Syracuse 70 Virginia 68 - Impressions

Syracuse scored a big win on the road last night, for detailed recap and analysis, be sure to check out the Axeman, Mike Waters, and if you have the stomach for lines like "against a pretty good bunch of Wahoos," then by all means, Bud's your guy. In blog world, Cuse Country rants against Doug Gottlieb and Gary Walters -a Paul Harris like double-double on their part, it's great stuff. The Cuse Chronicles goes into far more - and better - details than I'm about to here, while not a recap of the SU-Virginia game, TNIAAM pays homage to the late, not so great Ragin Bullz.

So, if you want detailed analysis (or fun random ABA news) the sites above are what you want to check out. In no particular order, here's what I liked and didn't like about last night's game:

LIKES

* Obviously the defensive effort was huge. That was the most active the zone has been the entire year, it paid dividends. I'd still like to see them mix in some man to man, but when the zone is active, and they win, I'll close the complaint department for the day.

* Virginia's shot selection. While the zone was good, it was helped out by Virginia taking more 25 foot jump shots than I've ever seen attempted in a college game - well done UVA, and thank you.

* The poise of Flynn and Greene. Those two free throws at the end by Jonny were huge and you get the feeling neither one is ever going to shy away from pressure situations.

* The aggressiveness of Paul Harris, his tenacity, the desire with which he plays the game.

* The fact that Greene was willing to go down low - he displayed a nice hook shot, and was more of a presence on the blocks. If he's willing to spend some time down there and make opponents respect his post game, he'll find himself even more open for threes as the year goes on.

* Rick Jackson - he didn't play much, but he's a favorite of this idiot.

DISLIKES

* Arinze's quickness in the zone. I love the kid, he plays hard, but sometimes he's just not quick enough to recover when the zone is moving or guys are in the paint - it could be an issue down the road.

* Paul Harris with the ball in his hands. As I noted above, Paul plays with a burning desire, which is great, but can also be a liability on the offensive end. He was out of control a bunch of times last night - if he forces his offense less, he'll be even better. I get the feeling Paul's like this in every aspect of his life - if he worked in pest control, instead of setting a mouse trap, I bet he'd blow up the whole building.

* The bench - or lack of one. Boeheim isn't playing these guys much and when he is, they aren't doing anything, leading to them playing less, its a vicious cycle. I wouldn't be surprised if at some point this year, all 5 starters played 40 minutes - or better yet, he just flat out refused to use the bench under any circumstances. Can you imagine a Big East game where Harris fouls out and the ref calls for a sub, and Jimmy B goes all Gene Hackman and busts out a my team is on the floor and they finish the game 5 on 4? It wouldn't shock me at this point.

* Mike Patrick. If fine wines get better with age then Mike Patrick is milk. At one point I was a big fan, but I think all the years of him sitting next to Vitale and before that, Joe Theisman have turned his brain into oatmeal. Singletary was sick, we get it, move on, already.

All in all, it was a huge win for the cuse, let's hope they can keep them coming.