Happy 100th!! Top 10 Posts in Daily Onions History

It's a big day today with lots of reason to celebrate. Yes, Christmas is only 5 days away, and yes Hanuka starts tonight, and yes there is a very important birthday today, but most importantly, today marks the 100th post in Daily Onions history!!

We figured there is no better way to celebrate number 100, then by looking back and reminiscing about where this blog has been over the past 99 posts. Here are the Top 10 posts in Daily Onions history, counting down from 10. (click the link to open story in a new tab)

10. Unit, Corps, God, Country- Daily Onions dives in to the Op-Ed world with its thoughts on BYU's Brandon Davies being suspended for breaking the school's Honor Code. Bonus - anytime you can work a quote from A Few Good Men into a column, it's a must - http://dailyonions.blogspot.com/2011/03/unit-corps-god-country.html

9. ONIONS Exposed- What would a college basketball blog be without a contest for March Madness. This post goes 1 on 1 with the 1st Annual Daily Onions Show Us Your Onions Winner - http://dailyonions.blogspot.com/2011/04/onions-exposed.html

Photo: SI.com

8. Memorable Melo- One of our favorite college basketball players (for obvious reasons), puts up an epic performance for a different orange and blue in last year's NBA playoffs - http://dailyonions.blogspot.com/2011/04/memorable-melo.html

7. Mach3 Fact Shaving- Remember when the biggest scandal involving Syracuse basketball was a bad rumor about point shaving? http://dailyonions.blogspot.com/2011/02/mach3-fact-shaving.html

6. LeBron Best in Show...Right Now- We are very lucky that we included the words "right now" in this title, because after the Eastern Conference Championship, LeBron truly was on top of the game. Then we all know what happened in the finals. Go Mavs! http://dailyonions.blogspot.com/2011/05/lebron-best-in-showright-now.html

5. State of the Onions Address- If your blog title resembles Union, the State of the Union address is a perfect time to piggyback with your own speech your constituents...with Raftery and Gus presiding, obviously. http://dailyonions.blogspot.com/2011/01/state-of-onions-address.html

4. Gimme Jimmer: Running Diary- Daily Onions had Jimmer Fever last year (hopefully we'll catch it this year too), and we documented every minute of one of his games at BYU. http://dailyonions.blogspot.com/2011/01/gimme-jimmer.html

3. Big E Hoops Weekend Recap- This could be number 1 on the list. Three days, three basketball games, three college alma maters. It doesn't get any better than that. Relive one of the greatest sports weekends. Thank you Basketball Scheduling Gods. http://dailyonions.blogspot.com/2011/01/survive-and-advance-big-e-hoops-weekend.html

Photo: New York Times

2. Why Blog? Why Onions? You never forget your first. This was the first ever post of Daily Onions, which explains why we got started in the first place. http://dailyonions.blogspot.com/2010/12/why-blog-why-onions.html

1. One Shining Moment- Do you remember where you were when this happened? One of the defining moments in the past year. http://dailyonions.blogspot.com/2011/05/one-shining-moment.html

Thanks for reading. Looking forward to having you around for the next 100 posts!

One time, at Big East Media Day....

If Midnight Madness is the official kickoff of college basketball season, then the conference Media Days are the....end of the first quarter? Hold on, what? Screw the football analogy (we'll get to an interesting analogy in a little bit though), let's just say, Media Day is awesome. We get to see who the coaches pick as the best teams and players in the conference, and you get to see a bunch of college kids look uncomfortable in a shirt and tie.

Scoop, in a Suit. (Syracuse.com)

Today was Big East Basketball Media Day in NYC, which is the home of one of the homes of Syracuse University basketball. The coaches selected Syracuse and UConn as the co-favorites for the league title this year. Next was Louisville, Pittsburgh, Cincinnati, Marquette, West Virginia, Villanova, Notre Dame and Georgetown rounding out the top 10. Jeez, this conference is tough.

On an individual basis, Pitt's Ashton Gibbs (and his undershirt) was selected as the Player of Year, while UConn's Andre Drummond was voted Freshman of the Year. Syracuse has Kris Joseph on the 1st team and Scoop Jardine on the 2nd team. West Virginia's Kevin Jones and Tim Abromitis of Notre Dame, both return for their 8th year of college, and were both voted as preseason 1st Teamers as well.

Daily Onions had the opportunity to attend Big East Media Day back before the 2002-03 season, when we were more Orange than Onion. We thought it'd be fun to reminisce about some of the names we chatted with that day at Madison Square Garden.

Let's check out the preseason 1st All-Big East honors that were handed out that day:

Probably taken before 1 of Bell's 6 NBA Games

• Brandin Knight, Pittsburgh - Selected as the preseason conference player of the year in '02-03, you can still find Knight in the Steel City, now as an assistant coach.
• Troy Bell (left), Boston College - This guy could absolutely light it up in college, is BC's all-time leading scorer, and had half a cup of coffee in the NBA.
• Emeka Okafor, Connecticut- Almost 10 years later, its crazy to think there was a debate over who should go #1 in the NBA Draft, Okafor or Dwight Howard. With that said, Okafor did win a National Championship, and has had a serviceable NBA career.
• Mike Sweetney, Georgetown - Undersized, big man for the Hoyas. Didn't have the body for an NBA career.
• Darius Rice, Miami, Jr.- Remember this guy? Freakishly athletic, McDonald's All-American, nephew of Jerry Rice. He ended up staying all 4 years of college, went undrafted and bounced around overseas and the D-League.
• Marcus Hatten, St. John's - Kind of like Bell, a pure scorer. Best memory of Hatten has to be playing for Uncle Phil at St. John's.

The 2nd team featured guys like: James Jones - yep, the same James Jones that is hitting 3s for the Heatles. He got his start in Miami as Hurricane; Chris Thomas - In a recent survey we just made up, this Notre Dame PG was voted most annoying player by opposing fans teams. Good to know he got an acting gig playing the PG in the movie Finding Forrester; Jerome Coleman - this Rutgers shooting guard led the Scarlet Knights to an upset over the eventual National Champions (Syracuse) that year in...New Jerrrrsey, and allowed me to exclaim "Send it in Jerome" (a Raftery fan even at a young age!) over the Syracuse radio airwaves. Shout out to Herve Lamizana as well.

Always a good time to look back at some of the players who came through the Big East. Carmelo Anthony was a freshman in 2002-03, and was picked to be the best Freshman of the Year in the conference, but was left off the 1st and 2nd team. Looks like Melo got the last laugh there.

Slick Rick: Why Don't You Sit the Next Few Plays Out

Speaking of laughs, today at Big East Media Day, Rick Pitino had some choice words about Syracuse and Pitt leaving the conference. Rick, who has been known to compare a tough start to a seasons to... 9/11, added this analogy to his resume:

"My problem is not them leaving," he said. "My problem is you did it in 48 hours. Don't run away with a girl after one date when you've been dating someone else for three or four years. You've been dating this woman for 30 years, show a little respect."

In case you forgot, Pitino, who has been married to his wife for more than 30 years, once met a woman in a restaurant, had a few drinks, and then proceeded to have sex with her in the bathroom. This occurred in 2003, and in 2009 Pitino admitted to not only having consensual sex, but also paying for an abortion. 

Pot, meet kettle. Hope you enjoyed media day.

Memorable Melo

During the 2002-03 college basketball season, I had the distinct pleasure of covering Syracuse's basketball team, the eventual National Champion. That allowed me an up close and personal look at Carmelo Anthony and his ability to take over a game. I remember sitting in the Carrier Dome or on the road in East Lansing or in New Orleans for the Final Four, and as the game would tighten down the stretch, you knew that Carmelo would come to save the day. I remember realizing that Melo was the definition of "we need a bucket, give it to this guy and he'll make it happen."

While I'm not a Knicks fan (my team is the 76ers, and now I have an adopted step-son team in the Bulls), I'm a fan of Carmelo, and a fan of the NBA being relevant in New York City. So as I watched last night's Game 2 against the Celtics, I found myself rooting for Carmelo as if he was wearing a different orange and blue jersey. I was annoyed at how Melo got ripped after his lousy Game 1 performance and people all of the sudden were questioning his place amongst the top players in the league. We'll call it Overreactionitis that is a part of today's sports world. Whatever just happened, we need to blow it out of proportion and throw out any other evidence we might have to make a claim. Need another example? A few weeks ago, people ripped Butler for their poor shooting night in the Championship game, discounting the run they made to that game. Sure, for the second straight year, Butler knocked off powerhouse after powerhouse to get to the Final 4, but since they are a mid-major, its obvious they weren't prepared to perform on the big stage. We all know that shooting performance could have happened to any team. Enough about that.

Carmelo couldn't quite close out the Celtics (SI.com)

Anyway, everyone was calling for Carmelo to respond in Game 2. He had to show that the Knicks made the right decision trading half their team for him just two months ago. Throw out the fact that the Knicks were playing at the defending conference champions, throw out the fact that the Knicks team consists of Anthony, Amare and Billups. Melo had one off night, so it was the end of the world....for a day or two.

I don't know if Carmelo was trying to prove a point last night, but what he did was something special. With Billups doing his best Andy Rautins impression, rocking a suit on the bench, and Amare leaving the game midway through the 2nd quarter, the Knicks team looked like a mid-major college team, or an undermanned high school team. And that's what it felt like when I was watching, rooting for Melo and the Reserves to take down the Celtics in their building. I've been in my fair share of games as a coach or as a player, where we've been overmatched from a talent standpoint. But we fought, battled, scrapped, and had someone that was unconscious from the floor, keeping us in the game. The team started to depend on the senior at the end of the bench, who never played but was a good teammate, also known as Roger Mason Jr. The coach started to tinker with the lineup and was making the undersized, skinny kid play the center position because you were short on bodies (that was me!), also known as Jared Jeffries. Your backup point guard who was great to give the starter a rest during the season, and would play extended minutes on occasion, was now in the starting lineup and running the show. Yes, that would be Toney Douglas.

And then there was the superstar. The guy that was doing it all. Taking, and making, tough shots (Melo had 42 points on 14-30 shooting, 10-11 from the line). Putting the team on his back, doing everything he needed to do to try and steal a W (Melo had 17 rebounds and 6 assists, led the team in both). Then there were the shots that you can't give justice to in print. You know, when Melo catches on the wing, has a defender draped all over him. He goes into that series of jab steps, rip-throughs and head fakes before catching his opponent off guard and pulling up to drain a jumper with a hand in the face. I compare Melo on the wing to a scary movie (It's dark, the music is playing, you know something is going to jump out at you, you just don't know when). He's got the ball, you know he's going to shoot it, but you don't know when.....and then in a split second he rises and fires (Gus). Well what Carmelo was doing last night was a nightmare for Celtics coaches, players and fans. Luckily, the Celtics have four All-Stars on their team, and one of them (KG) was able to step up in the final 15 seconds to hit the game-winning shot on one end, and forcing a turnover on the other.

Carmelo's heroic 42, 17 and 6 didn't have the happy ending that Hollywood (or at least ESPN Classic) was looking for, but it was still quite impressive. The Knicks haven't won a playoff game since April of 2001. They'll play their first home playoff game since 2004 on Friday night. New York and MSG will have an amazing buzz in 2 days. While the Knicks might be down 0-2, they've proved they can play with the Celtics, no matter who is out on the court.

Orange You Glad...

That all of the Carmelo trade speculations are finally over with, and he's back in orange and blue? Or how bout that the 'Cuse avenged an earlier home loss to Villanova, with an ugly, Big East-style victory in Philadelphia last night.  Two orange themed topics, and Daily Onions has lots of thoughts on both.

-With the win over #14 Villanova, Syracuse beat its sixth Top 25 opponent of the year.  That's tied for most in the NATION with Texas. For all the experts that bang on 'Cuse for the scheduling or lackluster wins, take note of that stat.

-Syracuse now has wins on the road at St. John's (a place where Pitt, ND and G'town lost), at UConn (when the Huskies were ranked #7) and at Villanova. Not too shabby.

-Scoop Jardine is one of the most frustrating players to watch. The majority of the time he makes poor decisions, and has been nicknamed "The Momentum Killer" by a former Daily Onions roommate and loyal reader. With that said, Scoop hit some big shots last night, leading the 'Cuse with 20 points on 7-11 shooting. He did have 5 turnovers though, and kept the "getting called for a charge" streak alive as well. I guess you just need to take the good with the bad, even if the bad is painful sometimes.

-In this week's stat you wouldn't expect: Scoop Jardine leads the Big East Conference in total assists. In this week's stat you probably would expect: Scoop Jardine is second in the Big East Conference in total turnovers.

With Melo back in NY, do the Knicks get alternate Orange jerseys?

-On to Carmelo, who took a lot of heat (not Jay Cutler heat, but some heat) on the Twitterverse, blogosphere, interweb nation last night, in regards to how much the Knicks gave up for him.

-First of all, Carmelo Anthony is currently a Top 10 player in the NBA. Period.

-People are saying, "he's only made it out of the first round of the playoffs once." That is true - and he made it to the conference finals where the Nuggets lost to the Lakers. You know who also only made it out of the first round once with his original team in the Western Conference? Kevin Garnett. He then got traded to the Celtics, had some other pieces put in place around him, and since then he's got to the Finals 2 out of 3 years, winning one of them.

-Just in case you forgot, as a freshman, Carmelo led Syracuse to a National Championship.

-With that said, the Knicks have zero bench right now. Their starting lineup will be Amare, Carmelo, Lance, Chauncey Billups and Turiaf. Off the bench you have Toney Douglas, the Williams brothers, Shawne and Sheldon (no relation), Bill Walker, Andy Rautins and Roger Mason, Jr. In other words, the pupu platter. In a year and a half, the Knicks could be in the running for a Chris Paul or Deron Williams, making their own Big Three. Until then, depth will be a concern.

-Will Sheldon Williams have "She. Williams" on the back of his jersey to distinguish from Shawne Williams?

-Overall, Daily Onions thinks the Knicks had to make this deal. Anytime you have the opportunity to get a top 10 talent, you need to do it, and that's the bottom line.

Big Monday turned out to be a big night for Syracuse nation. One of our favorite sons is returning to New York and will be wearing orange and blue once again. We also went on the road and beat one of our Big East rivals. Not bad, not bad at all.