Debunking the Myth

I see many references on the message boards that coach Jim Boeheim hates to play freshman. Well, quite simply, I’d like to quickly debunk that myth.

Coach Boeheim has consistently played the best players on the court, regardless of their class. Keep in mind, by “best”, I mean the player who is the most talented and positive impact on the team today. Many fans get that confused with “potential”, meaning how good the player could be. One thing Boeheim has not done much with, is the “would of, could of, should of” scenarios.

Boeheim has been the head coach at Syracuse for 31 years. During that time, he has started 22 freshman. Sixteen of them were starters for virtually their entire freshman seasons, and six split time with other teammates.

Roosevelt Bouie
Erich Santifer (16 gs)
Andre Hawkins
Pearl Washington
Michael Brown
Rony Seikaly
Derrick Coleman
Billy Owens
Michael Edwards (18 gs)
Adrian Autry
Lawrence Moten
John Wallace
Otis Hill
Jason Hart
Etan Thomas (12 gs)
Jeremy McNeil (21 gs)
Hakim Warrick (19 gs)
Craig Forth
Gerry McNamara
Carmelo Anthony
Demetris Nichols (15 gs)
Eric Devendorf

That was the list of the starters. That does not even account for the freshman who has significant playing time from the bench, which would include players such as:

Stephen Thompson
Dave Johnson
Gene Waldron
Tony Bland
Rafael Addison
Wendell Alexis
DeShaun Williams
Louie Orr
Eddie Moss
Billy Edelin
Ron Payton
Richie Manning

Does Jim Boeheim start seniors and juniors over freshman more often? Sure he does. It would be foolish to think he would do otherwise. Seniors are more experienced, typically bigger and stronger, smarter on the court, and therefore, you would hope, better players. Do you think Derrick Coleman as a freshman was equal to Derrick Coleman as a senior? If you had Derrick Coleman (senior) on your team, would you take him out of the starting lineup so Derrick Coleman (freshman) could start? Of course not.

Historically speaking, when the freshman is deserving of playing time over his teammates, he has received it.

RY

Guards... be the playmakers

I may have more to write tomorrow on the Syracuse / South Florida game. Here's my quick observation. With 9 minutes left in the game, Demetris Nichols has taken only 6 shots in the game. He scored 57 points the past two games combined, and he's only taken six shots this game. Yes, he is cold... but let me repeat he's taken only 6 six shots this game.

Eric Devondorf and Josh Wright, who've been cold for a month or so (or so it seems), have taken upon themselves to heave up 18 shots so far (making only six). Only four assists between them.

All I know is if a guy has been carrying you lately, ride him. Rautins was 4-7 early in the second half from three point range. Hasn't taken a shot in the last 10 minutes. Devo and Wright... you've got to make an smart effort to get the ball to Rautins, or to get Demetris free... or get the ball to Watkins down low.

Again, guards... make the play. Get the rest of the guys into the game.

We may very well win this game... we've been leading most of it, though close. Our guards aren't playing it smart though.

Nichols Nets 37

Syracuse held of a last minute surge from St. Johns to win 76-74 in a “must win” scenario for the Orange. Having gone 1-3 the four games prior to today’s game, I think they need to finish the regular season 6-0 (short of having to run the Big East tournament… again!). That would make the Orange 7-3 in their last 10 regular season games. They dug themselves a deep hole, and need to climb out of it.

Demetris Nichols was the hero of the day, putting up a career high 37 points on some outstanding shooting. 14 of 24 from the floor, and 7 of 13 from three point range. Probably more impressive for Nichols was that he pulled down 10 rebounds.

Nichols effort was the best for an Orangemen since Gerry McNamara torched Davidson for 38 in December of 2005. It was the most points ever for an Orangeman in a Big East game, breaking the previous team record held by Hakim Warrick. And the 37 point effort is tied (with many) for 17th place on the all-time Syracuse single game scoring list.

An interesting side note was that Nichols only made two free throws. The last Syracuse player to score 37+ points with two or less free throws was Dennis DuVal, who scored 37 against Bucknell on January 23, 1974 on 18-30 shooting, with 1 free throw.

Andy Rautins had a big day too, scoring 14 points on 4-5 shooting from three point range (5-7 from the field overall).

This years team has been one of the better Syracuse free throw shooting squads. Yet today, they went cold, 12-23, missing 11 free throws. The culprits? It was not the usual suspects. Darryl Watkins and Terrence Roberts shot a combined 7 of 11 from the free throw line.

Nope, the culprits were the free throw sharpshooters. Rautins, Eric Devendorf, and Josh Wright shot a combined 3 of 10 from the free throw line. Ouch. I do not think we will see that often.

Devo had a poor shooting day, but kept his finger off the trigger, going one for four, and a total of four points. I was concerned that he was shooting poorly and had four turnovers at the half… but he turned it around in the second half, played solid with his ball handling and ended up with 9 assists.

St. John’s is a team Syracuse should have buried. But it was good to see that they were able to come back from being down in the second half, and then hold off a late Red Storm charge. It’s also good to see that Nichols kept shooting down the stretch, and that Devo and Wright recognized that Nichols was the man to give the ball to.

It’s a win. A big one at this point.

RY

Stats Updated - Milestones revisited

The season is well into fold, so I thought I'd do a brief recap of where the players are in terms of career milestones.

Demetris Nichols has 1,127 career points, putting him #41 on the all-time Syracuse scoring list. Next in his sights is DeShaun Williams at 1,136, and the Martys (Headd and Byrnes) at 1,159. Terrence Roberts is at 898 career points, putting him at #56. He should make 1,000 by season end, unless he underperforms and the team tanks terribly in the post season.

Nichols is up to #7 on the all time three point shooting list with 167. For his career he is 167-473, for 35.3%. Next on his list is DeShaun Williams (again) at 175, and Todd Burgan at 178.

Eric Devendorf is climbing the three point shooting chart rapidly. He is now 90-233 for his career, 38.7%, putting him tied at #15 with Michael Edwards. Next on this list for Devo is Kueth Duany and Luke Jackson, both at 98.

Andy Rautins is 49-152 from the three point range for his career, or 32.2%. He is #23 on the all-time list, one behind Billy Owens and current assistant coach Mike Hopkins.

Darryl Watkins has 226 career blocks, putting him 6th all-time. Jeremy McNeil is next on the list at 260. Watkins recently passed Craig Forth who had 215.

Nichols has 912 points scored his junior and senior seasons. 22 previous Orangemen have scored 1,000 points their junior and senior season combined. The record is 1,406 points. You may be surprised who holds that record… I’ll save the answer for a little bit.

Devo has 752 points scored so far in his freshman and sophomore seasons; the Syracuse record is 1,101 by Lawrence Moten. Only two other Orangemen had 1,000 points by the end of their sophomore season; Billy Owens with 1,096 and Gerry McNamara with 1,001. Devo’s 752 points makes him the 11th most prolific player by the end of his sophomore season; John Wallace is at #10 with 770 pts, and Carmelo Anthony at #9 with 778 pts (course, he did it in one season).

Devo’s 90 three point shots are the third most for a player after his first two seasons; Williams is next with 104. GMac is well ahead at 190.

The answer to the most prolific scoring player at Syracuse during his junior and senior seasons? Mr. Preston Shumpert. He average 20.5 ppg to get to his 1,406 points.

Super Bowl XLI - Orangeman Style

Five former Syracuse Orangemen are part of this years Super Bowl Championship Indianapolis Colts. Marvin Harrison and Dwight Freeney are both starters, while Josh Thomas and Ryan Lacasse were reserves, and James Mungro was on the team, but on the IR all season. This is the most Syracuse football players in one Super Bowl, and bring the total to 27 former Orangemen on Super Bowl teams, 17 of which have won a Super Bowl Championship.

The list includes (alphabetically; asterisks indicate Super Bowl wins):

Dave Bavaro
Rob Burnett*
Mike Charles
Ken Clarke
Larry Csonka**
Paul Frase
Dwight Freeney*
Marvin Harrison*
Qadry Ismail*
Darryl Johnston***
Tebucky Jones*
Pat Kelly
Ryan Lacasse*
Dave Lapham
John Mackey*
Donavan McNabb
Kevin Mitchell*
Art Monk***
Keith Moody*
Joe Morris*
James Mungro*
Josh Thomas*
Stan Walters
Roland Williams*
Otis Williams*
Blaise Winters
Dave Wohlabaugh

Two of these players also played basketball for Syracuse university: Donavan McNabb and John Mackey. Also of note, the legendary Jim Brown played in three NFL Championship games (before the Super Bowl), winning one. And Brown also starred in basketball at Syracuse (along with several other sports).

As a side note, 19 former Syracuse basketball players have played in the NFL. Mike Waters had brought this up on his blog today, so I felt obliged to follow up on it.

Congratulations to all the Indianapolis Colts for their championship. Special note to Tony Dungy who was a class act in his post game interview, and to Peyton Manning for chasing away that terrible monkey that would’ve (unfairly) sat on his back.

RY

Dr. Jeckle Shows Up

The Orange snapped their three game losing streak with a big win against DePaul, bringing their good brand of basketball instead of their poor. The heartening fact was they did it despite poor offensive nights from Demetris Nichols and Terrence Roberts. The disappointing fact was that they once again couldn’t finish out a game, this time nearly blowing a 20 point second half lead before winning down the stretch. I’m sure antacid sales have been very high in central New York this year, and it appears that the need will continue.

Eric Devendorf had his career best effort for the Orange, and Andy Rautins had his first big game for Syracuse.

Troy Nunes Is An Absolute Magician made a good point the other day about Syracuse struggling when the big guns (Devo, DNic, and TRob) aren’t making their points; nobody does appear to be stepping up in those down nights. Well last night, Rautins showed he may be part of the solution. I had meant to put together some numbers showing the impact of the lack of scoring from the big three, but haven’t quite finished it yet; not really sure if it really stands out statistically as well as we all can intuit.

Coach Jim Boeheim’s post game press conference had some comments relevant to the big nights for Devo and Rautins. When asked about starting Devendorf, Boeheim replied:

"I just though he had given us a lift coming off the bench and just thought it would help him. It helped him and it helped Andy (Rautins). They had something like 27 points in the first part of the game. Both guys adjusted well to it and I thought Eric and Andy just had big games. It was a huge game for them and us. (Demetris Nichols) struggled today. When we have a game like that and Demetris struggles, it’s a heck of a good sign. Terrence (Roberts) and Mookie (Daryl Watkins) struggled. It’s a pretty big win when those struggle and we win.”

When asked about Rautins shooting performance he replied:

“Well we have to work the ball and help get him open. I thought we did that today. Our patience was better and we didn’t turn the ball over and we passed the ball better. We had 18 assists. I thought all that was good. Andy needs help, he needs screens. I thought one thing we didn’t do was when they started switching late in the game, we should have tried to get the ball inside more and that’s something we’re going to have to do.”

I’ll be curious which Orange team shows up Monday versus UConn. This is a game Syracuse should take, and should be able to win big. But will it be Jeckle or Hyde that shows up?

RY

It's Raining Threes (and that's not good)

I have no idea what to think of this team at this point after the lopsided loss to Notre Dame. I think Jim Boeheim may have been right in his 2006 'GMac Underrated' tirade; this team may not have won 10 games without Gerry McNamara last year. Consider that it's basically the same team this year with the addition of Paul Harris, and all the returning players are at the least marginally better than last year (some significantly better). Yet this year's squad has struggled to 15 wins.

Many fans have been clamoring for Boeheim to drop the zone defense in favor of man-to-man; last night he played extensive man-to-man from the start of the game, and it got shredded by a three point shooting barrage never seen before at the Carrier Dome. At one point the Fighting Irish went 8-11 from three point range. Go figure. The 103 points was the most the Orange has ever given up in the dome.

According to the halftime boxscore, Syracuse had only 4 fouls at the break, and Notre Dame only 2 turnovers. Any wonder why the Orange gave up 61 points? In the natural course of playing solid defense you're going to have fouls and generate some turnovers. Was anyone playing defense?

Andy Rautins’ defensive specialty is obviously the zone, which he is good at. Foot speed is not one of his strengths. He had to be removed because of the focus on man-to-man for most the evening, thus only 11 minutes of playing time, despite the fact he hit 2-3 three point shots.

Because of the man-to-man focus, Paul Harris got significant playing time, and got his 11 rebounds; he is absolutely a rebound machine. Lot's of turnovers (4), but at least he learned not to take the three pointers outside his range. 4-10 from the floor isn't good, but heck, if he makes one more shot, he's 5-10 and that's good. He plays with so much energy, so much hustle, that I think he's the rare player who actually has to turn down his aggressiveness to be effective.

Darryl Watkins got eaten up having to play man-to-man defense... it cost him five fouls and limited him to only 21 minutes of playing time. Even then, Watkins needed to play more aggressive.

Devo was just plain out awful from the floor. 0 for 11? Egad. I don't know what else could be said about that.

I've tried to be supportive of Josh Wright this year. I really have. But another 4 turnover effort. He has got to learn to take care of the ball, and to run the plays.

Demetris Nichols had 29 points. I've seen some message board posts where fans think that proves he's a big time scorer because he helped bring the team back. I would argue the reverse; because of the terribly lopsided score, there was no pressure, and he was able to get into a rhythm. I really like DNic, but his history has shown that the bigger the game, the less we'll hear from him.

Terrence Roberts played solid, though the Orange could have used more rebounding from him. He did go 4-5 from the free throw line, raising his season above 50% (he's now 44-87, 50.6%), and his career is now at 158-326, or 48.5%.

Isn't it ironic that this year's team is one of the better free throw shooting teams in recent memory (71%)? The one thing that has always haunted the Orange in the past is not an issue this year. Can you imagine what it would be like if they could not make their free throws?

The season is not over; there's still a lot to be played. I'm less concerned about the wins and losses, though that will come back to haunt them. I would like to see better overall play. Teams should be improving over the course of the season, and this team is still where it was in December.