Three...It's The Magic Number
by Sean Keeley on Mar 15, 2009 9:13 PM EDT
9 comments
Wow. Three-seed, huh? Color me surprised. When the last bracket came up I was sure they were about to stick us with the six seed and I was gonna raise holy hell. Instead, they went over our helmet.
IMO, here's the three big reasons for the 3-seed.
1. 3-1 in the Big East Tournament including wins over tourney team and #1 seed UConn.
2. 8-2 in final ten games, including the aforementioned wins and the Marquette win on the road.
3. #12 overall RPI. The forgotten stat.
I know, I'm biased, but I LOVE our bracket. Stephen A. Smith in the first game, sure. Arizona State (likely) in the second game. Great. I CANNOT wait to walk into a Los Angeles sports bar and see all the Arizona State meatheads gathering. And that's just behind the bar... Bring it, West Virginia West... Not to get too ahead of ourselves but I'm fine seeing Oklahoma or Clemson/Michigan down the road ahead as well. Blake who?
As for the conference as a whole, we might not have gotten the ten seeds predicted when the season started but we sure made the seven we got count. Three #1's (Pitt, L'ville and UConn), two #3's (SU, Nova) and two #6's (Marquette and West Virginia). Sure the Big Ten and ACC had seven teams as well but that includes many double-digit seeds. Be happy with that, ACC and Big Ten...I guess.
We'll get into this Stephen F. Austin business soon enough. In the meantime...A THREE-SEED, you guys! Congrats to the basketball team for such an inspiring finish. Congrats to Jimmy B for showing them you still got it. Congrats to the entire SU fanbase for willing the team to victory in NYC and continuing to do so this week. And finally, congrats to the current seniors at Syracuse...THIS is what you were expecting when you came to SU. Took a while...but now it's here. Let's do things.
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'09 bitches
As a senior from LA who had the opportunity to go to USC and enjoy pete carroll and boys run for national championships, this day was the culmination of my love for the Orange.
Lets make a run
Great seed
I really thought we’d get a 4, so I am thrilled with a 3. Also, that’s great that we start play on Friday. Much more time to rest those tired legs. Dare I say, that if – and this is always a big if in the tourney – we get a few things going our way, we could see a deep tourney run? Yes, yes, I think we can.
"(BARF)" - Donovan McNabb, during his game winning drive against Virginia Tech in 1998
I saw
Stephan A Smith and literally had a hearty, out- loud chuckle.
And a full analysis of SFA right here, would be “tremendous”.
toodles
OTTO is my MOTTO
Here's some info on SFA
Sorry Nunes if this is going to be the majority of an article that is coming up.
Starting lineup of:
Matt Kingsley – 6’9’’ – SR
Nick Shaw – 6’6’’ – SR
Josh Alexander – 6’4’’ – SR
Girod Adams – 5’10’’ – JR
Eric Bell – 5’3’’ (not a typo) – JR
And a fewimportant bench players:
Eddie Williams – 6’2’’ guard – SO
Walt Harris – 6’5’’ guard/forward (mostly guard) – JR
Benson Akpan – 6’9’’ – SR
Zach Wiliams – 6’4 – forward – FR
So the first thing that jumps out is that they are pretty experienced (or at least old for an NCAA basketball team). That experience might help them not get embarrased, but I don’t think I’m being a homer in guessing that they just don’t have the size or talent to match up with Syracuse.
Center Matt Kinglsey is their leading scorer at 16 points per game and he rebounds well at almost 8 per game and that is all in 30 minutes a contest. The big question for him will be whether he can grab some offensive rebounds against the zone, whether his team can penetrate the zone and get him the ball and whether he can match up defensively and stay out of foul trouble against Cuse’s big men (that last one is under the assumption that Syracuse actually tries to get Onuaku and Jackson the ball which they should against such a weak opponent).
Small forward Josh Alexander will be the most interesting player to keep an eye on. He is a solid rebounder despite being only 6’4’’ and averages over 5 per game and over 2 offensive boards per game. He can shoot the outside shot and actually attempts about 7 three pointers per game (hits 35% of them), but he also can get to the free throw line where he earns 4 shots per game and hits 78% of those. He averages 14.5 ppg and could be the kind of guy who can shine and keep his team in it, or get beat up by bigger, faster players and dissapear as his team gets crushed. He is probably the key to SFA not getting run off the floor.
SFASU
They are a terrible shooting team and really inefficient on the offensive end of the floor. This is the kind of team SU will absolutely eat up. I’d be absolutely shocked if the Lumberjacks won.
by Jameson_Fleming on Mar 16, 2009 12:22 AM EDT up reply actions
Josh Alexander can ball. The guy has gotta be SFA’s leading scorer of all time. He seems like he has been there forever. He is a good-sized tweener player that, like someone else said, is an excellent rebounder for his size. Kingsley gives them a one-two punch. He’s a guy that can get it on the block and make something happen, at least against limited competition. I’d expect him to have trouble getting traction against the zone.
SFA cannot shoot the lights out which is reassuring. They are athletic but won’t be able to grind out a 55-50 win against SU’s style. There are some teams they could have matched up will with (Michigan St. possibly, Villanova) I love the matchup for SU.
The key will have to be stopping Alexander and limiting garbage points in transition or on the offensive glass. This is a team that we should beat by 20 points.
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