sutomcat
No recent Cali or Iggy awards; Mr Irrelevant
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National Panda Day, also known as Giant Panda Bear Day and Panda Day, celebrates the giant panda. It sometimes is also used to celebrate the red panda, although this is usually not the case, as red pandas already have their own holiday. The number of giant pandas in the wild has slowly been increasing since the 1970s, when there were only about 1000. As of 2020, there were about 1900 giant pandas in the wild, and about 300 in zoos. Still, the giant panda is considered to be vulnerable by the International Union for Conservation of Nature and Natural Resources (IUCN).
Years ago, giant pandas could be found throughout southern and eastern China, Myanmar, and northern Vietnam. Humans are their greatest threat, and the expansion of population and development has led to habitat fragmentation and loss and has limited them to six mountain ranges in the Chinese provinces of Sichuan, Gansu, and Shaanxi. Most live in cool, wet bamboo forests in the Minshan and Qinling mountains, between 5,000 and 10,000 feet above sea level. Establishing new reserves and extending existing ones is essential for preserving and rebuilding the panda population. Close to two-thirds of the world's pandas are now protected in China's reserves.
SU News
Oranges are in Season: Sean Tucker the next Syracuse great? (goingfor2.com; Folden)
Sean Tucker
Syracuse, Running Back 5’9, 207 lbs
2022 Stats: Rushing: 206 carries, 1060 yards, 11 TDs
Receiving: 36 receptions, 254 yards, 2 TDs
Pros
Tucker, a junior, coming out of Syracuse has some dynamic traits to his name. A three-year player never averaging under a 4.6-yard per carry is something we can’t deny. Tucker has a strong base. When he has the ball in his hands he can make defenders miss. If they don’t miss, he can shed arm tackles with ease, and when they finally get him, he falls forward.As you can see by his stats above, he was also given some opportunities to receive. He lined up as a wide receiver multiple times in the year and showed his route running is pretty impressive. He did have a lot of swing passes and has the skills to make the defenders run into blocks.
In an impressive running back class, Tucker’s tape does the talking for him. It is always an uphill battle when you have running back prospects from bigger schools and just as good, if not better than you, yet Tucker sticks around. He may not have done drills at the combine but he didn’t have to, finishing with an athleticism score of 84 (per Next Gen Stats on nfl.com) he will prove it at his pro day on March 20th. Tucker is also just 21 years old, and 3 years of college experience in the ACC, making him an intriguing day 2 pick in the 2023 NFL draft.
Cons
As every prospect does, Tucker does come with some flaws. As noted above he does have the capabilities to get defenders to run into his blockers. In designed outside schemed runs and in the passing game this is true. Tucker can sometimes get antsy and forget about the lineman up front and bounce it outside right away.Finding patience at the line of scrimmage can be worked on and is something he will need to work on if he wants to be successful in the NFL. Another thing left to be desired is his pass-blocking ability. He lets the defender come to him more than finding the block. His vision in the backfield will need to improve to help with his blocking in general but coming in at 207 pounds he has the build to be an effective blocker and the team that takes him will need to be patient with it.
With 3 years of production and 200 rushing attempts in the last 2 seasons, some teams and people in the industry might act like he has wear and tear on his body because there is an evident “lifespan” for running backs in the NFL. When will your body fails you it is a major concern with this position and why it is here in the cons.
Summary
Sean Tucker is going to be drafted, it all just depends on where and how high he goes in the draft. It comes down to fit, will he get a coach that is patient enough to fix his flaws or will he be destined to be a 3rd down back? Either or, I believe he will be productive, and the Round 3, Pick 71, or Round 4, Pick115 owned by the New Orleans Saints may be a good place.I would say he can become an Alvin Kamara type back in this league and with Kamara’s situation that is ongoing they may have to address the issue sooner than later. If they don’t take Tucker I believe he can be a James Robinson-type back pre-injury. A sure back that can get the job done when you need him to. May not be the focal point, but in fantasy and on the field, you will be happy with the production.
2023 Dynasty Rookie Draft Projection: Mid 1st to Early 2nd round
Ideal Role: 3rd Down Back with the potential to become a Lead Back
Player Comp: James Robinson, Alvin Kamara
(youtube.com; podcast; SG1 Sports)
Syracuse Orange schedule preview and record projection for the upcoming 2023 college football season.
2024 OL Trevor Szymanski reacts to Syracuse offer (247sports.com; $; Finneral)
2024 recruit Trevor Szymanski received an offer from Syracuse football earlier this month. Szymanski plays both offensive and defensive line at Loyola Blakefield in
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ACC News
Pitt Football Opens 2023 Spring Drills - Pitt Panthers #H2P (pittsburghpanthers.com)
The Pitt football team's 2023 journey began this week with the opening of spring drills at the UPMC Rooney Sports Complex on the South Side.
Coming off back-to-back top-25 finishes with 20 total victories over the last two seasons, head coach Pat Narduzzi and the Panthers began preparations for the upcoming campaign with Tuesday's practice, the first of 15 over the next few weeks leading up to the 2023 Pitt Blue-Gold Spring Game presented by M@C Discount on Saturday, April 15 (1 p.m.) at Acrisure Stadium.
Coaches and players met with the media after Pitt's first spring session, and videos of those sessions can be watched below.
Fans can also check out Pitt's 2023 spring notes and a photo gallery from the first day of practice.
Defensive Coordinator Randy Bates
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https://athlonsports.com/college-football/virginia-tech-football-hokies-2023-spring-preview (athlonsports.com; Kinne)
Virginia Tech Football: Hokies' 2023 Spring Preview
Head coach Brent Pry has plenty on his to-do list this spring after the Hokies went 3-8 in his first season.The past is the past as Virginia Tech head coach Brent Pry embarks upon year two in Blacksburg. Because of last season's 3-8 finish, expectations are predictably low for this coming year. But the campaign to prove the experts wrong begins this week as the Hokies open spring ball.
While only a certain amount can be gleaned from spring sessions, Hokie fans have to hope that some answers to the many questions surrounding the team start to emerge in the coming weeks. Here are five storylines to follow during spring practice.
5 Storylines to Watch During Virginia Tech's Spring Practices
1. Quarterback
Grant Wells comes back as the incumbent starter, but his grip on the job is far from secure. His personal stats were not very good in 2022 and the 3-8 record didn't help either. This spring, it seems like real competition has arrived in the form of Baylor transfer Kyron Drones. This is a battle that will most likely rage on into fall camp, but we should get word as to which of the two is emerging as the leader by the time spring ends.Related: Early 2023 ACC QB Preview and Rankings
2. The new receivers
For the passing game to really click, it will take more than just improved quarterback play. Last year's leading receiver, Kaleb Smith, has transferred to Notre Dame, but the portal goes both ways and with the additions of Ali Jennings, Jaylin Lane, and Da'Quan Felton, the Hokies may see an improved pass-catching group. Only Jennings comes to Tech from the FBS level and he was at Old Dominion, so there will be an adjustment period for all three and this spring will be the perfect time to determine how each fits within the system....
Wake Forest Football Spring Camp Top Storylines (247sports.com; $; Johns)
It’s the most wonderful time of the year!Wake Forest spring football camp always delivers an energized Dave Clawson and an abundance of information on the Deacs here at...
ACC + PAC 12 Merger to Become 3rd Super-Conference? John Skipper Reaction | Conference Realignment (youtube.com; video; CBCF)
CC + PAC 12 Merger to Become 3rd Super-Conference? John Skipper Reaction | Conference Realignment with Grayson Grundhoefer
The Pac-12 and ACC should revisit merger or alliance to keep up with SEC, Big Ten (superwestsports.com; Kunnath)
The college athletics landscape has become brutally clear entering 2024.
With Oklahoma and Texas off to the SEC, USC and UCLA headed to the Big Ten and long-term contracts secured with ESPN/ABC and CBS/FOX/NBC respectively, both conferences remain locked in as the powerhouses in college sports for the near future.
The Big 12 has solidified its long-term future at a tier just below the SEC and Big Ten with its ESPN/FOX deal. Although it doesn’t hold any traditional bluebloods as it did before, with TCU fresh off a college football national title appearance and Baylor/Kansas being recent college basketball national champions,
The ACC holds a solid footprint themselves with their relative strength in basketball and decent success in college football with Clemson and Florida State. They are in no danger, but do lack the football depth that’s needed to give the conference major contract power.
And then there’s the Pac-12, the Squidward of Power 5.
It’s a conference in danger of complete dissolution without USC and UCLA to capture the Los Angeles market. Oregon and Washington are football powerhouses, Utah is on the rise, Arizona remains top dog at basketball, Cal still gets solid TV numbers because of the Bay Area, but they are simply not capturing the ratings on their own to justify a large media package at this time.
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Tough Loss: Ruminations on the waning days of the ACC from the city where it was born (triad-city-beat.com; Clarey)
There was a moment on March 9, after eventual tournament winner the University of Virginia knocked UNC-Chapel Hill out of the ACC Men’s Basketball Tournament, that the Tar Heels entertained a moment of sober self-reflection.
They had been pre-season favorites to win the whole thing on the strength of last year’s performance, finishing at No. 2 in the regular season, advancing to the semifinal round of the ACC Tournament and capping it off with a Second Place finish in the NCAA Tournament — the Big Dance, as sportswriters like to call it. That Final Four run included delivering a seismic loss to archrival Duke in the very last game the Blue Devil’s storied coach, Mike Krzyzewski, would ever helm.
For the 2022-23 season, the UNC starting lineup was unchanged.
Last week, in a somber locker-room scene that saw players slumped in their chairs and holding towels over their faces as they absorbed this final L of the season, senior forward Armando Bacot summed it up.
“Really, the story of this year was just talking about last year, I feel like,” he said. “That’s kind of all we heard from y’all and stuff we look back on. I think it was just an overdue, long hangover.”
He was talking about the Tar Heels. But in Greensboro — where the ACC was born, flourished and thrived — it was hard not to think he was talking about us.
***
Despite never having a team in the conference, Greensboro has always been ACC country. It was born here, in 1953, at what would become the Sedgefield Country Club, and like a lot of the ACC’s current woes, it started because of football.
The first seven teams in the ACC peeled off of the Southern Conference because of its ban on postseason play, initiated a couple years earlier. It’s hard to imagine why a major college sports conference would demand that its teams sit out bowl games, which even in the 1950s were a Very Big Deal. The short answer is that they did it out of spite, feeling that the SoCon’s smaller schools were shut out of bowl bids, and the revenue those games generated, by larger and more moneyed programs. The final straw came in 1950, when Washington & Lee won the SoCon football title but did not receive any bowl bids, while conference mate Clemson was invited to play in that year’s Orange Bowl.
The ACC began with just seven teams, bound by geography and discontent: Clemson, Duke, Maryland, NC State, South Carolina, UNC and Wake Forest. Virginia would join one year later, giving the ACC a solid core of quality programs, all within a few hours’ drive of each other with Greensboro as the hub.
And while football may have been the impetus for the conference, basketball was what gave it gravitas.
The first 13 ACC Basketball Tournaments were held at Reynolds Coliseum in Raleigh, built expressly for NC State basketball in 1949. The tournament moved to the Greensboro Coliseum in 1967, the first time Duke faced UNC in the finals — Carolina won that one, 82-73. The tournament would be held there 28 more times, more than any other venue in the country.
During those years, the city and its arena became synonymous with the ACC Tournament, playing host to some of its most memorable moments: Duke’s Krzyzewski won his first ACC Tournament here in 1986; Carolina’s iconic coach Dean Smith won both his first and last ACC titles here, in 1967 and 1997. Duke and Carolina would face off in the final game three more times under the coliseum’s roof: 1979, 1988 and 1998. Maryland won their only ACC title here, in 1984. And it was the site of what is largely held as the best ACC title game ever in 1974, when NC State beat Maryland in triple-overtime, 103-100. Veterans of that game gathered at the coliseum over the weekend to celebrate that moment, those days, this place.
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ACC FB: Most 10+ Win Seasons (RX; HM)
ACC FB: Most 10+ Win Seasons
Inspired by the AllThingsFSU post "10-win seasons", here's a table of all 15 ACC member schools with the number of seasons when they won double-digit games, as well as the last time they accomplished that feat:| Team | #seasons | last | comments |
| Florida State | 25 | 2022 | 14 in a row, 1987-2000 |
| Notre Dame | 22 | 2021 | 5-year streak ended |
| Clemson | 18 | 2022 | active streak 12 |
| Miami | 15 | 2017 | |
| Virginia Tech | 14 | 2016 | 8 in a row, 2004-11 |
| Georgia Tech | 9 | 2014 | |
| UNC | 8 | 2015 | 9 wins in 2022 |
| Pitt | 8 | 2021 | 9 wins in 2022 |
| Syracuse | 7 | 2018 | 10 losses in 2020 |
| Louisville | 6 | 2013 | started in 1962 |
Other
CNY town to award $1 million in grants to spruce up businesses, buildings in target area (PS; Doran)
The town of Salina plans to award $1 million in grants to a number of businesses and building owners along Old Liverpool Road who agree to use the money to spruce up their property.
Salina Town Supervisor Nicholas Paro is formally announcing the grant program Wednesday morning.
Paro said the town received $3 million in federal American Rescue Plan Act money, which is also known as ARPA or the Covid-19 stimulus package.
Salina town officials plans to use $1 million of that to create a fund that will award Main Street-type grants to several businesses and building owners.
The grant recipients must apply for the money. Winners must match any money awarded with 25% of their own funds. So if a business is awarded $100,000, $75,000 will come from the town and $25,000 from the applicant, Paro said.
Paro said he’s hoping to award about 10 grants, but even if six to 10 apply for the funds Paro said he will be pleased.
“We think this is a great way to improve our streetscape and made that business corridor much more attractive,” he said.
The town also used $500,000 of the $3 million for a neighborhood revitalization fund.
ARPA is a $1.9 trillion federal stimulus bill signed by President Joe Biden to help local governments with public health and economic recovery after the Covid-19 pandemic.
Spin Doctors lead singer Chris Barron performs in Syracuse in 2017. (Photo by Warren Linhart)
2 huge 90s rock bands to headline 2023 Taste of Syracuse this summer (PS; Struck)
Taste of Syracuse will return to Clinton Square on June 2 and 3 this year, with two concert headliners: Eve 6 and Spin Doctors.
Eve 6 will perform from 7 p.m. to 8:15 p.m. on Saturday on the Washington Stage. The Spin Doctors will play from 8:30 p.m. to 10 p.m. on the SYSCO Main Stage on Clinton Square.
American alternative rock band Spin Doctors was formed in New York City and is known for their singles “Two Princes” and “Little Miss Can’t Be Wrong,” which hit the top 20 on the Billboard Hot 100 chart in the 1990s. They last performed in Syracuse in 2017, managing to win over a tough crowd.
American rock band Eve 6 is known best for their singles “Inside Out,” “Leech” and “Promise.” They disbanded in 2004 but got back together in 2011.
The two-day food sampling extravaganza will include a lot of the staple vendors plus three stages around the square for music.
There will be a ton of other local musicians performing throughout the weekend, too. The full lineup is listed below.
More than 40 food vendors have already committed to cooking up samples for the annual event, including Bacon Bomb, Byblos, Paradise Ice Cream, Winnie’s Soul Food, Appethaizing, It’s Cookie Season, Fair Deli, Soulutions, Strong Hearts, Cake Bar, Miss Prissy’s, Limp Lizard and more.
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