The last time Syracuse played North Carolina the players wearing orange were Rony Seikaly, Derrick Coleman, Sherman Douglass and the rest of the squad that took Indiana to the final seconds of the national championship game the previous spring of 1987. I was covering the game working for WBNG in Binghamton because a Binghamton player named King Rice was debuting for North Carolina. The Tar Heels roster was also filled with future NBA players like Scott Williams, Rick Fox and Pete Chilcutt. North Carolina won that game in overtime. It was a classic.
Tonight in Madison Square Garden the two classic basketball programs collided again. There was no overtime. There was no victory for North Carolina. This was all Syracuse. Especially in the second half. Play by play announced Matt Park reported Coach Boeheim ripping center Arinze Onuaku during half time. Whatever was said worked. Onuaku came to life finishing with 15 points. The Orange defense which wears "Shut it Down" t-shirts shut down the Tar Heel players who could barely score a point for the first eight minutes. In the meantime Syracuse dunked, tipped and shot it's way to a double digit lead they would never relinquish.
This pre-holiday visit to New York City has sent Orange stock rising through the roof. Coach Boeheim has been saying all summer and fall that he thinks he has a pretty good team this year. He doesn't casually make comments like that. Now the basketball world is seeing what he already knew. The team that was on the edge of the Top 25 is now going to push into the Top 15. The players that were not as well known as Flynn and Devendorf are making their own name.
Looking back to those Orange teams from the late 1980's that had all that talent. This one just might have a few NBA players on the roster too, but more importantly they play as a team. They take pride in their extraordinary defense. Basketball teams can't win 'em all. The schedule is too tough. The competition too demanding. But, few would have guess this team would be 4 - 0. Yet, here comes the next game. A tough Cornell team awaits in the Dome next week hoping for the let down that puts the Ivy League on the map.
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
0 comments:
Post a Comment