Orangeyes Daily Articles for Monday for Basketball

[sutomcat]

Welcome to The Epiphany!

Epiphany is a Christian feast day celebrating God coming into the flesh as Jesus Christ. It is celebrated differently in Western and Eastern churches, and there are various customs around the world. The word "epiphany" comes from a Greek word meaning "to appear." Epiphany may have originated in the eastern half of the Roman Empire as a feast to honor Jesus' baptism, and then expanded to include a celebration of his birth, the visit of the Magi, and the events of Jesus' childhood. The day began being celebrated in the latter half of the fourth century.

In Western churches the day commemorates the visit of the Magi—the day that Jesus was revealed to Gentiles. In some Western denominations, Epiphany starts the liturgical season of Epiphanytide, and the night before is many times celebrated as Twelfth Night.

SU News

JJ Starling returns to Syracuse basketball after hand injury: ‘I felt good. I wanted to come back’ (PS; $; Ditota)

JJ Starling attended a Syracuse shootaround here Saturday. And after it was over he told his coach he felt good enough to play in the Orange men’s game against Florida State.

It had been 37 days since Starling played in a college basketball game. He broke his hand during a Dec. 2 practice. His team played seven games without him and went 2-5 during that stretch.

Starling said he considered SU’s opponent, Florida State, in his decision-making process. The Seminoles get up and down the court, which benefits a guy like Starling, who likes to get downhill with his dribble.

And Starling said his hand felt healed enough to play.

“It was just basically all up to me how I was feeling mentally, you know,” he said after SU lost to FSU 90-74. “But I felt good, and I felt like today was going to be a good game to come back in. I had two live practices under my belt. And I wanted to come back.”

Syracuse did not practice on Wednesday, but Starling participated in Thursday and Friday practices.

He and SU coach Adrian Autry said as the days and weeks progressed, Starling was subjected to various tests to determine the health of his hand.
...

https://www.syracuse.com/orangebask...l-defense-has-nearly-hit-rock-bottom.html(PS; Ditota)

Among the issues Syracuse had at Florida State was its inability to guard the Seminoles.

FSU scored 54 second-half points. It shot 57% in the second half.

The Seminoles outscored Syracuse 54-40 during that time frame. They shot 63% on 2-point shots and 44.4% on 3-point shots.

FSU either drove it into the heart of the SU defense and scored or passed it inside and scored. If the Seminoles didn’t score, they got to the free throw line, where they converted 18-of-23 free throws in the second half alone.

SU was 12-of-17 from the line for the entire game.

Syracuse ranks 273rd nationally (kenpom.com) in defending shots inside the 3-point arc. Among its ACC brethren, only Virginia Tech (336th) is worse. Among power-conference teams, only Oklahoma (287th), Virginia Tech and Iowa (299th) have more trouble guarding 2-point shots than SU.

Florida State, said forward Taylor Bol Bowen, understood how vulnerable SU was in the middle. SU does not have a rim protector. The Orange ranks 273rd in blocked shots.

“Yeah, for sure,” Bowen said. “I think that we definitely had a size advantage down low, and I think that Malique (Ewin) and myself, being much bigger and athletic, we just wanted to abuse those matchups as much as possible.”

Because Syracuse struggled to guard the Seminoles, the Orange piled up fouls.

By the end of the game, Petar Majstorovic and Kyle Cuffe Jr. fouled out. Eddie Lampkin and Lucas Taylor had four fouls apiece.

Syracuse tried a zone about midway through the second half with Donnie Freeman in the middle and Jyare Davis and Chris Bell on the baseline. Syracuse has struggled all season to contain guard penetration and to stop opponents from scoring at or near the rim.

“I think the zone is something that we work on. It had nothing to do with them scoring in the paint,” SU coach Adrian Autry said. “It was really more of trying to give them a different look because they had caught a rhythm. We wanted to see if we can kind of get them out of rhythm. We got a couple of stops, but not a lot.

“And, you know, we fouled. We’re fouling in the zone. That’s not good.”
...

Eric Devendorf offers strong defense of Adrian Autry: ‘You guys on social media have no clue’ (PS; Axe)

Former Syracuse basketball star Eric Devendorf offered a staunch defense of the job Adrian Autry is doing as head coach of men’s basketball program on the ACC Network Saturday night.

Devendorf was working as the color commentator on the Syracuse-Florida State broadcast along with play-by-play announcer Ariya Massoudi.

Devendorf brought up the opinion as the ACC Network showed the SU women’s basketball team in the crowd in Tallahassee (the women’s teams plays Florida State on Sunday) and mentioned how it was struggling this season as well. The Orange women have a 6-7 record so far this season.

Devendorf did not hold back in responding to social media criticism of Autry, who has a 26-20 record as Orange head coach in two seasons.

“I know they are struggling this season and the fans are putting a lot of heat on Coach Red, but like I said, 20 wins the first season,” Devendorf said. “This year hasn’t gone as imagined so far. All you guys on social media saying this and that, you really have no clue. What goes on behind the scenes and all the stuff they have to deal with. Coach Red is doing as well of a job as he can. He’ll continue to get better.”

Syracuse lost to Florida State 90-74, falling to 6-8 (0-3) on the season.
...

As a fervent fan since the 1980s, the current state of Syracuse basketball saddens me (itlh; Adler)

I've loved the Syracuse basketball program since the 1980s, when I started to really get into collegiate hoops.

And that adoration for the Orange came before I ever set foot on the SU campus, as I attended Syracuse University from 1996 until 2000, graduating with a bachelor's degree in broadcast journalism and a minor in philosophy.

Like many of its peers around the country, the 'Cuse has had its share of ups and downs over the years and decades. But still, under former head coach Jim Boeheim, the legendary Hall of Famer, Syracuse basketball years ago was often winning at least 20 regular-season games, picking up wins in the Big East Conference Tournament, landing solid seeds in the Big Dance and going on deep runs in the annual NCAA Tournament.

Heck, even not too long ago, from 2009 until 2014, the Orange under Boeheim had one of its best stretches in program history, winning 27 contests or more every term, and advancing to a Final Four, an Elite Eight, and two Sweet 16s.

Yet the team's move to the Atlantic Coast Conference in the 2013-14 season, sadly, marked the ongoing downward trajectory of Syracuse basketball. I'm in no way suggesting that the Orange can't get back to ACC and national relevancy, and I love my alma mater like it's nobody's business, but at the same time, I'm disheartened with where the 'Cuse currently resides.
...

McCollum leads Georgia Tech against Syracuse after 20-point showing | FOX Sports (foxsports.com; AP)

Georgia Tech Yellow Jackets (8-7, 2-2 ACC) at Syracuse Orange (6-8, 0-3 ACC)

Syracuse, New York; Tuesday, 7 p.m. EST

BOTTOM LINE: Georgia Tech plays Syracuse after Javian McCollum scored 20 points in Georgia Tech's 85-64 win against the Boston College Eagles.

The Orange have gone 6-2 at home. Syracuse allows 79.7 points to opponents and has been outscored by 3.1 points per game.

The Yellow Jackets are 2-2 against ACC opponents. Georgia Tech has a 3-7 record against opponents over .500.

Syracuse's average of 5.6 made 3-pointers per game is 2.5 fewer made shots on average than the 8.1 per game Georgia Tech allows. Georgia Tech averages 77.3 points per game, 2.4 fewer than the 79.7 Syracuse gives up to opponents.

The Orange and Yellow Jackets match up Tuesday for the first time in ACC play this season.

TOP PERFORMERS: Chris Bunch is shooting 27.3% from beyond the arc with 1.1 made 3-pointers per game for the Orange, while averaging 10.1 points.

Lance Terry is averaging 15.6 points for the Yellow Jackets.
https://www.yeti.com/collections/sh...WgMLeAV73ZngEkAE8vrByDay2IoqOmz1_LQ0L59MMjkWA
Local Syracuse Sports Radio lacks female representation (itlh; Fiello)

I’ve been on Twitter/social media now since 2009. I joined mostly to meet more Syracuse Orange fans and be more informed about Syracuse sports. The only reason I keep coming back is the friends I’ve made and the quality of professionals who provide important and informative content despite the growing amount of negativity they likely face.

In the 15 years I’ve been on there, some of my favorite fans and people who cover these sports are women. This isn’t surprising as I grew up playing sports with girls and knew many women who followed Cuse sports as much as me and other guys. Heck, my mom played sports and watched with us even sometimes.

I have noticed that the local TV stations have female representation in their sports departments. The local news website Syracuse.com has women who cover local sports. A couple of the local female sports journalists have a podcast called Orange Zone with a woman producer.

Yet the only time the local sports talk stations seem to have a female host is as a guest or when they air a national show or occasionally in the Newhouse after Noon show on the ESPN Syracuse radio station.


And listen, I’m not trying to sound like I know the business well enough to know everything and I respect the local radio scene for having local options. However, I just find it interesting that the local sports scene has women who cover the sports in depth but don’t have a show on local radio with at least one woman on it. That needs to change.

It's important to have more female representation in the local Syracuse sports radio scene.

I have campaigned in the past that I thought the perfect show would be former NewsChannel 9 sports journalist Alex Sims and former Spectrum News sports reporter Kate Callaway. They had a great chemistry together and both were entrenched in the local sports scene. Now both have moved on as Kate works for Hope for the Warriors, a charity that helps military families, and Alex still dabbles in sports and sports fantasy but is no longer with NewsChannel 9.
...

MBB: Saturday Results 2025 Jan 4 (RX; HM)

MBB: Saturday Results 2025 Jan 4

ACC Men's Basketball
#4 Duke moved to 4-0 in the ACC by winning at SMU, 89-62
Georgia Tech took care of BC at home, 85-64
Wake Forest handled NC State at home, 77-59
UNC eked out a victory at Notre Dame, 74-73
Virginia Tech held server vs Miami, 86-85
Louisville got what I believe is their first ever road win at UVa, 70-50
Florida State beat Syracuse at home, 90-74
Pitt remained unbeaten in the ACC by taking down Stanford at home, 83-68
Clemson also kept their ACC record unblemished by beating Cal at home, 80-68

Comments​

Duke is very good - national championship contenders
Clemson and Pitt are very good, probably Sweet 16 at least
The jury's still out on North Carolina and SMU
Georgia Tech, Louisville, and Wake Forest are all making moves

Other

In this Feb. 29, 2024, file photo, Liverpool village crews clear streets after a burst of lake effect snow. Saturday was the snowiest day in Syracuse since that Leap Day storm, with 9 inches falling. (Scott Schild | sschild@syracuse.com)Scott Schild | sschild@syracuse.com

See snow totals for Upstate NY’s first storm of 2025: Check out who got 5 feet + (chart) (PS; $; Coin)

Parts of Upstate New York have already seen more than 5 feet of snow in the first lake effect storm of the new year.

The biggest total so far is the northern Oneida County town of Camden, where 65 inches has fallen in the multiday storm.

The nearby communities of Westernville and Ava posted totals of 64 and 60 inches, respectively. The chart below lists snowfall reports from more than 100 locations in Upstate New York.

And it’s not over: The National Weather Service has extended lake effect snow warnings until tonight as strong winds continue blasting snow off Lake Ontario.

“Additional snow accumulations between 6 and 10 inches (are possible) within the most intense snow bands north of the Thruway,“ the warning said.

The warnings are in effect for Cayuga, Lewis, Madison, Oneida, Onondaga and Oswego counties.

Travel advisories remain in effect until further notice in Onondaga and Oneida counties. A travel advisory expires in Cayuga County at noon.

In Syracuse, 14.4 inches has fallen since the storm started on New Year’s Day. Most of that snow came Saturday, when the official weather service station at Hancock International Airport measured 9 inches. That made Saturday the snowiest day in Syracuse since the Leap Day storm of 2024, when 10 inches blanketed the city.
...

 

[Ozone!]