Syracuse Outruns the Bulls (Barely)

Leo's kid has really turned it on for SU

The Syracuse men's basketball team improved to 2-0 in the Big East with a 59-54 win over the South Florida Bulls last night. The win wasn't pretty, but at the end of the day, Orange fans will take a win - something they didn't get the last time they played in South Florida. As the Axeman says, there are no asterisks for ugly wins in the standings.



Before I get to a few observations, a quick thank you to everyone that participated in the chat last night. There was a technical problem with the program so if you commented and it didn't show up, I apologize. We got it corrected later in the first half and had a good time. Feel free to stop by for the next game, we'll be doing it again.



Observations

- A win without Paul Harris is a good win, I don' care how ugly that second half was. In the second half especially his rebounding, defense and energy were missed.



- At least Harris got injured during the "soft" part of SU's Big East schedule. If this had been the stretch of Georgetown, Notre Dame and Pitt (coming up shortly) - well things would be rough.

- What more can you say about Andy Rautins? The last 3 games he's been spectacular and I've been saying it all year, his passing is really overlooked. The kid is a heady, heady player who has found his shot and his confidence. He also looks quicker than he's looked all year. He would have made a huge difference last year.



- Eric Devendorf didn't make much of an impact, but apparently he hurt his hip. It appears he'll be ready for DePaul, which is a good thing because Mookie Jones isn't quite ready.

-We all love the Waffle, but is ineptness around the rim is startling this year. He's playing like he expects every shot to be blocked, which is resulting in unnecessary, wild reverse lay up put backs. He was 1-6 last night and didn't attempt a shot outside of 2 feet.



- The free throw shooting has been horrible all year - last night it was Kansas 2003 bad. It will cost this team games this year, hopefully it doesn't cost them any in March.



- Speaking of which, how come the coaches can't teach Arinze to get some rotation on his free throws My 6th grade basketball coach worked with me on this.

- Jonny Flynn didn't have a great game, but he made plays when they needed him to - and he combined that with a few spectacular ones. The Waffle blew about 3 sure assists for him as well. Watch every second Jonny plays because he's already one of the best guards to play at SU.

- Bring on DePaul, another game Syracuse absolutely needs to have, they must take care of business against the bottom half of the league.