SBNation.com User Blog: E Scott

NCAA "Spellling"

E Scott — Mon, 17 Jun 2013 22:03:23 -0000

So, the NCAA is focused primarily on providing an education to its student-athletes, at least according to the NCAA. I presume that any branded item needs to be checked and double-checked to make sure it meets such high ideals. This must be especially true for their championship events, right? Like, I don't know, the baseball championship, also known as the College World Series? Or at least it used to be - looks like it's now the Colllege World Series.

Oh, NCAA...

Ed Hightower Retiring

E Scott — Wed, 05 Jun 2013 12:22:01 -0000

In case you missed it on the mothership, hoops ref Ed Hightower is retiring after next year. Link.

I'll be honest - I don't have many Hightower memories. I never liked hearing him announced at the beginning of a game, but he was never on the level of Higgins, Burr, or even Cahill. I guess he has one more season to leave a more lasting impression. I really hope he doesn't.

Feel free to post any Hightower memories / defame my fanhood for not recalling those moments. I'll just claim I blacked it out. :)

LeCuse is in the House

E Scott — Mon, 27 May 2013 02:27:01 -0000

OK, this isn't an SU story, but it is a Syracuse story. The LeMoyne Dolphins won the DII lacrosse title today 11-10 over Mercyhusrt. This is their 4th title in less than 10 years. I know most students either never heard of LeMoyne or think of it as "the other school," but it's a great school with strong lax and baseball programs. Also, Lemoyne and OCC are the only colleges in Syracuse aside from SU - and they both won their lacrosse titles this year. Let's make it 3 for 3 on Monday!

Congrats to LeMoyne

E Scott — Sun, 26 May 2013 21:48:33 -0000

This site focuses on D1 lax, but I want to give a quick shoutout to the D2 champion LeMoyne Dolphins. I've lived in Syracuse my whole life, and my wife and sister are both LeMoyne alums, so I'm definitely biased. Still, This is LeMoyne's 4th title in less than 10 years. They have built a fantastic program, and they play a brand of lacrosse that's easy on the eyes. Today they led 10-5 at the end of the 3rd, struggled through the 4th, but held on to win 11-10. It was well-deserved and I'm glad I watched it. Go Dolphins!

Also, OCC won the JuCo title, so Cuse better win Monday. If not, they're the only college in the city without a 2013 lacrosse title.

Jason Hart to USC

E Scott — Mon, 08 Apr 2013 20:20:08 -0000

Just read an article on the mothership that Jason Hart has been hired as a USC assistant.

http://www.sbnation.com/college-basketball/2013/4/8/4197034/jason-hart-hired-usc-basketball

I didn't realize he had been an assistant at Pepperdine already. Great news for him, and a Cuse-related reason to track USC. I think a lot of us hoops fans were planning that anyway to see if Andy Enfield can translate the magic of this FGCU season to a big-time school.

Just read an article on the mothership that Jason Hart has been hired as a USC assistant.

http://www.sbnation.com/college-basketball/2013/4/8/4197034/jason-hart-hired-usc-basketball

Syracuse Alphabet

E Scott — Wed, 09 Jan 2013 17:16:49 -0000

Don't ask me why, but my wife and I were discussing the aviation alphabet last night. You know, alfa, bravo, charlie, etc. I got me thinking - what words, people, and places would fit best for a Syracuse-based alphabet? I tried to get a good mix of sports- and campus related items. I'll admit, some of these are quite a stretch, especially Y and Z. Here's my crack at it:

A	Acropolis
B	Boeheim
C	Cuse
D	Dome
E	Euclid
F	Faegans
G	Gait
H	Hendricks
I	Irving
J	Jojo
K	Kimmel
L	Link
M	Manley
N	Nunes
O	Orange
P	Powell
Q	Quad
R	Rautins
S	Syracuse
T	Tolley
U	University
V	Varsity
W	Waverly
X	Xzavier
Y	Year
Z	Zonka (yeah, I know…)

For Y, I went with Year as in, "what year is so-and-so?" I'm surprised there are now great athletes, street names, campus buildings, even restaurants that I could think of for Y. Jojo (Marasco) and Xzavier (Gaines) were also pushing the fame limits, but I couldn't think of better ideas.

Anyway, what do you folks think? Which ones would you change?

A	Acropolis
B	Boeheim
C	Cuse
D	Dome
E	Euclid
F	Faegans
G	Gait
H	Hendricks
I	Irving
J	Jojo
K	Kimmel
L	Link
M	Manley
N	Nunes
O	Orange
P	Powell
Q	Quad
R	Rautins
S	Syracuse
T	Tolley
U	University
V	Varsity
W	Waverly
X	Xzavier
Y	Year
Z	Zonka (yeah, I know…)

Anyway, what do you folks think? Which ones would you change?

One (Win) and Done?

E Scott — Tue, 10 Jul 2012 16:30:37 -0000

One (Win) and Done?

Check out #43 on Mike Rutherford's list. If you're the tl;dr type, he points out that SU has won 43 BET games in the Garden. Obviously I'd like to win the title, but there would be something poetic about only winning one game at the BET this year and finishing with 44.

Morning After

E Scott — Sun, 22 Jan 2012 14:42:40 -0000

Well, I've had the night to move on, sleep on the game, and then wake up in the morning to find life exists despite a loss. I'm obviously not thrilled about the game, but, in retrospect, we shouldn't have many regrets as long as we learned from this. A few points:

First, my confession: I turned the game off when there were still a few minutes to play. It was just too frustrating to watch. Some may find that a weak excuse, nut my wife was watching with me and I didn't want to damage the relationship...
In summary, Notre Dame brought their A+ game and we brought our D- game. I don't see that happening very often the rest of the year. Like ever.
Notre Dame was just unstoppable shooting. How many 3's did they drill as the shot clock expired? A lot of them were even contested. Sean was right in his recap - they were in video game "F You" mode tonight.
Nobody on the Orange could buy a shot tonight. When was the last time we had that many airballs in a game? And we obviously weren't following up the misses because we couldn't rebound. Ugly performance.
JT1Night had a great comment in the recap that the problem with the refs was killing the momentum any time we built it. We all know how horrible Higgins is, and we know there will be calls like ticky-tack reach-ins on us while their big dudes shove, swing elbows, and on one occasion jab Keita in the ribs with a pool cue* without a whistle. That hurt us. But our inability to shoot and rebound is what killed us.
There was a discussion before the Nova game about what a good loss would be. A number of folks felt that the best case would be a road loss against a team we were supposed to beat. That wouldn't give us doubt that we can beat top teams, but rather serve as a wake-up call. Um, I'm pretty sure that's what happened last night. It should remind these guys that they need to show up every game.
All that said, was this really a bad loss looking back? FatK44 pointed out that despite the difference in level of play between the two teams, we only lost by single digits. Plus, Notre Dame isn't great this year, but they're solid, and that's known as a difficult place to play on the road. It's not like we almost lost at home to Rutgers or something.

OK, I've (almost) said enough. Monday night will be tough again without Fab, but I'm not concerned about this team. We still have the talent and the depth to beat anyone in the country. Besides, all we really need to worry about is beating 6 straight anyones in March and April. And that's a long way off still.

* - May not have actually happened.

First, my confession: I turned the game off when there were still a few minutes to play. It was just too frustrating to watch. Some may find that a weak excuse, nut my wife was watching with me and I didn't want to damage the relationship...
In summary, Notre Dame brought their A+ game and we brought our D- game. I don't see that happening very often the rest of the year. Like ever.
Notre Dame was just unstoppable shooting. How many 3's did they drill as the shot clock expired? A lot of them were even contested. Sean was right in his recap - they were in video game "F You" mode tonight.
Nobody on the Orange could buy a shot tonight. When was the last time we had that many airballs in a game? And we obviously weren't following up the misses because we couldn't rebound. Ugly performance.
JT1Night had a great comment in the recap that the problem with the refs was killing the momentum any time we built it. We all know how horrible Higgins is, and we know there will be calls like ticky-tack reach-ins on us while their big dudes shove, swing elbows, and on one occasion jab Keita in the ribs with a pool cue* without a whistle. That hurt us. But our inability to shoot and rebound is what killed us.
There was a discussion before the Nova game about what a good loss would be. A number of folks felt that the best case would be a road loss against a team we were supposed to beat. That wouldn't give us doubt that we can beat top teams, but rather serve as a wake-up call. Um, I'm pretty sure that's what happened last night. It should remind these guys that they need to show up every game.
All that said, was this really a bad loss looking back? FatK44 pointed out that despite the difference in level of play between the two teams, we only lost by single digits. Plus, Notre Dame isn't great this year, but they're solid, and that's known as a difficult place to play on the road. It's not like we almost lost at home to Rutgers or something.

* - May not have actually happened.