To Rest Or Not To Rest?
by Sean Keeley on Mar 5, 2010 12:41 PM EST
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PrintWes Johnson's hand continues to give him problems. Kris Joseph tweaked his knee last week and has spent most of this week staying off of it. To a lesser extent, Mookie Jones is still out with a hand injury. The question as to whether or not to rest some of the players against Louisville has come up and there is some validity to it.
Not only are there the current injuries to worry about but also the chance of a Robbie Hummel-type injury. Perhaps it might be best for Wes, Kris and some of the others to spend the second half on the bench, even if it costs the Orange the game and the No. 1 ranking.
As far as I'm concerned, I hope we don't. I want to win this game. And I think Syracuse basketball needs to win this game.
Not so much because we need it for aesthetic reasons. These reasons are strictly psychological.
Reason No. 1 - Louisville owns us. They're 5-1 against us since returning to the Big East and 10-4 all-time against us. Not to mention the Orange haven't won in Freedom Hall since the Cardinals joined the conference. I haven't done the hard research but I'm willing to bet that's the worst record we have against any opponent we've played at least ten times.
Reason No. 2 - You can't get much more hostile than the environment the Orange are walking into tomorrow. Packed stadium, super-high emotions, Senior Day...that building is going to be saturated in anti-Orange sentiment. All karmic energy will be against SU. Find me a better tune-up situation for the NCAA Tournament...you can't.
Reason No. 3 - They beat us a couple weeks ago. We need to avenge that. Plain and simple.
The Big East Tournament is going to be tough, but let's face it, it's also going to be a collection of semi-home games. We own Madison Square Garden in a way that makes St. John's weep. It's not a hostile environment. But the Louisville game...that's going to take a lot of sheer will and mental toughness. The last thing I want to see if SU throw up the white flag under those circumstance. With the entire nation watching, nonetheless.
Marcellus Wallace would tell you that's just pride f**kin' with you. Well guess what, that's fine. Let it. This Syracuse team f**ks right back. They do not willfully go into the broom closet with Zed and The Gimp. They lull The Gimp into a false state of security and then choke him to death before going medieval on Zed's ass (figuratively).
When Syracuse's South American girlfriend asks us who's chopper we just rode up on, we won't say that we purchased it fairly and without incident. We will say it's Zed's. And when she asks who Zed is. We will tell her...Zed's dead, baby...Zed's dead.
Mike Waters talks about Louisville, Freedom Hall and revenge with TK99's 'Gomez & Dave'...Syracuse.com
We're Closing Down This Dump?...Orange Fizz
Many storylines converge when SU faces Louisville...CNYCentral.com
SU Caps Regular Season At Louisville...SUAthletics.com
One win would erase doubts about Louisville...FoxNews
A fond farewell to Freedom Hall...ESPN.com
The top-ranked Big East champions Syracuse Orange will look to solidify their hold on a one seed in the NCAA tournament when they take on Louisville. Jason Horowitz and Steve Lappas have the preview.
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All I want to read...
Is that Jim Boeheim picks up the PA microphone after we beat Louisville and explains to them how Freedom Hall is now officially closed…
herm
channeling my inner herm edwards i say, ‘you play to win the game!’
HELLO?!!!
But honestly, I’mma have to go Allen Iverson on you:
“It’s Louisville. Louisville? We sittin in here I supposed to be the number one seed and we talkin’ bout Louisville? Not a game. Not a not a not a game. We talking about Louisville!”
GO CUSE, BLUE, AND EAGLES!
No rest
for the weary. At most they have 10 games left (10 f***ing games, if you will) with the top prize following the 10th. Keep on keepin’ on. In 2003 I actually thought it was beneficial that they lost in the BE tourney. My buddy worked for Pitt at the time and he was mocking me because of the SU loss and talking about how Pitt would win the BET. I told him that was fine and that we were more concerned with the larger tournament that would start in a few days and that I hoped Julius Paige didn’t sprain an ankle or something while they were still goofing around in NYC. This year I don’t feel that way at all. 10 straight. that’s it. They’ve done it twice already. One more time.
My Wesley will save me.
Describe what Rob Murphy looks like
What?
Say what again. SAY WHAT AGAIN! I dare you, I double dare you motherfucker.
He’s black
Go on.
He’s bald
Does he look like a bitch?
What?
[BANG]
Syracuse players have a lot of length.
Meaningless
Why does Cuse NEED to win on Saturday? Because Louisville owns Syracuse? Who cares? The odds of facing them in NCAA tournament is miniscule. Also it would be a better tuneup for Syracuse to play a game in a an arena with no emotion in it as that’s how most NCAA venues are set up. A highly emotional road game rarely happens. A better tuneup would be playing Buffalo in Pittsburgh.
As fans we want them to win for bragging rights, revenge, blah blah blah, but as a team the game is meaningless. We can prop up point after point about why they HAVE to win but it’s hollow. They can lose two games in a row and still be a one seed. Of course, I don’t want that to happen, but what are the Orange playing for on Saturday? Nothing. If they win it will be a major statement to the rest of the country. “We can win even when it doesn’t matter to us.” If they lose it means nothing. Nothing at all.
Syracuse doesn’t need to win Saturday. They just don’t.
Teams that rest their players
get caught!
Besides, we already clinched our resting time in the BET.
by TheRenegadePumpkin on Mar 5, 2010 1:18 PM EST reply actions
I'm going to make this point again and again and again.
The last thing we need right now is to lose two in a row; the selection committee won’t like that and may leapfrog Purdue or New Mexico (yes, New Mexico) above us.
I know it's a different scenario, but...
I’m a long-time Giants fan who attended the final regular season game at Giants stadium against the (then) unbeaten Patriots in 2007. Coughlin, to the dismay of some, chose to play his starters…and the Giants came pretty close to winning. While they lost it was a fantastic game and provided the Giants with a spark which they took all the way to Arizona (Tyree shout-out). Although the ’Cuse has been playing with that spark as of late, why not keep the spark…sparkly by playing to win in Louisville and then MSG?
Ooo yea that's hot.
Not going to happen
Regardless of what Boehiem says about resting people, I don’t believe he will do it. In no way am I questioning his desicions, but if he were at all serious about it why did Wes play 39 minutes in a blowout against St. John’s? I was at the game and it was pretty much over with 12 minutes to go. My guess is we try to win/play our normal minutes against Louisville and in the BET. I haven’t heard anyone sugest it, but why not rest Wes against the 16 seed? This team is plenty good enough to have the game over by halftime against whatever 16 seed we play. Just a though. And before everyone jumps on me, I lived through the fucking Spiders so stay calm.
The Hoyas shuffled off with their twin cocktails of discontent - Dana O'neil 2/18/10
I was going to disagree with Sean.
I wanted to tell him resting guys will only help us in the long run, and potentially sacrificing a win is the lesser of two evils. I’d like that. But that s**t ain’t the truth. The truth is Louisville is the weak, and Syracuse is the tyranny of evil men. But they’re trying, Pitino. They’re trying real hard to be the shepherd.
by Doc Gross's Phones on Mar 5, 2010 2:06 PM EST reply actions 3 recs
we have to play to win this game. but I dont care what happens in the BET. The tournaments take too much out of the team and really dont matter.
Agreed
I’d rather win this and lose in the BET semis.
Troy Nunes Is An Absolute Magician - The Syracuse blog that cares.
i think the louisville game should be played at full force
otherwise, i think wes (and kris if he’s hurt) should get limited minutes in at least the first game of the BET. besides that, we have a week off before we play in the BET, and that should be plenty of rest and then we need to amp up for the NCAA
Pulp Fiction reference are always full of win
even 2 paragraph long pulp fiction references
Syracuse '12
Honestly, I could care less whether they rest or not. I trust Boeheim’s decision. I think win or lose, it will benefit the team in the long run. This is a good opportunity to play Riley and even Southerland for quality minutes against good teams for a few games. Come tournament time, Jackson and AO could get into foul trouble. It probably won’t, but crazier things have happened in the NCAAs. Experience against Louisville in a hostile environment and against an 8 seeded BE team (likely ND, but it could be Seton Hall) would be great for Riley and Southerland. Just something to think about it. Even if they play one half per game.
Also, someone mentioned this to me and I wanted to see what others thought about this… If L’ville wins, they are likely in the tournament. You can say the same with ND if they get the 8 seed if they beat SU. Thinking about this from a wider perspective, it wouldn’t hurt to see 2 more teams from the BE make the tournament without the cost of anything from SU. BE teams looking out for BE teams maybe? Boeheim wouldn’t do that (a father of the BE), right? (I personally do not want to lose 2 games in a row). something to discuss.
Nobody is RESTING for this game
If there is anyone that does not play it is because they are injured. How hard is this to understand???
Wes would not rest ANY game because he is tired. Kris would not rest ANY game because he is tired. And so on.
Also… no player is going to be held out to avoid a new injury. This is not the NFL.
The logic for sitting Wes this game is to give him several days of no practice to heal… so that he can then come back with his INJURY in better shape. They will then have numerous practices and the BET to regain “chemistry,” as if it would be lost in one game anyway.
And the only reason to even consider resting Wes is that it would be an opportunity to sit him for several days and miss ONE game. If he sits the BET, the team would miss him for multiple games. Wouldn’t that be worse for our apparently fragile, can be destroyed at any moment chemistry that can’t be sacrificed today?
Meanwhile… sitting Wes today would have given the players the mental advantage. If the win without Wes (a la Devo/Memphis)… how much of a jolt would that be? Moreover, if they lost to Louisville… so what… we can’t beat Louisville without a healthy Wes. Doesn’t mean a thing. They have plausible deniability as to L-ville.
There are two options. You don’t sit Wes at all, ever (fine.. trust he is healthy). You do sit Wes. If we do that… today was the day to do it.. not the BET.
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