Syracuse vs. Wagner Recap

Better read this recap fast, before Trevor Cooney deflects it away from you...

MVP:  Brandon Triche

Triche had about the quietest 21 points I can ever remember.  But sometimes quiet is good and with Fair and Carter-Williams both struggling a little bit on this day, it was enough to earn Triche MVP honors.  Triche did typical Triche-type things, getting rebounds and drawing fouls down low among piles of much bigger defenders.  He even actually finished tied for the lead in rebounds for Cuse this game with 7.  More importantly, he continued to show some aggression, something that has been the main thing holding him back in the past.  Hopefully he can keep it up.

LVP:  DaJuan Coleman

I had The Hyphen squarely in my cross-hairs for this award, but he piled on some assists late.  With a 6-6-11 stat sheet, he'll escape my wrath (for now...).

Instead, we'll give the honors to our portly freshman.  Seemingly ever time Coleman tried to post up and make a move to the basket, he got his pockets picked by a smaller defender.  Maybe Coleman just needs someone his own size to pick on.  All I know is, watching Coleman try to post up much smaller defenders all afternoon, only to see a green uniform come away with the ball without a shot even going up got old in a hurry.

Coleman did manage to pull down 7 rebounds in only 19 minutes of action, so there is some hope for his hands.

Play of the Game:  With just over 11 minutes left in the first half, MCW was streaking down the lane when he kicked it out to wing to a waiting Trevor Cooney.  Cooney fumbled the pass, but quickly recovered and got a shot up with a defender charging at him.  The shot found nothing but the bottom of the net and a new era of irrational excitement was ushered in for me.

(SC)OOPS of the Game:  About midway through the second half, Carter-Williams was a little too careless with the ball out top and got his pockets picked clean by Kenneth Ortiz.  Give credit to MCW for sticking with the play though and hustling after Ortiz, causing him to rush his dunk attempt a little bit and stuff the ball straight into the front of the rim.  Michael Carter-Williams and Kenneth Ortiz, you both get (SC)OOPS honors this game.  Congratulations on your embarrassing efforts.

General Observations:

-  I don't know who the official scorekeeper was, but Michael Carter-Williams must have given him a bunch of autographed memorabilia for his kids because there is no way he had only 3 turnovers.  He got his lunch money taken at midcourt 3 times, yet alone the other forced passes he made.  After seeing this performance, it will be interesting to see if any Big East teams try to press the Orange and see if they can't fluster MCW a little.  He will certainly have to start being less careless with the ball.

-  With that said, the Hyphen did put up 11 assists too (as many as the entire Wagner team), so it wasn't all bad.  He also reigned in his shot selection a little bit from the opener.  It didn't necessarily pay off in his shooting percentage, but at least he wasn't pinballing down the lane and throwing up circus shots again.

-  Southerland has looked extremely confident in his shot so far this year, and has even shown a slightly expanded game now featuring some drives in addition to his spot-up jumpers.  He has the ability to be a game-changer for this year's team if he can play like that all season.

-  James Southerland and Rakeem Christmas are having one hell of a beard growing contest...

-  As much as I like to bag on Keita, I have to give him credit too when he earns it.  He played a great game, repeatedly getting open down low and finishing to the tune of 15 points.  He also pulled down some tough rebounds and played some solid defense, ending up with 5 rebounds and 2 blocks to go with his career high in points.  Behold the power of the Moussa.

-  THAT was the Trevor Cooney era I was looking forward to for the last year plus.  He showed us that dangerous outside shot, making 2 of 5 threes.  But that is to be expected.  What I wasn't expecting was the ability to drive when defenders closed out on him too hard and find an open teammate.  Or the countless deflections that led to 6 steals.  Or even the tip-in put back.  He had himself a great all-around day.

-  Quiet day for C.J. Fair.  I guess the jersey isn't infallible.

-  With the game well in hand, we got our first look at this year's walk-ons late in this game.  Couple of thoughts... (1) Our walk-ons aren't very good at getting shots off and (2) Our walk-ons are very good at being metrosexual.

Case in point:

  

Those pictures don't every really do it justice.  There must have been a shortage of hair gel on campus that day

Next Game:  Wednesday (11/21) vs. Princeton @ 7:00 p.m.

The Orange try to feast on a bunch of Ivy League bookworms prior to everyone's Thanksgiving Day feast on Thursday.

Syracuse vs. Wagner Preview

I'm not going to do traditional game previews on this blog.  I find them terribly boring to read and I assume I would find them even more boring to write.

Instead, we're going to have a little fun with game previews.  Rather than bore you with the heights, stats, and favorite colors of the returning players from Southwest Eastern Connecticut State in an effort to give you some sort of insight as to whether they will lose to Cuse by 35 or 45 points, I'm simply going to give you a few predictions and a lot of useless information.

I'm going to have a cast of five people, some regulars and at least one guest spot each week, give their predictions for the game and then answer a question posed to them by yours truly.  The questions will range from relevant to semi-relevant to completely irrelevant.  For instance, here are some examples of questions I may have posed had I done this preview for the San Diego State game:

-  Who will be the go-to scorer this game?
-  How much will Boeheim trust his freshman in their first shot against a top 20 team?
-  More relevant ancient Indian culture in 2012:  Aztecs or Mayans?
-  Aircraft Carrier this year, ______ next year?
-  Erin Andrews or Giada DeLaurentis?
-  How upset were you upon hearing about the breakup of Justin Bieber and Selena Gomez?

You get the idea.  Nothing but hard-hitting analysis on this here blog.

Steve Schirmer:

Q:  The freshman had a pretty inauspicious debut.  What are you expecting this time around?  Over/under 45 minutes combined?  Please for the love of god, tell me over.  I don't want to go back to the days of the six-man rotation

A:  I will admit, watching the San Diego St. game with you was a bit of a let down. Nothing that you did wrong by any means. I was just so looking forward to the multiple Cooney-gasms that I know you have in you. Whether it was the windy conditions or Boeheim thinking he was paying way too much attention to Erin Andrews, it just didn't happen.

However, I do think you'll be much happier this time around. I see the playing time for the Freshmen significantly increasing for this game. Looking back over the past couple of years, Freshmen have been getting 15-20 minutes of time in our annual Carrier Dome Cupcake Schedule. Hell, even Baye Mousa Keita was getting 20 minutes a game as a freshman early on in his career!

Boeheim knows that with the limited depth at guard and question marks on who'll fit where down low, he's got to find out what he's got in Coleman, Cooney, and Grant. That's why I'm calling for a resounding OVER on your +/- 45 combined minutes for the Freshmen. I see the game getting out of hand rather quickly, so that'll mean lots of second half minutes to induce multiple Cooney-gasms from you, as well as several ill advised alley oop attempts from MCW to Jerami Grant that will continue to make Scoop Jardine proud.

Cuse takes it 83-56. Coleman gets 16 minutes, Cooney gets 19 minutes, and in an upset, Grant gets 22 minutes!

Dan Theal:

Q:  This is a Wagner team that returns 3 of their top 4 scorers from last season, when they upset Pittsburgh.  Any chance they put a scare in the Cuse fans in their home opener?

A:  Any time a team can manage to pull off an upset over the eventual CBI Champion (The postseason tournament for big name programs that can't qualify for the NIT), you have to come away impressed.  Sure, that win will bring the Seahawks a bit of confidence when they step into the Dome, but we must keep in mind that Jim Boeheim does not let his teams lose focus against the mid-major patsies.  The last time Syracuse lost a game before January was when Kristof Ongenaet was in the starting lineup (2008 vs. Cleveland State, if you couldn't recall).  That being said, I fully expect the Orange to be 17-0 when they prepare for their feast at the KFC Yum! Center on January 19. 

Now, back to the Wagner contest, if you recall the games over the last few seasons where a mid-major team put a scare into the Orange, one of two things usually happened: 1) The opponent had a dominant big man who roamed the baseline and racked up the boards as a slow-reacting front court zone could not seem to locate him, or 2) An opposing player got red hot from deep and drained about 10 3-pointers.  Does Wagner boast of a dominant big man?  No, but they do have a 6-11 space eater in Naofall Folahan.  So, who is the guy that can potentially beat the Cuse from long distance?  The only "threat" Wagner has is Junior guard Latif Rivers, who has averaged two 3-pointers per game in his first 2+ seasons.  I am willing to spot him his 6 points and conclude that Syracuse will still win comfortably.  My only fear is that the Cuse shooters don't fully adjust to playing indoors and clank their jumpers off the left rim in an effort to over-compensate for the effects of the air conditioning vents.

Final score: Cuse 83, Wagner 65 

Chris Tripodi:

Q:  We'll let you get to Syracuse next week, but given the implosion of the Jets locker room this week now seems as good a time as any to bring this up.  You have to pick your team's QB for next season:  Mark Sanchez, Tim Tebow, Ryan Fitzpatrick, or my 3 year old cousin.  Who you got?

A:  None of the above, although if I had to choose it would probably be my 3-year-old cousin (not yours) because the kid has a rocket attached to his arm. We think he's an illegitimate member of our family, but we might as well profit off him while we've got him.

In all seriousness, the Jets are an abomination of an embarrassment. I'm afraid to admit to being a fan of these finger-pointing, talk-bigger-than-you-play prima donnas. It's not even completely on Sanchez but the calls for Tebow should stop; he was awful with two great receivers in Denver last year and the Jets' "receivers" put the definition of the word to shame. He will be even worse than Sanchez.

My advice: Tank the season (if they haven't already), take Geno Smith to inject some life into the team and fan base and trade some vets for draft picks. And I'm not even THAT high on Smith, just need my season tickets to sell better.

Game Prediction: Syracuse 70, Wagner 58

Steve DeNero (aka Nate Silver):

Q:  Bigger surprise of the past week: an NFL game ending in a tie or a news story breaking about a gay Sesame Street character that didn't involve Bert or Ernie?

A:  Syracuse is coming off a big win over SDSU this past Friday. JMS predicted that game to be in the top 5 for this season. Wagner is not expected to produce the same amount of competition. So I preemptively expected Syracuse winning by 20+. That didn't seem quite scientific enough, so I took some further steps. After having spent the past month altering my thesis-produced air quality/climate model to accurately predict the winner of the Presidential election, I made some minor tweaks this past week to have it now focused on the Syracuse men's basketball matchups for the rest of the year. Sunday's game has Syracuse as a heavily favored victor (94.196% chance SU wins) with an average-composite score of 75 SU - 45 Wagner.

There are some outliers though. The model gives Wagner a 3% chance of winning. This was mostly reliant on Syracuse's starting 5 all losing eligibility and being benched. After that the results get a little wonky (to quote Ron Weasley) with there being a tie in this game at 1.5%, 1.03% chance that Duke wins (?!?), 0.27% chance that Paula Broadwell wins our hearts, and finally 0.004% chance that there is ANOTHER gay character on Sesame Street that comes out soon. I don't know how these extra variables even got into the model, but numbers, like hips, don't lie. It is important to note that there was 0% chance that there'd be another tie in the NFL anytime soon.

Jason Schwartz:

Q:  We both saw a lot of things we liked in MCW on Sunday.  We also saw a lot of things we didn't.  Does MCW reign it in a bit this week, or will he still go 0 to 60 with no in between?  Does Boeheim even go so far as benching him should he get out of control to prove a point? (courtesy of Steve Schirmer)

A:  Yes.  

That is my short, sweet, cop-out of an answer.  I will elaborate a little bit though.  I think one of the things that hurt Carter-Williams in the opener was the environment the game was played in.  Clearly both teams were packing all their defenders as close to the paint as possible and daring the other team to shoot anywhere more than 10 feet from the hoop.  

That really hurt The Hyphen in two ways.  (1)  He lost the chance for some easy assist opportunities hitting spot-up shooters like Southerland or Cooney on the perimeter and (2) he didn't have the subsequent spacing that those jump shots would create, allowing him to have more room to beat his man off the dribble and create shots for himself or the big men at the rim.  

I expect the friendlier confines of the Dome should solve help solve these issues and help MCW have a performance more in line with my preseason expectations.  

Of course, I also expect this game to get out of hand, which will cause a couple opportunities for him to blow right past 60 and go all the way to 85 with a couple ill-advised alley-oop attempts.  Honestly though, what would we do without at least one botched alley-oop per game?  It's become a tradition on par with standing until the first Orange basket and a shot of Jimmy B picking his nose on the sideline as the broadcast goes to commercial.  As long as he doesn't decapitate Rakeem Christmas, making him attempting to jump through the backboard, then I'm fine with it.

Give me Syracuse 78, Wagner 53

So there you have it folks, 5 picks for Syracuse and an average margin of victory of 20+ points.  Just because it's expected to be a blowout doesn't mean you shouldn't tune in though.  The Bills have already played (and shockingly won) this week so you have no excuses, tune to Time Warner Cable Sports Net and listen to those hokey local announcers and watch the walk-ons get their first chances to jack up three-pointers at a rate that would make Mookie Jones envious.

(If you'd like to get involved and be one of the future guest bloggers for the game previews, email me at jmschwartz17@gmail.com to express your interest, complete with a list of your perceived areas of expertise so I can reach out to you when current events fall right into your wheelhouse.)

Top Chef Fantasy League

We interrupt your regularly scheduled Syracuse Orange programming to bring you this important message...

Look, I gave you the heads up in my first post.  This blog will primarily be a Syracuse basketball related blog.  But there will be other posts  from time to time.  Among my other interests I laid out for you are cooking and games.  Particularly, anytime I can turn something into some form of gambling or fantasy league, I am all in.  Just side bets though, no gambling problems here.

So there I found myself this past Wednesday night, watching the premiere of the latest Top Chef season.  Half-jokingly, I suggested to Lindsey that we should do a fantasy Top Chef league.  She didn't hate the idea and that was all I needed to take it and run with it.

So with that I proudly introduce to you the scoring system for the first annual Top Chef fantasy league.  Feel free to play along at home.  I will post a weekly scoring update to encourage participation.

Chef Eliminated in Week ___:

1 - (-10) pts
2 - (-8) pts
3 - (-6) pts
4 - (-4) pts
5 - (-2) pts
6 - 0 pts
7 - 2 pts
8 - 4 pts
9 - 6 pts
10 - 8 pts
11 - 10 pts
12 - 15 pts
13 - 20 pts
14 - 25 pts
15 - 50 pts


Quickfire Win: 5 pts
Elimination Challenge Win: 10 pts

Quickfire Honorable Mention: 1 pt
Elimination Challenge Honorable Mention: 2 pts

Quickfire Dishonorable Mention: (-1) pt
Elimination Challenge Dishonorable Mention: (-2) pts

Member of the winning Restaurant Wars Team: 5 pts
Member of the losing Restaurant Wars Team: (-5) pts

And just for fun, here are the teams that Lindsey and I wound up with in our draft this weekend and some quick analysis.

Our stakes still need to be finalized before the first real episode tonight, but they will probably involve steaks.

Lindsey:
Micah Fields
Jeffrey Jew
Eliza Gavin
Sheldon Simeon
Elizabeth Binder
Kuniko Yagi
Tyler Wiard

Jay:
John Tesar
Kristen Kish
Brooke Williamson
Chrissy Camba
Joshua Valentine
Bart Vandaele
Danyele McPherson

Left Out: Carla Pellegrino

Lindsey was most happy that she got Elizabeth Binder so late, she thinks she has a chance to be real good.  I was also happy Lindsey wound up with Binder, because I don't remember her at all from the premiere.  She was really upset that she didn't wind up with the Asian Model, Kristen Kish, originally haven taken her with her 2nd pick before switching to Jeffrey.

I think Eliza will be good and would have gladly had her on my team, but not over either of my top two picks, so I can't complain too much.  I love my late round grabs of Josh and Bart.  They may be voted off the first two weeks, but at least I get to vote for that awesome mustache and accent in the meantime.

We both were a little surprised at the end to look up and realize Carla was the one left out.  I think she could stick around for a long time solely based on her brash personality and the storyline/ratings that will generate.  Confrontational people tend to find a way to skate by at the judges table.  I'm not accusing Bravo of rigging anything for better ratings, I'm just saying Tim Donaghy may be on their Board of Directors.

Quickly, I will apologize for not getting this post up sooner, as the first real episode airs tonight.  But if you still want to play along at home, fear not.  Because there is an odd number of chefs, you can easily skip week 1 with no real issues.

Happy Drafting!

Syracuse v. San Diego St Recap

The surroundings were brilliant, the play not so much, but any time you can open the season with a relatively easy, double-digit win against a top 25 team in what was essentially a road game, you have to take it.  Plus, anytime a game can lead to this...
 

...you have to count it as a win (props to Steve Mayne on that find).

On with the recap...

MVP:  C.J. Fair

C.J. put up a double-double in the opener, finishing as the leading rebounder and scorer (tied with Carter-Williams) for either team.  More importantly, he got off to a hot start that got the Orange out to a double-digit lead that they never looked back from.

LVP:  Jamall Franklin

Pretty disappointing game for the Mountain West preseason player of the year.  Credit the Syracuse defense, because their length clearly is going to bother teams all season long.  However, Franklin didn't do himself any favors.  He struggled between settling for outside jumpers, as evidenced by his 0-6 effort from the three-point line and 3-12 shooting overall, and forcing the action, with a game-high seven turnovers.  He also left a lot of points on the board at the stripe, going only 5 for 12.  If Syracuse can force the opposing team's stars into similar performances all season long, Jim Boeheim is going to be one happy camper (if that's possible).

Play of the Game:

Fair may have been the game's MVP, but he was merely a secondary piece in the play of the game.  With just under seven minutes left in the first half, Fair found Rakeem Christmas streaking down the court on a fast break and lobbed up an alley-oop.  Christmas did the rest, throwing down a thunderous dunk essentially over the top of an Aztec defender.  The play, which was cool enough in live action to draw an obnoxiously loud cheer and clap from me, was even cooler in replay.  Christmas' momentum took him almost fully horizontal on the finish, with the camera from the trailing side of the play catching the dunk against a background of the brilliant blue sky and some of the buildings on the San Diego shoreline.  I would not be the least bit surprised if this dunk made it on a poster before the Orange make in back on the court next Sunday.

(SC)OOPS of the Game:

In one of my preseason preview pieces, I mentioned jokingly that Michael Carter-Williams had spent his freshman year under the tutelage of Professor Jardine, learning about the art of all things alley-oop (good and bad).  Turns out it was truer than I had anticipated.

About 3 minutes into the second half, Carter-Williams was leading the break and attempted to throw an alley-oop.  His pass, from just inside half-court, bricked squarely off the top of the backboard and bounced all the way back out to the free throw line.  Meanwhile, the alley-oop attempt almost led Christmas into a concussion-inducing collision with the backboard, much like any receiver going over the middle for a Ryan Fitzpatrick throw.  It was one of the uglier alley-oop attempts I've ever seen, leaving even Scoop in awe of how quickly MCW has mastered his craft.  We'll chalk this one up to the wind being at his back and pray that it never happens again.

General Observations:

-  I see you Jim Boeheim, rocking the Ray-Bans

-  I've already covered this above, but it was a great start to the year for my boy C.J. Fair.  He was one of the only people who was able to stave off the conditions to knock down a couple of deep jumpers, but he didn't fall in love with the outside shot either.  He was aggressive getting to the basket and smart about when to attack and when to pull back.  He played a great game all around.  I'm going to claim partial credit for this, as I purchased his jersey before the season began and rocked it proudly at the bar during the game.

-  I was also impressed with Triche's aggressiveness.  He took the ball to the basket hard a couple of times, and finished well.  For a guard, he can really be a surprising menace down low, as it seems like at least once every game he comes up with an unlikely offensive rebound or putback amid a forest of much bigger players.

-  I was much less impressed with Carter-Williams's aggressiveness.  His shot selection and drives to the hoop bordered on out-of-control for most of the game and careened into reckless territory on more than one occasion.  I'm not going to take too much away from one game, especially since it was his first opportunity to run the show and was an unusual set-up, being played outdoors and all.  I still believe in his ability to have a huge year, but MCW is going to have to work on his decision-making over the next few games so that he's ready to avoid having another game like this during the Big East portion of the schedule.

-  MCW's defense on the other hand was much more impressive.  He was a pest up top the whole game, as predicted by Schirmer, and came up with 5 steals and a couple easy baskets because of it.  I'm a little concerned that he was almost too aggressive, as he wound up fouling out of the game in garbage time, and easily could have picked up a few other fouls in the first half trying to make a play on passes in transition.  We can't afford to have him in foul trouble with our limited guard rotation this season.  I feel confident , though, that he'll learn his lessons as the season goes on and harness his defensive prowess to make a few plays a game without risking his time on the court.

-  No truth to the rumors that Jim Boeheim is petitioning to have the rest of Syracuse's schedule played outdoors this season.  All kidding aside though, this team was built for a game like this.  They have multiple guards and forwards who can get to the basket almost at will and the length of the 2-3 zone forced San Diego St to settle for way too many outside jumpers, leading to multiple airballs.

-  A rather inauspicious debut for the highly regarded freshman class.  19 combined minutes and no real big plays.  I'm not totally surprised.  You could tell that all three of them were a little too amped up, and who can blame them with their debuts being in a situation with this much hype and anticipation.  It was especially noticeable on defense, where they were all too frequently caught reaching or overplaying on defense and then had to foul to make up for it.   It will be interesting to see how much trust they will earn during the non-conference portion of the schedule to convince Jimmy B they are ready when the Big East rolls around.  Boeheim has never been shy about shortening his rotation if he has to, with last year being one of the only times I can ever remember him truly keeping his rotation 9-10 deep the entire season.

-  It was an especially quiet start for Cooney, getting only 4 minutes, all of which were in the first half.  This isn't that surprising though, considering Cooney is mostly just a three-point shooter at this stage and Boeheim clearly forbade his team from attempting three pointers after halftime.  I expect that I'll get my chance to cheer multiple Cooney three-point attempts in the game against Wagner on Sunday.

-  Impressive start for Keita.  He didn't do anything necessarily special, but he provided 23 solid minutes off the bench and 8 rebounds.  If he can keep that up, it really bolsters the depth up front for this team and buys us some peace of mind in case Christmas ever gets in foul trouble or Coleman isn't quite ready yet.

Next Game:  Home vs. Wagner on Sunday (11/18) @ 1:00 p.m.

Wagner is yet to play a game this season, with their opener being tonight.  They return 3 of their top 4 scorers from a team that went 25-6 last season, including a victory at Pittsburgh.  So I would expect that Wagner will not be intimidated coming into the Dome, but I still expect a relatively easy victory at the end of the day.

Syracuse Straw Poll

Now that Barack Obama has been re-elected President you thought you were done with all the campaigning and advertisements, didn't you?

Wrong!

They're just kicking into gear because we are heading into the most important election season of them all.  The race for top Orangeman of the 2012-13 season.  No two-party system here.  We've got a huge field of candidates running on platforms ranging from rim-rocking dunks to ankle-breaking crossovers to deep-range threes.

Luckily for you, I'm here to breakdown the odds for you with as unbiased an eye as possible.  If you'd like the results of my personal Fox News inspired poll, then you can see me individually.

The Write-Ins:

Noel Jones (250 to 1)

You do not have to be a naturalized citizen to be in this race, and Syracuse has had a proud recent tradition of Canadians with strong showings in these polls.  Andy Rautins and Kris Joseph can vouch for that.  We have another strong candidate coming in next year (Top 25 Class of 2013 recruit Tyler Ennis), but in the meantime walk-on Noel Jones will have to keep the seat warm for the Molson and Maple Syrup loving fans among us.

Chris McCullough or Chinoso Obokoh (100 to 1)

It seems unlikely given the lofty preseason expectations for this team, but if the season turns south then the attention may turn to new candidates who can promise a change.  Enter recent recruits Obokoh and McCullough.

Obokoh has a few things going in his favor.  He's a local product, so fans in Syracuse and Rochester alike will have chances to catch him in live action this year if they so desire.  Plus, a name like Chinoso Obokoh lends itself to all kinds of nicknames, so he is sure to be a fan favorite for that reason alone.

McCullough is still two years away, so he could suffer from "out of sight, out of mind" syndrome.  Helping him to combat this malady is the label of Top 10 Recruit.  Recruits that highly regarded don't always pan out (see: Greene, Donte), but when they do they can single handedly change the course of a program (see: Anthony, Carmelo).

Gerry McNamara (no line)

Pretty sure Gerry could win for Mayor of Syracuse, yet alone for most popular person on the team.  This would be like putting Derek Jeter on the roster of a little league team in the Bronx and then asking them to vote for the best player on the team.  There might be a few rogue voters who would vote for little Steve Schirmer just to be contrarian, but there would be no contest for who wins.  It's a living legend against mere children.  Just to be safe, we'll ban any coaches from being included on the ballot.  All we want is a fair fight.

The Long Shots:

Jerami Grant (75 to 1)

Grant could be the Herman Cain of this straw poll.  He's the recruit that relatively no one is talking about, but he'll get a chance to make a big splash in the early primaries against the likes of Alcorn State, Eastern Michigan, and Wagner.  However, as we transition from the primaries to the real election (the Big East and NCAA Tournament in this instance), we are likely to see his radical athletic ability passed on by voters for the more traditional messages of outside shooting and drives to the hoop that incumbents Fair and Southerland can offer.

Baye Moussa Keita (50 to 1)

Baye would be an intriguing candidate on paper.  He's got a charismatic smile (don't judge) and I think I heard once that he is smart too.

But the first chance you gave him in the limelight at a public campaign stop, he would likely fumble a baby during a photo-op and his campaign would be over before it even began, kind of like Donald Trump's.

The Up-And-Comers:

DaJuan Coleman (25 to 1)

In Coleman's Favor -

He's a local product from Jamesville-Dewitt High School, following in the footsteps of Andy Rautins and Brandon Triche.

He's a highly-rated freshman, coming in with accolades such as McDonald's All-American.

He's a traditional big man with actual discernible rebounding and low post skills, which is a departure from most recent Cuse big men.

Playing in the zone should keep him out of foul trouble, a potential landmine for most young big men in college hoops.

When was the last time we had a big man who could actually shoot free throws?

Working Against Coleman -

You can know order and pay for Chipotle online...

Trevor Cooney (25 to 1)

I know, I know.  Shocking that I would put Cooney this low, but like I said, I'm trying to be unbiased here.

Cooney is a promising, young, up-and-coming candidate.  It's just not his time time quite yet.  He'll get his feet wet this year and come his Junior and Senior seasons, I expect he will be a heavy favorite for back-to-back terms.

Don't think for a second that I'm not snatching up a ticket at these odds, though, and seeing dollar signs every time Cooney drains 3 three's in a minute and a half, followed by post-game endorsements from key party figures Boeheim and McNamara.

We briefly interrupt this program to bring you an important message...

The Louisville Cardinals.  They say they're a top 3 team.  They claim they have a Player of the Year candidate.  But can you really trust them?

In 2011, they finished eighth in the Big East, 2 games behind South Florida

In 2010, they lost a first-round game to #13 seed Morehead State

In 2009, Rick Pitino was a scumbag.

The 2012-13 Louisville Cardinals.  Extremely talented or Extremely overrated?  You decide.

"Hi, I'm Jim Boeheim and I approve this message."

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The Dark Horses:

Rakeem Christmas (20 to 1)

Rakeem is in line to make the famed Syracuse big man sophomore year leap.  He likely won't do enough to become the star of the team this season, but he will show enough promise and hope that he will be anointed a face to watch in the next election.

It's like every four years when some lesser-known candidate takes a meteoric rise during his party's convention and is dubbed the "next great presidential candidate".  Think Chris Christie this year.

Unfortunately, like the many political candidates whose stars fade well before they ever get the chance to make a real presidential run, Christmas is likely to be gone before ever having a real shot to be the start of a Syracuse team.  Like Fab Melo before him, I think he's a prime candidate to show just enough improvement to sneak himself into the first round of next year's draft, leaving Cuse fans longing for what could have been if he had just stuck around one more year.

James Southerland (15 to 1)

Southerland is a real sleeper in this race.  You always hear about the inherent advantage JFK experienced in the 1960 presidential race because of his charisma in the first ever televised debates.  Southerland's infectious personality and Dougie-licious dance moves ooze charisma.  He is easily one of the most fun players to watch over the last few seasons.

Style only matters so much, though.  At the end of the day, you can put lipstick on a pig, it's still a pig.  Syracuse fans want substance and demand consistency.  If you waffle back and forth like John Kerry, they'll crush you.

If James can continue taking the small strides he's made each of the past three seasons, he'll be in a great position to stay in this race until the end.  If he can play like he did in the first weekend of the NCAA tournament , he might just pull out the surprising victory.  If he shoots 20% from deep during Big East conference play again like last year...he's still just a pig.

The Favorites:

Michael Carter-Williams (10 to 1)

Carter-Williams has one competitive advantage over all his fellow candidates.  He is going to be the primary ball-handler for this team.  That's important because if he doesn't like the way the race, or game, is going then he has the most ability of anyone to change it.

It's sort of like being able to participate in the debate and moderate it yourself at the same time.

Or in other words, it's like having Jim Lehrer moderate it (current event shots fired!).

C.J. Fair (5 to 1)

The winner of my vote from last year's election, Fair is a strong candidate again this season.  Last year, Fair showed up with a semi-reliable mid-range jumper to compliment his already crafty inside game.  There are rumors that this offseason he has taken things one step further and turned himself into a threat from three-point range.  He showed flashes of this in the first exhibition game (2-3), but then tapered off a little in the second look (0-2).

I'll reserve judgment until we get a chance to see this against real competition over a slightly larger sample size, but if Fair can come even close to shooting 40% from deep that's a game changer.  When you take that into account with everything else he already does, that would be like if Mitt Romney had solved Social Security, Health Care, and the Fiscal Cliff over the summer.  You think he might have won the election if that had been the case?

Brandon Triche (2 to 1)

He's going to be the leader of this team whether he likes it or not.  When you've been a starter in every game of your entire career during a stretch when two of your three seasons have resulted in #1 seeds in the NCAA tournament, people expect you to win a poll like this.

There may be flashier, up-and-coming names getting their first real shot at the limelight who are pushing innovative agendas and drawing all the attention.  There always are.

But if you can keep losses under 5 and point to dates in the second weekend of March Madness in two of your first three terms in office, people can get on board with that.  It may not be unemployment under 5% or a National Championship, but it's a step in the right direction and people aren't likely to vote out the incumbent when things are humming along smoothly.

A seat in the Carrier Dome rafters is yours for the taking Brandon.  Don't let us down with a lame-duck season.

The Annual Unnecessarily Long Season Preview...

A major influencing factor in me starting this blog was the excessive amounts of emails I was already exchanging with different friends throughout the season.  I figured if I was already writing all these words anyways, why not publish them for everyone's enjoyment instead of just sending them to one or two people.

The biggest recipient of these emails was Steve Schirmer.  Every year we spend countless hours and words breaking down every minor detail about Syracuse Basketball.  The biggest piece of this is our annual preseason email barrage where we hash out what we expect from the players and team in the upcoming season.  

This year for the first time ever, these emails will be published for public consumption.  If everything in this post is completely off-target, then it may "mysteriously" disappear into cyberspace forever and this gimmick may never resurface again.  More likely though, Steve and I will just sit, face in hands, in abject humiliation as everyone points and laughs.  But readers beware, Schirmer is likely to print out this post and keep a laminated copy on his person at all times so that everytime Baye Moussa Keita provides more than 2 minutes of competent basketball, he can point and scream "I predicted that!  King Kong ain't got shit on me!".  

Anyways, enjoy our obsessive and excessive breakdown (and don't think less of us for it)...

Jay:  Ok Steve, we're officially less than 3 weeks away from the Battle (that almost wasn't) on the Midway.  So you know what that means.

That's right, I'm making a call to the bullpen and bringing you into the blogosphere for our annual "over-analyze the upcoming Syracuse season while acting like this is normal behavior and our friends aren't all planning an intervention for us as we speak" preseason email chain.

We can get into expectations for the actual players on this years team in a little bit (hint: we're both irrationally high on Trevor Cooney).  Let's start with the team first though.  The preseason Coaches Poll was released this week and it has Cuse slotted at #9.  Too high? Too low? Just Right? What say you???

Just remember that if you claim this poll would be just as good with Virginia Commonwealth replacing Syracuse, Jim Boeheim will not hesitate to tell the media you are full of shit...

Steve: First and foremost, I would like to thank you Jay for inviting me into the blogosphere and letting me vicariously live my dream as an armchair, opinionated blogger through you, even if only for a guest role. I would be more than happy to be the Joe House to your Bill Simmons, the Robin to your Batman, and the Irrational Confidence to James Southerland's jump shots. And given the mass volume of text messages, e-mails, and late night, drunk bantering that you and I have been engaged in concerning the Orange over the years, this is long, long overdue.

I must disclaim, however, that I regard preseason polls with as much credibility as a Zach Tomaselli e-mail to ESPN (Ed. Note:  Too Soon? Nah). After all, the USA Today Coaches Poll is made up of trustworthy and conscientious voters such as Harvard's Tommy Amaker (under NCAA Investigation), St. Mary's Randy Bennett (under NCAA Investigation), and Ex-Fab 5 and current San Diego St. coach Steve Fisher (the reason it's taken nearly 20 years for Michigan basketball to be relevant again). At least Jim Boeheim is on the committee to provide some honest, "shit-free" evaluations of the state of affairs in College Basketball before a ball has been dribbled. But isn't that the point of preseason polls anyways to give Digger Phelps an excuse to go on air to help fund for his highlighters?

When the poll first broke, I was a tad surprised that Syracuse landed as a top 10 team. I tried to temper my expectations for them, given that they just lost about 50% of their offense and the zone just wasn't the same when Fab Melo was suspended. You and I had a couple conversations before the polls and had generally set our expectation that they'd hover between 12-18 throughout the year.

But looking at the world of college basketball from a high level perspective, don't you agree that it's kind of a down year overall? This year's incoming recruiting class is nowhere near the level that it was last year, so that's generally left a void for the untouchable juggernauts  previous Kentucky, Ohio St, and UNC squads that we've seen for the past few years.

Taking a quick look at a couple of the teams behind Syracuse: Florida has a lot of talent and has a very nice recruiting class coming in, but they're still awfully thin in the frontcourt. So until they prove that they're something other than a bunch of 3 point bombers who shoot their way out of games, I'm not buying. UNC is in a rebuilding year and is pinning their hopes on a guy who averaged 6 points a game last year (good luck with that). And UCLA is going to be under the NCAA microscope all year, as an APB has been put out for any witnesses who know the whereabouts of Shabazz Muhammad's recruiting violations and Coach Howland's game management.

And how about the teams in front of them in the polls? Sure Calipari bought, errr, recruited, another loaded freshman class, but unless he's hoping Nerlens Noel's mile-high flat top can also dish to wide open jump shooters, he doesn't have anyone on that team that can run the point. Sure Pitino brought back most of his Final Four team from last year, but lest we forget it's a squad of offensively challenged, turnover machines that makes Ken Pomeroy's head explode? North Carolina St. is a trendy pick., but this is a team that was a hot mess during its conference schedule last year, and I'm not sure if Mark Gottfried has it in him to keep this group focused on college basketball and not their 2013 NBA Draft stock. Michigan is still trying to play up tempo small ball while everyone knows Big 10 basketball is a physical, grind it out, defensive minded conference. And finally, I've seen the first two installments of the Plumlee trilogy at Duke, so I'm fairly confident how the third film is going to turn out.

So am I surprised that, based on a process of elimination, that Syracuse is a top 10 team? No. And based on what I said above, I'm more willing to bet on them than some of the flawed teams ranked ahead of them. Looking at their roster, one can even say that besides Indiana, they're the team in the top 10 with the fewest questions. Brandon Triche, despite our feelings that he sometimes lacks a killer instinct, can provide stability at the point. C.J. Fair sometimes disappeared in games despite our borderline Soccer Mom fanaticism about anything he did, but given the history of Junior year breakouts at the small forward position in Syracuse lore, a rise in production is certainly not out of the question for him. Michael Carter-Williams showed flashes of his capabilities last year, as he can be an absolute pest at the top of the zone, while also showing a decent jump shot and ability to get to the basket. And even though losing Fab's abilities in the middle of the zone will hurt, they have 3 other guys that can be plugged into it, each with their own specialty they can bring down low.

I think with the combination of an overall down year in the Big East (let alone in all of college basketball), I'm fairly confident that by the end of the year we could be looking at yet another top 5 ranking, a #1 NCAA Tournament seed, and five new excuses Doug Gottlieb has come up with explaining why this still is not an elite team. 

I certainly agree with your assessment of the state of College Basketball (and Doug Gottlieb) in general.  I mean let's take a quick look at the consensus top 3 teams in the nation this year, Kentucky, Indiana, and Louisville.  

Indiana brings back pretty much everyone, and has preseason Player of the Year candidate Cody Zeller to lead them, but they were barely above .500 last year in the Big Ten and as far as preseason #1's go, they are about as intimidating as the Bills defense is to Tom Brady.

Kentucky has reloaded with another highly regarded freshman class led by Noel, Calipari's requisite yearly recruit that makes you question if this is the year he finally gets his hat trick of schools with vacated Final Fours.  Yet even with all the talented freshmen they are bringing in, this team would probably be a double-digit underdog to last years team (and frankly, next year's team might be favored over this one too).  

And Louisville... ohhhh Louisville.  Now I will fully admit that I am going to be biased in this evaluation, but hear me out anyways.  This is a team that finished 7th in the Big East last season (2 games behind South Florida!!!) and added one recruit who was a fringe top 100 prospect.  So now I'm supposed to get excited just because they got hot for a few games at the right time of the year and made a Final Four?  I'm not saying they won't be good, but I don't know why everyone is so eager to just hand them the Big East and a #1 seed in the tourney.  And don't even get me started on Peyton Siva as Big East Preseason Player of the Year.  What a joke.  You want a bold prediction?  How about this one:  Peyton Siva finishes closer to Third Team All-Big East than he does to Player of the Year this season.

So, back to the point, yeah I think college basketball is down this year and this team has already grown on me before I've even seen it play.  Maybe I'm just a little fired up that we didn't get a single first-place vote in the preseason Big East poll or maybe it's the three Octoberfest's speaking.  Either way, I'm excited to pull the "nobody believed in us" card and ride it like the New York Giants all the way to another Big East regular season championship.  

But I digress.  I think we've spent about 2,000 more words than necessary on preseason polls, so let's move on to the actual players on this year's team.  

My love for C.J. Fair and Trevor Cooney has already been well documented in this space, so let's save them for a little later.  I want to start by talking about Michael Carter-Williams.  I think he is the single most intriguing player on this year's team.  His length makes Jay Bilas salivate and his skills are pretty slick too.  If he comes in and is just a good, solid floor general, then we are probably a top 15 to 20 team that should get to the 2nd weekend of March Madness (and if things break right, maybe the Final Four).  If he comes in and proves to be a Rajon Rondo-like stat-stuffing freak of nature, then this is a top 5 team that might be able to win it all.  I'm working on "5 Bold Predictions" piece that will be up on the blog later tonight, but here's a sneak peek for you... I'm leaning towards Scenario B.

What do you think?  What's MCW's ceiling?  Is he the key to the season or are you honing in on someone else? 

I certainly think Michael Carter Williams is a key cog to the success of the team this year.  How can he not be considered one? Here’s a guy that’s going from 11 DNP’s to suddenly being thrust into the starting lineup. I’m not sure if there’s anyone with as much pressure on him, just because of the immense expectations and hype that surrounds him.

What are my expectations out of MCW this year? Offensively, I’m tempering my excitement, for now. From the highlights I’ve seen (mainly from poorly crafted, grainy YouTube videos featuring the sweet melodic versus of some scrub rapper), he’s a slashing guard that is able to get floaters and kick outs to open shooters. I know he’s gained some muscle in the offseason, but he’s still a toothpick. I just don’t know how effective he’s going to be based on the physical nature of the Big East and if he’ll be able to hold up as the season drags on. I think his contributions on the offensive end this year will certainly be in the form of assists and three pointers (he surprisingly shot 39% from beyond the arc in limited action last year). I do see him potentially being a dynamic scorer and assist machine in the mode of, dare I say it, Jason Kidd down the road? But not this year.

It’s his defense, however, that has me giddy. My expectation is that he’s our taller, lankier, slightly less retweeting version of Dion Waiters. As you know, Jay, I love me some Ken Pomeroy Sabremetrics. In the limited action he saw, his steal percentage (calculated as steals as a % of total possessions he’s on the floor) was 4.5%. Now, that doesn’t seem impressive, but keep in mind that Dion’s was 4.6% last year, good for 15^th in the nation. So stretch that over 24-30 minutes a game, and this is going to pay big dividends and help set up the easy fast break points that ‘Cuse has lived and died off of for the past few years.

Plus, did I fail to mention, he’s freaking 6’5 with a 7'4 wing span! When’s the last time we’ve had a player that long play at the top of the zone? Josh Pace maybe? So long as he doesn’t attend the “Eric Devendorf Center for Lazy Zone Rotation”, his natural physical attributes should lend itself to disrupting ball rotation, and prevent teams from easily penetrating into the soft portion of the zone. His ability to be a gnat to opposing guards is going to take a lot of pressure off the front court as they adjust to life post Fab Melo.

Which leads me to my next point that I’ll throw to you, because, quite frankly, this has me the most nervous about the team this year. What is life going to be like post-Fab Melo (besides a 50% reduction in turn signal related violence on campus)? The presence of Fab made the area 6 feet from the basket a no fly zone. But without him, teams were able to work the ball down low, force the zone to collapse on itself, and leave guys wide open for uncontested jump shots.

Rakeem is the heir apparent  to step into Fab’s gigantic shoes. However, he needs to significantly improve his awareness in the middle of the zone to curb the problems we had against Wisconsin, Ohio St, and Notre Dame last year. DaJuan has promise to improve our rebounding, but he’s more seen as a below the rim guy. And, well, you know I merely consider Baye Mousa Keita as a human shield whose sole purpose is to accumulate 5 fouls a game.

Who out of those three will emerge to pick up Fab’s slack? Can they do just enough to keep the zone an impenetrable fortress like last year? Or are we, collectively as fans, so spoiled by the defense from last year that it’s unrealistic to think it can be repeated?

So I take it you're not all-in on my bold predictions piece about Michael Carter-Williams then?  Prepare to be bombarded with gloating texts and voicemails when he flirts with a triple-double against Colgate on November 25th as you lay around in your tryptophan-induced coma.

I do agree with you that he'll be a pest on the defensive end though.  That length is going to bother a lot people and I think it'll lead to a lot of run outs on offense when some mediocre point guard like Peyton Siva (get used to it Peyton, you're going to be a frequent target of this blog) half-heartedly skips a pass across the zone while underestimating the length of MCW.  

And that is part of why I'm not too worried about losing Melo.  Did you know that from last season to this season, Triche (at 6'4") went from being the biggest guard in our rotation, to the smallest guard in our rotation?  That is the kind of size we have across the zone this season, and it will make it much harder for teams to even get into the paint in the first place.  

On the occasions they do manage to get down there, I think our big men can still protect the paint enough to keep our defense respectable.  Christmas may be no Fab Melo, but he did average almost a block per game in only 11 minutes last year.  He could easily average 2 to 2.5 blocks per game this season with extended minutes, and that wouldn't be that far off the pace from what Melo did last year.  The real thing that Melo provided that won't be easily replaced is his flopping, er, I mean good positional defense and the resultant charges.  Maybe Christmas watched a lot of the Brazilian Men's Soccer Team last year with Fab and picked up some pointers?

You know what we won't miss from Fab?  5 rebounds per game from the center position.  What he did provide on defense last year was great, but when you are always either in the air or on your ass, it's pretty hard to grab rebounds.  I think the defense could improve this season solely from cutting down on the number of second chance opportunities.  Think about how crazy that drove us last season, time and again seeing our defense make a stand only to let the other team get a cheap put-back.  Christmas can't be any worse than Melo, and Coleman will almost certainly be significantly better in that respect.  Keita is still Keita, but he brought back the full name so maybe he will experience some sort of revival.

Add more time for long, rangy players like Southerland and Grant on the wings, and I think we may be able to force a lot of contested jumpers and one-and-done possessions this season.  

Going back to Coleman for a minute.  By now, you've seen my 5 bold predictions piece.  Although not directly stated, it was certainly implied by predictions 2 and 3 that I think Coleman and Cooney will contribute this season, which means I'm taking Jerami Grant as my dog in the "Which freshman will spend most of the season getting splinters while sitting next to Jimmy" race.  Am I too high on Coleman?  Too low on Grant?  What do you expect from our freshman class this year? (and don't you dare besmirch Trevor Cooney's name,  I will invoke my editing powers if need be...)

Listen, I fully am aware that there are three things that you just don't besmirch to Jay Schwartz: Denzel Washington, The Cupid Shuffle, and now your new sweetie lovey dubby pumpkin pie, Trevor Cooney. And as a guest on your fine blog, I surely won't spoil my welcome.

Let's start with your new boyfriend, though. I can't help myself from thinking that he's going to be the most impactful Freshman. On first glance, it's the easy answer because he's the one who's most ensured of significant minutes since the team only carries 3 guards. But thinking about the team the past few years (and I'll admit, it's very tough to nitpick a team that's held a #1 seed in the NCAA tournament 2 of the past 3 years), they were so prone to go cold on the offensive end because they relied so much on fast break points. And when they ran into a team that slowed the game down and took care of the basketball, getting baskets was just too tough for them. We saw it against Butler in 2010, Marquette in 2011, and Ohio St. in 2012. Three games in which they couldn't force turnovers and suffered because they just couldn't create baskets.

Starting in Big East play last year, the team shot only 32% from 3 point land, generated only 23% of their points from beyond the arc, and attempted only 30% of their shots from beyond the arc. Now, I'm not saying that they should all just turn into Mookie Jones in the final 8 minutes vs. Colgate or Donte Greene in any Syracuse situation. But the three point play has such an impact on momentum and providing a spark to the offense to get them out of a funk, or deter a prolonged cold streak when the fast break points aren't happening. Sure we've been spoiled by the Gerry McNamaras and Andy Rautins of the worlds. But now we add a guy who shot 37% his senior season in high school from beyond the arc and can give them a hot shooter off the bench to get them out of a rut. Sorry James Southerland, your usurpation from Dion Waiters as our bench energy guy is going to be short lived.

As far as DaJuan Coleman, I think you're juuuuuust a bit high on him. I still have concerns on where he's going to fit into the zone on the defensive end. Whether he'll be quick enough to handle one of the baseline wing spots or if he finds himself in the middle of the zone that he picks up on that learning curve you mentioned and is aware of his rotations. We've certainly seen Jim Boeheim give the quick yank to freshman because of deficiencies in the zone, and if we see him struggle early on, he'll join the Fab and Rakeem 5 Minute Club. However, if he can prove to pick up the nuances of being an active member of the zone, then he should provide enough on the offensive and rebounding end to be a major contributor. Even if he's just average, however, your call of being Big East ROY isn't so far fetched. The only real other threat to him would be Steven Adams from Pitt, and Omar Calhoun on a down UConn team, so getting the award in a relatively down recruiting year for the Big East (other than Syracuse) is certainly not out of the question.

I think you're dead set on Jerami Grant being the token freshman to suddenly disappear once Big East play begins. Did I buy into the hype that he grew 14 inches this summer, climbed Mt. Kilimanjaro and defeated Bill Braskey in a whiskey drinking contest? Sure. Did I get excited when Jon Rothstein raved about him on Twitter and compared him to the likes of a 7.7 ppg, 4.4 rpg Florida St. role player? Absolutely! But truth be told, there just isn't a role for him in the rotation, and quite frankly, he's just not ready. His performance in the FIBA U18 Americas tournament is the proof in the pudding. Despite starting all 5 games, he shot just 28% from the floor. Billy Donavan complimented him on being something special, but he's raw and will probably make "the leap" next year.

So, it seems we've covered most of the roster and all the major questions heading into the season. Now, let's have some fun with some superlatives! We'll set the following categories:

Most Valuable Player (obvious qualifications):

Most Improved (obvious qualifications):

Most Outgoing (player with the most irrational confidence on the court):

Team Workaholic (scrappiest player that Boeheim lauds in the postgame presser):

Most Likely To Become a Millionaire (player most likely to emerge as a lottery pick this year):

Class Clown (player most likely to drive us berserk):

Best Couple (best on court duo and/or duo most likely to star in a YouTube comedy series):

Who you got?

Good Call.  Nothing gets the creative juices flowing like a little yearbook-style superlative action...

Most Valuable Player:  My answer may surprise you a little bit (or it may not, since I did already post my other prediction piece), but I'm going with MCW.  I think he is going to do it all for us this year.  Facilitate the offense, contribute double-digit points, and make the  zone treacherous with his length at the top.  He was really impressive in the limited time he had to prove himself last season, and as you mentioned, our guards are going to have to play a lot.  That makes MCW or Triche the obvious answer for this question, and I've just been burned by Triche's Katie Perry impersonation (hot and then cold) a few too many times to make him the MVP.

Most Improved:  Technically, this could be MCW too.  But I don't want to double-dip so I'll go to my next choice, Rakeem Christmas.  The natural (read: lazy) comparison is for people to say he could be in for a "Fab Melo-like jump in his sophomore season".  The truth is, Boeheim's big men almost always make a huge jump in their sophomore seasons and its been going on since long before Fab Melo and his fauxhawk ever set foot in a Syracuse barber shop.  Go back and check out the statistical jumps for Rick Jackson, Arinze Onuaku, or Hakim Warrick.  Their production all jumped two to three times from their Freshmen to their Sophomore campaigns (sometimes even more).  The extra playing time in the middle of the zone alone should be enough to give him the statistical bump needed to justify this award.

Most Outgoing (most irrational confidence on the court):  In the only unanimous choice in the polls, James Southerland slams this one home.  The only person who could've even come close to competing with James in this category is Mookie "I've never seen a shot this side of half-court that I didn't like" Jones.  But alas, Mookie is no longer.  Whether it's 3-point jumpers or the Dougie in pregame warm-ups, James Southerland's confidence knows no bounds.

Team Workaholic:  Clearly Trevor Cooney.  I mean he just spent an entire year doing nothing but working hard in practice and sacrificing for the good of the team.  Plus, added bonus, there is at least a 78% chance that at some point during the season during a Trevor Cooney hot streak Boeheim has a 'Nam like flashback, confuses Cooney for Gmac, and gives a post-game press conference on par with this.

Most Likely To Become a Millionaire: Not to beat a dead horse, but by this point in time it should be pretty clear, I am all-in on Michael Carter-Williams having a huge season this year.  If I'm correct, then MCW is a shoo-in for the lottery next season.  I mean, have you seen the point guard crop for next year?  I just pulled up a mock draft and here are your point guards currently going in the first round:  Lorenzo Brown, C.J. McCollum, Deonte Burton, Ian Miller, Ryan Harrow, Myck Kabongo, and Ray McCallum.  Without looking, can you even name what school half those guys play for?  Chris Paul and D-Rose they are not.  

Class Clown:  You defined this as player most likely to drive us berserk.  The name Baye Moussa Keita jumps to mind faster than the ball can slip out of his hands on the way up for a dunk.  Keita seems nice enough, but I wind up spending most of the time he is on the court sad, depressed, and confused about how a 6'10" player can have so much difficulty with a seemingly innocent lay-up.  

The surprising dark horse for this award would have to be Brandon Triche.  He is going to have stretches that make me believe it has finally clicked for him, and then he is going to have stretches when I ask myself is this really the guy who has started 107 consecutive games for us?  When I start to get to high on him after a 27 point game against Colgate (I guess Colgate is my go-to cupcake to beat up on, huh?), remind me to pull this paragraph out and throw a bucket of cold water on me.

Best Couple:  MCW and Rakeem.  Best I can tell, MCW took a crash course in "Great, Good, and Ill-Advised Alley-Oops" under Professor Jardine during his freshman year.  Also best I can tell, Rakeem Christmas's go-to offensive move is dunking really hard.  Backboards of the Big East, you have been put on notice.

As editor of this blog, I'm throwing in an extra superlative as well (because it just doesn't feel right to exclude CJOJ and I couldn't quite peg him in above).

Hollywood (most likely to land on Sportscenter Top 10):  It may have been C.J.'s Offseason Jumper that garnered my attention last season, but it was his poster-making abilities that caught the eye of the folks over there at Sportscenter.  Good luck finding another player in the Big East with a highlight reel that includes dunks like this, and this, and this.  Get your dunk nasty face ready Steve, C.J. is coming to a Top 10 near you.

As far as an actual predictions for the season, I'm going to go with the following:

26 - 5 record (14-4 in the Big East)

Big East Regular Season Champs

Big East Tourney Semis

.. and a National Championship 

What the hell right? Why not?

What about you?  Who have you got for the superlatives and team expectations?

P.S. - This seems like an appropriate time to finally share a store with you.  In a legitimate conversation about two weeks ago, my Mom deemed the game against San Diego State to start the season a "piece of cake", said we have an easy schedule this season, and matter-of-factly stated that we should be able to start 25-0, no problem.  I am mildly perplexed by the fact that this seems to indicate she thinks our first loss of the season will be at home to Providence?  I have to believe my Mom is either part of an elaborate hoax to troll me (likely orchestrated by Ron Morris) or was attempting to make ridiculous claims to get a shout-out on the blog.  Either way it worked.   Anyway, no real question there, just thought I'd share.

I mean, dude. Have you seen his hair lately? He looks like he has a man-o-lantern on his dome. It clearly is going to throw off our jump shooting and ability to play the zone. Never doubt a woman's intuition on this one.

Most Valuable Player:  I'm know I'm taking the bait for the fourth straight year. It's like every year in fantasy football I'm baited by Jay Cutler, only to see him single handedly murder my season. But I'm going back into the fox hole with Brandon Triche one more time. Hear me out: who was our token whipping boy last year? Scoop Jardine. Whether he dribbled the ball off his foot, bricked a free throw, or felt like performing a triple lutz on the baseline and throwing the ball into the back of Fab Melo's head, there were plenty of times that we killed him.

But then there were those times when Dion struggled to get to the basket. Kris Joseph couldn't buy a shot. And CJOJ's were more like CJAB's. Scoop put the team on his shoulder with veteran leadership and came through when it mattered. Whether it was keeping them up on Florida and Wisconsin every time they threatened, or bailing them out against Pittsburgh, Rutgers, and even UNC-Ashville. He rose to the occasion when it mattered.

I think Triche assumes that role this year. For the first time, this is his team. And now he goes back to doing what he was originally recruited to do: be the floor general. He might not be the most talented player on the roster, but he sure is going to be the most important in a lot of situations this year.

Most Improved: For purely argumentative sake for your readers (I think this blog needs some sort of villain), I'm going to go with The Keita for most improved! If only because there really isn't a whole lot lower for him to go. My rationale is actually based on a moment, of all places, at the Rochester Public Market a few weekends ago. We were walking around, and lo and behold, next to the produce stand was, I kid you not, Baye Mousa Keita, checking out some pepper plants! Much like that moment at the Syracuse-Villanova game as Jay Wright waltzed out of a Syracuse elevator, hit on my sister, and called us assholes (True Story!), I clammed up. The one thing I noticed, however, was that he did get a little bit stronger in the offseason. It gave me a bit of hope that maybe with his beefed up frame, combined with the reports that he's worked hard with Mike Hopkins on improving his positioning in the zone, he can give Cuse a solid 10 minutes a game, providing a couple highlight reel blocks and keeping DaJuan on the wing to maximize his rebounding.

What won't improve: his hands. Right after this fleeting moment, someone in his entourage handed him a bell pepper, which he immediately preceded to fumble away. Some things never change.

Most Outgoing: That was a layup to entice you to spring for Southerland. But I'm going to go with someone who has to fill in the massive void that Mookie Wilson (Ed. Note:  After realizing he referred to Mookie Jones as Mookie Wilson, Steve was giving a chance to comment.  His response?  I'm too old for this...) leaves during the final 8 minutes of the December Schedule. Let's go with Matt Lyde-Cajuste for this one. He was not shy at all heaving up contested three's at Midnight Madness, plus he was a marginal recruit a couple years ago, so at least he has some talent to get about 5 minutes in garbage time.

Once the new year starts, the throne will be usurped once again by Sir Southerland.

Team Workaholic: I'm going to go with MCW on this one. Whether he makes a great hustle play stepping in front of a passing lane, finishing at the basket on a drive, or diving for the loose ball, I think he's going to be our scrappiest player, especially on the defensive end. This is more wishful thinking, as the worst case scenario is he lets the NBA hype get to his head, and stops throwing his body around so he looks nice and pretty for David Stern on draft night.

Most Likely To Be a Millionaire: DaJuan Coleman. No question. If only for the fact that I think his post game is going to translate very well to the NBA. Think Big Baby Davis or Jared Sullinger with a bionic back. MCW is the easy answer, but then again, Syracuse guards generally don't do so hot translating to the NBA.

Then again, neither do most Syracuse alumni. I die a little bit on the inside knowing Hakim Warrick is only the second best 'Cuse alum currently on an NBA roster.

Class Clown: James Southerland is going to be the overwhelming leader in most "YESSSSSSSS" and "NOOOOOOOOOOO" moments for me this year. Whether it's hitting four consecutive three pointers, followed by four consecutive bricks with 30 seconds left on the shot clock, I made sure to purchase a military graded iPhone case for every time I whip it in anger across my apartment. He'll be my favorite whipping boy throughout the year.

Best Couple: Piggybacking what I said in my last response, I think the best couple is going to be Jerami Grant and Mike Hopkins, if only because there'll be a lot of camera time with those two next to each other. Next year's your year, Jerami. Until then, enjoy the groupies.

Finally, here's my season predictions:

Regular Season Record: 25-6 (13-5 regular season record)

Runner up in the Big East Regular Season

Big East Tournament Champions (how can they not win it in their swan song to the BET?)

Final Four...and then who knows.

So it sounds like we're both fairly high on Syracuse this season (and we're not at all biased, I swear!).  Only time will tell how our assessments and predictions shake out, but one thing I feel fairly certain saying is that we're in for another fun season and I expect this won't be the last time we see you on the blog.

Preseason Thoughts

Two inferior opponents, two blowouts in the books.  Obviously, these games need to be taken with a grain of salt the size of the piles outside the American Rock Salt Factory about this time of year.  I mean, Baye Moussa Keita scored 14 points in a single game.  He usually doesn't score that much in a month. Still, it was good to see Syracuse take care of business, win these games handily, and escape with no injuries.   And beyond that, here's a couple quick observations on what might translate from these games to the regular season when it begins next week:

-  Looks like Syracuse is going to have a nice, balanced scoring attack again this season.  6 players in double-figures against Pace and 5 more against Bloomsburg.

-  Triche looked really good, especially today.  He was aggressive in looking for his shot and getting in the lane.  With all the losses we have from last years offense, we will need Triche to carry that over all season long.

-  Triche, Carter-Williams, and Fair all look determined to get into the lane and know what to do when they do get their.  Whether it's Triche's strength, CW's length, or Fair's touch, they all got into the lane early and often.  That could be important in the opening game with the potential for wind to be a factor.

-  Apparently Rakeem Christmas is trying to pull off the James Harden look this year.

  

Or as it is better known...

   + 

At least he can't demand a max contract and force Syracuse to trade him to a conference rival like Connecticut.

-  James Southerland looked reallllly confident in his shot.  This isn't really surprising, I mean this is the same guy I affectionately called "Mid-Major James" until about 3/4 of the way through last season for his tendencies to destroy the non-conference schedule and then disappear against tougher competition.  Hopefully, he keeps it up throughout the season and avoids his patented cold streaks.

-  Trevor Cooney had a quiet two games.  He was out on Thursday, recovering from a tonsillectomy, but returned for today's games.  He missed both his 3's in the first half, but got off the snide in the second half with a couple threes.  I also got extremely giddy every time the ball went to him behind the arc.

-  Lindsey decided that the reason I like Trevor Cooney so much is because he kind of looks like me.  And by that, I assume she means short and white.

-  DaJuan Coleman went 6-7 from the free throw line.  It will nice to see a big man with some touch from the charity stripe after suffering through the likes of Fab Melo, Arinze Onuaku, and Rick Jackson and their Shaq-like prowess at the stripe.

-  Coleman, however, did not look nearly as nice on the wing of the zone.  I don't see how he can play anywhere other than the center spot of the zone, he just doesn't have the athleticism, speed, or experience to cover the wing.  Especially today it seemed like it was all too easy to pump-fake and get around him.  That may fly for now, but not against better teams.  It will be interesting to see how the playing time / positions shake out in the front court.

-  A couple final thoughts on DaJuan Coleman...

He has to be in the starting line-up of the "Looks approximately 46 years older than he really is" team, right?  I'm going to go ahead and nominate him, along with Lebron James and Greg Oden.

Also, when was the last time a Syracuse player had so much ink?  Devendorf maybe?  Even he didn't seem like he had quite as many tattoos as DaJuan.  Am I forgetting somebody?  Maybe Terrance Roberts?

-  We only got to see it broken out a little bit, but this team could have a scary press defense when / if they need to use it.  Between the wingspan and speed of players like Carter-Williams and Southerland, they can cover a lot of ground in a hurry.

All in all, everything looked good and I can't wait for Friday night when we get to see if it all translates against a top 20 team.