Hopefully this is just a rumor but...

Anyone else hear that Melo did not travel with the team due to his grades and Mookie is now off the team?

I certainly hope not since I believe Melo is the key to a deep run in the NCAA's. I am only at 50 words so therefore apologize for the rest of the ramblings. Well... maybe this will work:

I HATE GEORGETOWN I HATE GEORGETOWN I HATE GEORGETOWN

I HATE GEORGETOWN I HATE GEORGETOWN I HATE GEORGETOWN

Greetings fellow "Nunesmen". Andy Kinsella (who is my cousin, please don't hold that against me) and myself think that 4 days between games is far too long especially with this year's version of "Boeheim's Boys". In light of all the recent media attention and off the court issues...I just want to get back to talking basketball. So, I came up with the idea of a "Fantasy Draft" of current and former Orange(men) who have graced the beloved Carrier Dome Court.

Rules:

They have to be in our modern day era - for us... it was basically from '82-'83 on...

12 players to each team

whomever drafted first, the next team would get the next 2 then rotate 1 for 1.

This is what we came up with: Would love feedback, substitutes, etc...

Andy's Team: "Team Orange" (he had the first pick and in order)

+positions next to names indicate starters

1.) Derrick Coleman -PF

2.) Pearl - PG

3.) GMac - SG

4.) Etan Thomas - C

5.) Wes Johnson - SF

6.) Kris Joseph

7.) Dion Waiters

8.) AO

9.) CJ Fair

10.) Donte Green (yes, I killed him on this pick)

11.) Danny Schayes

12.) Greg Monroe

My team "Team Blue" (appropriately named) had two picks in the first round

1.) Carmelo Anthony - SF

2.) Sherman Douglas - PG

3.) Hakim Warrick - PF

4.) Lawrence Moten

5.) Rony Seikley - C

6.) Billy Owens

7.) Stevie Thompson- SG (strictly for defense on Gerry) Box and 1

8.) John Wallace

9.) Jonny Flynn

10.) Josh Pace

11.) Red Bruin

12.) Andy Rautins

Let the debating begin.... substitutes, notable players left off, who would win. etc...

Yes, we are idiots and kind of bored...

Why are we constantly getting banged on our schedule?  Do these talking heads realize we play in the fricking Big East?  Where there will be 9-10 Tournament teams come March  in which we play some of them twice? Constantly having 6,7 and sometimes 8  RANKED in the top 25 all year. Yeah, for you math majors… that’s 25% of the top teams in the country are in one conference. It's a yearly grind...

OVERALL, The ACC Blows, The SEC Blows, Don’t get me started on the PAC 10… they have 2 teams in each conference that are tough and that's it.  They’re may be tougher teams in the Missouri Valley from top to bottom than the PAC 10.

Comparison of the PAC 10and Missouri Valley Conference: Take in consideration of playing these teams on a neutral court. We have to have a "control" for this stupid experiental comparison. What schedule would you rather play?

Arizona, ASU, California, Oregon, Oregon St. Stanford, UCLA, USC, Washington, Washington State

Bradley, Creighton, Drake, Evansville, Illinois St., Indiana St. (the fightin Larry Birds), Missouri State, Northern Iowa, Southern Illionois, Wichita State.

I would play West Coast teams all day over those mid-western "white boys".

A note about "Dook" and why they play one tough road game per year: The reason they played at Oregon? Coach K purposely schedules an away game every year for one of his seniors to get a chance to play close to their hometown (Kyle Singler in this case). Last year, I believe it was Wisconsin for John Scheyer who is from Illinois and the year before that was Purdue or Michigan (I think)… and so forth. They never leave North Carolina... and you never hear about it.

What I want to know? Why didn’t Coach K schedule a game at the Dome when Paulus was a Senior? Frankly, I am F-ing sick and tired of hearing about our schedule. Every year we play decent mid-majors and involved in some sort of tournament with big name programs. Last year we played North Carolina, Cal, and Florida. Two years ago, Kansas, Florida, Virginia and so on…Obviously, this year was MSU, Michigan, Ga. Tech, Northern Iowa (who beat Iowa State) and NC State (although I don't think they are that good). The fact is: all big boy college basketball programs play the first month at home unless you're in some sort of tournament.

Let’s see… IMO: you have the Big East (far and away the best conference), the Big 10 and the Big 12 are the legit conferences that have “tough” games up and down  and throughout the year.

From Mike Huguenin, the College Football Editor for Rivals.com ranked all 35 Bowl games this season. The ones of interest are:

 

#30. Meineke Car Care Bowl: Clemson vs. USF

#29. BBVA Compass Bowl: Kentucky vs. Pitt

#27. Beef O'Brady's Bowl: Southern Miss vs. Louisville

This is where we fall ...

#24. Pinstripe Bowl: KState vs. Syracuse--- A little partial here but I don't think we should be this low.

 

#21. Fiesta Bowl: Oklahoma vs. UCONN

#13. Champs Sports Bowl: NC State vs. West Virginia

 

Call me crazy and for all the "flack" the Big East has taken this year. I do believe the BE can go 4-2.

USF will get beat if BJ Daniels doesn't play.

Pitt Rolls Kentucky

L'ville upsets Southern Miss

We beat KState

OU routs UCONN, although they obviously have something to prove

WVU beats NC State in a good game... WVU is still the best "team" our conference has. Playing nose to nose and a special teams play away from beating LSU at LSU.

Link:

http://collegefootball.rivals.com/content.asp?CID=1161735

This is more of a follow-up post inspired by the comments and reactions I got from all of you on the Recruiting Classes going back to 1986. I thought it would be fun to see how many "transfer-outs" compared to the "transfer-ins that we have had over the years here at Syracuse. I'm positive I'll miss one or two so feel free to post them in the comments section! Thank you in advance and enjoy.

In no particular order:

Transfer Outs:

Tony Scott- Texas A&M...gunner

Matt Roe-Maryland...good riddence

Keith Hughes- Rutgers (got drafted in the second round of the NBA draft)

Tony Bland- San Diego State... I loved Tony Bland, wish he stayed

Winfred Walton- Fresno State... McDonalds All-American had some major academic issues

Earl Duncan- Rutgers... remember this guy? could jump through the roof

Mike Jones- South Carolina...homesick and academic issues

Mark Konecny-(several, I believe he played for 5 colleges) among them; Cental Florida, Iona

Bobby Lazor- Arizona State, hometown boy couldn't cut it here

Rich Manning- Washington (actually played in the NBA)

Louie McCroskey- Marist, I hated to see Louie go. I think Boeheim did him wrong!

David Patrick- Louisiana Lafayette

Glenn Sekunda- Penn State, probably would have been better off at this type of program from the start, did well there

LeSean Howard- Long Beach State, Hampton (was on the team that upset Iowa State

Ramel Lloyd- Long Beach State, played for Wayne Morgan

Sean Williams- ended up at Cal-State Fullerton

Eric Williams- UMass

James Thues- Detroit

DeShaun Williams- more of a force out but played a year at Iona

Sam Spann- Fairfield

Rodney Walker- Clemson

George Papadakos- Michigan State

Dayshaun Wright- Forced out

Josh Wright- Quit

Anyone know where Michael Brown went? He played in the earky 80's and from what I remember, was pretty good.

Transfer In's

Wes Johson- Iowa State

Leo Rautins- Minnesota

Ryan Blackwell- Illinois

LeRon Ellis- Kentucky

Kristof Ongenaet- Cuesta College

Jason Cipolla- Tallahasee CC

Ethan Cole- New Hampshire

 

Obviously there are a significant more transfer out's than players coming here. We all knew that, but who were you glad to see go? Anyone transfered that disappointed you? Favorite Transfer in?

Outside of Ethan Cole, we have been pretty lucky with the guys coming here. All playing a big role in our success during the years they were here. Up until last year. Leo was my favorite transfer of all time. Now it has to be Wes. Although, Cipolla hitting that shot against Georgia will forever me etched in my memory.

I hated to see Tony Bland, Louie McCroskey (even though I called him McShitsky), and Keith Hughes transfer out. I think Bland and Hughes could have been major contributors.

Glad to see Roe go (all he could do was shoot, no defense, slow off the dribble, whined more than Boeheim, local kid who should have went to Niagara). I also couldn't wait for Bobby Lazor go. Legendary local kid from Norwich with a State Championship, couldn't cut it here.

I would again love to hear some feedback and thoughts....

While watching the Orangemen over the weekend with a few friends and my cousin we started to think about if there was a better recruiting class than this years class. So, that got me thinking... I immediately thought of 01's class with Pace, Warrick, Edelin, Forth, and Mark Konecny (remember him?) Anyway, I went back through the years and looked up our classes back to 1986... really it didn't take me that long. I'd love everyone's thoughts and input.

For the record: I believe this years class is the best (on paper) but obviously unproven.

Here's the list:

1986- Derrick Coleman, Stephan Thompson, Matt Roe (can't stand him), Keith Hughes, Earl Duncan (had to sit out due to prop 48

1987-N/A

1988- Billy Owens (#1 overall), Dave Johnson, Rich Manning, Dave Siock

1989- Micheal Edwards, McNasty McRae, Hopkins

1990- 'Red' Autry (fill in for Kenny Anderson), Scott McCorkle

1991- Poetry in Moten, Anthony Harris, Luke Jackson, Glenn Sekunda

1992- John Wallace, Z Sims, JB Reafsnyder

1993- Otis Hill, Charles Gelatt (who?)

1994- Todd Burgan, Bobby Lazor, Marius Janulis

1995- David Patrick, Elivir Ovcina ----> worst class ever, but I think we were coming off of the NCAA infractions

Poll

Going back to 1986, what has been SU's Best Recruiting Class?

11%

1986- Derrick Coleman, Stevie Thompson, Matt Roe, Keith Hughes, Earl Duncan

100 votes

1%

1988- Billy Owens, Dave Johnson, Rich Manning, Dave Siock

11 votes

7%

2001- Edelin, Warrick, Pace, Forth, Konecny

63 votes

52%

2002- Melo, G-Mac, Gorman

454 votes

23%

2007- Flynn, Donte Green, Ricky Jackson, Scoop, Sean Williams

205 votes

3%

2010- Fab Melo, Dion Waiters, CJ Fair, Boye Moussa Keita

29 votes

0%

other

8 votes

870 votes | Poll has closed

Continue reading this post »

Remember all the way back to 2004 when we smoked Boston College 43-17 and a very bad loss to Temple? That put us with a 6-6 record, a Bowl birth and a share of the BE Championship and a 4-2 conference record.  We were able to share the title with three other teams: Pittsburgh, Boston College, and West Virginia. This was also BC's last Big East game to date and how sweet it was.

 

WELL.... This year could be even crazier but I'm not sure of all the Tie-Break Scenarios but we could have 5... yes count 'em 5 teams with 4-3 Conference records. Through little research (and bored at work). This is what I came up with. Although very unlikely but the fact that it could happen is fun to explore

 

Pitt 4-1  games left with WVA (L) and Cincy (L) = 4-3

WVA 3-2 games left with Pitt (W) and Rutgers (L) = 4-3

UCONN 3-2 games left with Cincy (W) and USF (L) = 4-3

Syracuse 4-3

USF 3-3 game left with UCONN (W) 4-3                                                                       

Is it unlikely that Pitt "loses out" ? No but at this point in the BE season, not one thing would suprise me.

 

Thanks to the October Surprise that sent a future Hall of Fame wideout away from one all-time great quarterback and into the arms of another, an already intriguing Week 5 of the NFL season just got even spicier.

 

After a Sunday on which Chicago Bears defensive end Julius Peppers(notes) returns to Carolina, Peyton Manning(notes) tries to take down the league’s last undefeated team and Kurt Warner(notes) waltzes back to University of Phoenix Stadium (alas, Cardinals fans, he’ll spend the afternoon in a FOX broadcast booth), we’ll get our Monday-night matchup for the ages, with Brett Favre(notes) throwing to Randy Moss(notes) in the shadow of the Big Apple against his other former team.

Quietly, with little fanfare, Baltimore Ravens linebacker Jameel McClain(notes) will be doing his part for the NFL’s top-ranked defense in a home game against the Denver Broncos on Sunday afternoon. And as much as I love chronicling the movements of the stars – like the guy who plays next to McClain, Ray Lewis(notes), who happens to be the best defensive player of his era – sometimes selfless players such as this third-year, undrafted free agent are the lifeblood of the sport.

Like Ravens teammate Michael Oher(notes), McClain took an unlikely path to the pros which required passion, perseverance and the overcoming of obstacles. In Hollywood pitch-meeting terms, think “The Blind Side” meets “The Pursuit of Happyness,” with a touch of the “Rocky” movies (which McClain ritualistically watches to get pumped up before games).

“My life has been one boxing match after another,” McClain says. “No matter what gets thrown at me, I keep fighting.”

Raised in north Philadelphia, McClain was a Golden Gloves fighter from the fourth grade on; local legend Joe Frazier gave him his first pair of boxing shorts. McClain’s father was incarcerated for much of Jameel’s childhood, and his family struggled with poverty. There were periods of homelessness, and for an extended stretch Jameel, his three siblings and his mother lived in a Salvation Army rescue shelter.

“You’d just have nights where food was a figment of your stomach’s imagination, where you would go to sleep hungry,” McClain recalls. “Having the same jeans weeks at a time, sharing a room at the shelter with strangers and having to be there by a certain time, worrying that people were going to come in your room after you were asleep and mess with you … there were some tough times.

“It’s not something I made public, not something I was comfortable talking about or sharing in conversation. I guess it would be embarrassing for anybody with pride, to know you don’t have a place you can call home.”

McClain took solace in small pleasures, such as the late-night doughnuts a local retailer would deliver to the shelter.

“They’d have leftovers at the end of the day, and they’d donate them instead of throwing them away,” he recalls. “I can still remember the smell – when the doughnuts came late at night, it was a big deal.”

Determined to improve his circumstances, McClain pushed himself athletically and academically, earning a scholarship to Syracuse, where he was a standout defensive end. His disappointment about being passed over in the NFL draft gave way to excitement about the prospect of joining “the defense I’ve always dreamed of playing for.”

Ravens general manager Ozzie Newsome, who saw McClain as a prototypical inside linebacker in then-coordinator Rex Ryan’s scheme, pursued him aggressively as a free agent immediately after the draft.

 

[Blog: Did Ravens eject couple for kissing?]

 

“Actually, 32 teams passed on me,” McClain says, “but the Ravens gave me the opportunity to come in and show what I could do. They expressed a lot of interest. From what I heard, it was rare for a free agent to get the GM, coach and linebackers coach all calling and saying, ‘We want you here. We know you’re our type of player.’

“Baltimore was clearly the choice. I played the game the same way they played it, so to me it was a no-brainer. Their demeanor fit my style. I play till the whistle is blown and the play is done, completely, and I don’t back off.”

McClain beat the odds and made the team as a rookie. He then made an immediate impact, recording two safeties, a blocked punt, two-and-a-half sacks and 17 special-teams tackles. The 6-foot-1, 250-pounder had 33 special-teams tackles in ’09 and another 29 stops on defense, along with a forced fumble.

<!-- {PHOTO} -->

McClain listens to Ravens coach John Harbaugh.
(Geoff Burke/US Presswire) <!-- {PHOTO ENDS} -->

 

This past summer, he took his game to another level by winning a training-camp competition with incumbent Dannell Ellerbe(notes) and former third-round pick Tavares Gooden(notes) to become the starter next to Lewis at inside linebacker. McClain has 25 tackles and a pass defended and is holding his own in a defensive unit allowing a league-low 235.8 yards per game.

He’s also making a point of spending off days in the community speaking at shelters – he volunteers for the Salvation Army, among other organizations – and counseling at-risk children.

He has no patience for politicians who talk about slashing social services as a means of freeing up funds: “It’s people speaking on things that they don’t know anything about. To them, you exist only in their imagination, so when they talk about cutting those services, you’re not really real and they don’t have to consider the effect it will have on you.”

McClain lives a relatively modest lifestyle because, he says, “I’m trying to be in a position so I never again have to go through what I went through as a kid.”

He does allow himself a few luxuries, such as a robust collection of jeans – “enough pairs that I can’t count ‘em all in my head.”

There is one guilty pleasure, however, that McClain is happy to resist.

“I don’t like doughnuts too much now,” he says. “I couldn’t even tell you the last time I had one.”

His stomach is no longer rumbling, but rest assured he still plays hungry.

 

TAKE IT TO THE ATM

 

I am a member of Empower FCU and they are selling indvidual $15.00 tickets for all members. In addition, there are group offers from CSEA, At&t, KRock, Galaxy Communications, Bristol-Myers Squibb Employee's Association and Time Warner. I would have to say, these deals are no where near the deal that Tops is offering but still, kudos  to the University and developing these partnerships in trying to get the "fans" back in the seats.

I am looking to attend Saturday nights game and buy 2-3 tickets if anyone has any extra available? I know it's not sold out and the box office has some available but I thought I would ask here before I went that route. I don't expect anyone here to have any because we are all dedicated fans but I just thought I would ask. Thank you and Go 'Cuse!!! 

Anyone have any idea on the expected attendance?  I am looking forward to the aluminum seating, tailgating, dome dog and $6.00 (up from last year, but hey at least we sell it) beer!

 

Really liking the new Uni's this year. Reminds me of the "good ole days" in going old school. Another step in the right direction...hell, maybe Doug will bring back #44. I think we are finally off of everyone's top 10 list of CF ugliest uniforms. The boys at Nike and Syracuse finally got it right.

Sean, here's an idea for a topic on a slow day... you should go through and post pictures of our recent uniform changes throughout the years. Would be kind of cool to see side by side.