sutomcat
No recent Cali or Iggy awards; Mr Irrelevant
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SU News
Q&A with Rakeem Christmas: On Toughness, Patience, Uniqueness and SpongeBob (PS; Ditota)
Rakeem Christmas, the lone senior on the Syracuse basketball roster, is poised this season to graduate from his team's fifth offensive option to a primary scoring weapon in the Orange arsenal.
So says SU coach Jim Boeheim.
This development pleases Christmas, who has endured years of "instruction" from his coach to arrive at an understanding of his role and his responsibilities. Born in the Virgin Islands, reared by his grandmother and then his aunt Amira Hamid after his mother died when he was 5, Christmas talked about his island upbringing, his toughness, his final opportunity to shine, SpongeBob SquarePants and his quest to be "different."
The conversation
Q: So at Ed Smith School last week, Coach Boeheim referred to you as his most valuable player. You looked a little startled when he said it. Is it tough to wrap your mind around your sudden value?
Christmas: I hear him say it all the time now. It's just instilling it into my brain that I'm really the guy that everyone has to look up to. If there's a dire decision, it's going to come down to me.
...
Today is the Daily Orange Basketball Preview, Hence All These Links...
Tall Order; Get to Know Rakeem Christmas (DO; D'Abbraccio)
The time has come for Rakeem Christmas to come out of his shell. Slowly, the transformation is happening.
He’s graduated from the depths of Jim Boeheim’s doghouse, as well as Syracuse University itself. The graduate-student life for Christmas entails fewer than six hours of class per week and plenty more time to work on his game.
But whether he establishes himself as a consistent threat doesn’t only dictate how much of his transformation is complete; the Orange’s success hinges on it.
When SU’s outside shooting collapsed midway through last season, the team — short on scoring options from the inside — followed suit. The Orange is returning just over 37 percent of its points from last year — the lowest in Jim Boeheim’s 38 years with SU — and it will need Christmas, its lone senior, to be something he’s never been before.
...
Fresh Again, Meet Kaleb Joseph and Chris McCullough (DO; Dougherty)
Kaleb Joseph took off his basketball sneakers and scrolled through his phone, crouching in front of the same locker point guard Tyler Ennis occupied a year ago. Then he was crowded by cameras and tape recorders, like Ennis always was, and smiled while rattling off answers — accepting as many compliments as he dished out.
Chris McCullough weaved through a crowd of his teammates and reporters in nothing but a towel, retreating to the same corner that forward Jerami Grant used to sit in while he got dressed after games.
Joseph and McCullough stood in the place of the players they’re effectively replacing — if not by exact position and skill set, then in the two starting spots that have both freshmen on an express track.
“We are going to need them to do a lot,” SU assistant coach Adrian Autry said of Joseph and McCullough. “They know that and the team knows that. When you lose a lot of production and bring in two high-profile guys, the expectation is that they are ready. And they are.”
...
Unsettled Score; A Look at the 2014-15 SU Basketball Team (DO; Staff)
...
After falling to Dayton in the Round of 32 of the NCAA Tournament to finish last season, Daily Orange men’s basketball beat writers Phil D’Abbraccio, Jesse Dougherty and Jacob Klinger predict how the Orange will finish this time around.
PHIL D'ABBRACCIO
The Real Slim Shady
...
Freshman McCullough Looks to Improve Offensively Against Kennesaw State (DO; Klinger)
Chris McCullough was getting to where he needed to be, the basket. He was already towering over his defenders, but he wasn’t finishing. Bumps and hand checks from players that he stood at least five inches taller than were enough to throw off would-be routine finishes.
“He gets bumped and he misses layup shots, he’s just — he’s got a ways to go,” SU head coach Jim Boeheim said. “He’s got to be real strong around the basket, but he’s active. He’s going after the ball.”
Syracuse needs McCullough to make the kind of close-range shots he missed in an exhibition win over Adrian on Tuesday night. They’re the chances that shift early-season games from uneasy contests to comfortable wins. The Orange will have its first regular-season matchup against Kennesaw State on Friday at 7 p.m. in the Carrier Dome.
...
Trevor Cooney: Steady as He Goes (DO; Klinger)
He heaves shots — hundreds of them — at a hoop, alone, in a gym. Any gym will do, and even just a hoop and a ball will work. Because before there was a gym, there was a driveway and before there was a driveway, there was a basement and before that, a kitchen.
And the whole time there was the shooter, relentlessly honing his craft, arcing a ball through a hoop.
There was Trevor Cooney.
Cooney’s a Division I athlete and a serviceable defender in Syracuse’s 2-3 zone, but so much of his legacy as well as the fate of SU’s upcoming season simply rests on how often he can score.
Jim Boeheim needs him to. The Orange is returning just over 37 percent of its points from last year — the lowest in Boeheim’s 38 years with SU — and putting points on the board, often three at a time, is what Cooney needs to do to carry him and his teammates deeper into the season.
...
Recruiting
Lydon, Diagne Sign Letters of Intent; Class of 2015 Howard and Richardson to Follow (DO; Klinger)
Tyler Lydon signed his national letter of intent to play for Syracuse on Wednesday afternoon. The four-star 6-foot-9 Class of 2015 power forward is the first of four SU commits in the class to sign.
Fellow four-star power forward Moustapha Diagne signed later in the day.
Six-foot-6 guard Franklin Howard and small forward Malachi Richardson said on Twitter that they would sign on Thursday and Saturday, respectively.
ACC News
Virginia Prepares to Defend ACC Championship, Earn Respect (DO; Hyber)
Think Atlantic Coast Conference basketball.
It’s Duke and Mike Krzyzewski. It’s North Carolina and Tobacco Road. In the past two years, it’s added Jim Boeheim and Syracuse, then Rick Pitino and Louisville. Historical programs with continued success.
Quietly, there’s an under-the-radar power brewing in Charlottesville, Virginia. The Cavaliers went 30-7 last season, winning the ACC tournament and reaching the NCAA Tournament Sweet 16.
Yet despite winning 16 of 18 games last season in one of the country’s elite basketball conferences, the Cavaliers enter this season ranked ninth in the country and No. 4 in the preseason ACC poll.
“We realize that Duke and Carolina and Syracuse and Louisville are always going to be talked about at a different level,” Virginia associate head coach Ritchie McKay said. “But for us, we like the way our program’s growing. We feel like we can attract a terrific student-athlete.
...
Q&A with Rakeem Christmas: On Toughness, Patience, Uniqueness and SpongeBob (PS; Ditota)
Rakeem Christmas, the lone senior on the Syracuse basketball roster, is poised this season to graduate from his team's fifth offensive option to a primary scoring weapon in the Orange arsenal.
So says SU coach Jim Boeheim.
This development pleases Christmas, who has endured years of "instruction" from his coach to arrive at an understanding of his role and his responsibilities. Born in the Virgin Islands, reared by his grandmother and then his aunt Amira Hamid after his mother died when he was 5, Christmas talked about his island upbringing, his toughness, his final opportunity to shine, SpongeBob SquarePants and his quest to be "different."
The conversation
Q: So at Ed Smith School last week, Coach Boeheim referred to you as his most valuable player. You looked a little startled when he said it. Is it tough to wrap your mind around your sudden value?
Christmas: I hear him say it all the time now. It's just instilling it into my brain that I'm really the guy that everyone has to look up to. If there's a dire decision, it's going to come down to me.
...
Today is the Daily Orange Basketball Preview, Hence All These Links...
Tall Order; Get to Know Rakeem Christmas (DO; D'Abbraccio)
The time has come for Rakeem Christmas to come out of his shell. Slowly, the transformation is happening.
He’s graduated from the depths of Jim Boeheim’s doghouse, as well as Syracuse University itself. The graduate-student life for Christmas entails fewer than six hours of class per week and plenty more time to work on his game.
But whether he establishes himself as a consistent threat doesn’t only dictate how much of his transformation is complete; the Orange’s success hinges on it.
When SU’s outside shooting collapsed midway through last season, the team — short on scoring options from the inside — followed suit. The Orange is returning just over 37 percent of its points from last year — the lowest in Jim Boeheim’s 38 years with SU — and it will need Christmas, its lone senior, to be something he’s never been before.
...
Fresh Again, Meet Kaleb Joseph and Chris McCullough (DO; Dougherty)
Kaleb Joseph took off his basketball sneakers and scrolled through his phone, crouching in front of the same locker point guard Tyler Ennis occupied a year ago. Then he was crowded by cameras and tape recorders, like Ennis always was, and smiled while rattling off answers — accepting as many compliments as he dished out.
Chris McCullough weaved through a crowd of his teammates and reporters in nothing but a towel, retreating to the same corner that forward Jerami Grant used to sit in while he got dressed after games.
Joseph and McCullough stood in the place of the players they’re effectively replacing — if not by exact position and skill set, then in the two starting spots that have both freshmen on an express track.
“We are going to need them to do a lot,” SU assistant coach Adrian Autry said of Joseph and McCullough. “They know that and the team knows that. When you lose a lot of production and bring in two high-profile guys, the expectation is that they are ready. And they are.”
...
Unsettled Score; A Look at the 2014-15 SU Basketball Team (DO; Staff)
...
After falling to Dayton in the Round of 32 of the NCAA Tournament to finish last season, Daily Orange men’s basketball beat writers Phil D’Abbraccio, Jesse Dougherty and Jacob Klinger predict how the Orange will finish this time around.
PHIL D'ABBRACCIO
The Real Slim Shady
- Regular season record: 21-10
- ACC regular season finish: 5th
- ACC tournament finish: Quarterfinal
- NCAA Tournament seeding: 8
- Finish: Round of 32 loss
...
Freshman McCullough Looks to Improve Offensively Against Kennesaw State (DO; Klinger)
Chris McCullough was getting to where he needed to be, the basket. He was already towering over his defenders, but he wasn’t finishing. Bumps and hand checks from players that he stood at least five inches taller than were enough to throw off would-be routine finishes.
“He gets bumped and he misses layup shots, he’s just — he’s got a ways to go,” SU head coach Jim Boeheim said. “He’s got to be real strong around the basket, but he’s active. He’s going after the ball.”
Syracuse needs McCullough to make the kind of close-range shots he missed in an exhibition win over Adrian on Tuesday night. They’re the chances that shift early-season games from uneasy contests to comfortable wins. The Orange will have its first regular-season matchup against Kennesaw State on Friday at 7 p.m. in the Carrier Dome.
...
Trevor Cooney: Steady as He Goes (DO; Klinger)
He heaves shots — hundreds of them — at a hoop, alone, in a gym. Any gym will do, and even just a hoop and a ball will work. Because before there was a gym, there was a driveway and before there was a driveway, there was a basement and before that, a kitchen.
And the whole time there was the shooter, relentlessly honing his craft, arcing a ball through a hoop.
There was Trevor Cooney.
Cooney’s a Division I athlete and a serviceable defender in Syracuse’s 2-3 zone, but so much of his legacy as well as the fate of SU’s upcoming season simply rests on how often he can score.
Jim Boeheim needs him to. The Orange is returning just over 37 percent of its points from last year — the lowest in Boeheim’s 38 years with SU — and putting points on the board, often three at a time, is what Cooney needs to do to carry him and his teammates deeper into the season.
...
Recruiting
Lydon, Diagne Sign Letters of Intent; Class of 2015 Howard and Richardson to Follow (DO; Klinger)
Tyler Lydon signed his national letter of intent to play for Syracuse on Wednesday afternoon. The four-star 6-foot-9 Class of 2015 power forward is the first of four SU commits in the class to sign.
Fellow four-star power forward Moustapha Diagne signed later in the day.
Six-foot-6 guard Franklin Howard and small forward Malachi Richardson said on Twitter that they would sign on Thursday and Saturday, respectively.
ACC News
Virginia Prepares to Defend ACC Championship, Earn Respect (DO; Hyber)
Think Atlantic Coast Conference basketball.
It’s Duke and Mike Krzyzewski. It’s North Carolina and Tobacco Road. In the past two years, it’s added Jim Boeheim and Syracuse, then Rick Pitino and Louisville. Historical programs with continued success.
Quietly, there’s an under-the-radar power brewing in Charlottesville, Virginia. The Cavaliers went 30-7 last season, winning the ACC tournament and reaching the NCAA Tournament Sweet 16.
Yet despite winning 16 of 18 games last season in one of the country’s elite basketball conferences, the Cavaliers enter this season ranked ninth in the country and No. 4 in the preseason ACC poll.
“We realize that Duke and Carolina and Syracuse and Louisville are always going to be talked about at a different level,” Virginia associate head coach Ritchie McKay said. “But for us, we like the way our program’s growing. We feel like we can attract a terrific student-athlete.
...
