30-1! A Season for the Ages

The Orange wrapped up the regular season in style, sweeping the Louisville Cardinals with a 58-49 victory at the Carrier Dome.  Fittingly, in a season where the team really plays as a team, senior point guard Scoop Jardine was held scoreless, and was happy about it.

 

Syracuse is 30-1, establishing a new benchmark for wins in a regular season, besting their record of 28 set two years ago. The school record for total wins in a season is 31, set in 1986-1987, and the team should pass that mark with their post season activity.  Their one loss in the regular season is the fewest ever since post season activity began, and regardless of how their season ends, they will finish the year with their fewest losses since at least 1934-1935 when the team went 15-2.

 

The Orange finished 19-0 at home, only their second undefeated season in the Carrier Dome. The previous effort was from the 2002-2003 national championship team.

 

The games also marked the 71^st time the Carrier Dome has had a crowd in excess of 30,000 fans.  Syracuse has now run their record to 48-23 in those games, including winning 11 of the last 14 big crowd games.

 

The Big East Tournament looms ahead, and the Orange are fortunate to get the double round bye. We will not know the Orange opponent until the end of day Wednesday. It will certainly be a team that is playing well, and playing for its post season life.  It will be another tough game.

Syracuse completed this season 5-0 against top 25 teams. The Big East was down compared to the past few seasons, and Syracuse has played its fewest top 25 ranked teams since the 2001-2002 season. However, the postseason action will certainly bump that number up a few places.  And though the number of ranked Big East teams was not as high as it has been the past few years, that does not mean the Big East was an easy schedule. Far from it.

 

First of all, comparing any league to the level the Big East played the past few seasons is a ridiculous standard. Secondly, ask talented teams like Pitt, Villanova and UConn about how difficult they thought this schedule was. If you are not ready to play each and every game, you will end up on the losing side of the ledger.

 

The Orange are 30-1.  That is absolutely remarkable; I do not care who you play. That record is a testament to the players and to the Syracuse coaching staff.  It speaks well of the leadership of the team leaders Scoop Jardine and Kris Joseph. And it speaks well of the character of their teammates who bought into what they were selling.

 

The Big East post season accolades should be very interesting.  Several factors will come into play with Syracuse players getting consideration: (1) how much do the coaches recognize the top players focusing on the team effort instead of personal glory; (2) how much weight does the 17-1 conference record carry; (3) how much will the deep play of Syracuse and the lack of ‘go to’ players split the votes for Syracuse players?  And of course, in an eighteen team league, it’s tough to get any recognition with that much competition.

 

I think Jim Boeheim should win the Big East Coach of the Year. The Orange were expected to finish tied atop the Big East, but they greatly exceeded anyone’s expectations on how they did it. If you throw in the backdrop of the Bernie Fine situation, and the short term Fab Melo suspension, you have a coach who won the conference, overcome obstacles, and overachieved. What more can you ask? I know Buzz Williams (Marquette) and Mike Brey (Notre Dame) had outstanding seasons, each with their own story, but Boeheim should win it. He won’t. It will be Brey or Williams.

 

Syracuse’s zone defense has been the story throughout college basketball all season, and Fab Melo’s importance to that defense was undeniable, as evidenced by the impact on the team when he was missing for three games.  I think the team sacrificed individual offensive glory for the team defense, and I think coaches recognize that. I think Melo does win the Big East defensive player of the year.

 

If Melo is going to win the defensive player of the year, he has got to be a lock on the Most Improved Player.  The improvement in his game from last season to this season is well documented, and well known.  I would be shocked if he does not get this recognition.

 

The Big East Sixth man award will be interesting. First of all C.J. Fair and Dion Waiters will split the votes between one another. I personally do not consider Fair a sixth man.  He does not start the game, but he does replace Rakeem Christmas very early in the game, and he keeps that position for the rest of the game.  It is not as if Boeheim uses Fair to give Joseph a breather at any point.  Rather he uses Southerland to give Joseph and Fair a breather.  Fair is really a starter who just does not happen to start. Waiters on the other hand is a sixth man. He splits time at both the point and shooting guard positions, and may partner with either Triche or Jardine on the court. He often plays more minutes than either of them, but not always. I would vote for Waiters as the Sixth Man, and I think he will win it; but the split vote and a perception that he is not really a sixth man could hurt him.

 

The All Big East Team selections are the biggest mystery to me.  I would suspect that Joseph, Jardine and Waiters will all make selections to one of the teams, and I would hope Jardine and Joseph make first team. Melo might squeak in on the third team. We’ll have to see when results are released this week.

 

However the post season accolades go, it has been a great regular season, and now it’s time to gear up for some post season fun!

 

Let’s Go Orange!

What About 27-1?

The Orange are 27-1, reaching lofty heights that no other Syracuse team has ever reached during the regular season, in the post season era.  There are other teams that had fantastic regular seasons, most notably and recently the 2009-2010 squad that went 28-3 before post season action.

For perspective the 2002-2003 National Championship team went ‘only’ 23-4 during the regular season, and did not win either the Big East Season title or Big East Tournament.  The 1999-2000 team went 24-4 winning the Big East Season title behind Jason Hart and Etan Thomas.

Syracuse went 26-4 in 1990-1991 behind Billy Owens winning the Big East Regular season title. The 1988-1989 Orangemen, perhaps the most talented team Syracuse ever had with Sherman Douglas, Stephen Thompson, Billy Owens and Derrick Coleman went a mere 25-6 in the regular season.  The 1986-1987 squad that came within a shot of the National Title was 24-5 winning the Big East Season title.

The Pearl and Raf Addison lead the Orangemen to 23-4 in 1985-1986 earning the Big East Season Title.  In the first year of the Big East, Roosevelt Bouie and Louis Orr led Syracuse to a 24-2 record and the first Big East Season Title.  They were 25-3 in 1978-1979, and 25-3 in 1976-1977.

You would then have to go to the post-War team of 1945-1946 that went 23-3 and got the Orangemen their first post season action in NIT, to find a squad with an impressive in-season record.  Those Orangemen were led by Billy Gabor, Royce Newell and Ed Stickel.

The question becomes how important is the regular season accomplishments compared to the post season? I may find myself in the minority, but the regular season means a lot to me.  I find that I enjoy sports in the day-to-day; each game has meaning, each has potential moments that I may remember forever.  You play to win the games; accolades and titles are just outputs of winning. 

Regardless of how the season plays out, this is a successful year for me. I am enjoying the team, they are winning beyond my expectations. They have been ranked #1 or #2 for most of the year, and along the way gotten ‘some monkeys off their back’ with wins over Pitt and Louisville, and rivalry wins against the Hoyas and Huskies.  The Orange make the nightly highlights with every game they play.  Jim Boeheim is now the #3 winningest coach in NCAA history, and Kris Joseph is the winningest player in SU history.  They are positioning themselves for nice seeds in both post season tournaments. 

Assuming the Orange don’t lose five straight games, this is a very successful season.  I have no need to for them to reach the Final Four for this to be a success.  I want the Final Four, I dream for the Final Four, but there are a lot of hurdles in getting there. Many great teams from many schools have failed to get there.  The NCAA tournament is is a one-and-done deal, and the wrong match up, a cold shooting hand or a hot shooting opponent, a few bad calls or bounces, a key injury or two… all of these things come into play in the post season.  It does not disqualify how well the team did that year, nor how good they were.

Post season action is the gravy to the meal; it makes everything better and it is exciting as heck.  My thanks to Jim Boeheim and the Orange for a great season so far.

What a View at 25-1

I hope the Syracuse fans keep enjoying this season. It has been far above my expectations at this point, with a 25-1 Orange team to cheer for.  The Orange are in first place in the Big East, and have beaten the teams Syracuse fans love to hate: Georgetown, UConn and Pitt.  

Coach Jim Boeheim has reached the impressive milestone of having more wins at one Division I school than any other coach in NCAA men’s basketball, with 881 and growing. He is the #3 winningest coach in NCAA history.  The Syracuse basketball program, and Boeheim, remain the winningest program in Big East history with 350 wins, and counting.  Including Big East Tournament games, Syracuse has won 396 Big East games; number two on the list is Georgetown with 370. Think about that number; when the Orange leave the Big East, it will take roughly two full seasons for another Big East team to potentially break SU’s Big East record for most wins. 

Syracuse fan Bob Stone did some research and Boeheim is 193-116 in basketball games decided by 1-5 points, including 82-49 in games decided by 1-2 points.  Thanks Bob for that info!

Syracuse had its first 30k crowd yesterday in its 85-67 win over UConn.  The Orange are now 47-23 in those 70 games. That was the seventh time the Orange faced UConn in a 30k game; Georgetown leads the way with 16 appearances.

For those that think the game has passed Boeheim by, consider that Syracuse is 82-14 that past three seasons, including an 18-7 record against top 25 teams, a very impressive 9-2 record against top 10 teams, and a 6-1 record against teams ranked higher than Syracuse.

For his career, Boeheim is 69-79 in games against teams ranked higher.  That means that in games where the national experts think Syracuse is the underdog, he wins 47% of the time. That is a lot of upsets. When Syracuse is the higher ranked team, they win 79% of the time.  For his career Boeheim is 53-63 against Top 10 teams.

I do have to laugh at the national pundits who seem to want to punish Syracuse in the rankings using the argument they have not played anyone.  We need to consider that before the basketball season began, the AP voters had Syracuse ranked as the #5 team in the country; that is without playing anyone!  The Orange then go 20-0, and some voters suddenly want to cheapen the Orange season because the ranked teams were not on their schedule.  The AP voters thought they were the fifth best team in the country, they go out there and prove to everyone they can beat everyone put in front of them, and somehow that is not good enough to warrant additional consideration? Should the Orange go out and lose to some other teams just to show they have tough opponents? 

I often think a loss to an unranked team is less costly than a loss to a ranked opponent; people recognize  a loss to an unranked team as a ‘fluke’ whereas a loss to a ranked team is considered more a barometer of how good you really are.  A loss to Georgetown last week would have allowed pundits to say that something like ‘look what happens when Syracuse finally plays a ranked team’, whereas if Syracuse lost to DePaul, it clearly would be recognized as an upset.

You cannot blame, nor punish, Syracuse for the down year for the Big East.  Furthermore, while several of the Big East teams are struggling to get wins, they are still dangerous teams, with tremendous talent, and the ability to have a game where they put it all together. I would not want to face Pitt or UConn in the Big East tournament. Neither is likely to make it to the NCAA, and neither is really capable of putting a long string of wins, I would not want to face them in the post season in a one-and-done scenario.  The rankings may not show it, but Syracuse is still going through a tough gauntlet of games.

Syracuse’s rebounding problems this season are well documented.  The Georgetown game is a good example of that problem. I am not sure how to really evaluate this team as a result of the rebounding problem.  On one hand, the team was slaughtered on the boards 48 to 30, including giving up 20 offensive rebounds.  Some like to point at that stat, and use it as an indicator on how a team like Kentucky might kill Syracuse. 

One the other hand, how can Syracuse rebound any worse than that? Kentucky or North Carolina could not rebound any better; domination on the boards is domination on the boards.  And Syracuse shot only 35% from the floor, and 33% from three point range.

And they won the game, 64-61.  They shot poorly, they got killed on the boards, and they won.  How many teams could do that and win the game?  If Syracuse had shot well in that game, they would have won by double digits against a ranked team that killed them in rebounding. This team has something special about it.

Syracuse has its weaknesses, and rebounding is the most noticeable.  All teams have their weaknesses, and all teams can lose come tournament time.  Syracuse needs to improve the rebounding to improve their chances, and Boeheim is rightful to be concerned.  They also can win a lot of games against very good teams even with that problem.

Regardless, I am just going to continue to enjoy this season.

Let’s Go Orange!

A Historic Night

Monday was an historic night for the Orange as the team beat Pitt 71-63.  The biggest historical note was the Orange going 20-0, establishing the school mark for the most consecutive wins to start the season.

Not to be lost in the excitement of the evening was coach Jim Boeheim winning his 876^th career game, tying him with legendary coach Adolph Rupp for 4^th all-time in wins.  Three more wins and Boeheim will tie Dean Smith for 3^rd all-time wins.  Boeheim also extended his own NCAA record for 20 wins seasons, with now his 34^th such season in 36 years. 

The 20 consecutive wins this season is also the longest single season winning streak in Syracuse history.  It is, however, only the third longest winning streak in school history as the Orangemen won 23 consecutive games from February 3, 1917 to March 9, 1918, spanning two seasons, and 21 consecutive games from 2/21/1913 to 2/4/1915, spanning three seasons.  The Orangemen went undefeated in the 1913-1914 season going 12-0.

Syracuse also remained #1 in the polls on Monday, thus making it six straight weeks at #1, tying the Syracuse school record.

Not to get lost in the evening, was the fact that Scoop Jardine had a 10 assist night and Fab Melo had a 10 rebound effort.  Outstanding for both. 

Syracuse had also lost 5 straight games to Pitt, and had not beaten the Panthers at home since 2003.  That’s hard to believe, but true.

I have to admit that I was afraid that Pitt would snap Syracuse’s win streak. The Panthers are always a tough team, and I know they entered the game with five straight losses, but that could have made them even more dangerous as they are desperate to win.  Pitt is always a great rebounding team (which they are this year) and was always a great defensive team (which they are not this year). 

I am excited to see how many in a row the Orange can win. I think a loss is inevitable, but it is a fun ride for now.  I disagree with those who say that the streak does not mean anything.  I think as a sports fan you need to enjoy the present, what is in front of you.  Do not worry about the future, and don't worry about the ancient past.  Live for the moment, and enjoy what you are seeing and experiencing today. 

Syracuse is playing excellent basketball, and setting some historic marks.  Nothing that happens next week or next month will impact how you feel today.  Each game is a story unto itself, an experience that you may enjoy or hate. Sports is about the journey to the finish, and the journey is just as important as the finish. 

Syracuse basketball gave me many fond moments from the 1980s, and they never won a National Championship that decade.  My feelings are not tarnished by that.  There was some heartache of course; there is inevitably some heartache with every season that doesn't end in 2003 or 1914.  But there are many many fond memories and enjoyable seasons out there that did not end with the Orange winning it all.

Go Orange.

Melo's Sophomore Surprise

Fab Melo had a dominating defensive effort against Seton Hall last night, something Syracuse fans have waited for just over a year. Melo delivered more than anyone could have expected with a school record 10 blocks, coupled with 12 points (a career high). More importantly, he helped hold Seton Hall’s star center Herb Pope to 4 points, and the entire starting front line for the Pirates struggled to score against the Syracuse defense, getting only 13 points on 5 of 26 shooting.

Melo has definitely improved this year from last. He’s playing nearly 23 minutes a game this year versus only 10 last year. His scoring is up to 6.8 ppg, and rebounding 5.5, along with 2.9 blocks per game. Melo is making 53% of his field goal attempts, and following a strong Syracuse tradition of struggling at the free throw line hitting only 54%.

How does he compare to other sophomore centers at Syracuse? The average sophomore Syracuse center since 1965-1966, including bench players, shoots 53.4% from the floor, 58.8% from the free throw line, has 5.8 ppg and 4.8 rpg. This is based on 759 games played by true centers (i.e. not forwards who played some center) as sophomores.

The better standard is how is Fab Melo doing compared to the top 10 scoring sophomore centers in Orange history:

Bill Smith stands above the rest as a sophomore in terms of offensive production. At 6’11”, Smith was much taller than most his opponents in that era, and he was able to dominate offensively with 19 ppg and 11.6 rpg. As dominating as Smith was, Syracuse only went 9-16 his sophomore year.

Etan Thomas and Roosevelt Bouie were probably the best all-around sophomore centers, both known more for their defensive presence than their offense, though they both did score double digits.

Arinze Onuaku, whom I have thought has always been highly underrated at Syracuse, actually was the third best scorer with 12.7 ppg, and 8.1 rpg combined with a 62.8% from the floor.

Wayne Ward was a highly thought of center with a strong body and nice shooting touch. He would get into some legal problems after his sophomore season, and leave school, thus ending a promising career.

Danny Schayes makes the top ten even though he backed up Roosevelt Bouie. Jim Boeheim toyed with playing with two centers to get Schayes on the court more, but that experiment failed.

The rest of the list consists of three undersized but muscular hustling centers: Bob Dooms, Otis Hill, and Andre Hawkins.

Bouie was the only one of the group to score in double figures his freshman year. Smith, Dooms and Ward played in an era where freshman did not play on the varsity. Seikaly, Thomas, Hawkins and Hill played a lot their freshman seasons, but were in a lot of foul trouble and were raw. Schayes was on the bench, as was Onuaku. Onuaku has the numbers closest to Melo’s freshman year. Like Melo, Onuaku had a lot to learn about conditioning and he greatly improved in that area each year in school.

Melo has already improved a lot from last year. I would not expect him to average double figures in scoring for the season, even as he continue to improve. The schedule is getting tougher, and more importantly, Syracuse has a very deep squad with a lot of players who can score. There just is not going to be the need for him to score that much each and every game.  However, I would expect him to score in double digits a few times this year, and would not be surprised to see a 20 point effort pop up.  I would love to see some double digit rebounding efforts.

 

Melo will likely move into the top 10 scoring for sophomore centers, ending the year somewhere between Bob Dooms and Roosevelt Bouie in terms of points; playing in 35+ games helps you that way. 

 

My hat off to Melo for the effort last night. Hopefully the first of many!

 

Perfect from Three

There is a lot of talk around the water cooler and online in blogs about Syracuse walk-on Matt Tomaszewski’s three point shooting. In case you have not heard, Tomaszewski is four for four from three point range this season, and a perfect seven for seven in his Syracuse University career.

It is a impressive feet to go seven for seven, especially considering that he always does it after sitting for the first seventy to eighty minutes of a game; real time, not game time.

At the same time, a lot of the talk is getting carried away, with fans wondering if Tomaszewski would get more playing time because of his shooting, and if coach Jim Boeheim would use him in crunch time for a desperation three point effort.

The answer to both those questions would be ‘no’. Tomaszewski, now a senior, is not the best three point shooter on the team. That would likely be James Southerland, Brandon Triche or Mookie Jones; that’s not counting red-shirt freshman Trevor Cooney. As we all know, Jones barely plays, because the rest of his game is not strong enough to warrant the playing time. The same with Tomaszewski.

Tomaszewski does not have the pedigree for being a great three point shooter. He began his college career at the University of Tampa. As a Division II player, he took a lot of three point shots, and made 36 of 115. That is 31.3%. Granted he has likely improved in the three years since then, but also likely not that much.

Would Boeheim want to bring Tomaszewski in for a desperation three point shot? Boeheim is going to want a player who can get open for a shot, and who has experience playing in the clutch. Right now Tomaszewski is making all his three point shots in the waning minutes of games, when there is no game pressure, and against the opposition’s weakest defense. That would be a long stretch to then assume that he could come off the bench cold, against a first team defense, find a way to get open, and then calmly make the pressure shot. I am not saying he could not make it, but those are significantly different game circumstances for him.

The likely five players on the court in such a scenario would be Triche, Dion Waiters, Scoop Jardine, Kris Joseph and James Southerland. Boeheim would likely play non shooters like C.J. Fair or Michael Carter-Williams in that scenario before he would bring in someone cold off the bench. They have some experience handling the ball in crunch scenarios. And if Boeheim had to pull a player cold off the bench, I would guess Mookie Jones would be the man.

You could end up with a strange scenario like Syracuse’s memorable six overtime game against UConn, where Justin Thomas had to come in during the last overtime. But that was one of those once a lifetime type scenarios.

Tomaszewski is a decent shooter, and at 6’8” he does have a good view of the basket from the perimeter. Right now he is 53rd all-time at Syracuse in made three point baskets. I would love to see him finish his career at Syracuse with a perfect three point percentage. I will keep cheering for him to hoist them up and see what he can do.

Perhaps he can end his Syracuse career hitting 100% of this three point attempts, joining David Patrick and Mike Williams, both one for one, with that designation.

Twas The Night Before Christmas

The following is a Christmas poem by Joe Bufano, a reader and fan of the Axeman (Brent Axe).  I thought I would share it in case you missed it, to spread a little holiday cheer.  Merry Christmas to you all.

'Twas the night before Cusemas, and all through the Dome,
every fan was watching, in fact none of them were home.
The stands were filled by the court with many chair,
No UCONN fan would attend, would they even dare?
The players were dressed all snug in their threads,
while visions of victory danced in their heads.
Best friend in their jersey and I in my cap,
had just settled cheers during a long scoring lapse.
When out on the court there arose such a clatter,
I sprang from my seat to see what was the matter.
Down to the court I flew with a dash,
tore open my camera, and took a big flash.

The tune to the rest of our ears did we know,
gave the muster of a scoring drive twenty to zero!
When, what to my wondering eyes should appear,
but a re-energized Jim Boeheim and five starters to his rear.

With a snick and a yell, so lively and quick,
Jim Calhoun called “Time Out” in one seconds tick.
More rapid than eagles, SU’s field goals they came,
the fans whistled and shouted and called them by name:
"Go Southerland! Go Joseph!
Now, Baye, Triche and Scoop!
On, Melo! On,Waiters!
On Rakeem, to the hoop!
To the top of the key!
To the three point line!
Now Shoot away! Shoot away!
Shoot away fine!"
As dry leaves that before the wild hurricane fly,
when they meet with an obstacle, mount to the sky
so up to the hoop their courses they flew,
with their minds full of a win, and Jim Boeheim, too!
And then, in a twinkling, I watched with a poof
Joseph’s three pointer sent the fans to the roof!
As I drew in my head and was turning around,
down the court C.J. Fair came with a bound!

His jersey was white, from his head to his foot,
and his head band was covered in sweat and soot.
A bundle of energy, Dion passed the ball back,
and C.J. dunked it with authority, a potent attack!
Boeheim’s eyes--how they twinkled! His dimples, how merry!
His cheeks were like roses, his nose like a cherry!
His droll little mouth was drawn up like a bow,
and his shine on his head was as bright as the snow.
The grin of a lead he held tight in his teeth,
and the fans cheered crazily as UCONN fell beneath.
He had a happy face and a firm little belly,
that shook when he laughed, like a bowl full of jelly.

He was tall and didn’t slump, a right jolly old elf,
and I laughed when I saw him, in spite of myself.
A wink of his eye and a twist of his head
soon gave me to know I had nothing to dread.
He spoke not a word, he signaled time out,
”We want walk ons!” the SU fans did shout!
And pointing his finger, up in the air it rose,
signaling “We’re number one!” Now every one knows!
He sprang to his feet, as the ref blew the final whistle,
And away they all flew to the locker room like a missile!
But I heard him exclaim, As he ran out of sight,
"Happy Cusemas to all, and to all a good night!"