dion waiters – Rush The Court

Big East M5: 03.06.13 Edition

Dan Lyons — Wed, 06 Mar 2013 12:45:50 +0000

Syracuse’s senior game tonight against DePaul features two members of the Orange making their definite final appearances at the Carrier Dome as players: Brandon Triche and James Southerland. However, few would bet that these are the only two scholarship players who will move on after this season. The best bet is that Michael Carter-Williams will join them despite his recent bouts of poor play. Some Syracuse fans argue that he could use more seasoning in college, and they’re not wrong, but many forget that despite being a true sophomore, MCW is already 21 years old now and will be 22 before next season. [...]

Big East M5: 12.14.12 Edition

Will Tucker — Fri, 14 Dec 2012 12:45:19 +0000

It’s become overwhelmingly clear that the seven Big East Catholic basketball schools will publicly articulate their plan to split off from the league, although it appears outright dissolution is off the table; “a more likely scenario will be that they simply break away and start anew.” As one of the departing ADs told Kevin McNamara at the Providence Journal, “the train has left the station. Get on board or get run over.” The basketball schools will likely shun the wandering eyes of UConn and Cincinnati in favor of raiding the A-10 of programs like Butler and Xavier, who will view [...]

Tipping Off The Big East Countdown: #2 Syracuse

Dan Lyons — Sun, 11 Nov 2012 14:31:43 +0000

In our St. John’s preview, we stated that the Johnnies went through about as much adversity as one team could in a single season. If that’s the case, Syracuse was a close second. The Bernie Fine scandal would have been enough to derail most teams, but it seemed to put a chip on the shoulder of the Orange, who spent a portion of the year ranked first in the nation after Kentucky lost at Indiana. The Fab Melo saga was harder to overcome, and came to a head in Syracuse’s Elite Eight loss to Ohio State. Syracuse lost four of [...]

RTC NBA Draft Profiles: Dion Waiters

EJacoby — Tue, 19 Jun 2012 14:40:53 +0000

The 2012 NBA Draft is scheduled for Thursday, June 28, in New York City. As we have done for the last several years, RTC’s team of writers (including Andrew Murawa, Kevin Doyle, Evan Jacoby, Matt Patton, and Danny Spewak) will provide comprehensive breakdowns of each of the 35 collegians most likely to hear his name called by David Stern in the first round on draft night. We’ll work backwards, starting with players who are projected near the end of the first round before getting into the lottery as June progresses. As an added bonus, we’ll also bring you a scouting [...]

Big East Morning Five: 03.27.12 Edition

Patrick Prendergast — Tue, 27 Mar 2012 11:30:38 +0000

Syracuse’s super sixth man Dion Waiters is not going to wait around for his starting slot next season with the Orange as Waiters announced he will be entering the NBA Draft. The athletic 6’4” guard will sign with an agent, eliminating any possibility of returning for his junior year. Waiters did not start a game this season for Syracuse but was widely regarded as the team’s most talented player. He posted averages of 12.6 points, 2.3 rebounds, and 2.6 assists in 24.1 minutes per game while being named the Big East’s Sixth Man of the Year and making All-Big East Third Team. There [...]

Big East Afternoon Five: 03.26.12 Edition

mlemaire — Mon, 26 Mar 2012 18:06:04 +0000

And then there was only one. The Final Four is set and only one Big East team — Louisville — will be heading to New Orleans this season. The Cardinals got there thanks to a late furious rally that allowed them to eke out a victory over Florida despite being outplayed by the Gators for most of the game. The victory sets up an intrastate showdown with Kentucky and the Bluegrass State is already starting to reach critical mass with anticipation. Predictably, the Louisville Courier-Journal will be milking this match-up all week long. If you have a hankering from some occasionally [...]

NCAA Tournament Game Analysis: Elite Eight Saturday

Brian Otskey — Sat, 24 Mar 2012 14:15:40 +0000

#4 Louisville vs. #7 Florida – West Regional Final (at Phoenix, AZ) – 4:30 PM ET on CBS

RTC Region correspondents Andrew Murawa (West) and Brian Otskey (East) contributed to this preview.

Pitino & Donovan Have a Great Amount of Respect For Each Other (AP Photo/Steven Senne)

It’s master versus pupil in a battle for the Final Four. Billy Donovan and Rick Pitino first gained national attention at roughly the same time as Donovan was the star player on Pitino’s 1987 Providence College team that made an improbable run to the Final Four, but their relationship didn’t stop there. [...]

Big Ten Morning Five: 03.23.12 Edition

Ryan Terpstra — Fri, 23 Mar 2012 13:00:26 +0000

Bad news for Big Ten fans last night, as Michigan State fell to Louisville, 57-44. Not only were the Spartans the best chance for the conference to claim a national championship, they also became the first #1 seed to fall. Michigan State looked sloppy and out of sync all game long, thanks to the swarming pressure defense of the Cardinals, and also the shot-blocking presence of Gorgui Dieng, who swatted 7 shots. Many other stats were disappointing for Spartan fans to look at, including the final score, 44, which is the lowest total point output by a 1-seed in the [...]

ATB: Syracuse Survives, OSU Recovers, and Upset City in the West…

EJacoby — Fri, 23 Mar 2012 10:42:40 +0000

Tonight’s Lede. Half of our Elite Eight teams are set, with the East and West regions completing their semifinal matchups on Thursday night. The East Region in Boston finished as expected, with chalk advancing to the Elite Eight in the form of Syracuse and Ohio State for what should be a fantastic regional final on Saturday. But the story in Phoenix was much different, as the favored #1 and #3 seeds went down in games that were dominated by the lower seeds. Only one game on the night finished in single digits but there was plenty of exciting basketball that [...]

Rushed Reaction: #1 Syracuse 64, #4 Wisconsin 63

nvr1983 — Fri, 23 Mar 2012 02:13:17 +0000

Three Key Takeaways.

Syracuse weathers the storm. People have said a lot of things about this Syracuse program over the past five months, but they are definitely resilient. From the Bernie Fine scandal to the Fab Melo suspension (both of them), the Orange have persevered and now find themselves on the verge of taking Jim Boeheim to just his fourth Final Four in his storied career. Tonight the Orange were able to fend off some ridiculously hot shooting from the Badgers who went 14-27 from the 3-point range including six straight three-pointers in less than four minutes midway through the second half. The [...]

NCAA Tournament Tidbits: 03.20.12 Edition

Brian Goodman — Tue, 20 Mar 2012 17:44:57 +0000

The NCAA Tournament is here and there’s more news, commentary and analysis than any of us can possibly keep up with. To make things a little easier, we’ll bring you a list of daily links gathered about teams in each of the four regions all the way through the Final Four.

South Region

Ever since Bob Knight was dismissed, Indiana has struggled on the court and even had some problems off the court. In his fourth season as the Hoosiers’ head coach, Tom Crean has helped alleviate those issues, as he has Indiana back in the Sweet Sixteen since 2002. Kentucky head coach John [...]

Big East Morning Five: 03.20.12 Edition

Patrick Prendergast — Tue, 20 Mar 2012 11:31:29 +0000

St. John’s freshman and reigning Big East Rookie of the Year Moe Harkless confirmed speculation and announced yesterday in a press conference held at Madison Square Garden that he will be leaving the Red Storm for the NBA. “It has been my lifelong dream to play in the NBA and I am excited to have that opportunity to make the jump,” said Harkless. He also confirmed that he will hire an agent, which would prevent him from returning to school. The 6’8” forward is currently projected as a mid-to-late first round pick. Certainly his status can, and likely will, change as [...]

Bracket Prep: East Region Analysis

Brian Otskey — Mon, 12 Mar 2012 12:55:15 +0000

Throughout Monday, we will roll out our region-by-region analysis on the following schedule: East (9 AM), South (11 AM), Midwest (2 PM), West (4 PM). Here, Brian Otskey (@botskey) breaks down the East Region from top to bottom. Also, be sure to follow our RTC East Region handle on Twitter for continuous updates the next two weeks (@RTCeastregion).

You can also check out our RTC Podblast with Brian breaking down the East Region here.

East Region

Favorite: #1 Syracuse (31-2, 17-1 Big East). Despite losing to Cincinnati in the Big East semifinals, the Orange are the [...]

Big East Tournament Daily Diary, Semifinals Edition

Brian Otskey — Sat, 10 Mar 2012 12:10:28 +0000

Brian Otskey is the Big East Correspondent for RTC. He is reporting from the Big East Tournament all week, and will sum up his thoughts on the day’s action each evening. You can find him on Twitter @botskey.

Syracuse took a punch from Cincinnati right out of the gate on Friday evening and the Orange failed to do enough to get back on their feet. Behind a stellar performance by Sean Kilpatrick and the solid interior play of Yancy Gates, the Bearcats advanced to their first-ever Big East final, where they will take on Louisville in [...]

Tracking The Four: Regular Season Recap, Postseason Prospects

EJacoby — Wed, 07 Mar 2012 16:33:23 +0000

Evan Jacoby is a regular contributor for RTC. You can find him @evanjacoby on Twitter. TT4 will cover four selected teams of interest — Syracuse, Indiana, Murray State, and UNLV — by tracking their ups, downs, and exciting developments throughout the course of the season.

It was a wild ride for our four teams this year, yet the most important games are just beginning. All four teams are locks for the NCAA Tournament and will have high hopes to do some damage in the postseason. But before Selection Sunday comes, let’s take a look at how each team finished its regular [...]