Kings Of New York: Syracuse 87, North Carolina 71

by Sean Keeley on Nov 21, 2009 1:47 AM EST Comment 31 comments

Hey Joe Lunardi, you probably want to slide Syracuse up a couple spots from the 10-seed.

Syracuse didn't just beat North Carolina tonight. Except for a three minute run in the 2nd half by the Heels, they dominated them. Just like they dominated Cal the night before. The Orange sent a message not only to their opponents but to everyone around the nation who left them out of their preseason Top 25s and wrote them off after Jonny Flynn left for the NBA. The message was also for the reporters and coaches who predicted Cuse was the 6th or 7th best team in the Big East. That message?

We're really f***king good, you guys.

Honestly, right now there isn't a team with a better resume so far than the Orange. Because of the stupid preseason polls and the way everyone is a moron about them, the Orange will end up ranked No. 12 or something like that on Monday. But as far as I'm concerned, they're the No. 1 team in the nation. Kansas, Duke, Michigan State...they haven't done jack sh*t compared to Wes Johnson and the Orange.

Speaking of Wes...wow. The rumors? True. The potential? There. The excitement? Palpable.

We'll get into the details on Monday but for now, Orange fans, bask in this one. Football season is almost over, thank God. And after suffering through that you now have basketball season to look forward to. It's nice to look forward to a Syracuse sports season. Feels like it doesn't happen as often as it used to. But there's no denying that, at least right now, the Orange can hang with anyone in the country.

Doug Gottlieb, you may now commence your next backhanded compliment article about the Orange. We appreciate it.

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Who's on the front page of SI.com?

We’re on the front page of SI.com.

awwww yeah.

by bwelch37 on Nov 21, 2009 2:01 AM EST reply actions 0 recs

DC ALUM LISTEN UP

sign of the whale is for the birds. that place blows. it took until 9 minutes left in the first half for this broke ass bar to allow us to listen to the game. Apparently the sign of the whale is a syracuse alumni bar. seriously? we listened to enya for the first 10 minutes of the game. thats fucking TERRIBLE.

get a new bar. sign of the whale blows. plus, what a stupid name for a bar. this is meant for all SU alum, especially the head of the SU alumni association. DO SOMETHING
ABOUT THIS MESS. WORST ALUMNI BAR EVER.

quote from worker: “the manager doesn’t want to come down stairs”…. I wouldnt either if i had 50 cuse fans ready to riot because the manger said “I put my foot down” and prefers to play 90’s fag rock instead of the cuse game. literally, enya.

by DDUBS on Nov 21, 2009 2:10 AM EST reply actions 0 recs

CUSE

unbeatable? maybe. unstoppable? it is possible. THE GREATEST MOST DIVERSE OFFENSE POWERHOUSE IN THE NATION? prove me wrong.

~Luke B.

by AZLK on Nov 21, 2009 2:17 AM EST reply actions 0 recs

the final four

is not a pipe dream this year. Its not a foregone conclusion, its not within our grasp, and there is no certainty at all in the tournament, and we there are the constant variables of injuries, slumps, etc. But for the love of god, we have a DEFINITE potential final four team. The zone is crushing, the offensive weapons are there, and we have a legit dominator in Wes. It just feels great knowing where we could go, and we will already feel like we can win every game on our schedule. We won’t, but pregame, we’ll feel like there is a W on the horizon. Thats an awesome feeling.

by Sadler1 on Nov 21, 2009 2:33 AM EST reply actions 0 recs

Jimmy B is priceless

Boeheim has been promising all summer long that Johnson would be one of the best players in the country. “Would I lie? Do I just talk?” Boeheim said during his postgame press conference. “He’s going to get better, too.” Later, while standing in the locker room, he was still crowing about the major step forward his star player had just taken. “He just became a top-five pick [in the NBA draft],” Boeheim said, not bothering to pretend Johnson will return to Syracuse as a senior. “If anything, he could still be more aggressive, but tonight he was the most aggressive I’ve seen him. That’s what we need him to be.”

From CNNSI.com

by DMF on Nov 21, 2009 3:50 AM EST reply actions 0 recs

remember when JB said we would be better this year...

he wasn’t kidding…
and he was right, so far…

by actioncuse on Nov 21, 2009 8:49 AM EST reply actions 0 recs

We should believe what he says more often.

He tends to be right.

Go Tartans!

by voteprime on Nov 21, 2009 9:57 AM EST up reply actions 0 recs

All is right with the world

until 3:30 today. Enjoy.

by jgrupposo on Nov 21, 2009 9:55 AM EST reply actions 0 recs

Today is Ohio State vs. Michigan, so this is a big day for my girlfriend.

She was supportive of my obsessiveness with Cuse bball the last few days, so I have no problem making it an OSU day today. But really, all I want to do is sit at home, read more articles like that one from SI about Wes, and bask in this victory.

Go Tartans!

by voteprime on Nov 21, 2009 10:16 AM EST reply actions 0 recs

Fortunately

You get to root against G-Rob. That’s always fun.

by ezcuse on Nov 21, 2009 10:28 AM EST up reply actions 0 recs

I thought I would enjoy that.

But ever time Greggers was on the screen (man it’s been a long time since i’ve typed “greggers”) I felt uncontrolled anger shoot through my body. Luckily, almost at the exact same time I’d notice his yellow and blue shirt and calm down.

Go Tartans!

by voteprime on Nov 22, 2009 9:09 AM EST up reply actions 0 recs

Just don't win the C/K award in the basketball BlogPoll :) (n/t)

by drothgery on Nov 21, 2009 10:32 AM EST reply actions 0 recs

It’s so tough to not get excited.

But damnit, I HAVE to be. If I don’t, I don’t have a soul.

Oh, and let me cap my first comment on this fine establishment (first time, long time), with a F you, Doug Gottlieb.

by Afino on Nov 21, 2009 10:35 AM EST reply actions 0 recs

Oh no...

The Axe recap has a picture of the team receiving something and Dr. Gross is nowhere to be found.

http://www.syracuse.com/axeman/index.ssf/2009/11/su-north_carolina_recap.html

At what point do we put out an APB that he is missing???

by ezcuse on Nov 21, 2009 10:37 AM EST reply actions 0 recs

lets not forget.........................

Axe predicted 2 loses in NYC, I tried to reason with him on the air but sometimes tlak radio hosts forget to listen and only talk…………………….good call Brent lol

by 86trash on Nov 21, 2009 2:02 PM EST up reply actions 0 recs

oh yea

from someone on cuseorange:

http://www.calbears.com/sports/m-baskbl/mtt/gottlieb_gregg00.html

Doug’s brother is a coach for Cal. That’s why he is mad, because we throttled Cal as well.

by actioncuse on Nov 21, 2009 10:37 AM EST reply actions 0 recs

Gottlieb

d-bag extraordinairre

Anyone have the full text?

by DMF on Nov 21, 2009 12:56 PM EST up reply actions 0 recs

From the AP recap:

"I’d hate to play that non-Division I team that beat them," Williams said.

This makes me rage. Your team just got run off the floor by Syracuse and you have to resort to that?

by Afino on Nov 21, 2009 10:45 AM EST reply actions 0 recs

HAHAHA. I texted my buddies on who played baseball for Lemoyne and said “So does this mean Lemoyne is the number 3 team in the country?”

by ryanwk628 on Nov 21, 2009 10:59 AM EST up reply actions 0 recs

I think

He was trying to be funny… if not the only appropriate response is to point at the scoreboard and nod at him… then kick him in the balls

by Trapped_In_ACC_Hell on Nov 21, 2009 11:48 AM EST up reply actions 0 recs

It was a joke

Inferring that it’s hard to believe this team lost to a D2 team in an exhibition….

~K
"As the governor of Louisiana once said, the only way Chris Kelsay can lose his job is if he got caught in bed with a dead girl or a live boy."

by Kurupt on Nov 21, 2009 1:06 PM EST up reply actions 0 recs

Yeah

I don’t think there was any malice in that comment.

by DMF on Nov 21, 2009 1:24 PM EST up reply actions 0 recs

Um. I am pretty sure that was supposed to be funny. Our half of the bus home was quite amused by it.

by Orange22 on Nov 21, 2009 8:28 PM EST up reply actions 0 recs

Kristof

told me over the summer that Wes was “a better version of Donte.” Im sorry Kris but Wes is SO MUCH BETTER than Donte.

by ryanwk628 on Nov 21, 2009 11:02 AM EST reply actions 0 recs

Damn that was fun!

Watched the game at Picasso’s in Charlotte, NC and actually had a pretty good SU crowd. Man, it was fun watching the UNC fans. Most of them were out of there before the end of the game.

by nc44 on Nov 21, 2009 11:29 AM EST reply actions 0 recs

And guess what?

Andy Katz writes an article that by implication rips into Syracuse for “it’s too early” crap. It wasn’t too early during the preseason when we played LeMoyne. I’d expect this crap from Gottlieb or Pat Forde, but not from Andy Katz (and of course the article drools all over UCLA despite their loss to CSU Fullerton).

http://sports.espn.go.com/ncb/columns/story?columnist=katz_andy&id=4676040

by adselver15 on Nov 21, 2009 12:32 PM EST reply actions 0 recs

That’s such a terrible article. I love how he talks about not getting down on UCLA when they played bad and lost, but then says

That’s why, at this point, sometimes how teams play — even in a loss — might be more of an indicator than the outcome.

So, therefore, don’t anoint UCLA as the possible Pac-10 champ, you idiot! He makes an argument that he just tried to disprove the paragraph before.

by Afino on Nov 21, 2009 12:39 PM EST up reply actions 0 recs

I love the hate

Keep it coming. I’ll continue to enjoy it as all the ESPN dummies eat crow.

by pegs on Nov 21, 2009 4:33 PM EST up reply actions 0 recs

embrace the hate

national recognition never did squat for us.

also

rautins won’t make it to january if he keeps playing like hopkins redux.

by pastor mcmuffins on Nov 21, 2009 2:40 PM EST reply actions 0 recs

Did anyone see

The single Syracuse fan rush the floor? I thought that was pretty funny.

By the way, congrats from Oregon State on a great win last night. You guys looked scary good.

I don't care what Quinn says, I am NOT a Duck Basketball fan.

by ConnorOSU on Nov 21, 2009 2:41 PM EST reply actions 0 recs

screw Lunardi

I’ve got a new source for my bracketology needs and it’s called www.bloggingthebracket.com. It’s part of the same network as this blog. The guy who writes it does a one-sentence summary on like every game, which is helpful for those of us trying to file away as many mental notes as possible for when we fill out our brackets in March. Plus he stayed up for 24 hours during ESPN’s college hoops marathon, which is a feat of Andy Katz-ian proportions.

by el_bresidente on Nov 22, 2009 9:42 PM EST reply actions 0 recs