The Fate of the Orangemen in the NCAA Tournament

This entry will be a brief explanation on what to expect from the Orangmen in this years NCAA Tournament. This season has been very wild and unpredictable for Syracuse. At one point they were the 3rd ranked team in the country and the next day they lose to an un ranked Temple team. They can win 8 games in a row and then lose 7-12 games to end the regular season. For the Orangemen all it comes down to is if they can get on a streak. With the likes of Michael Carter-Williams, Brandon Triche, C.J Fair, and James Southerland they are obviously a very talented team. When all of those players are on top of their games, then they are going to be very difficult to beat. A great example of this is in the Big East Tournament when the Orange won three straight games taking them to the championship game. In that span they defeated Pitt and Georgetown who they lost to during the regular season. This team has the players to compete with any team in the nation they just have to come together. Michael Carter-Williams needs to keep doing what he is doing and getting everyone involved in the offense because he is truly one of the best point guards in the country. If Brandon Triche and C.J Fair, and James Southerland can get open looks from outside they will eventually start to heat which will open up shot fakes leading to drives to the lane for easy layups. Rakeem Christmas is a real factor in their success. They need him on the glass for every possession. He is not a scorer, but if he can just grab rebounds it will really help out.

The Orange are coming off of a nice win against a sharp shooting Montana team defeating them by a score of 81-34. It was just a great overall effort by Syracuse. Shots were falling, and Montana was having difficulty against the length of the Orange zone. Brandon Triche is looking like his old self lately scoring 20 points in the last game as C.J Fair had 13. Michael Carter-Williams had 9 assists as expected but he also had 8 rebounds. This team just needs to get on a streak at the right time and they will be very difficult for any team to beat in the entire tournament.

Cuse Pulls off a Close One in Madison Square Garden

Cuse Pulls off a Close One in Madison Square Garden

Thursday March 14th Madison Square Garden New York: #19 Syracuse took the victory over #17 Pitt 62-59 in a game that seemed to be over at the end of the first half.

The two teams are rivals, but only met once over the course of the regular season resulting in a 65-55 Pitt win. Going into the Big East Tournament Pitt was the 4 seed in the conference as the Orange were the 5 seed. The Panthers had the first round by where Syracuse had to play the previous day against a resilient Seton Hall team. The rest may have helped Pitt a little, but Syracuse’s first round game was more beneficial.

In a pre game interview Brandon Triche passionately stated. “ We know that this game means a lot to us as a basketball team and as a program, this could very much jump start us to the NCAA Tournament, so we know how important the Big East Tournament is.” Syracuse had struggled towards the end of the regular season, but after this game it was obvious that they were starting to get hot at the right time.

In the first half Pitt did not have the presence of mind to shut down James Southerland as he knocked down 5 three pointers in the first half. Everyone else chipped in with a bucket or two which added up to a grand total of 40 points. The Orange defense was solid in the first half holding Pitt and their explosive offense to 27 points.

As the second half started things were much different. Syracuse did not score for the first 4 minutes and were turning the ball over like crazy. Although the offense was poor the Orangemen defense was still playing very strong only holding Pitt to a couple of buckets. Pitt went on a little bit of a run near the end of the game. With 30 seconds left Syracuse was up by 3 points as Talib Zanna completed and and one, but missed the foul shot. Syracuse would be fouled and ended up holding on for the victory.

Everyone in the Syracuse starting lineup finished with at least 10 points except Rakeem Christmas. Southerland went 6-6 from 3 point range finishing with 20 points. C.J Fair had 13 points with 7 rebounds, Triche scored 12 and Michael Carter- Williams scored 11 points with 7 assists. Baye Keita only scored 4 points, but was a real presence on the defensive end once Christmas fouled out.

The Orange did get their revenge against Pitt because they are truly a better team with more talent. Syracuse is now in the semi finals game against none other than the Georgetown Hoyas. This will be the last game the two will meet as conference rivals before Syracuse moves to the ACC. The Orangemen are 0-2 this season against the Hoyas, but they will be searching for revenge and they will come out with fire.

Baye Keita, center for Syracuse

#17 Syracuse Edges Seton Hall in the First Round

#17 Syracuse Edges Seton Hall in the First Round

On March 13th 2013 in Madison Square Garden Seton Hall took on #19 Syracuse who seemed to be the home team. It was scary for Syracuse fans throughout the game watching their team struggle to get into any offensive rythm at the beginning of the game. The Orange may have had isssues at the start, but they were able to pull out the victory 75-63 with some offensive domination in the second half.

Seton Hall started off the game raining from behind the arc with 3 three point field goals in the first 3 minutes of the game. As this was going on Syracuse was having trouble figuring out the zone of the Pirates. Brandon Triche was the only Orangeman to score in the first 6 minutes of the game.

Just as Seton Hall was starting to become comfortable James Southerland stepped into the equation. Ever since his embarrassing day at Louisville, Southerland has been lighting up the scoreboard each and every game he plays. He is one of their top rebounders, but his 3 point shooting has been the real story in the past few games. After that poor offensive effort by the Orange Southerland knocked down 5 three pointers to conclude the first half of play. Triche scored a few more buckets tieing the game at 34 as the first half came to a close.

Momentum was definitely shifted towards the Orangemen with the fan support and the offense beginning to function normally again. Rakeem Christmas started off the half with some major dunks that got the fans on their feet. The real defining moment of the game was when Brandon Triche hit the wide open three pointer from the top of the key to put Syracuse up by 9 points. From then on out the Orangemen fended Seton Hall off and won the game.

At a post game interview Syracuse head coach, Jim Boeheim said. “Our offensive movement was the best it’s been, probably all year. We really moved the ball well.” Earlier in the game Syracuse struggled to get into and offensive flow, but at the end of the game it was Seton Hall having troubles on offense. Neither defense was amazing throughout the game there were just spurts when one team was able to score and the other was not. Aaron Cosby tried to get the Pirate’s offense going with 22 points, but one guy can not win a game for you.

For Syracuse C.J Fair had 16 points and 8 rebounds as Brandon Triche went off 17 points and 5 assists. Southerland really lit up the scoreboard in this game scoring 20 points off of 6-9 shooting from behind the 3 point line.  Seton Hall could not find a way to stop him which ultimately led to their demise. Michael Carter-Williams had trouble scoring the ball considering he only attempted 6 field goals in the game, but he was the one dishing out all of the passes to Southerland, Fair and Triche finishing the game with 14 assists.   

Seton Hall put up an excellent effort in the game. At the beginning it seemed that Syracuse was the underdog in the game because they were outplaying the Orangemen. Overall Syracuse was the team with much more talent which really showed in the second half and that ultimately lead them to the win. Against a better team Syracuse probably would not have been able to score so much in the second half and pull off that comeback, but they did what they had to do to win and they got the job done.

Michael Carter- Williams, guard for Syracuse

#17 Syracuse Cuts the Rope with DePaul

Sorry I have not been able to write anything recently I have been pretty busy, but I am happy to write about this game. Syracuse was coming off of their worst losing streak of the season having dropped three straight. The game took place at the Carrier Dome where the Orangemen hosted unranked DePaul. It was evident that it was all Syracuse right from the jump. Having four of the five guys in the starting lineup scoring in double figures is always a good thing. It was a pretty dominant day on the boards especially in the first half. The outside shots were not falling for Syracuse, but there inside shooting and free throw percentage was very impressive. As the first half came to a close Syracuse was leading by 9 points where the score was 35-26. The second half was much of the same with the dominance on the boards leading to easy inside shots. The defense was very solid causing DePaul to turn the ball over 17 times. Syracuse had a scoring field day in the second half totaling in 43 points compared to the 31 from the opposing team. The final score was very lopsided due to the consistency of the Orangemen overall attack it ended up being 78-57 giving Syracuse their first win in quite some time. This really was James Southerland's game. He did not have any success from the perimeter, but his inside game scored him the bulk of his 22 points and he lead the Syracuse rebounding grabbing 10 boards. Michael Carter-Williams lead the defensive charge with 4 steals but only dishing out 5 assists which is sub par for him. C. J Fair is really looking like the best player on this team right now he is by far the most consistent of all the players. Lately even during the losing streak he had been scoring and rebounding more efficiently than anyone on the team. He dropped 16 points on DePaul and had 7 rebounds. Brandon Triche is starting to regain his confidence scoring 15 points with 4 assists to go along with it. Rakeem Christmas did not play well but it was his most impressive outing in a while with 5 blocks. The Orangemen have their final game of the regular season away at Georgetown. They will be looking for revenge after losing to them earlier. Then it is off to the Big East Tournament and then to the Big Dance where we will really see how good the Orangemen are this year.

James Southerland, forward for Syracuse