My Take

[Marsh01]

1/3 to 1/2 of them are the dance team.

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Perv

 

[shermstheman]

Ha...Kim turned to me during the game and said "why do we have so many cheerleaders?"

Maybe it's like grade school sports- no one gets cut. Everyone gets a trophy.

 

[Hoov50]

Maybe it's like grade school sports- no one gets cut. Everyone gets a trophy.

The downfall of society. Everyone gets a trophy, because that's how it is in the real world...

 

[CusefanATL]

Since I am in the thankful mood missing SWCs valued contributions I just wanted to say how much I look forward to My Take posts as well.

A little confused... Is SWC missing?

Now that I think about it, not sure the last time I saw him post

 

[JoeSU]

Seems to me that they are playing more canned music than ever. The SSS barely had a chance to play today. And it seems to me that the music is louder than it ever has been. I hate these changes to the game experience. SU is doing an awful job with it. IMHO, people do not go to college basketball games to hear recordings of bad songs made by bad bands in the 1980s. I hate the fact that I catch myself wincing each time a timeout is called. Not because I miss the basketball action (I do). I wince because I hate the canned music. I am a college band fan. To me, college football and college basketball are far superior to the pro versions, in part due to the extra emotion and in part due to the bands. Maybe I am the only one that feels this way.

Amen.

 

[Marsh01]

A little confused... Is SWC missing?

Now that I think about it, not sure the last time I saw him post

having some computer issues apparently

 

[HarrisonJBounel]

JG was also a bit wild, a little out of control but still made some big contributions. Whoa, what was he doing taking that wild drive/shot at the end of the game? We were really fortunate CJ got the basket on the crazy bounce.

It's called aggression and confidence. He drew the defense, and Fair had a clean look at what should have been an easy tip-in. We need more of this, not less. Much, much more.

 

[rrlbees]

It's called aggression and confidence. He drew the defense, and Fair had a clean look at what should have been an easy tip-in. We need more of this, not less. Much, much more.

Except the Coach wasn't happy since that isn't what he was suppose to do after having the play drawn up during the timeout.

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[bevosu]

The downfall of society. Everyone gets a trophy, because that's how it is in the real world...

Nobody ever gave me a trophy.

 

[HoustonCuse]

Nothing compares to the year the cheerleaders had the "Who's House?" signs. I am still wondering who House is, they couldn't have meant that doctor on tv could they? That truly made me embarrassed that I have an English degree from SU!

I also hate the Lets Go SU chant. Almost as much as I hate when they let some dude who has never even taken public speaking 101 explain how to do it!

You misunderstood. They were chanting Hoov's House. They finally stopped after you failed to respond time after time...

 

[CiscoCuse]

[quote="Cheerleaders: PLEASE STOP WITH THE LETS GO S U CHANT..[/quote]
What...LET'S GO ORANGE....clap, clap...clap, clap, clap

 

[HarrisonJBounel]

Except the Coach wasn't happy since that isn't what he was suppose to do after having the play drawn up during the timeout.

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Would like to see a replay of JB's body english contortions during Grant's shot. LOL.

He was once described as Ichabod Crane doing a Joe Cocker imitation.

 

[llandz]

It's not politically correct to reject students for the cheerleader squad anymore.

You mean I could finally make the squad, even tho I have absolutely no qualifications??? Yeah, maybe I can even be popular!!!

 

[Albeck43]

This is a well written and in my mind completely accurate description of what happened today at the Dome. These My Take posts are always good, with the ambience et al, but this one is particularly sharp. I will add that I thought we were not going to pull this one out (and I thought to myself twice against Louisville that we might be able to steal that game). Cinci was running an elegant offense against the zone and every time we messed up on coverage, which was frequent, they made us pay. They were killing us on the boards the whole game. MCW didn't do much (except his glorious dunk) before the last few minutes of the game. Triche looked tired at the end (but he made some amazing shots including an off-balance, out of position left-handed flip with tons of English off the glass--a real head-shaker). Grant looked spastic most of the time and everyone was surprised when he decided to take it straight to the hoop for a dunk (in his mind) that luckily Fair tipped in for the game winner. I thought later how nice that Grant didn't end up on the line for two FTs with the game on the line. Cashmere Wright, Mr. bad knee himself, looked smooth as he released a Vermont-distant high-arching three that curled around and lipped out (it looked just short by a couple of inches and it was soft as it curled to the back of the iron and popped out). We were more talented, but Cinci played better. And the crowd was a factor. We stood and made noise, especially on defense, until we finally started getting stops. The crowd told the boys that they could win. We expected them to win (honestly I didn't think they would). They did.

Wow. Really strange game. UC, known as a great man defense team, played a 2-3 zone for most of the game. Syracuse, which had experimented early in the season with a 1 guard lineup, responded by playing 3 guards.

UC spent most of the first half executing an offensive strategy of holding the ball for 30 seconds, throwing a brick up on the rim and rushing the offensive boards. They shot the ball terribly, but had great success getting offensive rebounds and extending possessions and milking time.

They ended up with 18 points in the 1st half, and I thought they were fortunate to get that.

In the second half, they changed things up, got the ball to the high post with remarkable consistency, and from there, went high low for an easy basket or a foul, or kicked it outside for a wide open 3. I thought they executed their offense against our 2-3 really well, and played an almost perfect first 15 minutes or so of the 2nd half.

I almost feel sorry for the UC fans. They have to be crushed. In all the time UC has been playing in the Dome, I have never seen a UC fan there, but today, there were 2 in our section, sitting dangerously close to my crew. Yes, some trash was exchanged. But at the end, I was silent. Much respect for anyone who comes to a place to go 2 against 24K.

BE refs continue to let the players play. I think it might be more physical this year than ever before. I am not a big fan of allowing the really physical play...it is ugly to watch, the beauty of the game is diminished and, worst of all, I worry about SU getting accustomed to this style of play, and then getting hosed in the NCAA tournament when refs from say the Missouri Valley Conference call a game really closely.

Anyway, back to the game. Something really strange and different happened with the national anthem. It was sung by, get this, the student section. They did a passable job. Got a little rambunctious on the Oh, but overall, it was sung with enthusiasm and respect, and I enjoyed it a lot. Seems to me that they are playing more canned music than ever. The SSS barely had a chance to play today. And it seems to me that the music is louder than it ever has been. I hate these changes to the game experience. SU is doing an awful job with it. IMHO, people do not go to college basketball games to hear recordings of bad songs made by bad bands in the 1980s. I hate the fact that I catch myselfing wincing each time a timeout is called. Not because I miss the basketball action (I do). I wince because I hate the canned music. I am a college band fan. To me, college football and college basketball are far superior to the pro versions, in part due to the extra emotion and in part due to the bands. Maybe I am the only one that feels this way.

I thought SU had a good chance to break the game wide open in the first half but a complete failure on the part of SU to get defensive rebounds (or conversely a great job by the UC players hitting the offensive boards) kept the Bearcats in the game. BMK does a good job playing defense and he is an excellent rebounder on the offensive end, but he rarely gets the job done on the defensive end, especially against a good offensive rebounding team. CJ apparently is still playing sick and didn't look 100%.

Christmas had a horrific game, was a spectator for most of it, sadly including most of the time he was on the court playing. DC2 barely played, though given he is easily our best defensive rebounder, he probably should have gotten more minutes. This was a rare awful game for our centers, who have quietly been putting up some pretty good combined numbers. But not today.

Even Grant struggled rebounding, getting shots off, making things happen.

Credit to UC for playing very good physical defense. If the refs allow it, do it and they took advantage of the way the game was being called. They also rebounded the ball like ravenous wolves. And in the 2nd half, their execution of their half court offense against our 2-3 was textbook. Very impressive.

Wright was coming off an injury and had not played in 6 days. It showed. If he shot the ball the way he normally does, UC surely wins this game. But I really liked the way they went after our zone. Their centers in partcular passed the ball really well.

And their 2-3 was quite good as well. We have a really good driving team but had a tough time getting the ball into the paint. UC packed in their zone big time, and basically took away our inside game, telling SU if they wanted to score against their 2-3, it was going to have to be by shooting from the outside. This drove JB's decision to bring in TC and play 3 guards, so he could have his best outside shooting team against their zone. With JS remaining out, I think we can expect to see more zone the rest of the year in conference. Even UConn is going to 2-3 us...watch and see. Somewhere, Hank Iba is spinning in his grave.

Though BT had another fine game, got SU off to a good start and carried the team for much of the 1st half. Thought MCW had another wildly inconsistent game, with some terrible turnovers, some really poor defense, along with some big rebounds, great passes and some big plays for points in crunch time. CJ was, I think, still under the weather. He played passably well but was not up to his usual standards. Hope he will be 100% by Saturday.

TC did some good and bad things...like almost all frosh, he is inconsistent but the overall trend with him is positive and I can glad he is getting some playing time and contributing now. It will pay off later this year and definitely next season.

JG was also a bit wild, a little out of control but still made some big contributions. Whoa, what was he doing taking that wild drive/shot at the end of the game? We were really fortunate CJ got the basket on the crazy bounce. And we were fortunate MCW hit the big 3 the possession before. He has a little Scoop in him...another fearless guy who maybe should not be so fearless at crunch time, especially from the 3 point circle. At least at this point in his career.

But the bottom line is, he made some big plays to help win the game two games in a row now. The dunk in the 1st half was pretty special. Maybe he is as good as he thinks he is (JB had a funny line about that, Top Chef and his own cooking ability in the presser after the game).

6-0 in conference play now. At the end of the game, you could almost hear a collective groan from the rest of the conference as it became clear SU was going to win again. The home court winning streak continues. This is the best sustained run of excellence in the history of the Big East. Enjoy it, savor it because it will never happen again. At least not in the Big East.

A couple other things: the crowd was terrific. Announced at 24K, actually had maybe 22K there. They were excited, loud and enthusiastic all game long. The students had a great turnout, and were wonderful, set the stage for the rest of the crowd, in marked contrast to what we have seen in the earlier games of the season. Maybe the big win over UL has some people pumped up now. Bravo Syracuse!

 

[Albeck43]

It is a toss-up between all the stupid use of the big screen to get jerks to hold up bottles of Pepsi 'spontaneously' and that inane Lets Go SU. It never works, is insulting, and no one seems to notice that it hasn't worked once in a dozen years.

Its not just you Tom. Our gameday experience is pathetic. Really pathetic. I also cringe when music is played. Between the 100 advertisements, the piped in music constantly, the lack of the SSS playing and my biggest pet peve:

Cheerleaders: PLEASE STOP WITH THE LETS GO S U CHANT.

God Dammit that drives me forking crazy. It is by far the lamest pathetic attempt to rile up a crowd in the history of organized sports. I would rather do the wave (which I also hate) than participate in that cheer. Plus we do it twice as if once isnt bad enough..

Id rather hear the crowd break out into a lets go orange chant than have to listen to that.

dont even get me started on how lame we are as a university on gameday.

 

[Hoov50]

You misunderstood. They were chanting Hoov's House. They finally stopped after you failed to respond time after time...

Kind of like the opposite of when I ask my wife a question over and over again...

 

[Hoov50]

Nobody ever gave me a trophy.

I'm still waiting for mine too...What!

 

[FreeFries100]

While we're at it, bring back the Blue Curtain, the Dome Ranger and the opposing team opening line up cheer of...who's he? so what! big deal! who cares! big !

 

[sutomcat]

While we're at it, bring back the Blue Curtain, the Dome Ranger and the opposing team opening line up cheer of...who's he? so what! big deal! who cares! big sh !

They still do the 'Who's He, So What, Big Deal...' thing as the opposing team is introduced.

 

[OttoMets]

They still do the 'Who's He, So What, Big Deal...' thing as the opposing team is introduced.

But they play canned music at such a level that it's difficult to hear the replies. Noise on noise.

 

[SBU72]

“BE refs continue to let the players play. I think it might be more physical this year than ever before. I am not a big fan of allowing the really physical play...it is ugly to watch, the beauty of the game is diminished”

Bilas remarked how rough the game has gotten. He mentions how defenses body up on the offensive guy with their hands raised and the Refs don’t call it. He thinks that the rules committee should try and reduce that.

“I worry about SU getting accustomed to this style of play, and then getting hosed in the NCAA tournament when refs from say the Missouri Valley Conference call a game really closely.”

Playing zone, SU doesn’t play this body up type of defense, so they are less likely to get hurt.

“I think we can expect to see more zone the rest of the year in conference. Even UConn is going to 2-3 us...watch and see. Somewhere, Hank Iba is spinning in his grave.”

Not to mention Igor. How long do you think it’ll take the ACC to learn how to play a good zone offense?

“Announced at 24K, actually had maybe 22K there. They were excited, loud and enthusiastic all game long.”

Watch some of the ND-Georgetown game. It was so quiet it was like they were playing in a tomb! Or at least a neutral court at some old folks home. I know that ND was down but I watched a portion where they got back within 4 or 6 and it was still like playing a high school game in an empty gym.

 

[TexanMark]

Manley Field House was still the best for atmosphere...students in the Zoo, SSS, Dave Eilenberg, and real loud crowd noise.

 

[FreeFries100]

They still do the 'Who's He, So What, Big Deal...' thing as the opposing team is introduced.

goes to show I don't make it back for too many games anymore...I remember it from the 80's, classic stuff.

 

[FreeFries100]

They still do the 'Who's He, So What, Big Deal...' thing as the opposing team is introduced.

goes to show I don't make it back for too many games anymore...I remember that chant from the 80's, classic stuff.

 

[DPCuse]

I've always loved the dome but I think the vastness of it creates a problem. You just can't have the students on top of the court creating energy. I'd love to see the students sitting back on the side of the court but that will never happen due to money.

I'd also like to see them sell long range view tickets (top half of upper deck behind the baskets and further) for maybe $5-$10 the week before the game just to fill them up and get some people in there. For big games, you could restrict those tickets but for games where you only have 18-22K, why not do it?