Heavyweight Week - Top Ten Matchups Highlight College Basketball

If last week was "Feast Week," according to ESPN's marketing department, because of the great games/lineup in the Maui Invitational (along with that whole Thanksgiving holiday thing), then Daily Onions is dubbing this week "Heavyweight Week." Think about it, the only suitable follow up to a week of feasting, is a week of being a heavyweight.

Actually, "Heavyweight Week" references the all the Top 10 match ups that we have this week. Last night's hyped up game (no, not Syracuse vs. Eastern Michigan), featured #2 Ohio State vs. #4 Duke. Not sure we can even say Duke was there though. After dropping behind the Buckeyes 11-0 to start the game, the Blue Devils were able to get back into the game to make it close halfway through the first half. From that point on, it was ALL (and I mean all) Ohio State. A few thoughts from the game:

-Austin Rivers crossover.....oh my. Quickest since.....Iverson? D. Rose? Man, that thing is impressive. He's got a decent jumper too. With that said, let's remember, Rivers has only played 7 college basketball games. Still lots to be learned.

Aaron Craft arguably the best PG in the country (Pic: US Presswire/SI.com)

-Sullinger, Buford, Craft and.....Deshaun Thomas (who?): We all knew Ohio State would depend on their big three of Sullinger, Buford and Craft. We rode the Buckeyes hard last year, and then Sullinger and mostly Buford pulled the disappearing act in their Sweet 16 loss to Kentucky.  These two (Sullinger 21, Buford 17) along with Craft (17 and 8 assists) were on top of their games on Tuesday night, and it was a bit of a coming out party for sophomore Deshaun Thomas. Check out the 6-7 swingman's line: 8-12 from the field, 2-4 from 3, 18 points and 5 rebounds. Thomas now averaging 12 points a game on the season. He'll be key for the Buckeyes, who try to replace the scoring of David Lighty and  Jon Diebler.

-I think I heard Dick Vitale cheating on Duke a bit, as he praised Sullinger and Buford throughout the night.

-LeBron James and Dwyane Wade were in attendance for the big game as well. LeBron was comfortable being there, since there isn't a 4th quarter in college basketball games (heyoooooo).

-One more thought on Duke: They are really going to miss Nolan Smith and Kyle Singler. Rivers is the only player on that team can create his own shot, and he isn't really a distributor yet. Curry is deadly from outside, but Ryan Kelly, the Plumlees, etc shouldn't really scare people.

With last night's game being a bit of a dud. We'll hope the rest of the marquee match ups live up to the hype.

Tonight: #9 Wisconsin vs. #5 UNC - The Tar Heels were anointed the head and shoulders favorite coming into this season, but have been knocked off their pedestal after a loss to UNLV in Vegas over the weekend. Harrison Barnes has a slightly injured ankle coming into tonight's game. UNC's Kendall Marshall is one of the best PG's in the country (from a getting teammates involved standpoint), but is a liability on defense. It will be interesting to see if he can match up with Wisconsin's preseason All-American Jordan Taylor. Daily Onions is a fan of freshman P.J. Hairston (McDonald's All-American last year), who leads the team in 3-point percentage and can get to the rim as well. We also like what we saw from junior guard Dexter Strickland against UNLV. Look for him to be a spark for the Heels tonight.

Friday: #4 Syracuse vs. #10 Florida - By far the toughest test for the Orange thus far this season. They needed to comeback wins in NYC last week to beat Virginia Tech and Stanford. Besides those games, they've handled the likes of Colgate, Eastern Michigan, Albany, Manhattan, etc. Will be interesting to see what Jim Boeheim does with Rakeem Christmas, Michael Carter Williams, and even James Sutherland. In tight games w/ Tech and Stanford, Boeheim tightened his rotation (as we've seen over the years) to 7 guys (Joseph, Scoop, Waiters, Triche, Fair, Fab, and Keita). Florida, whose only defeat this year was a seven point loss at Ohio State (ask Duke if its tough to play there). Last year, many people thought the Gators were a year away from being a contender. Well, now we're here. Keep your eye on freshman Bradley Beal, who hit 5 three pointers last time out. Throw in Kenny Boynton in the backcourt, the Gators will be ready to chomp (too easy) on the 'Cuse 2-3 zone.

UK's Davis (Kentucky.com)

Saturday: #5 UNC vs. #1 Kentucky - UNC took a little air out of this matchup after losing to UNLV. A loss tonight to Wisconsin would raise even more questions about Roy Williams' squad. Kentucky once again is stacked with freshman. Their starting five, which includes three freshmen, all average in double figures. Anthony Davis, from Chicago, might be the number 1 pick in the NBA Draft next year. Sophomores Terrence Jones and Doron Lamb (leading the team in scoring this year) add some experience for the Cats this season, who have already beaten Kansas by ten two weeks ago. Before they get UNC, Kentucky hosts St. John's on Thursday.

Daily Onions picks for Heavyweight Week: UNC over Wisconsin, Cuse over Florida and Kentucky over UNC.

***Now you can get Daily Onions posts delivered to your email inbox! In the upper right hand corner, type in your email address and a new blog entry will be emailed to you once it is posted. Thanks for reading! *** 

No Money, No Problem

If you've been a loyal reader over the past 11 and a half months, you'll know a few things about Daily Onions: We bleed Syracuse Orange, we love college basketball and we've become enamored with the Butler basketball program, more specifically their coach Brad Stevens (still waiting for my chance to do a flying chest bump with him). Did this affection start when the Dawgs ruined Syracuse's National Championship hopes in the NCAA tournament Sweet 16 in 2010? Maybe, but let's not talk about the game anymore.

Stevens and Butler have their eyes set on a 3rd straight Final Four appearance

Last night on HBO's Real Sports with Bryant Gumbel, they profiled Stevens and his accomplishments over the past 4 seasons at Butler. Everyone knows about the back to back National Championship game appearances. But what you might not realize, is that in his first four seasons as a head coach, Stevens has the most wins in NCAA history during that time. Coach K's first four years, Jim Boeheim's first four years, Calipari, Pitino, Knight, Huggins, etc, none of them had more wins in their first four years as a head coach.

Its been well documented that Butler is the small, bare bones, Indiana basketball school right out of the movie Hoosiers. Their home court, Hinkle Field House, was built 83 years ago (83!) right before the Great Depression in 1928.

The most interesting and unbelievable piece of last night's story was when Stevens was asked about Butler's recruiting budget. It was estimated that Butler men's basketball program spent about $73,000 on recruiting in 2010 (a number in which Stevens called a bit inflated). Let's compare that number to the teams that Butler played in the National Championship game the past two years, Duke and UConn.  In 2010, Coach K and the Blue Devils spent over $900,000, while UConn spent close to $525,000 (and Jim Calhoun isn't giving back one dime of that).

Duke spends 13 times as much on recruiting as Butler does, yet the Dawgs have ended up in the final game in the past two seasons (a couple inches away from beating Duke in 2010).

Hinkle Field House in Indianapolis (pic:Butler Athletics)

Stevens says that its all about recruiting the kids that will become the players you want them to be in college, as well as getting kids that will play with 'moxy' (his words). When asked if he thinks Butler can get back to the final game for an unprecedented third time in a row, Stevens says its all about winning the next game, winning the next play.

One of the next times that Butler steps on the court, December 3rd against Valpo to be exact, Daily Onions will be there in person, getting its first look in person experience at Hinkle Field House. If given the opportunity, you can guarantee we'll try to measure the height of the rim (10 feet) and the distance to the foul line (15 feet), since Hinkle has "the exact same measurements as our gym in Hickory."

***Now you can get Daily Onions posts delivered to your email inbox! In the upper right hand corner, type in your email address and a new blog entry will be emailed to you once it is posted. Thanks for reading! ***

Syracuse Community Reacts to Allegations Against Bernie Fine

I’ve been a Syracuse fan since I was in the 4^th grade. If my math is correct (was a Communications major, so bear with me), I’ve been bleeding Orange for almost 21 years. My Syracuse fandom can legally drink alcohol now.           

There is no question that I am passionate about my alma mater (class of 2003), always quick to highlight the accomplishments of our athletic programs or the success of our alumni.I had the privilege of covering the football, basketball and lacrosse teams while in school, and was sitting court side when Syracuse cut down the nets in New Orleans.

When the allegations against Bernie Fine were released last night, my phone lit up with calls, texts and tweets from friends, fellow alum and anyone else that could connect me to Syracuse. After 10 days of nonstop Penn State media coverage, I think many of us had in the back of our mind, “I’m glad this isn’t my school.”  Well now it is my school. I am sickened by the allegations, and the content of the victims’ stories are unimaginable.

With that said, I’m proud of how Syracuse University has handled this situation (thus far). From the school releasing a statement within an hour of news hitting the wires, to putting Fine on administrative leave while this gets hashed out, to Chancellor Nancy Cantor writing a thoughtful letter to the Syracuse community stating they (administration) are not afraid to “shine a harsh light on its athletics program.”

When Bobby Davis (alleged victim) brought his story to ESPN in 2003, the sports network decided not to run the story because it didn’t have any other witnesses or individuals to confirm his story. With police not able to investigate the situation because of the statute of limitations, Syracuse University launched its own four-month investigation into the allegations. Davis brought other individuals to the school that would help support his claims, yet none of those stories checked out.

Bernie Fine in the middle of sexual abuse allegations (Pic: Post Standard)

From what we know, Syracuse has done everything right to date and as an alum, that’s what you like to see. The next 24-48 hours should paint a better picture to what claims are factual and which are false.

If you ask Jim Boeheim his thoughts on these allegations, he’s not holding back. Calling these claims “a bunch of a thousand lies,” saying that Davis “is lying,” mentioning that the timing of this story is “suspicious” and believing that the two alleged victims are looking for money, Boeheim is laying his neck on the line for his long time assistant coach.

My thoughts on Boeheim’s comments are two fold: Either he knows that there is no way these allegations are true, so he is coming out strong to try and show that; or he thinks that if these allegations are going to bring down him and the program, he is going to go down swinging.

Personally, I would be shocked if Boeheim made those comments last night without knowing to the fullest extent that the claims are just not factual. If the allegations do end up being true, then I will be extremely disappointed that a man as smart as Jim Boeheim would have tried to cover up an unthinkable crime, especially in light of the events at Penn State involving Joe Paterno.

So if you are asking my thoughts on this whole situation as a an alum of Syracuse, I’ll tell you that I am proud of the way the school has handled its business thus far. They’ve been proactive, transparent and have made it clear that no one’s legacy or stature is bigger than this investigation.

If and when the truth comes out, if it shows that Syracuse University, Jim Boeheim or Bernie Fine are at fault, well then you can check back for my updated thoughts then.

***Now you can get Daily Onions posts delivered to your email inbox! In the upper right hand corner, type in your email address and a new blog entry will be emailed to you once it is posted. Thanks for reading! ***

DaJuan Coleman: Syracuse Looking for the Man in the Middle

Coleman, from nearby Jamesville-Dewitt, is headed to 'Cuse in 2012 (Picture: Syracuse Post Standard)

With DaJuan Coleman's decision to attend Syracuse last week (beating out Kentucky and Ohio State), the Orange not only catapulted into a Top 10 recruiting class for 2012, but they also might have secured a dominant true center, something they've been searching for for a long time.

Coleman checks in at 6-10, 280 lbs, (for sake of comparison, Ohio State's super sophomore Jared Sullinger is listed at 6-9, 280) making him a true center in ever sense of the position. With the Fab Melo experience entering its second year, we should get a better sense of just how good he can be, or whether or not we need to move our hope in the middle to Coleman (Fab did look good in last night's exhibition against Cal State - LA, with 12 pts, 8 rebounds and 2 blocks).

With Fab's ceiling still unknown, and Coleman coming in next season, we started thinking when was the last time, Syracuse had a dominant center? Let's look back at the last 15 years.

• On the cusp of the 15 year time frame we had the '96 final four team, that had three headed monster of John Wallace, Otis Hill and J.B. Reafsnyder  in the middle. With Wallace playing all over the court, Hill being more of a undersized four, and JB being a guy that rocked an undershirt and a pair of knee braces, we don't have that dominant post player here.
• Next it was Etan Thomas. A first team All-Big East selection his senior year, and back-to-back Big East Defensive Player of the Year Awards, Thomas ended his career averaging 11 points, 6.9 rebounds and 3.4 blocks per game. Great on the defensive end of the court, solid on offense. The fact that he has also been a definition journeyman center in the NBA can tell you that he was a pretty damn good big man.
• After Etan, Syracuse had a combination of Jeremy McNeil, Billy Celuck and Craig Forth. Here's what we can tell you about McNeil, who had the affectionate nickname of "Big Perm": his favorite movie back in 2002 was Training Day (insider information gained thanks to having a class together junior year), Boeheim enjoyed throwing him back as the last line of defense in the Syracuse press, giving him free reign to try and block or foul everythig that came near him, and he played a huge role in Syracuse's epic win over Pitt at the Dome in 2003. A follow up tip dunk and two crucial free throws led to my second and final court storming of my college career.
• Not sure how many words to spend on Celuck. Let's put it this way. You had a better chance of seeing him at Lucy's or 44's than seeing him make a difference in the middle. With that said, he started numerous times and got decent minutes during the 2000-01 season.
• Forth, who started every game of his four year career (136 for 136). He has a National Championship, regular season Big East Title, and three NCAA tournament trips. Known for his sometimes stone hands, and being one of the best all-around student athletes you'll ever meet, Forth was a local kid (Albany) who had a solid college, accomplished career.
  
• Terrence Roberts and Daryl Watkins held down the lane for the Orange the next three years, which included two first round NCAA tournament losses and an NIT berth. Roberts, who came from St. Anthony's in New Jersey, was an athletic as heck power forward who never really lived up to the hype. Watkins was a raw, big body who, all things considered, had decent junior and senior year seasons averaging 8 points and 7 rebounds each year.
• Give credit to Arinze Onuaku and Rick Jackson. For what they lacked in size and athleticism, they made up for it with good posts moves and they could both score with their back to the basket. Onuaku's unfortunate injury in the Big East Tournament in 2010 led to him missing NCAA tournament games, including the Orange's heartbreaking loss to Butler in the Sweet 16, when they Cuse was one of the favorites to go to the Final Four. Jackson also had is post season struggles. Despite being a double-double machine his senior season, he was held to 7 points and 4 rebounds when the Orange were bounced in Round 2 of the NCAA tournament last year.
• Syracuse now has another three-headed monster in the middle, with Melo as a true center (7-0 and a slim-downed 244 lbs), Baye Keita (a long, athletic and raw 6-10, 213 - get this man some food), and freshman Rakeem Christmas (more of an athletic power forward at 6-9 - unless he grows back the "gumby" he rocked in high school). 

All signs are pointing to Fab being primed for a breakout sophomore season: he's in better shape, he's got a year of experience under his belt and it seems like he's having more fun thus far this year. If Fab is able to have a breakout year, that's fantastic - it makes next year's outlook even better. If he struggles again though, Syracuse at least can look forward to the potential of DC 2.0.

***Now you can get Daily Onions posts delivered to your email inbox! In the upper right hand corner, type in your email address and a new blog entry will be emailed to you once it is posted. Thanks for reading! ***

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.

College Basketball is Back! (Kind of)

A wise man once said, "I don't know if it will make any change, but I figure its time for me to start playing ball." That wise man was Jimmy Chitwood. And in the spirit of Jimmy, Hoosiers and basketball, Daily Onions doesn't know if it will make any change, but we figure its time for us to start writing about basketball.

Check out video of Jimmy Chitwood Gettin' Back into the Game

With the official kickoff of college basketball season (practices at least) tonight with "Midnight Madness", Daily Onions takes a look at what's on tap for the upcoming season:

1. Preseason Rankings!! We actually wrote about how stupid preseason rankings were last year in December after Harrison Barnes, a preseason 1st Team All-American before he even put on the baby blue Tar Heel uniform, struggled out of the gate, and UConn, the eventual National Champion catapulted to #9 a few weeks into the season, after being left out of the Top 25 preseason poll. This season's Top 5 Preseason Poll looks like this:

• UNC: Harrison Barnes, Kyler Zeller, John Henson, Kyle Marshall all return. That should be enough. Throw in two McDonald All-Americans....the early favorite to win it all and run the table.  
• Kentucky: Terrence Jones surprised everyone and came back to school, along with Doron Lamb (the 2nd best Lamb in college bball), and Darius Miller. Coach Cal, the snake oil salesman, also brings in the two of the best freshman in the country in Anthony Davis (Chicago) and Michael Gilchrist (NJ). Good combo of NJ and Chicago there.
• UConn: The Defending Champs bring back Jeremy Lamb, the little brother of Daily Onions loyal reader, Ramy. He joins one of our favorite big man underclassmen from last year, Alex Oriakhi, along with Shabazz Nappier, Roscoe Smith, and Tyler "White" Olander. Stud newcomer Andre Drummond will help as well.
• Syracuse: Oh, no (Cuse is in the House). High expectations for the Orange this year? That can't be good for the Cuse faithful. Everyone's favorite PG to hate, Scoop Jardine is back to run the show. All reports say that Scoop had a great summer at various camps and a stint w/ Team USA. Let's hope he learned how to be smart with the ball. The Cuse also returns Kris Joseph, who was picked as a 1st Team All-American. And that's right there is why we talk about how preseason rankings don't mean anything. We love Joseph, but a 1st Team All-American?!? Prove me wrong, Kris. Rounding things out for the Cuse are Brandon Triche, CJ Fair (Daily Onions Favorite), Dion Waiters (hopefully with a new attitude), Fab Melo, Baye Moussa Keita, James Southerland, Mookie Jones, Andy Rautins, Otis Hill.......right, you get it. The Orange return a lot. They also bring in 2 McDonalds All-Americans in Rakeem Christmas (lots of puns coming your way) and Michael Carter Williams. Trevor Cooney is another frosh, who folks are hoping can light the Dome up from outside.
• Ohio State University: No THE this year for OSU. Since we picked them to win it all, and they decided to bounce in the Sweet 16, you get no love from Daily Onions....for now. Once we see that large backside of Jared Sullinger (he actually slimmed down, though), I'm sure we'll rekindle the love. William Buford and Aaron Craft important returners for the Buckeyes.
• Duke: Yes, we can count. Duke is #6. Quick thought on the Blue Devils. They have arguably the best freshman in Austin Rivers, they return guards Seth Curry and Andre Dawkins, and now have three, yes THREE Plumlee brothers (not that that means anything). We are very excited to see Austin Rivers play. When we saw him at the McDonald's All-American game, we called him "Steph Curry with a little more pop".....whatever that means.

2. Basketball: Yep, it's that simple. The fact that basketball will be played is a huge thing to look forward to. With no NBA season in sight, the youngsters will have center stage, and that will be awesome. Throw in the fact that the greatest basketball conference ever assembled, The Big East, will be playing one of its final seasons (could be final, could have one or two more) as the dominant conference, culminating with the basketball orgy that is the Big East Tournament in March. Man, are we going to miss that tournament.

3. Road Trippin': While the schedule Gods did not grace us with a Big E Hoops Weekend Round 2 scenario, Daily Onions is planning on hitting the road to catch lots of games in person this season. We'll catch the Cuse at Notre Dame in January, we are taking a trip to see Brad Stevens and Hinkle Field House for a Butler game, we'll see what Big East teams roll through the Windy City to play DePaul, and will be sure to catch some Big Ten action up in Evanston. In short, we love college basketball, and we can wait to watch it....as I am sure that goes for the First Lady of Daily Onions as well.

With that said, in order to live up to our Jimmy Chitwood promise, we'll be posting weekly leading up to the start of the season, and then will get things going a bit more from there. We are only 9 posts away from 100, so we'll be sure to have a HUGE celebration commemorating some of our favorites from the first 100, and previewing what the second hundred have in store.

Thanks for reading, and here's to a great college basketball season.

###

Syracuse in the Eye of Conference Realignment Hurricane

There aren't many things that could bring Daily Onions out of hibernation before the start of the college basketball season. However, there are a few things...in no particular order:

• A face to face meeting with Daily Onions favorite Brad Stevens
• Winning a contest that allows us to go to the Final Four the next 10 years
• Daily Onions being bought by a huge sports website
• A monumental move that changes the landscape for Syracuse and Big East Athletics.

We really wish we were writing about one of the first three items on that list. But instead it looks as if Syracuse, one of the founding members of the Big East Conference back in 1979, is packing its bags and heading to the ACC.

Our initial reaction, as you would expect from a life-long fan and alum of Syracuse, is anger, disgust and sadness. While football is obviously driving this decision, we immediately turn our thoughts to the effect on Syracuse basketball. Let's think about the potential changes we'll see:

• Long-time rivalries with Georgetown and UConn, become yearly matchups with Wake Forest and Virginia (yes, as well as Duke and UNC....still, not the same).
• The Big East Tournament every March at Madison Square Garden turns into a trip to Greensboro, NC...I hear its lovely in early March.
• At least 4-5 games on ESPN's Big Monday, with Sean McDonough, Jay Bilas and Bill Raftery calling the game, the obvious best team of college basketball announcers in the business. We'll now have to endure Mike Patrick and Dick Vitale making out with each other on the air while talking about how good Duke is.

It's obvious that Big East die-hards and traditionalists are disappointed with this move. However, with conference realignment such a fluid situation (seems like you sound smarter if you say something is "fluid"), this could be a case of Syracuse making a proactive move to ensure that they aren't "standing up when the music stops" (credit to 'Cuse fan @cbombard for that analogy).

Hurricane Realignment headed straight for Big East

We'll take it one step further. Conference realignment is a hurricane, and it is coming straight for the Big East. Syracuse Athletic Director Daryl Gross gets a call that says "if you know what's good for you, evacuate now." The storm is coming, and you are better off getting to a safer place now because we don't know how bad this could get.

How bad could it get for the Big East? Well, there might not BE a Big East (somewhere Mike Tranghese is crying). With rumors of four super conferences emerging - Pac12, Big 10, SEC and ACC - said hurricane could take out what we all once knew as the Big East.

If Syracuse ignores the evacuation warning, and like a stubborn homeowner on the east coast in the eye of the storm, says "I built this place, I'm not going anywhere," they could end up standing on the roof of their house waiting for someone to rescue them. If Syracuse waits to long, there might not be anyone coming to pick them up.

We're not quite ready to embrace this potential change, and it will indeed take some time to get used to it. But if this hurricane is as bad as it could be, we should be glad Syracuse got out before it was too late.