BIG EAST GAME PREVIEW: Syracuse vs Cincinnati

March 8, 2006

The 2006 Big East Men's Basketball Tournament kicks off at high noon and the stakes could not be higher for Syracuse or Cincinnati with NCAA Tournament bids on the line. The Bearcats have played themselves into a pretty comfortable position within the Field of 65 (NBE Blogger Bracketology coming later this AM), but the Orange have definite work to do and must get after it today in Madison Square Garden.

Here are the pregame stories and previews from around the internet:

First Big East Season Was a Blast (Cincinnati Enquirer)
Big East: War of Attrition (Cincinnati Post)
Desperate SU Plays Cincinnati Today (Utica Observer)
For Syracuse, This Game is It (Rochester Democrat & Chronicle)
UC Minds on the Bubble (Enquirer)
Third Time a Charm for UC & SU (Syracuse Post-Standard)
Orange in Some Bubble Trouble (Post-Standard)
Cincy Glance (Post-Standard)
Orange's Big Squeeze (NY Daily News)

To read our preview and see our game prediction, click read more below and don't forget to leave your prediction in the comments section!

READ OUR PREVIEW...CLICK "Read More" BELOW


It was January 14th and the Syracuse Orange, behind 29 pts from Gerry McNamara, had just put the finishign touches on their 12th straight win, a 19-pt win at Cincinnati, and the Orange were feeling mighty good, with a 3-0 record in the Big East with two road wins (ND, too) under their belt. Cincinnati looked like a team ready to wilt under all the adversity they had faced, losing their coach prior to the season, seeing a top recruit bolt, players dismissed and transfer and senior Armien Kirkland go down for the season in the game before. It was probably a goal to just make the Big East Tournament and hope to see Syracuse again.

Well, now it is nearly two months later and these two teams will meet again, for the third time this season, in the opening game of the Big East Tournament. Not only did Cincinnati claw their way back, but they earned the higher seed for today's game and are a 2.5-pt favorite in the noon contest. The NCAA implications for this game are high, esepcially for Syracuse. The Orange have lost nine of 14 since their win in Cincinnati, including their last three by a combined 64 points and a home loss to Cincinnati was also included in those nine losses, an 82-65 setback February 15th. The NCAA hopes of the Orange are clearly on life support and they must win today to have any hope remaining. Then, they must beat UConn tomorrow afternoon or hope there are no surprise winners in any of the conference tournaments around the country.

Cincinnati should be in. Their RPI is solid and since a swoon in which they lost six of eight around the time of the Syracuse loss, they have won four of their last seven. They are led by their seniors: Eric Hicks, James White, Jihad Muhammad and Chadd Moore. They have lost a lot of depth with the injury to Kirkland and other personnel issues over the last six months, but they still play hard and tough for interim coach Andy Kennedy. Freshmen Devan Downey is their floor general and junior cedric McGowan adds help to Hicks on the boards. Dominic Tilford, Ronald Allen and Conor Barwin add depth.

Syracuse is, of course, led by senior Gerry McNamara. Unfortunately, nobody in their enigmatic junior class has stepped up consistently to give G-Mac help in scoring, especially with the ability to create their own offense in the halfcourt, which often leads to some horrible looking offensive games by the Orange and wild shots from McNamara. Eric Devendorf has been as good as advertised and can create his own offense, but like all freshmen, he can be up and down. Their lack of bench supprt from Josh Wright, Louie McCroskey, Arinze Onuaku and Andy Rautins has not helped them recover, but the real failure has been on Terrence Roberts and Demetris Nichols to step up on the offensive end to support McNamara. Syracuse seems to be a team that can get down easily and completely forget about defense and with their lack of offense, that is a disaster waiting to happen.

I am still waiting for the Syracuse talent and potential to come close to their production. I am sure Jim Boeheim is waiting as well, time is running out for the Orange this season. They need to put it all together, just once, to even have a chance at seeing their neames on Selection Sunday. For one afternoon, with their backs against the wall, I think they will respond, unless they have compeltely quit, which I do not think they have.

Cincinnati is not going to make it easy, but playing against the SU zone in Madison Square Garden might be tough for the Bearcats, who will need to be on their game form the perimeter. I think this will be a low scoring game with the Orange pulling out a win to help their chances, that will hang by a thread...

NBE Blogger Prediction:

Syracuse 66 Cincinnati 63