Goodbye to a Big Threesome

Syracuse finished the season strong, and with the entire starting squad slated to return along with most of the bench and some talented incoming freshman, Syracuse was looking very good for the 2009-2010 season. Some experts had Syracuse projected as a top 5 team for next season. That quickly changed as the weeks following the season rolled by as the three top scoring players and starters Jonny Flynn, Eric Devendorf and Paul Harris all declared themselves eligible for the NBA draft. Syracuse went from a league favorite to a possible rebuilding season.

I don’t harbor any of the three players ill will and wish them the best of luck in the professional endeavors. Flynn’s value was probably never going to be higher than it was at the end of this season, and he has some favorable projections for his NBA draft position.

Devendorf would have been a fifth year senior, and considering his penchant for getting into trouble off the court, I can see him wanting to get out while the going is good. I understand that Harris has a family already, and the lure of a professional contract, even non-NBA, is better than no paycheck as a college student.

I have heard a portion of fans saying that Syracuse is going to be better off next year without these guys, and that is nonsense. There’s a reason that Flynn played more minutes this season than any player in Syracuse basketball history; there was not a worthy point guard replacement on the team. Yes, next year Scoop Jardine will be around and Brandon Triche arrives on campus, but neither are proven players. Furthermore Flynn was the best point guard since the Pearl / Douglas era.

Devo had his problems on the court (too many turnovers, no defense, no rebounding) but he was a clutch shooter, an emotional plus on the court, and had the ability to generate his own offense. That’s a tough commodity to replace.

Harris was the team’s leading rebounder, despite the fact that he was maddingly inconsistent in his effort. There is no doubt that Syracuse played better basketball when Harris played well. He was always a turnover away from making me shake my head, or a blown defensive assignment away from being pulled off the court by coach Jim Boeheim. But he was nevertheless a strong presence on the court.

I would love to have any of these guys back. That’s 43.1 points per game the Orange are losing, along with nine seasons of experience (never to be overrated), and the three best free throw shooters.

Now all is not doom and gloom. There is a lot of talent returning in veterans Andy Rautins, Rick Jackson, Arinze Onuaku, along with the return of Scoop Jardine, Kris Joseph, and Mookie Jones, and the arrival of Wesley Johnson, James Sutherland, and Brandon Triche. And of course, Jim Boeheim always seems to do well with the unproven teams.

Just for exercise (and for those who are curious), I checked on some notable teams that lost some significant players: the 1973-1974 squad, 1985-1986, 1994-1995 and 2001-2002. For those of you who are astute enough, you’ve already realized those were the squads the seasons before Syracuse when to each of it’s Final Fours.

The 1973-74 squad was led by senior point guard sensation Dennis DuVal with his 20.6 points a game, and 3.4 assists per game. Senior Fred Saunders would score 9.8 ppg along with 9.8 rebounds per game, and senior center Bob Dooms would add 4.7 ppg and 5.0 rpg. The Orangemen would also lose some important role players with Scott Stapleton and Tom Stundis.

Now the cupboards were not bare for the Orangemen that year. The teams best shooter Jimmy Lee was returning, and the team’s best player Rudy Hackett would also be back. Sophomore Jimmy Williams would emerge as a solid point guard and Chris Sease would play admirably in the other forward position. And it was not like the 1974-1975 team was dominant; it wasn’t. It was a good team, that got very hot during the NCAA tournament, made the clutch shots, and miraculously found itself in the Final Four.

The 2001-2002 team had a ton of talent, but imploded after being ranking #7 in the nation, and failed to make the NCAA tournament. Preston Shumpert was incredibly talented, but problems between him and the talented but troubled DeShaun Williams would tear the team apart. The Orangemen would lose it’s top two scorers and 36.6 ppg, along with staring point guard James Thues (he transferred). So coming off an NIT season, and losing three starters is not a good sign.

But of course, 2002-2003 was no ordinary season. The arrival of three very talented freshman (Carmelo Anthony, Gerry McNamara, and Billy Edelin) and the growth of Hakim Warrick made the team one of the most formidable squads the Orangemen ever had. And of course, a National Championship occurred.

The 1994-1995 squad was one with some high expectations, that lost in overtime in the NCAA tournament. The Syracuse backcourt had the talented Michael Lloyd (12.5 ppg, 5.2 apg), along with the effortless Lawrence ‘Poetry in ‘ Moten (19.6 ppg, 3.3 apg, 4.2 rpg). Senior Luke Jackson played small forward and brought another 11.2 ppg and 4.2 rpg. That’s a total of 43.1 ppg lost.

Syracuse did have John Wallace foregoing the NBA draft and coming back for his senior year, and Big John would carry the Orangemen to the title game with 22.2 ppg, 8.7 rpg, and 42% three point range shooting. The emergence of Todd Burgan was not unexpected, he had shown flashes of his talent his freshman year as one of the top reserves, and junior college transfer Jason Cipolla teamed with sophomore Marius Janulis to provide some excellent perimeter shooting. The real key was the emergence of fifth year senior Lazarus Sims as the dominant point guard. Sims did not score a lot (only 6.3 ppg), but he was a great ballhandler and play maker, with 7.4 apg.

But the most comparable situation for the current Syracuse squad was the 1985-1986 squad. The Orangemen were led by Pearl Washington with 17.3 ppg, 7.8 apg, and 2.5 rpg. The Pearl was dynamic on the court, and had the special quality of being able to create plays for his teammates, and also able to generate his own offense. If you compare Flynn and the Pearl, statistically they’ll be very similar, with Pearl better assist totals. Clearly too great college point guards; Pearl was better, but that is no knock on Flynn.

The Orangemen had Rafael Addison at shooting guard. As much as the loss of Devo may hurt the Orange, the loss of Raf was a bigger one for the Orangemen. Addison scored as many points as Devo, but without a three point shot. Raf was deadly from the 16-18 foot jump shot, and I’m sure he would’ve made his share of threes. Both Raf and Devo shot about 79% from the free throw line, but Raf played defense and rebounded, and was actually better at handling the ball. Devo was better at making his own plays on offense, but if you have a great point guard on the court (which both did), you don’t have to make your own plays too often. Raf’s scoring was down his senior year due to a leg injury at mid season, so both guys struggled with a bum leg of some sort. At 6’7” Raf had a few inches over Devo at 6’3”.

The third Orangemen to leave the 1985-86 squad was Wendell Alexis. Alexis was quiet on the court, but he pulled down 7.4 rpg, and scored 15.2 ppg, second on the squad. He was a terrific free throw shooter at 81% and was pretty good at running the court. Harris was a better rebounder, but Alexis was a better all around player, and was rarely a liability on the court.

So you pull three starters off the 1985-86 team, including your top three scorers, so it’s tough to predict what will happen the next season. Well, what happened was an unknown sophomore Sherman Douglas emerged as an outstanding point guard, fourth year senior Greg Monroe stepped into the starting lineup and provided excellent perimeter shooting, ball handling and leadership, and a skinny freshman Derrick Coleman showed that he could pull down a rebound or two (or more). Center Rony Seikaly, who had always been inconsistent (remind you of a current center?) developed some consistency and in the post season he stepped his game up several notches to be a dominating inside player. The Orangemen would come within a Keith Smart shot of winning the national title (Hakim Warrick was only 4 at the time and unable to block the shot).

So, who knows what to expect for 2009-2010? I have no idea. It is disappointing to lose the three big scorers from this season (along with Kris Onganaet and his hustle), but the Orange do have some talent returning, and a lot of experience, and a coach who has seen a game or two. It should be a fun year.

Syracuse All Decade Team 2000-2009

By now most Syracuse fans are aware that Jonny Flynn is going to bypass his final two years of college eligibility to go for the money and fame of the NBA. I am not going to comment in length on Flynn’s decision. As a fan I wish he would stay; next year’s team with Flynn would clearly be better than next year’s team without him. I think Flynn also has a lot of room to improve at the college game; he played the point position very well down the stretch this season, but I would like to have seen him play that way for a season and raise his game another notch. However, he is staring at the opportunity to earn millions, he is reportedly getting props by the likes of LeBron James (per the Axeman), and the NBA is the opportunity to play against the best. And the only reason Flynn came to college was to go to the NBA, so when that opportunity is there, I cannot blame him for taking it.

Flynn leaves Syracuse as probably the third best point guard in the Jim Boeheim era. The top two are clearly Pearl Washington and Sherman Douglas, in some order. Flynn comes in ahead of guys like Red Autry, Gerry McNamara, Jason Hart , Lazarus Sims and Eddie Moss.

Anyways, the decade from 2000-2009 has ended, and I have been compiling ‘All Decade’ Teams for every decade of Syracuse basketball, along with a player of the decade for each decade. [Note: for purposes of determining best player of a decade, I restrict consideration to only their activity during that decade. I realize this is unfair to the players who cross over two decades, but such as it is].

Most decades have been easy. The 1900s had Art Powell, the 1910s Joe Schwarzer, the 1920s Vic Hanson, the 1930s Ed Sonderman, the 1940s Billy Gabor, the 1950s Vinnie Cohen, and the 1960s Dave Bing.

The choices got more difficult starting with the 1970s. I narrowed it down to Rudy Hackett, Roosevelt Bouie, Louis Orr, and Dennis DuVal. DuVal was an electrifying and outstanding player, and Hackett led Syracuse to its first Final Four, but both of their impact was dwarfed by the dominance of the Bouie ‘N Louie era. So the choice came down to Louis Orr and Roosevelt Bouie. Considering the defensive dominance of Bouie that allowed a young Jim Boeheim to anchor a team around, I had to go with Roosevelt Bouie for the 1970s.

The 1980s was the best decade of Syracuse basketball, and as such there were some dominant players to select from. The top three were clearly Pearl Washington, Derrick Coleman and Sherman Douglas. Coleman was the best player of the three, but his senior season was in the 1990s, and so we’re comparing his first three seasons to the three years of Washington and four of Douglas. I think the point guard duo have an edge as a result. It then comes down to Washington and Douglas. I think Douglas was the better point guard, and the guy I want running my team. But the Pearl was an outstanding point guard himself, and a one-man press breaking machine. Honestly, I would not argue with anyone who chose opposite to me on this, but in the end I took the Pearl because of his impact on the program.

The 1990s had three outstanding players: Billy Owens, Lawrence Moten and John Wallace. Owens was the best player of the three, but Syracuse had only two seasons of him in the 1990s, and Owens has to be downgraded somewhat for his failure to win a Big East game or NCAA tournament game his last season at Syracuse. I mean, that’s half the seasons he had in the 1990s. Moten and Wallace were both four year men. Moten was the better four year player; he was a much better player than Wallace was as a freshman and sophomore. And I had written a while back that Moten’s significance in the 90s cannot be understated… he came to the program at the time of the probation period, and helped Syracuse be a winner despite the NCAA penalties, and the program kept going as a result. Moten is one of my all time favorite Syracuse players, but I gave John Wallace the nod as the top player of the 90s. He was a better player as a junior and senior than Moten was those two years, and Wallace carried the team to the NCAA Championship game his senior season.

As tough as I found the last three decades to be for selections, I found this past decade (2000-2009) to be the toughest. One of the difficulties is the presence of Carmelo Anthony, who played only one year, but clearly had the best single season of the decade and led Syracuse to its first NCAA Tournament Championship. Then you have Hak & Mac attack with Hakim Warrick and Gerry McNamara, and the ironman Jonny Flynn.

First, I will be quite clear that I have a tough time naming any player the greatest career player, or player of a decade, when his contribution to the school was only one season. That pretty much makes it very difficult for me to select Anthony. Yes, Anthony had the best single season, and he did win a National Championship. But Hakim Warrick and Gerry McNamara both also won a National Championship, in which both were significant impact players (remember ‘the block’ and ‘six threes’?).

Consider that Warrick scored over 2000 points during the decade, was the team’s leading rebounder for the decade, played in three NCAA tournaments, won a Big East Championship his senior season, and was named the Big East Player of the Year his Senior year, and all Big East first team two times.

Gerry McNamara led the school in scoring and assists for the decade, played in four NCAA tournaments (the only Orangeman to do that in the 2000s), won two Big East tournaments (including perhaps the gutsiest four series effort by a player in the history of that tournament). GMac was of course a fan favorite.

And recently we have all had the pleasure of watching Jonny Flynn and his ironman efforts on the court, and his own heroic Big East tournament efforts this season.

Gerry McNamara came away with the most hardware for the decade, but the other three were better players. Flynn was fun to watch the last two years, but Warrick and Anthony were better. So it comes down to Anthony and Warrick. Warrick was Anthony’s wingman in 2003. But as I mentioned earlier, Anthony only played one year, and he won a National Title (but so did Warrick). Anthony never won a Big East title, and he was never the Big East Player of the Year (I know that politics played into that, but nevertheless it is a fact). If Warrick had played two years and Anthony one, I could go with Anthony. But Warrick played four years; Anthony only one. Warrick had impact on 40% of the decade, Anthony only 10%. Warrick played in 3 NCAA tournaments, Anthony one. Warrick won a Big East Title, Anthony none. Warrick was on the Big East First team 2x, Anthony only once. Warrick was the Big East Player of the Year, Anthony never won that distinction.

We could play the ‘yeah, but’ game with Anthony. If Anthony had stayed four years, he likely would’ve bettered all of Warrick’s accomplishments. But Anthony made a choice to leave Syracuse and go pro; Warrick chose to stay four years. I am not going to make a decision based on what could have happened, but instead on what actually did happen. And based on that, I choose Mr. Warrick.

As for the All Decade team, that a bit easier. I came down to a backcourt of Jonny Flynn and Gerry McNamara, and a front court of Carmelo Anthony, Hakim Warrick and Arinze Onuaku. I would have a three man bench, and this bench would help the Orange shoot the lights out: Preston Shumpert, Eric Devendorf, and Demetris Nichols. Of course, the coach of the decade would be the only coach this decade, Jim Boehim.

Agree or disagree with the Player of the Decade decision? I’ve set up a ranking on Rankopedia for you to make your own vote. And if you want to comment on any of the previous decade selections, feel free to leave me a comment.

It’s a long time until next fall, but I’ll be here every week or so with more comments on the Orange of past and present.

Career & Season Milestones 2008-2009

Syracuse had a veteran team in 2008-2009, and a successful season, and the combination of those two factors do help players gain certain statistical achievements.

Points Scored for Career

Eric Devendorf: 1680 Career Points, 14th all time. He has a chance at Lawrence Moten’s school record of 2334 points. He would need 655 points, or about an average of 18.7 points a game his senior year.

Paul Harris: 1253 points, 34th all time, right behind Tony Bruin with 1294 points

Jonny Flynn: 1211 points, 38th all time, 1 point behind Wendell Alexis. Flynn is 52% of the way to Moten’s record, so if he kept at his current pace and stayed at Syracuse for four seasons, he would break Moten’s record.

Arinze Onuaku: 896 points, needs 104 to get to 1000 points. He is 60th all time in Syracuse scoring; Rick Dean is ahead of him with 912 points.

Andy Rautins: 697 points, 82nd all time. He is 5 points behind Mel Besdin. Andy would need 334 points to tie his dad Leo, with 1,031 career points. Andy should reach that mark; he scored 387 points this season.

Career Rebounds

Paul Harris: 832 career rebounds, 14th all time. He needs fifteen to catch Etan Thomas. Harris has no chance of break Derrick Coleman’s record, but an excellent opportunity to finish 2nd on the Syracuse career list, needing 263 rebounds to surpass Rony Seikaly (Harris had season rebound totals of 248, 286, and 298 in his first three years).

Arinze Onuaku: 640 rebounds, 24th all time. He is 8 behind Marty Byrnes.

Rick Jackson: 324 rebounds, 58th all time. He is 9 behind Gerry McNamara.

Kris Onganaet: 309 rebounds, 63rd all time.

Eric Devendorf: 277 rebounds, 67th all time. He is 9 behind Ron Payton.

Andy Rautins: 209 rebounds, 86th all time. He is 3 behind Ernie Austin, and 320 behind his father, so Leo will be able to keep that honor away from his son.

Jonny Flynn: 198 rebounds, 88th all time. He is 6 behind Ross Kindel.

Career Assists

Jonny Flynn: 439 assists, 7th all time. He is 100 behind Eddie Moss for 6th place. Flynn is currently not on pace to break Sherman Douglas’ school record of 960, but it is something in his reach if he increases his assist production to about 8.6 assists per game (which would tie a school record).

Eric Devendorf: 374 assists, 14th all time. He is 7 behind Billy Owens.

Paul Harris: 254 assists, 31st all time. He is one behind John Wallace.

Andy Rautins: 176 assists, 49th all time. He is one behind Marty Byrnes, and 247 behind his father Leo, so once again dad looks to be able to hold onto that position.

Kris Onganaet: 75 assists, 81st all time.

Rick Jackson: 55 assists, 96th all time. He is one behind Fred Saunders for 95th.

Arinze Onuaku: 53 assists, 99th all time. He is one behind Rich Cornwall.

Three Point Field Goals

Eric Devendorf: 208 three point field goals, 3rd all time. He should catch Preston Shumpert for 2nd needing only 42 to pass him. However, Gerry McNamara seems safe at #1 with 400.

Andy Rautins: 184 three point field goals, 7th all time. He needs 6 to catch Marius Janulis, and should also pass Preston Shumpert needing 66 to accomplish that. Rautins trails Devendorf by 24 three point field goals; he had 20 more than Devo in 2008-2009, so it will be close to see who finishes second all time at Syracuse.

Jonny Flynn: 101 three point field goals, 15th all time. He needs 4 to tie Jason Cipolla.

Paul Harris: 22 three point field goals, 39th all time. He needs one to catch Michael Lloyd.

Mookie Jones and Kris Joseph both have 7 three point field goals, 46th all time. They are one behind Ramel Lloyd.

Kris Onganaet: 5 three point field goals, 51st all time.
Jake Presutti: 3 three point field goals, 56th all time.

Other Career Notes

Eric Devendorf is 7th in career turnovers with 331. Jason Hart holds the record with 436 which is within Devo’s grasp. Let us hope he doesn’t get it.

Arinze Onuaku is 14th all time in blocked shots with 113, and Rick Jackson is 15th with 104.

Eric Devendorf is 5th all time in 3 point shooting accuracy (minimum 100 attempts) at 37.8%. Andy Rautins is 10th at 35.9%. The worst ever was Elvir Ovcina at 24.2%. Paul Harris needs to attempt two more 3 point field goals to qualify; when he does that he’ll be the worst ever at 22.5% (and Harris would hold that record even if he made those two attempts).

Eric Devendorf is 14th all time in free throws made with 306.

Single Season Rankings

Harris’ 298 rebounds was the 18th best rebounding total for a season.

Johnny Flynn’s 180 free throws made was the 5th best single season ever for Syracuse. His 237 attempts was 10th best.

Arinze Onuaku set the school record for field goal percentage in a season with 178 of 268 made, or 66.7%, breaking the mark held by Roosevelt Bouie of 65.4% set in 1979-1980. Rick Jackson had the 6th best shooting season ever, with 139 of 223, or 62.3%.

Jonny Flynn set the school record for most minutes in a season with 1418 minutes, break John Wallace’s 1995-1996 record of 1379.

Flynn had the 4th best minutes/game mark with 37.3 minutes/game. Billy Owens owns the school record with 38.0 minutes/game, set in 1990-1991.

Flynn has the 5th best assist totals for a season with 254. Sherman Douglas holds the school record with 326 (Douglas is also #2 & #3 on the list). Flynn’s total was the 2nd most ever for a sophomore.

Flynn tied the school record for most games started in a season with 38, which has now been accomplished by 12 players.

Andy Rautins 102 three point field goals was 4th best ever for Syracuse. Gerry McNamara holds the record with 107.

Flynn had the 4th worst turnover total in school history with 129. Sherman Douglas holds the record with 139 in 1988-1989.

Flynn’s 663 points was the 11th best point total for a season, and the most points ever for a sophomore season.

Flynn’s 6.7 assists per game was the 6th best average for a season. Sherman Douglas holds the record with 8.6 per game.

There are 43 Syracuse players who have had more than 100 assists in a season where they also recorded turnovers. Jonny Flynn’s assist/turnover ratio of 1.97 is 10th best ever. Sherman Douglas holds the school record with a ratio of 2.85. Eric Devendorf has the 3rd worst season ever with a ratio of 1.01. Andy Rautins was 26th best, with a ratio of 1.53.

And then the really bad record: Arinze Onuaku obliterated the Syracuse season record for worst free throw shooter (100 minimum attempts) at 29.8% (37 of 124). The previous record was Terrence Roberts at 42.1%. Onuaku was so bad that if we lowered the standard to 50 attempts he still would hold the record (the previous record was 38.3% at that standard). Using the 100 minimum standard, Onuaku would still have broken the record if he had made an additional 15 free throws.

Onuaku has pulled ahead of Terrence Roberts for the worst career free throw shooter (minimum 200 attempts). Onuaku is at 38.7% (122 of 315), while Roberts was at a ‘lofty’ 42.1%. If Onuaku were to make the next 100 free throws he attempted, his career percent was only be 53%.

On the bright side, the greatest field goal percentage for a career for Syracuse (minimum 200 attempts) is 68.5% by Jeremy McNeil. Onuaku has a career percentage of 64.1%, which is second best ever.

Team Notes

Syracuse as a team had the 5th most wins ever in school history, with 28. In part this was because of tying a school record 38 games played (which was also accomplished in 1986-1987, 1988-1989, and 1995-96). That is what happens when you win preseason tournament, go four deep into the Big East Tournament, and play 3 NCAA Tournament games.

Syracuse finished the regular season ranked 13th in the AP polls. That is the 12th best finish for the Orangemen ever, and their best poll finish since 2004-2005 where they finished 11th.

Coach Jim Boeheim finished the year with 799 wins. His first win of 2009-2010 will give him #800.

Thanks for the Season!

My thanks to the Orange for giving us a great season of enjoyment. 5-0 in overtime victories this season, including one very memorable one for the ages! A great run in the Big East Tournament and a return to the NCAA Tournament where they had two strong wins before inevitably losing to a strong Oklahoma team with a great Blake Griffin.

It was a pleasure watching Jonny Flynn develop from a great player to a great point guard over the course of the season, and for him wearing his heart on his sleeve through these past few weeks. The team started out well, and continued to improve as a unit throughout the year, despite a few occasionally distractions and injuries.

But starting with the overtime win against Georgetown, until Friday's loss to Oklahoma, the Orange played some outstanding basketball, showed a never give up attitude, and provided the fans with a lot of great memories.

2009-2010 should be quite a year. I have no idea which of the current players will be returning, but it should be a very talented team no matter what combination is on the court.

I have put together my summary of the season on OrangeHoops.org, so I will not repeat it here. Within the week, I promise to have my annual season ending statistics commentary.

Sweet Sixteen!!

The Orange continue to play great basketball, with an easy win over Stephen F. Austin in the first round of the NCAA, and frankly a win over Arizona State that was never in doubt.

As a side note, both those wins were the first wins for Syracuse over those programs. The Orange had never played Stephen F. Austin before, and were 0-1 versus Arizona State.

Syracuse is on an eleven game streak where they have been playing outstanding basketball. They have been building large leads on the teams they should beat, and hanging in there and winning the close games against the teams that are a tough match.

This year’s team has shown tremendous resolve in their ability to hang in during the close games. Even when they make mistakes down the stretch they seem not to be phased by it; if anything they seem to step it up a notch and compensate for the errors.

I can’t say enough about the improved play of Jonny Flynn. To watch him grow from being a very good player to a great point guard during this season has been a delight. It is hard to believe this is the same guy I was criticizing early in the year for taking all the shots (which I still agree with), for he seems to be making all the right decisions now.

Eric Devendorf is bringing his offensive game to each and every game now, and Andy Rautins seems to be everywhere on the court, and when the clutch shots are needed, he is definitely nailing them. Paul Harris has not been an offensive threat, but when the three guards are lighting it up, Syracuse does not need that from Harris. What they do need is every single rebound he can get, and he has been getting them.

The big guys have been playing outstanding as a group. Arinze Onuaku is playing solid, and with the improved consistent play of Rick Jackson and Kris Onganaet, coach Jim Boeheim can keep Onuaku off the court during crunch time, so that we do not have to worry about his free throw shooting woes. Onganaet has been a steady factor on the boards and getting the loose balls, and on some cases, has been showing some offensive flair. Possibly the biggest impact has been the improved play of Rick Jackson as an offensive player. He has turned into a reliable 10 point guy, which is all Syracuse needs from him now. Syracuse does not need a monster game from the big three to win; they just need the trio to hold their own. The next two games will test the Orange on that.

Syracuse is 2-1 all-time versus Oklahoma. Of course, Oklahoma is all about All-American Blake Griffin. I do not think Syracuse has to stop Griffin in order to beat the Sooners. But they do need to make Griffin work hard, on his way to his 25-30 points and 15-20 rebounds. The bigger issue will be how the rest of the Sooners respond. If Oklahoma cannot figure out the zone defense, and Griffin has to take 25-30 shots, things could look very rosey for the Orange.

Syracuse will continue to need to have great efforts from Flynn, Rautins, and Devo. If Rautins and Devo are making their fair share of threes, and Flynn is handling the ball well, I feel very confident. The other X factor will be the foul situation for Syracuse up front. The Orange do not have a lot of depth of big men, so they’ll need Onganaet, Onuaku, and Jackson to play hard, but also to be available for the whole game.

Switching gears, the Big East has just been outstanding in this post season. A record five teams in the Sweet Sixteen, which was made slightly easier by giving three of the teams the #1 seeds and thus the easiest path there. With the exception of Pitt, who has struggled in both games, the Big East teams have won rather easily, with UConn at the head of the class. It is quite possible the Big East will have four teams in the elite eight (possibly five!).

I do have to say it is nice for the Orange to be back in the tourney. Go Orange!!

Thanks for the Tournament

The Orange came up short tonight in the win column in their attempt to win their sixth Big East tournament title. But they did not come up short in their effort in this tournament. As a fan, I of course wanted them to win this game, but they played hard and played well tonight, inevitably losing to the better team on this night 76-66. Congratulations to the Louisville Cardinals on a well earned Big East Championship.

The Orange have put together some great teamwork over the past few weeks, and they are peaking at just the right time of the season. I look forward to what they can accomplish in the NCAA tournament this upcoming week. They should be a #4 seed somewhere. We’ll see what the committee thinks.

Congratulations to Jonny Flynn for a well earned Big East MVP, and for putting his name on the list of great Syracuse guard performances at Madison Square Garden along with the likes of Pearl Washington, Sherman Douglas, and Gerry McNamara. Eric Devendorf should also get some note as he set the Big East record with 84 point in the tournament.

Again, I am proud of all the Orange for the past four days. Thank you very much. I cannot wait to see you all play next week.

Inspired!

Wow! What a game. If you could not stay up to 1:40 am EDT last evening, you missed one of the greatest games in basketball history. Six overtimes.

The final score was 127-117 Syracuse over Connecticut. But the Orange never led in any of the previous five overtime periods. Syracuse showed early in the season in the Florida and Kansas games that they would not fold under pressure, and they have kept that true to form this entire season. What a welcome change from the past few years.

I have been harsh on Jonny Flynn's playmaking this season, and I believe rightfully so. But in the last few games, I have seen Flynn develop from being a great player to being a great point guard. He is now dishing the ball off to his teammates, allowing them to take the better shots, and keeping everyone involved. He is elevating his play, and that is bringing the team with him.

So many highlights from last night. Arinze Onuaku... you know all Orange fans were burying their faces in their hands when he went to the line with 30 seconds to go in regulation and he had to make two. And the big guy came through with two free throws.

Devendorf's last second shot for the win... nothing but net. I think the officials made the correct call in taking away the basket due to time expiring... but it could not have possibly been any closer. I do have an objection with the officials not calling charging on Thabeet for plowing over Jonny Flynn on the pick on the inbounds (though I can understand them not wanting to make that call at the end of the game).

Andy Rautins hitting a clutch 3 to tie the game with 12 seconds to go in the 3rd overtime period. It must be something in the Rautin gene pool that allows heroics in third period overtimes (reference: Leo's tip in winning basket in the 1981 Villanova triple overtime win). And Andy's three point shot to start the 6th overtime period basically ended the game.

Flynn's 34 points and 11 assists are strong numbers, but 67 minutes and 16-16 from the free throw line are the numbers that really jump out.

Paul Harris... what an up and down night for Paul. 56 minutes, 29 points, 13-14 from the free throw line. Here's the huge stat: 22 rebounds. Some of those 22 rebounds were his own missed shots (of which he had many at point blank in overtime), but still a great effort from Harris.

For a few minutes of overtime, Syracuse had to play against UConn and Thabeet without any center or power forward on the team. Onuaku, Onganaet and Jackson had all fouled out. I was concerned that was the end for the Orange, but they still hung in there.

You've got to wonder what was going through Justin Thomas's mind when Devendorf fouled out and Thomas, a walk-on, had to go onto the court. He played 18 minutes all season, plus three more against Seton Hall Wednesday night. He ended up playing 7 minutes, every one of them crucial, against the #4 team in the country, last night. I'm guessing Jake Presutti was praying that neither Rautins or Harris would pick up their next foul, their fifth, or he would have been on the court too.

Who knows what the Orange will be able to do tonight. They are young men, but the emotional drain has got to be significant. The big men actually should not be too physically tired. Jackson played only 29 minutes, Onganaet 28 minutes, and Onuaku 28 minutes. But the guards will definitely be the ones to watch.

I think the win last night easily moves the Orange into a #4 seed in the NCAA tournament, regardless of how they do this evening. We'll see.

GO ORANGE!