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Message: [QUOTE="SWC75, post: 231420, member: 289"] - It sure beats losing. - This now the winningest team in Syracuse University basketball history with 32 wins. I wanted this team to get that in their back pocket before we see how the season ends and they did it. - It was a mighty struggle but we eventually came to look like a competent basketball team, (although out silly fouling in the final two minutes almost cost us the game.) If the first half, (30-34) had been like the second, (42-31), we’d have won comfortably and we’d feel a lot better right now. Since the good half was the second one, why not feel that way anyway? - UNC Asheville was a good team. They reminded me of the Roy’s Runts teams I grew up rooting for. Nobody over 6-5 in the starting line-up but fundamentally sound and scrappy. They’ll take everything they can get and it took everything we had to beat them. They had three seniors and two juniors in their starting line-up and had given Pittsburgh a hard time in the NCAA’s last year, then played NC State, UNLV, Tennessee and Connecticut competitively this year while beating Utah by 22 points. They probably shouldn’t have been a 16th seed at all. There is no shame in having a close game against them. - Matt Dickey was their conference player of the year and we held him to 1 for 13 shooting and 5 points in 37 minutes. As JB said, that had something to do with the outcome. - Scoop Jardine, after answering his critics with a solid senior year, fell off the wagon starting with Senior Day vs. Louisville. He went back to his old habit of trying to do too much and winding up not doing much of anything. In this game, he had a couple of bad passes but rallied for 11 points, 7 rebounds and 2 steals. He also surprised everyone by going 4 for 4 from the line. We again had single digit turnovers, which was a big key. - James Southerland got off to a phenomenal start this year. In the first 7 games he scored 74 points in 115 minutes on 29 for 47 shooting, 12 of 21 from three point range. As the year went on he cooled off until he was virtually frozen. At just the right time, he’s heating up again. He had his first double-figure game in 7 weeks vs. Connecticut in the BET and basically won this game for us with 15 points on 6 for 8 shooting, including three treys, one of which gave us control of the game, (sort of), with 2:37 left. He’s the type of guys who after being an inconsistent contributor all year could become a force in the post season, the sort of thing that happens to teams who make deep runs in the tournament. - Rakeem Moussa Christmas did just fine with 10 points, 8 rebounds, a steal and 3 blocks. They are as good as most of the centers we’ll see in this regional. - Brandon Triche made his last two free throws after going 1 for 4 in New York and starting this game the same way. He’s still above 80% for the year. - Kris Joseph had a poor first half but came on strong in the second half with 10 points, most of them by going to the rack, (he was 6 for 7 from the line). He also had 8 rebounds and 3 blocks. - I still remember 1983. NC State opened against Pepperdine and was down by 6 with less than a minute to go. They had the dreaded “loser’s bench” shot of the Wolfpack, with all the players staring at the floor. Forget ‘em. But they scored, got a couple of turnovers and wound up winning the game in overtime. Then the knocked off UNLV by 1, beat Utah by 15, squeaked by Ralph Sampson and Virginia 63-62, beat Georgia by 7 in the national semi-finals and then faced Phi Slamma Jama in the finals. Lorenzo Charles dunked over Hakeem Olajuwon and they cut down the nets. People get excited over teams that are hot going into the tournament. But those teams may have peaked. They will be going downhill while the caliber of opposition goes uphill. You can’t arrange it and it is dangerous but the ideal thing is to bottom out as the tournament begins and get better as your opposition gets better. We may lose Saturday but if we can “survive and advance”, we are in a position to do this. - Kansas State thinks they are going to kick our buts. Maybe they will but I want them to think that. 32-2 and 5 to do….. Impossible is nothing!!!! LET’S GO ORANGE!!! [/QUOTE]

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