It's a shame this team won't face a big time program prior to conference play

[senorpalmer]

We can put to bed the talk that this team might stumble somewhere in non-con play. I'd be shcoked if Temple can keep it within single digits when they face SU at MSG, let alone pull off the upset. The rest of the slate will be glorified exhibitions. At this point they basically need to be tested by a top 10 team, too bad that won't happen until 1/19 @ Louisville, at which time they should be 17-0 heading into that game.

 

[PoppyHart]

We can put to bed the talk that this team might stumble somewhere in non-con play. I'd be shcoked if Temple can keep it within single digits when they face SU at MSG, let alone pull off the upset. The rest of the slate will be glorified exhibitions. At this point they basically need to be tested by a top 10 team, too bad that won't happen until 1/19 @ Louisville, at which time they should be 17-0 heading into that game.[/quote
+1

 

[jdubs30]

Barclay's*

 

[NKR1978]

This is the first year I've really disliked our scheduling. SDSU, Temple and Arkansas just do nothing for me. I can't wait to be at MSG for the Temple game but I'd be equally as excited if we were playing Cornell there. I just want to get to the BE season and see what this team can do against Louisville, Cincinnati, Notre Dame, Georgetown and Marquette. The rest of the BE is a clown show, though the Napier/MCW match up will be fun to watch.

 

[reedny]

Other than the two road games, our non-con opponents seem unusually weak. I can't figure out if it's our talent or just the luck of the draw this year.

At any rate, I'm happily enjoying some crow after that game, having put up several threads about our lack of elite depth at guard (our starting backcourt had 26 assists and 33 points tonight), our inexperience inside (+16 rb margain) and our lack of an elite shot-blocker (14 blocks).

This team's still a WIP, but the "work" is getting done. MCW is still untested in hostile conference/tourney play. But he's making it look easy and setting records out there. Our bigs are a little further behind, but rapidly figuring it out.

 

[pearl31]

I just want to get to the BE season and see what this team can do against Louisville, Cincinnati, Notre Dame, Georgetown and Marquette. The rest of the BE is a clown show, though the Napier/MCW match up will be fun to watch.

fwiw, Pitt (and possibly SJU and uconn) is better than Marquette this year

 

[NKR1978]

I'm happily enjoying some crow right now, having put up several threads about our lack of elite depth at guard (our starting backcourt had 26 assists and 33 points tonight), our inexperience inside (+16 rb margain) and our lack of an elite shot-blocker (14 blocks).

This team's still a WIP but you know they're good when no one's challenging them and we all yearning for a conference/top 20 matchup.

Exactly. I think this is a great team. Different than last year and 2010, possibly at the same level. I just wish we were able to compare against a program of our caliber. Temple, Arkansas and SDSU are not on our level in any way. And even worse for Temple and SDSU is that while they are solid programs, you get no credit for beating them and it's much worse to lose to them.

 

[NKR1978]

fwiw, Pitt (and possibly SJU and uconn) is better than Marquette this year

I forgot about Pitt and agree that they're good, but disagree with UConn and SJU. SJU might get better as the year goes on, but what little I've seen of them has not been impressive. UConn is awful and with Napier leading them and Olander as one of their top big men, they have little hope of showing significant improvement. I liked what I saw of Marquette against Butler and today against Wisconsin.

 

[OrlandoCuse]

No reason we couldn't have scheduled a game with Indiana. Their non-conf schedule is fairly weak too.

 

[jdubs30]

This is the first year I've really disliked our scheduling. SDSU, Temple and Arkansas just do nothing for me. I can't wait to be at MSG for the Temple game but I'd be equally as excited if we were playing Cornell there. I just want to get to the BE season and see what this team can do against Louisville, Cincinnati, Notre Dame, Georgetown and Marquette. The rest of the BE is a clown show, though the Napier/MCW match up will be fun to watch.

Well, to be fair, Arkansas wasn't by choice, it easily could have been UK or UF had the conferences decided to do that. SDSU in San Diego was a solid matchup; Temple will be a player in the A10 all year.

 

[orangejunkie]

double digit rebounds by two of our bigs is a great stat.

 

[reedny]

fwiw, Pitt (and possibly SJU and uconn) is better than Marquette this year

I saw Yukon play NCState. State pulled away at the end .. they have talent and experience. CJ Leslie's going to have a big year. The Yukon guards are very skilled but their forwards are weak. Olander is mediocre, and they're breaking in a new big (Wolf?), another 7 footer who showed up out of the blue. It still wasn't enough against State. Havn't seen Pitt yet ... but Adams is a big prospect that probably will underperform until he plays us.

 

[reedny]

double digit rebounds by two of our bigs is a great stat.

It is. But something else happened tonight. Rak had only 3 rbs, but it seemed like he was trading off with DC tonight -- going for blocks and letting DC clean the glass. I'm not sure this was part of the game plan, but either way, it worked. Rak had 4-5 blocks and DC had 14 boards.

Our guards are playing well. 26 assists and 33 points for the starting backcourt ... nice.

 

[Melancer46]

Honestly, I don't even mind waiting. These last two games have been the most fun I've had watching any team in any sport that I can remember (besides watching my Bucs win the Super Bowl).

I think I'm going to go buy a MCW jersey on Monday and get to one of the games a couple hours early to get him to sign it and get that bad boy framed. Should be a nice collector's piece for me someday.

My dream scenario would be to somehow get Boeheim's autograph on my "Platinum" Scoop jersey, but MCW has been my favorite player since I got to Syracuse.

 

[omniorange]

Here's hoping we get a quality BiG opponent at home every other year and the years we play them away, we play the Hoyas at home.

Then we just need a good pre-season tourney type set-up where we know another quality team will be involved and that should take care of the perception of our OOC scheduling.

Cheers,
Neil