Scratching my head

[Marsh01]

ESPN is so 'ed. I first read this:

3. Winning on the road in conference play is just plain hard. Indiana was lucky to escape Penn State with a win Sunday afternoon. This weekend, many of their ranked comrades were far less fortunate. Florida lost at Tennessee. Duke barely survived an upset at the hands of Georgia Tech

Because we all know how BRUTAL it is to play at Penn State, Tennessee and Georgia Tech (which is now playing games in the Hawks arena while theirs is being remodeled). All 3 teams would probably win a combined 15 games in the BE.

Then I read this:

The balance of the Orange's schedule set up very nicely these first few months, transitioning from an almost entirely home-oriented nonconference schedule to a first month of Big East play that includes no truly frightening road games.

While true on paper, I thought winnning on the road in conference is just plain hard? Dont we have 2 road wins in conference?

As long as we keep winning my middle finger keeps extending higher and higher.

 

[cusetown1]

LOL, it's respect! Maybe schedule a few NBA teams? Penn State, WOW! What a hostile place to play.

 

[AeroSU06]

Well its a tough place to play because it is basically an empty gym.

 

[stuckinbig11]

At Penn State is indeed frightening. What if the there was a landslide that closed the road in and out of town? The team might have to spend a week there.

 

[orangehomer]

the only thing i can tell you is that my sports-following life has become much happier since i stopped using espn for anything except live games. the only thing i miss is their baseball coverage, but it's not worth filtering through 30 minutes of crap for every 1 minute worth of good info.

 

[cusetown1]

At Penn State is indeed frightening. What if the there was a landslide that closed the road in and out of town? The team might have to spend a week there.

That would really suck.

 

[All4SU]

LOL, it's respect! Maybe schedule a few NBA teams? Penn State, WOW! What a hostile place to play.

Penn State has an RPI of #125.

 

[Knicks411]

It is hard to play on the road in conference play. Penn State isn't any good, but they just beat Purdue by 20 at home. That's the point; those aren't even particularly tough places to play, and it's still frequently not easy to come out with a win.

We don't have any truly frightening road games in the first month of the conference season, but it's still not easy to win on the road. I don't see a disconnect there.

 

[cusetown1]

It is hard to play on the road in conference play. Penn State isn't any good, but they just beat Purdue by 20 at home. That's the point; those aren't even particularly tough places to play, and it's still frequently not easy to come out with a win.

We don't have any truly frightening road games in the first month of the conference season, but it's still not easy to win on the road. I don't see a disconnect there.

Of the Pennsylvania schools I'd much rather be playing against PSU than Vilanova this week. Nova's down year is a good season for PSU.

 

[armory]

I'm just glad we don't play Penn State at all this year...

 

[Knicks411]

Of the Pennsylvania schools I'd much rather be playing against PSU then Vilanova this week. Nova's down year is a good season for PSU.

No disagreement.

 

[pfister1]

I'm just glad we don't play Penn State at all this year...

Sandusky vs. Fine...OTL would have a three hour pre-game to detail the accusations and bring the world up to speed. That would be an absolute mess.

 

[tbonezone]

indiana is 15-1. 12 of those wins happened home court in bloomington and 2 more (evanston,indianapolis) in state.
they lost on the road at michigan st. and won at happy valley. big whoop! have yet to hear "they don't leave the state"!

 

[Madbiker]

This conference road game schedule stuff is pure BS. By March SU will have played plenty of tough road games...more than UK, Duke, and UNC. If you think ESPN is bad check out CBSsports. Their "expert" panel of 4 or 5 writers gave their half-season awards and the only citing of SU was "most overrated". None (as in zero) of the experts picked SU to make the FF while 2 of them picked UConn.

 

[CorduroyG]

It is hard to play on the road in conference play. Penn State isn't any good, but they just beat Purdue by 20 at home. That's the point; those aren't even particularly tough places to play, and it's still frequently not easy to come out with a win.

We don't have any truly frightening road games in the first month of the conference season, but it's still not easy to win on the road. I don't see a disconnect there.

The only truly frightening road game in the big east this year is at syracuse. Espn goes from saying winning on the road in conference play is just plain hard, to taking another completely unnecessary dig at our schedule (of which we have no control over) by saying we dont have a "truly frightening road game", whatever the hell that means. They make it seem like every conference road game is frightening, EXCEPT when syracuse is playing, then road games are easy unless its a top 10 team. I GUARANTEE if we somehow go undefeated youll hear people saying something like "syracuse went undefeated in a very weak big east", theyll somehow spin it negatively.

 

[HoustonCuse]

I really liked Jay Bilas' quote that by the end of the year Syracuse will have more quality road wins than anyone. And he's right. SU is the best road team in the history of the Big East and I will bet is one of the very best road teams in the nation historically - both recent and long term.

 

[longtimefan]

indiana is 15-1. 12 of those wins happened home court in bloomington and 2 more (evanston,indianapolis) in state.
they lost on the road at michigan st. and won at happy valley. big whoop! have yet to hear "they don't leave the state"!

Psst. Evansville, not Evanston (in Illinois).

 

[Knicks411]

The only truly frightening road game in the big east this year is at syracuse. Espn goes from saying winning on the road in conference play is just plain hard, to taking another completely unnecessary dig at our schedule (of which we have no control over) by saying we dont have a "truly frightening road game", whatever the hell that means. They make it seem like every conference road game is frightening, EXCEPT when syracuse is playing, then road games are easy unless its a top 10 team. I GUARANTEE if we somehow go undefeated youll hear people saying something like "syracuse went undefeated in a very weak big east", theyll somehow spin it negatively.

I didn't read it that way, maybe I'm wrong, just that we don't play any real good teams on the road in January, which is true. Didn't read it as a shot. Are they not allowed to point that out? What can be said about our schedule? I'd disagree, I don't think the schedule sets up nicely for us, I'd rather play Lville and UConn on the road this month.

I assume a truly frightening road game would be a really good team on the road. Define "really good" however you want, one of the 20 best, 15 best, 25, best, whatever.


Though I guess it's also a function of your team. The best team in the country is probably going to have fewer frightening road games than the 20th best team, cause the best team is better, but I don't think thats what the author meant.

 

[tbonezone]

Psst. Evansville, not Evanston (in Illinois).

you say vajayjay and i say va...
my bad.

 

[realorange]

Tell UConn that Seton Hall and Rutgers on the road was easy.

 

[shandeezy7]

I didn't read it that way, maybe I'm wrong, just that we don't play any real good teams on the road in January, which is true. Didn't read it as a shot. Are they not allowed to point that out? What can be said about our schedule? I'd disagree, I don't think the schedule sets up nicely for us, I'd rather play Lville and UConn on the road this month.

I assume a truly frightening road game would be a really good team on the road. Define "really good" however you want, one of the 20 best, 15 best, 25, best, whatever.


Though I guess it's also a function of your team. The best team in the country is probably going to have fewer frightening road games than the 20th best team, cause the best team is better, but I don't think thats what the author meant.

I don't think it's the fact that they are saying we don't play any really tough teams on the road. The problem is that they have essentially made these two statements (in the same article, mind you): 1.) that all conference road games are tough 2.) that Syracuse plays no tough conference road games in the next month.

Now you can play with the words or whatever and say there's a difference between "frightenting" and "tough," but that was such an obvious contradiction, and it was less than half a page down from the original statement. That's a joke.

 

[Knicks411]

I don't think it's the fact that they are saying we don't play any really tough teams on the road. The problem is that they have essentially made these two statements (in the same article, mind you): 1.) that all conference road games are tough 2.) that Syracuse plays no tough conference road games in the next month.

Now you can play with the words or whatever and say there's a difference between "frightenting" and "tough," but that was such an obvious contradiction, and it was less than half a page down from the original statement. That's a joke.

I do think it's a semantical issue; but to me there is an clear difference between the statement that it isn't easy to win on the road and that we don't have any frightening road games this month.

 

[longtimefan]

you say vajayjay and i say va...
my bad.

Just the pedant in me.

 

[texascpa]

the only thing i can tell you is that my sports-following life has become much happier since i stopped using espn for anything except live games. the only thing i miss is their baseball coverage, but it's not worth filtering through 30 minutes of crap for every 1 minute worth of good info.

Same here.