One in the books!

Alright guys, it may have only been LeMoyne, but at the present, we're 1-0 and looked pretty damn good out there. Flynn finished with 17pts, 6 assists (3:1 Assist To TO Ratio), 4 steals... big deal right, that's what we've come to expect from our resident Wooden Award Candidate. What surprised the hell out of me was the play of everyone's formerly skinny white kid.

Knee #1 - Rautins looked great out there last night. His court vision has definitively improved, his stroke still looks good and his man D didn't look too shabby. He finished with a line of 12pt, 3reb, 9 Assists (career high) and 4 steals. Numbers that I didn't think we'd see out of him. I'd say all questions regarding his knee are shored up, he was playing tight man, running well with the break and looked solid all around.

Knee #2 - Devo apparently missed the memo that he was supposed to be tenative coming off of a major knee surgery. He was back to slashing at will, and in general looked solid. His passing has improved as well. I distinctly remember him threading the needle to Paul on a break and he looked confident with the ball. That said he did have 5 TO in 22 minutes of work. Two of these from travels, 1 from a double dribble.

Harris - Back to form, Harris still flails wildly over stupid fouls, though its slightly more civil than in the past. He was running solid with the break, scrapping over boards and got his points as well. He's most likely starting another double-double streak, going for 12 and 10 last night. Definitely a different Paul than we saw in the preseason games.

Joseph looked good, and in all honestly could be a real solid contributor of minutes by years' end. Mookie still looks a little raw, but you can tell he's close.

More to come...

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:

Falling in to Place...

The first recruit of the 2008 class has officially committed. Though this isn't really breaking news at this point, I figured I'd relay the info that Kris Joseph has made his verbal to the Cuse. Joseph is a 6'7" wing out of Quebec who played at Archbishop Carroll in DC averaging 18 and 10. A 4-Star recruit on Scout, and the #6 rated SF, #26 overall, the Cuse is reputed to be his "dream school." The final decision apparently came to Syracuse (closer to home), and Georgetown (closer to DC where he plays his HS ball). He is the younger brother of MSU guard Maurice Joseph.

Joseph is basically purely offense, can play the outside, pass well, and take it to the hoop. At the present he seems to be lacking in the defensive brilliance, but knowing JB, I think we can work on that. Not to mention at 6'7" and athletic he can cover the bottom of the zone.

As OrangeFan stated, our targets for the 2008 class need to begin to revolve around a combo 4-5 and another Wing-PF combo. As of now our roster breaks down with an inordinate amount of guards. For 2008 we are looking at the following:

PG - Jonny Flynn, Scoop Jardine
SG - Eric Devendorf, Andy Rautins
SF - Paul Harris
PF - Donte Greene, Rick Jackson
C - Arinze Onuaku, The Hyphen (thanks Jim), and Sean Williams

If we can fill in that gap in the middle (which is the same gap we have this year) then I would consider the 2008 recruiting class a huge sucess. This is already taking one huge step in the right direction towards that.