RTC Live: Coaches vs. Cancer Consolation & Finals
Ok, we’re back at MSG and ready to give the grand old dame one more chance with their wireless internet before we completely write off this joint. As of now, things appear to be working, but there’s hardly anyone in the arena or on the network yet, so that all could change very quickly. If things stay ok close to tipoff in about 25 minutes, we’ll give it another shot. California vs. Ohio State is the first game — the consolation game — and it should be a pretty good matchup. Neither team has great size, but we’re interested to see if the momentum OSU had in the last four minutes of its game yesterday against North Carolina can continue tonight. In the marquee matchup at 7:30 pm, we don’t need to tell you that Boehim vs. Roy is going to be special. It’ll be their first meeting with the 2003 National Championship game, and Roy said last night at the press conference that he remembered every detail of that loss. With the athletes and talent on both sides, that should be an epic early season matchup. Check back in a few…
I’m surprised you guys are having issues with their wireless internet. Last year when I was at MSG for the Big East Tournament I didn’t have any issues with it
I assume your opinion of Syracuse has changed? We better not be behind fucking Georgetown on Monday.
[...] Addition by Subtraction? Syracuse 87, North Carolina 71. We all knew that Roy Williams’ Carolina team was likely to take a bit of a step back this season after losing four players (Hansbrough, Ellington, Lawson, Green) to the NBA Draft, and we expected the same from Syracuse after losing the core (Flynn, Harris, Devendorf) of its Sweet Sixteen squad. But is it possible that Syracuse, with the addition of multi-dimensional forward Wesley Johnson and the natural progression of players such as Andy Rautins, Arinze Onuaku, Rick Jackson and Scoop Jardine, are actually better than they were in 2008-09? Forget the loss to Le Moyne in the preseason — when the games have actually counted, they’ve mauled every opponent they’ve faced by an average of 27.5 pts. Albany and Robert Morris, sure — but highly-ranked California by 22 and North Carolina by 16? Not so much. As Roy Williams put it after the game, Syracuse “beat the dickens out of us,” and he wasn’t exaggerating. The Orange broke out of a 39-37 deficit at halftime with a ridiculous 22-1 run that had Carolina looking as befuddled as they’ve been in what seems like a long time (don’t let anyone tell you that it’s actually been that long, though – the 2008 Final Four game against Kansas looked similar for long stretches). The key to that stretch of play was that North Carolina all of a sudden looked much like the young, inexperienced team that they are. Williams made sure to stress that youth isn’t an excuse, but during the blitzkrieg by SU it was clear that many of the Heels were uncertain how to stem the tide, incapable at this point in their development of settling their nerves with several bad decisions on both ends of the court. At the end of the night, it was obvious that the better team (with the best player, Johnson) won the game. We have to be careful to crown anyone with anything this early in the season, but there’s no doubt that Syracuse is much further along than UNC, and we found ourselves wondering (along with Ray Floriani) if this year’s version of the Orange might actually be better off with the talented trio of Flynn, Harris and Devendorf out of the picture. Sometimes those players, particularly Harris and Devendorf, could cause more problems than they solved for Jim Boeheim. Is it possible that the group he has now — last year’s backups + Johnson (transfer) and Jardine (redshirt) — have better team chemistry and trust for each other, resulting in wonderfully efficient execution on both ends? Boeheim would never admit to it, but there could be something to this. [...]