sutomcat
No recent Cali or Iggy awards; Mr Irrelevant
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Welcome to National Signing Day (Early Football)!
One of the most exciting moments for a student-athlete is receiving a verbal scholarship offer. Years of hard work have led to this moment. However, nothing is official until you sign the National Letter of Intent (NLI.) Not every school uses the NLI—about 650 NCAA DI and DII schools. It’s not mandatory to sign, but every year more than 48,000 student-athletes do. The National Letter of Intent is not affiliated directly with the NCAA; it was created by the Collegiate Commissioners Association to protect both the college and student from either party backing out.
SU News
Orange Watch: Syracuse basketball is 5-5 after 10 games again - The Juice Online (the juice; Bierman)
Item: For the second time in three seasons, Syracuse basketball is 5-5 after 10 games. It’s also the third time in five years that the Orange has dropped five games before the end of December, a trend that’s not sitting well with the fanbase.
In this era of college basketball, it’s almost impossible to ignore a taxing early-season schedule with so many neutral court tournaments at warm resort settings and not-so-warm locales bidding for top draws, the made-for-TV inter-conference “Challenges,” and one-off events like the Jimmy V Classic.
There’s only so many games that can be scheduled against mid-majors and smaller schools, and even matching up with an experienced smaller school can be rife with obstacles in any given season.
That’s where things stand for this year’s Syracuse squad with three new starters. The upset by Colgate, being blitzed twice in the Bahamas, losing to Top Ten Villanova on a neutral court, taken down late by a longtime rival Georgetown, offset against escaping with wins that looked like defeats at home against Indiana and on the road at Florida State.
“This has been an incredibly tough stretch for these guys. We’ve had five practices in 15 days and we need some more time in the gym,” Jim Boeheim said after the latest loss Saturday in D.C. against the Hoyas. “They’ve fought as hard as I could ask them to fight, but they’re worn out, they need this week to get back and get some practices in.”
In a sense, there is a reset to the season. A week between the next game against 1-8 Lehigh Saturday in the Dome (6:00 p.m. ET/ACC Network), followed by a step-up game against 8-3 Cornell Dec. 21, before a return to ACC play the rest of the way beginning Dec. 29 at home against Georgia Tech.
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Syracuse basketball recruit Justin Taylor (5) shoots a jump shot. Taylor plays this season for IMG Academy's post-grad team. Photo courtesy of IMG
Syracuse basketball recruit Justin Taylor resembles Buddy Boeheim, hopes to step into his role (PS; $; Ditota)
The first time it happened, Jim Boeheim appeared at the Syracuse airport to pick up Justin Taylor for his official recruiting visit.
A woman saw them together and assumed that Taylor was Buddy Boeheim. Over the course of Taylor’s visit to Syracuse’s campus, including his lunch at Varsity Pizza, the stares and whispers continued.
"People were like, ‘Is that him?’” Taylor remembered.
It would not be difficult to mistake the two.
Buddy Boeheim is 6-foot-6, broad-shouldered and often seen in the company of his dad. Justin Taylor is a 6-foot-7, broad-shouldered and headed to Syracuse hoping to assume a spot in the Syracuse rotation that will be vacated when Buddy Boeheim graduates next spring.
Buddy Boeheim was Taylor’s host on his recruiting visit and the two continue to trade texts.
Taylor, a four-star shooting guard from Charlottesville, Virginia, acknowledges the college trajectory of Buddy Boeheim influenced his decision to choose the Orange from a list that included hometown Virginia, Indiana and North Carolina. He witnessed Boeheim’s progression from a catch-and-shoot 3-point specialist into a more versatile offensive threat. And he believes Syracuse and Gerry McNamara can similarly transform his game.
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ESPN Syracuse: On The Block On Demand 12-14 on Apple Podcasts (apple.com; radio; Axe)
Brent shares some of his thoughts on college football coaches complaining about the transfer portal. Later, he shares some of the highlights from his interview with Cole Swider on The Free Throw Show.
Syracuse Basketball: Metrics for Orange at this point in term are fairly poor (itlh; Adler)
Syracuse basketball sits at 5-5 overall and 1-0 in Atlantic Coast Conference play as the Orange hits the practice floor this week in preparation for hosting Lehigh on Saturday, Dec. 18, in the evening from the Carrier Dome.
With just Lehigh and Cornell left on the non-conference docket for the ‘Cuse, should the Orange take care of those two foes, Syracuse basketball will finish up the non-conference slate at 6-5.
That’s a sub-par record, but the ‘Cuse has also faced a really challenging schedule to date. After that, Syracuse basketball will be fully immersed in ACC clashes to close out the 2021-22 regular season.
Unless the Orange improves within its zone defense and on the glass, I can’t foresee the ‘Cuse being a significant contender for a March Madness berth come next spring.
This is not pessimism on my part, as I love Syracuse basketball like nothing else. But I do believe it’s the reality of where the Orange resides at this point in the 2021-22 stanza.
Let’s take a look at various metrics for Syracuse basketball through 10 games.
At the time of this writing, the ‘Cuse held a No. 68 overall rating via kenpom.com, which isn’t great. The Orange’s adjusted offensive efficiency was No. 22, which is solid, while the team’s adjusted defensive efficiency was No. 166, which is bad.
But like I said earlier, Syracuse basketball has competed against a formidable calendar so far. Case in point, the Orange’s strength of schedule rating, according to kenpom.com, is No. 15.
Looking at the latest NET ranking for Syracuse basketball, it absolutely has a lot of room to go up. The ‘Cuse was at No. 126 when I penned this column.
The Orange is 3-1 at home, 1-1 on the road and 1-3 at neutral sites. Syracuse basketball is 0-2 in quadrant-one games, 2-1 in quadrant two, 1-1 in quadrant three and 2-1 in quadrant four.
Two of the Orange’s setbacks are understandable, as Villanova is No. 9 in the NET, and Auburn is No. 12. The problem is that the other three losses are to No. 74 VCU, No. 172 Georgetown and No. 178 Colgate.
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Other
Long-abandoned Syracuse Developmental Center might house drone manufacturing center, state says (PS; Craig)
A high-tech manufacturing facility may become the first tenant in the long-dormant and dilapidated Syracuse Developmental Center, the governor’s office said today.
Under a plan submitted to the state, Fotokite, a drone company housed in The Tech Garden, would get $5 million in state funds if it spends $21 million to develop a drone manufacturing facility and add 200 jobs in Syracuse.
The company listed the old Syracuse Developmental Center, now owned by the city, as the proposed site for its facility when it applied for grants from the state.
The building opened in the 1970s as a state-operated home for people with developmental disabilities. It has been abandoned since it closed in 1998.
The city seized the property in 2019 over back taxes owed by the previous owner. The site includes a more than 600,000-square-foot building at 800 S. Wilbur Ave. surrounded by 47 acres of land.
The city sought proposals from developers for the site but didn’t select any bidders, said Greg Loh, a spokesman for the mayor’s office. Now, the city is considering Fotokite’s plan and several other uses for the site.
But at this stage, the city is just in early talks with the company, Loh said — plans for the site aren’t finalized yet.
Fotokite makes tethered drones, which means the drone can launch, fly and land without a pilot, according to the company’s website. Because the drone is tethered to something on the ground — a tree or a fire truck, for example — it won’t accidentally fly away from where it’s needed.
The company has three main locations: in Syracuse, Colorado and Switzerland.
