nov. 18 first-round game against Temple at TD Arena.
Charleston Classic
When: Nov. 18, Nov. 19, Nov. 21Where: TD Arena, Charleston
First-round matchups: No. 22 St. Bonaventure vs. Boise State, 2 p.m. (ESPN2); Clemson vs. Temple, 4 p.m. (ESPN2); Marquette vs. Ole Miss, 7 p.m. (ESPN2); West Virginia vs. Elon, 9:30 p.m. (ESPN2)
Tickets: Full tournament general admission, $133; single-session (two games) general admission, $27
More information: espnevents.com/charleston-classic/tickets/
ACC head coach tenures
ACC men’s basketball head coaches and year hired at current school:Jim Boeheim, Syracuse, 1976
Mike Krzyzewski, Duke, 1980
Mike Brey, Notre Dame, 2000
Leonard Hamilton, Florida State, 2002
Tony Bennett, Virginia, 2009
Brad Brownell, Clemson, 2010
Jim Larranaga, Miami, 2011
Josh Pastner Georgia Tech, 2016
Kevin Keatts, N.C. State, 2017
Chris Mack, Louisville, 2018
Jeff Capel, Pittsburgh, 2018
Mike Young, Virginia Tech, 2019
Steve Forbes, Wake Forest, 2020
Hubert Davis, North Carolina, 2021
Earl Grant, Boston College, 2021
Longest-serving Clemson men’s basketball head coaches and records:
Brad Brownell, 2010-2021 (12th season), 204-150
Banks McFadden, 1947-56 (10), 85-131
Cliff Ellis, 1985-94 (10), 177-128
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ACC Roundup - Virginia, UNC Struggle Again (DBR; King)
In Tuesday’s ACC Action, UNC came back to beat Charleston 94-83, Miami nipped FAU 68-66, Pitt got its first win, taking out Wilmington 59-51, the Pack attacked Central Connecticut 79-65 and Virginia fell at Houston by 20, 67-47.
Tony Bennett’s offense relies on precision and control and it’s pretty clear they didn’t have either here.
The Cavs had 17 turnovers and shot just 34.9 percent overall and hit just 4-19 on threes. They even struggled at the line where they shot just 13-21. Houston outscored Virginia 33-12 from the bonus-sphere. Coppin State should be a bit of a breather but we liked what we saw from them when they were in Cameron last year, then it’s Georgia and after another breather, Iowa.
Look, Tony Bennett is a great coach. He’s long since proven that. He can still make this a successful year, but this may be a season where he is mortal once again.
We’re only three games into the Hubert Davis era, but we can gain some mild insights. For instance, UNC has given up an average of 79 points so far and 85 in the last two.
Given that the opponents were Brown and Charleston, and both were close in the end says a lot about where UNC is now.
Good thing Armando Bacot had a game: he was 10-12 from the floor and had 12 boards. Dawson Garcia was more or less AWOL. Brady Manek had 17 off the bench but check this out: touted freshmen Dontrez Styles and D’Marco Dunn have combined to play just seven minutes so far. We thought they were better than that.
UNC better figure it out quick: Purdue is up this weekend and Michigan is on December 1st and UCLA on the 18th. Give Hubert credit for aggressive scheduling but UNC could look like Virginia after that.
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Mailbag: SEC Contenders, ACC's Struggles and More (SI; Sweeney)
Welcome to Sports Illustrated’s new weekly college hoops mailbag with Kevin Sweeney. Here, Kevin will field questions submitted via Twitter and email about a variety of topics in the sport. Have a question you’d like answered in a future mailbag? Send it to @CBB_Central on Twitter or Kevin.Sweeney@si.com (questions around either men’s or women’s basketball are welcome!). Without further ado, let’s get to your questions, which have been lightly edited for grammar and clarity...
Kristy asks: Regarding how they look early, in order your top six SEC finishers ...
I made only one tweak to my preseason rankings, moving Tennessee over Arkansas. Given the teams were just three spots apart nationally in my 1–358 rankings, it didn’t take much for me to make the switch, and I was impressed enough with Kennedy Chandler’s play for the Vols in their two season-opening buy-game wins for me to buy a little UT stock.
I also considered flipping Kentucky and Alabama after the Tide looked better than I expected them to in early-season tests against Louisiana Tech and South Dakota State, but I’m sticking to my UK guns for now. If Alabama does repeat as SEC champs in 2021–22, it will be because of the emergence of Keon Ellis on the wing. Ellis looks like a future NBA player and has exploded in his second year in the Tide system, averaging 17 points and 9.3 rebounds while shooting 50% from deep through three games. He’s athletic, defends multiple positions and is a high-level shooter, making this already-talented Alabama backcourt even more dangerous.
Another “no movement, but worth watching” team is Florida, who I was impressed with in a weekend win over Florida State. I think a large part of that victory is FSU’s still being a major work in progress on the offensive end, but the Gators really dominated both ends of the floor. Grad transfer wings Brandon McKissic and Phlandrous Fleming Jr. brought tremendous energy, and big man Colin Castleton may be one of the most underappreciated players in the sport.
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Other
A plate of Spaghetti Parmesan at Chef's restaurant in Buffalo, N.Y.
The story behind the Spaghetti Parm, Buffalo’s underrated pasta dish (PS; Kelly)
Buffalo, N.Y., is known for a variety of foods. The Buffalo wing was created at the Anchor Bar, Beef on Weck is served at almost every pub in the city, cup and char “grease pool” pepperoni floats on top of most pies in town. Other treats include sponge candy, Loganberry and more. Buffalo’s not just the city of good neighbors, it’s the city of amazing food.
A particular dish, well known by locals and frequent visitors, often flies somewhat under the radar, but deserves international recognition: The famous Spaghetti Parmesan at Chef’s Restaurant on Seneca Street.
The Spaghetti Parm has remained an important staple in the city, backed up by Chef’s owner Louis Billittier Jr. and his sister Mary Beth. The duo currently run the restaurant and will say, without a doubt, that the Spaghetti Parm is their No. 1 seller.
In 1962, Billittier was having lunch with Dave Thomas, a host of WKBW’s show Rocketship 7 in Buffalo, when they decided to try something different than just plain spaghetti. Billittier mixed in some butter with a dish of their red sauce on the side, while Thomas piled on the cheese. They then baked the dish until it was slightly browned and bubbly on top. At the time, these two men had no idea they were creating a legendary dish.
Since its invention, the Spaghetti Parm has become an icon in Buffalo. It’s used for rainy day comfort food, celebrations, family dinners, weddings and more. Chef’s Restaurant grew in popularity over the years, after bottling their sauce and baking delicious bread, but their loyal following is thanks to this cheese-packed dish.
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