My Take

[SmilinBob]

Dominant
Determined
Dedicated
Dumbfounding
Dramatic
Distinctive

You forgot duck dodge dip dive and dodge.

 

[FAL]

Dominant
Determined
Dedicated
Dumbfounding
Dramatic
Distinctive

Delightful!

 

[AZOrange]

Tom, that was a masterpiece. I've been reading these for quite some time and your take tonight was as equally awesome as SU's performance tonight was bad.

You made a 35-footer at the buzzer to win the game!!!

I disagree. Toms finest was when he used the voice app translator. What is the old Chinese woman doing these days? Inquiring minds want to know!

 

[NYCSUGrad]

Fair better get in better shape for the NBA because they play more often than that. I'd like Boeheim to play Roberson more but obviously that ain't happening but still, even with the 6 he could give Fair a rest every now or then if the kid is that tired. Do like the fact that CJ didn't have his jumper but took the ball to the hoop. NCS should have avoided the baseline and corners and attached the whole court...they panicked and SU took advantage. That's what good teams do. They had a chance to beat SU and instead of that they lost. Roc looks like the kid we thought he was when he signed his LOI. Love watching him progress like this. We've seen other centers at SU finally get it like this later in their careers and when they do, wow...it just gets better. Curious to see how Jim subs him once Baye comes back. How and when did Grant have 14 rebounds? Sneakiest 14 I can remember. If he can high low with Roc, again...this will open the world offensively. Or even...vice a versa with the two. Somebody doubles/triples down and Cooney/Fair are open. This offense has the potential to be very very good. Anyone in the know have any idea how much attention the kids are getting from the press and other extracurricular activities? Sometimes that plays a part as well in the sea legs and focus. Love the way Ennis can change directions and speeds. Also, the left hands of Ennis and Roc...love the usage of the opposite hands. Silly foul by Ennis on the 3 and the shove wasn't really even needed for the drive to the hoop. Both looked like a tired players move.

And they play 48 minutes in the NBA. Of course their bench goes deeper than 6/7 and Fair will probably be coming off it rather than starting. But still it's a valid point about the stamina needed to play with the big boys.

 

[NYCSUGrad]

Dominant Determined Dedicated Dumbfounding Dramatic Distinctive

Mrs Crusty didn't marry you for your good looks alone!

 

[GoSU96]

Wow, great crowd tonight, with bad weather on tap and a not very attractive opponent in the house. There were legitimately over 30K in the Dome. Great job by the students, who filled their sections in the lower deck and almost filled the 3 sections in the upper deck as well (though a considerable number were late arrivers, no doubt studying in the library to the last minute). Great job also by what I will call the non-students. Can't call them locals because a considerable part of that crowd came from outlying counties.

Good to see upstate NY supporting the team so well. As the legends continue to grow, so do the crowds.

Former SU LB Jake Flaherty again sang the NA. Again did a great job. Got a big ovation. That dude has talent.

The crowd was intothe game almost from the start. To my eyes, the team looked tired and flat. For the most part, they played good defense and made NC State work hard to score. I thought the offense wasn't bad...the Wolfpack packed their man defense into the paint (expect for the guy guarding TC) and dared SU to shoot jumpers. It was one of those days when SU had a lot of quality looks, got a lot of open shots but couldn't hit them. Tons of in and out shots.

Fair looked really tired, JB really needs to think about resting him more, especially in games like this where the team was playing for the 3rd time in 7 days. The Wolfpack appeared to attack his area of the zone a lot, often with success.

Speaking of tired, TE again looked pretty lifeless. That crispness that characterized his play most of the year is now largely gone, even, shockingly, in the few minutes of the game, when he made a really bad foul to give NC State 3 FTs, and had a charge called against him in what was supposed to be the last possession of the game (it was a good call).

JG also continued his recent slump, struggled to drive with the ball on offense, struggled to score much and missed a really big shot from close range that he elected to take with his left hand (rare for him). It was a brick; this is one of the many things he needs to work on to get ready for play in The Association.

TR got a little PT and again did little with it. Someone tell him to be aggressive out there. If he continues to play timidly, JB will never give him long runs. Though to be fair to him, he got so little time today, it was very hard to do much with so little opportunity.

Silent G was pretty quiet. No surprise there, that nickname works on a couple of levels. He certainly looks a lot more comfortable out there than he did early in the season. But when he is in, teams are not covering him on the perimeter and it becomes a lot harder to get the ball inside. He lacks that magnetic defender quality that TC has in spades.

So no one played very well. How the heck did we win? Well, there is one player than hasn't been mentioned yet. RC had, IMHO, his finest game as an Orangeman. I believe he ended up with 14 points, 12 rebounds, 7 blocks and a couple of steals, including a really, really big one at the end of the game that again ending up winning a game for us. Great to see him developing a good inside game, great to see him hit clutch FTs again. He was terrific and for Syracuse anyway, he was clearly the player of the game.

NC State fans have to feel really sick about this one. The 3 late turnovers were really bad, they weren't even able to hold on to the ball to get fouled. The 1st one, where the guy with the pigtails just ran in a weird direction and then threw the ball against the side of the backboard, was about as bizarre a play as I have ever seen. I have no idea what he was thinking or trying to do.

The 3rd one, where the ball was in bounded to the corner, was especially crazy. How can you not throw the ball back into your own back court there, and burn some clock taking it back up the court? The only place you can't throw that ball is into the corner, where the pass could easily be jumped.

You have to give credit to the SU defense, which again was outstanding in the final minutes but even so, when NC State did was Rutgerian. While this is excessively harsh and bombastic, have no other word to describe it. Maybe the haters were right. NC State is the new Rutgers.

TJ was impressive. So was #32. #22 was a pretty good player too.

But there was a special someone out there on the court for the Wolfpack I need to discuss in some detail.

Know this first: I am a huge SU fan but not a college basketball junkie. I have yet to get to the point where I will watch an ACC game just to see our future opponents. Would rather watch Gtown against Nova or UConn against Lville than say, NC State against G Tech. So I don't know much about NC State.

The player in question was their starting point guard. He looked to be about 5'7, maybe 155 pounds. Looked like a paper boy from central casting. I swear he had a bit part in Newsies.

My question is how did it come to be that Paper Boy became the starting PG for a D1 school? Was there a mumps outbreak? Was there a team mutiny where half the scholarship players transferred? What is the explanation for this most unusual event? The kid played hard, hustled his butt off and somehow didn't hurt them on defense (we needed to run some isos for TE, who could have beaten this little guy like a drum if given half a chance). At one point, he was stuck with the ball with the shot clock running down and threw a desperation shot way up in the air. I was so happy for him when it graced the rim. I suspect it was the highlight of his career. Good for him.

Anyway, this was a disturbing performance. With so many players struggling, there is no way in hell that this team should have won this game. I still can't believe they pulled it off. As these crazy things keep happening and happening, one gets the feeling that something special is going on. I don't want to use the D word but more and more, it seems like this just might be a team of d-something. As in Manifest D-something. D-something's Child. You get the idea.

Time will tell.

Christmas was great, just flat out great. In a word, awesome.

Grant had a double double, pretty good for a bad game.

 

[GoSU96]

Fair better get in better shape for the NBA because they play more often than that. I'd like Boeheim to play Roberson more but obviously that ain't happening but still, even with the 6 he could give Fair a rest every now or then if the kid is that tired. Do like the fact that CJ didn't have his jumper but took the ball to the hoop.

NCS should have avoided the baseline and corners and attached the whole court...they panicked and SU took advantage. That's what good teams do. They had a chance to beat SU and instead of that they lost.

Roc looks like the kid we thought he was when he signed his LOI. Love watching him progress like this. We've seen other centers at SU finally get it like this later in their careers and when they do, wow...it just gets better. Curious to see how Jim subs him once Baye comes back.

How and when did Grant have 14 rebounds? Sneakiest 14 I can remember. If he can high low with Roc, again...this will open the world offensively. Or even...vice a versa with the two. Somebody doubles/triples down and Cooney/Fair are open. This offense has the potential to be very very good.

Anyone in the know have any idea how much attention the kids are getting from the press and other extracurricular activities? Sometimes that plays a part as well in the sea legs and focus.

Love the way Ennis can change directions and speeds. Also, the left hands of Ennis and Roc...love the usage of the opposite hands.

Silly foul by Ennis on the 3 and the shove wasn't really even needed for the drive to the hoop. Both looked like a tired players move.

There isn't anyone in the NBA going 40 a night.

 

[SmilinBob]

There isn't anyone in the NBA going 40 a night.

I was talking about the games being closer together but didn't word it correctly. You're right, they usually don't play that many minutes.

 

[MCC]

But there was a special someone out there on the court for the Wolfpack I need to discuss in some detail.

Know this first: I am a huge SU fan but not a college basketball junkie. I have yet to get to the point where I will watch an ACC game just to see our future opponents. Would rather watch Gtown against Nova or UConn against Lville than say, NC State against G Tech. So I don't know much about NC State.

The player in question was their starting point guard. He looked to be about 5'7, maybe 155 pounds. Looked like a paper boy from central casting. I swear he had a bit part in Newsies.

My question is how did it come to be that Paper Boy became the starting PG for a D1 school? Was there a mumps outbreak? Was there a team mutiny where half the scholarship players transferred? What is the explanation for this most unusual event? The kid played hard, hustled his butt off and somehow didn't hurt them on defense (we needed to run some isos for TE, who could have beaten this little guy like a drum if given half a chance). At one point, he was stuck with the ball with the shot clock running down and threw a desperation shot way up in the air. I was so happy for him when it graced the rim. I suspect it was the highlight of his career. Good for him.

Tyler Lewis... yes, he was highly rated coming out of HS. I was curious RE: his numbers: he's 32% from the field this year; 15% from 3. Given his size I wonder if he gets owned on defense; he doesn't seem to be a ball hawk (only 0.2 steals per). Has a good A:TO ratio at least. For a McD AA who hasn't (to my knowledge) been hampered by injuries... it makes you wonder about the McD's AA process.

 

[OrangeTarheel]

I agree that State deserves some commendation. Whatever our deficiencies last night they still brought enough game to almost beat us. The travel delay did not hurt them, either, which speaks well of their focus and determination. Glad we got the win, I think this will be a good rival for us for a long time.

Oh, and there is only one Rutgers. NC State has shown us not even an ounce of what Rutgers did in terms of trashy dumpster firetude. I really enjoyed their fans at both football and basketball games and like the folks who support their team here in NC. They know how to party and know what to expect from their teams, there's a lot of good there.

 

[Consigliere]

Pearl from halfcourt, Michael Owens for the 2 pointer against WVU, Buck ^(^(*ind Dent! and Tomcat's Newsies reference. People will be talking about this one for generations and millions will swear "I was on the syracusefan.com board when..."

Always look forward to your take, Tom but this one will have me chuckling all day. Even if you didn't even mention Miss America. Still just a bit concerned that she left her seat at half with the Doctor and when they returned she no longer had her crown. Hmmmmmm.....

 

[Marsh01]

Pearl from halfcourt, Michael Owens for the 2 pointer against WVU, Buck ^(^(*ind Dent! and Tomcat's Newsies reference. People will be talking about this one for generations and millions will swear "I was on the syracusefan.com board when..."

Always look forward to your take, Tom but this one will have me chuckling all day. Even if you didn't even mention Miss America. Still just a bit concerned that she left her seat at half with the Doctor and when they returned she no longer had her crown. Hmmmmmm...

Ha...i love being an insider on this subject. I love the conspiracy theories!

 

[EastCoast2]

Ha...i love being an insider on this subject. I love the conspiracy theories!

LMAO. If this guy only knew.

 

[tbonezone]

february's full moon is known as the "snow moon" or the "hunger moon". unfortunately for tyler it rose on friday.
missed it by that much!