Grizzly Men

The storied Syracuse-Oakland rivalry heats up again tonight when the Grizzlies head to the Dome for a 7pm EST showdown.  This game will determine who breaks the stalemate between the two with the series currently tied at...um...0-0.

If you think you know the Oakland Grizzlies, think again.  They're a rather confusing bunch.  Just ask CuseOrange:

Oakland is one confusing school. First off, it’s not Oakland, California, it’s Oakland, Michigan. Wait, Oakland is not a city in Michigan, it is the county in Michigan where the school is located. In fact, OU is located in Rochester, but not Rochester, New York. To boot, their lettering looks awfully similar to another OU, Oklahoma.

The bad news for SU is that this Oakland team is playing pretty well so far.  They only lost by three to frisky Cleveland State and they followed that up by beating a solid Oregon team in overtime.

The good news is that Oakland is without Derick Nelson, their leading scorer from a year ago.  Guard Jonathan Jones has been picking up the slack in his absence, averaging 20 PPG over the first two contests.

CuseOrange has a more detailed preview here and Orange44 drops some knowledge as well.  Syracuse.com's Mike Waters breaks down the key match-ups and provides some more info on the Grizz and Orange.

Apropos of nothing, I'm going to go with SU 76, Oakland 66.  How bout you?