Sunday, January 10, 2010

Syracuse/USF In Game Thread

Feel Free to post your thoughts and comments as the Orange tries to move to 3-1 in the Big East against an improving South Florida team.

A very shaky beginning for the Orange. There seems to be absolutely no intensity or enthusiam within this group today. Defensively they have been fairly active, but not necessarily good. USF has an early lead. I'd like to see Kris Joseph and Scoop Jardine as soon as possible. Hopefully they add some bounce. But as of now, I am not impressed.

That was a bit better, but USF continues to fare well against a somewhat lacksadasical Orange defense. Syracuse leads it 17-13 with 11:56 left. Kris Joseph and Jardine have both entered. Joseph is playing with great confidence now. He looks good. Wes Johnson has scored five straight points for the Orange and appears to be heating up. I am impressed with how USF guards you. They play good team defense.

26-17 with 7:01 left in the first half. Syracuse just has more athletes and better players than USF. The Bulls do play hard and they defend well, but they don't have the horses. Syracuse should ease away as the game goes on, but it will take a solid effort.

The female voice you hear on the broadcast is Brooke Weisbrod. Apparently the former Big South player of the Year.  Second day in a row, I've watched a game where the Leader in Sports has used a female as the color commentator. Not there is anything wrong with that. Abby Waner worked the Wake Forest/Miami game yesterday.

How long until Boeheim passes Calhoun? Seriously, I've been saying all season long it is going to happen. I also said Wisconsin was going to beat Purdue. It happened yesterday if you missed that. Wes Johnson is taking over in this game. USF just doesn't have the matchups necessary to stay in this game. but the Orange needs to be a little more aggressive on the glass. Syracuse leads 35-23 at the final first half media timeout.

Syracuse leads by 12 at halftime. That is a comfortable number. And seems about right for the way the half went. It is 40-28 SU. Mookie Jones knocked down a pair of threes late to help ward off a little bit of a Bull run. It doesn't look like South Florida has the ability to come from behind to win a game like this. Hasn't been the best Orange performance, but it hasn't been bad either. Like to see Rautins get going a bit in the second half.

Opened the lead up to 51-34 at the start of the second half. Arinze has gone to the bench with four fouls, but Jackson has scored a few down low. An interesting lineup in there now and not one we've seen a bunch of: Jardine, Triche, Rautins, Johnson and Jackson. Rautins knocked down a three - his first basket of the game and only the second shot. Be nice to see him make a few more before the final horn.

A lot of balance for the Orange today. They lead it 57-36 and forced a Stan Heath timeout. The balance is coming from different players, but also a nice inside outside mix, which had seemed to be lacking the last few games. This is a good one to build on.

1 comment:

  1. Ray C9:49 PM

    Not exactly a vintage performance from the Orange today, but it was hard to tell if they were just playing down to the level of their competition.

    Three game road trip coming up, need to get Rutgers Wed. and get a split from West Virginia and Notre Dame, which would put SU at a respectable 4-2 with Marquette and Georgetown coming into town. I think I'd take 13-5 right now in the Big East.

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