Orange Beat Hoyas

Syracuse had an impressive 58-51 win at Georgetown on Sunday, putting them at 24-6 on the season, and 11-6 with one game to play. The win was impressive because they kept the game at their pace for most of the 40 minutes of play, and Jim Boeheim rotated a healthy mix of players into the game during meaningful playing time.

Syracuse did not shoot particularly well, but shot well enough. They were out rebounded for the game 35-27. But they did everything they needed to do to win the game. They played very active in the zone forcing the Hoyas into 16 turnovers and gave them few good looks at the basket. They protected the ball well on offense with only 9 turnovers (and only one ‘Scoop what the heck are you thinking’ moment). They had five blocked shots, though it seemed far more like 15. Hands up everywhere, no where for the Hoyas to shoot near the basket. And great transition into the fastbreak from the defense.

Raise your hand if you thought that James Southerland and Fab Melo would be on the court with less than 3 minutes to go, the team clinging to a three point lead, and there were no foul problems or injuries on the team?

Jim Boeheim had told Mike Waters the other day that he hoped to get a lot extra practice time for the freshmen during the abundance of free time the team had the next two weeks.

I was surprised that he decided he would use this game to do it. And it paid off. Southerland was the offensive spark in the first half, finishing the game with 9 points. And he displayed some hustle on his defense with a couple of steals, a block and three rebounds. That’s the way to earn some additional playing time. He ended up playing 21 minutes in this game.

Melo did not see much playing time in the first half but, ended up playing seven minutes, some of it during crunch time. He made some mistakes, but perhaps for the first time this year, he looked like a player who had some idea of what he should be doing on the court.

This may come in handy during the Big East tournament when the team can use the extra depth. C.J. Fair, Kris Joseph and Dion Waiters lost some playing time as a result, but we all know what they can do.

The Orange are now 7-4 against AP Top 25 teams this season. That’s the most wins by any NCAA team this season against the Top 25. The school record is 8 wins, accomplished three times, and last done just last year. The Orange will definitely get a shot at win number eight with their match up in the Big East almost certainly to be a top 25 team.

The Orange are an impressive 6-3 on the road. They are 3-0 in neutral sites, making them 9-3 in games away from home, and 4-2 against ranked teams away from home.

After 30 games, I still do not have this team entirely figured out. I’m guessing most the opposition does not either, which is to Syracuse’s advantage. I do know they know how to win.

Another 20 Win Season!

Congratulations to Jim Boeheim for this 33rd 20+ win season, an NCAA record for a coach. Boeheim has now won 20+ wins for 14 straight seasons; that would in itself be an impressive career for most coaches.

Let me dispel some myths about Boeheim’s ability to consistently win 20+ wins.

#1: He wins all his games against cupcakes and then goes .500 in the Big East to get to 20 wins. Wrong. In 32 years of Big East basketball, Boeheim’s teams have finished below .500 only twice: the 1980-1981 squad went 6-8, and the 2005-2006 team went 7-9. Only three other teams went .500: 1981-1982 (7-7), 1996-1997 (9-9), and 2007-2008 (9-9). That means in Big East play, Syracuse has been better than a .500 team 27 out of 32 times, or 84% of the time.

Let’s even give the Boeheim-hater the margin of 1 game over .500. That’s 5 more teams (two teams at 9-7 and three at 10-8). That still means he has had 22 teams in 32 years BETTER than that.

By no stretch is Jim Boeheim just a .500 coach in the Big East. And even if he were, the Big East historically has been a very tough conference. .500 in such a conference would be a nice accomplishment. The worst team in Boeheim history went 6-8 in the Big East. Oh yeah, that worst Boeheim team… won the Big East tournament, and lacking an automatic bid to the NCAA, went to the NIT, and eventually lost in the NIT finals. Pretty impressive, for his worst team.

#2: He wins all his games against cupcakes in out of conference games. Syracuse has played 46 top 25 non-conference regular season games over the past 32 years (I’m not counting Boeheim’s first three seasons when there was no Big East conference and thus no non-conference games). Syracuse is 29-17 in those games, winning 63% of those games. He obviously does better against the non-top 25 teams, but to suggest he wins beats only the unranked teams is a fallacy.

If we take his 63% winning percentage against non-conference Top 25 teams, and multiplied that by 35, the average number of non NCAA tournament games a year, he would still win an average of 22 games a year. That’s assuming that he played only top 25 games for every game of the season, which would be absurd.

#3: He reaches the 20 game level to look impressive. Boeheim’s teams have reached 20+ wins 33 of his 35 seasons. They have won 22+ games in 27 of his 35 seasons (and will make it 28 this year). 18 times his teams have won 24+ games, and this season should make it 19. So not only does he win 20 games routinely, he wins 22 and 23 games routinely.

Jim Boeheim has as 120-127 record in his career against top 25 teams (49% winning percentage). So you take the average Syracuse basketball team and you throw a random Top 25 basketball team against them, and they are even money to win the game.

He is 52-63 against top 10 teams for his career (45%). An average Jim Boeheim team has a 45% chance of beating a top 10 team. Outstanding in my opinion.

Boeheim is 17-53 against top 5 teams, or 24%. So throw any Jim Boeheim squad on a court against the top 5 teams in the country, and they will win 1 out of 4. I wouldn’t call that outstanding, but over a 35 year window, that’s a pretty good indication of how competitive his teams have been.

Syracuse is currently on a 7 game non-conference regular season winning streak against top 25 teams. The last time they lost to a top 25, non-Big East team, during the regular season was 12/5/2006 versus Oklahoma State.

Bottom line, Jim Boeheim wins 20+ games a year because he is an outstanding coach with a consistently strong program, and he knows how to win games.

18-0!!

Syracuse is now 18-0, the second best start in school history. The record is 19-0, set by the 1999-2000 squad.

The 1999-2000 squad finished the year 26-6, going 13-3 in the Big East and winning the Big East regular season title. Like this year’s squad, that squad was a fantastic defensive team led by the Big East Defensive player of the year Etan Thomas and point guard Jason Hart. Offensively, it was a well balanced team with five players averaging 10-13 points a game. The team had a couple of snipers who came off the bench in Preston Shumpert and DeShaun Williams that made up for a relatively weak perimeter shooting starting five.

This year’s squad is running deeper than most Syracuse teams, going nine players deep routinely. Part of that is somewhat misleading in that Fab Melo really has not been playing much, putting the team into a eight man rotation shortly after tip off. However, if his effort in the Cincinnati game last night is a sign of things to come in the near future, that would be a blessing for the Orange.

I hope Syracuse fans are really appreciating the coaching job that Jim Boeheim has done the past few years and the tremendous effort the Orange have had on the court. They have been a top 10 team since November 24th, 2009. The Orange are 11-2 versus top 25 teams the past two seasons; that is outstanding and should quiet those who say Syracuse never plays anyone.

Over the past two seasons the Orange are 48-5. That is an outstanding run by any school’s in today’s NCAA basketball. Going back to February 24th, 2009 (almost two years ago), Syracuse is 58-7, and 14-5 versus top 25 teams.

They have beaten a #3 ranked UConn in the Big East Tournament in the epic 6 overtime game. They beat California and North Carolina in November 2009 to get national recognition despite having no top 50 recruits on the squad. They beat Georgetown twice last season in epic battles that just added to the Orange/Hoya legacy. The team reached #1 in the rankings in March 2010, and they earned a #1 seed in the NCAA tournament.

These are good times to be a Syracuse fan. For those who continuously bash Jim Boeheim, just shut up. It is the right of a fan to second guess a coach on some decisions he makes. I don't agree with every decision Boeheim makes. Coaches are not perfect, just like none of us are, but they highly successful ones like Boeheim don’t make too many of them. He knows his players better than we do, he knows what they are capable of in practice, and how well the team plays together in different configurations. It is the mindless bashing of Boeheim that is just borderline idiotic. And frankly, I should just remove the word borderline.

For his career, Boeheim is 119-125 versus teams ranked in the top 25 (48.8% winning). In games where he has played a team ranked higher than the Orangemen, he is 66-78. He wins 46% of his games against teams that the informed voters think are a better team. That is downright impressive, and yet people think he has a career of beating up on weaker teams. Eventually this season he will lose to a lower ranked team; it’s inevitable because being ranked #4, there just isn’t going to any opportunities to lose to anyone ranked higher than them. I’m sure some yahoo will criticize Coach Boeheim at that time. Not me.

I’m going to soak up the joyous ride this team is on right now, a historic run for the Orange.

2010-2011 Milestones

Syracuse has a younger team in 2010-2011 than in the past few years, but that does not mean the squad does not have a chance to reach some significant milestones.

Jim Boeheim entered the season with 828 wins and #6 all-time on the Division I All-Time Win list. He’s moved up to #5 passing Jim Phelan’s 830 wins. He won’t be moving any higher up this list this year with Mike Krzyzewski active and at #4 with 868 (start of year), Adolph Rupp at #3 with 876, Dean Smith at #2 with 879, and Bob Knight at #1 with 902. Krzyzewski, on the other hand, it going to move up to #2 this year, easily passing Rupp & Smith.

I show the university currently having 1788 wins. 12 more will give the institution 1800.

Entering this season, Rick Jackson has 786 points, needing 214 to hit the 1000 point plateau. He should pass that around mid-season, and finish around #33 all-time at Syracuse.

Jackson has 570 career rebounds, plus 42 already this season, moving him up to 612, #28 all-time. If he averages just 10 rebounds a game this year, he should move to #8 passing Billy Owens. If he stayed at his current pace of 14 rpg (which he won’t), he would finish around #3 all-time.

Scoop Jardine has 499 career points. He needs 501 to reach 1,000 which is not out of reach. If he scored around 14.4 points a game this year, he would get there. Kris Joseph is in the same situation with 495 career points, needing 504 this year.

Jardine started the year with 233 assists and is currently at 253 putting him at #33 on the all-time list. He could finish the year somewhere around 480 assists all-time, putting him at #7 all-time. Two solid back-to-back seasons would give him a shot at being #2, surpassing Jason Hart. Sherman Douglas’ record of 960 should be safe.

Brandon Triche has 32 three point field goals after his freshman year. If keeps his current pace of 70 for this year, he will be #15 all-time at Syracuse. If he averaged 70 a year for the next three years, he would finish around #3 all-time at Syracuse. The Syracuse single season mark is 107 set by Gerry McNamara.

Four freshman have the potential to see significant playing time, so some freshman records should be observed. I do not think any of these will be broken, but they could. Blocked shots is something that Fab Melo and Baye Moussa Keita both do well, and both could move into the freshman top 10:

Freshman blocks:
91 Roosevelt Bouie
68 Derrick Coleman
65 Craig Forth
64 Jeremy McNeil
59 Rony Seikaly
57 Donte Greene
48 Etan Thomas
44 Rick Jackson
42 Otis Hill
39 John Wallace

Most points by a freshman is 778 by Carmelo Anthony, and that is not going to be broken this year.

The SU record for most fouls by a freshman is a 120 set by Derrick Coleman. Melo could take a run at that one. The all-time Syracuse record for fouls was by Otis Hill who as a junior had 134 fouls. That may also be possible.

The SU record for foul disqualifications for a freshman is 11 set by Rony Seikaly (this is also the all-class record). Melo already has 2 this year, so he could make a good run at that mark (hopefully not).

The freshman assist record is 199 by Pearl Washington. With none of the freshman taking on the role of point guard, and Syracuse two deep with Jardine and Triche, that is not going to be broken.

The freshman rebound record is 349 by Carmelo Anthony. That would require about 10 rebounds a game. If Keita had enough playing time and enough big 15 rebound games, he could challenge it, but I think he’ll play about 20 minutes a game, and be luck to average 5-6 rebounds a game.

The Syracuse all-time season field goal percentage is 66.8% set by Arinze Onuaku last year. There are guys on this team who in theory could challenge that mark: Jackson, Melo or Keita if they get enough chances. But my guess is no one will come close.

The SU record for rebounds in a season is 422 set by Derrick Coleman. If Jackson remains committed to rebounding, he could take a run at it. Jackson is averaging 14 rebounds a game right now, which would obliterate the record; however, that number is unrealistically high, with his 22 rebound performance skewing that. Nevertheless, an average of about 12.1 rebounds a game would give him a shot at the season record.

Three Down

Jim Boeheim is going to have his work cut out for him this season. Rick Jackson has historically been an inconsistent player, and is suddenly your most consistent player, that may raise some concern. Jackson had an outstanding night against Detroit with 22 rebounds, following a very solid 13 rebound effort against Canisius. A consistent strong effort from Jackson each game will go a long way in making the Orange a strong winner.

Scoop Jardine was the hero of the night with an effort very much like Sherman Douglas; 27 pts, 8 assists, 5 steals and only 3 turnovers. I criticized Jardine the other night because I thought he was taking too much shots, and I think in the first two games that was true. However, last night, excellent job by Jardine in recognizing that he had to do the scoring, and then in following through on it. And the eight assists shows that he did not give up on his teammates.

Boeheim loved how Baye Moussa Keita played during his time on the court, despite the stats, and I'm glad to hear it. At least we know three guys came to play last night. The rest of the squad, I'm not going to waste time talking about their lack of performance, and hopefully it will all clear up in a game or so. It had better.

Meanwhile, some great quotes from Boeheim in his post game press conference. This is a pot shot at himself, referring to his own criticism of the Orange:

"We're better than this. Whoever said we are overrated... you know, you can't listen to those people anyways. Most of those people are idiots anyways".

We all knew Boeheim bled Orange. Nice to see him close his comments with some pep for the football team.

"Saturday night, let's get out there. Let's beat Connecticut. Let's beat those guys, alright."

2010 Results After Two

Congratulations to Coach Jim Boeheim for this 831st career winning, giving him sole possession of the title of 5th all-time winningnest NCAA Div I basketball coach.

And congrats to the Syracuse football team for its 7th win, making the team bowl eligible for the first time since 2004, and guaranteeing their first winning season since 2001. All of this with two games left on the schedule.

Syracuse basketball is 2-0, and the team is starting to show its character for the year, with a solid win over a good mid-major program (Northern Iowa) and a win over one of its easier local teams (Canisius). Both games involved a tight first half, with a solid defensive effort throughout the game, and a explosive run to start the second half.

Rick Jackson showed us today the reminder of how well he can play when focused with a 17 point, 13 rebound effort againt Canisius. We do have to remember that he has shown that ability before and then disappeared, but it is a good early sign. Brandon Triche seems to be fitting in comfortable with his shooting guard role, hitting 4 of 9 three point shots. And I always like having a shooting guard who can also play the point.

Scoop Jardine had 8 assists today which puts a smile on my face; I wish he had taken less than 19 shots from the field in the first two games. I always like the point guard to pass first, shoot later, particularly early in the game as to involve his teammates. 12 assists and only three turnovers so far is excellent news.

C.J. Fair and Dion Waiters are showing signs they will be pushing for their share of playing time, and Mookie Jones and James Southerland look like they want to both earn the title as designated three point shooter off the bench. So there may be some good depth, though I think it may be situational.

The Orange have also shown that they are staying committed to executing the Syracuse zone defense. I think that may be the most positive of all the good news so far.

The center position is going to be interesting. Fab Melo is having a ton of foul problems early in this season, having fouled out of both games after a combined playing time of 31 minutes. Fouling out in 13 minutes against a much smaller Canisius is something that I hope is a good learning experience for the freshman. It is tough to tell really how good he may be with the limited playing time.

Baye Moussa Keita has played rather impressively in his reserve role. The freshman pulled down 15 rebounds against the Griffins earlier today, in only 17 minutes of play. That is the most rebounds by an Orangeman since Paul Harris had 16 rebounds against Stephen F. Austin in the 2009 NCAA tournament. Keita did manage to foul out of the Northern Iowa opener in 18 minutes of play, a rather impressive feat for both SU centers to pull in the same game. But I am impressed with the early showing of Keita, and having some early signs of strong potential for him is excellent news as it looks like Melo will definitely be getting some bench time this season due to his foul troubles. Bernie Fine is definitely going to have his work cut out for him. I had hoped to find an early career parallel with Rony Seikaly. But Seikaly, even as foul prone has he was as a freshman, managed to not foul out of either of his first two games, against two quality opponents, Georgia Tech and DePaul. Seikaly played 32 minutes with 3 fouls in his first game, and 29 minutes with 4 fouls in his second.

This is the type of season where the non-conference schedule becomes vitally important for the Syracuse freshman to learn how to play the college game, make the adjustments to the officiating and to the speed of the game.

What to Expect in 2010-2011?

The 2010-2011 season is almost upon us, and as is the life in collegiate basketball, the churn of the team continues. Last season was a magical ride, that ultimately ended too early, but had the Orange running at the top echelon of collegiate hoops for the bulk of the competitive season.

Last season was a surprise, and many factors came together to make the team one of the strongest in Syracuse basketball history.

1) The emergence of Wes Johnson as a top tier NCAA basketball player. Coach Jim Boeheim was telling everyone how good Johnson was in practice in 2009-2010, and how good he thought he would be. Yet no one wanted to believe the Hall of Fame coach, despite Boeheim having a long history of understating how good the new players were. Johnson ended up being better than I believe Boeheim even believed he could be.

2) The re-emergence of the shutdown zone defense, something that was not seen operating in its full beauty since the 2002-2003 season. The improvement in the zone defense itself should not have been a surprise as the change in personnel alone signaled an improvement would occur in the zone. Eric Devendorf never pretended to play defense, and Paul Harris never understood the nuances of playing zone defense. Jonny Flynn, as talented as he is, was more suited for man-to-man defense, and undersized for the top of the key in the zone defense. Those three were switched out for a 6’4” Brandon Triche at the top of the key, 6’5” Andy Rautins who was a master of zone defense, and 6’7” Wes Johnson whose natural athleticism and understanding of the game allowed him to fill that back end of the zone well. Rick Jackson and Arinze Onuaku were both a year older and more mature, and the extra year of playing in the Boeheim zone only benefited them. So we knew the zone would be better; I don’t we think could have anticipated that it would have been a phenomenal defense. That was the surprise.

3) A selfless team led by two selfless players in Rautins and Johnson. The 2009-2010 team made the extra pass, played a style of basketball the rewarded teammates for hustling down the court. The team moved the ball well around the perimeter and inside-out, resulting in some outstanding interior shooting by Jackson and Onuaku, and some excellent perimeter shooting by Rautins, Johnson, and Triche.

4) Experience, experience, experience. Syracuse did have three new starters in the squad in 2009-2010, but Rautins was a fifth year senior, and Johnson a fourth year junior, both with plenty of collegiate experience. Jackson was in this third year of the program, and Onuaku in this fifth. Scoop Jardine came off the bench as a third year sophomore. Kris Joseph was in his second season as a reserve with plenty of experience his freshman year, leaving only Brandon Triche as the inexperienced player. This team had a lot of experience, particularly in the correct positions.

5) An easier schedule in 2009-2010 than in 2008-2009. Now don’t get me wrong; last season was a very difficult season, and Syracuse was outstanding in playing that season. Last year they played 10 games versus top 25 teams, and the Orange went 8-2, including 6-0 versus top 10 teams. The only losses to top 25 teams occurred when Arinze Onuaku was no longer effectively in the squad. In 2008-2009, they played 15 games versus top 25 teams; that is an absurb number, and the Orange went a respectable 7-8. They played 4 games against top 5 teams, going 1-3.

Clearly, a lot of things went well for the Orange last season. Addition by subtraction. Maturation/improvement from all the key players; that doesn’t always happen. I team that bought into the ‘team concept’ and played outstanding team defense.

The coaching staff is back, and that constant had led to the ongoing success in the Boeheim era. The single concept of Jim Boeheim being there every year is absolutely vital for the program’s continued success. Keeping the key assistants in Mike Hopkins, Bernie Fine and Rob Murphy is also vital.

Syracuse is bringing in some top flight talent, which is a change from last year where there were no top 50 recruits in SU’s starting lineup. Syracuse does have some experience coming back, which again will help them out. Scoop Jardine will be a fourth year junior, and Rick Jackson a pure senior. Kris Joseph will be in his third year, and was third in minutes for the Orange last year. Many, including myself, are expecting Joseph to continue to elevate his game. Brandon Triche now has a year of collegiate basketball under his belt, and Mookie Jones is now in his third year with the program. James Southerland had a year of practicing against Onuaku and Johnson last year, so I am eager to see how he has improved.

The incoming freshman are highly touted. Fab Melo is being counted on for some valuable minutes at the center. Replacing Onuaku will be very difficult, and Melo is a different style player, and only a freshman. Freshman centers are often the least disciplined players in their first years, having to make the biggest adjustments, so it will be asking a lot for Melo to be star in year one. But he could be. Baye Moussa Keita, a lanky but athletic freshman, will back him up.

Syracuse will be a little bit smaller at the top of the key with Jardine (6’2”) replacing Rautins (6’5”); but Jardine is not inexperienced at the zone. Freshman Dion Waiters, at 6’4”, should be a nice piece of the zone at the top, if he understands the concept.

The loss of Onuaku in the back of the zone will hurt a lot. Arinze took up a lot of space horizontally, and had tremendous strength. Rick Jackson will likely play some center this year, and has a similar build, but that removes size from Jackson’s former position. Melo, at 7’, would definitely fill up space, but he will have a lot to learn. Joseph at 6’7” should be a good replacement for Johnson. Sophomore James Sutherland and freshman CJ Fair, both at 6’8”, should be able to provide some wingspan on the back of that zone.

If the returning players from last year can convince the new players to buy into the concept that won so many games last year, and some of the players continue to develop, 2010-2011 can be another exciting year.

2010 NCAA

I hope everyone has their brackets locked and loaded. I have three sheets this year; one ‘sheet of integrity’, as ESPN’s Mike & Mike would say, with my picks of how I think the tournament will play out. And then two other sheets just to cover the basis and hope to win one of the pools I am in. Not that there is any money involved; it is all a matter of pride (sure).

I saw that Pat Forde lists five teams in his Forde Minutes as having a chance of winning the tournament. I do not know if it is a good sign or a bad sign that my three winners are among his five teams. I will not reveal my picks, but let us just say that they rhyme with canvas, pair of shoes, and best for win, yah.

What I thought was interesting on Forde’s blog was his mathematical evaluation of several coaches in terms of how much they overachieve or underachieve in the NCAA tournament (see the Mastering Your Medium section). I think there are some flaws in the process (obviously coaches with consistently highly rates teams have a very tough time overachieving, while those with lowly rated teams have a much better chance to overachieve), but for a ‘quick tool’, it’s fairly interesting.

Jim Boeheim has a 4.4% underachiever status, which means that 4.4% of the time, his team underachieves in the tournament. That is pretty much insignificant. Over a 35 year coaching career, that would mean you underachieved once. As those of us who have followed Syracuse for a long time realize, Boeheim’s NCAA teams have pretty much done everything. They have pulled off major upsets, they have been the victim of major upsets. They have gone to the Final Four three times when they were not expected, and they have failed to make the Elite Eight when they were considered NCAA contenders.

For those who want other coaches because they assume they would get better results, consider these numbers. Rick Barnes is an underachiever 14.7%. Mike Krzyzewski is an underachiever 8.6%. John Calipari is a 16.7% underachiever. Rick Pitino is only a 3.9% overachiever.

What it really points out is all the good coaches out there win games they were underdogs, lose games when they are favorites. We are always more sensitive to our ‘own guy’ losing the games, and we rarely want to give him credit for winning the upset because we consider our team underrated, and thus its not really an upset in our minds.

Go Orange!

Boeheim and Johnson Earn Top League Recognitions

Congratulations to Syracuse coach Jim Boeheim and forward Wesley Johnson, both who earned significant Big East Awards yesterday.

Jim Boeheim won his fourth Big East Coach of the Year award. He won his first in 1984, twenty six years ago. This is a well earned award this year, as the Orange were not ranked in the preseason top 25, and predicted to finish 6th in the Big East. Instead, the Orange, with no players recruited in the top 50 of their class, rose to #1 in the national rankings, and won the Big East title outright with a two game lead. There were some other coaches with outstanding efforts this year, but this selection was really a no-brainer.

Wesley Johnson was more of the surprise as Player of the Year. Many Syracuse fans, myself included, had assumed that since Scottie Reynolds had been the front runner most the season and was the only unanimous player on the All Big East First Team, that he was going to win the award. That is one advantage of having coaches vote, as opposed to sportswriters. The coaches are less impressed by statistics, and more impressed by what they have seen on the court. That does not mean they always get it right, in my opinion. But this year I think they did. As I had mentioned the other day, Johnson’s team focus, at the expense of his own statistics was a major key in the Orange having an outstanding regular season.

I do have to agree with other fans and bloggers, including Troy Nunes is an Absolute Magician, that I thought Andy Rautins was the MVP of this team. Though we do have to keep in mind that Player of the Year is not the same as Most Valuable Player. There is a subtle difference.

Johnson is the fourth Syracuse player to win the Big East Player of the Year. Derrick Coleman was the first in 1990 guiding the Orangemen to a 26-7 record, 12-4 in the Big East. D.C. averaged 17.9 ppg, 12.1 rebounds and 2.9 assists a game that year, and shot 55% from the floor.

Billy Owens gave the Orangemen back-to-back Player of the Year recognitions earning the award in 1991. Owens carried the Orangemen most of the season to a 26-6 record, 12-4 in the Big East including the Big East Regular Season Championship. He averaged 23.2 ppg, 11.6 rpg and 3.5 rpg. If not for a terrible post season by the team (0-2), Owens’s season may have been remembered as one of the greatest individual seasons ever for an Orangeman.

Syracuse would have to wait another 14 years before an Orangeman won the Player of the Year. Hakim Warrick earned the recognition in 2005 leading the Orangemen to 27-7 overall, 11-5 in the Big East. Warrick averaged 21.4 ppg, 8.6 rpg, and 1.5 assists on 54.8% shooting.

Johnson’s resume isn’t done yet for this year. But he has helped lead the Orangemen to a 28-3 overall record, 15-3 in conference and a Big East Regular Season Title. He is averaging 15.3 pp, 8.5 assists and 2.4 assists while shooting 38% from three point range and 79% from the free throw line. His scoring numbers are not overly impressive, but he is on one of the most balanced scoring successful teams in league history with seven players averaging 8.3 ppg or more.

At first glance it seems hard to believe that Carmelo Anthony did not win the award in 2003. He averaged 22.2 ppg, 10.0 rpg, and 2.2 apg, while leading the Orangemen to a 30-5 record, 13-3 in the Big East for a share of the division title, and oh yeah, a National Championship. Of course, the National Championship wasn’t relevant at the time the award came out, and Troy Bell had an outstanding season for Boston College which also won its division in the Big East.

I always thought Sherman Douglas should have won the award in 1989 when the Orangemen went 30-8 overall and 10-6 in league play. Douglas averaged 18.2 ppg, 8.6 apg and had 2.5 rpg. He was what ran Syracuse’s high powered offense. Georgetown did win the Big East Regular Season that year, and that does count for something, but at the time (and even now), I don’t see how the Hoyas’ Charles Smith was the better player or had the better season. A couple of guys named Mutombo and Mourning also contributed to the success of that team.

Pearl Washington should have won the award in 1986. He lead the Orangemen to a 26-6 overall mark, 14-2 in Big East play and won the Big East Regular Season title. I know St. John’s Walter Berry had an impressive year, but Washington was the most exciting player in the league, led the Orangemen to the best record, averaged 17.3 ppg and 7.8 apg, outstanding numbers for a point guard.

The other great single season for an Orangeman in the past twenty years was John Wallace in 1995-1996. Wallace carried the Orangemen all season with 22.2 ppg and 8.7 rpg, leading the Orangemen to a 29-9 record, 12-6 in the Big East, and to the National Championship game. But the Orangemen were not a great team during the regular season, merely very good, and UConn was dominant with the great Ray Allen, who would win the award. Sometimes, its just a matter of who your competition is.

2010 Big East All Conference Team Selections

It is that time of year again when the post season hardware is rewarded for the Big East. Earlier today the league announced its All-Conference Teams and its All Rookie Team.

Congratulations to Wes Johnson who earned All Big East First Team honors along with Villanova’s Scottie Reynolds, South Florida’s Dominique Jones, Notre Dame’s Luke Harangody, Georgetown’s Greg Monroe and West Virginia’s Da’Sean Butler. I like the fact that the Big East is now sticking with a 6 man First Team, rather than the bloated 9-10 player team it has used for a few years. It does make it difficult to make the first team in a league with 14 teams; but it also makes it quite a notable achievement to be able to make that team.

I do not have a disagreement with the first team selections with the possible selection of Harangody. Harangody missed five games, and played token minutes in the last game of the season. Harangody has always been an outstanding offensive player, but also was known for suspect defensive play. The Fighting Irish went 4-2 in those last 6 games, with the two losses being one point losses. Harangody miss 28% of the Big East season (and if you count the sixth game, 1/3 of the season). So while he put up impressive offensive numbers, I think the fact that he missed a significant portion of the season, and his team arguably played better without him, would warrant his exclusion from the first team. Would you name an NFL player to the All-Pro team who played in only 11 games, or an MLB Baseball player who played in only 108 games? If the inclusion on Big East Conference teams is supposed to include the player’s entire body of work inside and outside of the conference, then the issue changes. But, based on only his inclusion in the conference, I would be hesitant to vote for him on the first team.

Harangody did become the twelfth player to be named to the First Team 3 times. That list includes four Syracuse players: Derrick Coleman, Sherman Douglas, Lawrence Moten, and Pearl Washington. It also includes legendary college players Chris Mullin and Patrick Ewing, and legendary conference players Danya Abrams, John Pinone, Kerry Kittles, Terry Dehere and Troy Bell.

I have mixed feeling with Andy Rautins being on the second team; I very strong argument can be made that he should be the league’s Player of the Year. It is a big jump to be included in a conversation of the Player of the Year, and then to only be on the League Second Team. However, I think that with only six players on the first team, it is definitely strong recognition for Rautins to be on the second team, and it should be an accomplishment he would be very proud of. Eric Devendorf, the primary man he replaced, never earned more than Honorable Mention, and Jonny Flynn, last year’s star guard, was only Second Team.

I was surprised that Wes Johnson did not receive a unanimous selection to the First Team. His statistics are decent, and while they may not be as dominant as other players on the First Team, the following is true: (1) he is the leading scorer and rebounder on the leagues’ most dominant team, and (2) his selfless play was part of the reason the Orange were a great ‘team’ and that in part reduced his stats.

Players on lesser teams will often have bloated statistics as they are the only guy on the team, and therefore all the offense has to flow through them. Another reason players on lesser teams can have bloated statistics is because of selfish play, which rewards the player but hurts the team. You have to look at these on a case by case basis to really determine what is going on. Derrick Coleman averaged ‘only’ 17.9 points per game his senior year. But he shared the ball with Stephen Thompson, Sherman Douglas and Billy Owens, among others. A team is going to score a limited amount of points in a game, and the more you share the wealth, the more your statistics will be dampened. But sharing the wealth makes the team much harder to defend, and increases your probability of winning. Coleman could have scored 25 points a game if he played on a lesser squad, but he did not; he played on a powerhouse team.

An example of a player who benefited by being on a ‘poor’ team was Syracuse’s Carl Vernick. As a sophomore, Vernick was the leading scorer on Syracuse’s 1961-1962 team, twice scoring 30 or more points in a game, and averaging 16.5 points a game. Vernick was a good player, and the best player on that squad. However, the 1961-1962 team was the worst team in Syracuse basketball history going 2-22, and losing a (then) NCAA record 27 games in a row. As Syracuse got better the next couple of years, Vernick’s scoring dropped dramatically. With the arrival of a talented sophomore class that included Dave Bing and Jim Boeheim, and a junior transfer Chuck Richards, the team would improve to 17-8 and go to the NIT tournament. Vernick would average only 2.7 points a game that year.

Over the course of Big East history, there have been exclusion of Syracuse players from Big East teams that have caused some rumblings on the Hill. Gerry McNamara did not make any of the team selections his freshman year despite his season long heroics. Leo Rautins, who would be an NBA first round pick, only made the Big East Third Team. And there are other examples I could come up with. I still think it is an outrage that Georgetown’s Charles Smith was the league Player of the Year in 1989 over Sherman Douglas.

However, from a historical perspective, Syracuse has been very well represented on the All Conference selections. In fact, they have been better represented than any other team in league history with 72 selections (next on the list is Connecticut with 62). Syracuse has also had 34 first team selections, thirteen more than Georgetown, who is next on the list. Part of that is because Syracuse has had some of the truly great players in Big East history. It is the winningest program in Conference history; winning generates great players and vice versa.

Another part is that Jim Boeheim is a player’s coach, and he lets the star players lead the way. He only goes 7-8 players deep on the bench, and that means the starters are going to carry a larger burden than on the average team. It gives the primary players at Syracuse a greater chance to shine (and also a greater one to fail).

A program like Pittsburgh, which under the Howland/Dixon era has focused on team defense, going ten players deep, and eschewed having star players in the program, is going to have a tough time generating ‘star recognition’, despite the team having an impressive record. Other than last season when Dixon let DeJuan Blair and Sam Young star, there has not been much award recognition for Pitt, which has only 12 first team selections in league history (by far the lowest of the good programs in the league).

Notre Dame, which has a reputation of funneling all the action through big man stars such as Troy Murphy, Pat Garrity, and Luke Haragody, has a disproportionate high number of players on the first team (13 selections), despite having been in the league half as long as Pitt.

It will be interesting who the league Player of the Year will be. I’m guessing the award will go to Scottie Reynolds, though I would have nominated Rautins or Wes Johnson. The sixth man award should be Kris Joseph, hands down. Coach of the Year should be Jim Boeheim, with no disrespect intended towards Jamie Dixon.

Defensive player of the year will likely be Jermaine Dixon of Pitsburgh; I think a good argument could be made for Andy Rautins. Dixon is a better man-to-man player, and that is what his system calls for. Rautins is the master of the zone defense, and I think is the primary reason the Syracuse defense excels. Rautins would not be as effective in Pitts defense; Dixon would not be as effective in Syracuse’s. Given that the zone does not get much respect, Dixon will win it. But I would vote for Rautins.

Syracuse Basketball Videos

Normally I ignore the promotional requests I get as I do this blog and my website OrangeHoops for fun and for the fans. However, I did receive a request from a development company Thought Equity Motion to showcase their efforts with the NCAA on NCAA Vault.

They are currently focusing on NCAA Sweet Sixteen video links, and they have the entire games available for free. You can also choose to search for specific plays in each game. The site is fairly interesting. Browse around on it and enjoy.

I was working on putting together a page of video clips from YouTube and other sources, so the timing on this request was good. So if you want to get psyched for tomorrow's Louisville game, take a look at the 2003 National Championship game in its entirety, or just watch the last 90 seconds.

For those of you who long for yesteryear, how about Sherman Douglas hiking the ball to Stephen Thompson in the blowout of Indiana? Or Pearl Washington draining a half court shot to beat Boston College at the buzzer? And of course, highlights from last year's marathon 6 Overtime game.

Just whatever you do, don't call Gerry McNamara overrated.

34,616 Fans Can't Be Wrong

Outstanding effort by the Orange tonight. They crushed a very strong opponent in Villanova 95-77, a team poised to give the zone defense problems with their strong perimeter game and their familiarity with the Syracuse defensive style.

On a night when the top two ranked teams in the country lost, there is no doubt in my mind which team should be ranked #1 come Monday. Syracuse should leap over Purdue and have that distinction. The Orange have earned the right to bask in a #1 ranking. Look at their resume: 7-0 versus top 20 teams. 6-0 versus top 10 teams. 11-0 in road and neutral court games. 14-2 in the Big East, and 27-2 overall. A #3 RPI score that is surely to gain some strength with tonight’s win.

In my opinion, teams should be ranked by voters on what they have accomplished, not on how good you think they are, or how they will finish the season. The rankings in college basketball are ultimately meaningless, as college basketball does it right, and has a tournament that ensures that the best teams all get a shot at winning the title and in the end, we will know who is the true champion. But along the way, we do have rankings, to allow teams and fans to understand how good have they been that year. It is an honor for the players and fans to get that recognition.

I know it is hard for the media to rank Syracuse #1. They did not have them ranked in the preseason, and at that time most of the media probably couldn’t have spotted Syracuse’s top two players, Andy Rautins and Wes Johnson, in a police lineup. Syracuse does not have McDonald’s All-Americans out there this year. They do have guys who have developed themselves into outstanding college basketball players, and in at least one case, an NBA lottery pick (Johnson).

Syracuse plays a defense that confounds highly experienced NCAA coaches, so there is no doubt that most of the media does not understand it. It is not sexy. They play zone defense, and most people think of five guys packing in tight to the basket, daring the opposition to shoot over them. As the educated Syracuse fan knows, that is not how Syracuse’s zone works. Syracuse pushes the guards out, inviting guards to try to pass into the lanes where they forwards anticipate and cut off the pass. Syracuse invites the guards to drive the lane where they collapse upon them. They invite the opposing team to pass the ball to the corners where they player is promptly trapped by two Orangemen and two sidelines.

Of course a hot shooting guard can make the zone look bad. But that same hot shooting guard can make a man to man defense look equally bad too. It’s just that with the zone defense, the knee jerk reaction is that it’s the zone defense fault.

And congratulations to the Syracuse fans for a highly successful Orange Out, all 34,616 of them. A boisterous sea of Orange with the largest on-campus crowd in NCAA history showed their best to Villanova and to the national television audience. The weather did not keep them home. This was one of those rare moments, where weeks of anticipation for a big game gave big dividends.

I do not know who will end the NCAA season as the National Champion, nor for that matter who will even win the Big East Tournament coming up. I do know, however, who the #1 team in the nation is tonight, and that is a bunch of hard working guys coached by Jim Boeheim and calling Syracuse their home.

Balanced Scoring

22-1. Who would have thought that possible? It is unprecedented in Syracuse basketball history, this year’s squad being the first ever to reach 23 games with only one loss.

A combination of factors have brought the Orange to this point. They are playing outstanding defense most every game. My hat off to coach Jim Boeheim for getting this year’s squad to buy into the defensive scheme. The squad doesn’t have the individual talent level as last year’s team, but they have far more guys willing to play defense and willing to play Boeheim’s defense. I think the exhibition loss to LeMoyne, where the Orange played straight man-to-man defense for the whole game may have helped convince the players; I’ve got to believe the cagey veteran Boeheim had that in mind.

It is a veteran team, in the sense that two players are in their fifth year of college basketball (Andy Rautins and Arinze Onuaku), another is in his fourth year (Wesley Johnson), and two others in their third year (Rick Jackson and Scoop Jardine). They have not played together as a unit for a long time, but they do have a lot of practice time and exposure to college basketball. And that helps.

Syracuse also has a very balanced and deep team. Boeheim is going only 7-8 players deep per game, but the talent of those 6th-8th players is excellent. Jardine could be starting for Syracuse, and Kris Joseph would likely be starting at several other programs. Mookie Jones would be a very nice starting shooting guard in other programs (he still has to learn to play some defense, and to pass the ball, to get more playing time this year).

Seven different Syracuse players have scored 20 or more points in a game this season. No other Syracuse team has ever done that. That means that on any given night, there are seven guys on the court who can not only lead the Orange in scoring, but also do it with some solid scoring. The list includes the five starters (Triche, Rautins, Jackson, Johnson, Onuaku) and the top two reserves (Jardine & Joseph). Johnson, Joseph and Jackson all have double-doubles this year (points, rebounds), also helping out up front.

There have been other Syracuse teams with six players who scored 20+. The last team to do it was 1981-1982 when Leo Rautins, Erich Santifer, Tony Bruin, Gene Waldron, Ron Payton and Sean Kerins all pulled the trick. The previous to that was the 1976-1977 squad (Boeheim’s first) with Roosevelt Bouie, Louis Orr, Jimmy Williams, Ross Kindel, Larry Kelley and Dale Shackleford all meeting that number. That team came very close, with Marty Byrnes reaching 19 points in a game.

The first Syracuse team to have six players who scored 20+ in a game was the 1967-1968 squad. Vaughn Harper, George Hicker, Wayne Ward, Ernie Austin, Richie Cornwall and Frank Hamblen all performed the feat that season. That team was beset with personnel issues (a few suspensions) and some infighting that ultimately led to a losing season.

There have been a few teams with five players who scored 20+ in a game. The last was the 2007-2008 team with Jonny Flynn, Eric Devendorf, Donte’ Greene, Arinze Onuaku, and Paul Harris. That team also had four players score 20+ points in one game (in a 107-100 loss to UMass on November 28, 2007).

Another notable team with five players was the National Championship team in 2002-2003 (Carmelo Anthony, Gerry McNamara, Hakim Warrick, Kueth Duany and Billy Edelin), further confirming it was not a one-man team as many erroneously tend to remember.

The golden era of Syracuse hoops, 1986-1989, had three consecutive seasons with players scoring 20+ points in a game. And there have been eleven other teams with that distinction in the Boeheim era.

The 1999-2000 squad also had five players who scored 20 in a game. Etan Thomas, Damone Brown, Ryan Blackwell, Tony Bland and Preston Shumpert . Senior point guard Jason Hart, who was certainly capable of scoring 20 points in a game (he had done it previous seasons) had a personal season high of 19.

The 1999-2000 squad is very similar to this year’s Orange squad. It was a veteran team with three seniors starting (Thomas, Blackwell and Hart), all having been starters for at least three years, and two juniors (Brown and Allen Griffin). It had a very balanced offense with five players scoring in double digits, the leader being Thomas with only 13.6 ppg. The squad was very deep with eight players playing virtually every night. One of the reserves, Griffin, had been the starting shooting guard the previous season, and Shumpert was probably the best offensive player on the team, and he came off the bench.

The squad had five different players who rotated at the guard position (Hart, Bland, Griffin, Shumpert and DeShaun Williams), whereas this year’s team has three guys sharing that position.

The 1999-2000 squad played outstanding defense. Etan Thomas would be named the Big East Defensive Player of the Year, Jason Hart was an outstanding ball hawk, and Blackwell was a solid low post defender. Brown, Bland and Shumpert were all long players, ideal for the Syracuse zone defense. The team kept 22 of its opponents under 70 points; only one team scored more than 80 points and that was Louisville with 82.

That squad would start the season 19-0, and would get to as high as #4 in the polls. They would go 5-3 down the stretch in the Big East season, and would win the Big East regular season title with a 13-3 record (24-4 overall). They would unexpectedly bow out to Georgetown in the first round of the Big East Tournament, then beat Samford and #19 Kentucky in the NCAA tournament. They would play #2 ranked Michigan State, in Michigan, in the Sweet Sixteen. Syracuse would have a fourteen point lead, which the Spartans would eventually knock away at and tie the game up at 58-58 with six minutes to go. The Orangemen then collapsed, and the Spartans scored the last seventeen points of the game to win 75-58. Michigan State would go on to win the National Title. Syracuse, had them down, and let them slip away.

The 1999-2000 squad finished on a disappointing note… but clearly they were a good team, one capable of doing a lot of damage.

The Orange take on Cincinnati tomorrow at 2:00. Let’s hope they can continue their season in unchartered waters, and go to 23-1.

This and That... and the Orangemen are 19-1!

No one particular issue on my mind this week… some here are some random thoughts.

• I assume I’m in the same class as many other Orange fans these days, but I really enjoy watching these guys win. The extra pass on several occasions, the blocked shot when needed, a Wes Johnson highlight play or two a game. The 2009-2010 Orangemen are a lot of fun to watch. And of course, being 19-1 helps out with that enjoyment. But I think they would be fun if they were 13-6.

• Jim Calhoun, I hope what ails you is over soon. It is good for the Big East and SU basketball to see you prowling the Husky sidelines. We all need our familiar villains, and you are ours. 558-205 at UConn, with a 254-135 Big East regular season record, and 282-151 overall Big East record (including BET). I’m glad Jim Boeheim overtook your total wins by one before you were sidelined, but I do hope you are back soon.

• Has anyone at Syracuse ever thrown a consistently harder pass than Andy Rautins? He’s throwing bullets all over the court. Sometimes his teammates aren’t breaking for the pass or going where Rautins thinks he is going, and SU ends up with a bad turnover. But those passes he does complete just amaze me. And I love how this year’s team always gives that extra pass, rewarding the trailing teammate on the fast break. That was a complaint of mine last year, and I think that type of passing is a sign of a champion team.

• Seven blocked shots by Rick Jackson against Marquette. I love to see Jackson and Arinze Onuaku step up big against a small front line. Though the two biggest blocks of the game had to belong to Wes Johnson and Andy Rautins. Johnson’s was spectacular, and I’m not sure what was more amazing about Rautin’s block: the difficulty in it, or the fact the he could even do it.

• One thing I love about Syracuse this year is their ability to dominate a game even when they are not playing the perfect game. 22 turnovers and 1-8 from three point range would normally kill a team. But they Orangemen dominated the boards with a 46-21 edge. And what I really liked was the hustling by the Orangemen to get all the loose balls. The trademark of the UConn and Pitt programs has always been their ability to grab all the loose balls; they seem to out hustle their opponents to gain every advantage they can get. It was very nice to see Syracuse on that side of the point of view for a change.

• Hard to believe it, but if Syracuse had played with even half a decent effort of defense in the early part of the second half of the Pitt game, they could be undefeated right now. The Pitt loss was all about Syracuse not trying in the second half and then putting themself in a position where they had to scramble in the end.

• Lot's of support out there for Jamie Dixon for coach of the year for what he has done with Pitt this year. And it is an amazing job. He did lose four starters and a couple of All-American candidates. But let us keep in mind that he did have a deep bench and a Final Four caliber team last year, so there was some talent returning. It was going to be a tough year for Pitt, but it was not bereft of talent. Jim Boeheim had a similar situation, losing three starters including the #5 overall NBA pick in Jonny Flynn and four of his top seven players and Syracuse was ranked #6 in the preseason Big East, and not ranked in the AP or ESPN polls. They are now 19-1, #5 in the country. I'm not saying Boeheim is a better candidate than Dixon for coach of the year; but I am saying the Dixon is by no ways the undisputed front runner. I think a lot of sportcasters forget how far Syracuse has come this year.

Milestones Revisted January 2010

Syracuse is off to a 17-1 start. This is the fifth time the Orangemen got off to a 17-1, or better start. In 2004-05, they started out 20-1, in 1999-00 they started out 19-0, in 1986-87 they started out 17-1 and in 1979-80 they had a 21-1 start.

They have already beaten 3 top 10 teams this season. Only five other times has a Syracuse squad beaten 3 or more top 10 teams in one season. The last time was 2002-2003, where they beat 5 top 10 teams. 1988-89 and 1989-90 saw the Orangemen beat 4 top 10 teams. And 1990-91, and 1995-96 saw the Orangemen beat 3 top 10 teams.

As of today Syracuse coach Jim Boeheim has 816 career wins, which ties him with Connecticut coach Jim Calhoun for the sixth winningest all-time Division I Men’s basketball coach. Jim Phelan is ahead of them both at 830, a number that is achievable but tough for both coaches to get this year. Obviously, Calhoun and Boeheim will continue to trade this one on-and-off.

Boeheim also continues to be the winningest Big East coach ever with 315 wins (by far the most), and Syracuse is the winningest program in Big East history with the same total.

Andy Rautins is having a stellar all-around season, a stat stuffing year. He’s on pace for 195 assists (assuming 37 games for SU this year), which would be the 11th best season in Syracuse history. He would also surpass his father Leo, whose top season had 192 assists. Rautins is also on pace to pass his father in points; he trails Leo by 147, and Andy’s current pace will have him around 1,081 points compared to Leo’s 1,031.

Rautins currently has 227 career 3 point field goals, making him #3 all time at Syracuse. He trails Preston Shumpert by 22, an amount he should easily get to get himself to #2. Gerry McNamara is secure at #1 with 400.

Rautins is also on pace for 84 steals, which would be 6th best in SU history; he’d have a shot a Eddie Moss at #5 with 85 steals.

Arinze Onuaku broke the 1000 point barrier earlier this season. He’s now at 1,075 career points, #51 all time at Syracuse. He just passed Vaughn Harper, and is 4 behind Pete Chudy. At his current pace, Onuaku will end somewhere around 1,264 career points, just ahead of Paul Harris at #34 on this list.

Onuaku has 726 career rebounds, tying him for 18th with Wendell Alexis. Next on the list is Todd Burgan with 755. Onuaku will end up with around 807 career rebounds, putting him 15th on the list just ahead of Dave Bing, and behind Harris.

Onuaku is currently breaking his single season field goal record he set last year, at 67.5% (81-120) this year; last year he was 66.7%. His career percentage is now 64.6% (468-724), extending his own school record for players with 400+ attempts. He also continues to obliterate the school career free throw percentage, for worst ever. Onuaku is 17-39 this year, or 43.5%, which actually raises his career percentage to 39.3% (139-354). This record is fairly secure, as he has virtually no chance of raising his percentage above Terrence Roberts’ 48%/

Wes Johnson is on pace for 621 points this year, which would be good for 18th on SU’s single season list. He’s also on pace for 324 rebounds, or 14th on the single season list.

The single best 3 pt percentage for a season is Matt Roe with 47.4% in 1990-91 (he was 83-175). Johnson is currently shooting 44.6% (25-56) which would be second best ever (50+ attempts). However, Roe shot from a shorter distance; Johnson’s percentage would be the school record from the current distance. Brandon Triche is hitting at a greater clip 44.9% (22-49), so he would surpass Johnson.

Brandon Triche is averaging 10.5 points a game. He would become the 15th Syracuse freshman to average 10+ ppg. Triche is looking to make some other marks on the all-time SU freshman list with 389 points (10th), 115 assists (8th), and 45 three point field goals (6th).

Early Season Dominance

Syracuse is off to a 12-0, the best start since the school went 19-0 in the 1999-2000 season. They are the 10th Orangemen squad to start out the season with twelve wins. I covered all the fast starts in Syracuse basketball a few years ago, so I won’t readdress the issue now. As I had mentioned a few days ago, I was in the process of putting together new information on OrangeHoops.org regarding Syracuse’s performance against ranked teams, and that is now completed.

I’m sure it seems Syracuse is always off to a fast start under Jim Boeheim. And that is not an illusion. With Syracuse’s win tonight against Oakland, the Orangemen are 308-38 in November and December under Boeheim. That’s an 89% winning percentage.

Boeheim’s critics will point out that as evidence of how inflated his record is. It is true that Syracuse does play its share of ‘easy’ games in November and December, just like every other major Division I school. However, it is not true that Boeheim’s winning percentage in these two months is solely the result of playing the easier competition. Syracuse has an outstanding record against ranked teams in November and December. The Orangemen are 22-13 versus top 25 teams in those two months; since the 1988-89 season he is 20-7 versus top 25 teams in the first two months.

Folks, that’s an outstanding number. If you are winning half of your games against Top 25 teams on a regular basis, you are doing an outstanding job. Syracuse has been 11-4 in November, and 11-9 in December against the Top 25. The fact is the Orange win in November and December, regardless of who they play. They have some aberrations (a Cleveland State here, a Drexel there). But you get the point.

Now I realize it is only what you accomplish in March that really matters. But Boeheim does have a National Championship and three Final Fours under his belt. Few coaches have that. And in his three championship games he coached against Bobby Knight, Rick Pitino and Roy Williams. That’s a trio of Hall of Famers he met in the title game.

Overall, Boeheim is 111-123 versus Top 25 teams. Against the best teams in the country, he’s winning 47% of his games. The Orangemen are 46-61 against the Top 10 teams in the Boeheim era. They are winning 43% of their games against the best 10 teams in the country. The Orangemen in that same time span are 17-39 against the Top 5 teams in the country. So when a Boeheim coached team plays one of the five best teams in the country, they’ll win 30% of the time. Basically, they have a one in three chance against the best of the best. I think you have to be pretty good to win at that level.

Boeheim coached teams are 65-78 versus teams ranked higher than the Orangemen (since 1986-87 they are 55-58 against that group). They are winning 45% of the games, on a regular basis, against teams reportedly ranked better than the Orangemen (and this includes when the Orange weren’t ranked and their opposition was). So Jim Boeheim teams are almost even money in games against the better team.

Overall, Jim Boeheim has coached against 287 Top 25 teams. His squad has been ranked in 676 games of the 1099 games he has coached.

Look, Boeheim has his coaching flaws. And his teams have lost some games we thought they were locks in. But they have also won several games they were not supposed to win.

As a side note, I thought there was some interesting ranking information regarding all four of Syracuse’s Final Fours. The 1974-75 squad was never ranked during the regular season; the AP named them #20 during the first round of the NCAA tournament. The 1986-87 team started the season out at #15; they were #10 entering the NCAA tournament. They would be #2 ranked North Carolina in the tournament, and lost eventually by a basket to the #3 ranked Indiana Hoosiers.

The 2005-2006 Orangemen were not ranked to start the season, and reach the Top 25 on December 15th. They would beat #4 ranked Kansas in the tournament, and lose to #2 ranked Kentucky in the final.

The 2002-2003 Orangemen were not ranked to start the season, and would not enter the Top 25 until January 18th. They would beat #3 Oklahoma, #5 Texas and #6 Kansas to win the National Championship.

So being unranked in November, like this year, can lead to a nice ending. Let’s hope so.

#804 for Boeheim behind Balanced Scoring

The Orange moved to 5-0 with a hard earned victory over Cornell. Syracuse grabbed control of the game in the second half and made the final score one sided, but Cornell shot the lights out in the first half, and made the Orange work for this one. This was Jim Boeheim’s 804th career victory, tying him for 7th all time with Eddie Sutton.

The Orange have not yet played a game that has been close in the final two minutes, so there are many questions on how those types of games will go for Syracuse. Jonny Flynn and Eric Devendorf were the ‘go to’ guys in the past couple of years. There may not be ‘the guy’ to go to this year, at least not in the classical sense of the big scorer. I suspect as the season goes on that one of the guards will become the playmaker that you want the ball in the hands of, and he’ll make the right decision. And I think Wesley Johnson and Andy Rautins, depending on the scenario will be the guys who end up taking those last minutes shots more often than not. But we will have to wait and see.

Syracuse has a statistical anomaly after the first five games. Five different players have led the Orange in scoring this season: Arinze Onuaku, Andy Rautins, Scoop Jardine, Wesley Johnson and Brandon Triche. This year’s team is a selfless team, as a few of the players have already stated, and so far the scoring indicates that. It will be interesting how that plays out over the course of the year.

When was the last time the Orangemen had 5 different players lead them in scoring in the first five games? If you go back to the 2003-2004 season, they had four players do it in the first five games: Gerry McNamara, Hakim Warrick, Billy Edelin and Terrence Roberts.

You could go back to 1980-1981 where Tony Bruin, Leo Rautins, Erich Santifer, Danny Schayes and Marty Headd all led the team in scoring in the first five games. But I would not really count this one, as Headd and Rautins tied for the lead in scoring in one game, and Schayes led it two other games.

The last time that five different players led the team in scoring for each of the five games was 34 years ago back in 1976-1977, Jim Boeheim’s first year (and victories #1 through #4). Larry Kelley, Roosevelt Bouie, Dale Shackleford, Marty Byrnes and Ross Kindel all had a hand in leading the team in scoring. That team would end up 26-4. Noteworthy is that Louis Orr was on that team, and was not one of those five players.

Three other times in school history this pattern has emerged. In 1935-1936, Ollie Scott, Norm Leavitt, Jack Curran, Edgar Sonderman and Johnny Simonaitus each had the honor. The squad would finish the year 12-5.

In 1922-1923, the Orangemen struggled to find a consistent leader, and had six different players lead them in scoring in the first six games: George Fisher, George Noakes, Pete MacRae, Bernie Kates, Pep Fasce, and John Gallivan. This team struggled to 9-11. Ironically, they started out 5-0.

And back in 1918-1919, the Orangemen had Jimmy Kernan, Bob Marcus, John Barsha, Nick Paul and Danny Martin all take the honors in the first five games. That squad would finish 13-3. Ironically, the team’s second leading scorer Charley Dolley, would not take scoring honors until the 7th game of the season; Dolley was also the team’s clutch shooter that year winning three games with last minute baskets.

We'll have to wait and see if Syracuse can pull a sixth top scorer for the Columbia game this coming Friday. Perhaps Rick Jackson or Kris Joseph will get the honor.

Have a Happy Thanksgiving!

Let's Play Two

“Let’s play two”, was what the legendary Ernie Banks was attributed to saying. The Orange faithful can all remember back to the memorable 6 Overtime game against UConn on March 12th, 2009 at the Big East Tournament. It surely seemed like Syracuse played two that day. And technically, they did as when the game ended at 1:40 am EDT, they went to bed, woke up and played West Virginia that night (and of course, that game went into overtime too). I doubt we’ll ever see another team play 195 minutes of basketball in the Big East tournament, even if they expand to another round.

The other thing we are likely never to see again is a scheduled doubleheader of basketball. Who would be crazy enough to do that? Well, former Syracuse coach and athletic director Lew Andreas did just that to kick off the 1948-1949 season. Syracuse played the University of Toronto on the afternoon of December 4th, 1948 at the Syracuse Coliseum, and later that evening came back and played the Ithaca College. Syracuse would win both games easily, beating Toronto 81-41, and Ithaca 76-34. Jack Kiley and Ed Stickel would lead the scoring for the day, both having a combined 25 points for each game.

Of course, Syracuse did have some advantages in those games, especially when compared to the Syracuse/UConn 6OT game. First of all, the competition was far less intense, as the final scores indicated. Second of all, there was a couple of hours break between the two games. And third, and most importantly, was how deep Andreas went into his bench for each game.

In terms of playing his reserve players, Andreas was the anti-Boeheim. 19 different Orangemen would play against Toronto in the first game, 17 players would play in the second game. Coach Andreas was notorious for making wholesale substitutions during his coaching career on the hill, and often had a First Team, Second Team, Third Team, that he would send in as a whole group. In some games, he would start his second team, and then bring his first team in.

The 19 players that Andreas played in the Ithaca game were not a school record. On January 14, 1939, Syracuse played Fordham at Archbold Gymnasium. The Orangemen routed the Rams 57-22. Andreas would play 21 different players that day; the local news that day questioned if that was possibly a collegiate record (I don’t know the answer to that even now).

To put 21 players into perspective, Jim Boeheim has only played 20 different players the past two seasons combined, and 25 different players the past three seasons combined.

Anyhow, let’s play two!

Win #800

Congratulations to Jim Boeheim on his career win #800. It was an inevitable win for a coach who routinely wins twenty games a year. If the win did not come against the Great Danes of Albany (it did 75-43), it was going to happen. It seems like only yesterday that Boeheim won game #700; in fact it was a lopsided win over Providence at the Dome on February 26, 2005, with Hakim Warrick leading the way with 36 points.

Syracuse University has now won 1756 games, fifth all time for NCAA Division I basketball (only Kentucky, North Carolina, Kansas and Duke have more). Jim Boeheim hasn’t coached all those games, it just seems that way. He has however won 45.5% of the games the Orange have won. As a player, Syracuse was 52-24, as varsity assistant coach, Syracuse was 139-65. So all combined, he has been involved with 991 wins for Syracuse basketball. Think about the magnitude of that number… 991. He has been involved with 56% of the wins for Syracuse basketball.

The 2008-09 season should be an interesting one to watch. It would have been a different season had Jonny Flynn, Eric Devendorf and Paul Harris all stayed. There is no doubt about that. A team with a ton of experience and talent, a rare combination in today’s NCAA. And definitely a team that could have challenged for the NCAA tournament, even though it had some weaknesses. However, I think this year’s team, as currently comprised will be an NCAA tournament team, one that will be much better in March than it is in November. It is a young team in some aspects, but it is a team with some fifth year seniors (Andy Rautins and Arinze Onuaku), and a some great potential in young players.

Let’s go Orange.

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.