a sporting word

I know I'm a day late in putting something together on the Orange-Big Red game last night, but I really needed some time to digest and accept what happened. After reviewing the contest a few times in my head and giving some thought to the various factors that contributed to SU's shaky performance, I've decided that it all boils down to one exchange between myself and my Dad while we sat in the stands, helpless to change what was unfolding before us. I said, "If they keep this up, they'll be losing a lot of games this year." His answer? "Yep. I think so too."

Unfortunately, we weren't talking about Cornell.

In case you missed it, Syracuse barely edged the Ivy League's perennial second-place finisher last night, 67-62. For a contest in which the winner was decided several months ago, when Jimmy B. and his fellow Coaches vs. Cancer Tournament (now the 2K Sports Tournament) organizers set the brackets, this game was much too close for comfort. Halfway through the second half, Cornell actually led the 2003 National Champions by 4 points and were outplaying the 16th ranked Orange on both ends of the court. SU looked lost on offense, often spending entire possessions endlessly tossing the ball around the 3-point arc, only to eventually chuck up one of the 18 jumpshots they missed from that distance. As a team they finished the game 1 for 19 from 3-point territory - the single good one coming from Demetrius Nichols, 20 seconds after tip-off for the team's first 3 points of the game. SU actually went more than 39 minutes without a 3 point shot last night, as Nichols eventually finished 1 for 7 and McNamara 0 for 10. It was the first time in 50 games that Gerry failed to hit a trey, and it wasn't pretty.

Prior to the game I had a discussion with the Dad of previous mention and my man Fast Eddie, who was also at the game. Fast Eddie and I were contending that McNamazing would find a spot on an NBA team next year, making the usual comparisons to John Paxson, Scott Skiles and Steve Kerr. My Dad, however, felt that yes, Gerry's great, but no, he isn't an NBA player. He told us that the days of the short, spot-up jumpshooter have passed in America, and we'd have to find a way to order European television if we want to see #3 play next year. Last night, though, Gerry proved father-knows-best to be incorrect. In fact, last night, Gerry McNamara played not as if he were a lowly NBA bench player, but an NBA MVP! G-Mac will play in the NBA, if only for the simple reason that he is able to do a dead-on Allen Iverson impersonation.

Both Iverson and McNamara played last night, helping their teams to victory. Since the statistics are readily available, let's do the comparison:

Iverson (Philly wins, 112-97): 25 pts, 8-21 FG (38%), 9-11 FT (82%), 3 reb, 7 assists, 4 turnovers in 38 minutes.

McNamara (Cuse wins, 67-62): 17 pts, 2-14 FG (14%), 13-14 FT (93%), 4 reb, 5 assists, 2 turnovers in 39 minutes.


Hell, give Gerry another 7 shots like Iverson, and I'm sure he could've come up with 25 points or so. Those are the kind of stats that make stars!

That 2 for 14 stat is correct, by the way, though it will hopefully be the last time we have to read something that horrid from the team's best shooter. The fact is that McNamara just had a terribly off night. He said after the game that his shots felt good, only they weren't dropping, and from what I could see, he was right. Many of the ten 3's he took rattled around the rim before spinning out, usually shots he manages to sink. The ball just wasn't falling the way it should have for the Orange, which allowed Cornell to stay in the game (they were right on, dropping 11 threes at 48%). During one 10 minute span towards the end of the second half, Syracuse looked confused on their own court. They knew that the shots weren't falling, and the whole team seemed unsure of how to act against Cornell's defense, who had dropped into a zone because they also knew that SU wasn't able to hit anything at that point. During this time, it looked like the upcoming season would be defined by the loss of Hakim Warrick, who was able to counter any zone defenses in the past by literally jumping over double teams to score whenever Gerry got cold.

Eventually, though, Boeheim made a great move and substituted Rookie of the Year Eric Devendorf into the game for Future Sixth Man of the Year Louie McCroskey. Devendorf looked unsure at first, hesitating when he got the ball and seeming ill-prepared to shoot. After a few trips up and down the floor, though, the freshman absolutely took over the game and delivered the win. Terrence Roberts may have gotten the MVP of the regional (which he deserved, considering his 19pts and career-high 14 rebounds vs Cornell), but Devendorf was the reason for last night's comeback victory. On three of four consecutive plays, Devendorf got the ball on the perimeter and drove to the basket, leaving 3 Cornell players in his wake each time. He single-handedly busted the Big Red zone, getting inside with his dribble and making difficult lay-ins to create and expand the Syracuse lead. He scored 6 points on the night - all of them with under 5:30 remaining, and all of them at crucial moments when the team was faltering elsewhere. Though he looked unsure of himself at first, he played with confidence just in time to send the crowd home without any embarassment.

If Syracuse continues to play this way, though, my Dad and I will be right to say they'll lose more often than usual. The defense is solid and the young players are stellar, but these Orangemen need to shoot to win. The team is built to play around McNamara, and he is going to have to shoot better than Mr. Iverson to rack up the wins. Hopefully, by the time next Thursday arrives his shot will feel good and look good, or else they'll be leaving the Garden without a second MVP trophy for Terrence.

# posted by eric boye @ 5:47 PM 1 comments

The Syracuse Orange opened the 2005-06 basketball season with an exhibition against Division II Saint Rose. The unofficial line on the unofficial game gave SU a 30 point edge. Syracuse managed to win by a bit less, 86-73, despite some sloppy play and Jim Boeheim being ejected for the first time in his career as a Hall of Fame head coach.

Yes, you read it right - Jim Boeheim was ejected from an exhibition.


This is how it went down: the referees for the game treated the contest as it was on paper: a game that didn't really matter. On several occasions during the first half, both Saint Rose and Syracuse got away with blatant hacks that were visible to each of the 6,650 people in attendance. The refs would make a call here and there, but it seemed like they were just waiting for the whole thing to be over so they could collect their paychecks and go home. Apparently, this kind of performance from those in charge of the players' well-being was a bit irksome to Boeheim. After a no-call during a play in which a Josh Wright lay-up was broken up by a whack to the forearm (accompanied by a audible slapping noise) the SU coach decided he was going to voice his opinion to referee Pat Driscoll. It was clear that Driscoll wanted nothing of the coach's complaints during an exhibition match in which he was leading by nearly 20 points, and he gave Boeheim a technical foul for his words from the bench. The foul only made the head coach more upset, though, and he refused to relent in his criticism. After the second foul shot was made, referee Mike Kitts gave Boeheim a second technical, resulting in ejection. Boeheim left the court to a standing ovation, which was then followed by continuous booing until the refs left for halftime.

Here's what I think happened: Boeheim, after watching the referees make their series of no-calls throughout the first half, became frustrated with their lack of effort in a game he believed they weren't taking seriously. Then, once Terrence Roberts was benched due to a knee injury, Boeheim decided that the referees' ambivalence would not only affect the outcome of the game, but possibly his players' health as well. The coach made his feelings known after the obvious no-call that should have given two free throws to Wright, only to be given the technical foul. Upon arguing his case further, one of the refs tried to remind Boeheim that the game was "only an exhibition" and he shouldn't get bent out of shape over something that doesn't count anyway. Somehow, I think an exchange like that just might prompt a never-ejected coach to use a few extra words not usually recommended by the NCAA. Result? Coach banished, referees win.

Otherwise, the game was fairly uneventful. The play on the court was out of synch at times, which is to be expected during a game in which the coaches used 87 different 5 man combinations in order to discover if any of the players mesh well together. The team shot 44% and committed 20 turnovers, though Boeheim contends that the scorekeeper was being nice to the freshmen and not including all of them in the final total. They also only outrebounded the Golden Knights 45-41, a small margin when playing against a team whose tallest player had to look up to see Darryl Watkins' Adam's apple. The Orange generally looked like they need more time to learn what kind of a team they are going to be this year. At no point during the game were there 5 players on the floor who had all played together simultaneously last year. Even while running in the open court - well ahead of any Golden Knight - they didn't seem to know where their teammates were located. Several opportunities were missed because of passes that were thrown offline or bounced when they should have been lobbed. Of course, by the end of the season these kinds of misunderstandings will be sorted out as players learn more about each others' tendencies.

Really, the point of the game for me was to see if Eric Devendorf can really play, if Gerry can lead with efficiency, if Roberts is going to step up and whether or not Watkins' new haircut will help him in the intimidation department. Boeheim used the assumed veteran starters for the game: McNamara, Louie McCroskey, Demetrius Nichols, Roberts, and Watkins. Those five lasted together for about 5 minutes until Wright and Devendorf were brought in to see which one will be suitable enough to replace McCroskey in the lineup, as one inevitably will do so by the end of the month. Both played well - they have different styles, but they proved themselves early on. Within about 25 seconds of stepping onto an NCAA court in front of a crowd of fans for the first time, Eric Devendorf drained a 3 pointer as if he had been doing it for 3 years, then he hustled back down the floor to get into defensive position. He struggled at times in traffic on defense, as he ended the game with 4 personal fouls, but overall the game was a good start to his efforts to become freshman of the year: 7 points, 3 rebounds. Josh Wright played with poise throughout the evening, showing his speed at the appropriate times and passing with flair, collecting 6 assists. On one occasion, Wright scooped up a loose ball near the top of the key, wrapped it around his waist from right to left, and held it with his right hand behind his back for McNamara to take an open 3, which would have properly accentuated the play had he made it. Both of the young guards looked smooth in transition, while McCroskey tended to lose control and tried to do too much when he had the ball in his hands. Louie finished with 9 pts. and 7 rebounds, but just didn't seem to be as active in the game as his younger counterparts.

McNamazing had a very easy 29 points in 33 minutes to lead all scorers, hitting all 14 of his free throws and picking up 6 assists to go with 5 steals and 2 blocks (yes - that's how short St. Rose is). He seemed in control of the team at all times while on the floor, and didn't even have to bring his best game. After tonight I started letting thoughts of Big East Player of the Year scamper through my head. I quickly squashed them, not wanting to be disappointed in the end. Darryl Watkins was dominating on defense, as he should have been, blocking 9 shots and scoring 10 points on the other end (when was the last time we expected at least 10 points each night from the center postion? It is going to be so great to finally know that the biggest guy on the court can actually score more than twice, not to mention take care of the jump balls. I may never get over the fact that we had a 7 foot, 96 pound screen setter with alligator arms starting in the post for 4 full years....what the heck was that, anyway? I am definitely guilty of defending Craig Forth on several occasions from 2001 to 2005, but I now believe I had to be fairly intoxicated while doing it.)

The surprise of the night to me, though, came in the form of Demetrius Nichols. DeNick was nasty on both ends of the floor. He finished as the team's second best player, putting up 13 points and leading with 8 rebounds. He played the old Hakim role in breaking the press throughout the game, and he seemed to be involved in more plays than he wasn't. I was truly impressed by Mr. Nichols this evening. By the second half, he even had me wondering if I was wrong to brand him as a non-starter next year. I'm sure this type of performance can't last - he's bound to start tossing up blindfolded 3's by December - but at least he had one (unofficial) game to look like he belongs in his position.

You may have noticied that I mentioned a Terrence Roberts knee injury earlier in this post. You may also have noticied that I don't really want to discuss the implications of said injury.

Instead, we'll just assume that he was acting in solidarity with his coach by protesting the game and sitting on the bench with a feigned grimace on his face. Right now he's showing everyone on the team his acting chops, laughing while he rewinds and replays the film footage in which he saves a ball from going out of bounds and lands a bit funny on that right leg...

# posted by eric boye @ 11:03 PM 0 comments