Gametime at the Garden

Sorry I've been slacking off lately, but a few other things have required my time. Now to the issue at hand. Tonight, Weds. November 21st, the 'Cuse heads to NYC to take on Ohio State at Madison Square Garden.


The Syracuse Orangemen vs. The Ohio State University Buckeyes

It looks to be another rumble, and a good test for our young kids. Seeing some top competition this early in the season can only be a good thing and I'm sure we'll learn from it win or lose.

First off a recap of our season stats:

Player	PPG	RPG	APG	SPG	TO	FG %	3PT %	A:TO Ratio
Donte Greene	19.0	8.3	1.3	1.0	3.3	0.553	0.421	0.4
Eric Devendorf	16.0	3.0	4.0	1.7	3.3	0.500	0.385	1.2
Arinze Onuaku	13.7	5.3	0.0	0.3	1.0	0.667	0.000	0.0
Jonny Flynn	13.0	3.3	7.7	1.0	2.0	0.538	0.700	3.8
Paul Harris	12.7	11.7	4.3	1.7	4.3	0.444	1.000	1.0
Rick Jackson	6.3	2.0	0.0	0.0	0.3	0.750	0.000	0.0
Scoop Jardine	1.7	0.7	1.3	1.0	1.7	0.250	0.000	0.8
Kristof Ongenaet	0.7	1.0	0.3	0.3	1.0	0.250	0.000	0.3

Overall, we distribute points fairly evenly over the five starters. All five are in double figures. Its also good to have some low post guys who can score in Onuaku and Jackson. If we can maintain the scoring diversity we should be able to go a ways this year. Also, the A:T ratio shows that Flynn after his one bad 5TO game seems to alleviating that issue and is now at a 4:1 clip almost. People wonder why I have so much confidence with the ball in his hand (Sorry Josh)...

Now OSU's Season Stats. I'm going 3 deep on the bench based on playing time for comparison's sake.

Player	PPG	RPG	APG	SPG	TO	FG %	3PT %	A:TO Ratio
Kosta Koufos	18.5	7.5	1.0	0.5	1.0	0.619	0.667	1.0
Jamar Butler	17.5	5.0	6.5	1.5	1.0	0.550	0.500	6.5
David Lighty	17.0	6.0	4.0	1.5	1.5	0.625	0.333	2.7
Othello Hunter	12.0	8.0	1.0	0.0	1.0	0.579	0.000	1.0
Evan Turner	3.5	2.5	3.0	0.5	0.0	0.250	0.333	3.0
Kon Diebler	3.0	2.0	2.0	0.5	2.0	0.100	0.111	1.0
PJ Hill	2.5	0.5	0.0	0.0	0.5	0.250	0.500	0.0
Matt Terwillinger	2.5	3.0	0.0	0.0	2.0	0.500	0.500	0.0

As you can see, Koufos, this years version of Greg Oden for them, is their leading scorer. Contrary to the Cuse though, they rely primarily on Koufos, Butler and Lighty to make their buckets. Butler is their shooter, at 9-18 from behind the arc. Hopefully the zone stretches to him, and AO, Rick and Greene don't get out of position down low on Koufos.

Lighty is the slasher/scorer/midrange guy (Think Devo, but more apt to pull up).

Koufos is my major concern though. Rick and Arinze give up 3 inches to this guy, though both weigh as much as he does. If one of them can stay bodied up on him at all times, and use the physical game on both ends of the court that I have seen out of them so far, I think we may be able to get him in foul trouble early. Jackson and Onuaku have not shyed away from the physical game yet, and if they bang hard down low on Offense, they will both be getting to the stripe, as Koufos will have to go over them to defend anything.

Overall the post will be the key to this game, along with the obvious limiting of turnovers. If we can handle Koufos down low, while getting production out of our two big men, we come away victorious.

Let the Games Begin!!!

Ladies and Gentlemen, Boys and Girls, Children of all ages...
Syracuse University
proudly presents, the 2007 'Cuse Hoops season!!

Overdone? Yes. Corny? Yes. Am I still pumped about tonight? Hell Yes. Jordoo on the RealCuseFans forum summed it up best. Today was like Christmas Eve, and tonight we get to open the presents and see what we've got...

Tonight we take on the Siena Saints, another young team, well coached, and are preseason favorites to win the MAAC. Granted they lost on Friday to James Madison, 100-88.

Starting Line-ups:
Syracuse Orange vs. Siena Saints
J. Wright/J. Flynn - PG - Ronald Moore 6'0" 149
Eric Devendorf 6'4" 178 - SG - Kenny Hasbrouck 6'3" 192
Paul Harris 6'5" 228 - SF - Edwin Ubiles 6'6" 197
Donte Greene 6'11" 226 - PF - Cory Magee 6'7" 223
Arinze Onuaku 6'9" 258 - C - Josh Duell 6'7" 259

Except I'm more excited about tonight than I am during the Yuletide season.

Some questions I'm looking to answer tonight:

• Will Wright be back in the starting lineup after his ankle injury, or did Flynn secure his spot?
• Will the young guns get the jitters in their first actual game?
• Is Devo going to show the poise and knowledge of the flow of the game that he did in the preseason?
• Does Arinze not foul out after the first 3 minutes?

All this and more coming up in my postgame wrap-up, cause you know I couldn't pass up being twenty minutes walk away from the Dome, and not show up.

Sunday, Sunday, Sunday!

Ok, so I lied about the preview, but I will have a definitive one up before the regular season starts. Things other than blogging have been taking up my time. But to the issue at hand...

Sunday kicks off the Syracuse Basketball season in game form... sort of. The first scrimmage of the year, against the College for the Blind, wait, College of Saint Rose, tips of at 2pm on Sunday. We finally get to see what JB feels like doing with this team.

Will Wright start over Flynn?
Has Greene filled out a but since he arrived on campus?
What does Kristof Onganet look like?
Has Harris signed up for a linebacker spot on our glorious gridiron squad yet?
Will Onuaku shatter any backboards?

All of these questions and more, including real ones like how JB will run this squad, and will they get out of the zone and run more given the immense team speed we have this year, will be answered. It's almost upon us. We can forget about the state of our football program (though there have been some solid points), and look to the future of SU hoops.

We shall see. I might even live-blog the scrimmage...

Send it in, Arinze!

The backboard shattered.


Cuse basketball is officially back, with a bang. In the middle of last night's "Midnight" Madness scrimmage/dunk contest, our boy AO brought down the basket in Manley. After an entry pass from Harris, Onuaku took it hard to the hoop, and brought the glass down on him.

A night that featured messages from legends (Leo, 'Melo, and Wallace), the presence of legends (Pearl) and recruits that could become legends (Kris Joseph, Assane Sene), the backboard shattering dunk took the cake.

Apparently Harris can still jump, as he cleared two of the teams managers on route to winning the dunk contest.

To the recruits...
Joseph I already did a piece about, and he only seems to be getting better. 6'7", long wingspan, perfect Boeheim swingman.

Sene is a seven footer out of South Kent (CT), who we're actively recruiting. He has some serious potential and could be a force in the middle if he chooses the Cuse. Having him attend the festivities, and seeing the absurdity that is SU Fandom, the support by the former players and being able to talk to Joseph, who has already committed, was a great move by JB.

All in all this seems to be a hell of a way to kick off the new year. It could be like Benny "The Jet" Rodriguez hitting the cover off the baseball in "The Sandlot," an omen of good things to come.


And the video: