Wednesday, January 25, 2012

Happy Birthday, Send It In Jerome....

Today is a special day for Daily Onions. If what happened 24 years ago, never happened...we're not sure Daily Onions would be here today.

Of course, what we are referencing is the Jerome Lane dunk that shattered the backboard and eventually led to Bill Raftery's call of "SEND IT IN JEROME".

Check out this video of current Arizona head coach Sean Miller, talking about that moment (with audio from Raftery's call and commentary). Miller was the Pitt player that had the assist on the dunk. Many of our West Virgnia readers will probably agree that this is the best thing ever to come out of Pitt.



It's great to hear a younger Raftery not only make the SEND IT IN call, but the follow up explanation of the play, in which he says "This is amazing...a good dish...but he's ready right by the foul line...bring it down and bring it home, Jerome."(make sure to watch the whole video as Raftery talks about "inferior equipment and superior manpower.") Classic, Bill.

One last note, this call led to one of my finest broadcasting memories. When Rutgers upset Syracuse in 2003 at the RAC, Jerome Coleman was on fire from deep, absolutely lighting up the Orange. After his fourth or fifth three pointer from way behind the line and the crowd going crazy, I obviously had to throw out a "Send it in, Jerome." Respect.

(video posted by )

Tuesday, January 24, 2012

Syracuse with a "Lloyd Christmas" Victory

Saying that Syracuse's win at Cincinnati last night was the equivalent to Lloyd Christmas trading in the van for the scooter straight up, after driving a sixth of the way across the country in the wrong direction, might be stretch. But there's no doubt about it, this was a huge bounce back win for the Orange, totally redeeming themselves after Saturday's loss to Notre Dame.



After dropping its first game of the season at South Bend on Saturday(with Daily Onions in the building), Syracuse was on the verge of losing two straight conference road games, all in the midst of the academic Melo-drama. In front of a sold out crowd at the Fifth Third Arena, Syracuse would be facing a Cincinnati team playing good basketball recently (winners of 10 of 11 before the WVU game on Saturday), even though they were coming off a close loss to West Virginia in Morgantown. After being outplayed in the paint by Notre Dame's Luke Harangody Jack Cooley, Orange fans had to be a bit nervous going up against the Bearcats physical interior players, like Yancy "One Punch" Gates.

Put your hands up, in the air...Boeheim wins #877 (AP Photo)
Despite a deja vu all over again start from 'Nati, knocking down deep three, after deep three, Syracuse settled in and stayed in the game early (something that was lacking against Notre Dame). The Orange eventually took a 3 point lead into halftime, but a 9-2 run Bearcat run opened up the 2nd half and the Cuse was down by 4. Timeout Jimmy B. Time for the Orange to wake up, and they did. Over the next ten minutes, Syracuse outscored Cincinnati 14-3. That included a pair of threes from Scoop and Triche, and Kris Joseph became "the guy" that ESPN analysts were looking for at halftime. Joseph finished with a team high 17 points on 8-11 shooting. Scoop finished with 13, including a nail in the coffin 3 pointer in the final three minutes to put the game away for good. Sticking with the Christmas theme, Rakeem recorded a season high 27 minutes, and grabbed 9 rebounds. If Fab Melo is going to be out much longer, this is the production Syracuse will need to see from their freshman big man.

The Orange play host to West Virginia on Saturday afternoon. Huggies Boys are relatively young, but also have eighth year senior Kevin Jones, who is playing like an all-conference first teamer, as well as Truck Bryant (a poor man's Scoop). We think the Orange win this one at home (with or without Fab) by 7 points. Nothing comes easy this time of year.

Trip to South Bend: We were in person to see Syracuse fall to 20-1. A few comments on the Joyce Center and Notre Dame fans. Pretty cool place to see a game because the place is pretty small. Really not a bad seat in the place, even the highest seats would be the front of the 2nd level at a normal arena. I believe this is the first game back for the student section following winter break. They deserved to storm the court, but the overrated chant is still the worst chant in the history of sports. Really, a 20-0 team ranked number 1 is overrated. Also, I'm all for antics from student sections, but the U-S-A chants towards Syracuse's Baye Keita (Senegal) and Kris Joseph (Montreal), questionable. Also really enjoyed the 60-year (ballpark) Irish fan chanting "20-1" as the clock winded down. Thank you sir, I'll take those 20 wins in 21 games. Stay classy, Irish.

Wednesday, January 18, 2012

Wolverines, Cats and Hoyas....Oh my

Three games to comment on from last night: In-state battle between Michigan and Michigan State in Ann Arbor; Kentucky Rolls again and records fall; Hoyas win on the road.

#20 Michigan 60 - #9 Michigan State 59: That's two straight road losses for The Fighting Izzos (Northwestern over the weekend and Michigan last night). Freshman Trey Burke led the way for Michigan with 20 points and the assist to Stu Douglass (Stu-pac, Stu-manji) on his game winning bucket with 36 seconds left. Another cool part of this game, seeing Denard Robinson go nuts in the student section (video posted by mgodisney).



#2 Kentucky 86 - Arkansas 63: As expected, blowout city in Lexington. Freshman Anthony Davis had 27 points and 7 block shots. With five minutes left in the first half, Davis blocked his 84th shot of the year, which breaks the school record for blocks in a season (remember Davis blocked the game winning attempt by UNC's John Henson back in December). Oh, and Kentucky still has 12 regular season games left. At least we don't have to worry about Davis breaking his own record next season, because he'll most likely be wearing a Washington Wizards jersey.

Daily Onions was basically on the G'town bench last night (#22 Photos)
#10 Georgetown 83 - DePaul 75: Winning games on the road is never easy in conference play, regardless the opponent. Georgetown led for the majority of the game last night in the suburbs of Chicago, but DePaul would never quite go away. The Hoyas were without guard Markel Starks who had the stomach bug, and you could tell something was missing. Georgetown didn't handle DePaul's pressure that well and had 18 turnovers as a team. Freshman Otto Porter (how did he not go to Syracuse with a name like that) had 15 rebounds, but also turned the ball over 5 times and looked pretty shaky against pressure. Luckily, Georgetown has the a senior that can step up. Jason Clark had a career high 31 points, including 5 3 pointers. Should be a good battle between the Hoyas and the Orange in the Carrier Dome on February 8th.

Tuesday, January 17, 2012

Leave the Chandeliers, CJ Fair.

Lots of milestones at the Carrier Dome last night in Syracuse's 71-63 win over Pittsburgh. First off, Cuse goes to 20-0 for the first time in school history, and we now have the t-shirts to prove it. Jim Boeheim ties Adolph Rupp on the all-time wins list with 876, and is only four games away from passing Dean Smith for third place overall.

Also, everyone's favorite broadcasting trio was in the building for Big Monday- Sean McDonough, Bill Raftery and Jay Bilas. As always, Raftery was a treat, especially on this monster dunk from CJ Fair.


 

For those of you scoring at home, that was a "Bring it all....leave the chandeliers, big fella!" from Raftery, just after a few oohs and ahhs from Raftery and McDonough. Don't forget about the "fair play" and "totally unfair" wordplays by Bilas and Raftery...dad's across the country approve.

This dunk reminded us of Fair's ability to get up, including this dunk on Cornell from last season.



Fair still has some ways to go to get to Hakim Warrick-esque dunking prowess. While the "leave the chaneliers, big fella" was a high compliment from Raftery, it still doesn't beat "bring your lunch...."



(videos posted to Youtube by Cusecountry, Dunksoftheyear and truth14)

Reporting Live......

Daily Onions hits the road this week to check out a few college hoops games in the Chicago area.

Tonight we start with a Big East matchup in Rosemont, when Georgetown takes on a much improved DePaul team. We'll be sure to do a little advance scout for the Orange, who host the Hoyas on February 8th.

Thursday, we'll check out our third Horizon League game in the past two years (Butler at Loyola last year, Valpo at Butler in December), when Butler visits UIC (see a common theme with these Horizon League games?). 

On Saturday we make the hour and a half drive to South Bend, Indiana to see the top ranked Syracuse basketball team take on Notre Dame. The Irish are a bit down this year (who isn't in the Big East this year), but have a nice road win at Louisville in double OT. However, more recently, they got blown out at home by UConn and dropped one on the road to Rutgers last night. Entering the Syracuse game, the Irish will be 11-8 overall, 3-3 in conference play and Mike Brey will still be wearing a mock turtleneck with a blazer on the sideline.

Big E Hoops Weekend - One year later, Syracuse Prevails

Exactly one year ago this morning, Daily Onions sat groggy-eyed in the Pittsburgh Airport having just completed Big E Hoops Weekend. In a span of 72 hours, we saw Robert Morris defeat Monmouth in Moon Township, West Virginia knock off Purdue in Morgantown, and Pitt take down Syracuse on Big Monday. Three days, three basketball games, and three alma maters (Monmouth, WVU and Syracuse). Not sure the basketball gods will ever line up a schedule like that for us again, but glad we took advantage of the opportunity (relive the whole weekend here).

One year later, Syracuse once again matched up with Pitt on MLK Day. Like last year's game, Syracuse entered the game undefeated (18-0 last year, 19-0 this year). Unlike last year, Pitt, who is used to being at the top of the conference, entered the Carrier Dome winless (0-5) in the Big East.

Waiters and Cuse looking back at rest of Big East (Syracuse.com)
Syracuse scored the first 13 points of last night's game (if you remember, Pitt opened last year's game on a 19-0 run, then Cuse answered with a 17-0 run of their own), and eventually pushed the lead to 14 at one point in the game. Pitt made a push in the 2nd half, and got as close as 4. After a Syracuse timeout, the lead was back up to 10 in no time. Syracuse improved to 20-0, their best start in school history.

The Orange have been known to get off to hot starts in the past several seasons, leading to an overrated top 5 ranking.

Well this year is different. This Syracuse team is good. Really good. As I write this, Duke Vitale is saying that Syracuse won't lose a game this regular season. I might agree with him. If you look at the Big East, the perennial frontrunners like Louisville and UConn have proven to be inconsistent. Cuse will face both of those teams on the road this year. Other road games left on the schedule include Notre Dame (Orange usually play well in South Bend), Cincinnati (potentially a little nervous for this one), St. John's at MSG (actually a Cuse home game), Louisville (when was the last time Syracuse played well here), Rutgers (Rice and Co. knocked off Florida and UConn at the RAC), and UConn (Saturday night Gameday game in Storrs).

My prediction...Syracuse finishes the regular season with 2 losses (at UConn, at Louisville). Yes, you can read between the lines and I do not think Syracuse will lose a game at home this year. Before we make any predictions about the Big East tournament, we'll see how things shake out elsewhere.

Thursday, January 12, 2012

Are the Wahoos for Real?

Daily Onions is known to open up its space to outsiders to state their case for a team that might not normally get a lot of ink here. Last year, we had Carter Jordan talk about why Tennessee was one of the most exciting teams in the nation (Well, at least the post was well-written). In preparation for tonight's ACC Showdown of Virginia and Duke, Carter's brother Chas, a 1999 graduate of UVA, breaks down the 'Hoos hot start. (Daily Onions Editor's note: Any post that makes basketball comparisons to dating girls, references Hoosiers, and mentions Steve Stricker and Bruce Hornsby is a must read...enjoy!)

With an AP ranking of 16 and a Coach’s Poll ranking of 17, things are looking pretty good for Virginia fans and Tony Bennett’s squad.  However, an  RPI of 39 and an SOS of 139 leaves most outsiders still unsure of how the Hoos truly stack up.  If you’re a Virginia fan, the mere fact the Cavaliers are ranked in the month of January is akin to out-kicking your coverage and somehow snagging a girl out of your league  - it’s new and it feels great, but you’re still scared to get too excited for fear of the unknown and the potential letdown.  Wins against Michigan, Oregon, and LSU should look better and better as the seasons wears on, but anything less than a very solid performance in ACC play could leave UVa as this year’s Virginia Tech. 

Should Virginia finish in the top 4 of the ACC, make the NCAA tourney for only the third time since 2001, and possibly make a surprise run to the Sweet 16?  Sure. that’s absolutely within reason.  Tonight’s game against Duke might not prove the best case study as all bets are off at Cameron Indoor.  The Dookies have struggled as of late and will be looking to right the ship, and with UVa now relying on a couple of doe-eyed freshman to actually contribute, the Cameron Crazies will likely wreak havoc on the newbies.  Yet regardless of the outcome in Durham, there are several reasons to think the Hoos have a reasonable chance to post their first meaningful season in quite some time.

Bennett’s Pack-the-Line Defense
Bennett has UVa in Top 25; first time since '07 (AP)
It’s taken some time to implement the defense his father perfected, but head coach Tony Bennett appears to have the system in place. Bottom line, if you can’t play defense for coach Bennett, you might as well find a new home....the borderline outrageous number of transfers during his first three seasons serves as proof.  While fans sometimes complain the style is boring to watch (not as bad as Norman Dale’s requirement of 5 passes on offense before a shot), the pack-the-line defensive style strives to reduce the total number of possessions in a game.  Everything gets slowed down, possessions get extended, and the game ultimately ends as a low scoring affair.  How low?  Virginia ranks 2nd in the nation allowing a measly 50 points per game, and so far this year, opponents are averaging a paltry 39% shooting - again, good enough for 2nd in the country.  No matter what, Virginia’s tough, hard-nosed defense will certainly keep them in a vast majority of their games this season.

Mike Scott
After three seasons of inconsistency (averaging 10 points by way of 20 one night and 0 the next), Scott appeared to right the ship last season.  He got out of the gate and remained consistent throughout the first part of the season - then, a foot injury ended what was shaping up to be a solid season.  With any injury and subsequent layoff, the fear is always that the player won’t be the same, or, in this case, that last season was a fluke and the Mike Scott of old might return.  Not so.  Scott has picked up right where he left off and continues to be a double-double machine.  In UVa’s win over Miami, he literally carried the team on his back, racking up 23 points in a 52-51 victory (no other Cavalier scored more than 6 pts - can you say game ball). 

Veteran Leadership
UVa starts two fifth-year seniors, one senior, and a junior.  In essence, this ain’t the first rodeo for Virginia’s core nucleus of players.  As the season progresses, the Wahoos are likely to face some form of adversity (two players - one a former starter - transferred during the winter break), and the upper classman will play a key role in holding things together.  Veterans likely Sammy Zeglinski have the experience to make big plays in key situations (he knocked down a huge three late against Miami), and given their style of play, the Cavaliers will likely find themselves in a whole mess of tight games.  Oftentimes, the difference in close games comes down to the team with experienced players who can and will make the big shots when it counts most.  So far, it appears Virginia’s veteran players are doing just that.

Can the Hoos get a win over Rivers and Duke tonight?
Still not convinced?  
We’ll, you’re probably not alone.  With only nine scholarship players on the roster, it’s no secret Virginia is extremely thin.  The Hoos start one freshman, and had to remove the redshirt status from Paul Jesperson after KT Harrell and James Johnson jumped ship in December.  Throughout the season, points will be at a premium for UVa since such a thin line up leaves little margin for error.  If guys like Zeglinski and sophomore Joe Harris fail to show up on the same night, Virginia will struggle to find point production.  So, while their defense can keep them in just about any game, the lack of consistent scorers also makes just as susceptible to being upset by just about anyone - see exhibit A:  a squeaker over Towson who entered the game against Virginia on a 31-game losing streak.  

So, has Virginia truly arrived?  Probably not quite yet.  Are they on their way?  Absolutely.  How will Wahoo fans know when to start expecting a perennial winner?  I suspect it’s when UVa earns some street cred and the crowd at JPJ arena starts to feature some big-time celebrities.  As a Wahoo fan buried in Wildcat country, it seems like that is at least one way to measure a program’s viability.  Sure, John Grisham was at the Miami game, and Steve Stricker stops by occasionally to cheer on his good friend Tony.  Heck, even Bruce Hornsby catches a game or two.  Something tells me that’s not quite the followers recruits get geeked about.  Here in Lexington, Lebron was seen all over town during the lock out, and the Wildcats’ stable of prized recruits played pickup with all sorts of NBA all-stars.  Jay-Z even caught the Louisville-UK game (also rumored to have spent NYE at a new club in town.  Gotta love the irrational exuberance of Wildcat fans.  Like the guy who wrote Empire State of Mind would spend NYE anywhere but the Big Apple!)   

Maybe that type of buzz is for days to come.  At this point, simply being in the national conversation is a huge step forward, and hopefully that’s just enough noise to stir Hoos fans from their slumber and get them believing again.

#17 Virginia is at #6 Duke tonight at 9 pm ET on ESPN.

Thursday, January 5, 2012

Hometowners: College Hoops Happenings Back East

After spending over a week back in our home state of New Jersey, we thought it'd be important to highlight some of the surprises, both good and bad, for the area college teams in the NJ/Philadelphia area.

Temple over Duke: Storm Worthy (pic: The700level.com)
Temple: If Temple would have lost to Duke last night, would we be writing this post? Probably not, but whatever it takes to spark an idea. The Owls took down third-ranked Duke last night 78-73 at the CoreStates Center First Union Center Wachovia Center Wells Fargo Center in Philly. Temple has a knack for knocking off Top 10 teams, as they took down tenth-ranked Georgetown last year and third-ranked Villanova two years ago. Temple should challenge Xavier for the top spot in the A-10, behind the leadership of PG Pepe Sanchez Juan Fernandez, who averages 12 ppg and 4 assists (have we overdone the strikethrough text yet?).

Villanova: Not going to lie, as a 'Cuse alum, love seeing the Wildcats struggle. It's been a rough go round for Nova thus far. Cats have already dropped games to St. Louis, Santa Clara, Missouri, Temple, St. Joe's, West Virginia and Marquette. Not saying that any of these games are AWFUL losses, but you are used to seeing Jay Wright's squad win these games. Gone are the two Coreys (Stokes and Fisher, not Feldman and Haim), and bottom line the Cats lack talent. A few years ago, Villanova lost their best recruiter in Fred Hill, who went on to be the head guy at Rutgers but only lasted a few disappointing seasons. Maybe Hill was the guy that was getting the players, maybe Jay Wright is spending too much time on his wardrobe, maybe the Cats will be looking at the NIT this year.

Rutgers: Every time we talk about Rutgers, we'll start with this. Mike Rice needs to chill out a little bit on the sideline. In order to be the savior of RU Hoops, we need to make sure Rice doesn't have a heart attack thanks to his over the top sideline antics. Rice has a VERY young team this season, with 3 of his top 4 scorers being freshmen (the other one is a sophomore). They've gotten a huge boost from freshman Eli Carter (Eli - sounds like a good name for a big time player), who is averaging 23 points in their last 3 games, 10 above his season average. The Scarlet Knights started the season with loses against Illinois State and Princeton at home, but pulled off a huge upset last week defeating Top 10 team Florida. How did Rutgers follow-up the big upset? Two point loss at USF and got blown out at home last night to West Virginia. Growing pains for a young team to say the least. It will take time, but Rice could have Rutgers relevant in the next few years.
Jordan Theodore's 19 pts helped upset UConn (NY Post)

Seton Hall: Not too far from Rutgers sits Seton Hall. The Pirates got absolutely smoked last week by top ranked Syracuse by 26 points. We watched pretty much that entire game, and Seton Hall just looked like a really bad basketball team. Well, they aren't. Talk about bouncing back. Three days after getting trounced by the Orange, the Hall put one on West Virginia, beating the Mountaineers by 19. The Pirates proved that win wasn't a fluke by going out in their next game and beating the defending National Champs, UConn by 12. If you are a 'Cuse fan, have to be happy you got them out of the way early.

Monmouth: Huh? How did The Mouth make it in here? Well with one of our loyal readers being a Monmouth man, we figured we'd give the Hawks some love - something they need at this point. The Mouth is bringing new meaning to "Down With the King", as new head coach King Rice is just 2-12 in his first season. Of their 14 games, Monmouth has lost seven of them by at least 20 points. Only two games have been within a ten point spread. I guess its no big deal we won't be catching Monmouth live, like we did last year