There's something about the Syracuse Orange in Madison Square Garden. Jim Boeheim's 24th ranked team made the trip to New York tonight to play 12th ranked California. About ten minutes into the match up it looked like those rankings should be flipped. Syracuse stretched its way to 10 steals, leaped its way to 9 blocks and utilized its smarts to only 11 turnovers. The team played hard on both ends of the court and walked away with win number 802 for their Hall of Fame coach.
This was the kind of win that quickly gets Orange fans thinking about the possibilities for the season ahead. It is a team that looks like a team. Seven guys flew in and out of the contest as nearly interchangeable parts. As the experts like to say this team is long. That makes their defense more effective than it has been in some time. Maybe as good as they have been protecting their goal since the 2003 championship season.
The threat to score can come from so many different players. Wes Johnson is silky smooth, Scoop Jardine looks like a new man. Andy Rautins continues to impress in all aspects of the game. Then there are the big men Arinze Onuaku and Rick Jackson. Throw in a Brandon Triche and Kris Joseph and a little shooting from Mookie Jones and Syracuse creates all kinds of match up problems for the opposition.
Remember that loss to LeMoyne College? It now looks like that may have been a loss that was a win-win situation. The Dolphins got a victory of a lifetime. Syracuse got a wake up call that told them they need to come out and play hard every night regardless of the opponent. After that loss I talked with Assistant Coach Mike Hopkins about the concern over team leadership. Suddenly it seems whoever has the ball in their hand is a leader. Scoop and Andy may rise above the others with the ball in hand.
Coach Boeheim would tell you there is plenty to work on. Hopefully the team sees it that way too. Their free throws still are not consistent. And... I'm sure there is something else. Fresh off the California test tonight the defending national champion North Carolina Tar Heels await tomorrow evening at the Garden.
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This was the kind of win that quickly gets Orange fans thinking about the possibilities for the season ahead. It is a team that looks like a team. Seven guys flew in and out of the contest as nearly interchangeable parts. As the experts like to say this team is long. That makes their defense more effective than it has been in some time. Maybe as good as they have been protecting their goal since the 2003 championship season.
The threat to score can come from so many different players. Wes Johnson is silky smooth, Scoop Jardine looks like a new man. Andy Rautins continues to impress in all aspects of the game. Then there are the big men Arinze Onuaku and Rick Jackson. Throw in a Brandon Triche and Kris Joseph and a little shooting from Mookie Jones and Syracuse creates all kinds of match up problems for the opposition.
Remember that loss to LeMoyne College? It now looks like that may have been a loss that was a win-win situation. The Dolphins got a victory of a lifetime. Syracuse got a wake up call that told them they need to come out and play hard every night regardless of the opponent. After that loss I talked with Assistant Coach Mike Hopkins about the concern over team leadership. Suddenly it seems whoever has the ball in their hand is a leader. Scoop and Andy may rise above the others with the ball in hand.
Coach Boeheim would tell you there is plenty to work on. Hopefully the team sees it that way too. Their free throws still are not consistent. And... I'm sure there is something else. Fresh off the California test tonight the defending national champion North Carolina Tar Heels await tomorrow evening at the Garden.
Click this link to sign up for new mode of e-mail of Matt’s Memo to your Inbox:
http://www.cnycentral.com/news/news_blog_post.aspx?id=319963
You can always read the blog on CNYcentral.com.
Follow me on Twitter at Twitter.com/mattmulcahy
or
Find me on Facebook.com
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