Orangeyes Daily Articles for Monday for Basketball

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Welcome to Walt Disney Day!

Walt Disney Day is held on the first Monday of December in remembrance and honor of Walt Disney, whose birthday is December 5. Disney created cartoon characters, pioneered animated cartoon films, founded The Walt Disney Company, and came up with and built theme parks. During today's celebration, Disney movie marathons are held and cakes are often baked into the shape of Disney characters. Chicago, the city of Disney's birth, celebrates a Walt Disney Day on Disney's actual birthday each year.

Walter Elias Disney was born on December 5, 1901. When he was young, the family left Chicago and moved to a farm near Marceline, Missouri, where he showed a propensity for drawing and painting with crayons and watercolors. The family moved to Kansas City, Missouri, where Disney studied cartooning and then took classes at the Kansas City Art Institute and School of Design. Eventually, the family circled back to Chicago, where Disney went to high school. There he focused on taking photographs, drew for the school paper, studied cartooning on his own, and gained aspirations to be a newspaper cartoonist. But World War I arrived, and Disney found himself as an ambulance driver for the American Red Cross in Europe.

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Syracuse Orange forward Benny Williams (13) wins the rebound and looks to outmaneuver Cornell Big Red forward Keller Boothby (15) as Syracuse hosts Cornell Wednesday, December 29, 2021. N. Scott Trimble | strimble@syracuse.com

Cornell is climbing the Ivy League under Earl. What does the Big Red bring to Syracuse? (PS; $; Waters)

There has been a pecking order in the Ivy League.

For years, for decades even, teams like Princeton and Penn and more recently Harvard and Yale, have determined the Ancient Eight’s basketball fate.

The Tigers, last year’s Ivy League representative because they won the league tournament, beat Arizona and Missouri on their way to the Sweet 16 of the NCAA Tournament. Princeton, at 7-0, is receiving votes and gaining steam in the AP Top 25 poll this season.

Cornell coach Brian Earl said Yale might be better. Penn has already knocked off Villanova. Tommy Amaker’s Harvard group is expected to finish among the top half of the Ivy League this season.

So when Earl pondered ways to ascend from the middle of the Ivy pack, he eventually envisioned a bold new strategy to separate the Big Red from every other team in that conference.

Conceived during the Covid shutdown, Cornell would play fast. The Big Red would play essentially everybody on its bench to keep players fresh through the full-court presses and the breakneck pace.

This would be Cornell’s new calling card.

It’s been a couple seasons since Earl’s Cornell reinvention. And still, sticking to the strategy makes for some sleepless nights.

"It’s stressful,” Earl said from his office last week, after the Big Red disposed of Monmouth 91-87. “Coming off last night, these games are just tight at the end. We play in such a way where we’re up 10, some things happen and 40 seconds later, we’re up 3. Its very roller-coastery. I’m still not used to it. That’s not my personality.”

But Earl wants to win. So he is willing to gamble a bit, to roll the dice that Cornell can parlay its unique style into a run at the Ivy big boys.

Cornell is 7-1 this season, its win on the road at Fordham its biggest achievement. For two straight years, it has qualified for the four-team Ivy League Tournament that determines which program represents the league in the NCAA Tournament.

Earl, the 1999 Ivy League player of the year at Princeton, inherited a Cornell program in 2016 that was 10-18 and 3-11 in the final year of the Bill Courtney regime. In Cornell’s last two seasons, the Big Red is 32-22. It has finished fourth in the conference both years.
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Virginia coach Tony Bennett describes how Cavaliers dealt with Syracuse’s Judah Mintz: ‘Us vs. him’ (PS; $; Waters)

It would be very easy and oh-so-simple to boil down Syracuse’s 84-62 loss to Virginia on Saturday to the point guard battle between the Orange’s Judah Mintz and the Cavaliers’ Reece Beekman.

Beekman, the ACC’s reigning Defensive Player of the Year, exhibited his defensive prowess as he harassed Mintz into his worst game of the season. Mintz, who came into the game averaging 20.4 points, managed just five points in the loss. He shot 2-for-8 from the field. He had a season-low one assist.

Virginia coach Tony Bennett praised Beekman’s efforts against Mintz, but went onto say that the Syracuse sophomore had been the centerpiece of Virginia’s scouting report. In that respect, Bennett put his entire team’s focus on containing the Orange’s crafty scorer.
“First, Reece is a very good individual defender,’’ Bennett said, “but we talked about it before the game, it’s not Reece or whoever is matched up on Judah. It’s us versus him and we have to make it tough.’’

Mintz usually tries to put his defender on an island, but Virginia made sure that Beekman was no island. He had help whenever Mintz put the ball on the floor and tried to navigate his way to the basket.

“Own the lane,’’ Bennett said he told his team. “Jam the lane.’’

Mintz didn’t score for the first 16 minutes of the game. He finally got into the scorebook with a free throw at the 4:03 mark. He scored on a drive to the basket less than minute later. He scored again as the final seconds ticked off the clock, but by that time Virginia held a 37-24 lead.
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The Next Day: Loss to UVA shows Syracuse still can't compete with top competition (DO; Schiff)

Syracuse had no answer to Virginia’s stifling defense Saturday. UVA guard Reece Beekman held Judah Mintz to five points. The Orange committed 14 turnovers. The Cavaliers’ pack line formation took 7-foot-4 Naheem McLeod out of the contest and forced SU into directionless perimeter passing, which either resulted in rushed 3-point heaves or heavily contested mid-range pull-ups.

But what hurt SU most was a dazzling, season-best offensive display from UVA. Isaac McKneely finished with a career-high 22 points. Virginia shot 57.1% from 3. It finished with 21 assists and 84 total points — the Cavaliers’ highest mark of the 2023-24 campaign so far.

The Orange were never expected to saunter into John Paul Jones Arena and win big. Yet, coming off of an 80-57 trumping of LSU on Nov. 28, there was a quiet expectation that SU could escape with one, or at least keep things close.

What unfolded was a 22-point loss, its worst of the season.

“We knew it was going to be a challenge. We knew it was going to be hard,” said Syracuse head coach Adrian Autry. “In the second half we didn’t make it much of a game…The game was out of reach for us and we just got to keep working and getting better.”

SU’s (5-3, 0-1 Atlantic Coast Conference) 84-62 defeat at Virginia (7-1, 1-0 ACC) wiped away the few remaining celebratory wisps that might’ve spilled over from its victory against the Tigers. It extended SU’s drought at a Quad 1 win, last achieved in the 2020-21 season. It brought back memories of two harrowing double-digit losses to then-No. 7 Tennessee and then-No. 11 Gonzaga during the Allstate Maui Invitational.

And it induced swirling doubt around this young team’s ability, raising questions on whether Autry’s new-look squad will contend with upper-echelon opponents this year.

Based off of the scoreboard, the first 15 minutes went well. Maliq Brown tied the game at 17-17 off of a lefty finish through contact, but SU never looked comfortable scoring the ball.
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Syracuse men's basketball overwhelmed by three-ball and defense in loss to Virginia )waer.org; Sokolsky)

In its first conference matchup of the season, Virginia (7-1, 1-0 Atlantic Coast Conference) shot over 55% from beyond the three-point line in its 84-62 victory over Syracuse (5-3, 0-1 Atlantic Coast Conference). Eight of the Cavaliers’ 12 three-pointers came in the second half alone.

Five different UVA players connected from 3-point land, but none at a higher volume than guard Isaac McKneely. The sophomore went 6-8 from deep en route to a career-high 22 points. McKneely’s efforts helped propel the 'Hoos to a 21-3 scoring run in the second half.

“We just started screening better, cutting harder, and just getting better shots. We were getting stops. I think we put it all together,” McKneely said of Virginia's dominance in the second half. “When we put making shots and getting stops together, I think we’re hard to beat.”

As the game trudged on, those aforementioned stops put SU in more and more of a stranglehold. For the game’s first 13 minutes, the lead changed hands nine times. In the next 17 minutes of game time, the ‘Cuse was outscored 41-21.

Only four Orange players made more than a third of their shots. Syracuse’s leading scorer Judah Mintz, who came into the day averaging more than 20 points a contest, was held to five points on 2-8 shooting. The sophomore had no three-pointers for just the second time this season.

According to Cavaliers head coach Tony Bennett, slowing down Mintz was all part of the plan.

“It’s not Reece (Beekman) or whoever is matched up on Judah, it’s us versus him,” Bennett said after the game. “He’s so good at drawing fouls and making moves… we said ‘own the lane, jam the lane’.”
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Virginia shoots the lights out and shuts down Syracuse for 84-62 win (youtube; podcast; Axe)

Syracuse basketball went from one of its best performances of the year to one of its worst in a 84-62 loss to Virginia on Saturday afternoon. Brent Axe and Mike Waters break it down on Syracuse Basketball Postgame presented by Crouse Health. Axe and Waters discuss how Virginia not only played its usual tough defense, but shot the lights out from 3-point range. Was that more of Virginia hitting tough shots or SU failing to defend them? What does Syracuse need to learn from this game and can a young team flush it quickly in time to bounce back on Tuesday against Cornell? Brent and Mike also react to questions and opinions from our Syracuse Sports Insiders.

Syracuse Basketball: Top observations as the Orange loses big at Virginia (itlh; Adler)

Syracuse basketball ran into a Virginia team on Saturday afternoon that shot lights out from the field, and that’s a problem for the Orange or any other foe of the Cavaliers.

I say that because UVA is known for being a prolific defensive unit, and the Cavaliers have shown that yet again so far in the young 2023-24 season.

So if Virginia is putting the clamps down on defense but also putting up points in droves on offense, the Cavaliers are going to prove pretty much unbeatable on any given day or night. This was the case on Saturday afternoon at the John Paul Jones Arena in Charlottesville, Va.

UVA (7-1, 1-0 in the ACC) connected on better than 50 percent from the field as a whole and also from the 3-point line, while the Orange struggled with its shooting. That led to an 84-62 road setback for the ‘Cuse (5-3, 0-1 in the ACC), which a few days ago had looked awesome in pounding LSU at home in the inaugural ACC/SEC Challenge.

Here are my top observations as Syracuse basketball fell by 22 points at Virginia.

•The Cavaliers entered this Atlantic Coast Conference opener for both teams averaging about 65 points per game. They got 84 points on Saturday afternoon, while connecting on 54.5 percent from the field, 57.1 percent from beyond the arc, and 80.0 percent from the free-throw line.

•UVA built up a 13-point lead at halftime, and then the Cavaliers proceeded to make 7-of-8 from 3-point range to begin the second half. Ball game. When a defensive-minded squad shoots like that, there’s not much an opponent can do.

•Conversely, Syracuse basketball only hit on 40.7 percent from the field, 25.0 percent from deep and 68.4 percent from the charity stripe.
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Syracuse Basketball: 4-star, 5-star recruits ball out at elite prep showcase (itlh; Adler)

Not too long ago, the annual National Prep Showcase took place in New Haven, Conn., with recruiting experts praising various Syracuse basketball recruits for their performances at this prestigious event.

According to national analysts and scouts, those Orange targets who played at a high level in the National Prep Showcase included 2026 four-star point guard Deron Rippey Jr., 2025 five-star wing Joson Sanon, 2025 three-star point guard Keyshuan Tillery and 2025 four-star small forward London Jemison.

All of these high school players hold scholarship offers from the ‘Cuse coaching staff, and these offers were doled out by Syracuse basketball in recent months.

Rippey has an interest in taking an unofficial visit to the Hill at some point, his dad has told me. Tillery participated in the Orange’s annual Elite Camp this past August. Jemison, per On3 national analyst Jamie Shaw, plans to officially visit the ‘Cuse toward the end of December.

Syracuse basketball targets were top performers at an elite prep-school event.

Sanon is a standout junior at the Vermont Academy in Saxtons River, Vt. Jemison attends the St. Thomas More School in Oakdale, Conn.

Tillery, an Albany, N.Y., native, is out of the New Hampton School in New Hampton, N.H., while Rippey, who hails from Brooklyn, N.Y., goes to the Blair Academy in Blairstown, N.J.

The analysts and scouts at The Circuit included these four Orange recruits when handing out honors following the conclusion of the National Prep Showcase.

Tillery was placed on the event’s third team, while Jemison, Sanon and Rippey earned honorable-mention nods. Per The Circuit, here are some of the statistics for these prospects at the National Prep Showcase:

Keyshaun Tillery
Game One: 29 points, 10 rebounds, seven assists and two steals
Game Two: Nine points, 12 rebounds, eight assists and two steals
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ACC Roundup - UNC’s Massive Comeback And Virginia Wins Big (DBR; King)

Saturday was the opening day of ACC play and the games went pretty much as expected, but with one exception, they were all reasonably close.

Miami beat Notre Dame 62-49, UNC took care of Florida State 78-70, Virginia cracked Syracuse 84-62 and NC State knocked off Boston College 84-78 in OT.

Miami-Notre Dame was about defense and Miami’s was better. The ‘Canes pretty much shut down freshman star Markus Burton, holding him to six points.

Just as we thought, as anyone who pays attention probably thought, Miami was just going to be better than the Irish, and they were.

The only surprising thing to us here was that Miami’s bench was so unproductive.

By the way, we’re enjoying the rise of JR Konieczny. Just about everyone left South Bend when Mike Brey did but Konieczny stuck around. He’s really improved and is making a considerable impact. This is one of the best ACC stories of the early part of the season.

We didn’t have a great feel for UNC-Florida State but as it turned out, FSU put a lot of pressure on the Tar Heels, going up by 14. But the Heels put it right back on the ‘Noles, ripping off a 22-0 run with some full court pressure.

RJ Davis is having a great season so far but he’s still taking about a third of UNC’s shots, which kind of makes how to defend this team obvious. Seeing it and doing it are two different things, but if you can cut off or limit a third of UNC’s offense, you’ll be in good shape.

This is more true because, for whatever reason, Armando Bacot seems to be off his feed offensively.

Cormac Ryan returned to the starting lineup but shot just 2-9. Elliot Cadeau is also emerging. He didn’t have a great game here necessarily, but for the season, he’s got 29 assists to nine turnovers.
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Other

The Remington Arms factory in Ilion has reopened.Gary Walts | syracuse.com

Remington Arms, America’s oldest gunmaker, to close original plant in Upstate NY next year (PS; Hernandez)

After nearly two centuries, Remington Arms, the oldest gunmaker in the nation, has announced that they will close their doors in Upstate New York next year.

The Utica Observer Dispatch reported that a memo addressed to employees said that operations at the Herkimer County facility will cease on or about March 4, 2024. It also read, “The Company did not arrive at this decision lightly.”

Remington Arms has been producing firearms in Illion since 1816 and has employed generations of local families. In the past few years however, the facility has been affected by layoffs, temporary closures, bankruptcy and sold in pieces at auction.

In 2012, a Remington Bushmaster AR-15 rifle was used to kill 20 first-graders and six educators in the Sandy Hook shooting in Connecticut. The company no longer makes the rifle and the families of nine victims in the tragedy were awarded $73 million in a lawsuit against the gunmaker.

When the company went up for auction, Roundhill Group LLC purchased the Remington Arms’ gun factory Ilion and its handgun barrel factory in Lenoir City, Tennessee for $13 million in 2020. Roundhill operated the Ilion operation under the name of RemArms, LLC.

In 2021, RemArms moved the company headquarters from Upstate NY to Georgia where they planned to invest $100 million into a new plant and research facility.

After this week’s memo about the closure the United Mine Workers Union, who represents the workers in Illion, released a statement opening with “Merry Christmas from RemArms.” Cecil E. Roberts, the union’s international president said the closure was extremely disappointing and the timing before the holidays is “a slap in the face.”

About a decade ago, the plant employed over 1,000 people. Currently over 250 people are employed at the Illion facility.
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