sutomcat
No recent Cali or Iggy awards; Mr Irrelevant
- Joined
- Aug 15, 2011
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Buried at work, just getting over a bad cold, but wanted to say a few things...
I have criticized the students this season quite a bit but they did a great job last night. They were loud, enthusiastic and they eventually filled up their whole section, all the way to the top of the third level sections. Major props to them. I wish they could be like that all season.
The St Bonaventure game this season might have been the best turnout of opposing fans for a basketball game in the history of the Dome. It should differentiate them from other schools when the future schedules are created; remember there will be 2 less OOC games each year when the ACC expands to a 20 game regular season schedule.
This game was special in part because there were a lot of UNC fans in the house. Lots of baby blue scattered throughout the Dome, and they weren't all sitting in the nether regions of the Dome.
A few of the syracusefan.com folks went to a UNC-Syracuse game in MSG about 10 years ago, before Syracuse was in the ACC and I was shocked that they had close to the same number of fans as we did there. Carolina has a lot of band wagon fans. I talked to a few and all of them were from upstate NY. Rochester, Binghamton, Albany, etc. Props to UNC for having a strong presence in the Northeast.
Thought UNC had terrific interior passing. Pinson is a great weapon against the 2-3; he can do a lot of things well. Berry was money down the stretch and played the way you want a senior leader to play. It will be good to have a senior or two playing important roles for us next season.
Paschal Chukwu is taking a lot of heat right now. I am not sure how much it showed on TV, but for the record, he was visibly hurting before the game even started and struggled to run all game long. His back is not 100%. When he made the great block to give SU a chance to win in the final minute, he went down hard and had a terrible time getting back up. I didn't think he was going to be able to make it back to play offense.
Yes, he was sometimes tentative. Yes, he made some bad decisions and had the ball knocked loose a couple of times. But he was huge on defense down the stretch. He was great rebounding the ball in the minutes he was able to play. I think he did a great job given how limited he was physically. I admire how hard he played and what he was able to accomplish given how much he is hurting right now. I think he is going to make a big step forward next season, when he is hopefully 100% and a little stronger.
Sidibe was also clearly not at 100%. He was horrendous out there again but he is playing hurt, limping and unable to jump. Moyer is a half step slow and limping some as well. Pretty sure Marek is banged up too; he was not moving like he did earlier in the season. I should mention that Frank has been playing with an injured wrist for weeks that keeps getting re-injured when he hits the deck.
As this point in the season, this team is as beat up as any Syracuse team I have ever seen. They have made some mental mistakes, they get out muscled sometimes and the slow, plodding style/inability to put up points on offense can be tough to watch.
But they have played really hard all season, they almost always hustle their butts off and compete like madmen. That makes them an enjoyable bunch to watch.
Other stuff:
The really overweight cheerleader that struggled to carry a flag in the 'running of the flags' at the 8minute mark did not participate last night. A couple female cheerleaders held the S and the E flags in SYRACUSE and they did great.
No unicorns last night, which is probably a good thing. The ketchup and mustard outfits were not asked to find the hotdog outfit blindfolded last night. Instead they had a race, which the hotdog won. The ketchup had a big advantage but instead of driving in for an easy layup, the condiment tried a jumper from the top of the key and air balled it. Scoop?
I have criticized the students this season quite a bit but they did a great job last night. They were loud, enthusiastic and they eventually filled up their whole section, all the way to the top of the third level sections. Major props to them. I wish they could be like that all season.
The St Bonaventure game this season might have been the best turnout of opposing fans for a basketball game in the history of the Dome. It should differentiate them from other schools when the future schedules are created; remember there will be 2 less OOC games each year when the ACC expands to a 20 game regular season schedule.
This game was special in part because there were a lot of UNC fans in the house. Lots of baby blue scattered throughout the Dome, and they weren't all sitting in the nether regions of the Dome.
A few of the syracusefan.com folks went to a UNC-Syracuse game in MSG about 10 years ago, before Syracuse was in the ACC and I was shocked that they had close to the same number of fans as we did there. Carolina has a lot of band wagon fans. I talked to a few and all of them were from upstate NY. Rochester, Binghamton, Albany, etc. Props to UNC for having a strong presence in the Northeast.
Thought UNC had terrific interior passing. Pinson is a great weapon against the 2-3; he can do a lot of things well. Berry was money down the stretch and played the way you want a senior leader to play. It will be good to have a senior or two playing important roles for us next season.
Paschal Chukwu is taking a lot of heat right now. I am not sure how much it showed on TV, but for the record, he was visibly hurting before the game even started and struggled to run all game long. His back is not 100%. When he made the great block to give SU a chance to win in the final minute, he went down hard and had a terrible time getting back up. I didn't think he was going to be able to make it back to play offense.
Yes, he was sometimes tentative. Yes, he made some bad decisions and had the ball knocked loose a couple of times. But he was huge on defense down the stretch. He was great rebounding the ball in the minutes he was able to play. I think he did a great job given how limited he was physically. I admire how hard he played and what he was able to accomplish given how much he is hurting right now. I think he is going to make a big step forward next season, when he is hopefully 100% and a little stronger.
Sidibe was also clearly not at 100%. He was horrendous out there again but he is playing hurt, limping and unable to jump. Moyer is a half step slow and limping some as well. Pretty sure Marek is banged up too; he was not moving like he did earlier in the season. I should mention that Frank has been playing with an injured wrist for weeks that keeps getting re-injured when he hits the deck.
As this point in the season, this team is as beat up as any Syracuse team I have ever seen. They have made some mental mistakes, they get out muscled sometimes and the slow, plodding style/inability to put up points on offense can be tough to watch.
But they have played really hard all season, they almost always hustle their butts off and compete like madmen. That makes them an enjoyable bunch to watch.
Other stuff:
The really overweight cheerleader that struggled to carry a flag in the 'running of the flags' at the 8minute mark did not participate last night. A couple female cheerleaders held the S and the E flags in SYRACUSE and they did great.
No unicorns last night, which is probably a good thing. The ketchup and mustard outfits were not asked to find the hotdog outfit blindfolded last night. Instead they had a race, which the hotdog won. The ketchup had a big advantage but instead of driving in for an easy layup, the condiment tried a jumper from the top of the key and air balled it. Scoop?
