Superman Wears Rob Long Underoos

WE'RE NUMBER 1!

2010-02-27T23:36:00.002-05:00

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

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.
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.
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.
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.
WE'RE NUMBER 1!

No negatives tonight.

It's good to be back!

on second thought....

2010-02-27T20:04:00.003-05:00

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!

2010-02-27T16:03:00.002-05:00

......Awkward.

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

chat tonight?

2010-02-27T15:43:00.002-05:00

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

MC Huggins?

2010-02-03T23:39:00.002-05:00

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.

Mikhail Marinovich

2010-01-20T13:37:00.004-05:00

... 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.

SU-ND Game Notes

2010-01-18T18:20:00.002-05:00

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

look who's back.....

2010-01-06T18:19:00.002-05:00

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

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

2009-12-14T14:13:00.003-05:00

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."

Syracuse at Florida

2009-12-10T13:35:00.002-05:00

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.

no i'm not dead.

2009-12-09T00:44:00.000-05:00

i'll have some stuff up about the florida game soon enough. go orange!

All Systems are go......

2009-11-20T21:41:00.003-05:00

What a great week to be an SU basketball Fan.

Last night, many of us looked on from our cozy living rooms(more on this later) as Syracuse absolutely Slaughtered an undermanned, overrated Cal Squad by a score of 95-73. (When was the last time you saw brandon reese in a game against a ranked opponent?)

Yeah, that was a first.

The team we saw last night was one of unparalleled size, athleticsm, and of course, every espn announcer's favorite word: LENGTH.
editor's note: I'm beginning to question their sexuality based on the number of times they said syracuse was long.

and so with that, the question was:
Can they keep it up against an always powerful UNC squad?

and boy, did they ever...

Syracuse looked even better tonight against this young, talented UNC squad as once again, Roy Williams had no answer for the Syracuse zone. They were simply outclassed, outmuscled, and outhustled by a syracuse team still ranked 24th. Wes Johnson continued his already impressive season dropping 16 in the first half as Syracuse hung on to trail by 2 at the half after a monstrous UNC run.

But in the 2nd half, Syracuse opened with a 22-1 run, spreading the ball around to anyone who would take it and watching as the shots kept hitting nylon. and UNC simply could not recover, despite going on a run to bring them to within 8 points, Syracuse would not be denied.

Player of the game
Wesley Johnson( 25 points 8 boards) Proves yet again why he is a legitimate player of the year contender with yet another strong performance.

Oh and in regards to the living room comment, tickets were very expensive for a preseason tournament, with one fan telling me they were fetching well over 200 dollars on the hub, which is rediculous when i paid 75 bucks for 2 big east tourney seats a few months back.
Thanks a lot, unc.

chattin time.

2009-11-20T19:02:00.000-05:00

cuse-unc

Chat tonight!

2009-11-20T14:04:00.001-05:00

7 PM Eastern.

It is now 2:13 and UNC(and georgetown) STILL SUCK!

CHATTER UP!

2009-11-09T14:22:00.001-05:00

Syracuse-Albany:800

Join me here at 8:45 eastern time for full coverage of tonight's game, pending availability of internet video feed.

2009 SU Football Kinda Midseason Report Card Thingamajig Part 1

2009-10-29T13:53:00.004-04:00

I was planning on doing this weeks ago, but instead got sidetracked by a number of things, most notably how many ways Doug Marrone can use the word "Tremendous". Does he have to meet some sort of usage quota we arent hearing about? I mean seriously, not to mention he might be worse than greg robinson in the realm of public negativity. But it takes maybe one negative statement a season to surpass him...... so much for difficulties.

In any event, we have arrived at the all too glorious middle of the collegiate football season. The men have been seperated from the boys, and now the time has come to seperate who can run with the big dogs from who still pisses like a little puppy. With varying sentiments regarding the performance of our own Syracuse Orange circulating throughout the fanbase, the blogosphere, and not Darryl Gross's thick, shiny skull, i figure what a fine time to chip in my 2 cents, which apparently buys less than kenny's 2 pennies.......

Let's go back to school with some position by position grades. Today I will cover the orange backfield.

Quarterbacks:
Greg Paulus-Has definitely been the born leader that many have hyped him up to be. Makes relatively sound decisions under fire with the exception of a few miscues when he gets too far out of the pocket(I.e throwing on the run close to the line of scrimmage.) Has the ability to feed his big targets early and often as X reciever Mike Williams has 45 receptions on the season. Arm strength and the ability to throw a tight ball into the middle of coverage have been key issues with him not playing football in the last 5 years. Turnovers have been a huge issue as well, however they primarily occured over the span of two games and outside of that he has been relatively flawless. In any event, i think he has done a solid job.
Grade:B+

Ryan Nassib-Sees limited action, primarily as a wideout out of the Stallion Direct-Snap package. Also takes some snaps with 4 wide. Ability to throw the ball in a vertical offense has been much more consistent than greg paulus. However, experience level simply is not on par with Paulus, and his composure has yet to be tested. Has played well but i don't know if Miller, Loeb, or Kinder have the chance to take his job or not next season.My bet is on kinder if nassib doesnt come up with an ability to escape the pocket.
Grade:B

Running Backs
Delone Carter- Explosiveness has been greatly improved over last year as he assumes the role of Featured Back in the offense, A role many assumed Sophomore Antwon Bailey would fill particularly after his performance against Notre Dame last year. Has had multiple touchdown games on more than one occasion and has taken the game into his own hands on more than one occasion, particularly last week with mike williams out. No Questions here.
Grade:A+

Antwon Bailey- Hasn't gotten many carries due to Marrone reserving him for usage in the Stallion Package. Has handled it rather well, a couple bobbled snaps but we all know the terrible job that Mckenzie and Bartholomew have done with getting the ball out there. I'll be optimistic here.
Grade:B+

Tune in tomorrow as i pick apart the wide recievers.

oh sweet.....

2009-10-18T21:37:00.002-04:00

Jesus.

Basketball season is finally here with a bang, as the orange hosted (AMERICU) midnight(?) madness on friday night, and we spared no expense bringing in only the finest wastes of money that Darryl Gross has to offer.

(Correction/Editor's Note:Greg Robinson wasn't even invited. you fail.)

(Editor's note to the editor's note: It was a less painful way to piss away the money than betting on the jets.)

In any event, the athletic department REALLY spared no expense in throwing this thing together, with the women's team arriving by fire truck and the men's team on police motorcycles. and my personal favorite...... JIMMY B dressed as a cop!

Jimmy apparently is more patient now than he ever was in the past, i've heard it takes a great deal of time, effort, and vaseline to squeeze into those leather pants. But it was all for a good cause, somebody has to keep robert washington out of syracuse! Although i must say this does bring images of apollo creed into my head(I WANT YOU! AND YOU!). Come to think of it i think he would make a great fit in the village people........

But i digress.

I'll have something serious up this week, pinky swear.

Greg Paulus or Ryan Nassib: Quarterback Controversy at Syracuse's Carrier Dome

2009-10-13T15:15:00.002-04:00

Syracuse's first drive against the West Virginia Mountaineer defense on Saturday opened with promise. Running backs Antwon Bailey, Delone Carter and Averin Collier had moved the ball 26 yards down the field on the ground and quarterback Greg Paulus completed his first pass attempt to tight end Mike Owen for a solid eight-yard pick-up.

The Orange were moving the ball.

However, on the seventh play, the drive was derailed in a tragically familiar fashion for the Orange as Paulus threw a terrible interception.

The play aroused bad memories of an overtime interception that sealed Syracuse's fate against Minnesota in the season opener as well as the five that plagued the former Duke point guard against South Florida last week.

The West Virginia defense erupted in celebration as they jogged off the field, giving the ball to Jarrett Brown, Noel Divine and the WVU offense with great field position.

Eight seconds and one 11-yard pass from Brown to Divine later, WVU had a 7-0 lead.

Paulus finished the half with an unimpressive stat line: 5-of-9 for 30 yards and an interception.

With a 27-0 deficit at the start of the second half, it was not No. 2, but No. 12, redshirt freshman Ryan Nassib, who took the reins of the Syracuse offense. Nassib performed decently, completing 7-of-16 passes (with at least four drops by Orange receivers) for 120 yards and two touchdowns.

Included was a 50-yard completion to star receiver Mike Williams on a beautiful double play-action fake, the same play that resulted in Paulus-to-Williams touchdowns of similar length against Northwestern, Maine and USF.

Nassib's performance was far from perfect. Many of his incompletions came on throws behind his receivers or over their heads. And his touch left something to be desired.

However, the undeniable zip on his passes wowed the announced crowd of 40,144 at the Carrier Dome, leading many to call for his insertion into the starting lineup.

After the game, Doug Marrone quickly ended that speculation, stating that Paulus was his quarterback and would start in Syracuse's next game against Akron on Oct. 24.

Marrone's announcement has done little to temper the Paulus-Nassib debate amongst Syracuse fans.

Paulus supporters cite the senior's successes against Northwestern and Maine. The Nassib camp looks towards the future of the program, saying that Marrone should get Nassib valuable game experience since he is the heir-apparent for the position anyway.

Marrone needs to start whoever gives the team the best chance to win this season.

Syracuse football is at a crossroads.

Doug Marrone is in his first season and has said and done all of the right things off the field. In addition, the on-field performance has been much better than it was under former head coach Greg Robinson.

However, the only thing that is going to rejuvenate this proud program is pretty obvious.

In the words of Syracuse alumnus Al Davis, "Just win baby."

Attendance in the Dome (especially among students) is absolutely stagnant. If Syracuse is going to contend in the games it faces a talent gap, it needs a full "Loud House."

If they are going to recruit well, which Marrone has been doing thus far, a full stadium is instrumental. Promise and hope brought people out for Minnesota and Northwestern, but the numbers have been slipping steadily since.

Going to a bowl is the easiest way to propel the program back into the national scene, and it is still achievable for the Orange this season. They have won two games after two very strong performances by Paulus.

Entering the game against West Virginia, Paulus was on pace to break multiple single-season records for Syracuse passers, eclipsing greats like Donovan McNabb, Don McPherson and Marvin Graves.

Call Paulus an "experiment" if you must, but the results are undeniable. He can win football games.

If Paulus continues to struggle when Akron comes to the Dome on Oct. 24, then Nassib should probably be given the job. However, coming off a bye week, Paulus' tired arm should be re-energized and the Orange should be primed to win their third game and keep the hopes for a bowl berth alive.

Give Paulus a chance to be successful. If he returns to the form we saw against Northwestern, Syracuse can win four more games and make the improbable run to .500 in Marrone's first season.

Immediate success will do eons more for this program than a few snaps for a quarterback who may or may not be the future of the team. There is no guarantee that Nassib will be the answer next season.

True freshman Charley Loeb will have had the same amount of time in Marrone's and offensive coordinator Rob Spence's system. Two promising recruits, Jonny Miller (Mullen HS, Denver, CO) and John Kinder (Lawrence SHS, Cedarhurst, NY), are also coming in at the position.

Orange fans need to back Marrone's decision, cheer on Paulus, and give him the chance to succeed.

He has exceeded almost everyone's expectations thus far, and can continue to do so. If he does, Syracuse will be on the track to reemerge as an Eastern football power much sooner then we could have hoped for.

Syracuse Defeats Orange, Bulls In Attendance

2009-10-05T14:25:00.002-04:00

It was not the ferocious USF D-Line led by George Selvie that led the Bulls to victory in the Carrier Dome.

It wasn't a litany of penalities or poor defensive play by the Orange that led to their third loss on the season, and first in Big East play.

It wasn't even exciting Freshman Quarterback BJ Daniels who led South Florida to victory over Syracuse.

There is only one statistic that shows why the final score was 34-20 in favor of the USF Bulls:

Seven.

The Syracuse Orange were victims of seven turnovers over the course of the game, effectively shooting themselves in the foot on promising drives and giving the Bulls great field position to work against the defense, and on occasion, points.

In a game that was otherwise controlled by Syracuse, fumbles by Mike Jones and Delone Carter, as well as five interceptions proved to be more than the Orange could overcome.

Greg Paulus has become the main scapegoat in Syracuse's defeat, after what was easily his worst performance of his young college football career. Five of Paulus' passes found their way into the hands of Bull defenders, one of those being Jason Pierre-Paul who intercepted a screen and returned it 18 yards for the score.

When he was not throwing errant passes to South Florida, Paulus was a very effective quarterback for the Orange, throwing two very nice touchdowns to superstar receiver Mike Williams, en route to a 25-46 performance that resulted in 269 Yards. Paulus also helped Syracuse overcome one of their biggest problems on the season: third down conversions. The Orange were able to convert a gaudy 9 of 15, and found little problem cutting through USF's stingy defense.

However, seven turnovers is something no team can easily overcome, and the Orange were no different.

Part of the problem for the Orange was in the run game. Syracuse has had trouble establishing the run game all season, and Saturday was no different, as the Orange gained only 95 yards on 30 carries. Carter led the way with 43 yards on 13 Carries, and Antwon Bailey and Paulus each added 26, but USF obviously wanted to force Paulus to beat them through the air, and it worked to their advantage with the resulting interceptions.

The other major issue that has plagued the Orange all season, the lack of a second option for Paulus, also reared it's ugly head. Mike Williams had another dominant performance with a career high 13 receptions for 186 yards and the two touchdowns. However, the second leading receiver for the Orange was Bailey, who only had twenty-seven yards. Although Williams is rarely shut down by an opposing defense, when he is unavailable, Paulus' options are scarce.

The biggest Achilles heel for the Orange all season, however, has been Offensive line play, and that looked to be a giant issue coming into the game against one of the top defensive fronts in the nation. However, the Offensive Line put forth a valiant effort, only giving up three sacks- none to the highly acclaimed George Selvie- and allotted Paulus time to work more often than not.

Syracuse's defense played well through out the day, keeping the game close despite USF's consistently good field position. Middle Linebacker Derrell Smith added to his All-Conference resume, with 11 total tackles, a forced fumble, and a sack on Daniels. Outside Linebacker Doug Hogue added five tackles and a sack. Both safeties played well, with Mike Holmes totaling 7 tackles and a forced fumble, and Max Suter adding 7 of his own, and recovering a fumble. Star Defensive Tackle Arthur Jones made his presence known with two fumble recoveries on the day.

BJ Daniels was able to find success against the struggling Orange secondary. The young quarterback compiled 208 yards through the air on 12-20 passing, as well as two touchdowns, both to receiver Carlton Mitchell who had 139 yards on 6 receptions, one being a key 85 yard touchdown that opened the second half.

The Orange outgained the Bulls 344-333, converted third downs at a higher percentage, went 2-2 in the red zone, and beat the Bulls in most other statistical categories. However, the turnovers stand out like a sore thumb, and was Syracuse's undoing.

It is obvious that this team is quickly coming around under Doug Marrone. No Syracuse offense has had this kind of productivity since Donovan McNabb was under center more than a decade ago, and the defensive front seven has made running the ball against the Orange more than ill-advised. However, one thing still prevents this team from taking the next step- they have yet to learn how to win. Great football teams can keep mistakes to a minimum, and when the game is on the line, they put it away. Knowing how to win is what makes this team 2-3 when it could easily be 4-1. However, they are learning this long lost art, and Coach Marrone will make sure they keep on studying until they've mastered the material.

CITRUSTV 10/3

2009-10-03T22:36:00.001-04:00

Enlightening discussion on mike williams, ENJOY!

Paulus named player of the week

2009-09-29T19:25:00.002-04:00

The US Army All-American bowl committee has named Quarterback Greg Paulus Player of the week for his performance against maine. Quite frankly, it isin't a bad line:

21-28(75%), 270 yards, 2 tds.

However, in the grand scheme of things, i think saturday was a complete disaster. At the beginning of the game, Maine looked like a prime example of futility, or a greg robinson era SU defense, whatever metaphor you'd like to use. Carter was ripping off massive gains on the ground, and for a change we were all having that feeling like "maybe everything's gonna be alright......"

and we were wrong........ AGAIN.

Pretty soon we began to look as if Greg Robinson had dyed his hair and tied 2 50 pound bags of sand to his thighs, because maine was tearing us a new ass hole, and that wasn't the worst part. They were doing it on the ground, and our apparent defensive specialty is stopping the run, Needless to say, things looked bleak. To make matters worse, Arthur Jones sustained an injury to his upper left leg, and this provided an even better opportunity to create seams up the middle for the backs, one of which was nothing more than a fat ass blocking back.

Things finally looked better Defensively in the second half, with the orange only allowing 1 touchdown in the closing seconds of the game, but the damage was done. Maine outgained the orange by 80 yards and had just as many first downs as the orange did. that is a miserable failure. Many of our current defensive woes rest in the hands of the secondary, i think if marrone can find a capable body to replace nico scott, things might be a little sunnier, although i do like marrone's move to move shamarko thomas to safety. maybe torian phillips would be up to the challenge.

As for the offense, i really dont need to elaborate much more other than the vertical passing game really needs to expand. more deep shots down the field are a must.

until next time,
g'orange

Syracuse Orange Avoids Falling into Bear Trap

2009-09-29T11:59:00.002-04:00

After three hard fought games to open the first season of the Doug Marrone era, Syracuse fans looked forward to a nice, easy game with the FCS University of Maine.

Unfortunately, nothing comes easy for the Orange.

The game's scoring opened with a short touchdown throw from quarterback Greg Paulus to Halfback Delone Carter, giving Syracuse a 7-0 lead midway through the first quarter. However, Maine would not back down, and the first Black Bear drive showed a much different team then was expected.

Maine is generally classified as a ground-oriented team, who on the back of Sophomore rusher Derek Session, controlled the clock and a game's momentum. This would seemingly play right into Syracuse's defensive strength, which is in the run game. Syracuse has had great success against the rush, allowing only 83 yards per game, good for 13th best in the nation.

However, when Maine Quarterback Warren Smith took the ball after Syracuse's scoring drive, the offense looked much, much different.

Much like Northwestern did to great success the week before in the Carrier Dome, Smith picked apart the Orange secondary on short, quick passes- going 24-35 for 305 yards, and 3 TDs on the day. The Bears offense would respond to Carter's touchdown with a field goal, and then after a surprising onside kick recovery, Smith hit wide receiver Landis Williams for a 56-yard touchdown to give Maine a 10-7 lead.

Syracuse was able to tie the game at 10 with a field goal by freshman Ryan Lichtenstein, but after stopping the Orange following an interception by cornerback Kevyn Scott, Smith drove down the field against the Syracuse defense to find Williams again for a 14-yard score.

Syracuse was able to manage another Lichtenstein field goal to cut the Maine lead to 17-13 at the half, but all 35,000 fans in the Dome were shocked. This was not the team they had grown to love over the last few weeks, this looked shockingly like the Syracuse team that was used to losing over the last four years.

The second half was much kinder to the Orange, who made the necessary adjustments to stop Maine's sharp offense, while continuing to find success with the ball.

With their first possession of the half, Syracuse was able to drive the ball 86 yards down the field, capped off by a nine yard touchdown run for Carter, who finished with 95 total yards (72 rushing, 23 receiving) and four total touchdowns. Syracuse was back on top, 20-17.

On their next drive, the Orange worked with a shorter field, and Greg Paulus connected with Sophomore Marcus Sales in the corner of the endzone for 17 yards and a score, extending the Orange lead to 10. Paulus finished the game with another impressive stat line, completing 21 of 28 passes, for 270 yards and 2 touchdowns.

The defense helped keep the ball rolling as well. After dropping a near-interception earlier in the game, junior linebacker Doug Hogue picked off an errant Smith pass and returned it 30 yards to the Maine 10-yard line, allowing Carter to barrel into the endzone from five yards out for another score.

The scoring pace slowed during the fourth quarter, with Syracuse and Maine trading touchdowns late in the game, securing a 41-24 Syracuse win.

The Orange have a very tough obstacle ahead of them, with the USF Bulls coming to the Dome off of a big upset of Florida State over the weekend.

Dan's postgame article

2009-09-28T22:23:00.001-04:00

is posted here:http://bleacherreport.com/articles/263152-orange-avoids-falling-into-bear-trap

Read and comment it up people!

OLE!

2009-09-19T23:11:00.003-04:00

CUE THE BEANERS!

SYRACUSE 37

NORTHWESTERN 34

FINAL

I cannot believe what i just saw. 2 Months ago Ryan Lichtenstein was merely just a kid headed off to college with no athletic aspirations. Now he boots the game winner for Doug Marrone's first game! Lichtenstein's Monster is ALIVE! IT'S ALIVE!

I'ma do this in a tip of the hat/wag of the finger format.

A tip of the hat t0.....

RYAN LICHTENSTEIN!-this shit explains itself. i shouldnt have to explain it because if you didnt watch the game you're not a fan anymore. by the way, he had 2 other field goals too.

GREG PAULUS-He outdid himself yet again goin 24-35 for 346 yards, 2 tds and a pick.

Mike Kafka- Give credit where it's due. he went 34-42 390 yards and 5 total TDs. such an impressive performance.

Mike Williams-Career high 11 receptions for 209 yards and a pair of TDs.

Dan Lyons- For getting on TV and getting front row seats. that's an accomplishment.

Stefan Demos-we love you. you can come back and miss extra points any time you want, we won't stop you.

A wag of the Finger to......

Da'mon Merkerson- Was there any reason for that kick catch interference call? i mean good effort but c'mon, a little common sense pleaseee?

Jim Mckenzie-Snaps looked better in the 2nd half but we're all going to be keeping an eye on him. the errant snap thing is a huge problem. you can say greg is distracted by your nice firm buttocks all you want but......

Ok you can say that. i'm speechless.

pathetic....

2009-09-11T19:21:00.000-04:00

http://www.asylum.com/2009/09/09/students-try-to-steal-giant-pepper-from-chilis-rooftop/

crazy kids....

Where are they Now?

2009-09-11T18:55:00.002-04:00

Welcome to another edition of where are they now.
in my last edition, we explored the whereabouts of former Kickoff Specialist Niko Rechul, who was playing in the CDFL.

This week features 2 greg robinson era football players. The first was a starter on the defensive line for the orange. The second was supposed to play wide reciever, but never played a down due to academic issues. Both attended Thomas R. Proctor Hs in Utica, NY.

The first player is vincenzo giruzzi. Vincenzo is apparently at home at the moment because the other day i saw him helping with the speed training class we offer here at mohawk valley. A lineman teaching speed training.........?

ironic.

What's also ironic is the kids in this class are actually doing legit work. A greg robinson coached football player is making kids puke...... hmm....

The second player is DeAndre Preaster. I have the privlege of seeing DeAndre every other day, Because he's in my intro to recreation class. And he appears to be paying attention. The other day our teacher sends us out to play frisbee because she didnt want to teach, this kid goes up for the disc and Deandre just comes over, levels the kid and catches the disc. Guess we missed out on his athleticism, but do you really want those Offensive pass interference calls?

Special thanks go out to the university of ottawa for keeping josh wright out of here. Utica, your credit cards are safe for democracy.

Tobias Harris

2009-09-10T19:55:00.004-04:00

I have inside sources with Tobias Harris that are telling me that he won't be coming to Syracuse because we have too many guys in and around his position. With guys like Wes Johnson, Kris Joseph, CJ Fair, James Southerland and Mookie Jones, I can't blame him. So the question is, who will the 5th scholarship be now that Tobias Harris is out? Will it be Shaquille Thomas, another small forward with a great pedigree and length being the nephew of NBA SF Tim Thomas? Or Isaiah Sykes a 6'5 versatile shooting guard out of Michigan that can play all 3 perimeter positions according to espn.com?

OH MY GOODNESS!

2009-09-05T21:27:00.003-04:00

http://www.getgrossout.com/2009/08/snuggification-of-syracuse-has-begun.html

A SYRACUSE SNUGGIE!

That's right folks, america's favorite backwards bathrobe is now available in a syracuse design! now we see who's a man of their word.... i'm looking at you andrew rush.......BUY ONE OR BE DISOWNED!

(Editor's note: Jake says he'll buy one to go with his syacuse colored Bud Light cans)

I just can't help but laugh that it had to pertain to NYC, despite NYC being 4 HOURS AWAY. get a grip dr. gross, it doesn't take a ph.d to know that's shitty marketing. and i've been in marketing class for..... 2 weeks now. take that DOCTOR gross. a kid with not even an associates just tore you a new ass hole. how do you like them APPLES?

(tee hee, get the joke?)

anyhow, what's next, a PAULUSPALOOZA snuggie? i'm sure that'll be a real FLOP in stores.
i need to cut the corny jokes.

Cue the.....

2009-09-05T21:15:00.002-04:00

Disappointed Child(?)

note

2009-09-03T18:51:00.001-04:00

ray is not dead. I've had a lot of schoolwork as of late.
i'll keep you posted as to the prospects of a chat on saturday.

Shit hits the fan in....

2009-08-24T09:53:00.002-04:00

12 days.
you heard me.

12 days until the Orange open against the Minnesota Golden Gophers at the Carrier dome. 12 short months ago, we had a bumbling idiot at the helm who knew less about football than Tim McCarver does about baseball. Time flies when you don't have much to look forward to...... or do we? Here's your first set of legit preseason notes for the season:

-Some contoversy as to the progression of the offensive line, Adkins is optimistic, and Marrone?..... The exact opposite. Guess who gets voted off the island this year if things don't work out?

August 23rd: "The offensive line has to come around," Marrone said. "We're not getting new players there."

Ahh... the power of negativity.

-Marrone held a 150 play controlled scrimmage behind closed doors saturday. At least we think that's what happened..... No further comment.

-Greg Paulus is still the starter, kind of a good sign considering some people thought he wouldnt last a week back in pads. Maybe he finally learned to control his flopping.... i don't know do i look psychic to you?

Marrone's been relatively hush-hush in the past week, which either means things are going REALLY good, or they've just elevated to a new level of suckification. Maybe we'll know more this week.

Until tomorrow,
G'Orange

Poster Time!

2009-08-20T20:38:00.001-04:00

Greg Paulus: Impressing coaches with his arm and his buttocks. nothin wrong with that except doug might think his thighs are getting outclassed. watch yourself buddy.

The Marrone Way

2009-08-18T22:37:00.002-04:00

So far we've noticed two glaring things about the Doug Marrone era at Syracuse. First - the man is not shy about making quick decisions. He named Ryan Nassib the starting QB shortly into spring practice, and was just as rapid when replacing Nassib and naming Greg Paulus the starter last night. Secondly - the roster turnover has been nothing short of astonishing.

I don't mean this in a bad way. We all know about how lax things had gotten under the Greg Robinson regime. It was evident in the way the team faded in every game, the way they were pushed around on the field by teams like Akron (Akron!), and now from former players essentially admitting that there wasn't really any accountability in the off-season (weight training, conditioning, etc.). As reported by The Post Standard, 18 players have left the team since Marrone took over. They all have different reasons for doing so, but you can guarantee that at least some of them quit because they simply did not want to deal with a tougher, more demanding coaching staff. It happens.

Hopefully, this helps the team in the long run. The Orange are dangerously thin now at a few key positions (kicker and linebacker come to mind). But hopefully, when all is said and done, the kids that are left on the roster are tougher, both mentally and physically, as a result of the "pruning," if you will. The guys that are left are committed to this coaching staff, and they have bought into whatever hard-nosed approach Marrone is selling behind closed doors.

I'm reminded of a pivotal scene from the movie "Hoosiers," when the loudmouth kid tries to go back on the floor after being benched, because everyone else fouled out, and Coach Dale tells him to sit down. Incredulous, the kid sits back down, and the referee comes over to the coach and says, "You need one more out there," to which Norman Dale coolly replies, "my team's on the floor."

Hopefully when the lights go up on September 5th, after months of weeding out players, and toughening up those that are left, Doug Marrone's team will truly be on the field.

Breaking News: Paulus named Starter

2009-08-17T23:10:00.003-04:00

first of all, hi guys! who missed my scrawny white ass?

good, i didnt either.

Greg paulus was just named the starter and since i dont have much time THIS evening to let people know what ive been up to over the past 2 months, i figure i'll just list the pros and cons of this move and leave it at that. nothin too crazy, i may go to su practice tomorrow, we shall see.

Pros:

Tremendous Talent- The kid was the national hs player of the year as a senior. that needs to count for something.
give nassib a rest-The kid is talented, but when he's at that level of maturity he's going to make tons of mistakes. let him study what a great quarterback can do for the season, then hand him the reins.
Put some meat in the seats-I dont want to hear about aluminum bleacher halloween costumes this year. spare us all.

Cons

He's a little...... rusty-Yeah he's been playing basketball now, and while i'm sure his court vision helps on the football field, there's more bodies to be accounted for on a football field, it'll take some time.
No immediate PT for nassib-Just the flip side of my previous statement, i mean great qbs start as freshmen and learn the system from the beginning more often than not.
what if he sucks?-Not an issue, we cant get any worse.

NOOOOOOOO!

2009-06-25T21:56:00.002-04:00

The news couldnt possibly be much worse.

Jonny Flynn has been selected by the Minnesota Timberwolves with the 8th pick. Now my dreams of Nate RobinsFLYNN will never come to fruitition. I wasted all this time on this masterpiece.......

or is this the beginning of a light at the end of the tunnel for the knicks?

Here's how i see it:

Knicks recieve:

Jonny Flynn

T'Wolves Recieve:

Jordan Hill/Al Harrington

Chris Duhon/Quentin Richardson.

UPDATE:as i'm typing this..... Wayne Ellington goes to the t'wolves too!

TRADE BAIT ALERT.

i'm getting too excited over here.

anyway, just my spin on how flynn will come to NY.

The Official SU Sports Dead Period

2009-06-19T23:07:00.003-04:00

Only three more months until football starts, and I can't wait for the first reports of the sights and sounds of summer practice. The clashing of plastic on plastic in the mild Syracuse sunshine, and hopefully the absence of the ill-fated Greg Robinson "thud drills." Will definitely post more once the pigskins start flying ladies and gentlemen, but I wanted to throw it out there that

a) I will still be sharing all thoughts relating to Orange football on this site and

b) I'm not dead.

GO ORANGE!

Our NBA Draft, By the numbers part 1:JONNY!

2009-06-11T19:01:00.003-04:00

With the NBA draft approaching, the pre draft measurements have been made public and with that the speculation on who is going where can begin. Here's my take on the 3 guys we have in the draft and the physical attributes they bring to the table.

PG Jonny Flynn
5'11 without shoes
-Really not an issue when you're a guard, there's smaller guys out there on the floor. MUCH smaller. What was Spud Webb, like 5'3. We'll take it.

196 pounds
-he's got quite the muscles for a smaller guy. i'm 4 inches taller and 40 pounds lighter, so jonny's been hitting the weights, which is a definite key to nba success. Although combined with an inability to finish, it could be a waste of time(I'm looking at YOU Paul Harris!).

6'4 wingspan
-if he was a center, i'd call that pathetic. but for a 5'11 point guard, this is awesome news. Many people believe that a person's wingspan is as much as their height. so A+ on his wingspan.

40 inch vertical.
-I'm speechless. that's the best in the draft.

10 bench reps
-Very, Very good for a guard. Like i said earlier, the kid's got some guns

And he goes to..........
Where else do i want to put him, going with the 8th overall pick to the New York Knicks, which seems like a realistic placement. For a change my opinion may not fail me.

Coming tomorrow:Paul Harris

lawl.

2009-06-10T10:12:00.000-04:00

i'll have the flynn article up tonight, promise.

g'orange

Slow news?

2009-06-02T09:47:00.005-04:00

Last couple of weeks have been slow for news and i've had a lot to do outside of the national title game and stuff. here's whats going on folks.

Word on the street is former SU Football player Quinn Ojinakka has been arrested following a domestic dispute. Police say that apparently he shoved his wife down a flight of stairs, then spit on her. Devo, you've been one upped.

Athlon Has us ranked 80th in their annual big east preview, now 80th may STILL seem worthless until you realize that many polls have us out of the top 100. and now the investigation begins, who paid off their writers?

Paul Chiara is now a member of the panthers, joining such brave, greg robinson coached souls like joe fields and the AMAZING Tony Fiametta. Who woulda thought ANYONE would be making a living from his coaching?

Coming Later:Who on earth is going to draft jonny flynn?

let the games begin.....

2009-05-25T11:22:00.003-04:00

Here it is folks, your 2009 NCAA Lacrosse Championship Preview.

This one should be a doozy as both teams appear to be playing the best they have all season(otherwise, they wouldnt be here)

Cornell (13-3)
12.4 goals per game, 8.3 allowed, 41.3 shots per game
vs.

Syracuse(15-2)
13.1 goals per game, 7.3 allowed, 41 shots per game

Last game:Cornell beat Virginia 15-6
Syracuse raped Duke 17-7.

Last time they met: Syracuse won 15-10

When the Orange have the ball: Nims and Jamieson will get theirs, but look for a variety of players to step in and comprise the rest of the offense for the orange. Aside from nims, not one single player has been the true fuel for the Attackmen this spring. The one thing they need to remember is not to be afraid to run one in every once in a while so that the defense is on their toes at all times. then, dish it off for a quick stick when they've gotten used to that.

When the Big Red have it: Like syracuse, this team LOVES to shoot. look for Attackman Rob Pannell to, like nims, get his. And he also has a great supporting cast. Unfortunately, they go up against the nasty Syracuse Defense today and that is why they won't win this game.

Final prediction: Syracuse 15, Cornell 11

Syracuse- 17, Duke- 7

2009-05-23T16:17:00.001-04:00

All Your Greg Paulus are belong to us.

Now how to get to Foxboro on Monday?

Paulus to the Orange

2009-05-14T10:08:00.001-04:00

It's now official.

http://www.nunesmagician.com/2009/5/14/874839/greg-paulus-to-transfer-to-syracuse

I see a new marketing opportunity for Cuse. Purchase an IHOP franchise and convert a concession stand into a new concept in sports concession marketing: IFLOP.

Syracuse and Lincoln-A Tale of 2 cities

2009-05-14T08:20:00.002-04:00

It was the best(?) of times, It was the Worst of times.

Or so it goes.......

Today, Greg Paulus makes his decision on what university he will attend next year at approximately 10AM Eastern. And with the day finally here, i figure it's my duty to provide a complete comparison of Sir Flopsalot's two choices by category

Team:

Nebraska-Finished 9-4 last season. Offense scored 35.4 points per game last season while their opponents averaged about 28.

Syracuse-Finished a dismal 3-9 last season. Offense scored a bullshit 18 points a game while the opposition averaged 32, almost twice as many. ugh.

Advantage:Nebraska

Coaches-

Nebraska-Bo Pelini, a man widely considered as a potential NFL candidate, is entering his 3rd season as the coach for the huskers. He has a super bowl ring and is in the 2nd phase of the same sort of progression Doug Marrone is walking into.

Syracuse-Doug Marrone, Former Offensive Coordinator for New Oreleans and the man with the biggest legs i have ever seen.

Advantage:The thighs don't lie. Syracuse.

Agricultural Product in Question

Nebraska-Corn. whoopee.

How is it harmful? Well you can always TRY to club someone over the head with an ear of corn. No guarantees that your victims will take you seriously ever again.

Syracuse-ORANGES! You squeeze em, and if all goes well you've successfully pepper sprayed the asshole in front of you. You can't even be charged with assault if you're sneaky enough!

Advantage-Syracuse

Mascot

Nebraska-Herbie Husker. Oh shit, a corn farmer. What's he gonna do, pull out a shotgun if Otto tries anything with his daughter?

This guy really fails to scare me. at all.

Syracuse-Otto. America's badass citrus fruit. Consider this: What's a farmer when his crops dont grow? A homeless piece of shit.

Advantage-Otto.

Other factors-

Nebraska- When greg cries, the "ears" are always there to listen. Just don't flop in the cornfield or herbie just MIGHT shoot you.

Syracuse-Snow. Lots of it. He lived with it for 18 years, i think he can tolerate some more snow.

Advantage-Take your pick.

I think we all know who the winner is today kids............... Stay tuned for my breakdown following the announcement.

It is now 8:45 AM, and Nebraska still sucks.

Happy Mother's Day

2009-05-10T13:45:00.001-04:00

from everyone here at SWRLU. Because people who don't treat their mothers well on Mother's Day are almost certainly Hoyas.

the SOBs-Most Suprising Player

2009-05-07T09:47:00.002-04:00

(Takes Microphone from Brian)
(Bump bump bump)
Is this thing on?

Hello and welcome to another edition of the SOBs. I have the sweet, glorious honor of presenting Day 2's first award, Most Suprising Player.

Today's recipient was really a shot in the dark coming into this season. He didn't provide enough frequent minutes the year before, and with Donte gone the new question was? How would we fill that void?

We found an absolutely superb answer in none other than today's recipient........................................

Drum roll................................

And the SOB goes to........................

"Slick" Rick "Action" Jackson!

(sporadic applause)
(Doc Gibbs and the emeril live band begin playing)

Rick jackson really did everything we asked, and then some for the orange this season. As much as we love ongenaet and seeing him start, he simply lacked the presence on the offensive end that Rick had. Just look at the numbers.

Kristof Averaged 3.1 Points Per Game this season.

Rick had more than double that at 8.2.

And let's be honest, he looked feeble in his freshman season, and he improved in almost all key facets of his game which really helped when arinze was struggling. A good basketball team always has a bruising forward, and when Arinze couldn't do it, Rick was there to pick us up.

And now, his acceptance speech.

"I would like to thank the Academy for this imaginary honor. It brings tears to my eyes when i know i beat out a white guy who is barely 6 feet tall for this award. I would also like to thank my mom, Eric Devendorf for all the wonderful kodak moments we have shared, Ray for being absolutely god, Kristof! for sucking earlier in the year, and the man who invented farting for making me an internet sensation, thank you."

Very well put, i cried too.

and with that, i turn this party bus over to the folks over at Orange Fizz for the presentation of a hotly contested award, Best Junior!
(Crowd goes OOOOOOOOhhhh! AHHHHHH!")

The floor is now yours.

Bing Bing Bing Bing Bing! We Have A Winner!

2009-05-06T08:18:00.002-04:00

Word from the suits over at the Syracuse P-S is that our own Dave Bing has been elected mayor of the city of detroit. He'll responsible for many of the same things Dougie is at Syracuse, Including....

-Driving a large percentage of people away from his jurisdiction
-Keeping a pile of Delinquents in line
-Doing their jobs in cities with TERRIBLE football teams

I'm seeing some connections here. poorly thought and ill-concieved ones, but when youre bored, you'll post almost anything.

Anyhow, it's not like there was much to post concerning this other than congrats dave, you've now inheirited the keys to the biggest shithole in america.Detroit picks a man who can Direct some traffic and distribute, now that's a deal.

Paul talks about paychecks with papa

2009-05-04T10:07:00.002-04:00

Serious alliteration there. I finally got a chance to watch one of those new animated vids everyone now talks about. If you haven't seen this yet, please watch, it's worth the minute and 30 seconds of your time.

Back to Work Hooligans!

2009-05-04T08:27:00.002-04:00

It's monday morning and you're all back to work. And with that, so is this blog.

First thing worthy of note. The SU Lax team drew a 2 Seed and will face Albany's Siena in the first round at the Carrier Dome. O shit, they won the MAAC lacrosse title! I'm So Scared!
^All sarcasm intended.

Second thing worthy of note, Poncho over at the sport hump ran the syracuse mountain goat this past weekend and came in about 600th place. Despite not beating a single kenyan, congrats!

^I can still whoop your ass.

I've been typing a report so use this as a preview of things to come, and now i have class.
G'orange

Orange Brush Off Colgate

2009-05-03T16:49:00.005-04:00

Syracuse: 13

Colgate: 7

The Syracuse Orange Men's Lacrosse team ended the regular season with a bang yesterday, as they batted a two-year old monkey called "Colgate" off their back in the final game at the Dome.

The game was Senior Day, the last regular season game for a number of great Orangemen. Emotions ran high as the game began, and the Orange took full advantage. They outshot the Raiders 15-3 in the first quarter, to take a 4-1 lead. Goals were scored by Sophomore Jovon Miller to open the scoring, and Sophomore Joel White off an intercepted Colgate pass.

The second quarter featured much slower play, with Colgate dominating the ball for long stretches, but the Raiders were unable to cut the Orange lead. They outshot Syracuse 13-3, but two of those three Orange shots found the net- one from Senior Dan Hardy in the final second of the half.

The third quarter looked much like the first in the beginning. Cody Jamieson, who saw his first major minutes of the year, scored his first goal on his third shot. The Junior had unleashed two lasers early in the game that, luckily for goalkeeper Tim Harrington of Colgate, both barely found the post. He looked impressive and showed a lot of hustle in his time on the field.

Towards the middle of the third quarter, and into the fourth, Colgate began a run that saw the Raiders cut the lead to 10-7 after four straight goals, but the Orange's high powered Offense closed the game strong to stretch the lead back to six.

Senior Dan Hardy and Redshirt Freshman Tim Desko led the Orange with two goals a piece, as Senior Kenny Nims led the team in points with five, including four assists.

Goalie John Galloway played decently, giving up a few savable goals but his game was better than some of the previous efforts we've seen out of him. This game was one of the most physical of the season to this point, mostly due to the efforts of Sid Smith and Jovon Miller, who were both demons on defense today. The Orange certainly look geared up going into the NCAA Tournament where they will try to defend their NCAA Championship.

====================================================================

It's 5:03, and Georgetown still sucks!

lets hope nothing like this happens here...

2009-04-30T08:42:00.003-04:00

MIT Forced to Cut 8 Varsity Sports

In other news, MIT only had 8 varsity sports to begin with.

Gentlemen, our dreams

2009-04-30T08:38:00.000-04:00

http://www.sun-sentinel.com/sports/football/pro/dolphins/sfl-lingerie-football-c042509sbapr25,0,7178968.story

Have apparently come true. Give it a year and greg robinson will be coaching in this league and describing each individual female player as having lots of "Flash".

I love it.

even MORE swine Flu!

2009-04-30T08:25:00.002-04:00

I'm just going on a rampage to see how many students at universities we all have come to hate have contracted this swine flu. I am now pleased to announce that a Notre Dame student has contracted it, and amazingly enough it WAS NOT Luke Harangody

http://www.time.com/time/health/article/0,8599,1894664,00.html

Anyone else see the resemblance there? I say we point all fingers at him for this mess, once again the basketball gods demand it!

News Flash:Georgetown does something..... intelligent?

2009-04-30T08:22:00.001-04:00

http://www.thehoya.com/node/18930

I think they're under the understanding that if this thing grows, they will be the first to die.
the basketball gods demand it.

They grow up so fast.......

2009-04-28T19:32:00.002-04:00

(here's your epic, but somehow not really cuse related post)
Ladies and germs, i'm proud to announce that this is SWRLU's 100th post.

special thanks go out to the following:
Dan Lyons,Brian Roll,Rob Long, Greg Robinson, Greg Robinson's mom for giving birth to Greg Robinson, Doris Burke, Doug Gottleib, Eric Devendorf Homoerotic Photography, inc., Jim boeheim's microphone, Greg Paulus's indecisive mind, Sean from TNIAAM, and Alex Ozenberger for copying me.

Back in the office.

2009-04-28T10:08:00.001-04:00

I'm back after spending a weekend in philly for Penn relays+i was lazy yesterday.
Expect an epic post later.

Professionally Orange

2009-04-26T21:37:00.008-04:00

Day two of the NFL Draft saw a few Orangemen fulfill their dreams of becoming professional football players at the highest level.

The first player to go was FB Tony Fiammetta in the 4th round. Fiammetta,

Captain of last year's team, was the first Fullback taken, with the 128th pick by the Carolina Panthers.

Carolina is definitely a good spot for Tony. Many teams have gone away from the Fullback position completely, but Carolina has embraced it. They currently have veteran Brad Hoover filling the role, a player Tony admires and models his game after:

" I've noticed his consistency and his professionalism. It seems like every play matters to him. Just watching him last year, he was on fire from the fullback position. He was making blocks everywhere and opening up holes. If I can get to that level one day I would be more than excited."

The other Orangeman

selected in today's draft was Guard Ryan Durand.

Durand, a three year starter for the Orange, and recipient of various accolades including 2nd-Team All Big East, was taken by the Tennessee Titans 239th overall in the drafts 7th and final round.

During his conference call with the media, Durand discussed his versatility:

"Right now they are looking at me as a guard but I feel like I can play different places if need be, maybe move me out to tackle. It depends on their need and my ability to fill that need."

One other Orangeman has latched on with an NFL team today. Donnie Webb reports that Runningback Curtis Brinkley has signed a free agent deal with the San Diego Chargers.

Other former players look to land with teams, including Linebacker Jake Flaherty and Kicker Pat Shadle.

Congratulations to Tony, Ryan, and Boonah, and good luck to the rest of the players looking to keep the dream alive.

=======================================================================

It is 9:53, and Georgetown still sucks!

A Scary New High School Trend

2009-04-23T17:52:00.004-04:00

Much scarier than Crocs indeed.

6'11" Jeremy Tyler of San Diego (former Louisville commit) is dropping out of High School to go play out the two years until he is eligible for the NBA draft to play in Europe.

Now, this may not seem and worse than Brandon Jennings last year, or the litany of one-and-dones that come out of college every year, but this scares me.

I don't wish this upon him, but theoretically, let's say Tyler struggles- much like Jennings has- in Europe, and after two years of doing very little in Europe at the pro level, his stock is not very high and he gets drafted in the late first round/early second round.

He then plays a few ineffectual minutes early in the year for his NBA team, when he is sent down to the D-League.

After a few seasons bouncing around the D-League he is eventually cut- a player without anywhere to go. There is no guarantee he can latch back on in Europe, and now he has no job and is without a High School diploma.

I'm in no way insinuating that this will happen to Tyler- by all accounts he is an excellent player who will do fine- but if this becomes a trend (which I think it may, especially if Tyler has a good experience), mark my words, there will be players who this happens to.

I just can't see the risk that comes with not graduating from High School being worth the reward of some cash (that could easily be made up with exposure made while playing with college- Jonny's two years at Syracuse can only help his endorsement potential) and not having to go to classes for a year. He's going to be playing with grown men in a foreign country.

I can only hope that the NBA puts in place something that will deter this.

====================================================================

It's 6:08, and Georgetown still sucks!

Espn Talks some Greg Paulus

2009-04-22T08:26:00.002-04:00

NFL Draft Approaches...Whither the Orangemen?

2009-04-21T17:34:00.005-04:00

It has been seven years since a Syracuse football player (Dwight Freeney - 11th overall) was selected in the first round of the NFL draft. Seven years. For the first time since 1975, not a single Syracuse player was selected in last year's draft. At all.

There is no surer sign of a program's decline that its complete lack of mention on NFL draft weekend, the media-created event which football fans cling to like a life-raft at the start of the NBA playoffs and MLB regular season. The Orange football program had certainly started its slide under Paul Pasqualoni, but in fairness to Coach P, he sent 38 players to the pro ranks in his 14 year tenure as the Syracuse football coach. It is too early to tell, as far as Greg Robinson's recruits are concerned (since many of his earliest recruits are only now entering their senior seasons), but the fact that he failed to send any of P's later recruits to the NFL speaks volumes about Robinson's staff's inability to "coach up" the talent on the roster.

The NFL draft creates positive exposure for a program, as does the success of those players once they reach the pros. Let us hope, for the sake of Syracuse football, that somehow Curtis Brinkley and Tony Fiammetta get selected over the weekend, and are able to contribute in some way, shape, or form in the NFL. The Orange need all the positive exposure that they can get, to try and at least throw some fresh paint on the program's facade until Doug Marrone can right the ship.

It's Mayfest

2009-04-21T11:15:00.000-04:00

Everyone on the Hill, Drink and be Merry!

======================================================================

It's 11:16, and Georgetown still sucks!

The Interview of the Century is here.......

2009-04-20T17:17:00.002-04:00

Unfortunately it's not Ernie Davis's Ghost, but i guess i got the next best thing. I had the fortunes of getting an interview with the man himself, SU Punter Rob Long.

Without Further Adieu.........

RB:From a player's perspective, what has been the biggest adjustment you've had to make between Coach Robinson and Coach Marrone?
RL:From a players perspective the biggest change has been the discipline and accountablility that the players are held to.

RB:When you started your freshman year, you came onto this team with some large shoes to fill after Brendan Carney graduated. What was that like for you?
RL:It was a pretty wild experience, but I wasn't there to try and out do Brendan, I was just there to contribute the best that I could to the team and not to put too much pressure on myself.

RB:In the 2007 Buffalo game, you were called on to punt on third down, what was going through your mind?
RL:I wasn't really sure, but its not my job to question the coaches decisions I am just there to do my job.

RB:I understand there's a bit of a roster issue in finding a kicker for the season, is there a possibility we could see you kicking field goals?
RL:I think that there is a possiblity of anything, but as of right now I have been asked to hold and that is what I will do. If they feel the need to call on me to kick Ill be ready to step up.

RB:Marrone has been relatively good about keeping practices open to the public, do a lot of people come over to see what you are working on?
RL:I think that people are going to practices to see the offense and defense but Ill always catch some people looking over trying to figure out what we are up too. They generally turn away in confusion.

RB:Describe your team in one word.
RL:Determined.

RB:What has been your longest kick in practice this spring?
RL:I think the longest one in the air from the line of scrimmage was 62 yards.

RB:Speaking of kicking, your leg has to be pretty strong, approximately how much do you leg press?
RL:Ya know I am not really big on the heavy lifting and its been some time since I was on a leg press so I dont think I could give you an accurate answer on that one

RB:Is there any game on this year's schedule that really stands out to you?
RL:@ Penn State. Lot of kids in my area went on to go to school there and everyone in my area is a big Penn State fan and I'd love nothing more than to get that win.

and the inevitable question..........

RB:What were you thinking when you found out someone named their blog after you?
RL: Haha I wasn't sure what to think someone told me about it and I wasn't sure if they were messin with me or not until I checked it out for myself. But once I saw it I thought that people have too much time on their hands.

Special Thanks go out to Rob for taking the time to answer the questions in the midst of spring practices and upcoming finals. Look for interviews from such folks as Former SU Basketball Star Ryan Blackwell, just to name one.

Breakin' News

2009-04-20T08:42:00.002-04:00

Looks like we have ourselves another recruit for our 2010 recruiting class

It appears that Lawrence(NY) Quarterback John Kinder has committed to the orange, and with him he's bringing 1,000 rushing and 1,000 passing yards. This is a good sign for a variety of reasons. One of which is we appear to be taking back the recruits in our own backyard. That's one less kid who will play at rutgers or Uconn or Pitt or Penn State. In addition, did you notice the 1,000 rushing yards? Nothing would fit better in Coach Marrone's No Huddle Spread System than having the third demension to the offense that is a Dual-Threat QB. Gives the Defense one more thing to worry about.

Editor's Note: I can't help but find it funny that we keep finding quarterbacks at schools named lawrence. I'm on to you charley loeb........

New Banner

2009-04-19T22:32:00.001-04:00

Kudos to Tommy who is a regular over at syracusefan.com and apparently this site.

SU Spring game Quotables

2009-04-19T20:56:00.002-04:00

“I thought some situations were competitive and we just need to keep getting better. We handled a lot of situations today. The one thing we’re going to have to get better at in game situations is adjusting to penalties, miscues, missed assignments and then be able to come back and play better football. And, we have to be more competitive.”
-doug marrone

Well we did get worst at one thing: Penalties. If you recall last year we had the fewest penalty yards in the Big East. Guess we can't have everything.....

"It’s almost, at times, we’re trying not to score by moving back with penalties, dropping footballs and other types of miscues. You can’t be successful doing that in the red zone.”
-Doug Marrone

I guess some things never change. Sounds just like the Bunch Greggers had on the field. But on the flip side Doug inheirited this bullshit, it's going to take a bit of time to get this to relative decency.

"Bleep, bleep, bleep, bleep, bleep."
-Doug Marrone

I didnt know R2-D2 was coaching our football team.

“I would say we did well today. Our defense has been beating us during all the spring practices. Today we finally beat them.”
-Mike Williams
Before, our offense did well maybe once out of 20 times.... now it's once out of 10. That's a whole FIVE percent improvement. We're showing some flash.........

"for the most part, I think we are [playing in our positions]. When we were moving around in the second quarter, it was mostly because of penalties. Coach has a strict no-penalty rule and when people jump offsides, they’re out of there.”
-Nick Speller

Nobody crosses Doug Marrone unless Doug Marrone Says So.

Il Buono, il Brutto, il Cattivo.

2009-04-19T15:35:00.003-04:00

It seems like recently, we have to have some sort of controversy here in Orange-land. It wasn't more than a few days after Jonny's decision to declare for the NBA draft that a new issue has come about, not about a player leaving, but of one possibly joining the fray.

That player, as you all know, is Greg Paulus.

Greg Paulus has been the (or, more recently, a) Point Guard at Duke for the last few years, a decision reached after much deliberation on whether he would play basketball or football.

Paulus, a graduate of Christian Brothers Academy here in the Syracuse area, was the #1 rated Quarterback coming out of High School, and was highly sought after by Notre Dame, among other big name schools.

Once it was determined that he would play basketball, and not football (a decision many have lauded as a grave mistake), many assumed that he would be a Syracuse lean- a local kid staying in the area to play for the great Jim Boeheim. However, legend has it that when informed that his son would backup incumbant Syracuse icon Gerry McNamara, Mr. Paulus said that his son "wouldn't backup anyone" and that his son "can do better than Syracuse". He then went down to Duke, and we all know about the last four years, the last of which he was benched during the season and received far fewer minutes in Coach Krzyzewski's rotation.

Obviously, we are now four years past this, and we are looking at a completely different sport- football, with a brand new coach, and a less than stellar Quarterback situation (I like Nassib, but I don't think he'll be any kind of star this year).

I present to you- the Greg Paulus debacle:

The Good:

Paulus was obviously a highly touted, local Quarterback prospect, far ahead of Nassib, Dantley, A-Rob, Charlie Loeb, or anyone else who will be on the roster come fall.

He has apparently been throwing with his brother over at UNC (I'm sure he receives a standing ovation every time he steps on that campus), and Packers scouts have said that his arm strength looks great for someone who hasn't played in four years.

He is getting looks from other big name programs, namely Michigan (though they deny everything) and Nebraska.

He would put us on ESPN every week, just because of who he is. We would get Gameday coverage every Saturday, and that can only help a rebuilding program.

He would not cost us a scholarship for more than one year, and we have plenty to give due to the attrition we've seen this spring. Taking a flyer on him wouldn't really cost us anything.

Boost in attendance?

He has a relationship with other CBA players on the team, notably Lavar Lobdell, his favorite target in High School.

He fits Marrone's system.

It would give Nassib/Loeb/Whoever another year to develop.

The Bad:

I have a few major gripes with bringing in Paulus (aside from the aforementioned history we have with him and the rest of the Paulus clan).

It's been stated that Paulus wants a starting job- oviously. However, he cannot just show up on the Hill and expect to have this handed to him. He will have to outplay the other Quarterbacks, and he will have to earn the job. We can't put a player out there just because of his name or what he was in High School. Right now we have two players on the roster (one who is playing TE) who have started entire years as Quarterback of this University, and another who is the heir apparent to the job after a surprising Spring. I have no reason to believe that Paulus is a bad kid or anything, but if he comes here expecting to start, and doesn't win the job (Marrone isn't handing starter spots to anyone on this roster), we don't need to hear more badmouthing about the University. If he wants to come play football for us, he's going to be one of the guys on the field and the lockerroom. The media can hype it all he wants, but Paulus has to be a sterling teammate. Again, he never had any problems at Duke, and I've been told he's a good kid, so I'm not too concerned here.

My bigger concern is that he hasn't played the position in four years. Quarterback is probably the most cerebrally demanding position in all of sports. People have doubts when a Quarterback changes systems- Paulus is attempting to take not only his first college snap, but his first competitve snap of any kind in four years. He has had not studied film, read a defense, or anything else that goes into the mental part of a Quarterback's game in four years. Even True Freshman were just playing football the fall before, albeit at a lower level, but they have been in the swing of things at the very least. Paulus hasn't, he's been on the hardwood playing a game that couldn't be any more different from football. The arm may be there, but mentally there is no way he is ready for Minnesota, Penn State, UConn, Rutgers, West Virginia, and the other teams we play- and even if he showed up tomorrow I'm not entirely convinced he could pull that off. Nothing against Paulus, but he would be doing something I can't recall anyone else doing after that long of a break from the sport.

The Ugly:

I'm sorry, I couldn't resist. Who knows how much longer we can use those great Photoshops?

====================================================================

On another Orange note, congrats to Katie Rowan, Christina Dove, and the rest of the Syracuse Woman's Lacrosse team on their (shared) Big East Championship, with an excellent 12-3 (6-1) record.

====================================================================

Thanks for reading...it is now 4:17, and Georgetown still sucks!

Spring is in the Air...

2009-04-18T16:12:00.000-04:00

...and we all know what that means- controlled scrimmages, strangely contrived scoring systems, and Christmas colored practice jerseys...

Well, that was this year anyway. Coach Marrone aims to switch to a real game style Spring Game once his program is rolling along, but today was a fun little glimpse of the future of SU Football in the Doug Marrone era.

Obviously the game-style is preferred by many, but for a controlled scrimmage, the Dome had a decent crowd this afternoon for the game, and there was definitely a positive vibe going around. Even though the play was a little sloppy, people know something good is coming out of it. This team is on the way back. There is excitement for Syracuse Football again. I was lucky enough to sit near a number of player family members, including Averin Collier's uncle (very nice guy). He said that he really enjoyed the atmosphere, even when compared to the Spring game at Pitt the previous weekend, which he attended to watch his other nephew, Kevin. He complimented the coaching staff and the fans, and looked forward to seeing the team develop.

Only two players suited up at Quarterback- the current starter Ryan Nassib (Redshirt Freshman), and last years starter Cam Dantley (Senior). Both looked pretty good, in my opinion. They threw some pretty balls, and were able to squeeze passes in tight spaces It wasn't their fault that the receivers left their stick-um at home today (at least for the first half).

I think Nassib is definitely the more impressive of the two. Even for a young player, he has great composure, and a much quicker release than Cam. His ball won't be batted down at the line at the same alarming rate as Dantley, which we saw all too often last season. He has good footwork, and while his long ball is not the prettiest in the world, it usually hits its target. Coach Spence's offense, which consists of a lot of short throws and screens, should allow Nassib to get comfortable playing at this level, and I think more and more of the offense will be opened up for him as he develops. The fact that there was a Minnesota scout in the stands (according to various twitters) also kept the playbook shorter; by the time the season rolls around, I think our offense will look more dynamic than it did today.

Our running game should be a strength this year. We are very deep with Delone Carter, Antwon Bailey, and Averin Collier all playing major roles in the offense. The three all have distinct styles. Carter is a power back, he moves the pile and can get the extra yards with ease. Bailey is the quickest and shiftiest of the three, just ask Charlie Weis. Collier is a bit of a wild card. He redshirted last year, so he doesn't have the game experience, but he seems to have the most balanced style. He really pounds the ball, but also has good speed, and caught the most receptions out of any of the backs. Robert Nieves was also impressive carrying the rock as a fullback type player.

Our receivers are also a deep, talented group. Mike Williams had an excellent catch in the back corner of the endzone for the team's first Touchdown. He is definitely a legitimate threat, but he may still be a little rusty. He uncharacteristically dropped a few balls today. He had been pretty sure handed in the two practices I had attended earlier in the Spring. Donte Davis looked decent, and was the go-to-guy on a few reverse plays. Marcus Sales had a few receptions for decent gains, and Van Chew had a TD on a long ball. All of the receivers were plagued with drops, if they become more reliable, they have the chance to become a very solid corps this season.. The TEs were also strong, I really like Catalina as a receiver, he had some nice plays (aside from one fumble), and Mike Owen broke free over the middle for a TD on one play.

The unit that I'm the most concerned about is the Offensive Line. They were called for a number of holds and false start penalties, and were getting blown up regularly by the defense. Now, our defense really attacks, and that can be hard for a young offensive line to adjust to this early in the season. As an Offensive Tackle in High School myself, I always saw the OLine as the last unit to fully gel. It takes a ton of coordination and practice for a Line to become a solid unit, so I will hang my hat on the fact that they have a lot of time to improve and come together. If they don't, 2009 is going to be a long year. This offense will go as far as the Offensive Line allows them to this year.

The defense, as a whole, looks really good. The knock on Robinson's teams was that they did not attack, and they still gave up big plays. Shafer is the polar opposite. He blitzes, he knocks receivers off the ball, he confuses the offensive line- he is going to make his defense as hard to play against as possible. We may give up some big plays this season- but that was already happening anyway, and this team is going to force more turnovers and is going to hit...hard. Mistakes will happen because of our aggression, not lack thereof. On one play in the second half, Catalina caught a nice short throw and had the ball pretty well secured, but Parker Cantey flew up to the ball, punched it out, and Zary Stewart (who is much faster than I expected), took it about 65 yards for a score.

Not much to say about Special Teams. Long's punts were all very solid, and Austin Wallis made all of his kicks, though one was tipped and just made it over. He has the strength, however his approach is a little funky and he kicks line-drives that can get easily blocked, especially with the questionable protection that we have up front.

The best sign that I've seen this spring is that this team is having fun. Marrone and his staff are going to be harder on his players than the last regime, but he is emphasising fun, and a love and passion for the game, and the players are exuding it on the field. Every time the offense scored a touchdown, they celebrated in the endzone as a team. When the defense stopped Averin Collier four inches from the endzone on 4th down, red shirts swarmed the field to celebrate their victory. This team plays with a passion we didn't always see last year, and in a game like football, passion can make all the difference.

After the game, the team did sprints, stretched, and then all sat at tables in the middle of the field while fans were allowed onto the field to get autographs. Many took advantage of this field access, and there were a ton of kids playing catch with their dads. It was a really nice sight to see, and hopefully it is just the first step in moving this program back to the top of the Big East, and college football.

Great Danes < Greater Orange

2009-04-18T00:27:00.000-04:00

Men's Lacrosse:

Syracuse- 15

Albany- 13

Now this is my first season really into Lacrosse, so I'm learning on the run here at SU. However, one thing is pretty obvious to anyone who was in the Dome tonight, even a Lax neophyte like myself- this team has some holes.

We came on like gang busters, soaring to a quick 10-2 lead in the first half, outshooting the Danes 29-10 and winning 8/11 faceoffs- it was a dominant performance.

Now I'll touch on our fanbase for a section. It is well documented that we don't get enough fans out to these games, especially students. Our "break the record" night for Virginia was a resounding success and we had a decent turnout for Cornell as well. However, our fans are inconsistant at best, and while tonight wasn't our worst effort, something peculiar happened at halftime. A lot of people left.

Some may have left because the game seemed like it was out of hand, some probably

left because of goddamn T-Pain and his concert on campus which was starting at 8. It was disheartening.

Within the first three minutes of the third quarter, not only were our fans gone, but our defense was nowhere to be seen. Sources tell me they may have been on a boat somewhere. I know the song is funny, but we can't let these hip-hop stars and their funny hats distract our play, not with a final four on the line. I want to go to Massachusetts in May!

Anyway, the Danes outscored us 8-1 in the third quarter, cutting our once safe looking 10-2 lead to 11-10. All was not well.

And then Kevin Drew made the play of the game.

After winning the opening faceoff, Albany's Brandon Gleason went to pass the ball back to the net, when Kevin Drew checked his stick at what ended up being the perfect moment, and the ball sailed into the empty Albany net. Syracuse went on to score two more goals in the opening 75 seconds of the fourth quarter, and while the defense was still probably sailing on Lake Onondaga somewhere, the victory was had.

====================================================================

The first Spring Game of the Doug Marrone era is tomorrow at 1 pm at the Dome. The gates open at 11. Be there, or Doug Marrone will take you on in the Oklahoma drill. And he will win.

They Tryin to make him go to rehab........

2009-04-17T18:21:00.000-04:00

And he said yes, yes, yes?

I'm talking about SU Football ManChild Arthur Jones and his recovery from his Pectoral(whatever that is) injury. According to the Darryl Gross Propaganda Machine, All is going as planned and Jones has resumed running and doing some sport specific activities. Bring on the Thud Drills........ oy. No timetable on his return.

In other football news........... Paulusgate continues to unfold as one more dumbass Duke Student cannot make up his ever loving mind on what he would like to do with his life. Taking ballroom dancing and basket weaving whereever he goes will be the least of his worries.........

Wait.... what life? he goes to duke.
Anyhow i'll say he sucks and leave the topic for Dan to discuss, he's really into this topic right now.

Expect a report on tonight's lax game from him. i'm gonna try to watch it if it's on time warner but i make no guarantees.

How I Learned To Stop Losing and Love Doug Marrone - By Brian Roll

2009-04-17T14:05:00.000-04:00

Doug Marrone will succeed where Greg Robinson failed. How do I know this? Because I know a little something about these two former New York Jets assistant coaches, and what makes them different.

My perceptions as a football fan have been shaped through the prism of watching the Jets since I was a little kid, back when I was still blissfully unaware of the years of football heartache that were to come. As such, I've seen a number of coaches, good and bad (mostly bad), patrolling the sidelines for Gang Green. Often, it's been apparent from day one as to who might succeed and who might fail, well before the team ever took the field. There are tell-tale indicators very early on in the process - how does the coach handle himself in his introductory press conference? What is his vision for the team? What do the players have to say about him? How does he run his practices? I've become attuned to the early warning signs of failure in the pro ranks, and cringe whenever certain tried and true red flag warnings of disaster go up.

To wit, Rich Kotite was notorious for running "Club-Med style practices," in the words of former Jet Wesley Walker. He was a "nice guy" coach who "treated his players like men." This lack of conditioning and discipline led to the predictable two year record of 4-28 for Kotite's Jets. His predecessor, Pete Carroll, was little better. He brought in a "fun" attitude to coaching, and was known to organize family picnics for his players during practice, was often seen dribbling a basketball playfully in the hallways of the Jet offices, and generally brought a lot of So-Cal style sunshine into the world of the Jets. He was fired after a 6-10 season, in which the Jets absolutely fell apart like a cheap suit towards the end of the year. Neither he nor his staff - and this includes his enthusiastic and optimistic defensive coordinator, Greg Robinson - were able to get a hold of the team after they began to spiral out of control, and they simply deflated down the stretch. The knock on Carroll and his coaching staff were that they were too emotional, they were Pollyana-ish, they were cheerleaders when they needed to be taskmasters. Quite simply? They were soft.

Soft. Probably the most damning thing you can say about any football coach.

Fast forward to 2004. Embattled coach Paul Pasqualoni and his Syracuse Orangemen had just finished getting demolished at the hands of Georgia Tech in the Champs Sports Bowl. Now, no one ever accused Coach P of being soft, but the reality was that performance and recruiting had started to deteriorate badly in the last few years of an otherwise impressive coaching career at Syracuse. The fans were howling, calling for blood after watching their Orange slide into mediocrity, and newly minted Athletic Director Daryl Gross decided to make his mark on the football program in a big way, by firing Pasqualoni and launching his agenda of turning Syracuse into the "USC of the East." After years of listening to former A.D. Jake Crouthamel downplay expectations for SU football, it was refreshing - at least to me - to hear an A.D. who wasn't afraid to aim high and openly state that Syracuse's goal should be to compete for the national championship every year.

Based in no small part on the recommendation of Pete Carroll (who had, as we all know, gone on to achieve huge success at USC, a true national program), Gross brought in the aforementioned Greg Robinson. Greg's track record had been, and this is putting it kindly, uneven at best. Yes, he had two Super Bowl rings, but no one ever mistook the Broncos defenses in the late 90's for the '85 Bears, and he had also presided over the Kansas City Chiefs during the year in which they had arguably the worst defense (statistically) in the history of the NFL. Even his talent-packed defense with the Texas Longhorns gave up 37 points in the Rose Bowl against Michigan, so it wasn't like they were a shut-down group. Yet, he parlayed his career achievements into the head coaching gig - his first - at Syracuse.

Robinson's problems began right away with the Orange. He had some early recruiting success (at least on paper), so there were signs for hope. However, he faced a huge problem at the beginning that is unique to college football - he didn't know the school, or the area, in which he would be coaching. Syracuse is not a national program - everyone in the Syracuse community knew this, but Robinson seemed not to. Now, here comes the part where those old red flag instincts of mine started to kick in with the Orange. It became apparent, immediately, that Robinson was an eternal optimist. That's all well and good, when there is reason for optimism, but he had the sort of delusional cheeriness when asked about the team that, well, Pollyana might have.

Over the course of his career at Syracuse, as the losses mounted and the program fell further and further into the depths of FBS football, whispers abounded of easy practices, with "thud drills" preferred over "tackling drills," which translated to a poorly coached sieve-like defensive effort on the field. Thought to be a defensive mastermind, Robinson's defenses continued to deteriorate, and came to resemble less a formidable obstacle and more of a doormat to be trampled easily. When pressed on these issues, the answers became more and more comically cheery in the face of reality. It had become apparent by year three to me, after regressing from a 4-8 campaign in his second season, that this guy was in over his head. Bottom line? When he needed to crack the whip, he continued to smile and say inexplicable things, and always talked about how his charges were this close to "exploding" (whatever that meant). Unfortunately for Robinson, the team imploded instead, and Gross finally had enough, firing Robinson with two games left in the 2008 season. In the end, the light at the end of the tunnel that Robinson so steadfastly believed was coming turned out to be an oncoming train - perhaps it was The Little Engine That Could, the book which Robinson decided to read at his, what can only be described as "surreal," farewell press conference.

Enter Doug Marrone, the man who could not be more of a contrast to Robinson in many important ways (more on that in a minute). After his introductory press conference following a frantic (and unpredictable) coaching search, Marrone went to work. In fact - and according to many reports, this is what got him hired in the first place - he had already been doing work as the Syracuse football coach before being hired. Coming into an interview as the dark horse candidate, you need to do your homework, and Marrone - an offensive coach - presented detailed plans on how he would attack the defenses of every one of Syracuse's Big East opponents. Apparently blown away by this and other undisclosed factors, Gross and the search committee realized they had found their man.

Now to the contrast between the two men.

The most obvious difference is that Marrone knows Syracuse football. He not only knows the history of the program, having played for the Orange under coach Dick MacPherson in the 1980s, but he also understands what it takes to build a winner at Syracuse. Marrone has stated in numerous interviews that he recognizes that for Syracuse to win, it must work from the inside out. Obviously the Orange want to recruit nationally, but the base has to be local, and Marrone understands that Syracuse needs to get back to beating Rutgers, Penn State, and Boston College (and now UConn) once in a while to snare the top recruits in SU's backyard. Robinson simply didn't know the area - Marrone does. The other difference that we have seen so far, at least in terms of practice, is that Marrone is a take-no-prisoners kind of guy. He is cracking the whip at practice, attempting to instill a discipline and toughness that that the team lacked under the laid-back Robinson.

The first year staffs are different too. Greg Robinson's first staff at Syracuse was full of first-time assistant coaches, and guys with little or no college coaching experience (Brian Pariani, Major Applewhite, etc.). Marrone - who, like Robinson, has never been a head coach - has at least surrounded himself with experienced FBS position coaches (especially Scott Shafer and Rob Spence), and has made sure to hire men with local relationships to help in recruiting (John Anselmo, Bob Casullo). The approach is simply more coherent, and reflects the approach of a man who has been planning for this job ever since he got involved in coaching almost twenty years earlier.

Comparing the resumes, you can look at the successes of each man in his previous coaching gigs. As discussed earlier, Robinson has had an uneven track record, and one could argue that he's been a disaster in two out of his last three jobs (Kansas City Chiefs, Syracuse Orange), sandwiched around a year of relative success at Texas (the Rose Bowl notwithstanding). Marrone comes from the New Orleans Saints, where he had helped Sean Peyton put together one of the most explosive offenses in NFL history. Yes, Marrone did not call the plays in New Orleans, but his game-planning and preparation helped turn that offensive into a juggernaut (by Peyton's own admission). During his time with the Jets prior to New Orleans, New York had one of the best offensive lines in the game, paving the way for Curtis Martin to lead the NFL in rushing in 2005. The line play during Marrone's years was marked by toughness and discipline that were noticeable, even to laymen like myself. Games - in the NFL and college football - are won in the trenches, and if Marrone can make offensive line a strength of Syracuse football over time, the Orange offense will be tough to stop, regardless of who the skill players are.

Lastly, Marrone is in love with Syracuse. In love. I have no doubt that Robinson came to love the program, and he seems like a nice guy, but this is Doug Marrone's dream job. Now, that doesn't always work out too well (see Weiss, Charlie - Notre Dame), but it gives me hope. Syracuse football is the kind of program that is beloved by fans and alumni, but unknown by many outside of the fan base. I don't think you need a passion for the school itself to recruit for a Notre Dame, or a USC, a Florida, etc. Those are basically pro programs playing at the college level, who recruit nationally and are global brands.

Syracuse is best known as a basketball school (and a lacrosse school, of course). You need someone with the vision and passion, not to mention the understanding and work ethic to turn Syracuse back into a program that goes bowling consistently, and frequents the top 25. If Marrone's start is any indication, he has the fire and determination to get the ship righted. He wants to be here, and he will do everything in his power to restore Syracuse to its rightful place among the regional powers of college football. Everyone knows that Marrone hasn't coached a game yet, and no one should expect miracles in his first year. I get that. We all know that Syracuse is a fixer-upper, and it needs a patient, hard-working man to oversee the restoration project. Quite simply, I believe that Daryl Gross and the university have found that man in Doug Marrone.

Why ME?

2009-04-17T00:34:00.000-04:00

Me and Dan were doing some fooling around with google image search, seeing that we have nothing better to do at 12:30 A.M than see what comes up when we put in justin thomas on google in an attempt to get a picture of him doing jumping jacks.

Transsexuals anyone?

That's not even the worst part, then i did a search for john thompson and the following picture came up.

This is absolutely mind boggling for a multitude of reasons

1.I had no idea John Thompson posessed any special talents other than coaching horrible basketball teams.

2.those dudes are just ugly enough to be his players.

and the worst part

3.I learned how to play piano from that book, thus scarring many memories of my childhood. FML.

Thanks John Thompson, and remember, if it makes you shit and its a disease, well then Dr. Boeheim can call it a shitting disease, fuckface.

Orange Fans, Back Away from the Ledge

2009-04-16T22:42:00.000-04:00

Everyone, it's okay, we're going to be fine. Syracuse will be playing basketball next season, trust me.

Obviously we had big expectations for this team next season. We were returning everyone except for Kristof (who will surely be missed), everyone thought we were a Top-5 Preseason team, a chorus of angels began singing whenever Jonny Flynn walked into a room, it was great.

However, all things must pass, and we have to live with it.

Jonny Flynn gave us two great years. With him at the helm, we won twenty games after losing half of our team to injuries last season, and this year we made it through what probably was the best conferece of all time, through a six overtime d onnybrook (excuse me, my Poliquin was showing a bit there), all the way to the Big East championship, and then to the Sweet Sixteen. We had some good times, it was fun. However, we are all well aware that great basketball players rarely stick around. For every 2006-07 Florida, there is 2007-08 Kansas.

Now do I think Jonny's choice is the correct one? Not really, no. I think he could definitely improve his draft stock with another year of college- his jumper leaves something to be desired, and I'd love to see his decision making on the court gain some consistancy- but I understand. The economy is rough, rumbles of a future NBA lockout float around, and the risk that time presents may outweigh the rewards of a few possible extra million. There is no guarantee that his stock would rise as much as we think, and there is no guarantee that we would make that Final Four run that the basketball pundits had us salivating over, we just knew that the chance was out there.

Besides, who can resist this guy?

It is obvious the Lebron James factor had something to do with Jonny's quick trigger on hiring Leon Rose as his agent...and I don't like it one bit.

Now maybe Lebron is being completely honest in his insinuations, maybe Knick-Cuse fans' dreams everywhere will come true and New York will draft Jonny in the lottery and Lebron joins him and completes this happy family and they win a dozen championships and fix Wall Street and cure cancer.

I don't buy it though.

I think that Jonny will get drafted wherever the NBA dictates his value to be, Lebron has no effect on who drafts Jonny unless he falls all the way to where Cleveland ends up, and if this happens, then Jonny's in trouble. He'll probably go somewhere between the end of the lottery and the twentieth pick, and Lebron will sign his next contract with whomever it is that offers him the most money. Besides, doesn't he already have an all-star Point Guard in Mo Williams?

Lebron's agency, LRMR, just needs needs marketable athletes, and Jonny is definitely that, especially after the show he put on in the Garden against UConn. You've got to give him credit, he's a shrewd businessman, but I don't like professional atheletes calling amateurs, it doesn't sit well with me. I just hope Lebron can at least hook Jonny up with some endorsements at the very least.

But as for Jonny, I wish him the best of luck. I will be rooting hard for him, much like I root hard for Carmelo, and Hak, and all of the other NBA Orange. The anti-Jonny contingency that has been growing is frankly ridiculous, much like the anti-Donte one (I'm looking at you, students who booed Donte at the Dome this year). I just can't blame someone for leaving early to make money to help his family. We all go to college to better ourselves for the future, and obviously Jonny, and Donte before him, felt like it was the appropriate time to take that step in their personal situations. They and their loved ones should be the only judges of that. It can only help our program if they succeed (look at the Melo Center which is being put up solely on the back of Carmelo's success in Denver, another "one-and-done" player for us), so let's support them in their decisions, not go on their Facebooks and insult them.

As for the other two departees (or probable departees, keep hope alive!):

Eric is graduating this year. I really can't blame him if he leaves, he's probably put up with more in four years on the Hill than anyone. He tore his ACL, he had to go through the whole situation in the winter, he's been (warranted or not) branded as the "most hated" player in the Big East by a number of people, it's been rough for Devo. Plus, he has a daughter now. I expect him to take his degree and go overseas (I'm sure he knows that he probably won't be drafted), and make some good money playing the sport he loves, without all of the scrutiny he's faced over here.

I am not convinced that Paul is even sure of what he's doing (though you can say that often about Paul). He came into Syracuse after missing a chance of going High School to NBA by a year, and touted as a Player of the Year candidate as an entering Freshman. He was supposed to be Melo reincarnate. He never blossomed into the player we thought he would, but Paul was a very good player for us for 3 years, and while he had a seemingly contentious relationship with Jimmy, he always played his role on the team, and had some big games. I think he has a chance to get drafted on talent and athleticism alone, but if he does come back and could improve his jumper and his decision making, he'll have an even better shot.

No matter what the last two decide, the same thing applies- as 'Cuse fans, we should be rooting for all of our own. A major discussion that has come about in all of this craziness is "what do college athletes owe their fanbase?" I think that as long as they play hard and respect the University during their time on the hill, we can't complain about their tenures.

I don't think that's even a question with these three.

It's been a fun few years, but Orange basketball will reload. We have Andy, we have Arinze, we have Rick, and we have Wes. Let the good times roll.

====================================================================

Everyone, go to the Dome tomorrow at 7 pm and support our amazing Orange lacrosse team against Albany, and more importantly, I expect to see everyone at the Dome at 1 pm for the Spring Football team. A new era is beginning, and the players and coaching staff need our support. The power of Doug Marrone compels you!

The time for talk is...starting?

2009-04-16T22:14:00.000-04:00

Today is a big day in the cuse blogosphere

Why you may ask?

No, Flynn is still gone.

No, Nude pictures of greg robinson werent found on the internet.

AND

No, John Thompson isint dead (shucks.)

Much Better than that. If i had to say so myself this is almost as big as the marrone hiring, but i digress..........

anyway.........

A couple days ago i posted an open call for staff writers and contributors for SWRLU. Here are the chosen candidates.
Jake Faunce
Brian Roll
and
Dan Lyons

Welcome aboard gentlemen.

G'orange
Ray Biggs
Editor in Chief, SWRLU

Flynn on Flynn

2009-04-16T18:22:00.000-04:00

Sounds like a bad gay porno, doesnt it?

down to business....

So the speculation has officially ended once and for all, Jonny signed on the dotted line and all i can do is sit back and pray he's a knick, life sucks.

Ryan miller sat down with jonny in order to get the truth out and jonny had this to say.

"It really was hard to leave Syracuse, the city I've grown to love and fans I've grown to love, but at the end of the day I had to do what was best for me and my family and what you feel is best in your heart," Flynn told Miller. "I hope the fans can understand where I'm coming from. It was a hard decision but hopefully fans won't have a bad feeling whenever Jonny Flynn's name is brought up. I loved college basketball and loved representing the city of Syracuse."

Jonny Flynn.
I just had a slightly bad feeling about that.

to put it simply, i think he should have waited to sign an agent until he had gone through pre draft workouts. Why put it on the line when nothing is guaranteed? I have no clue, stuff just doesnt add up.

As for Harris, the "releasegate" saga continues to unfold. Absolutely no one seems to know his intentions and the ones who claim to know have completely conflicting stories, let's take a page from the team's book and try not to worry about it too much. Like AO for example:

"It doesn't really change the way you prepare," "Either way, you would attack the (off-season) the same way, whether they were here or not."

Well said, he's the second coming of Shaquille "Big Aristotle, Shaqtus, and millions of other nicknames i can't remember" O'Neal. Except maybe just a hair shorter. Just a hair......

Note: a "hair" appears to be about 4 inches in this case, Grow a 'Fro Arinze.

If harris leaves, i think he may wind up stuck in the d-league, he has an excellent frame but sometimes doesn't use it to it's full potential. He absolutely MUST work on that if he wishes to go to the NBA and contribute.

Editor's Note: The only way this would have been any worse is if Flynn ends up as a New Jersey Net or if his agent was Scott Boras.

Contributing Writer Wanted!

2009-04-13T21:47:00.000-04:00

Do you enjoy writing about Su Athletics, but dont have the time to run your own blog by yourself?
Do you enjoy Devendorf's homoerotic photos?
Are you Self-Motivated?
Does the mere thought of Rob Long force you to jizz in your pants uncontrollably?
If you answered yes to any of these questions, An opportunity awaits.
I am Ray Biggs, International blogging superstar and writer of Superman Wears Rob Long underoos. From a blogger's standpoint i feel like i can not provide enough coverage with all my school committments, etc. So my call goes out, would you like to contribute on a regular basis and improve the quality of this soon-to-be wonderful internet publication?
I'm really looking for someone who would like to write on occasion but just doesnt have the time to build their own blog from the ground up.
If youre interested, i need the following
1.Your name
2.How long have you been an orange fan?
3.Is your mother a hoya?
4.your proudest cuse moment
5.A brief paragraph describing any unique talents and what you can bring to the cuse blogosphere.
Email it to vcxc3200@yahoo.com and you'll be good to go.

Abandon ship?

2009-04-13T20:05:00.000-04:00

I have good news and bad news, and plenty of sarcastic and non-sarcastic thank yous for a guy named lebron james.

The bad news is...... Flynn is officially leaving school.

http://www.nunesmagician.com/2009/4/13/833165/et-tu-jonny

Was this whole lebron thing even legal to do? i mean certainly there had to be something in the rules.

I would just like to take the opportunity to blame this on holy shirt for not printing up the fine shirt idea sean had a while ago:

Spent too much time printing up marathon men t-shirts without thinking about the consequences........ oy.

The good news is...... Maybe he plays for my beloved knicks(?)

http://www.nunesmagician.com/2009/4/13/834040/just-thinking-out-loud-here

I can just imagine it now.

Fellow Knicks fans...... knock on wood please.

Shaq's Greatest hits

2009-04-09T14:57:00.000-04:00

A bit of Orange Poetry

2009-04-06T08:21:00.001-04:00

I wrote thefollowing piece for my school's annual poetry slam. Enjoy!

We went through November without a loss,
No ACL Tears, keep your fingers crossed.
We thought this team was going to be great.
But first let’s get a few facts straight.

December came, the team looked nice
The players lacked blood, instead it was ice.
Through Memphis, Kansas, and the florida gators,
3 wins to silence all the haters.

Then there was one lonely night in December,
An event which we try not to remember.
The one night we didn’t play so great,
So we lost to a school called Cleveland state?

A 60 footer that should not have gone in,
Left us all thinking “why didn’t we win?”
Boeheim was stressed, his cheeks turned red,
And more gray hairs jumped ship off his head.

Then something else happened, it’s since been put to bed
Devendorf slapping girls in the head.
Was kicked off the team, what a disgrace
Then he said he simply high fived her face.

To get back on the team to fufill his wishes,
He wound up washing tons of dishes
And getting interviewed by every reporter
Like his case belonged on law and order

Many weeks passed, the guys played with reason
And gave jimmy b 30 20 win seasons.
Wins over Marquette, Georgetown, and notre dame.
Syracuse would never quite be the same.

These men were led by a guy named Flynn,
Who knew nothing more than breathing and wins.
Of course we still knocked on wood,
For the many other times we THOUGHT we were good

The big east tourney had a wonderful first night
Seton hall’s Harvey just came to fight.
But then again he picked the wrong guy.
If I saw devo, I’d be ready to die.

The next night came and to all surprise,
We played like a team that was on the rise
We gave jim Calhoun plenty of fits,
On a night that the fans would never forget.

1.1 seconds left devendorf with the shot,
It’s good, hold on a second, maybe it’s not.
The officials talk, they just cant agree,
Sorry folks, it’s time for OT.

The first one started fast, Syracuse was flat,
Andy rautins would have none of that
He drained his shots, the kid was insane
His shooting prowess extended the game.

The game dragged on for 5 more overtimes
It stole so much sleep it was such a crime
You’d like to go to sleep at the end of the day,
But its like a car wreck, you cant look away.

By the 6th overtime, 8 players were out,
A walk on was in, we just had our doubts.
Everyone thought, “o no not again”
But rautins would bring the game to an end.

The NCAA committee thought we were great,
With all the wins in a tough big east slate
The tourney came along, and we looked mean
And marched ourselves into the sweet sixteen.

It was there the men in orange met their match.
We counted our chickens before they hatched
It was so disappointing, all I did was shake,
While we were dismantled by a gorilla named blake.

Regardless, we showed some guts this year,
Next year we should be the one’s to fear.
With so many guys back, lets do this again.
National Champions 2010.

Oklahowhat?

2009-03-31T10:02:00.000-04:00

Sorry for the lack of posts lately, schoolwork is currently bogging me down and i dont even want to talk about friday night's embarassment, other than i could sum it up all in one photo.

Ah yes the infamous crying child. we'll see you again in 5 months, unless we find out that mike williams tears his ACL(knock on wood).

And on a sad note, i regretfully must say that Kristof Ongenaet is no longer part of the SU hoops team. Those belgians grow up so fast................ the breakfast bunch will never be the same.

NCAA First Round Preview

2009-03-20T09:58:00.000-04:00

Folks, Our Day has come. Today we will tip off at 12:15 beat the ass of a team who hasnt even been to the tournament, and lock up our first NCAA tournament victory in 1,825 days. We haven't won an ncaa tournament game as long as ive been in high school, heres hoping i dont have to partake in the walk of shame for the 5th consecutive year.

Here's today's starting lineups:

Stephen F. Austin
PG:Eric Bell

Tiny, quick guard who can get dribble penetration in the blink of an eye, but he's never seen a player like Flynn before.

SG:Eddie Williams

Loves to take the ball to the basket frequently, very similar to devendorf in that aspect.

SF:Josh Alexander

Small(and by that i mean im taller than him), but athletic forward who can step back and take the deep jumper. Harris needs to be in his face at all times to limit his effectiveness.

PF: Nick Shaw

Veteran forward with a playing style similar to that of our very own KRISTOF!. Gets plenty of boards, but he's practically worthless on the offensive end.

C:Matt Kingsley

Solid post presence who has something onuaku doesnt have: a jumper.

Syracuse:
Pg:Flynn
Sg:Devo
Sf:Harris
PF:Jackson
C:Onuaku

Syracuse Key to the game: Start fast. I dont know how to put it, many other 2 and 3 seeds have already nearly been bounced because they allowed other teams to keep pace. Let flynn control the tempo and just score as quickly as possible.

Xs And Os:Austin runs a basic Zone offense with either the power forward or center flashing to the high post. Then dumping it off for a backdoor layup or popping it out for the open 3.

Stephen F. Who?

2009-03-19T08:21:00.000-04:00

"Stephen Fuller Austin (November 3, 1793 – December 27, 1836), known as the "Father of Texas", led the second and ultimately successful colonization of the region by settlers from the United States. The capital of Texas, Austin in Travis County, Austin County, Stephen F. Austin State University in Nacogdoches, Austin College in Sherman, as well as a number of K-12 schools are named in his honor"
-Wikipedia

That just makes this school sound increasingly worthless. In case you have had your head buried in the sand along the potomac river, we are playing a University named after this guy in a first rounder tomorrow in miami. So much for intimidating, i dont know where the lumberjack nickname possibly could have came from, and this perplexes me for the following two reasons:

A.Stephen Austin was NOT a lumberjack.

B.I dont even think that there are TREES in texas

Therefore, why could they possibly be called the lumberjacks?

"Since the university first opened its doors in 1923, SFA's athletic teams and students in general have been known as the Lumberjacks. The nickname was chosen in an assembly held shortly after the institution officially opened classes. Students and faculty met to debate the merits of several potential nicknames, with the proponents of each choice leading cheers to rally support for their proposed mascots. T.E. Ferguson -- a professor of English at the time, whose name now adorns an academic building on campus -- submitted "Lumberjacks," a nickname he found appropriate for a university surrounded by the piney woods of Deep East Texas. The assembly agreed. With the arrival of the first women's basketball team in the late 1930s, SFA's female athletes took on the moniker of Ladyjacks, a nickname chosen by two of the campus's pioneers in women's athletics -- Drs. Lucille Norton and June Irwin."

Oh, Snap, i swear i had no clue there were trees in texas..... they always portray it as some sort of deserted wasteland, like in friday night lights.

But a new question now emerges: Can these kids play?

Yes and no. They really don't have a consistent scoring threat, and their forward play is less than stellar. Ongenenaet should have his way with these guys and force them to take bad shots. Oh, Did we mention they have a 5'3 Point Guard who "Likes Being small?"

http://www.syracuse.com/orangebasketball/index.ssf?/base/sports-1/1237453098203240.xml&coll=1

take it for what its worth folks, i gotta get to class.
G'Orange

And Now, we wait..........

2009-03-15T16:08:00.000-04:00

With the Tournament Bracket being unveiled in less than 2 hours time, here's a final look at our resume:

In a few hours we'll know where the Orange stand in the NCAA Tournament. Let's take one final look at the resume the committee will be dissecting to decide what SU is ranked, where they play and who they'll be playing.

Record: 26-9

Big East Record (Including BET): 14-8

OOC Record: 12-1

RPI: 12th (out of 343)

Key OOC Wins: Memphis, Kansas, Florida

Key OOC Losses: Cleveland State

Key BET Wins: UConn (BET), Marquette

Key BET Losses: Pitt, UConn, Villanova (2), Louisville (2)

Record vs RPI Top Ten: 2-4

Record vs RPI Top Twenty-Five: 5-6

Last Ten Games: 8-2

NCAA Tourney Opponents: Cleveland St. (L), Cornell (W), Louisville (2 L),

Other opponents still waiting: Florida, Providence(L)

(Thanks for the whole thing sean)

Now the question gets posed: What have we really done that will make us look superior to many of the other teams we know are in?

1.We're undefeated in overtime games this year.
2.We're undefeated against Tournament-Bound West Virginia
3.We handed a highly overrated memphis team their last loss.
(Jesus christ, their conference REALLY sucks)
4.We have the greatest homoerotic poser on the face of the planet.
5.He's also got the strongest pimp hand in division 1.
6.We had only one more loss than the football team! and more games!
7.We beat Notre Dame convincingly and it wasnt considered a miracle.
8.the creation of several new basketball terms such as the SLAMWOW
9.The Breakfast Bunch.
10.The thought that theoretically we could be 2-0 against UConn this season.
10 and a half. I'll Stop.... Right.... There. You've seen enough.

What have we done wrong?
1.We lost more than 0 games.
2.Cleveland State *Cough cough*
3.Devo's high fiving antics nearly got him kicked off the team.
4.We're playing with 7 guys again
5. Getting swept by nova doesnt help.
6. We made a poor innocent man piss his pants.
7. We caused many other drunk BET Attendees to stumble down the stairs and require the assistance of more than 3 ushers in addition to the 2 poor fans he just fell on, and in the process he spilled their beers.
8.That Disconcerting road loss to georgetown(NIT Bubble team).
9.Devendorf inconvenienced several committee members on the highway.

Where will we be seeded: This depends on how much the tournament committee actually likes us now that they know if they seed us lower than a 4 they can never show their face in syracuse again. They'll wind up on the blacklist, just like tim higgins, Doug Gottleib, and every other bum that left syracuse out of their top 25. If i had to take a wild stab we'll wind up as a 3, a 2 if they like us, and a 4 if they really dare to make syracusians so upset that they will cry in to their T3I Orange Snuggies for days on end while they wait for us to drop our first rounder again.

Thats all i have to say for now, all we can really do is wait and hope for the best.
Knock on wood.

Queer Eye for the Syracuse Guy.

2009-03-10T10:05:00.000-04:00

Over the past week it has come to my attention that many of the orange players and coaches we come to know and love(and sometimes loathe) are now obsessed with their wardrobes. Imagine if we took 5 of these gentlemen, forced them to pretend to be gay, and remade a largely unpopular but still on show on an obscure cable network called Bravo. I give you the fab 5.

Quentin Hillsman

Stylin with Coach Q

When this man's coaching career ends, dont be suprised if he comes out with his own clothing line simply called Q. Pretty much all the coaches will be wearing this stuff, just like our syracuse snuggies we're still desperately waiting for.

Paul Harris

Paul, stop attempting to pick up 10 year old boys at charity functions!
I don't care if this is your pimp suit or not, 10 year old boys do NOT qualify as big pimpin. Hell, this is not pimpin at all, you CAN do better.
Take a page from arinze's book................

Solid color, no stripes. Brown also hides dirt.

Speaking of stripes...........

MY EYES!
Here's hoping we can ban stripes permanently from the SU locker room
Except when they're worn in good taste, like my main man Kristof!

Well done sir, well done.

Is this thing on?

2009-03-10T10:01:00.000-04:00

This is a miracle in progress right here. Despite my school's incredibly stingy(and sometimes asinine) internet filtering, i have somehow managed to make it onto this site to do a little thing i like to call posting. I will be doing this rather frequently. Let's hope this can continue. *Knock on wood*

Tourney talk

2009-03-09T10:11:00.000-04:00

Once again, sorry for the outrageous lack of updates folks. I've been busy the last couple of weeks running around doing the bidding of others. Are we good or am i going to have to pay you all off to quit whining?

Well, boys and girls, we've done it. We finally got the elusive road win we had been looking for as the Orange downed Marquette in overtime. What does this do for us?

Signature Conference Road win
We ACTUALLY didnt fold in the last 2 minutes.
6th seed in the tournament

That seems like such a wonderful thing, until you are a ticket holder for that game. I now get to watch the orange blow out the winner of the Seton Hall-USF Game for 50 bucks a ticket. But that isint the best part...... The tickets got bumped up by 30 dollars right after i bought them.

(laughter and golf claps)

Stubhub is such a pathetic website for allowing that to take place.

2009-03-03T21:04:00.000-05:00

SU-Rutgers

Cuse-Cincy

2009-03-01T13:54:00.001-05:00

Cuse-Cincy

I woulda loved to do a preview but im hacking my brains out now.

Jim Calhoun.

2009-03-01T13:48:00.000-05:00

Orange Slices 2/24

2009-02-24T18:45:00.001-05:00

Saw a few things around that id like to point out, and also ill do my obligatory st. john's preview in the same post. (Tough economic times, gotta save server space....)

First off, Mr "Unforced Eric" Devendorf had some wonderful words of wisdom about the Big East:

"Nobody's an easy team in the Big East," Devendorf said. "Anybody can beat anybody. We've got to play like we approach every game. We've got to play hard."

Anybody can beat anybody, huh? so in other words you are one of the anybodies, and a random chick off the street is the other anybody. Way to work in a nice bitchslapping reference. How about you focus on basketball?

Syracuse(7-7 Big East)
at
St Johns(4-10 Big East)

Overall records unimportant.

Lineups:
St Johns
Pg-Boothe
Sg-Horne
SF-Kennedy
PF-Burrel
C-Evans

Syracuse
PG-Flynn
SG-Devendorf
SF-Harris
PF-Jackson
C-Onuaku

Last time out: Syracuse lost a heartbreaker to villanova at the carrier dome.
St Johns Def. Seton Hall at home.

If Syracuse Expects to Win:
1.Keep a leash on devendorf- every time he turns it over, sit him. one turnover turns into another with this kid.
2. Feed the ball into the post- Jackson and onuaku combined for 12 points against villanova, they're not getting many shots.
3. Give ongenaet a chance and make the defense guard everyone.

Game's on. I rest my case.

chat is at

2009-02-22T12:58:00.000-05:00

Three idiots on sports
Idiotsonsports.com

g'orange

Cuse-Nova Vids

2009-02-22T10:11:00.000-05:00

C'mon Nova, Was this really necessary?

I'm hiding underneath my T3I branded Orange Snuggie as i type this.

Not only can the kids at nova play hoops, they also can lace up the old dance whites every once in a while.

Our team should do this at halftime of all home football games. Imagine the drecrease in empty seats when we all find out that Paul Harris will sport his fro and begin singing and dancing a medley of 1970s disco hits at halftime.

Some Suggestions
A duet with eric devendorf on the Village people's "In the Navy" since the us government(er... the SU JUDICIAL BOARD) will force him to enlist and complete a tour of duty in order to return to school the next time he "high fives" a woman in the face.

The hustle- A dance which is named after something paul harris never does.

uconn-cuse chat

2009-02-11T19:25:00.000-05:00

Su-UCONN

Su-Uconn: A Brief Preview

2009-02-11T18:34:00.000-05:00

#23 Syracuse
at
#1 UCONN

Lineups
Syracuse:
PG-Flynn
SG-Devendorf
SF-Harris
PF-Jackson
C-Onuaku

UCONN
PG-Price
SG-Dyson
SF-Adrien
PF-Robinson
C-Thabeet

Syracuse keys to win:

Limit turnovers, the turnover margin vs Villanova was atrocious.
Andy Rautins needs to have a hot hand, is this necessarily going to win it for us? no. But it will certainly make Devendorf think before he acts. He thinks he's from Scranton, PA now. And when he plays bad, they all play bad.
Use the shot fake frequently around thabeet and get him in foul trouble with the lean. Take him out of the game so he cannot be a factor late.

Xs And Os- Uconn is a team that loves the fast break. In the half court offensive sets, look for the forwards to go backdoor frequently against the zone, especially if they can successfuly feed the ball into the high post and bring onuaku up, thus creating space for thabeet.

and that's a wrap.
g'Orange

Even Geniuses Need To Sleep

2009-02-10T22:19:00.000-05:00

I seem to be getting sucked into a vicious cycle of only posting between 1 and 2 days a week. Partially because im busy, and also partially because i'm lazy. I promise, I will be posting before AND after the UCONN game tomorrow. Bear with me.

I'm gonna make this brief because Sleep is a definite must in the next 10 minutes. Here's what's going on around the SU Nation:

Football Recruiting season still is not over for us, 4-Star All purpose back David Oku has yet to announce his college decision publically, and this could stretch wayyy into next week. We do know one thing however, the kid has a Serious Orange Fetish.

I mean c'mon..... Auburn, Syracuse, Tennesee......... I don't know if you see a pattern there, but I do.
Rumor has it that the Big East may not be a 10 bid league after all. We can all find solace in the fact that the schools fucking the whole conference over are the two with the most popular hate websites in all of college basketball, Ladies and Gentlemen, Let's hear it for.......

Whoregetown, and Notre Lame!

They are also the only 2 schools on the face of this earth that should have lost all national accreditation due to the fact that they are nothing more than training grounds for international Sports Following Terrorists that believe the team with the most fans is automatically superior, despite how they actually perform on the field. 24-21, notre dame fans. Need i say more?
The spring game for football will once again be abbreviated. Although it will be abbreviated, there is no way in hell it could compare to last year's THUDtastic horror. Marrone is said to also be bringing back cleat burning at the cuse, after G-rob put an end to the practice.

Well i think i briefly(sort of) got you caught up on all IMPORTANT(villanova? tisk tisk) things Syracuse

Until Tomorrow,
G'Orange

west virginia chat

2009-02-04T18:03:00.000-05:00

SU-WVU

More Recruiting

2009-02-03T20:24:00.000-05:00

With national signing day tomorrow, here's a look at the rest of our recruiting class, or at least parts of it.

Andy Phillips
6'6, 255 lbs
Syracuse CBA

By the Numbers:Blocked for 1000 Yard Rusher Fajdir Jackson this past season. Blocking stats are inaccurate and probably are not even kept in high school. Imagine what he could do for David OKU. Oh, shit.

Video: You expect a lineman to have one?

Other Nuggets:

This kid may not be a 5 star recruit but appears to have a very good frame to build off of.

First Team All State in Class AA this season.

One of robinson's recruits, which could be a good or bad thing.

Alec Lemon
6'2, 180 lbs.
Arundel(MD)

By the numbers: 99 Receptions, 969 yards, 13 TDs as a junior
Senior Stats
103 Catches - Tied Maryland State Record
1,616 Receiving Yards - Set Maryland State Record
23 Receiving Touchdowns - Tied Maryland State Record
6 Interceptions
30 Total Touchdowns
4.4 40 yard dash
32 inch vertical

and to the 30 total touchdowns i say..... jesus christ who is this kid?

Let's go to the videotape.

I'll have some final thoughts for signing day tomorrow, including more prospect breakdowns.
I will also host a chat for the west virginia game tomorrow night.

until then,
g'orange

Orange-Friars preview

2009-01-28T18:38:00.001-05:00

Here it is kiddies:

Syracuse(17-4)

At

Providence(13-6)

Last game:
Syracuse lost vs louisville 67-57
Providence won at Seton Hall 98-93

Starting Lineups
Providence
SF: Efujuku
PF:Mcdermott
C:Kale
SG:Xavier
PG:Curry

Syracuse
PG:Flynn
SG:Devendorf
SF:Joseph
PF:Ongenaet
C:Jackson

If Syracuse plans on winning:
1.Use your timeouts effectively. Syracuse is playing with severely limited resources tonight, to the point where we may see a little bit of brandon reese possibly, you never know.
2.Let Flynn be the catalyst. Flynn needs to be able to dribble penetrate on a consistent basis and keep the Providence defense guessing.
3.Let Flynn be a shooter. This will definitely help him be the catalyst considering i haven't seen him take too many threes lately. this will take some pressure off of devendorf as well.
4.Get back on defense. Providence loves to run a very, very quick offense, which is not good when you only have about 6 guys you can work with.
5.Feed Jackson the ball in the post. He's Struggled in his last 2 outings, and with onuaku not there to pick him up, giving Rick touches is going to be crucial.
6.No reverses for Kristof.

Key Player:
Paul Harris: Harris needs to be aggressive on the offensive boards tonight, something he has lacked in the past 3 games. If he can return to his old ways, he should be in double figures.

Providence:
Geoff Mcdermott: One of the best BIGS in the big east. Loves to go to his left hand frequently like a certain fellow on our roster named arinze.

I'll be bouncing around tonight.
I'll post after the game

G'orange

Recruiting Analysis

2009-01-26T17:57:00.001-05:00

Doug Marrone and his crew aboard the S.S Cleanupaftergreg have been hauling the nets aboard, filled to the brim with tasty recruits that are certainly an upgrade from previous years. 4 commitments have been made in the last 24 hours, and i figure i should post video of each one i can find and provide my take on what their role on the team could be.
I'll be doing a few a day for the next few days(i'm waiting on OKU.)

Charley Loeb(QB)
6'4, 220 Pounds
Lawrence Academy, Massachussets

By the Numbers: Has a 4-to-1 TD to INT Ratio. Also is rather good looking..... no homo.
Sean at TNIAAM thought so too. Relatively good foot speed with a 4.6 40 time.

Video: none found

Torian Phillips(DB)
5'10, 166 pounds
Port Richmond HS, Staten Island

By the numbers:
Offensive:Rushed for 1,486 yards (10.8 average)... 20 receptions at 20.5 yards per catch, and 34 tds
Defensive:stats not found
other nuggets: NYC player of the year, led Port richmond to its first ever PSAL title.

Seems to be relatively quick, although most recruting services dont have him as such.
Personally i think hes a better tailback. Take a look:

Louisville Quick Hitters

2009-01-25T11:47:00.000-05:00

Don't have a lot of time before the game begins, so i'll give you some quick stuff.
Expect a posting bonanza for the next week.

A couple of Links to Wet your appetite

Weight Training has really helped devo and rautins this season..... UticaOD
Should people REALLY be this critical of Jonny Flynn?....... Syracuse.com

Some quick notes

Louisville comes into this game undefeated in big east play. The Orange will need to keep the defense in motion at all times if they expect to stay in the game.
Deepest sympathies go out to the NC State family following the death of coach Kay Yow, who lost her long battle with cancer yesterday.
The orange need to cut off the passing lanes when Terrence williams has the rock. He's a great distributor, almost as good as jonny flynn.

Ok im out of time, game's coming on.

I'll talk at the half with the 3 idiots, and ill post some goodies postgame.

G'Orange

Orangemen,prepare for glory

2009-01-19T10:48:00.000-05:00

First of all, Sorry for the lack of recent posts. I'm a lazy ass, what can i say?

Well tonight's the night orange nation. We are plunging into a brave new world, a deep abyss, if you will. Here's tonights game preview for you.

Syracuse(17-2)
At
Pittsburgh
7pm tip, ESPN

Last Games: Syracuse won at home against a loaded Notre Dame team by a final score of 93-74.
Pittsburgh lost to Louisville, 63-69

If Syracuse plans on winning:
1. This pittsburgh team loves to run with the ball, Limit their fast break opportunities by not turning the rock over.
2.Expose Pitt's bench for what it's worth. Tire the starters out and force them to put their subs on the floor.
3.Feed Rick Jackson. Rick has been unstoppable since the Big East Schedule began. Feed him the ball in the post and let him make it happen. Unfortunately for us, pitt likes to double team in the post, so if nothing else, Boeheim will tell him to take the rock and dish it to onuaku on the opposite side once the double arrives.
4.Test Andy's hand early. Get him a few open looks and see if he's knocking them down. Then adjust the game plan from there.
5.Look alive on defense. This is going to be difficult without 30,000 fans keeping you awake, but it's going to decide this game.

Key Players:
Syracuse
Jonny Flynn- The kid turns it on whenever he pleases, he's goign to be the catalyst for everything the orange does tonight.
Andy Rautins- If he's open, give him the rock. as long as he keeps making his 3's, I dont think its possible for us to lose

Pitt-
DeJuan Blair- A beast on the glass that can make a missed 3 pointer into an easy putback for the deuce. Onuaku needs to keep the hip on him and away from the glass.

I'll be chatting over with the 3 idiots during the second half tonight.
G'Orange.

Ray's Demotivational poster of the day 1/13

2009-01-13T20:43:00.000-05:00

Ok another new feature, here's whats going on. On a regular basis i will be posting some new original demotivational posters. Most will be syracuse related, and others are just really funny to read. So today i start you off with a couple pertaining to the great game of football, and a bit of historical humor for you.

Enjoy.