Obviously Douggers has been a frequent topic for conversation here for various reasons, but I just listened to him on the 1:00 Sportscenter with Dan Dakich, and he made some excellent points. For those you that didn't hear it, he said he believes Syracuse is playing the wrong way by allowing other teams to dictate tempo. He suggested that they press more, not just when they are down, but periodically during the game to speed the other team up. And I agree 100%.

The basis for his argument is simple, and one we probably all agree with: this year's Syracuse team has greater depth and better talent top to bottom than anyone in the field. Obviously they don't have the high lottery talent that other teams have (an argument which I find annoying to listen to but is not without merit), but 1-9 they are just better than their opponent. I for one have believed all year that MCW and Christmas need to play more, and playing a more up tempo style, especially in the first half, is a way to showcase that depth and wear out the opposition. After what we have seen the last 10 games or so, it becomes clear that depth is meaningless when the game is about 60 possessions and the opposition runs the shot clock down inside 5 (then throws up a bad three and gets an offensive rebound).

Additionally, this team's greatest asset, especially when Waiters is on the floor, is creating turnovers and turning those turnovers into easy points. So why shouldn't the Cuse make a concerted effort to play that way. Almost every game since Notre Dame has been a slow, halfcourt game that Boeheim has to claw out in the end with the same 5 guys on the floor for the last 8 minutes. And projecting forward, I think that's going to be important against several of the teams in the East bracket. Wisconsin is the one that comes to mind. If that game were to happen, my fear would be its 48-47 with 15 secs to play and some 6'10 white guys shooting an open 3 followed by 7 offensive rebounds.

Anyway, just my thoughts

Hey everybody. Not sure how interested any one is in the NFL Labor stuff but I'm a law student and run the Sports and Entertainment Law Society blog at William and Mary. My most recent post is below if you're interested. (I swear it's not self-promotion, I just want to hear some commentary on the issue because my take seems to be different from a lot of others.) Thanks everybody

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http://sports.espn.go.com/ncf/news/story?id=4406074

 

I gotta say I am sort of surprised that Marrone named Paulus the starter, especially after the whole taking time to evaluate period. I really thought that Nassib would at least start early. I guess we have nothing to lose, at least it will get the Cuse in the national spotlight. The real question is what is Paulus rated on NCAA Football 10? I haven't bought the game yet.

While you guys are all watching tonight's game, I will be coaching a college baseball game against my alma mater, and then riding the bus home afterward. As exciting as that is, really wish I could watch the game. I should get back in time to see highlights at halftime of the other game though, so I got that going for me, which is nice...

I just hope I have a game to watch Sunday

No one has mentioned this in a while, and maybe that is because it's not a viable option but is there any way to get Mike Williams into a Community College, get his grades together and bring him back next year? The offensive talent would not look too awful bad with him around. I don't know any of the details but if I were Marrone I would probably at least make a phone call.

Getting Aurthur Jones to stay in school needs to be the #1 priority on the defensive side of the ball too.