sutomcat
No recent Cali or Iggy awards; Mr Irrelevant
- Joined
- Aug 15, 2011
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- 26,490
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Disappointing crowd. They announced 25K but there wasn't much more than 20K actually in the seats. The students did not have a good turnout in particular. I don't understand how this clearly special team can't get a bigger crowd for the 2nd last home game of the season.
The woman who sang the NA did a wonderful job. One of the best renditions I have ever heard live. Well done.
Brandon GI Jane Reese continues to be the official greeter as the starters are introduced near the start of the game. That highly choreographed double faced hip bump Fab used to do with Mookie, has been replaced by a more subdued series of hand slaps.
Ugly game again. USF had a good game plan...hold the ball, penetrate late, get the ball into the paint and make something happen. Was really impressed with Collins, who was able to get inside regularly and seemingly hit every floater he attempted from there. Good passer too. That kid is going to be all conference someday (but not while we are still in the BE).
They played very good defense, as advertised. As with Rutgers, we were eventually able to get the ball inside and get some easy points but for the most part, we really struggled to score, even though we had a lot of pretty good looks. We just looked tight and reluctant to shoot for extended periods.
The press again played a key role in this game...turning it on keyed the big run (I thought we had a 26 to 0 run split over both halves, is that correct?) and changed the tempo of the game and the score as well. At one point I believe we had 24 points scored in a row and USF had 20 points, period. In this season of extended scoring runs, this one might have been the most memorable.
Rebounding remains a major problem, again especially on the defensive boards. As with the RU game, we were helped out by USF missing some short, easy shots. Melo was tentative early and got beat inside a lot. He made some adjustments and I thought played very well on defense the rest of the game, with one exception. Will talk about that more later.
The seniors again came through in crunch time. Scoop and KJ did some heavy lifting when we really needed points and as usual, we were able to get key stops on defense when we needed them.
Looked like the day glow sneakers Nike supplied were as made as cheaply made as they were designed. Players struggled to keep on their feet alarmingly often, especially Skates Waiters, who appeared to have been issued shoes for the wrong sport.
JB again barely subbed in the 2nd half, even when Fab was clearly winded. At least 2 easy breakaway baskets were given away because Fab was not subbed out. JB does a lot of great things. I guess you take the good with the bad, especially when the good is ridiculously good and the bad is almost trivially small.
I think I heard that the current SU record of 28-1 is the best record ever for a BE team. It is certainly a record for a Syracuse team. This season has been a great one to watch. This team knows how to win and continues to play at its best when it needs to. I think we all wish it could play at that level more consistently but 28-1 is 28-1. 28 and freaking 1. Wow.
The woman who sang the NA did a wonderful job. One of the best renditions I have ever heard live. Well done.
Brandon GI Jane Reese continues to be the official greeter as the starters are introduced near the start of the game. That highly choreographed double faced hip bump Fab used to do with Mookie, has been replaced by a more subdued series of hand slaps.
Ugly game again. USF had a good game plan...hold the ball, penetrate late, get the ball into the paint and make something happen. Was really impressed with Collins, who was able to get inside regularly and seemingly hit every floater he attempted from there. Good passer too. That kid is going to be all conference someday (but not while we are still in the BE).
They played very good defense, as advertised. As with Rutgers, we were eventually able to get the ball inside and get some easy points but for the most part, we really struggled to score, even though we had a lot of pretty good looks. We just looked tight and reluctant to shoot for extended periods.
The press again played a key role in this game...turning it on keyed the big run (I thought we had a 26 to 0 run split over both halves, is that correct?) and changed the tempo of the game and the score as well. At one point I believe we had 24 points scored in a row and USF had 20 points, period. In this season of extended scoring runs, this one might have been the most memorable.
Rebounding remains a major problem, again especially on the defensive boards. As with the RU game, we were helped out by USF missing some short, easy shots. Melo was tentative early and got beat inside a lot. He made some adjustments and I thought played very well on defense the rest of the game, with one exception. Will talk about that more later.
The seniors again came through in crunch time. Scoop and KJ did some heavy lifting when we really needed points and as usual, we were able to get key stops on defense when we needed them.
Looked like the day glow sneakers Nike supplied were as made as cheaply made as they were designed. Players struggled to keep on their feet alarmingly often, especially Skates Waiters, who appeared to have been issued shoes for the wrong sport.
JB again barely subbed in the 2nd half, even when Fab was clearly winded. At least 2 easy breakaway baskets were given away because Fab was not subbed out. JB does a lot of great things. I guess you take the good with the bad, especially when the good is ridiculously good and the bad is almost trivially small.
I think I heard that the current SU record of 28-1 is the best record ever for a BE team. It is certainly a record for a Syracuse team. This season has been a great one to watch. This team knows how to win and continues to play at its best when it needs to. I think we all wish it could play at that level more consistently but 28-1 is 28-1. 28 and freaking 1. Wow.