Daily Links - The Big East Is Ridiculous...Again

The Big East Is Ridiculously Competitive ... Again - SB Nation
According to Ken Pomeroy's ratings, the Big East boasts eight of the top 34 teams in the country. By this logic, nearly one-quarter of the top handful of teams in college basketball play in one conference. And that's in a down year!

Basketball Prospectus | Articles | The Nation's Top 25 Freshmen
10. Brandon Triche, Syracuse - Too many turnovers here, but when you make 44 percent of your threes and 61 percent of your twos, I can look past the occasional giveaway. Note however that Triche’s jarringly incongruous 62 percent accuracy from the line suggests that over the long haul his shooting from beyond the arc may cool off.

Kris Joseph, Wes Johnson lead Syracuse past Memphis | democratandchronicle.com | Democrat and Chronicle
The harshest critic of the Syracuse University basketball team sits at the end of its bench, wears glasses and is in the Hall of Fame. That's why despite watching his team rebound from its first loss of the season and a sluggish first half to beat Memphis, 74-57, on Wednesday night at the Carrier Dome, coach Jim Boeheim had little good to say about the seventh-ranked Orange.

How we won: Second-half surge - Cuse Country
A fancy chart breaks down how the Syracuse-Memphis game played out.

Syracuse/Memphis Analysis | Hoops Blog
Listen to Jim Boeheim afterward and you’d think Syracuse was steamrolled at home. "It’s hard to explain how poorly we played tonight," Boeheim said. "We won the game. I really don’t even care about that. We were just very poor."

K-Jo Explosion Keys Second Half For SU | CuseOrange.com
Glad to see the Orange back on the winning side, but they’re still in the process of returning to their early-season form. There’s a pair of easy matchups for SU coming up: at home against USF and a trip to the RAC, which gets more neutral every year. While SU can’t overlook those teams, there’s no reason why the Orange shouldn’t be able to open up some comfortable leads early on.

Orange Fizz: Syracuse Orange Sports Blog, Recruiting and Podcasts.
Not surprisingly, the key to last night's Orange win (and all 14 of them this season) has been its defensive intensity. The genesis of this team's commitment to defense dates back to the exhibition season, before the ill-fated game against Le Moyne.

Who brings back what in the Big East - Big East Blog - ESPN
Returning starters: 15. Offense: 6. Defense: 9 The Orange are a hard team to calculate because they had so many different players start due to injury, dismissals, etc. But plenty of young players got experience, giving Doug Marrone something to build on.

Syracuse University men's lacrosse team to open camp Jan. 14 | Orange Lacrosse Multiblog -
The Syracuse University men's lacrosse season will officially commence on January 14 when the two-time defending Division I national champions open preseason camp. The team's annual media day will also be held that day, followed by the Orange's first practice.

PIVOT FOOT, Jonny!