So I've been checking the Philippine Basketball Association website to keep up on the championship series that Harris' team is currently playing in; obviously to ensure that our dominance of the pacific rim continues. Looking over the article for the Texters most recent win (putting them up 3-1 in the series) I saw this:

"Jimmy Alapag was named Best Player of the Conference before the game, and the Texters made the night more memorable with the stirring come-from-behind triumph"

Alapag is a teammate of Harris. He is averaging 12 points, 5 assists, and 3 boards on the season while shooting a sleek 36% from the field.

Harris is averaging 28 points, 12 boards, and about 2 assists a game while shooting nearly 50% from the field.

Is Harris not being supported because he's an import? Whatever the reason, this injustice cannot stand. Join me in my intense letter writing campaign, and if that doesn't work encourage this administration to declare war on the Philippines.

I, like most Syracuse fans, have developed a soft spot for Mookie Jones, and have actually been really impressed with how he's handled himself most of this year. He's been active and supportive on the bench, hasn't complained about playing time, and has just generally seemed more team-oriented.

That said, because I have a soft spot for Mookie I also want to see him succeed, and I just can't foresee a scenario in which he gets significant playing time. I love having him here, but I also believe he could go to any number of other schools and contribute immediately.

I don't pretend to know anything about Mookie's personal life, but I assume he still plans on basketball as a career and I can't help but think he would be better served, personally, by taking his talents elsewhere. That said, if he's happy then I'd love to have him around for another two years, but I can't fathom how tough it would be mentally to come to a great D1 basketball program as a relatively highly touted recruit, and never see significant playing time in five years.

What do you want Mookie to do, and what do you think he will do?

NEW YORK – The BIG EAST Conference today announced that it will unveil “The BIG EAST Anthem,” entitled Last One Standing — written and performed by multi-platinum recording artist Nick Lachey during ESPN’s broadcast of the 2011 men’s basketball championship finals on Saturday night.

Yeah, it's pretty much just as bad as you would imagine.

I suppose this provides a bit of a silver lining in losing tonight. Since we don't have to watch the championship game, we don't have to hear this after every commercial break.

Link

Apparently Cousins was angry because Donte had the audacity to inbound the ball to the team's best player with the game on the line, rather than Cousins. Cousins began chewing Donte and Tyreke Evans out on the way to the locker room and it apparently escalated from there as Donte started jawing back. Punches were thrown and Cousins was removed from the team plane.

This should make for a compelling episode of the Donte Greene Show.

I figured it was about time to create the comprehensive list of Syracuse basketball drinking game rules, mostly because the last couple of weeks have lead me to drink more:

Rick and Scoop were teammates in high school (actually haven't heard this in a while)

Brandon Triche/Howard Triche

Syracuse Weather

Scoop and Dion are cousins

Carmelo Anthony trade rumors

2009/10 team would have gone far if Arinze was healthy

Fab Melo hasn't lived up to expectations

Rick Jackson weight loss

Fab Melo and Carmelo Anthony have similar sounding names

Something about Syracuse road games

What am I missing?

Dorian's has the best pizza within a 1 mile radius of campus. That's it. The discussion is over. I don't know why I even created this post, because posts are meant to inspire discussion and on this issue there should be none.

Words words words words words words words words words words words words words words words words words words words words words words words words words words words words words words words words words.

That is, he apparently got Scottie Reynolds' girlfriend pregnant which lead to a fight between the two and their benching for the start of Villanova's first round NCAA tournament game against Robert Morris.

Deadspin Story

I remember hearing about the Shumpert/Deshaun feud at the time and that Shumpert's eye injury was the result of him being punched by Deshaun. Was it really the result of Shumpert getting Deshaun's girlfriend pregnant or is that nothing more than wild speculation? Was anybody a student at the time?

Simmons wrote a piece about how the tournament should effect the draft status of players. In it he had mostly kind words for Wes Johnson but also offered this view on Syracuse's game last night...

Behind Door No. 4: Wes Johnson's "disappearance" during the Butler upset. If you studied the play-by-play sheet only, you'd say to yourself, "Wow, Johnson went MIA! No shots in the last six minutes? What a choke job!" Not exactly. He was playing for a coach who made a career out of burying his No. 1 scoring option in big games (note: Syracuse fans are nodding grimly right now), and with skittish guards who lost their minds down the stretch (Andy Rautins and Scoop Jardine combined for eight shots and three turnovers in the final six minutes). As I tweeted after the game, it was like Boeheim told his team at the five-minute mark, "Guys, I want you to go out there and take the most rushed, horrible shots you possibly can." Johnson couldn't have done anything except clothesline Rautins and Jardine to get the ball. Which, actually, might not have been a bad idea.

I'm admittedly not as knowledgeable about SU basketball history as several of you, but is there anything to that thing about Boeheim burying his No. 1 scoring options or is Simmons talking out of his ass (which despite being very knowledgeable about basketball, although mostly NBA ball, he has a tendency to do from time to time.

I realize they were ranked so an eight seed would seem low, but looking at their resume it looked like they were overrated by the polls rather than underrated by the tournament committee.

Their six losses:

Michigan State, a 5 seed.

Wake Forest, a 9 seed.

Duke, a 1 seed, but they got absolutely destroyed in this game 76-41.

San Francisco, 12-18 in the West Coast Conference.

Loyola Marymount, 18-16.

And a thumping by St. Mary's, a 10 seed.

Their best win, by far, is over Wisconsin. Nothing else really jumps, in fact their only other win over a tournament team was over the aforementioned St. Mary's.

An 8-seed doesn't seem that ridiculous to me.

From a story I read on Fanhouse.com Scoop talking about the day after the LeMoyne loss...

Then while walking to class on campus, Jardine noticed something different. Jardine and his teammates were getting a different vibe from the other students.

"Usually everybody will be looking at you, but it seemed like they were laughing," Jardine said. "We were like, 'Wow, we feel like the football players.' That's how we felt. I didn't like the feeling at all."