Syracuse 79 - Villanova 66: Philadelphia's New York's College Team
by Sean Keeley on Jan 11, 2012 9:35 PM EST
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PrintScoop Jardine and Dion Waiters are from Philadelphia (BREAKING!) and they did their hometown proud with a 79-66 shellacking by the No. 1 Syracuse Orange over the Villanova Wildcats.
The win moves Syracuse to 18-0, within one win of the all-time best start in school history.
As usual, the game was close until a smothering run by the Orange that broke the game wide open by halftime. The inevitable Villanova second-half run didn't get too out of control and SU more or less phoned it in just enough to win comfortably while also giving Jim Boeheim something to do between now and Saturday.
Dion Waiters led the Orange with 20 points and five rebounds. A scary ankle tweak right before the half sent Cuse Nation into a frenzy but he returned in the second half to deliver multiple dunks and make enough plays to prove it wasn't a big deal.
James Southerland has a nice night with 13 points and four rebounds. Southie was all over the place and provided some decent coverage all over the court all night.
C.J. Fair contributed nine points and six rebounds for the Orange while Scoop Jardine and Kris Joseph each added eight points. Scoop also added a fancy halftime buzzer-beater (didn't call bank, though).
Fabricio de Melo loaded up on fouls early again and it affected his play for most of the night. He was attacking at three-qaurters speed and power, trying to get his blocks but also trying to avoid more fouls. He ended up with five points and five boards. Baye Moussa Keita ended up seeing a lot of action because of it en route to two points and six rebounds.
Michael "MC Dubz" Carter-Williams also saw a lot of PT. Even if he didn't fill up the stat sheet (three points, two assists, two fouls), it was valuable time for him.
As for Villanova...yikes. It's gonna be a long season for those guys. Not sure what happened but it's a shame.
Up next, the pesky Providence Friars, who visit the Dome for their rematch on Saturday. The Friars have been busy bunnies since we beat them 87-73. They had a tough loss to Seton Hall and then went to Louisville and put a demolition job on the Cardinals. The worst thing SU can do is get complacent at a time like this.
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Easy
Didn’t even play to their potential, and basically won by 20.
Fab Melo can’t be picking up these cheap quick fouls against the best teams though…its a noticeable difference on the interior when he isn’t on the floor.
Definitely the game plan
His 3rd foul was beyond cheap, but he also could have gotten called with his 5th foul on a stupid reach in 80 feet away from the basket.
I am thinking that JB might want to consider using Christmas at Center a bit more in the first half once Melo and Keita pick up two fouls. Let him do the Etan Thomas and foul out at halftime. Use up those fouls and get some experience.
Then again, he has won 1,000 more games than me and probably has it all under control just fine. :-)
Dictated, but not read.
http://atlanticcoastconfidential.wordpress.com/
After watching in person from up close
This team is untouchable when they are crashing the boards. When they ease up on the boards or start back-tracking after a miss it spreads through their entire game. When they were crashing the boards, they got second chances, lots of penetration, and it fed into their defensive intensity and led to more forced turnovers. From about 18:00 to 12:00 in the second half, they stopped crashing the boards, became much more of a half-court team that settled for jump shots and played much stiffer defense, letting nova get inside.
Christmas actually had a strong game and deserved more PT. His offensive game looked good and he was active on the boards. Where he struggles is his rotation in the zone. He over rotates and makes it easy for his guy to catch the ball and run right by him. When he gets his defensive spacing down a bit better he will stop being a defensive liability and could be a force given some serious natural gifts.
Keita works really hard, but he just doesn’t have good defensive “feel”.
In the half-court all of the players seem to be able to penetrate just about at will, but they all need to get better with their 7-10 foot jumpers. Fair really didn’t have bad shot selection, he just couldn’t hit open jumpers from near the free throw line. When his range does extend that far, he can easily become a 20-10 guy if given 30+ minutes per game.
villanova could not hit a jumper, point blank period
ESPN was reporting that Christmas was sick
So even though he sits out a lot usually, it might’ve been because he wasn’t feeling well.
Agreed
Also, is it just me, or does it look like Keita is slightly hobbled still? Lacking the energy I remember him providing last year?
by SyracuseBills on Jan 12, 2012 8:41 PM EST up reply actions
Biggest threat
Syracuse’s toughest opponent in the next half dozen games will be themselves. When they lose, and it will happen sooner or later, it will be due to an over confidence. They are a beatable team and if they remember that, and stay focused, they just might not lose.
cj is good
but i noticed he was more aggressive tonight looking for his shot which resulted in a lower field goal percentage. i like his game more when he just let’s it come to him.
Cuse fan in ACC country.
by petecarp on Jan 11, 2012 10:03 PM EST via Android app up reply actions
Yep
Triche seemed to force it a bit too.
But just like we have multiple go-to guys, we also have a few guys at any given time who are struggling.
As long as we can just keep that all moving, so that whenever someone gets cold, someone else gets hot… we can be OK.
Dictated, but not read.
http://atlanticcoastconfidential.wordpress.com/
And CJ frustrates me
With some poor shot selection sometimes. For such a smart player he takes some dumb shots at times.
by JB44ever on Jan 11, 2012 11:10 PM EST via Android app up reply actions
in his defense,
his poor shots at least tend to be open shots. At two of his misses were from near the free throw line and he looked wide open. And when he missed from three, he probably spent 2 seconds lining up his shot before firing he was so open. He just needs to become a better shooter
We may have a problem
Jay Williams was just on sportscenter making a lot of sense, saying Syracuse is better because they have multiple go to guys and in a head to head matchup he would take the Orange over UK. Is he the kind of “expert” the Orange wants in their corner?
"Decidedly Pro Orange Crowd..." from ESPN
“Scoop Jardine buried a running 31-footer at the buzzer to send a decidedly pro-Orange crowd into a frenzy and Syracuse into halftime with a 43-24 lead.”
I’m beginning to take this all in stride. Otto-man Empire Forever. The future is so beautiful. It’s like Manifest Destiny. I mean, we made it. What’s past is prologue. That which does not kill us makes us stronger…All that shit… You’ll get over it, Mikey.
by JT1Night on Jan 11, 2012 10:08 PM EST reply actions 1 recs
Karl Ravech and Jimmy Dykes...
.. just gave SU quite a bit of love during the halftime show of the Texas-Texas A&M game.
J south needs to do what he did tonight, every night
we know cj and dion will give us points, but having southie go off for 15 really strains the other teams D
You keep chanting one more year, I thought college was four years
by PointBlankPeriodPeriod on Jan 11, 2012 10:12 PM EST reply actions
The best part?
Southie’s game has improved from more than just sharpshooting. He’s showing that he’s not afraid to dribble drive to the basket and is active on the glass.
And he was just scraptastic
From what I saw he was going after loose balls, saved that one from going out of bounds and then put it in. He brought it tonight.
I would rather see Southerland dribble more than Joseph
We all know that his shot it smooth but I thought his dribbling looked really good tonight too. Every time I see Joseph try a crossover or a dribble drive I just wait for him to lose control and get a charge
I use the Shake Weight while wearing my Snuggie
by FuzzySquirrel on Jan 12, 2012 8:53 AM EST up reply actions
That drive and dish
To fab where they tried to trap him out top should scare other teams. He exploded from about 5 feet beyond the arc to the baseline in roughly three steps.
Happy learned how to putt… Uh ohhhh
"Point-Blank-Period"
by NotBrentAxe on Jan 12, 2012 9:47 AM EST via mobile up reply actions
Dion
will be gone if he keeps having games like these. Kid seriously has some talent. Whether or not that’s a good decision remains to be seen, but if he’s gonna make himself into a top 10 pick, then there’s no reason for him to stay. Remember, nobody really thought Jonny was going 3 years ago, and after an amazing March, he went 6th overall.
BTW, has there ever been a non-starter voted first team All-American?
Without Gerry McNamara we wouldn't have won 10 f-- games, not 10
He will go pro
he’s already getting first round grades from NBA scouts.
As for your second question, probably not, but its a good question.
Troy Nunes Is An Absolute Magician - The Syracuse blog that cares.
If you've got time, buy my book "How To Grow An Orange", visit SeanKeeley.com and follow me on Twitter and Facebook.
by Sean Keeley on Jan 12, 2012 12:05 AM EST up reply actions
You mean after this season?
He is an NBA player, but my hope was that he comes back for one more year. But realistically, is there any part of his game that he can improve? Despite Nova having a down year, they still have good guards and they were completely outclassed by Dion. He’s just plain better than 99% of the guards in college basketball. He needs better competition to get better.
I've been involved in a number of cults, both as a leader and a follower. You have more fun as a follower. But you make more money as a leader.
He can improve his shot and interior passing.
He’s still not accurate from long range.
he can do that in the first year or two of the league
those aren’t really things that he needs another year at Cuse to work on. Of course I’d love to have him back next year, but as of now, it wouldn’t make much sense for him.
http://cusepulp.blogspot.com/
BTW, has there ever been a non-starter voted first team All-American?
I was thinking Naismith winner. If the Orange make a deep rNCAA run and he’s the key component…
"If I ain't gonna be part of the greatest, I gotta be the greatest myself." Busta Rhymes
by FeloniousPhunk on Jan 12, 2012 12:33 AM EST up reply actions
It's ok
Even if you lose to Providence you play us afterwards. We’re like DePaul this season.
Cardiac Hill contributor
Aww wook at the wittle pitt kitten!
I feel so bad for—………wait, no I don’t.
Born in '87, Orange fan since '86
I guess I made a twitter, follow @StealthTurkey
by StealthTurkey on Jan 12, 2012 10:26 AM EST up reply actions
Keita
Love his hustle, I think he’s playing better than he was in the beginning of the season… but are we absolutely certain he’s not playing with his hand wrapped up in club-like bandages à la offensive linemen who have broken fingers? Any rebound chance that comes his way, I cringe – there was one chance last night under the basket that he seriously batted out of bounds with both hands.
Melo was so good at staying out of foul trouble against the inferior teams on the schedule – Big East teams know how to attack him – and he’s going to have to find a way to stay in the game down the stretch. I like Keita and Xmas will be a good player but Melo is hugely important.
It's the most bullshit thing I've seen in thirty years.
I think there's something to your thoughts on Keita
He’s not the same player this year. I remember at our win against UConn last season he had a game with like 11 boards, 6 blocks and 4 steals or something. He still can’t catch passes. I don’t think his hand is better. That and him playing out of his mind night in and night out isn’t crucial to us winning — I wonder if he’s really trying to be careful with it.
If you're going to be stupid, you're going to have to be tough
by FatK44 on Jan 12, 2012 8:29 AM EST via mobile up reply actions
yeah
he has gone from “glue guy” to “hold down the fort for Melo guy”, which is done but given his promising play in the BE last year I’d love to see more.
my dad and I used to joke that the box score needed to add “catches” or “catch %” for Jeremy McNeil – that stat could be dusted off for BMK.
I do like Keita better than Melo / Christmas but the press may have just been a gimmick to scare future opponents’ scouts with.
It's the most bullshit thing I've seen in thirty years.
by Girardi Party on Jan 12, 2012 11:30 AM EST via Android app up reply actions
Favorite awful sports commentator quote from last night:
“Nova is getting back in this game. I don’t think Syracuse has been in a game like this before. They haven’t given up a big lead like this. Let’s see how they respond!”
Syracuse immediately gets lead back up to 20
I would be okay with the fact that if this did happen before, but back in November or December. I’d understand the ignorance. But this happened (on a much bigger scale) JUST LAST GAME. WTF! DO THEY FUCKING RESEARCH OR KNOW ANYTHING ABOUT THE TEAMS BEFORE THEY START ANNOUNCING OUTSIDE OF A NOTE CARD AN INTERN HANDS THEM 5 MINUTES BEFORE BROADCAST!
It’s not like their job, or anything. I know, I know, I should ignore the talking heads (the Marquette game was especially awful), but that one line of sheer stupidity enranged the monkey to no end.
Now that that is out of my system. Yeah, how bout Keita’s performance slipping recently?
Go Orange(men)!
they're just trying to sell their product I guess
but yeah, not knowing the basic flow of one of the team’s most recent game – which happened to be the biggest game of its season so far – is weak. I hate the B and C announcers on ESPN. If McDonough, Bilas, and Rafftery could call every Cuse game until the end of time, I’d be so happy.
It's the most bullshit thing I've seen in thirty years.
by Girardi Party on Jan 12, 2012 11:34 AM EST via Android app up reply actions
Its hard
to make a game where one team has a comfortable lead seem exciting
May Doug Marrone bless you and keep you.
Almost makes you miss Dickey Simpkins
“A dunk special with a side of facial.”
Ithaca Vizier of the Otto-man Empire
LOL
Dickie…oh, dont forget when commenting about Waiters he said “And dont forget to tip him 10%!”. My GF is a server and quickly called Dickie a cheap ass…lol
by Mike Will is DoubleDown on Jan 12, 2012 11:38 AM EST up reply actions
I caught that, too....
I also love when he says “As of lately…” instead of “As of late…”…I don’t know if “As of lately” is incorrect grammar or not, but it sure isn’t the norm…..
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