Tomorrow, the Bearcats head to Syracuse, to play the Syracuse Orange. As per tradition, my good friend Brian Harrison and I shot a couple emails back and forth discussing the game. My answers to his questions are on his great blog, Orange 44. You can follow Brian on the twitter right here. You should definitely be reading the blog, and following him already. He’s a good guy. He’s also pictured up top. Great legs that guy. Let’s see what my amazing questions were to him, and also see his great responses to me. Take it away Scott.
Rick Jackson has turned a whole lot of heads this season. Is the big difference in his game just the fact he’s taking more shots?
It is mostly just more opportunity. Jackson usually played forward last season as Arinze Onuaku played center the majority of the time. AO primarily backed down defenders and did the dirty work on the glass. Jackson would occasionally move to the five when AO was out or in foul trouble, but the bulk of points came from the ultra-dependable Onuaku (All time leader for the Orange in FG%). Now that Jackson is the one getting the most minutes at center he is finding more opportunities. He also shed about 25 pounds over the summer and vastly improved his conditioning so he’s getting more time on the floor. He’s taking advantage.
One of the players that’s turned my head every time I’ve seen Syracuse is Kris Joseph. He’s been one of the best players in the Big East. Can you tell the readers a little bit more about him?
He was tied for best 6th Man of the Year last season (with teammate Scoop Jardine) and now he finds himself in a starting role. He’s one of the more talented players on Syracuse. He can slash to the basket, he can hit mid-range jump shots, and is excellent in the Syracuse transition game. He was expected to be the big star and the consistent leading scorer for the Orange this season. Despite a slow start to his season he has been shooting really well as of late and is coming of a game high 18 points versus St. John’s. He leads the team in scoring, averaging 15.3ppg, is shooting 47.7% from the floor, and hits 35% from behind the arc.
It seems a lot of people are getting on the Orange for not playing a true road game until Big East play started. Would you like to put them in their place?
Here we go. Not you too (ED: I wasn’t, just wanted him to rant). Syracuse had non-conference, neutral court games against Michigan and George Tech, as well as Michigan State (then #8) in Madison Square Garden. The Michigan and GTech games were played in Atlantic City. Last I checked none of those locations are in Syracuse, New York. What about other “top” programs you ask? Florida played just one non-conference game outside of the state of Florida against powerhouse American University in Washington, DC. Pittsburgh only played two games outside of the City of Pittsburgh. And then there is Duke. Duke played just three games outside of North Carolina and Duke’s only true road game outside of the ACC was at UNC-Greensboro. Also, Syracuse has a higher strength of schedule than Kansas, Pittsburgh, Purdue, Villanova, and Duke. Everyone, especially ESPN, should either drop this schedule talk or talk about it equally among other “top” programs. Syracuse schedules far harder than most, if not all of those other schools. Sorry we have a ton of Alumni in NYC and they all mostly like watching basketball. Syracuse fans go to games. Sorry. PS – The Big East Conference is hard.
What’s the deal with the Georgetown ticket thing? Does it involve more than Georgetown is being a bunch of a-holes?
Well yes, they are a bunch of a-holes. But they’re scared a-holes. Much like New York, there are a ton of Syracuse alumni in the greater DC beltway area. Seeing as the most passionate rivalry to Syracuse fans is still Georgetown the Orange faithful like to go to that game. Traditionally the Verizon center is usually 60% Georgetown fans and a good 40% is orange. What happens every year is that after Georgetown alums and donors get their tickets purchased, certain blocks of tickets are sent to Syracuse to disperse among various alumni groups, especially the DC Alumni club. Then after that the unsold tickets are placed on Ticketmaster for purchase by anyone. This year they have decided not to release the tickets to Ticketmaster. At least not in the timely manner they usually do. Therefore, for Syracuse fans to be able to buy tickets they have to buy a mini-plan consisting of a three game purchase (most SU fans don’t want to see USF v. Georgetown). The other option is to make a minimum donation of $25 to Georgetown Athletics for the privilege of buying single game tickets. The second option is what I chose. As I purchased six tickets I’ll be dividing that donation among my other five friends and I and will consider it an awesome tax. I will either be cheering $25 louder, or I plan on stealing/causing damage to property worth $25 in the Verizon Center. This is all in an effort for Georgetown to try and preserve a “home court advantage”. Shameful. Real fans show up, especially for rivalry games.
For the second year in a row, Syracuse is rolling through their opponents. Is there a big difference between this team and the team last season? Besides Wes Johnson being in the NBA.
I’m surprised the defense is as good, if not better, than last season. Andy Rautins basically led the nation in steals last year. While Syracuse is not causing as many turnovers, they are just as deadly in field goal and three point defense. More or less, players have all stepped up to fill the vacant roles and they are just as talented as the players before them. Scoop Jardine starts at point for Rautins, Rick Jackson primarily plays center, and Kris Joseph is in for Wes Johnson. It also helps that Syracuse’s freshmen are very talented and have finally adjusted well enough to the college game and the 2-3 zone to get significant minutes. Moral of the story, Syracuse is just as good because of the talent they have. And it all starts with the defense of the Orange. It is a very tough defense to beat.
Speaking of rolling through, the Orange host the Bearcats tomorrow. How do you see things shaking down? If I remember correctly, you have been pretty spot on in basketball, and football. You have a lot to lose.
Well thank you. I try to give true, unbiased analysis. Syracuse is one of the four unbeaten teams left in the nation. I don’t see how that changes after Saturday. While Cincinnati has only lost once, they haven’t exactly played a murder’s row of non-conference games. In looking at their schedule I would have expected they be undefeated heading into the league. Syracuse’s offense stumbled at the start of their last game, only having seven points at the end of ten minutes of the first half. Syracuse went on to win by 17 points on the road. While Cincinnati has the power to play a tough game in the paint, Syracuse’s defense will definitely trouble Cincinnati as we saw last season. And this game will be in Syracuse so there shouldn’t be as big of a scoring drought, if any. Brandon Triche is shooting lights out lately, and Kris Joseph is finding various ways to score. Rick Jackson also continues to be a double-double machine and even if he gets doubled he is one of the best passers in the league. I think Syracuse will win this one by about 15.
A pleasure as always.
No no, the pleasure was all mine. Look for a Syracuse preview a little later this afternoon. Once again, thanks to Brian. He’s the best.
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