I don't need to tell you what happened last night, do I? So let's take a look at the aftershock. First, reader Cody shares the first-hand observations of his Dad who was on-hand for the game:
My Dad was at the game last night - he was sitting in the 6th row and had a great view of the game. He said that his biggest impression from the game was how much these guys like playing with each other. Apparently Green and Flynn had huge smiles on their faces for the whole game - so if there's anything that can squelch concerns of this team playing like a bunch of AAU all-stars, its that they seem to genuinely like each other and like playing together.
Onuaku apparently has really quick feet and sets "devastating" picks - and he plays with tons of fire and passion; yelling when he rips boards, flexing his guns after dunking, etc.
One more note from the game last night: apparently Flynn is a MASSIVE shit-talker. Like Gary Payton-esque. He just spent the entire game jawing away. My Dad relayed a funny story at the end of the game where he walked up to some chump from St. Joe's who was shooting foul shots at the end of the 2nd half and stood about a foot away from him saying shit like, "NFW you hit these shots" with a huge Cheshire cat grin on his face - so the ref pushes him away and Flynn was STILL talking smack over the ref's shoulder. Then Devo walks over and pulls Flynn away too, smiling and shaking his head at Flynn's non-stop shit-talking. Pretty funny. The last guy I remember talking that much shit was fat-ass Khalid El-Amin! That clown used to jaw nonstop. It's good to have a guy like that on our side exuding confidence and getting in the other teams head.
So for the record, Eric Devondorf had to tell Jonny Flynn to "take it easy on the smack-talk." My man-crush is complete.
Two games in and Storming The Floor is already proclaiming the Legend of Jonny Flynn, along with an interesting comparison:
A lot of people are comparing Flynn to Carmelo Anthony, which is fine, but I'm taking it a step further. Jonny Flynn is the next.......Tim Tebow. After the past two games, Flynn is fast on his way to becoming a Tim Tebow-like campus legend at Syracuse. All of the evidence so far appears to show that Flynn posses some of the superhuman mojo that you need.
Axe believes this is due to the Hollywood Writer's Strike. How else can you explain such a storybook opening to the season?
Young phenom sets the scoring record for a freshman debut, beating the record held by one of the greatest players in Syracuse Basketball history, and follows that up by hitting only one field goal in his next game that just happens to be the winning shot. The Oscar buzz is surely picking up around Jonny Flynn's performance as a leading man.
Orange44 reminds you not to forget about Donte Green, who didn't do so shabby either:
Donte Green had his coming out party tonight. While he had 14 points the previous night, his performance was greatly overshadowed by Jonny Flynn’s. However, tonight, with 18 points, most of them off assists from Flynn and Harris, Green looked like an elite forward in the Big East. Playing all 40 minutes, he was an integral part of the Syracuse offense. While he showed his youthful inexperience with five turnovers, he played like a true star.
Overall, the sentiment seems to be "This season is going to be a lot of fun" and I have to agree. Seriously, when was the last time you felt this good about Syracuse basketball in November? In how many recent seasons do we lose that St. Joe's game? Some? Most? There's something magical going on and while I think it's a little too early to say we are a great team (still too many turnovers and iffy playmaking), it's not too early at all to say we are going to be one helluva show this year.
The Orange don't go directly to New York. They host Fordham on Friday at 7pm first. The 2-1 Rams are coming off a loss to Missouri.
Syracuse will play Ohio State in the NIT semifinals at Madison Square Garden in New York City on Wednesday, Nov. 21. Game time has not yet been determined. We'll find out tonight who the other two teams are when Texas A&M plays UTEP and Washington plays Utah.
(AP Photo/Kevin Rivoli)