Super Bowl Trivia Answer

The question I posed on Friday, was can you name the two former Syracuse University basketball players who have played in the Super Bowl.

The answer is Donovan McNabb and John Mackey.

McNabb was the starting quarterback for the Philadelphia Eagles in Super Bowl XXXIX. He was a member of the Syracuse basketball team his freshman and sophomore years (1995-1996 and 1996-1997).  McNabb has the rare distinction of being part of an NCAA Final Four team in basketball and a Super Bowl team; I believe Julius Peppers is the only other person to accomplish this feat.

Mackey was the starting tight end for the Baltimore Colts in Super Bowl III and Super Bowl V.  In Super Bowl V, Mackey caught a deflected pass from Johnny Unitas to go for a 75 yard touchdown, then a Super Bowl record, as the Colts went on to win the championship.

Super Bowl Quiz - Orange Hoops Style

The San Francisco 49ers and Baltimore Ravens prepare to square off in Super Bowl XLVII this weekend.  Just to tie Syracuse University basketball into this, I have a trivia question.

Q:  Name the two former Syracuse University Basketball Players who have played in the Super Bowl.

Good luck. Answer will be later this weekend.

Boeheim Passes Knight

Congratulations to Syracuse head coach Jim Boeheim, who won his 903rd game tonight against Rutgers, allowing him to pass Bobby Knight in the all-time win list.  Boeheim now stands at #2 all-time behind Duke head coach Mike Krzyzewski, who is at 940 and climbing.

I have always been a huge fan of Bobby Knight, regarding his coaching ability. Knight finished his career at 902-371, with 3 National Championships and 5 Final Fours. 

For some perspective, Boeheim's career record is now 903-302.  He has 69 fewer losses than Knight.

If Keith Smart missed that jump shot against Syracuse in 1987, Bobby Knight would have finished his career with a 901-372 record, with 2 National Championships and 5 Final Fours.

Boeheim's resume, if Smart misses that jump shot (or if Derrick Coleman makes his free throw prior to that), would be 904-301, with 2 National Championships and 3 Final Fours. 

Knight is an unquestioned great basketball coach. Boeheim, without a free throw or jump shot he could not control, would have an equal/better resume. 

Just some perspective.

Syracuse Wins Pinstripe Bowl

Congratulations to the Syracuse Orange as they beat traditional rival West Virginia 38-14 in the Pinstripe Bowl.  Syracuse overpowered West Virginia's defense with its running game, and shot down WVU's Geno Smith.

 

Syracuse had 378 yards of rushing, led by Prince-Tyson Gulley and his 219 rushing yards, and 3 touchdowns (2 rushing, 1 receiving). Jerome Smith also had a big day with 158 yards rushing.

 

The Syracuse defense held WVU's high powered offense to only 14 points, and twice forced Smith into a safety.

 

The Orange get to keep the Schwarzewalder Trophy, which they may now have for a long time. It was fortunate the Orange got to meet the Mountaineers in the bowl this year, the 60th time the two teams have met.  With WVU now in the Big 12, and Syracuse moving to the ACC, it may be a long time until they can meet again, which is a terrible shame, and an indictment of the greed the colleges in the NCAA, and the lack of effort by the fans/alumni bases to care otherwise.

Boeheim Wins 900

Congratulations to Syracuse Coach Jim Boeheim on this 900^th career win.  The coach will profess to not caring about the numbers, but 900 is quite an accomplishment.  Only two other coaches, Bobby Knight and Mike Krzyzewski, have accomplished that feat in Division I Men’s basketball.

 

Boeheim’s record now stands at 900-304; he has won 74.8% of the games he has coached. He was 52-24 as a player at Syracuse, and 139-65 as an assistant basketball coach.  Syracuse has won 1091 games that Boeheim has been associated with, against 393 losses. 

He is the winningnest coach in Big East History (by far), at 353-185.  He is 547-119 in non-Big East games. 

Boeheim has coached in 261 games against top 25 teams, and has a 130-131 record in those games.  Has has a 69-79 record when coaching against teams ranked higher than Syracuse in the polls (that would include games where Syracuse was not ranked).  He has a 615-158 record against teams ranked lower than Syracuse in the polls (that would include games where the opponent was not ranked).

Boeheim has a 53-64 record against teams ranked in the top 10, and a record of 17-41 against teams in the top 5.

Syracuse University basketball has an all-time record of 1854-821.  Boeheim has accounted for 48.5% of those wins as a coach, and 58.8% as a player/coach.

The worst season in Boeheim’s career was 1981-1982, when Syracuse went 16-13.  Even in that season he went .500 in the Big East, going 9-9. 

Over the past four seasons, Jim Boeheim is 101-16, winning 86.3% of his games. He is 44-10 in the Big East those same four years.

29 players for Jim Boeheim have played in the NBA.

Boeheim has won one National Championship (2003), and been to four Final Fours.  He has won 9 Big East Season Championships, and 5 Big East Tournament Championships.

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.