Special Treatment? Not QuiteThe Benefit You Think

I have seen a lot of chatter about Michael Carter-Williams getting special treatment with the alleged shoplifting incident at Lord & Taylor's, as reported by Mike Waters of the Post-Standard.  Most of the negative chatter is about how Carter-Williams is getting preferential treatment because he is a high profiled Syracuse athlete, implying that the average person would be getting different treatment in this situation.

 

I would agree that he is indeed getting special treatment, but not to his benefit.  The policy, as reported by Waters is: 

"Lord & Taylor’s store policy dictates how to deal with shoplifters, according to one source. In most cases, the police are not called. Instead, a person who admits to shoplifting must pay a civil fine. The fine is five times the value of the merchandise with a cap at $500. When the fine is paid, the accused is released. Shoplifters are not allowed to keep the merchandise."

The article further states that in most cases the police are never involved, nor even is mall security.

 

If Carter-Williams was the average Syracuse citizen, he would have paid the fine, the issue would be resolved, and the issue would have no public attention.  Instead, because he is a star athlete, and people recognized him at the mall, he is being persecuted by members of the public.  How is Carter-Williams benefiting in this situation from his celebrity?

I do not condone this alleged shoplifting action.  However it does seem to me that based on the facts presented in the article, he was treated by Lord & Taylor's as if he was the typical Syracuse citizen caught up in the same circumstance.  And that is the way it should be, regarding how it was handled from their end.  No special treatment.

The special treatment he is getting is from the media and the public because of his celebrity.  Mike Waters has to report on this, because ignoring the story would be irresponsible journalism. There is a story that is floating around the community regarding something that impacts Syracuse basketball, and if he has done his diligence and gotten the facts, he should report on them.  

Goodbye to the Big East

It appears that in a couple of years, if not sooner, the Big East will no longer exist, at least in concept, if even in name. Most the major news sites are reporting it official that the seven Catholic schools, all non-football, will spin off to form their own new league. I applaud this move, and am very happy to see it.

I will be forthright with you.  When Syracuse announced it was leaving the Big East for the ACC, I have been secretly hoping the Big East conference would fold before next season began. The idea of a Big East conference without Syracuse sickens me.  I really just want the whole conference to go away.

In reality, the Big East I grew up loving, disappeared a long time ago.  The erosion started with the addition of football schools Miami and Virginia Tech, though that was something that was more of a nuisance.  Adding Notre Dame made some sense as it was a Catholic school, and its profile would match much of the Big East.  I was willing to overlook the geographic anomaly there, but the inclusion of Notre Dame without the inclusion of its football program never made any sense. If you are going to sell you soul to get some new members, you better make sure it is a win/win situation, and I never saw the ‘win’ for the Big East in that move.

Rutgers geographically made sense, though it brought nothing to the basketball table.  It would  have made far more sense to keep Temple in the Big East for football, instead of unceremoniously kicking them out, and then insist the rest of Temple join the Big East; they would have a been a nice addition to the basketball league (though I realize Villanova would not have been happy with that).

West Virginia is a natural rival of Pitt, and since Pitt was in the Big East, bringing in WVU with a solid basketball and football program made sense.   Plus schools like Syracuse had traditional rivalries with the Mountaineers. 

But the league started to get bloated.  Teams no longer had home-and-home games with all the teams in the league.  You start to lose your identity that way.  Boston College left… that was a team that the Eastern schools all had a relationship with, and now that was gone on both the gridiron and the hard court.

The Big East expanded westward, beyond the Ohio state line, and grabbed schools like Louisville and Cincinnati to help with the football league.  Marquette and DePaul were picked up to balance out the basketball.  The league identity was gone. It was no longer a small conference of tough battling teams, but a mega conference.  It was a conference with some dominating basketball and tremendous depth, but no identity. And of course the recent grab of Boise State, Memphis, San Diego State, etc. was just a collection of every desperate program out there.  Thankfully Syracuse would be no part of that.

It bothered me that Syracuse left the Big East, but it made perfect sense. If they did not, they would now be were UConn is; a team with no home.  A great basketball program that needs a place to put its football program. Syracuse made the right move, at the right time.

Syracuse owed nothing to the Big East.  It entered the league as a top regional player, and in the first season of the Big East, which was a partial schedule, the Orange were the #2 team in the country.  They entered the Big East as a top program, they were one of the reasons the basketball league had credibility from the beginning. The Big East obviously helped Syracuse go to the next level, as it did to every other team in the league.  But the benefit to SU was mutual with the benefit to the league.  Syracuse was the only program in the league that remained a contender throughout the history of the league; year in and year out, they were always in the top half of the league.  They were not always the best team, but they were always a recognizable team.  Georgetown, St. Johns and Villanova dropped to some very forgettable and losing seasons.  UConn, Pitt. Providence and Seton Hall took advantage of being in the Big East to build successful programs.

I had discussed with friends during the 90’s that I would have loved to have seen the Big East add Navy, Army, Temple, and gone after Maryland for the Big East.  Those programs would have added to the identity of the league. It may not have been the powerhouse it became in basketball in the 2000s, but it would have had a regional and national identity.  Top to bottom talent doesn’t really matter; how do you think the ACC has gotten by the past 8-9 years with only a few really good basketball programs? Regional identity and historical perception. 

Anyhow, good luck to Georgetown, Seton Hall, St. John’s, Providence, Notre Dame, Marquette and DePaul as you try to return to a respectable format.  I really do wish you the best of luck.

2011-12 versus 2009-10

The 2011-2012 season ended painfully, with an Elite Eight loss to Ohio State.  The pain of the loss was not so much the particular game, which in itself was horribly officiated on both ends of the court. No, the pain was watching a tremendously accomplished Syracuse team compete without one of its key players in Fab Melo.  That squad was one of the deepest squads in Syracuse history, but the depth at center was not present.  There was a big drop off between Melo and Baye Keita, and there was no real backup to Keita.

I never wrote a recap on this blog about last season, because it was too difficult to do. It also was eerily similar to two seasons prior, the 2009-2010 season, where an equally great team lost its center, Arinze Onuaku, for the post season. That also cost that team in the post season.

Those two teams were great squads on the hill, both achieving #1 rankings at some point in the season, both winning the Big East regular season, and both earning #1 seeds in the NCAA tournament.  They had different paths to those seeds.  The 2009-10 squad started the season unranked, went 8-2 versus top 25 teams, and climbed to #1 by March 2^nd.  The 2011-2012 squad started the year with high expectations with a pre-season rank of #5, and never dropped below that all season, rising to #1 by December 17^th.  They would go 6-1 versus top 25 teams.

There is no doubt that the 2011-2012 squad accomplished more. They went 34-3, reached the Elite Eight, and tied the Big East season mark with a 17-1 record. The 2009-2010 squad was impressive at 30-5, reaching the Sweet Sixteen and going 15-3 in the Big East. But you have to acknowledge that last year’s squad accomplished more.

The question I want to propose is which team was better? If the two squads were to meet on the court, who would win?

The 2009-10 squad went seven players deep with no other player appearing in half the games.  This was a team with well-defined roles for all the players, and with a lot of NCAA experience.  There were two fifth-year seniors in Andy Rautins and Arinze Onuaku, and a fourth-year junior in Wesley Johnson.  Rick Johnson was a junior, Scoop Jardine a third-year sophomore, and Kris Joseph a sophomore.  Brandon Triche was the only inexperienced player as a true freshman.

This squad was extremely proficient at running the half-court offense with Andy Rautins running most of the offense.  Syracuse’s inside-out game was outstanding, with Onuaku and Jackson pounding the ball inside with high precision (67% and 59% respectively).  Johnson and Joseph were extremely adept at driving to the hoop and skying about the rim.  Rautins, Triche and Jardine were all good ball handlers, and because of Rautins’ adeptness at making the three point shot from deep range, teams had to focus on him on the perimeter and on the big men inside. This gave open shots to Triche, Johnson and Jardine, and Syracuse was extremely good at making the three point shot.  Between those four, they made 41% of their three point shots (202 of 498).   

The team had four good free throw shooters in Rautins, Johnson, Jardine and Joseph.  Rautins was extremely good in making 82% of his charity shots.   The team was prone to some careless turnovers from Jardine, and some overly aggressive passing from Rautins.

However, it was the team’s defense that made them a #1 team.  Their ‘Shut It Down’ defense would clamp down on opposing teams, and prevent them from scoring for 5 to 8 minutes of the game.   Onuaku and Jackson were not especially tall, but they were very wide bodied and took up a lot of space along the baseline at 235 lbs and 265 lbs respectively.  Triche (6’4”) and Rautins (6’5”) were tall and rangy up front, preventing easy looks from opposing players inside.  Johnson and Joseph were explosive from the wings intercepting passes and taking off down the court.   The team was not particularly adept at shot blocking, but very good at maintaining its defensive positioning, and good at rebounding.

Let’s go forward two years to the 2011-2012 team.  Syracuse would go 9-10 players deep each game.  A very explosive backcourt with a four man rotation of Brandon Triche, Scoop Jardine, Dion Waiters and Michael Carter-Williams. It was also a very experience backcourt with Triche a junior (and three year starter), Jardine a fifth-year senior, and Waiters a sophomore.  Jardine and Waiters were very adept at tipping passes and running the fast break, something Syracuse did extremely well. 

Kris Joseph provided the interior offensive game with his drives to the hoop, though the lane was not nearly as clear as he had found it two years prior. Syracuse did not have any great three point shooters, but they had five guys who could make about 35% of their shots in Jardine, Triche, Waiters, Joseph and James Southerland. 

The team was extremely good at shot block and altering shots, led by Fab Melo and his three blocks a game. They were also very adept as a team at stealing the ball, and with the ten man rotation, the players were always fresh; Joseph led the team in minutes played and that was about 32/game.   C.J. Fair did a little bit of everything to make sure the job was getting done.

The team did not run its half-court offense very well.  It relied on the fast break to generate most of its points.  However, the guards were very adept at taking their defenders one-on-one and driving into the paint to make things happen, particularly Waiters and Triche. Waiters was extremely explosive, and Triche very strong.  The team had four good free throw shooters in Triche, Waiters, Joseph and Fair.  It hurt that Jardine struggled at the line, since he played the point, but he would often get removed late in the game to prevent that situation.

The two teams would be an interesting matchup.  Up front would be a tough matchup both ways. Up front you would basically have Rautins/Triche/Jardine versus Waiters/Triche/Jardine.  The latter three would be more adept at driving the lane (particularly Waiters), and in pestering offensive players. The former three would be more adept at preventing players from getting into the lane, and in shooting deep (with Rautins).  I would have to give an edge to last year’s squad up front because of Waiters and the more experienced Triche/Jardine combo.  It would not be a huge edge.

The interior play is where I think the 2009-2010 squad would have a big edge. Wesley Johnson was the  Big East player of the year. He was explosive at getting to the hoop, and could pull outside for three.  Onuaku and Jackson were polished interior scorers, and they knew how to get offensive and defensive rebounds.  Joseph was a better player in 2011-12 than in 2009-10, but he struggled last year without other players to open the lane for him.  Christmas and Melo were very limited offensively (as was Keita); Fair would be the only other scoring threat inside, and he would pick up those garbage points. 

 

I think the size and experience of Jackson and Onuaku would take a lot of advantage over the inexperience of Christmas and Melo.  It’s true Melo would block some shots, but big body players are often good at avoiding the blocks by creating separation and going strong to the hoop. 

Both teams would be able to run the court, and run it well.  I don’t think fatigue would come into play for the 2009-10 squad, because they played their whole season with only 7 players anyhow.  I think the answers to two questions would determine the outcome.

1^st – could last year’s squad limit the second and third chance shots that the 2009-2010 team specialized in with its rebounding?

2^nd – could last year’s squad generate enough fast break opportunities to limit its exposure in the half court? 

For those who watched last year’s games, you would know that the team struggled all year to get rebounds, and prevent second chances.  I don’t see how the 2009-2010 squad would be any different, and they would probably get their fair share of second shot opportunities.

And I do not think last year’s team would generate enough fast break opportunities to offset  their half-court liabilities against a team that was ‘Shut It Down’ in the half-court defense. Basically, we would have a team that struggled in the half court set (2011-2012) trying to score against a team that specialized in stopping that exact same thing. 

I think 2009-2010 comes out on top. That’s not a knock on last year’s team. I thought the 2009-2010 team was going to win the National Championship. Their teamwork and unselfishness were outstanding (and much of that carried over to last year’s team).  That 2009-2010’s biggest weakness was they had no player outside of their top seven, and that came back to get them. 

Southerland for 35

James Southerland led Syracuse to a Big East / SEC Challenge win over Arkansas with a great night of shooting, scoring 35 points for the Orange.  Southerland tied the school record for three point shots in a game, making 9, tying Gerry McNamara and Andy Rautins.  Southerland has always had the shooting touch, and it is nice to see the senior get a chance to show his stuff on national television.

 

Southerland hit nine out of thirteen three point shots for the game.  He is the first Syracuse Orangeman to score 30 points since Wesley Johnson scored 31 against Gonzaga on March 21st, 2010 in the NCAA Tournament three seasons ago.

 

His 35 points was the most by an Orangeman since Jonny Flynn scored 35 against Providence on January 28th, 2009, four seasons ago.  Southerland's effort was the most points by a Syracuse bench player ever, and the first time a bench player scored 30+ points in a game since George Hicker did it against West Virginia on February 19th, 1966.

 

I find it ironic that the last six times a Syracuse player has scored 30 or more points, they have done it on the road.  Southerland was at Arkansas, Johnson in the NCAA against Gonzaga, Flynn at Madison Square Garden against UConn, again Flynn, this time at Providence, and finally Eric Devendorf at Villanova. The last Syracuse player to score 30+ points at home was Demetris Nichols with 37 against St. Johns in February of 2007.

 

Almost lost in the night was the fact that Michael Carter-Williams fell one assist short of a triple double.  He had 10 rebounds, 17 points and 9 assists.  A collegiate triple double is tough, with only 40 minutes of play. It has been done only nine times in Syracuse history, by five players, the last being Allen Griffin in 2001. That list also includes Derrick Coleman, Lazarus Sims, Leo Rautins (3x) and Dave Bing (3x).  I would bet even money that Carter-Williams will accomplish the feat is his collegiate year, particularly if he stays around through his junior season. He is an assist man, the points come easy, and at 6'6" a big rebounding night is always possible. I do find it ironic that he missed his triple double by the assist, considering he leads the nation in that category.

 

Brandon Triche once again showed that he is a big moment player, stepping up in the crunch time in the second half, making 10 straight points to stop a late Arkansas surge. Triche has the reputation of making the shot when one is needed, and he did it again.

 

Congratulations to the Orange on a fine win and to James Southerland on his great night.

Well Traveled

Former Syracuse star forward Hakim Warrick was traded from the New Orleans Hornets to the Charlotte Bobcats on Tuesday per the Post Standard. He had been traded to New Orleans in the off season, and played only one game with them before moving on to Charlotte. This will be Warrick's 6th team in his 8th NBA season, starting in 2006. He has played for Memphis, Milwaukee, Chicago, Phoenix, New Orleans and now Charlotte.

 

That is not unusual for NBA players to move around, and particularly not unusual for former Orangemen.  Of the 41 Syracuse basketball players who have played in the NBA, only ten played their entire career for one team, and those were mostly very short careers: Billy Gabor, Donte Greene, Jack Kiley, Andy Rautins, Frank Reddout, Bill Smith, Bob Shaddock, Lou Spicer, Kris Joseph and Dion Waiters.  Joseph and Waiters are of course in their rookie seasons, so who knows what their future holds.  Shaddock has the distinction of the shortest NBA career for an SU alum with 2 games, though Kris Joseph currently has just one game in his very young career. 

 

Many of the players had short careers of two or three seasons, where they played for two or three teams, hoping to catch on, but never quite getting there.

 

Others such as Carmelo Anthony made a big switch in free agency, or Dave Bing who wound down his Hall of Fame career with Detroit in two short stays in Washington and Boston.

 

Damone Brown went four for four; four different teams in a four season career with stints in Philadelphia, Toronto, New Jersey and Washington.

 

Marty Byrnes showed Brown up by sneaking in five teams in four seasons: Phoenix, New Orleans, the Lakers, Dallas and Indiana.  Byrnes also has the distinction of the only former Orangeman to win an NBA Championship (in 1980 with the Lakers).

 

John Wallace also made five stops in seven seasons, with the Knicks, Toronto, Detroit, Phoenix and Miami. Wallace liked the Knicks so much he had two tours there.

 

Sherman Douglas had a good career over 12 seasons. He also covered five franchises during his NBA tour, with Miami, Boston, Milwaukee, New Jersey and the Clippers.

 

Billy Owens looked destined for stardom until knee injuries derailed his career. He would play for 6 teams over a 10 year career from 1992- 2001 that included Golden State, Miami, Sacramento, Seattle, Philadelphia and Detroit.

 

Danny Schayes seemed to play for everyone in the NBA. He had the longest career in the NBA for any Syracuse Orangeman with 18 seasons and 1,138 games. Schayes was never a great player, but he was a 7 foot player who could shoot well, make his free throws, handle the ball, and get some rebounds. That made him an ideal back up center, and teams were always in the need for guys like him. Schayes would play from 1982 to 1999 and would call the following seven franchises 'home':  Utah, Denver, Milwaukee, Lakers, Phoenix, Miami and Orlando.

 

So that brings us to the conclusion. Which former Orangemen played for the most franchises in his NBA career?  That would be Jason Hart who squeezed in 9 teams in a 9 year career from 2001 to 2010. Hart would play for Milwaukee, San Antonio, Charlotte, Sacramento, the Clippers, Utah, Denver, Minnesota, and finally for New Orleans.  Though he played nine seasons, he would play in only 341 games. His best season by far was 2004-2005 where he had career highs in all categories averaging 9.5 points and 5.0 assists per game.

Orange Hoops Hall of Fame 2012

In 2007, OrangeHoops inducted its charter class into the OrangeHoops Hall of Fame: Dave Bing, Derrick Coleman, Sherman Douglas, Vic Hanson, and Pearl Washington. The next four years saw the addition of Billy Owens (2008), Billy Gabor (2009), Lawrence Moten (2010), Louis Orr (2011) and Roosevelt Bouie (2011).  So the list now stands at 10. Another year has passed, and now it is time for the 2012 inductee.

I established my rules for the OrangeHoops Hall of Fame back in 2007 and you can catch up on them here. 2012 does have five new eligible candidates (using the fifteen year rule): Otis Hill, Jason Cipolla, Donovan McNabb, Ramel Lloyd, and Evan Vogel. Hill is the best of the bunch; a solid center who developed a good inside game, and was a good defender. He was a good college player, but not a Hall of Fame player.  Cipolla was a junior college transfer who was good at shooting the three point shot and he made some clutch shots during the 1996 NCAA tournament.  McNabb was a star on the Syracuse football field, and would go onto stardom in the NFL; he was a reserve guard on the basketball team.  Lloyd and Vogel were bench players who would transfer after the 1996-1997 season.

I think this year’s viable top candidates come down to the following eight, listed chronologically: Lew Castle, Joe Schwarzer, Lew Andreas, Vinnie Cohen, Rony Seikaly and John Wallace.

Castle was a two time All-American at Syracuse, and was captain and leading scorer of Syracuse’s only undefeated team, the 1913-1914 squad that went 12-0.

Schwarzer was a two time All-American, and was captain and leading scorer of the 1917-1918 squad that went 16-1 and was retroactively named the National Champions by the Helms Foundation.

Andreas coached Syracuse basketball for 27 seasons, including the 19-1 1925-1926 squad that was awarded the Helms Foundation National Championship. He had a career record of 358-134, and he was the Syracuse Athletic Director for 28 years (1937-1964).

Cohen was an All-American, the first Syracuse player to average 20+ points a game in a season, and led the team to the NCAA Elite Eight in 1956-1957.

Seikaly was an All-American, a standout defensive player whose outstanding play in the 1987 NCAA tournament took Syracuse to the brink of its first tournament championship.

Wallace was a four year starter at Syracuse, carried the team to the National Championship game his senior season in 1995-1996. He graduated Syracuse as the #3 all-time leading scorer and the #3 all-time leader in rebounds, and still holds both distinctions.

All are worthy players, and tough selections to make.  I designed my selection rules to make it tough; the Hall of Fame should be the 'best of the best', and I would rather have a line of worthy players outside the Hall of Fame, than cheapen it by having lessor players included.

I have got to go with John Wallace for the 2012 selection.  Wallace had four solid seasons at Syracuse, and chose to honor his scholarship though the Orangemen would be on probation his freshman year (1992-1993).  He would play and start every game during his career, leading the Orangemen in rebounding each of his four seasons.

Wallace would improve during each of his seasons on the Hill. He had an opportunity to go to the NBA after his junior season, but decided to return his senior year. That was a very fortuitous move for Syracuse, as he would lead the Orangemen to the NCAA National Championship game.  Wallace would average 22.2 points a game for the season, combined with 8.7 rebounds.  He had worked on his perimeter game over the summer, and would hit 42% (37 of 88) of his three point shots. Five times his senior year he would score over 30 points in a game, none bigger than the 30 he put up against Georgia in the NCAA tournament; Wallace hit a game winning 3 point shot in overtime to win that game.  He would score 29 points against Kentucky in the title game, before fouling out late in the game.

Wallace was the 18th pick in the 1996 NBA draft by the New York Knicks.  He would play in the NBA from 1996 to 2004.  Congrats to John Wallace.

A New Carrier Classic

The 2012-2013 Syracuse Basketball season kicked off with some fanfare as the Orange took on the #20 ranked San Diego State Aztecs in the ‘Battle of the Midway’, upon the USS Midway in the Carrier Classic.  Of course, when I hear Carrier Classic, I still have images of Syracuse beating Michigan State and Magic Johnson, or GeneWaldron bombing Iona with 40 points.  But a new era, a new age, and the Orange were able to participate in this new memorable series.

Memorable will be what the game will go down as, even if it was not a well-played game.  An outdoor game with a strong breeze off the bay and strong sunlight in the eyes of the players can wreck some havoc on the games plans of both teams.  The fact that neither team could shoot a perimeter shot on the right side of the court (from the viewing audience) brought some interesting strategy into the game.  One has to wonder why Steve Fisher never instructed his players to stop taking the three point shots, as they finished a horrendous 1 of 18.  Jim Boeheim and the Orange figured it out fairly quickly, only taking four three point shots, all in the first half, and then abandoning that for the rest of the game.

There is not a lot you can take away from this game in terms of how the Orange will play for this season, as the game put limits on what teams could or could not do.  However, there were a few things I observed that made me smile for this upcoming year.

Syracuse was definitely the bigger team with the better inside game. The Orange, however, played the second half of the game shooting into the bad side of the court, where they took no perimeter shots.  Yet, they were consistently able to drive to the hoop from their half court set, despite the fact that the Aztecs knew that was the only offensive play the Orange would be able to run.  Brandon Triche did this two or three times; no one should doubt his athletic ability to get to the hoop.  I am not sure how Boeheim is going to get Trevor Cooney playing time with Michael Carter-Williams and Triche in the backcourt.  Then again, Boeheim was masterfully able to accomplish the four guard rotation last year.

DaJuan Coleman is HUGE.  He looked like a man-child on the court next to the rest of the players.  He will definitely clog up some space in the middle.  I liked the fact that Baye Keita was displaying the aggressive and active form he had most of his freshman season.  Valuable minutes from him will critical at times this upcoming year.

C.J. Fair did a lot of everything, which we all have come to take for granted. I think he pressed a little bit too much in the first half with taking too much of the offense upon himself, but it is a good sign he is asserting himself.  Rakeem Christmas was a defensive force with 5 blocked shots, and pulled down 6 rebounds (I would’ve liked more boards). 

The Orange jumped out to a 17-4 lead, and never let San Diego State back into the game.  They made the free throws when they had to make the free throws. They made the defensive stops when they had to, and they countered with strong offensive play whenever the Aztecs threatened. Those are good signs.

I look forward to the rest of this new season. Go Orange!