Goodbye Big East, Hello ACC

I know I have got a lot of company when I say I am not happy about Syracuse leaving the Big East. The only thing that makes this palatable is that defections of this scale were going to happen to the Big East, and it is nice to see Syracuse proactive and choosing where it goes, as opposed to its Big East brethren who are now scrambling for replacements and/or a new home.

The ACC would be my conference of choice for the Orange. A rich basketball tradition, though down the last couple of years, some former Big East teams in the mix, and it covers a part of the country the Orange recruit from already (Maryland / Virginia and Florida).

The Big East stopped being the conference I grew up to love years ago. Those who are about my age would remember the formation of the league from primarily small private independent Eastern schools: Georgetown, Providence, Connecticut, Seton Hall, Boston College, St. John’s, Villanova and Syracuse. The Orangemen and the Hoyas were the prime time players the first year, with the Redmen, Nova and BC on the rise. A few years into the league history and the Big East had three teams in the Final Four, with the epic upset of the mighty Hoyas by Nova.

The league had home and home games for all the teams, and characters as coaches, ranging from the leprechaun Carneseca, to the rumpled Massimino, the hulking Thompson, and the whining Boeheim. Memorable college players such as the ultimate gym rat in Chris Mullin, to the dominating Patrick Ewing, the bullish John Pinone, and the speedy Michael Adams.

Football became very important in the college landscape, and the Big East found it had to add other teams to form a football league; else it would lose some of its members. The initial growth wasn’t too bad, though it started to monkey with the quaintness of the league, and some of the home and home games. But as the years progressed, the league continued to gain members, and became quite bloated.

The Big East became the dominant basketball league in the land, but members only played each other one time a year (which the exception of three home and homes). Legendary games such as the Hoyas invading the Dome would actually not occur some seasons.

So while I regret the Orange leaving the Big East, I realize the Big East I loved left the Orange a long time ago.

An irony could exist if some rumors play out. It is possible that UConn and Rutgers would also join the ACC, allowing the ACC to have a 16 team league. It would then split into two divisions. Hypothetically, let’s say they were a North and a South division. The North Division could be comprised of UConn, Rutgers, Pittsburgh, Boston College, Miami, Virginia Tech, Maryland and Syracuse. If that looks somewhat familiar, it should, as that looks much like the Big East football conference in 2002.

The things I will miss the most from the Big East? Not having Georgetown as a meaningful game on the schedule each year, though I’m sure they will schedule that as a non-conference game annually. If UConn doesn’t come south, not having the Huskies to taunt. And not playing in Madison Square Garden each March, a special event each and every year.

Another question at hand will be what will this do to Jim Boeheim’s eventual retirement plans? Will it expedite the process? Boeheim loves Eastern basketball, the coaching camaraderie. Would the change be something enough to make him decide to step down before the move, or is his desire to keep coaching enough to have him lead the Orange into their new adventure?

Farewell to a Gridiron Legend

Syracuse Football and NFL Legend John Mackey passed away yesterday at the age of 69. Mackey had suffered from dementia the past few years, the probable result of years of contact in football (ten in the NFL, four in college).

Mackey revolutionized the tight end position in the NFL by making the position a legitimate receiving threat. He was not only a possession receiver with the ability to catch the short pass over the middle, but with his size and speed, he was a deep threat. In Super Bowl V, Mackey caught a deflected pass from Johnny Unitas and then went 75 yards for a touchdown. He was inducted into the NFL Hall of Fame in 1992.

Mackey would later be the president of the NFL’s Player Association, and spearheaded changes that would occur after the NFL/AFL merger.

Mackey was a multi-sport star at Syracuse. Besides staring in football, Mackey was also a track and field star. He also spent one winter helping the Orangemen Basketball team. The football stars were always looking for activities in the off season that would help keep them in shape for football, and the 1960-1961 Syracuse basketball team was in need of help. A LOT of help.

That team would finish the season 4-19, but struggled to find scoring and rebounding, outside of senior star Pete Chudy. Ernie Davis, who was a star basketball player in high school joined the squad to help out down the stretch. Mackey decided to join Davis and fellow football star Don King in the endeavor.

Davis would quickly adapt, and showed promise with 10.2 points and 9.2 rebounds a game (including 18 rebounds versus Canisius). King provided some scoring off the bench with 5.9 ppg. And John Mackey provided some scoring and rebounding in his limited playing time (only 6 games) with 4.7 points and 4.7 rebounds.

From all accounts, John Mackey was a classy individual and well respected. He was a Syracuse Letterwinner of Disctinction in 1986. My condolences to his family and friends.

Bye Bye DaShonte

DaShonte Riley is not the first player to transfer from Syracuse University, nor will he be the last. There is a long list of transfers over the program’s history, long before Jim Boeheim was the head coach.

Players transfer for many reasons: academics, homesick, family issues, lack of playing time, conflicts with the coach, disciplinary reasons. I will not speculate on why a player left, though Riley states it is because of his ailing grandparents and homesickness, and being that his hometown is near Eastern Michigan, it makes sense. Obviously, having Rob Murphy as the new head coach there makes it more attractive to him.

I wish Riley the best of luck. He does resolve the scholarship issue Syracuse was going to have this upcoming season, but the lack of his 7’ frame off the bench will be missed. Having Fab Melo backed up by both Baye Keita and Riley would have been a luxury for the Orange, with the graduation of Rick Jackson. Syracuse could be fine with the development of just Melo and Keita, and having prized recruit Rakeem Christmas on the team this fall may completely hide the fact that Riley is gone.

Transfers follow many different paths upon leaving Syracuse. Some end up with very good collegiate careers for reputable Division I programs. This includes the likes of Rich Manning (who would get a taste of the NBA), Keith Hughes and Bobby Lazor. Others have success at smaller programs such as Tony Bland at San Diego State, Ramel Lloyd at Long Beach State, and Mike Sheehey at St. Bonaventure. Some fail to do any better at their new school, which includes the likes of Eric Williams (UMass), James Thues (Detroit-Mercy) and David Patrick. And some basically disappear upon the transfer: Billy Edelin and Mike Jones are recent examples.

I have a sense that Riley will do well at Eastern Michigan. He showed some promise his freshman year at Syracuse, and at 7’, he has the raw physical tools. Rob Murphy is an excellent assistant coach and a very good recruiter; if a decent team is built at EMU, Riley could have a solid college career. I do not see him being in the NBA, but that’s just statistical probability; it’s very tough getting there.

The Season is Over

Syracuse earned their loss tonight to Marquette. Syracuse consistently made poor decisions all game, was sloppy with its ball handling and lacked the hustle of its opponent. It’s a shame to see the season end that way, a bad taste to have to sit in the fans and players mouths for the summer. The ‘unfinished business’ will remain that way.

I’ll give Marquette credit for its game plan. They executed their ball movement well, with sharp crisp passes. They double teamed Rick Jackson all night and stymied the Orange offense.

I feel bad for Rick Jackson. I hate to see a senior’s career end, particularly on a night where he is having a bad game. Jackson was clearly frustrated all night, and though his shooting wasn’t bad (3 for 6), he only had 6 attempts, and he had only four rebounds. The box score is showing he has 3 turnovers, but it seemed like more.

Scoop had more than his share of ‘Scoop moments’ tonight. Lord knows what he was thinking at the end of the first half when he jacked a three point attempt with 19 seconds to go, and the Orange had the opportunity to run the clock down for one shot. Instead SU missed, and Marquette scored. He is being credited with only 3 turnovers too, but it surely seemed like more. You knew he was going to rush a three point attempt at the end when the Orange were down by three… and he did, even though he was guarded, there was plenty of time, and the Orange had no rebounding position.

The foul calls seemed lopsided but I don’t recall seeing bad calls or missed calls. I think it was a case of the more aggressive team drawing more fouls. Marquette consistently beat the Orange down the court; they did it at least twice after the Orange made a basket. Shameful for Syracuse!

The future for the Orange should be bright. Dion Waiters is going to be one heck of an offensive player in the future; if he can learn to play solid defense he’ll be outstanding all around. James Southerland showed flashes tonight. He has a summer to grow and mature some more. C.J. Fair was hampered by fouls tonight, and was pretty much a non-factor, but we have all seen his ability to stuff the stat sheet all year long.

The team frustrated me all season long with their sloppy play at times, and tonight is really a fitting ending to the season.

Mid-Majors Get Robbed (Predictably)

The Big East did deserve 11 teams in the NCAA Tournament this year, despite the fact that many of Syracuse’s Big East brethren are working hard at tarnishing that with all the upsets. As I pointed out the other day, eleven Big East teams were going to make the tournament and it was not even going to be close (and it wasn’t based on the seeding). If you look at the Big East team’s records, ignoring which conference they were in, and compared them to all the other ‘at large’ teams out there, there was no question about it.

Fans upset about the mid-majors being denied should look at the lower teams from the Big 10, Pac 10 and ACC. Their resumes were far less impressive, and for the most part, their results have equally been sub-par.

The mid-majors are suffering from a scenario where they had no strength of resume to make the tournament. This has evolved over the past four to five years from how the NCAA Committee looks at team’s schedules. I had stated in 2007 that mid-majors would find it more difficult in the future to get at-large bids in the NCAA, and it is true.

A team like Syracuse has no reason to schedule a mid-major. The national experts, such as Dick Vitale, will only criticize Syracuse for playing a mid-major, screaming that they should be playing major conference teams. If they beat a mid-major team, they get no respect from the analysts. On the other hand, they have a chance of losing those games, and that loss will kill them later in the year from a voter perception.

Plus scheduling the mid-majors hurts your RPI. 25% of the RPI scoring is your opponent’s opponent SOS… so every time you schedule a mid-major (and for that matter any lesser conference team), you drag down your RPI, because you get the total results of that entire conference. Playing Georgia Tech, Michigan and North Carolina State this year in the non-conference schedule helped Syracuse, regardless how well those teams did, because you tie in all the teams in those conferences into your RPI.

So now we are in the position where none of the major teams will play mid-majors on a regular basis, thus giving the mid-major conferences little opportunity to get wins for their resumes. As I had pointed out the other day, none of the mid-major conferences looked particularly good in 2011. That doesn’t mean they were not good; they just had no body of evidence to suggest it because of limited exposure against the ‘better’ conferences.

A side note on the NCAA scheduling Connecticut and Cincinnati, and Syracuse and Marquette to all meet in the 2^nd round of the tournament: shame on the NCAA. It’s clear they wanted the Big East schools to knock each other out of the tournament. The NCAA implied it was the mathematics of the situation that caused the situation to occur. Well, mathematically, there are sixteen ‘pods’ in the NCAA first two rounds, and only 11 Big East teams. All 16 Big East teams could make the tournament, and not be required to meet each other until the Sweet Sixteen.

Look, it’s fine if the NCAA wants to have Big East teams knock each other out of the tournament. Just admit it. As representative of schools of higher learning, you just look like fools stating a falsehood as your reasoning, and you insult the intelligence of your fans. As a Syracuse fan, I do feel cheated having to play a Big East team in the NCAA. I would like to see the Orange play a school they have not played, so we can see how the Orange really measure up. Playing Marquette, this early in the tournament, really offers us nothing new.

Besides, with the historical tradition of the ‘Madness’ in March Madness, you know that Big East schools were not all going to survive anyhow.

Milestones Entering the NCAA

Congratulations to the Orange for earning a #3 seed in the NCAA tournament. And congratulations to the UConn Huskies for winning five straight and winning the Big East tournament. The Huskies now tie the Hoyas for most Big East Tournament championships with 7.

Some quick notes on milestones for the Orange. Brandon Triche now holds the school record of 37 consecutive free throws made, breaking Mike Lee's record. He does not yet hold the Big East record for consecutive free throws made, which is 41. More notably, that record is held by a Syracuse player. So how is that possible? More on that later in the article.

Rick Jackson has played 141 games for Syracuse, and trails only Stephen Thompson (144 games) and Derrick Coleman (143 games) for games in a Syracuse uniform. A trip to the Sweet 16 would tie him for the school record, and Elite Eight would break it for him.

Jackson has 349 rebounds for the season. Earlier in the year he was on pace to break Coleman’s single season school rebounding record of 422. However, he now needs 74 rebounds to do that; if the Orange were to go to the national championship with 6 more games, he’d have to average 12.3 rebounds a game. That’s not to negate the fact that big Rick has had an outstanding season rebounding. He’s been consistent game after game this year.

Jackson now has 256 career blocked shots, which is good for seventh all-time at Syracuse. 7 more blocked shots would get him to 5th all time, passing Darryl Watkins and Jeremy McNeil. I never would have thought Jackson was that much of a shot blocker, but the statistics state otherwise.

Syracuse’s loss to UConn in the Big East Tournament was coach Jim Boeheim’s 300th career loss. It was going to occur, and really, for a guy with 855 wins, who cares?

Scoop Jardine needs 10 more assists to become the 8th Orangeman to have a 200+ assist season (Sherman Douglas did it three times).

Kris Joseph has 956 career points. He should get to 1000 points in the NCAA tournament. It would be very disappointing to all the Orange faithful if he did not (the implications being how poorly the Orange would have done).

Brando Triche has made 84.6% of his free throws this season, the 16th best season in Syracuse history (minimum of 50 attempts).

So who holds the Big East consecutive free throw record? The answer is Gerry McNamara. GMac started the streak in his first Big East game against Seton Hall on January 8th, 2003, and broke his streak during the Georgetown game on February 3rd, 2003. He, however, did not make 37 in a row? Why? Because the Orangemen played Missouri on January 13th, 2003, and McNamara missed a free throw in that game. It was a non-Big East game, so it did not impact his Big East shooting streak, but it did snap his Syracuse streak. McNamara would have two 30 free throw streaks that season.

Let’s go Orange!

Hello Melo!

Holy mackerel! Was that Fab Melo dominating a game? Mr. Melo, where have you been all year? I'm not complaining... glad to have you in March.

For those who missed the game, freshman Fab Melo played 22 minutes off the bench today, including most of the crunch time in a see-saw battle. He scored 12 points on 5 for 5 shooting from the floor, had 4 rebounds, and 1 beautiful pass to Rick Jackson from the high post. Even a nice close out on a three point shooter in the last 30 seconds of the game.

All of this was following his then-season best effort against DePaul where he went again went 5 for 5 from the floor. The last two games, Melo has scored 22 points, pulled down 10 rebounds on 10-10 from the floor and four blocked shots, in 38 minutes of play.

Brandon Triche led the team in scoring with 22 points, icing the game in the last 20 seconds with his free throw shooting. He went 8-8 from the free throw line, extending his streak to 37 consecutive free throws, along with a solid 5 assists and 6 rebounds.

Rick Jackson just missed his double double with 'only' 9 rebounds, but another nice day for Jackson, including 4 blocked shots, five offensive boards, and some clutch rebounds in traffic down the stretch. And C.J. Fair gave a nice spark off the bench with 7 rebounds in 14 minutes of play.

UConn is up next. Bring on the Huskies!