sutomcat
No recent Cali or Iggy awards; Mr Irrelevant
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- Aug 15, 2011
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SU News
SU Basketball 2015 Recruiting Class Review: A Look at Moustapha Diagne (PS; Waters)
Moustapha Diagne's journey to Syracuse is vastly different from the other three players in SU's 2015 recruiting class.
He came to the United States from Senegal a little over two years ago. He spent the last three seasons at Pope John XXIII High School in Sparta, N.J.
At 6-feet, 9-inches, Diagne is a forward/center prospect. While a countryman of former SU center Baye Moussa Keita, he's physically similar to former Orange center Otis Hill.
Diagne could play a key role for Syracuse in the 2015-16 season.
The 2014-15 season
Diagne's numbers went went down from his junior year to his senior year. After averaging 17.2 points and 13 rebounds per game in 2013-14, Diagne scored 14.7 points and pulled in 12.0 rebounds per game this past season.
dnett@syracuse.com
But Diagne's game actually improved.
The dip in Diagne's scoring and rebounding were a result of playing on a dominant team that featured a roster full of future college players.
Pope John XXIII finished the season with a 29-4 record. The Lions captured the first sectional and state titles in school history. The Lions advanced to New Jersey's Tournament of Champions final. In that game, Diagne scored 15 pints and grabbed 10 rebounds in Pope John's 57-45 loss to Roselle Catholic.
...
NBA Playoffs Lack Syracuse Players (sujuiceonline.com; Goodman)
It’s my favorite time of the basketball year- the NBA Playoffs. Yes, I am one of those guys who likes the NBA more than the NCAA, and will argue vehemently in favor of watching professionals playing the game at its highest level, over their amateur counterparts in March Madness. But that’s a column for another day. Today I harp upon the lack of Syracuse alumni showcased during this year’s postseason- a trend that has been heading in the wrong direction for quite some time now.
Ready for some mind-blowing facts? Great, I have a bunch for ya:
Sixer's Jerami Grant a Potential X-Factor (philly.com; Hayes)
IT WAS LONG after the whistle, but Michael Carter-Williams still blocked the shot and smacked Jerami Grant upside the head. No referee intervened.
Grant winced . . . and smiled.
The moment was a metaphor for what Grant's career will most likely be. He will take all sorts of abuse. He often will be ignored. He'll have to grin and bear it.
If the Sixers are lucky, there will be plenty of reason to grin. With the 39th pick in the draft last summer, they might have stolen a finishing piece in their reconstruction.
Grant, 21, is a 6-8 skywalker with the stride of a middle-distance runner who should top out around 240 pounds. Harness him alongside freakish athletes like Nerlens Noel and Joel Embiid and the Sixers could have an unmatched frontcourt for years.
Of course, this all assumes Noel and Embiid remain healthy; each missed their first NBA season with injury. This also assumes Noel and Embiid develop as players; neither played even one full college season.
It assumes Grant stays healthy and develops, too. He weighs 210 pounds, averaged 6.3 points and 3.0 rebounds per game in about 20 minutes per night. An ankle injury cost him the first month of his career and limited him to 65 games.
...
ACC News
ACC Winners and Losers in College Basketball Silly Season (starnewsonline.com; Friedlander)
...
Believe it or not, 13 of the league’s 15 basketball-playing members have lost at least one underclassman to either transfer or the NBA draft over the past month, with Notre Dame and Georgia Tech the only two successfully avoiding the exodus.
So far.
Of those that did lose players, no one suffered a more significant hit than Duke — which saw freshman stars Jahlil Okafor, Justise Winslow and Tyus Jones all declare for the draft in the days following its national championship victory against Wisconsin. But because coach Mike Krzyzewski and his staff anticipated at least two thirds of the one-and-done attrition by signing five-star replacements in big man Chase Jeter and sharpshooter Luke Kennard, the Blue Devils aren’t even close to making the list of the of biggest losers.
...
How Non-Tourney ACC Teams Can Bounce Back (espn; Gasaway; insider)
My colleagues at ESPN.com are in the process of looking ahead at what next season may bring in the ACC, and I've decided to pitch in and help out on that score. That being said, you'll notice I'm seeing this particular glass as half-empty rather than half-full. For now I'll leave it to other observers to fret about what the future will hold for heavyweights like Duke, Virginia or North Carolina. Today I want to look at how the ACC's other half lives, so to speak.
Here are the ACC teams that missed the 2015 NCAA tournament (listed in the order in which they finished in league play). At the risk of being rude, if you're missing the tournament there's a problem -- so for each program I've offered one number that speaks to the main issue that needs to be addressed.
Miami Hurricanes
Problem number: -0.04
I don't want to be too hard after the fact on an inexperienced Miami team that no one expected to do much last season. This is, after all, a group of Hurricanes that beat eventual national champion Duke by 16 at Cameron Indoor Stadium. You won't often see a team go 10-8 in the ACC only to be left out of the NCAA tournament, but the fact that the Canes lost to Eastern Kentucky by 28 in Coral Gables likely had a good deal to do with that particular snub.
...
Other
Colgate University Turns to Shaman to Improve Fortune of Struggling Athletic Department (PS; Carlson)
Sometimes sports teams find a little magic. And sometimes they hire a shaman.
After a difficult fall that included a significant number of injuries and losing seasons in most of its sports, Colgate turned to a local shaman in an effort to change its fortunes.
According to the Ithaca Journal, Colgate's associate director of athletics Jeffrey Falardeau brought in a shaman named Susan Norton, hoping she would "bring in some positive energy and cleanse the negative energy."
Norton blessed all seven of the school's athletic facilities in December, including the basketball facility, which she said had a significant amount of negative energy.
It's unclear if she worked her magic before or after the Red Raiders still lost to Syracuse 78-43 on Dec. 22, but the Red Raiders went on to finish second in the Patriot League with a record of 16-17, their best since 2007-08.
The men's hockey team, meanwhile, lost in the ECAC championship game to Harvard.
"All in all, we've had a very positive and productive winter," Falardeau said.
And spring. Both lacrosse teams have reasonable chances at NCAA Tournament appearances. The men's lacrosse team finished tied for first with Navy, while the women's program finished second behind Loyola.
Perhaps Colgate's magic will continue.
SU Basketball 2015 Recruiting Class Review: A Look at Moustapha Diagne (PS; Waters)
Moustapha Diagne's journey to Syracuse is vastly different from the other three players in SU's 2015 recruiting class.
He came to the United States from Senegal a little over two years ago. He spent the last three seasons at Pope John XXIII High School in Sparta, N.J.
At 6-feet, 9-inches, Diagne is a forward/center prospect. While a countryman of former SU center Baye Moussa Keita, he's physically similar to former Orange center Otis Hill.
Diagne could play a key role for Syracuse in the 2015-16 season.
The 2014-15 season
Diagne's numbers went went down from his junior year to his senior year. After averaging 17.2 points and 13 rebounds per game in 2013-14, Diagne scored 14.7 points and pulled in 12.0 rebounds per game this past season.
dnett@syracuse.com
But Diagne's game actually improved.
The dip in Diagne's scoring and rebounding were a result of playing on a dominant team that featured a roster full of future college players.
Pope John XXIII finished the season with a 29-4 record. The Lions captured the first sectional and state titles in school history. The Lions advanced to New Jersey's Tournament of Champions final. In that game, Diagne scored 15 pints and grabbed 10 rebounds in Pope John's 57-45 loss to Roselle Catholic.
...
NBA Playoffs Lack Syracuse Players (sujuiceonline.com; Goodman)
It’s my favorite time of the basketball year- the NBA Playoffs. Yes, I am one of those guys who likes the NBA more than the NCAA, and will argue vehemently in favor of watching professionals playing the game at its highest level, over their amateur counterparts in March Madness. But that’s a column for another day. Today I harp upon the lack of Syracuse alumni showcased during this year’s postseason- a trend that has been heading in the wrong direction for quite some time now.
Ready for some mind-blowing facts? Great, I have a bunch for ya:
- Only three Syracuse basketball players have ever reached the NBA Finals: Dennis Duval, Marty Byrnes and Bill Gabor. Not exactly household names. Gabor saw the most playing time, averaging 3.3 points during four games with the Syracuse Nationals in the 1954 finals. Byrnes is the only champion, with the Lakers in 1980. He played in one game and didn’t score. And Duval played in Game 3 of the 1975 finals for the Washington Bullets and made one basket.
Sixer's Jerami Grant a Potential X-Factor (philly.com; Hayes)
IT WAS LONG after the whistle, but Michael Carter-Williams still blocked the shot and smacked Jerami Grant upside the head. No referee intervened.
Grant winced . . . and smiled.
The moment was a metaphor for what Grant's career will most likely be. He will take all sorts of abuse. He often will be ignored. He'll have to grin and bear it.
If the Sixers are lucky, there will be plenty of reason to grin. With the 39th pick in the draft last summer, they might have stolen a finishing piece in their reconstruction.
Grant, 21, is a 6-8 skywalker with the stride of a middle-distance runner who should top out around 240 pounds. Harness him alongside freakish athletes like Nerlens Noel and Joel Embiid and the Sixers could have an unmatched frontcourt for years.
Of course, this all assumes Noel and Embiid remain healthy; each missed their first NBA season with injury. This also assumes Noel and Embiid develop as players; neither played even one full college season.
It assumes Grant stays healthy and develops, too. He weighs 210 pounds, averaged 6.3 points and 3.0 rebounds per game in about 20 minutes per night. An ankle injury cost him the first month of his career and limited him to 65 games.
...
ACC News
ACC Winners and Losers in College Basketball Silly Season (starnewsonline.com; Friedlander)
...
Believe it or not, 13 of the league’s 15 basketball-playing members have lost at least one underclassman to either transfer or the NBA draft over the past month, with Notre Dame and Georgia Tech the only two successfully avoiding the exodus.
So far.
Of those that did lose players, no one suffered a more significant hit than Duke — which saw freshman stars Jahlil Okafor, Justise Winslow and Tyus Jones all declare for the draft in the days following its national championship victory against Wisconsin. But because coach Mike Krzyzewski and his staff anticipated at least two thirds of the one-and-done attrition by signing five-star replacements in big man Chase Jeter and sharpshooter Luke Kennard, the Blue Devils aren’t even close to making the list of the of biggest losers.
...
How Non-Tourney ACC Teams Can Bounce Back (espn; Gasaway; insider)
My colleagues at ESPN.com are in the process of looking ahead at what next season may bring in the ACC, and I've decided to pitch in and help out on that score. That being said, you'll notice I'm seeing this particular glass as half-empty rather than half-full. For now I'll leave it to other observers to fret about what the future will hold for heavyweights like Duke, Virginia or North Carolina. Today I want to look at how the ACC's other half lives, so to speak.
Here are the ACC teams that missed the 2015 NCAA tournament (listed in the order in which they finished in league play). At the risk of being rude, if you're missing the tournament there's a problem -- so for each program I've offered one number that speaks to the main issue that needs to be addressed.
Miami Hurricanes
Problem number: -0.04
I don't want to be too hard after the fact on an inexperienced Miami team that no one expected to do much last season. This is, after all, a group of Hurricanes that beat eventual national champion Duke by 16 at Cameron Indoor Stadium. You won't often see a team go 10-8 in the ACC only to be left out of the NCAA tournament, but the fact that the Canes lost to Eastern Kentucky by 28 in Coral Gables likely had a good deal to do with that particular snub.
...
Other
Colgate University Turns to Shaman to Improve Fortune of Struggling Athletic Department (PS; Carlson)
Sometimes sports teams find a little magic. And sometimes they hire a shaman.
After a difficult fall that included a significant number of injuries and losing seasons in most of its sports, Colgate turned to a local shaman in an effort to change its fortunes.
According to the Ithaca Journal, Colgate's associate director of athletics Jeffrey Falardeau brought in a shaman named Susan Norton, hoping she would "bring in some positive energy and cleanse the negative energy."
Norton blessed all seven of the school's athletic facilities in December, including the basketball facility, which she said had a significant amount of negative energy.
It's unclear if she worked her magic before or after the Red Raiders still lost to Syracuse 78-43 on Dec. 22, but the Red Raiders went on to finish second in the Patriot League with a record of 16-17, their best since 2007-08.
The men's hockey team, meanwhile, lost in the ECAC championship game to Harvard.
"All in all, we've had a very positive and productive winter," Falardeau said.
And spring. Both lacrosse teams have reasonable chances at NCAA Tournament appearances. The men's lacrosse team finished tied for first with Navy, while the women's program finished second behind Loyola.
Perhaps Colgate's magic will continue.
