November 01, 2005
it's just an exhibition, coach!
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...
