#2 Syracuse Rolls Against Virginia Tech

by James Finneral

Syracuse took a road trip down to Virginia to play the Hokies of Virginia Tech. They are not known as one of the elite teams across the country, but they were able to defeat Miami who nearly beat Syracuse. As the game began the Orange were calm and control of the game. In the first half they hit many jump shots with two early threes from Trevor Cooney and some nice takes by Jerami Grant. The 2-3 was not stifling, but it did hold Virginia Tech to 29 points in the first half as they lead 35-29. The second half was pretty similar and Syracuse's consistent efforts drove them to victory. Grant had an absolute monster block to go along with his 12 points and 10 rebounds. C.J. Fair played another very solid game dropping 17 points and 6 rebounds. Tyler Ennis continued his impressive freshman campaign with 13 and 7 dimes and Michael Gbinije poured in a solid 8 points off the bench. Overall this game was not very exciting which was to be expected. The one main area of concern for the Orange is their poor foul shot percentage shooting a measly 54% at the line against Virginia Tech. With some of the challenging games on their schedule those foul shots will become a lot more important and may be the difference between winning and losing. They are home against a very strong North Carolina team lead by the tremendous guard-forward duo of Marcus Paige and James Michael-McAdoo.

Player of the game and X Factor for the Orange, Jerami Grant

#2 Syracuse Triumphs in A Huge Victory Over #8 Villanova

by James Finneral

On December 28th 2013 Syracuse faced their largest test of the year against the #8 Villanova Wildcats. The Carrier Dome was a sea of orange ready to cheer on New York's college. Coming into the game Syracuse had their work cut out for them facing out against a very physical Wildcat team with the likes of JaVaughn Pinkston and James Bell. From the start it seemed like Villanova had the Orange all figured out as they jumped to a 25-7 lead early on. An insane turn of events occurred as the first half progressed as Syracuse held Nova to their 25 points until they took the lead from them. Tyler Ennis and Trevor Cooney were the main contributors to the insane run. The first half came to an end with Syracuse leading 38-34. It was much of the same in the second half. Syracuse maintained control of the game with big time plays by C.J. Fair and outside shooting from Cooney. The Cuse defense was in lockdown mode in the second half holding Villanova to 28. The game concluded with a 78-62 victory for the Orange. The victory showed how resilient this team is. Being down by nearly 20 to start the game and then they are able to come back and nearly win by 20. When you are watching them play now and they are losing reflect back to this game and never count them out no matter how bad it seems. Cooney lead the way in scoring with 21 points alongside 3 steals. Tyler Ennis played very well with 20 points and 4 rebounds and C.J. Fair played his game with 17 points and 6 boards. Jerami Grant also had a notable performance with 11 points and 6 rebounds. This win finally shows that Syracuse can defeat a top 25 ranked team. This is a great win for the Orange, but they have many more challenging games coming up.

Trevor Cooney, 21 points, 3 rebounds, 2 assists, 3 steals

  

#2 Syracuse Fends off St. Johns in a Close One

by James Finneral

The Orange took the stage at Madison Square Garden ready to face off against the St. Johns Red Storm. Coming into the game Syracuse knew there was one main guy they needed to stop and that was D'angelo Harrison, a scoring guard for St. Johns averaging 19 points coming into the game. At the beginning Syracuse came out with some fire with two quick buckets from DeJuan Coleman followed by some scoring from C.J Fair and Tyler Ennis. Heading into halftime Cuse was ahead 39-27. In the second half Harrison took over scoring the first 7 points for St. Johns and bringing the Storm back into the ball game. Jerami Grant was a big part of the Orange success in the middle of the second half with his scoring, rebounding and his shot altering defense. Down the stretch it was the two stars that lead the way. Tyler Ennis and C.J Fair scored all of the Orange buckets from the 7 minute mark and on. Despite the effort from St. Johns outscoring Syracuse by 7 in the second half it was not enough to take them down and Syracuse finished the game winning by a score of 68-63. C.J Fair finished with another very nice showing scoring 21 points with 5 rebounds. Tyler Ennis had the largest impact on the game with his 21 and 6 assists scoring 15 points in the first half to give Cuse that nice cushion. Jerami Grant had a large effect on the game with his 14 points off the bench and one momentum changing two handed block to close out the game. To be honest I am a little surprised at how successful this team has been so far taking down quality teams such as California, Minnesota, Baylor, Indiana and now St. Johns. They face their toughest task yet on December 28th against #8 Villanova. The one thing I stress about with this team is that they have not yet played a top 10 team and that will change very soon.

MVP of the Game: Tyler Ennis, pg

Syracuse Orange 2013 Maui Invitational Champions

by James Finneral

What a great way for the Orange to kick off their season by taking home the hardware at the 2013 Maui Invitational. They are undefeated in the two times they have taken part in the tournament.

#8 Syracuse vs. Minnesota

Minnesota was the first test for Syracuse in the Maui Invitational. They are a well disciplined team with the back court leadership of Austin and Andre Hollins. They came out with fire power with three point shooting from Trevor Cooney and buckets from C.J Fair. Despite their efforts they only lead by three points at the half. Fair took over in the second half, taking it strong to the hoop and drawing fouls. In the end Syracuse grinded it out taking the victory by a final score of 75-67. Fair logged a double-double in the victory with 16 points and 10 rebounds.

#8 Syracuse vs. California

California was the next team they played. The Golden Bears were searching for revenge after the Orange eliminated them from the NCAA Tournament last year. Once again they had there work cut out for them facing the back court of Jabari Bird and Austin Cobbs for California. Both teams had successful first half's on the offensive end a lot of offensive rebounding for California and Syracuse was knocking down jumpers. The first half concluded with the game tied at 41 a piece. It was Tyler Ennis' game in the second half. Using more of the scoring point guard approach by taking it to the rack and shooting with confidence. Once Cuse jumped out to a good lead and California big man, David Kravish got into foul trouble it was all over. With 28 points from Ennis in the game Syracuse rolled to a 92-81 victory. Trevor Cooney also had a very notable performance dropping 23 points.

Championship Game #8 Syracuse vs. #18 Baylor

This was quite a finals matchup to see who would take home the championship. Baylor's front court consisting of Cory Jefferson and big time prospect Isaiah Austin. However the Bear's back court is not really as good as Trevor Cooney and Tyler Ennis which ended up giving them a huge advantage in the game. Cuse played very well in the first half having an easy time converting on offense. At half time they were up 38-30. The second half was not a great team effort. C.J Fair was the soul reason they held onto the lead scoring 14 points in the second half finishing with 24. They lost the battle in the second half by one point, but thanks to the tremendous effort by Fair down the stretch they were able to hold on and win 74-67. Fair was awarded the MVP for the tournament making his campaign even better for the Wooden Award this year.

This was an excellent way to kick off the season. They will face much better teams in the ACC, but they did beat some high quality teams and got the chemistry kick started. This team is looking very good with a balanced backcourt nice athleticism in the front court and a star player in C.J Fair. We will see how the rest of the season plays out, but it was a nice run in Maui.

C.J Fair, MVP of the Maui Invitational

Why the Orange May Be Off to a Quick Start in the 2013-2014 Season

by James Finneral

Who's ready to kick off a fresh season of college basketball? I know I am.

The Syracuse Orange had a depressing end to their season last year losing to the Michigan Wolverines in the Final Four. Although there was a sense of disappointment, Syracuse went above and beyond just about everybody's expectations as many people thought they would be upset  early on in the tournament.

Last year is over and this season is a clean slate for the Orangemen to fill with a load of victories. Syracuse lost their starting point guard, Michael Carter-Williams, three point shooting forward, James Southerland, and the senior leadership of Brandon Triche. This is quite a loss, but they are still in very great shape because C.J. Far decided to return for his senior year. The 6'6" small forward lead the team in both scoring and rebounding with 14.5 points per game and 7 rebounds per game. He never received the attention he truly deserved because of the incredible NBA talent of Carter-Williams, but Fair should be prime for an excellent senior season. They also have a very fresh recruiting class coming in with the likes of five star point guard, Tyler Ennis, Tyler Roberson, skinny but shifty, B.J. Johnson, and Brewster Academy guard, Ron Patterson. More notable returns include Jerami Grant who showed a lot of potential last year as well as Rakeem Christmas.

With all this talent Syracuse can definitely have a successful season. I think they will get off to a quick start because they are playing in the Maui Invitational this year. This year in the tournament there are some quality teams, but the Orange seem to be the clear favorite to win. Gonzaga, Baylor, California, and Minnesota are other high quality teams in the tournament. If one team will give them trouble it will be Minnesota, but even they are missing some of their crucial components from last year.

Winning any tournament will boost up a team's spirits. If Syracuse can win the Maui Invitational it will give them the confidence to take down some of the tough opponents in the ACC such as Duke, Pitt, and UNC. The start of their season could very well set the tone for another great run.

C.J. Fair, forward for Syracuse

Kaleb Joseph Commits to Syracuse

by James Finneral

On his visit to Syracuse University this weekend 6'3" point guard Kaleb Joseph verbally committed to Syracuse University. Joseph is currently attending Cushing Academy where they won the NEPSAC AA Championship. Before hand Joseph only had Providence, West Virginia, and Syracuse on his list of choices. Out of those choices the Syracuse program has been more successful over the years especially with head coach, Jim Boeheim still commanding the Orange. Syracuse has a pretty bright future ahead this is already their second commitment for the class of 2014. Along with Joseph they also have 6'10" big man Chris McCullough who is currently ranked 7th in the nation. This one two punch combination gives the Orange the #4 recruiting class for this year. Kaleb Joseph is ranked 51st overall in the nation for his class. He is a great addition to the Orange team because of his physicality and athleticism at the point guard position. Joseph is developing each and every month. If he can get his body ready for the college level over this next year, he will be a force for the Orange. Syracuse was able to steal an amazing prospect this week who has potential to even go to the NBA.

Kaleb Joseph, Cushing Academy Point Guard, and Syracuse Commit

The Potential of Michael Carter-Williams

        by James Finneral

     

 After four very successful seasons at Hamilton Wenham Regonal High School and St Andrews School, Michael Carter-Williams "MCW" committed to play basketball at Syracuse University. In his high school years he averaged over 20 points per game and went from being a shrimp at 5'9", to the towering 6'5" point guard he is today. The Orange were expecting a great young talent as Carter-Williams was a McDonalds All American and the 21st ranked recruit in the nation. It was obvious that MCW's heart was set on Syracuse as he committed to the school in his sophomore year over other nice programs such as Providence, Temple, and Virginia Tech. In his freshman year at Cuse he had the luxury of learning from their great backcourt consisting of Scoop Jardine and the fourth overall pick in the 2012 NBA Draft, Dion Waiters. The team went to the elite eight and the learning experience was exactly what Michael Carter-Williams needed.

      Anyone who is a college basketball fan heard about the success of Michael Carter-Williams in his sophomore season. He averaged 12 points per game as well as 7.7 assists per game (third in the nation). He was the heart and soul of the Syracuse team leading them to the Final Four, when most thought they would be upset early. Carter-Williams was named to the Big East second team. NBA took notice and his draft stock rose drastically.

        In most projection MCW was the second ranked point guard behind Trey Burke, who bested him the the Final Four. Most teams believe he has the potential to be a special NBA player with his 6'5" height giving him an advantage over any point guard he faces, and his tremendous length and athleticism. He was drafted 11th overall by the Philadelphia 76ers, where they have huge expectations for him to fill the shoes of Jrue Holliday, who was traded to the New Orleans Pelicans.

      Carter-Williams shined in his NBA summer league debut 8 assists and 7 rebounds. Multiple coaches who witnessed the game stated "That kid from Syracuse has a very bright future". This young man has a very bright future due to his skill set and his willingness to learn from his mistakes. The 76ers have a young team that could turn into one of the elite clubs in the NBA.  

Michael Carter-Williams in NBA Summer League Action!