Wesley Johnson Takes Over

Onto the Sweet Sixteen. And with relative ease, as it turns out, with an 87-65 win over Gonzaga, a final score that makes the game seem closer than it was.

I would admit that I was very concerned about this game knowing Arinze Onuaku was not going to be present. It is not that I do not trust the rest of the squad, but that does put the Orange into a very short bench.

The worst nightmare for any Syracuse fan occurred at 8:58 in the first half when Rick Jackson picked up his third foul, and the game was close. Gonzaga’s 7’ center Robert Sacre and 6’7” Elias Harris had already tasted a lot of success by that point in the game, and I was hoping the Orange would be able to make it to halftime without the game running away from them.

A strange thing happened over that nearly nine minutes stretch. The Orange pulled away from the Bulldogs to take a 47-32 half time lead. How did that happen?

Really, it should not have been a surprise. The team that has played like a team all year did what they did best, and played ‘shut it down’ defense. Add that in with their two best players, Wesley Johnson and Andy Rautins, stepping it up and pouring in the points, and the familiar recipe makes this much easier to understand.

Brandon Triche has re-emerged, which was really a necessity for Syracuse to do well in the NCAA tournament. He played aggressive on offense and defense, and it appears his confidence is back. We tend to think of Triche as having struggled all year, but the young freshman is hitting 41% of this three point attempts this year.

DaShonte Riley was admirable in his 15 minute stint. He did foul out, had a few turnovers and did not get a rebound. On the positive side, he had a great pass to Scoop Jardine, and did his job of clogging up the middle of the zone.

Now I did not forget about Wesley Johnson’s performance. The Big East Player of the Year showed the rest of the country why Syracuse fans think he is one of the best in the country with a very smooth 31 points and 14 rebounds. Johnson was scoring from long range (4 of 6 on three point shots), mid jumpers and on some nice dunks. He was leaping high to grab his fourteen rebounds.

Johnson’s 31 points was the first thirty point effort by an Orangeman since Jonny Flynn put 34 on UConn during the legendary six overtime Big East game on March 12, 2009. It was the first 30 point NCAA effort by a Syracuse player since Gerry McNamara had his spectacular 43 point effort against Brigham Young on March 18, 2004.

Johnson joins a list of seven other Syracuse players who have scored 30+ points in an NCAA Tournament game: Gary Clark, Rudy Hackett, Rony Seikaly, Adrian Autry, John Wallace, Carmelo Anthony and McNamara.

The Orange are now at 30-4, the most wins since their Championship season of 2002-03 when they went 30-5. This is the second most wins ever for a single season, joining the 2003 team and the 1989 team. The record is 31 for the 1986-1987 National Champion Runner Up Orangemen, who went 31-7.

The senior class of Syracuse broke the school record for most wins in consecutive seasons, now standing at 58 (28 last year, 30 and going this year). An impressive accomplishment for two hard working fifth year seniors: Rautins and Onuaku. The previous record had been 57, which was held by the 1987 class (Howard Triche and Greg Monroe), who won 26 games their junior year and 31 their senior year, and by the 1988 class (Rony Seikaly and Derek Brower), who had 31 wins their junior year, and 26 their senior year.

With all the upsets in the tournament this year, the path really has not been cleared for the Orangemen yet. I am not too worried, if Onuaku returns, because this team can play with and beat anyone when they have their game going.

I do wonder how the Orangemen played an 8 seed who was ranked #22 in the AP (Gonzaga), and a 5 seed next (Butler), who is ranked 11th in the AP. A 22nd ranked team should be around a 6 seed (not an 8), and an 11th ranked team should be around a 3 seed (not a 5). It does not seem like the West was "favorably" loaded. But as I said, it really will not matter to these Orange players.

Go Orange!

Milestones Revisted January 2010

Syracuse is off to a 17-1 start. This is the fifth time the Orangemen got off to a 17-1, or better start. In 2004-05, they started out 20-1, in 1999-00 they started out 19-0, in 1986-87 they started out 17-1 and in 1979-80 they had a 21-1 start.

They have already beaten 3 top 10 teams this season. Only five other times has a Syracuse squad beaten 3 or more top 10 teams in one season. The last time was 2002-2003, where they beat 5 top 10 teams. 1988-89 and 1989-90 saw the Orangemen beat 4 top 10 teams. And 1990-91, and 1995-96 saw the Orangemen beat 3 top 10 teams.

As of today Syracuse coach Jim Boeheim has 816 career wins, which ties him with Connecticut coach Jim Calhoun for the sixth winningest all-time Division I Men’s basketball coach. Jim Phelan is ahead of them both at 830, a number that is achievable but tough for both coaches to get this year. Obviously, Calhoun and Boeheim will continue to trade this one on-and-off.

Boeheim also continues to be the winningest Big East coach ever with 315 wins (by far the most), and Syracuse is the winningest program in Big East history with the same total.

Andy Rautins is having a stellar all-around season, a stat stuffing year. He’s on pace for 195 assists (assuming 37 games for SU this year), which would be the 11th best season in Syracuse history. He would also surpass his father Leo, whose top season had 192 assists. Rautins is also on pace to pass his father in points; he trails Leo by 147, and Andy’s current pace will have him around 1,081 points compared to Leo’s 1,031.

Rautins currently has 227 career 3 point field goals, making him #3 all time at Syracuse. He trails Preston Shumpert by 22, an amount he should easily get to get himself to #2. Gerry McNamara is secure at #1 with 400.

Rautins is also on pace for 84 steals, which would be 6th best in SU history; he’d have a shot a Eddie Moss at #5 with 85 steals.

Arinze Onuaku broke the 1000 point barrier earlier this season. He’s now at 1,075 career points, #51 all time at Syracuse. He just passed Vaughn Harper, and is 4 behind Pete Chudy. At his current pace, Onuaku will end somewhere around 1,264 career points, just ahead of Paul Harris at #34 on this list.

Onuaku has 726 career rebounds, tying him for 18th with Wendell Alexis. Next on the list is Todd Burgan with 755. Onuaku will end up with around 807 career rebounds, putting him 15th on the list just ahead of Dave Bing, and behind Harris.

Onuaku is currently breaking his single season field goal record he set last year, at 67.5% (81-120) this year; last year he was 66.7%. His career percentage is now 64.6% (468-724), extending his own school record for players with 400+ attempts. He also continues to obliterate the school career free throw percentage, for worst ever. Onuaku is 17-39 this year, or 43.5%, which actually raises his career percentage to 39.3% (139-354). This record is fairly secure, as he has virtually no chance of raising his percentage above Terrence Roberts’ 48%/

Wes Johnson is on pace for 621 points this year, which would be good for 18th on SU’s single season list. He’s also on pace for 324 rebounds, or 14th on the single season list.

The single best 3 pt percentage for a season is Matt Roe with 47.4% in 1990-91 (he was 83-175). Johnson is currently shooting 44.6% (25-56) which would be second best ever (50+ attempts). However, Roe shot from a shorter distance; Johnson’s percentage would be the school record from the current distance. Brandon Triche is hitting at a greater clip 44.9% (22-49), so he would surpass Johnson.

Brandon Triche is averaging 10.5 points a game. He would become the 15th Syracuse freshman to average 10+ ppg. Triche is looking to make some other marks on the all-time SU freshman list with 389 points (10th), 115 assists (8th), and 45 three point field goals (6th).

Orange Win 2k Sports Classic

Wow. I would be lying if I told you I thought the Orange would be 4-0 at this point of this season. I would have been pleased with 3-1. The team lost its top three scorers from last season, including Jonny Flynn who basically controlled every aspect of the offense last year.

Syracuse easily beat Robert Morris and Albany. I had hope and optimism from those two games because the Orange not only beat those teams, but they beat them easily, something that Syracuse really has not done for the past decade. Even in the famous 2002-2003 season, the Orange won a lot of close games, and really never blew too many teams out of the building.

But this year’s Orangemen have taken this a step even further. The not only beat easily the teams they should beat, they took on #12 California and #4 North Carolina, and easily dismantled those teams. That’s the North Carolina Tar Heels, the defending national champion. Yes, the Tar Heels lost four starters from last year, but they still have a ton of talent, a Hall of Fame coach, and they were ranked #4. That was Syracuse 87, North Carolina 71.

I have no idea how good this Syracuse team is, but it is clearly not the #6 team in the Big East. Wesley Johnson is one of those rare situations where he is better than advertised. Johnson had 25 points and 8 rebounds against a big Tar Heel front line. He was 10-17 from the floor and 4-8 from three point range.

Andy Rautins has clearly grabbed the leadership of this team, and his teammates are behind him. Rautins defense in the zone has been simply superb this year. He had seven steals this evening, to go along with his seven rebounds and seven assists. Oh yeah, he did make a few threes going 3-8. Rautins is showing all the poise, guile and maturity of a fifth year senior, and that time on the Canadian National Team is surely helping him. And those passes Rautins is throwing? I hope his teammates are icing down their hands because he is blistering them.

Scoop Jardine is making us almost want to say “Johnny who?”. Jardine is not the scorer Flynn was, but he surely is showing he can run an offense. And he is backing up Brandon Triche. I’ll be really excited to see what happens when these two actually learn how to run this team.

Rick Jackson and Arinze Onuaku are just eating up the inside. And unlike the past two seasons, their teammates are getting the ball inside to them.

Of course the real success to this team is their defense, which has been outstanding. Extremely active, very active. They have long bodies on the court, but it’s the mental attitude that is making the difference. These guys really buy into the Jim Boeheim defense, and are giving a clinic on how to run it.

We can temper our expectations with a few realities. The team is flat awful at free throw shooting. If another team can get them into a close game, it will be tough for the Orange to pull it out. It some aspects it reminds me of the Orangemen in the Coleman-Douglas-Owens era. Those guys would run most opponents off the court; when they lost a game it was a close one where the free throws did matter.

The Orangemen are also making a lot of turnovers, though they did well against California. Part of that is being overly aggressive, and part is being youthful at some positions. Those types of turnovers can hurt you down the road. This is something that can be corrected (unlike the free throws which will be an albatross this year).

It is going to be a long season. One with many ups and downs as the team learns. But right now they are definitely on an up. Hard to believe this is the same squad who played LeMoyne a few weeks ago. Time for the Orange fans to really enjoy this.

I know I am eager to see what this team can do over the long haul. Let’s go Orange!

All in the Family

Brandon Triche comes to the Syracuse basketball team this fall, and it will be interesting on how he does. He has big shoes to fill with Jonny Flynn leaving early for the NBA, but Triche has been under the spotlight for several years now. As it is well known, his uncle Howard Triche, was a starting forward on the 1987 team that lost the NCAA Title to Indiana by a shot.

The pairing of Brandon and Howard Triche would be the 19th pairing of relatives in Syracuse basketball history. I must admit there may be some relatives I’ve missed… the nineteen are the only ones I could verify so far.

Ironically, this will not even be the first time that Howard Triche makes the list. His cousin was Jason Hart, and Hart played quite successfully for the Orangemen, and has had a lengthy NBA career.

I won’t go through the entire list; you can check it out yourself. However, there have been some notable family combinations for the Orangemen.

First, let me start with the combination that is not on the list, but I think deserves some mention: the Thompson brothers. Billy Thompson was a solid player for Syracuse in the late 1930s, a three year starter and high scorer for his era. His brother Bobby, was an outstanding high school player in the early 1920s, and the star of the Syracuse Freshman team. Bobby Thompson was considered one of the top upcoming basketball players in the country, but was sidelined by poor health, and would never play for the Orange varsity. I thought they deserved a mention.

I think there were six prolific family combination in Syracuse history. The first was the Riehl Brothers, Max and Albert. Max was a three year starter for the Orangemen, playing from 1905-08. He was part of the famed Buffalo German AAU team, and helped bring the Orange basketball program to promise. Albert played for Syracuse for three years, 1911-1913, and while not nearly as good as his older brother, he was a starter his senior year.

Next came the Lee brothers of Newark, NY (don’t get them confused with their 1970s counterparts). David Lee played for Syracuse from 1906-1907 and his younger brother Matt would play from 1908-1910. David was a solid forward, and a good score. Matt would essentially replace David when he graduated, and Matt would be a three year starter, a prolific scorer; he would lead his team in scoring in every game but one his senior year.

Syracuse would have to wait almost forty years for the next prominent family connection. There were some potential strong unions in between: the aforementioned Thompson brothers, the Katz brothers of the 30s, Maister brothers of the 30s, Glacken brothers of the 40s. But either injury, or academic ineligibility, or World War II, would disrupt things.

After World War II, the Stark brothers would make their appearance. Mike, Pat and Lou were all outstanding athletes, and would all have some time on the hardwood. Mike was a four year player; a small player, but very fast, and a sparkplug on the court from 1946-1950. Pat was the star quarterback of the football team; during the off season he would put some time into the basketball team in 1952 and 1953, and would be a starter for the portion of the 1953 team, averaging 9.7 points a game. Lou would be a reserve on the 1955 and 1956 teams.

The 1970s saw the emergence of the Lee brothers from Kirkwood, NY, and Syracuse would resurge under their leadership. Mike was a short forward at 6’3”, but a good rebounder and a terrific shooter both from the perimeter and the free throw line. The Orangemen would go to the postseason all three years of Mike’s career (a first for the school), and when younger brother Jimmy joined the team in 1973, the team would get to the NCAA tournament.

Jimmy played shooting guard, and was one of the best clutch shooters in Syracuse history. Mike was an outstanding free throw shooter, and Jimmy was even better. Jimmy would team up with Rudy Hackett, and give the Orangemen a Cinderella story run to the Final Four in 1975.

The Lee brothers would score a combined 2,516 points at Syracuse, and shot 606 of 744 (81%) from the free throw line. They were easily the best brother combination in Syracuse history.

In the early 1980s, the Rautins family legacy began at Syracuse when Leo transferred from Minnesota. Leo Rautins was an outstanding passing power forward, who often played at the top of the key. He would score 12.1 points a game in his three year career (1981-1983), along with 5.0 assists and 6.1 rebounds. Leo is best known for his game winning tip in to win the 1981 Big East tournament in triple overtime. He would be a first round draft pick, and would play for the Philadelphia 76’ers a few years before injuries kept him out of the league.

Leo’s son Andy is quite familiar to Syracuse fans these days as the teams three point shooting threat. Andy did not play much his freshman year, but has been a solid starter/sixth man ever since, and is entering his senior season. Rautins has been a regular on the Canadian National Team the past three seasons (which Leo has coached). The Rautins have scored a combined 1,728 points for Syracuse, and counting.

Finally, we get to the Triche/Hart family. Howard Triche barely played his first two seasons, before becoming a solid starter his junior and senior years. He would score 748 points in his career. Jason Hart was the starting point guard for Syracuse for four seasons (1997-2000), and has been in the NBA for the past 8 years. Hart was a tremendous defensive guard, with good scoring ability, and average point guard ability. Triche/Hart would score a combined 2,251 points for the Orangemen.

If I had to pick family as the top, I’d go with the Rautins duo, giving a nod to the Kirkwood Lees.