As you know, Brent Axe usually follows every Syracuse game with a "Dark Side" recap and a "Sunny Side" recap. How bad was the Orange's 90-68 loss to Seton Hall Tuesday night? There are not one but two Dark Side recaps and no Sunny Side.
Speaking of no sunny side, Jim Boeheim has some thoughts on his team's effort:
"I'll be honest, I'm a little disappointed in some of the effort tonight. And we'll see what we can do about that."
Where does one begin? No doubt Seton Hall's shooting spree in the first half had a lot to do with them jumping out to the insurmountable lead. But don't let the Orange off the hook by saying they got beat by a hot hand. They put on a shooting display themselves that rivaled, well, Seton Hall's shooting ability from the first game. The Orange shot 36% (26-72) and were 5-21 from three-point range (24%). I don't have anything to add to that.
Scoop summed up the current state of Syracuse basketball perfectly in this quote:
"Everybody’s trying to be the go-to guy," Jardine said. "That’s not us being selfish. That’s us trying to win. But we’ve got to get back to playing Syracuse basketball."
I...but...well...you see, Scoop...um...you know what, nevermind. I realize at this point nothing's going to get through to you on that front. Such is Scoop.
Speaking of people "trying to be the go-to guy," let's talk about Dion Waiters. If you've watched Waiters play and, more importantly, in interviews, you've no doubt noticed that he's got a bit of an ego. He's definitely No. 1 on Syracuse's list of Players Most Likely To Refer Himself In The Third Person.
So when it was Mookie Jones and not Dion that entered the game late in the first half, everyone looked around and wondered how that happened. Turns out, Dion may have finally lost his composure:
There was a point in the first half where Jim Boeheim was coaching him on the sideline.
Waiters didn't like one particular thing Boeheim said and told him what appeared to be"*bleep* off" (F word) as Boeheim walked away.
I'm not a professional lip reader, but that one was not hard to figure out.
Well then. I guess we'll just have to see where this one goes.
The James Southerland Starting Experience doesn't yield much fruit. The spark we were hoping to get out of him fails to appear.
Southerland jumped center (he lost the tip). He played 19 minutes against Seton Hall. He took five shots — four of them from 3-point distance — and made just one of those.
Southerland finished with four points (he was 2-of-2 from the free throw line) and two rebounds.
The James Southerland Starting Experience also seems to be over before it even got started. Boeheim still questions Melo's ability to get up and down the floor consistently but needs more of a big presence in the frontcourt on defense. Considering Fab only plays 8-10 minutes a game, I'm still not sure what difference it makes, but, there you go.
Credit where credit is due to C.J. Fair. At times, he seemed like the only SU player out there hustling. He was also the only Orange who played notable minutes to shoot over 50%. Not saying he earned a shot at starting but for a team who's effort is officially being questioned, it's worth noting.
Is Boeheim losing this team? Is that what's happening? Scoop seems to be regressing, Dion is losing his composure, Southerland isn't making the leap, Fab Melo is Fab Melo, Mookie is Mookie and nothing else seems to be working. I'm not quite sure how we went from 18-0 and talking about one-seeds to a three-game losing streak and "worst game in years" so quickly.
I'm not ready to pack it in and call it a season just yet. We must still have faith in James Arthur that he knows how to turn this around. He's done it before. Remember the DePaul loss? That was a week before Gerry led the team to a thrilling Big East Tournament title. Soul-crushing losses can motivate. The only question is...are these guys ready to be motivated or are they giving up?
We'll find out Saturday.
- Syracuse Upset By Seton Hall: Were You Worried For Your Life Last Night?...SB Nation NY
- Common theme in SU's last three games (all of them losses)? Struggling defense...Donna Ditota
- Bad things come in 3s: Seton Hall blasts Syracuse in Dome...Mike Waters
- Hazell returns to form, Syracuse regresses...The Juice
- Seton Hall - Syracuse Postgame Reactions OR State of the Orange...Orange44
- Disaster in the Dome - Seton Hall Obliterates Syracuse...Three Idiots on Sports
- Shooting lights out, Seton Hall scores a rare Carrier Dome victory over No. 9 Syracuse...NJ.com
- The Morning After...Cuse Connection
- Facepunch...Cuse Country
- CAPSIZED: Seton Hall sinks Syracuse in worst home loss since 1998...Daily Orange
- Boeheim disappointed in recent play of SU's 4 veterans...Daily Orange