The Upside

[SWC75]

- Every win vs. Pitt is solid gold. They have tortured us for the last decade, winning 13 of the last 16 games until today. The first was A BET game, won 54-55 by a mediocre but [physical Pitt team in a game where Preston Shumpert got poked in the eye. Since the, the Panthers have growled, going 7-1 in Pittsburgh and 6-2 in the Dome. But we are 2-0 in the BET, (the title game in the GMAC run and today). You have to be the “boss squirrel”, (the one that shoes off all the other squirrels not because he’s bigger than they are but because he’s more aggressive), to beat Pitt. They used to bossing everybody else around and you have to show them that’s not going to happen. I think there may be something about being in the Big Apple that gets Syracuse playing big, or at least like they are the boss.

- James Southerland is 12 for 15 from the arc in this tournament, including 6 for 6 tonight. That’s historical, (or hysterical?) stuff. And he hits big ones. A lot of those were “answers” to Seton Hall and Pittsburgh scores.

- Michael Carter-Williams, after being kind of a non-factor, dominated the final minutes. He wasn’t perfect but he: (1) made a 3 pointer at 8:17 to answer a Pitt 3 pointer and make it 50-43, (2) Had a defensive rebound at 7:23, (3) assisted on James Southerland trey at 5:33 that answered a Pitt lay-up and made it 55-47, (4), stole the ball at 5:16 but turned it over at 4:52, (5) made the front end of a one and one at 3:47 to make it 56-51, (if he missed the first one, there’s no second one), (6) Made a lay-up to make it 58-52 at 2:55, (6) had a really bad turnover at 1:20, another drive into the lane with no exit strategy, that led to a three point play at the other end that made it 58-55 but (7) Got a defensive rebound of a missed free throw with 32 seconds left, (8) made both ends of a one-and-one with 28 seconds left to make it 60-57, (8) made a huge steal with 16 seconds left and (9) made both ends of a one-and-one again to clinch it at 62-57 with 10 seconds left. Something to remember him by.

- The “big four”, (Southerland, MCW, CJ Fair and Brandon Triche) were all in double figures and scored 56 of our 62 points. We will go as far as those guys carry us.

- We usually get killed on the boards vs. Pitt. The first half was 17-12 in our favor and we were up 13. Unfortunately the second half was 9-21 but we held on to win by 3. The “manufactured possessions”, (one teams rebounds + the other team’s turnovers were 38-43. That’s close enough for us to have a chance to beat a team like Pitt.

- One thing that’s been there all year is our defense. We are never out of a game, unless our offense totally breaks down. In this game we held Pitt to 37.5% shooting with 5 blocks and 9 steals. Quality stuff.

25-8 is pretty great.

LET’S GO ORANGE!

 

[Henny & Coke]

-Every win vs. Pitt is solid gold. They have tortured us for the last decade, winning 13 of the last 16 games until today. The first was A BET game, won 54-55 by a mediocre but [physical Pitt team in a game where Preston Shumpert got poked in the eye. Since the, the Panthers have growled, going 7-1 in Pittsburgh and 6-2 in the Dome. But we are 2-0 in the BET, (the title game in the GMAC run and today). You have to be the “boss squirrel”, (the one that shoes off all the other squirrels not because he’s bigger than they are but because he’s more aggressive), to beat Pitt. They used to bossing everybody else around and you have to show them that’s not going to happen. I think there may be something about being in the Big Apple that gets Syracuse playing big, or at least like they are the boss.

-James Southerland is 12 for 15 from the arc in this tournament, including 6 for 6 tonight. That’s historical, (or hysterical?) stuff. And he hits big ones. A lot of those were “answers” to Seton Hall and Pittsburgh scores.

-Michael Carter-Williams, after being kind of a non-factor, dominated the final minutes. He wasn’t perfect but he: (1) made a 3 pointer at 8:17 to answer a Pitt 3 pointer and make it 50-43, (2) Had a defensive rebound at 7:23, (3) assisted on James Southerland trey at 5:33 that answered a Pitt lay-up and made it 55-47, (4), stole the ball at 5:16 but turned it over at 4:52, (5) made the front end of a one and one at 3:47 to make it 56-51, (if he missed the first one, there’s no second one), (6) Made a lay-up to make it 58-52 at 2:55, (6) had a really bad turnover at 1:20, another drive into the lane with no exit strategy, that led to a three point play at the other end that made it 58-55 but (7) Got a defensive rebound of a missed free throw with 32 seconds left, (8) made both ends of a one-and-one with 28 seconds left to make it 60-57, (8) made a huge steal with 16 seconds left and (9) made both ends of a one-and-one again to clinch it at 62-57 with 10 seconds left. Something to remember him by.

-The “big four”, (Southerland, MCW, CJ Fair and Brandon Triche) were all in double figures and scored 56 of our 62 points. We will go as far as those guys carry us.

-We usually get killed on the boards vs. Pitt. The first half was 17-12 in our favor and we were up 13. Unfortunately the second half was 9-21 but we held on to win by 3. The “manufactured possessions”, (one teams rebounds + the other team’s turnovers were 38-43. That’s close enough for us to have a chance to beat a team like Pitt.

-One thing that’s been there all year is our defense. We are never out of a game, unless our offense totally breaks down. In this game we held Pitt to 37.5% shooting with 5 blocks and 9 steals. Quality stuff.

25-8 is pretty great.

LET’S GO ORANGE!

Great post, many very good points you raise.

I especially love the bullets I bolded. On those...

MCW completely stepped-up in crunch time, as you showed, totaling 10 pts, 1 assist, 2 rebounds, 2 steals & 2 turnovers in the final 10 mins. (Scoring 10 of SU's 15 total points scored in final 10 mins...he also assisted on 3 of the 5 points he didn't score.) And yet, it's amazing to me how the 2 turnovers (1 in particular) seems to be all some people remember.

It must have something to do with the physiology of the human brain...maybe the negative outcomes have that much higher impact on us than positive outcomes? (I think that may actually be true, but can it really be to this level?) A similar thing is people who are almost acting like we lost the game, simply because we played worse in the 2nd half than we did in the 1st.

Whatever the reason, it's now become hilarious to me...almost like a running joke...like, no matter what the poor kid does well now, it can all be negated by one jumping-pass turnover. (Maybe those jumping-pass turnovers have a "Men in Black" mind eraser type impact on people, that they forget about everything else that had occurred up to that point? Haha.)

And, great point about the "big four"...such a shame that we couldn't play each game 4 on 4! We would certainly dominate then.

 

[SWC75]

Great post, many very good points you raise.

I especially love the bullets I bolded. On those...

MCW completely stepped-up in crunch time, as you showed, totaling 10 pts, 1 assist, 2 rebounds, 2 steals & 2 turnovers in the final 10 mins. (Scoring 10 of SU's 15 total points scored in final 10 mins...he also assisted on 3 of the 5 points he didn't score.) And yet, it's amazing to me how the 2 turnovers (1 in particular) seems to be all some people remember.

It must have something to do with the physiology of the human brain...maybe the negative outcomes have that much higher impact on us than positive outcomes? (I think that may actually be true, but can it really be to this level?) A similar thing is people who are almost acting like we lost the game, simply because we played worse in the 2nd half than we did in the 1st.

Whatever the reason, it's now become hilarious to me...almost like a running joke...like, no matter what the poor kid does well now, it can all be negated by one jumping-pass turnover. (Maybe those jumping-pass turnovers have a "Men in Black" mind eraser type impact on people, that they forget about everything else that had occurred up to that point? Haha.)

And, great point about the "big four"...such a shame that we couldn't play each game 4 on 4! We would certainly dominate then.

I remember posting last year that, while everyone talked all the time about Scoop Jardine's bad plays and didn't give him credit for the many good plays he made in between, MCW, because he was received as a great talent, (and Scoop wasn't), would be "teflon". He would make as many mistakes but his good plays would be so spectacular that they would be remembered and the bad ones forgotten, or at least forgiven. I guess the teflon wore off, probably about the time we realized he was likely to jump to the pros after this season.