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Message: [QUOTE="SWC75, post: 3315850, member: 289"] PART TWO Around the league: MP: “Virginia has won 7 in a row by a total of 20 points.” JB: Defense helps you win those games. (When we beat them) in overtime Elijah got one, (a three pointer), Buddy got one and Buddy’s shot hit the backboard and went in. We scored 20 points in five minutes and missed two free throws on top of that. I don’t think anybody else has scored 20 points in 5 minutes against Virginia.” In their 46-44 win over Miami Jay Huff scored 17 points. Jay scored Virginia’s first 17 points in the first 14:24 of the game to give his team a 17-11 lead. He then went scoreless the rest of the game while his teammates scored the last 29 points to hold on to win. He made 4 of 5 twos and 3 of 4 threes in that stretch and then went 0 for 4 and 0 for 3 the rest of the way. Florida State beat Notre Dame 73-71. “Notre Dame has lost 7 games by 3 points or less.” They counted them: Boston College by 1, Indiana by 2, Louisville by 3, Syracuse by 2, Virginia by 1, Florida State by 2. That’s six but you get the point. They’ve got seniors, shooters, rebounding and a shot-blocking center. They are a mystery team.” M. J. Walker had a line Buddy could love: 21 points, 0 rebounds, 0 assists. (He also had 0 steals and 0 blocks. he missed four shots had a turnover and 4 fouls for 12NP). But he scored his team’s last 11 points. (Actually he scored 16 points in a row from 8:42 to 2:40 then teammates scored the last 7 of FSU’s points). “He beat us with two 3’s.” Miami’s Chris Lykes is having his nose ex-rayed and might not play but “When he was out before Isaiah Wong averaged 20 points a game. They still have a lot of weapons. Georgia Tech gave up their appeal and will not be playing in any post season tournament, including the ACCT. “they would have had to win it to get into the NCAAs. We’ve won 7 of 9 games.“ Virginia Tech beat Clemson. “They beat Michigan State. North Carolina State beat Duke. Clemson has beaten all the top teams, (in the league). And they are saying we are a bad league. It makes no sense.” Matt said that the league had “some bad PR with the results of the ACC-Big Ten challenge.” JB: “Several games were close”. Joe Lunardi appeared on the TV scene. JB: “That’s a joke.” Coach expressed the hope that Emily Engstler of the women’s team would be Ok after turning her ankle in the first game of the ACCT. “She’s a good player and they will be a good tourney team. They have veterans who have played in the NCAA tourney. When they shoot it they can beat people. Louisville will be a tough draw but they are not looking forward to playing us.” Jim Calhoun is coaching Division III St. Joseph’s of Connecticut, which didn’t have a basketball team before he started the program last year. They went 16-12 his first year and this year has won 26 games in a row, (actually they are 26-2), have won their conference regular season and tournament and are about to play Hobart in the NCAA’s. Matt compared this to Coach Boeheim retiring from SU to coach Ithaca College. JB: “#1 – it’s not happening.” He didn’t give a #2. Gomez asked about possible national championship contenders. “Are you sold on Dayton?” JB: “Yes. They went on the road and beat Rhode Island by 20 and Rhode Island has a good team. Kansas looks like the most solid team. They’ve got the big man inside, a great guard and are solid defensively. The other top teams have real flaws.” His #1 seeds are Kansas, Baylor, San Diego State and Gonzaga. “Nobody from the East. We’ve beaten each other up too much in the ACC and the Big 10. All the top teams have 5-6 losses.“ Gomez noted that Matt Park will receive the Vic Hanson award at the hardwood club banquet. The award goes to “to an individual or individuals who have ties to the men’s basketball program and have made outstanding contributions to college basketball”. Dion Waiters has signed with the Lakers. (Could we finally have an SU guy in the NBA finals for the first time in 40 years?) “He can score and they need a scorer coming off the bench. It’s a good fit. There’s lots of good basketball left in him and he’s in great shape. He needs to get his reputation back.” Coach talked having Tom Brady, Julian Edelman and Jimmy Fallon at the game. “They are great guys. Edelman, who I had not met, is really nice. They came into the locker room and took pictures with everybody. A friend told me that Tom never talks to anybody- he just leaves- but he talked to our team about being the 6th string quarterback after he was drafted 199th in the draft. (None of the 198 guys taken ahead of him was as good). He said that he didn’t want to play for more money or championships. He just likes to play football. He’s still good at it. Edelman is really small. He’s another guy everybody said wasn’t going to make it. You can see why Fallon is a hit on TV. He lives in Brewster, NY. That’s where Buddy played. We were there and Julie pulled up next to his house and took pictures of his light fixtures and we got some just like them. I have to send him a picture of them.” On the tribute to John Wallace. “It was good to have the guys from the 1996 team back and also the guys from my team. Dave Bing is ageless. He’s still the greatest player who ever played here. John is a very vocal SU guy. He calls us “The best school in the country”. He got us through a difficult time. If we’d played anybody but Kentucky we’d have won the championship. We beat a great Kansas team to get there and then beat a red hot Mississippi State team that had beaten Kentucky in the SEC tournament and Connecticut in the NCAA tournament. We didn’t play great in the final but would have had a chance to win the title except for a questionable foul call.” Gomez asked about the change in the transfer rule JB had said could happen before next seaosn. JB: “It’s politically correct thinking. Coaches leave and can coach immediately. Why shouldn’t players leave and play immediately? Players in sports other than football and basketball, (such as lacrosse), can leave and play immediately. Why not the football and basketball players? I understand the thinking but it’s apples and oranges. Football players are looking to get to the NFL. Basketball players are trying to get into the NBA. Lacrosse players are looking for a job. If a sophomore quarterback in football is backing up another sophomore- he’s going to want to transfer to a school where he could be #1. We had a guy move to get into the NBA and he’s not playing. The small schools will really get hurt. The way it is not they might lose a good player for his senior year. Now they will transfer after their first good year. They might be sophomores. They may get players from still smaller schools who will have the same problem. I think of players like Otis Hill or Lazarus Sims. What if they’d transferred out before their senior years? Matt Moyer loved SU. He was going to get a degree from Newhouse. But he wasn’t playing so he transferred. I’ve seen 5-6-7 guys leave and play less. The other school has players too. I understand that other sports do it. It’s more freedom for the student athlete. Like the own your image issue, it’s all going to happen. We’ll see how it works out. You’ll have 3-4 guys making $15-20,000 a year from their own image and the rest of the guys get nothing.” (I wonder how Peyton Manning’s teammates felt about him making so many commercials.) “Right now, everybody gets the same. It’s equitable. It’s very complicated. They can’t get it resolved because they don’t know how to do it.” (As Chuck Schumer said "They that sow the wind, shall reap the whirlwind". It makes more sense here than it when Chuck said it.) “It’s a myth that schools make money. We pay for other sports. The women’s soft ball team goes to California. We have to fund raise because we don’t make money. We don’t make money without it. We’d only be able to afford football, basketball and maybe lacrosse. If the college programs go down everybody will be in the G Leagues or in Europe.” Matt described this time of year as “the best restaurant season”. Jim said “You might as well have good dinners because it’s no fun being on the road.” And, with that, Thursday becomes just another night of the week…. [/QUOTE]

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