The All "That Guy is Still in School?!" Team

We've all done it. You are watching a college basketball game and you see that player and you say, "Wait....he's STILLLL in school?" It happens a handful of times each year, and basically it means that the player is good enough to get solid playing time as a freshman, but not a sure thing at the next level that would lead them to leave school early.

This year is no different. Plenty of players out there that have been around around forever. Now presenting, the Daily Onions All "That Guy is Still in School?!" Team.

First Team
Peyton Siva - Louisville (Unanimous selection): Loyal reader Ramy actually sent us a text a few weeks back saying/asking "Siva is STILL at Louisville?!" See it really does happen.

CJ Fair/Brandon Triche - Syracuse: Fair has been a solid contributor for 4 years, but Triche is on the verge of getting the Craig Forth Award for starting every game of his four-year college career. Cuse fans will miss these two guys a lot next year (EDITOR'S NOTE: We had convinced ourselves that Fair had been at Syracuse for so long that he was a Senior. Well, he's only a Junior. So good news, he'll be back next year, and an automatic first teamer).

Miles Mason Plumlee - Duke: Good news, there is a younger brother Marshall, who is a redshirt freshman on the Duke roster.

Travis Releford - Kansas: Releford is a player that you might not know the name, but when you see him, you know exactly who he is...and then you wonder if he was a teammate of Mario Chalmers when Kansas won the National Championship in 2008 (he wasn't).

Kenny Boynton - Florida: We used to confuse Boynton with Erving Walker, who was a senior last year, similar type player. Probably leads to us thinking Boynton has been around for that much longer.

Second Team
Deniz Kilicli - West Virginia: The Turk. The Hook. The Beard. The no longer has the beard. Whatever you want to call him, he's been around way too long. Moutaineer fans are ready for him to be gone.

Mike Rosario - Florida: This one is a little tricky, considering Rosario started his career at Rutgers and then transferred to Florida. Rosario did match up against Johnny Flynn, who is now already (!) out of the league and playing in Australia. In fact, watch the video, maybe this is why Rosario left Rutgers




Derrick Nix - Michigan State: When you are a senior that is 6-7 and 290 lbs, its hard for people to miss you. Throw in the fact that you play for one of the nation's most recognizable programs, you are going to be seen a lot.

Rodney McGruder - Kansas State: One of Daily Onions favorite players, solely because of his last name...so close to McGruber!

Mike Brusewitz - Wisconsin: Big, white dude with a buzz cut that can shoot from outside and plays hard for Wisconsin. Sounds familiar, right? Well Brusewitz also used to have some flowing orange locks before he went with the Badger buzz, making him standout during his first two years on campus

Early look for next year's squad- Aaron Craft, Ohio State; Will Spradling, Kansas State. Both are juniors are could be honorable mentions this year.

Who'd we miss?

Fun Fact Friday: CamORANGEflage

Fun Fact Friday is back after a one week hiatus due to the nuptials of loyal reader Ramy, who is currently enjoying his honeymoon in Hawaii. Enjoy this post on the beach while sipping a fruity cocktail. Also, put some more sunscreen on your head.

Anyway, back to the fun-ness that is Fun Fact Friday. We are exactly 2 weeks away from Syracuse tipping things off against San Diego State on the Battle of the Midway. It was announced on Wednesday that Syracuse will be rocking some Nike camouflage jerseys, similar to what Michigan State and North Carolina wore last year during their deck top match-up.

No sign of the 'Cuse jerseys posted online yet, but we are looking forward to the potential. Will it be worth shelling out the $60-80 to pick up a new basketball shorts? If they look good, I'd say strong to quite strong. Why not represent 'Cuse and our Armed Forces.

P-Shump Update: For all of you Orange fans that were wondering, "Hmmm, I wonder what Preston Shumpert is up to these days?" Well, now you know. The Syracuse Post Standard reported yesterday that Shumpert is recovering from a tendon injury in his finger; an injury sustained while playing in Turkey. Here we thought the only competitive sport happening in Turkey was this season of The Challenge on MTV. Turns out Shump has been playing in Europe for the last decade. According to the article, Shumpert, his wife and two kids live in the Syracuse area. Anyone know where Deshaun Williams is?

Orange Cut Day: Ok, so this isn't fun, but its worth noting. In the past week, Johnny Flynn and "I'm Sorry" Rick Jackson have been released/cut from NBA teams. Andy Rautins is one of four players fighting for one position in Oklahoma City. Odds are, Andy is next to be gone. Donte Green isn't on a team as he rehabs from an injury. Rough stretch for a couple of guys that played together up on the Hill. Jackson and Rautins are who we thought they were, but man, imagine if Flynn and Green would have stayed in school for another year or two. Ahh, what could have been.

Return of the Onions

What happens when you are on an airplane for four and half hours, need a break from doing your "real" job (thank you wifi on Southwest!), and start seeing some tweets about college basketball media day? You rededicate yourself to your college basketball blog, that's what you do!

And then you go and post this song to get it stuck in everyone's head - throwback to high school anyone?



By the way, did you know that the Return of the Mack official video has 8,996,280 views on youtube? I have no bearing on whether or not this is super high or average. As reference, This is How We Do It by Montell Jordan has just over 9 million views, while Thong Song has over 17 mllion views. And that ladies and gentlemen, is how you work The Thong Song into a college basketball blog post.

Now, onto more pertinent information regarding some college hoops. Here are a few stories we are following (not breaking).

Sunk my aircraft carrier? Our beloved Syracuse Orange were set to square off against San Diego State on November 9th on the retired USS Midway aircraft carrier flight deck, which is docked in San Diego. This would be the second straight year a basketball game was being played on a aircraft carrier (last year it was UNC and Michigan State).
As of this morning, it looks like this game is in limbo. Apparently the fan fest, concert, and other tomfoolery around the event are all being canceled because the inability to find a national sponsor. Interesting since the game is just over a month away. I'm sure Ron Burgundy and Champ Kind will have more details as this story breaks.
It would be ironic if the game does get canceled though. Syracuse, who gets a bad rap for not playing outside the state of NY until January most seasons, tries to not only go across the country to play again, but they aren't even playing the game on land. Maybe its just not meant to be. Stay at the Dome, Jimmy B.

SI.com

Jabari Parker: The top ranked player in high school hoops since LeBron James happens to reside and play in Daily Onions backyard on the south side of Chicago. The Simeon High School (same as Derrick Rose) senior has narrowed down his list to five schools. Unfortunately for those fans of in-state schools, DePaul and Illinois are nowhere to be found. According to ESPN recruiting folks, Simeon coach Robert Smith said DePaul was the toughest school for Jabari to leave off the list. Wonder if Oliver Purnell and company can use that in their recruiting pitch..."We were #6 on Jabari's list!!"

The top 5 for Jabari looks like this (in no particular order): Stanford, Michigan State, Duke, BYU and Florida (no Kentucky, thank goodness...Calipari did get the Harrison twin brothers yesterday though, both ranked in the top 5 of the class of 2013). Parker and his family are Mormons, so that explains BYU. From all accounts, Jabari is a great kid all around, (check out this article on him from Sports Illustrated) including the classroom, to go along with his basketball ability. Would be pretty cool to see him go to a BYU or Stanford. My early prediction that doesn't mean a damn thing, Michigan State. I'm basing this on Tom Izzo make a couple of extra trips to Chicago during the season last year, just to sit court side and make eye contact with Jabari.

Butler heading East: You didn't think we were going to get through our first post of 2012-13 without mentioning Onions favorite Butler and Brad Stevens did you? Well the Dawgs are on their way to the Atlantic 10 this season. Stevens and company were at the Jay-Z Center in Brooklyn today for the conference media day. Butler has some high expectations this season (despite being picked to finish 6th in the league), after missing the NCAA tournament last year. They bring everyone important back except Ronald Nored (graduation) and Chrishawn Hopkins (dismissed from team). They also add 6-6 freshman guard Kellen Dunham (2-time All-State player in Indiana), as well as senior Rotnei Clark, who transferred from Arkansas. Clark is said to be one of the best shooters in the country. As he'll soon find out, the measurements in Hinkle Fieldhouse are the same as his court back at home ("10 feet........15 feet").

Happy Birthday! Shout out to Daily Onions loyal reader, my dad. He's celebrating his birthday today (October 5th) poolside or green-side down in Florida. Appreciate all the support, whether it was while I was on the basketball court, on the blogosphere, or life in general. Enjoy!

Winners and Losers of Sweet 16 Thursday

Half of the Elite 8 is set. Syracuse, Louisville, Ohio State and Florida advance. Daily Onions was 2-2 last night in our picks (Marquette and Michigan State). Let's see who else were winners and losers last night.

Fair busts out of slump vs. Wisco (pic: syracuse.com)

Winner: Basketball - Seems kind of simple, right? Well the game of basketball was a winner last night with the Syracuse and Wisconsin game. Whether you are a fan of Otto or Bucky, you HAD to enjoy watching that game last night. One of the best all around played games in a while by two teams in the tournament. You had the athleticism, length and uptemponess (new word) of Syracuse, against the smart, patient, sharpshooters from Wisconsin. The Badgers hit 14 3 pointers in the game, including a stretch of six in a row. But every time they made a run, Syracuse was able to bounce back and answer. Eventually, Wisconsin's shots weren't falling, thanks to Syracuse extending the zone and a little regression to the mean. One other note, good to have Brandon Triche and CJ Fair back doing their thing for the 'Cuse.

Loser: That Awful Camera Angle - Note to CBS and TBS, let's try and stay away from the over-the-court angle that makes you feel like you are even further from the action. Keep it simple.

Winner: Coaching Trees - Rick Pitino was one of Jim Boeheim's first assistants. Pitino then went on coach Billy Donovan at Providence (as well as a short stint with the Knicks). After working on Wall Street for a year, Donovan became an assistant for Pitino at Kentucky. Now, all three of these coaches are in the Elite 8, with Pitino and Donovan squaring off against each other in the West Regional Final.

Loser: Lesley Visser's Face in HD - We don't want to be disrespectful, but come on. Her face just isn't normal anymore, and it's actually frightening. I remember watching Visser as a sideline reporter when I was growing up. She was always solid. But I think it's time for her to hang up the microphone.

Louisville in Orange (pic: syracuse.com)

Winner: Orange - Congratulations to all the teams that wore Orange last night, as you were a winner. Syracuse defeated Wisconsin, Florida beat Marquette, and Louisville beat Michigan State.

Winner: Draymond Green - Yes, we know that Michigan State lost, but how can you not like this kid. Everybody loves Draymond. Classy kid on and off the court. Probably came into this season with a ceiling of being a very good college basketball player, and a quick flame out in the NBA. This year though, he led the Spartans from unranked to a number 1 seed in the NCAA tournament. Put Draymond Green on a perennial contender in the NBA and I think he becomes a solid contributor. It's been fun watching Green over the past few years. Too bad he didn't go to Duke...then Dick Vitale would have been comparing him to Derek Jeter all year long.

Loser: The State of Wisconsin - It was a rough night for all the cheese heads. Not only did Wisconsin fall to Syracuse in a heartbreaker, but Marquette couldn't hit an open shot and lost to Florida. We really liked Marquette this season, but if you don't make open shots you aren't going to win Sweet 16 games. Actually, if you do make open shots, you still might not win Sweet 16 games (see: Wisconsin).

Winner: Bill Raftery - Last but not least....this is obvious. Raftery was on point during the Syracuse - Wisconsin game. His greatest work came during Syracuse's first half run. There was a little lingerie on the deck after a Dion Waiters spin cycle. Then Waiters hit a high arching jumper, to which Raftery exclaimed, "It came down wet!" He then followed that up with a jab at a round Derrick Coleman (he was available?!) in the stands ("No Church League for that guy!"). See for yourself.

Swimming and Kicking at NCAA Tourney Open Practices

Prior to the Sweet 16 and Final 4 games, the NCAA hosts "open practices" to the public, where you can come in and watch the teams on the court for an hour or so. Don't expect to see what the team's gameplan will be, though. You mostly get lots of shooting drills, lots of fancy dunks in layup lines, maybe see the team run through a few sets, and barely see the coaches or players break a sweat. With that said, its cool for the fans to get a behind the scenes look at some top programs in the country.

The highlight of the open practice is the half-court shootout to end practice. All teams do it differently. It could be a nonchalant group of guys chucking it up from center court. Others will have two teams to see who can make more shots in a certain amount of time. During the season, Butler's basketball team (and you thought you wouldn't see them in a NCAA tourney post), finishes their day of game walk thru on the road with assistant coaches, radio guys, trainers, etc shooting from half court, with the players watching. Practice isn't officially over until someone makes it. Brad Stevens became a bit superstitious when he realized that when a certain staff member made it, the team would play poorly. Prior to the UIC game, that person wasn't allowed to shoot, and Butler won a few hours later.

Back to the Sweet 16 open practices. Two great videos below. The first is Marquette's head coach, Buzz Williams (who we have in the Final Four), sinking a half court shot and then doing his best Michael Phelps impersonation.

The next video doesn't come on a half court shot, but still pretty impressive. Syracuse walk-on Brandon Reese, who is listed at 5-11 (on two phone books), goes up for an alley-oop (impressive that he can get up that high), can't quite throw it down, but uses his foot to put the ball through the hoop. Check it out.


Less than nine hours away until the Sweet 16 tips off. In no particular order, here are our picks for the next round of games: Syracuse over Wisconsin (sending Bo Ryan to vacation in South Jersey), Michigan State over Louisville, Ohio State over Cincy, Marquette over Florida. Big East sends 2 of 4 teams to the Elite 8. Tomorrow night, we got Baylor over Xavier, UNC over Ohio, Kentucky over Indiana and Kansas over NC State. Yes, you can call us Chalky White.

(videos courtesy of muathletics and fizzfirst on youtube)

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.

The Big Easy: Southeast Region

Daily Onions gets a double word score for today's title, since the Southeast Regional final will be held in New Orleans, and it seems to be the simplest road to the Final Four for the top seeds. Here's our in-depth analysis of this region, with who we think will be headed to Houston in two and half weeks. 

Toughest First Round Match up: #8 Butler vs. #9 Old Dominion. If these two teams were playing anyone else, I'd bet that most people would have them both advancing. A battle of two of the best mid-majors in the country, Butler struggled for most of the season but put things together down the stretch and ended up winning the Horizon League. Old Dominion has won 14 of their last 15 games, and has stacked up SIX wins against this year's tournament field. As much as we hate to say it, Daily Onions is leaning ODU here.

Most Historical Matchup: #7 UCLA vs. #10 Michigan State. We've discussed Michigan State's problems all year long. It is March though, do you pick against them? Regardless of who wins this game, we think they'll be sent home by #2 Florida in Round 2. If it ends up being Florida and Michigan State, it will be a rematch of the 2000 Finals, in which the Spartans won.

Upset Special x 3: #11 Gonzaga (vs. #6 St. John's), #12 Utah State (vs. #5 Kansas State) and #13 Belmont (vs. #4 Wisconsin) are all higher seeds that could be trendy upset picks in this bracket. St. John's will be short-handed after losing DJ Kennedy in the Big East tournament, while Gonzaga is tournament tough, making their 87th straight Big Dance (13th, actually). Utah State has been ranked in the top 25 this year, won 30 games and has an RPI of 15. When they were announced as a 12 seed, they did not look happy about that. Might be leaning that way, instead of going with a hot and cold K-State team. We think Wisconsin, who is coming off a loss to Penn State in which they scored 33 points, will bounce back and take care of Belmont. Bo Ryan isn't ready to vacation in South Jersey just yet.

What Happens? We are going to go with Pittsburgh meeting Florida (who will end Jimmer Mania in the Sweet 16) in the Regional Final. Yes, we know that's very chalk-y, but get used to it. Game being played in New Orleans, Florida has the advantage and Pitt goes home w/o a trip to the Final Four once again.

Now that you've seen our picks for region, show us YOUR onions. Send us an email (jrsacks22@gmail.com) with your Elite 8, Final 4 and Championship game (winner) picks, or post them in the comments section!

State of the Onions Address

(From L-R) Raftery, Daily Onions, Johnson

Mr. Raftery, Mr. Johnson, Members of the College basketball community, distinguished guests, and fellow hoop fans:

Today I want to begin by congratulating the men of THE Ohio State University basketball team, as well as your stud freshman Jared Sullinger, for remaining undefeated with a dominating performance over Purdue last night. You truly showed us that you deserve to be ranked number 1 at this point in the season.

It's no secret that those of us reading this today are disappointed in Syracuse's performance last night. The debates over whether or not the Cuse is overrated have been contentious; Daily Onions has fought fiercely for our beliefs that Syracuse is a top tier team. And that's a good thing. That's what a robust fan base does.

But there's a reason Syracuse's three game losing streak has given us pause. Amid all the noise and passions of what team is the best in the Big East, Seton Hall reminded us that no matter who steps on the court on any given night, if you shoot over 60% from behind the arc, the Syracuse zone is in trouble. If your team comes out and sleepwalks through the first 20 minutes of the game, odds are you won't be victorious. Whether or not the Orange can break out of this funk will be back on display this Saturday in Milwaukee. At that point in time, with backs against the wall, we shall see what kind of resolve Coach Boeheim and his boys have.

At stake right now is not who wins the next game — after all, we have games every night. At stake is whether new teams in the top 5, like San Diego State and previously unknown players like Jimmer, make long runs in this upcoming March Madness. It's whether the hard work of mid-majors like Cleveland State, St. Mary's and Utah State is rewarded. It's whether we sustain the leadership from players that have stayed in school for four years, to make sure their school is not just a place on a map, but a team to be reckoned with come March.

That basketball world has changed. And for many, the change has been painful. Kansas State was once ranked in the top 5, and now they are a few games under .500 in Big 12 play. Michigan State has struggled all season, and just dismissed one of their best players from their team. Two other teams from last year's Final Four aren't even ranked right now. We've heard about this in the frustrations of fans who've seen their wins dwindle or their team pride disappear.

The idea of the college basketball season endures. Our destiny remains those three weeks in March. And today, more than five weeks away from Selection Sunday, it's because of our love for the game of basketball and our favorite teams, that our future is hopeful, our journey of a season goes forward, and the state of Daily Onions is strong.

Thank you. God bless you, and may God bless the next two months of the college basketball season. (Applause.)