Saturday, February 27, 2010

WE'RE NUMBER 1!

Cuse 95



Wildcats 77!







What a game.



What an atmosphere.



What a Night!





2 top 10 teams going at it always provides an entertaining show. and this one was no exception. Just look at what was on the line heading in:






-Big East Regular Season Title



-1 seed in the BET



-1 seed in the NCAA tourney perhaps?



and best of all, what lucky fan was going to get an up close and personal view of this?






All Together now.....



The answer to that by the way, was a fan who happened to pay 35 dollars to sit at the other end of the carrier dome. i guess you could say in the end he had the best view in the building.

getting to the highlights....

5 things i liked about tonight's game

  1. the atmosphere. tonight just totally cemented our place as possibly the greatest fanbase in all of collegiate basketball. nearly 35,000 fans taking in a regular season game at an on campus arena, even going so far as to pay 35 bucks to sit in the sticks? now that's special. The return of the dome ranger was a definite plus as well, lets keep him full time. 45 year old men with 2 knee braces know how to get the job done.
  2. The ball movement. They've been unselfish all year, but this night was truly special. Andy rautins had at least 8 assists, 6 players were in double figures, and the fast break they ran late in the game couldnt have been done much better. the ball barely hit the deck from the time rautins touched it to the time jackson finished with the easy lay-in at the other end. simply unreal.
  3. Scoop's composure. scoop's been streaky ever since he arrived in the salt city, and came up huge down the stretch to help the orange pull away. 1 turnover between him and triche in the 2nd half is just a sight to behold.
  4. The zone was at it's best tonight. great hands, great traps, great pressure. the cats shot the ball well early, but eventually the pace of the game starts to whither a team's ability to shoot consistently from the perimeter particularly when the shots are contested.
  5. WE'RE NUMBER 1!

No negatives tonight.

It's good to be back!

on second thought....

no good, with 34,000 of us at the game, probably wouldnt be very constructive to have one.
gamethread is at nunes/magician as always. entertain us with your sob stories about how you didnt get tickets either.

Quick, Hide the children!


......Awkward.
i can't say i trust digger phelps anymore after seeing this picture.

chat tonight?

if video feed allows. check back here in a few hours.

Wednesday, February 3, 2010

MC Huggins?

Anyone with two eyes, two ears and an ability to watch sportscenter knows what happened tonight at west virginia.




Never before have i seen an old white man spontaneously grab the mic and excite people this quickly. Get Huggy some hammer pants!

stop.....

HUGGINS TIME!

Yeah.... forgot about this wonderful snappy.

Wednesday, January 20, 2010

Mikhail Marinovich

... is engaged.





you heard it here first.



best wishes from all of us on a happy, healthy marriage mikhail.


in soviet russia, pants wear the you in relationship your.


heh.





in other news......






  • The Georgetown game is THIS MONDAY. I expect to see all of you in attendance. If not you will automatically be deemed an ass and sent to live out the rest of your days in every orange fan's private hell: washington, D.C. You can be John Thompson's Neighbor.

  • On that note, GEORGETOWN STILL SUCKS T-Shirts are still available i believe. contact Dan for the details.

  • A new Shut It Down Hooded Sweatshirt Is Available. I heard this one from the Man himself. Thanks Wes.

  • CNY Network Television has dropped to a new all time low. We have put our postseason fates into the hand of a...... dog? The good news: He picked the Final Four. Good Boy.

  • and finally, the impossible has happened. CBS's Gary Parrish admited that his duke bias is a problem and that syracuse is a better team. God Bless You. You have begun the basketball 12 step program, which ends with you declaring syracuse will be the national champion. Hurry up.


However, you MIGHT wanna ditch the Jersey Shore Look.....

Or an angry horde of rutgers fans will find you. All 10 of them. It's pretty much safe to say they dont have fans anymore.

Anyhow, that's today's news.
Remember kids, Georgetown still Sucks.

Monday, January 18, 2010

SU-ND Game Notes

Welcome to yet another edition of SWRLU's famous pregame breakdowns. Tonight your orange march into the Joyce Center in South Bend for a meeting with the Fighting Irish of Notre Dame in a Big Monday showdown on ESPN. Here are your Starting Lineups along with a position by position breakdown of the Fighting Irish.

Syracuse(17-1, 4-1 Big East)
PG: (Fr.) Brandon Triche
SG:(Sr.) Andy Rautins
SF:(Jr.) Wesley Johnson
PF:(Jr.) Rick Jackson
C:(Sr.) Arinze Onuaku

Last time out: The orange overcame horrible officiating to avoid surrendering a double digit lead in morgantown to win 72-71 over the West Virginia Mountaineers in a game i unfortunately didnt see. (i was too busy running at manley field house and taking pictures of the sweet, sweet 2003 national championship trophy.) With contender west virginia out of the way, will the orange be able to complete the sweep on this 3 game road trip?

Notre Dame(14-4, 3-2 Big East)
PG:Tory Jackson-Solid point guard who creates opportunities for his teammates off the dribble. Not your prototypical scoring guard but is a valuable asset, particularly when getting the rock to a certain top scorer on this notre dame squad who will get mentioned later.

SG:Ben Hansbrough-Yet another Hansbrough for us to harass. Tyler's brother is a solid transfer guard with a great affinity for shooting the long ball. while not on the level of andy rautins, the orange need to know where he is at all times and get a hand in his face.

SF:Tim Abromaitis-Has physical attributes very similar to wes johnson. Can step back and drain the 3, play the post, and do essentially anything the team needs.

PF:Tyrone Nash-Shouldnt really be a problem for rick jackson tonight. still gets very good high percentage shots.

C:Luke Harangody-a fat pig who scores a lot. need i say more?

Prediction:
Syracuse takes ND to the woodshed and sweeps the road trip
Syracuse 87, ND 79

Wednesday, January 6, 2010

look who's back.....

happy new year to you all. here's tonight's starting lineup and game notes for memphis.

Memphis:
PG Elliot Williams
SG Willie Kemp
SF Doneal Mack
PF Roburt Sallie
C Pierre Henderson

On paper this team really seems to have a balanced attack with former dukie elliot williams at the controls. Williams brings a superb ability to beat defenders off the dribble that Triche needs to successfully contend with to keep him under 20 points. Kemp's a quality spot shooter with the ability to throw the fake, drive, and finish consistently. The frontcourt is roughly 2 inches shorter each than the orange frontcourt, and with the quality talent the orange have in the frontcourt, i don't see them having much trouble pushing the tigers around tonight.

Syracuse lineup has not changed, although i'll be interested to see any changes in the rotation tonight after the pitt loss. this is the first time the orange have had to respond to an adverse situation, but if triche and jardine take care of the rock the orange should win handily

prediction:
Syracuse 92
Memphis 81

Monday, December 14, 2009

More Than a Gunner: Andy Rautins' Floor Game Leads Undefeated Syracuse Orange

As the clock winds down to 3:41 at Madison Square Garden, the droves of delighted Orange fans and awestruck Carolina faithful are greeted with a very familiar sight.

Playing at the top of the vaunted Jim Boeheim 2-3 Zone defense, senior shooting guard Andy Rautins perfectly plays the Carolina passing lane, intercepts a Tar Heel pass, and passes the ball downcourt for an easy slam for sophomore forward Kris Joseph.

Rautins, who in his first four years at Syracuse was known almost exclusively for his three-point shooting prowess, has become one of the most complete players, not only for Syracuse, but in the entire Big East conference.

Against North Carolina, he hit his threes and put 11 points on the board for the victorious Orange, but it was his other stats that wowed the fanbase—seven assists, seven rebounds, and an amazing seven steals.

The 10-0 Orange have rolled through the competition, defeating three top 25 teams, the closest game all season being a 12-point defeat of No. 10 Florida in Tampa. This has led to a large amount of positive press for Syracuse and star transfer junior forward Wesley Johnson, who is averaging 17 points and almost eight rebounds while playing only 30 minutes per game.

However, the most important player for Boeheim and the Orange may be Rautins.

Through the first 10 games, Rautins has shot 48 percent from three (and 49 percent from the field), scored 10.6 points per game, passed for 4.9 assists per game, grabbed three rebounds per game, and stolen three passes per game. Many are calling him the best player at the top of the Zone that Boeheim has had in his 33 years.

Rautins has a knack for jumping passes, leading to easy dunks for Syracuse's many athletic forwards, like Johnson and Joseph. In the last two games against Florida and St. Francis, both of the opposing teams' gameplans were constructed around avoiding Rautins, forcing them to run their offense through the corners to attack the zone.

Andy's value has also been seen off the court as one of the team's captains and emotional leaders.

After Syracuse's disconcerting preseason loss to Division II Le Moyne, Rautins was vehement about how the game affected his team. Following the back-to-back wins against California and North Carolina at MSG, when asked about the exhibition, he was very forward about his team's performance in the loss that he called "embarrassing":

“Clearly, we just didn’t bring it against Le Moyne,” Rautins said. “It really fired us up. I’m really tired of talking about that game. It definitely lit a fire under our butts. It let us know we’re not the team of last year. We’re not the Sweet 16 team. We have no credibility. We have to come out and make an identity for ourselves, and I think we did that this weekend.”

Rautins' dedication to the program started early on. Andy, son of former Syracuse star forward Leo Rautins, grew up in the Syracuse area and signed with the Orange out of Jamesville-Dewitt High School, where he was very lightly recruited.

His first four years saw their share of adversity, as Rautins was a victim of a season-ending knee injury that sidelined him for his junior year. On the court, he was brought in as a designated shooter—a role he played well, although he was often called a streaky shooter after spells of poor shooting.

Last season, Rautins showed his value as a starter when the opportunity rose. While starting shooting guard Eric Devendorf was suspended in the middle of last season, Rautins was inserted into the lineup. In a tough game at home against Coppin State, Rautins tied a Syracuse record with nine three-pointers, scoring 29 points in the 82-71 win.

Rautins also shined in one of history's most epic games—the legendary six-overtime game against UConn in last season's Big East tournament. Rautins played 50 minutes, hitting six three-pointers and scoring 20 points, including a few daggers down the stretch that allowed the Orange to come out on top in the wee hours of the morning.

Rautins has also worked every summer expanding his game as a member of Team Canada, where he starts for his father Leo, the team's head coach, at point guard against very experienced international competition.

After the departure of star players Jonny Flynn, Devendorf, and Paul Harris, many wondered how Rautins would react to becoming a full-time starter for the first time in his five seasons. He has not disappointed. He has shot more consistently than he has at any other point in his career, is playing All-American level defense, and has become the leader that this team needed to become great.

The Orange sit at No. 5 in both the AP and Coaches' polls, and if you ask Boeheim, a man who has won 809 games, how his team has exceeded all expectations, one of the first names out of his mouth will likely be "Andy Rautins."



Thursday, December 10, 2009

Syracuse at Florida

A gators home game in a place that produces america's ORANGES?
it just fits i guess. Here's tonight's projected lineups. Chat is a definite possibility, check back here at game time.

Syracuse
PG-Brandon Triche-May have his share of defensive struggles tonight as he goes up against a couple of florida guards who handle the rock well and are extremely explosive off the dribble. Quality help defense from the frontcourt could make all the difference tonight.

SG-Andy Rautins-Will have his hands full as well in the backcourt, needs to move well off the ball and get to the right spot at the right time to get quality shots, the big men are going to get a lot of touches tonight because florida is simply not as big a team as syracuse is, particularly on the bench, but if the orange pound the rock inside early, look out for andy to go all son of sam on the florida defense.

SF-Wesley Johnson-What do you want me to say that hasn't been said. HE'S WESLEY FUCKING JOHNSON. basically, god.

PF-Rick Jackson-Scoring has been down a little as of late, possibly due to reduced minutes in the last 2 40 point blowouts, perhaps a rebound from slick rick tonight?

C-Arinze Onuaku- Nobody on this florida team will be able to contain arinze's size and strength except by fouling. if the orange can hit him periodically, the orange can give the gators a tough foul situation to deal with, which in turn opens up jackson and johnson to have a field day.

Florida:
Soph PG Erving Walker-Incredibly quick point guard with a similar mentality to triche. more like jonny flynn than triche to be honest.

Fr. SG Kenny Boynton-Rautins may want to play back a step or two tonight, Boynton hasn't had his best luck from the arc as of late, but he's still a legitimate inside threat with plenty of speed.

Sr. SF Dan Werner-Think a less talented wes johnson. Similar combo forward type with an excellent outside shot to compliment his size.

Jr. PF Alex Tyus-Veteran starter with a very diverse skillset, most notably his ability to pop jumpers coming off screens.

Jr.C Vernon Macklin-Prefers the skyhook to taking the rock straight up, Arinze should have no problem pushing him around in the post.

Final Score Prediction
Syracuse 85

Florida 76.