Why we'll lose | Syracusefan.com

Why we'll lose

SWC75

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(I decided that we have two ‘must win’ games tomorrow. The SU basketball team plays Bryant at 4PM. They are 3-2 with games coming up at Illinois and Notre Dame and if they get knocked off by the pesky Bulldogs, we could be looking at 3-5 and a total board meltdown. The SU football team is 6-5 with 5 straight losses. They could be looking at 6-6 and maybe 6-7 in a bowl game after a 6-0 start and the torches will be lit. I decided to cover both games in these write-ups.)

- Bryant almost beat us two years ago in the Dome, taking a 51-44 halftime lead. We fell behind by as much as 13 in the second half, caught them with 6:14 left, then fell behind again. We caught them again at 3:!4 and again fell behind. We caught them for good at 2:16 and won 85-84. This was the game where Alan Griffin trailed a fast break and made a spectacular block of a lay-up that was probably the most important single play.

- Jim Boeheim and Bryant Coach Jared Grasso had a public dispute after the game over whether the game should have been played. SU had been quarantined and was unable to practice for 12 days before the game. “"Am I supposed to give an honest reaction?" Grasso said via Bill Koch of the Providence Journal. "Let me give an honest reaction -- we gave them five opportunities to cancel the game. They wanted to play it. We asked to move the date five times. We felt the same way. They were coming off quarantine. They asked to play it. They wanted to play us. We should have beat them at their place. If that's going to be their excuse, so be it. Now I got angry because we had this conversation with them a dozen times about moving the date. "They decided not to move it. I know I'm not supposed to say that. He's a Hall of Fame coach. I'm a nobody. But the reality is we tried to change the date and give them the opportunity to change the date. They decided not to. Is that the reason we should have beat them? If they want to use that as an excuse, they can. But we came up here and we should have beat Syracuse at Syracuse. It's hard for me not to be blunt. I apologize. I would have wanted to cancel the game if I was in their shoes. They didn't want to cancel the game. They made that decision. We came up here to play and came up here to win and deserved to win. We didn't make enough plays to. "They're a very good team. He's a Hall of Fame coach. I have nothing but respect for him. But for them to say they wanted to cancel the game is just completely false." Grasso might still be simmering over this. He’s also been mentioned, on this board at least, as a guy who might be considered for this job if John Wildhack wants to go outside the program for the next coach. Grasso may see this game as an audition for it.

- Last year the Bulldogs were 22-10 and had the nation’s leading scorer, (the eloquently named Peter Kiss, 25.2ppg). They made it to the NCAA tournament, losing in the ‘first four’. They lost Kiss and three other starters but still have 6-4 Charles Pride, a former Liverpool Warrior, who is averaging 17.2 points and 7.4 rebounds a game. Grasso is building a team around him with – you guessed it – transfers. 6-2 Doug Edert (9.5p) came in from St. Peters. 5-8 Chauncey Hawkins (16.0p, 4.4a), from St. Francis might be a challenge to keep up with for our big guards. They are 4-1 and are averaging 99.8 points per game. They beat one team “Thomas College” by over 100 points: 147-39. It was 74-22 at the half and 73-17 afterwards. Grasso takes no prisoners. Actually, he played everyone in the game:
Thomas vs. Bryant - Men's College Basketball Box Score - November 7, 2022 | ESPN
The fact that they didn’t let up indicates he pushes his players hard and that there’s not a lot of drop off in his second unit. They were 19 for 36 from three-point range (53%). From out there, you may be unguarded but making the shot isn’t automatic so that’s still a great percentage.

- This is the perfect trap game. Our guys will be full of tryptophan. The fans will be home watching football. This is just the kind of team that ruins our holiday season with an upset. And their coach doesn’t like Boeheim.

- Boston College has beaten both Louisville and NC State, (two eight win teams if the Cardinals can beat Kentucky tomorrow), this year They are erratic but dangerous, especially at home.

- It was sure exciting when Garrett Shrader connected for 324 yards passing and 1TD against Wake Forest. BC’s quarterback, Emmett Morehead, passed for 330 yards against both Duke and NC State and threw for a total of 7TDs in those two games.

- BC has an outstanding receiver in Zay Flowers, who has 70 catches for 967 yards and 10TDs. Don’t we wish we had a guy like that? (Our ace, Oronde Gadsden has 50/809/6). It always seems that we could take one guy out of the game by defending him closely and make the other team beat us but that rarely seems to happen. Remember Purdue’s Charlie Jones? He had 11 catches for 188 yards and a TD against us. This could be him all over again.

- We’ve lost 5 games in a row. We seem to be good at it. Can we remember how to win? Will the pressure get to either of our teams, especially if the game stays close? Stay tuned.
 

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