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email Ray Floriani |
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PRETTY EARLY IN THE MORNING
Nov. 18, 2009
LYNDHURST, NJ – After years of venturing into New York
to Madison square Garden it ‘never gets tired’ as
they say. The ‘world’s most famous arena’ is a
special venue. For players, coaches, even fans and
certainly media. Coaches vs. Cancer features two
marquee matchups. The opener is Syracuse-California
followed by North Carolina facing Ohio State. There
will be a consolation and championship on Friday. We
not only get the defending national champion in Roy
Williams’ Tar Heels but three other programs with
lofty aspirations and a very rich tradition and
history. To think it’s only mid-November and we are
fortunate to get matchups of a March Madness
variety.
On Tuesday it was a 4 am wakeup to venture off to
Jersey City for the Monmouth-St. Peter’s game at 6.
This was part of ESPN’s marathon and the pre-dawn
setting actually gave us an exciting, charged up
atmosphere. St. Peter’s students, after an
all-nighter of school sponsored activities and a 4
am breakfast buffet, were on hand in vociferous full
force. Monmouth had an enthusiastic representation
as well.
Beyond the atmosphere, excitement and novelty of the
contest was the fact St. Peter’s has something
going. John Dunne, in his fourth year, with his
recruited players has a group that shares the ball,
has good chemistry and defends.
In the 58-34 rout of Monmouth, Wesley Jenkins led a
balanced St. Peter’s attack with 10 points. Defense,
though, was the story as the Peacocks limited
Monmouth to 10 of 47 (21 per cent) from the floor.
That tough man to man allowed St. Peter’s to
basically dictate from the early stages on. And send
the home crowd home, a little tired, but very happy.
TIPPING OFF ANOTHER SEASON
Nov. 12, 2009
EAST ORANGE, NJ – The games have tipped off and
another season is on the way. First order of note
concerns Syracuse. The Orange dropped their
exhibition to LeMoyne at the Carrier Dome and
instantly questions arose. Exhibitions are not to be
read into too closely. This is not to take away from
LeMoyne’s outstanding achievement because Jim
Boeheim is a competitor and naturally wanted to come
out on the winning side of the ledger. These games
however provide coaches an opportunity to
experiment. They get an idea regarding lineups,
offensive and/or defensive sets that work. It’s a
chance to see how newcomers fare in actual game
experience. A game played several weeks before
Thanksgiving should not be the basis to judge a
team.
In the LeMoyne game the Orange gave up a defensive
efficiency of 116, a figure that is astronomically
high. Defensive efficiency is the points per
possession multiplied by 100. So Syracuse allowed
1.16 (almost a point and a quarter) per Le Moyne
possession.
The 75-43 win over Albany saw the Orange hold the
visitors to a 51 offensive efficiency, signifying a
superlative defensive performance. On Wednesday,
Robert Morris, another solid mid-major, was routed
100-60. The Colonials were limited to an offensive
efficiency of 70, another notable performance by the
Syracuse defense.
In the end result, the Le Moyne game did bear
significance. It showed Syracuse had to address the
defensive end. Judging by the first two regular
season games, the SU players got the message.
Nice to see good officiating friend Brian Dorsey
working the two recent games at Syracuse. Brian and
I have worked basketball and soccer (as recently as
September) a number of occasions. Suffice to say
anyone fortunate to work with Brian has an excellent
partner.
Ray Floriani is in his eleventh season as a
senior writer for collegeinsider.com.
EMAIL RAY
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