OrangeHoops Reaches 1/2 Million

My thanks to all the Syracuse basketball fans who have visited OrangeHoops.org over the years.  On March 30, 2016, the site had its 500,000th visitor.  

OrangeHoops was launched in March 2005 as an effort to share information that I had been gathering for years.  I was frustrated by the lack of information I could find on my beloved Orangemen, and though the internet has millions of records of information, it had surprisingly little on Syracuse basketball.  Especially for the details I was always curious about.

I hope you have enjoyed the site, and continue to visit it. It is a non-revenue venture, and one I hope to keep continuing. I am eager to see how long it takes for the second 1/2 million visitors to arrive. OrangeHoops.org is by no means a prolific site, with an average of  about 45,000 visitors a year, but I do hope they are all meaningful visits.  [Note that I didn't start tracking visitors until November 2005, so a few months of data is missing]

Again, my thanks to all the visitors.

Let's Go Orange!

Boeheim's Hall of Fame Speech

In honor of Syracuse's Hall of Fame Coach Jim Boeheim, I wanted to share the video of his induction speech.  It is full of the sarcasm and wit that Syracuse fans have come to expect from the legendary coach.

Hard to believe that since his induction, Boeheim has reached two more Final Fours, bringing his current total to five.  

Let's go Orange!

Where's The Slipper?

The Orange have made the Elite 8 as a #10 seed.  Yet, they have failed to reach Cinderella team status in the national media nor in social media. They in fact are vilified and treated as a pariah.  The Orange have knocked off Dayton, Middle Tennessee State and Gonzaga on their path to the Elite 8.  It's by no means a murderers row, but it is also a group of teams good enough to knock #6 Seton Hall, #3 Utah and #2 Michigan State out of the tournament.

I understand that some people think that Syracuse should not be in the tournament.  They look at the overall record of the Orange, look at the cheap and flawed RPI rating, and make their assumptions from there.  If they looked at what the Orange's record was comprised of, and looked at all the non-RPI metrics (such as KenPom.com), they would easily see the Orange deserved to be in, especially compared to the bubble teams.  Ironically, Syracuse, by the NCAA committee's own admission, wasn't even a bubble team... there were 6 other at-large teams seeded lower than the Orange in the tournament.  You would be very hard pressed to find 7 teams who didn't make the NCAA who were more deserving that Syracuse.  

Syracuse has all the makings of a Cinderella team.  Consider:

Two fifth year graduate students starting in their backcourt with Michael Gbinije and Trevor Cooney.  Both could have left under Graduate student transfer rules, and played for schools that were not hampered by NCAA penalties, yet both chose to stay.  And both are fine students.

Michael Gbinije... perhaps the most underrated player in the country.  And quite the gentleman.  When asked whether all the poor talk about Syracuse was bothering him, his succinct response was 'Thank you for the motivation'.  And then after a long pause 'that's all I have to say on that'. 

DaJuan Coleman's recovery from two devastating knee injuries and an 18 month absence from the game.

Three freshman in Tylor Lydon, Malachi Richardson and Frank Howard with unique styles and refreshing energy.

Starting the tournament as a #10 seed.  No #10 seed has ever made the Final Four.  Three #11's have done it, but no #10.  

A team hampered by scholarship reductions to have only a 9 player squad.

The 30 day suspension of Coach Jim Boeheim which was a devastating blow to the team both directly on the court with the team going 4-5 in his absence, and off the court regarding retarding the team's development and progression through the season.

If the slipper fits, then one is Cinderella.  Where's our Ball?

The Cooney File

Last 11 games from the floor:

4-13

2-9

1-10

5-13

3-9

5-11

4-12

5-12

1-7

3-14

That is 33 for 100, 33%; 14-46 from 3 pt range, or 30%. Only two games where he shot better than 40% from the floor. At least 6 missed shots in every game.

Such a selfish player… he should be ashamed of himself. The stats don’t lie.

Ooops, my mistake. Those are Malachi Richardson's stats for the past 11 games not Trevor Cooney’s. Yeah but…. the eye test shows that Malachi is good enough to possibly declare for the NBAthis year, so stats aren’t everything.

Hey, you can’t use stats to crucify Cooney and discount the eye test for those who believe Cooney plays outstanding defense in the zone scheme, and then ignore those same stats and rely upon the eye test to praise Malachi.

Cooney is an okay three point shooter; he is shooting 35% for the season which is okay… by no means great. But its on par with a Donte Greene, Gerry McNamara, Jason Cipolla, Dion Waiters, and Tyler Ennis. http://www.orangehoops.org/Syracuse%20Top%20100%203Pts%20Pct.htm

Some people on this site believe Cooney is a bad player. He’s far from being a bad player… he’s an average player who does some things very well, and some things poorly. The guy can’t buy a layup to save himself… we as fans criticized him prior to this season for never driving to the hoop; he’s been doing it a lot this year, which helps diversify his game and the teams offense… he’s just not very good at it.

He has shot 10-20 from three point range the past four games, hitting 40% or more of his 3 point shots in all four games… his own little hot streak. He’s playing solid D in the Orange zone, as he does game in and game out.

He is who he is. It’s a shame he’s never been able to hit that shot. He’s had a few opportunities this year, but none have fallen. He did have the opportunity to steal a win with his defense, something many of us praise him for. I’m sorry if that hurts your narrative.