BIG EAST GAME PREVIEW: Georgetown @ Syracuse

February 26, 2007


It is Big Monday, late in February and Georgetown travels to Syracuse for a meaningful Big East Conference showdown. There is even a #33 on the court for Georgetown by the name of Ewing and a Thompson on the sideline. While it may not be for the Big East championship, the Syracuse Orange would love nothing better to send off their four seniors with a memorable final home game and put any clinching victory for Georgetown on hold for a few days.

Here are the pregame stories and previews found on the internet:


SU Looks to Extend Streak (Rochester Democrat & Chronicle)
Tough Road Schedule Steels Georgetown (Washington Post)
Hoyas, Orange on Tap Tonight (Washington Times)
Senior Moments (Syracuse Post-Standard)
More Work Ahead for SU (Syracuse Post-Standard)


Georgetown is coming off a hard-fought 61-53 win over Pittsburgh on Saturday afternoon that pushed the Hoyas win streak to 11 games and moved them into sole possession of 1st place in the conference. Georgetown rallied from an 8-pt defecit in the last 12 minutes and outscored Pitt 12-4 in the last 3 and a half minutes to earn the win. Now, they have to re-focus and head to Syracuse where the Orange will be waiting.

Syracuse has won four in a row to move to 9-5 in the Big East. The Orange know that a win tonight will help ease any Selection Sunday concerns. It also marks the final home game for Demetris Nichols, Darryl Watkins, Terrence Roberts and Matt Gorman. The Syracuse senior class might have not always lived up to expectations, but they have been putting together a solid run at the end of the season and sending the Dome crowd into a frenzy in their last home game would be an appropriate send-off.

Georgetown will test the Syracuse frontcourt. The Orange have the height and athletic ability to match up with Roy Hibbert and Jeff Green, but Georgetown is deeper with Vernon Macklin and Patrick Ewing jr off the bench. Syracuse will look to continue their solid shooting, especially with Nichols, but the Orange have been getting a big lift from Andy Rautins beyond the arc. The sophomore scored 19 at Providence, hitting five of nine from beyond the arc, and is averaging over 15 PPG in this stretch. If he is providing Syracuse with an outside compliment to Nichols, allowing Eric Devendorf to slash to the hoop, Syracuse could be tough.

Georgetown is a 3.5-pt favorite over the Orange, but their 11-game win streak will certainly be put to the test tonight. In fact, I think it comes to an end as this is a tough spot for Georgetown to pick themselves back up as emotionally as they were on Saturday against a team that will be charged up from the get-go.

NBE Blogger Prediction: Syracuse 67 Georgetown 63

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BIG EAST GAME PREVIEW: Syracuse @ Connecticut

February 17, 2007


Before the season got started, we might have looked at the schedule and highlighted this as a key game in the Big East season. However, at this point in time, Syracuse and Connecticut just does not have the same meaning as we anticipated. Prior to their recent three game conference surge, Connecticut was in grave danger of missing ghe Big East Tournament. Syracuse still has NCAA Tournament hopes, but they still have some work to do to get there.

Twelve days ago Connecticut dealt Syracuse a tough loss as the Orange once again wilted down the stretch in defeat at Connecticut. The young Huskies made the plays they needed to and earned the win. Now, UConn will have to travel to the 'Loud House' and take on a Syracuse team looking for revenge.

Syracuse has the experience with three senior starters in the frontcourt. In the first meeting, Terrence Roberts and Darryl Watkins were left almost useless by foul problems against their young counterparts. Syracuse needs to get the better of the interior match-up and give Demetris Nichols room to fire-away from the outside in the Dome.

The young UConn guards will have to face the Syracuse 2-3 zone in the cavernous Carrier Dome shooting environment. Not a very good shooting team to begin with, this will definitely challenge the Huskies perimeter talents. This will make it even more important for the Orange to hit the boards, because you know UConn will come after it on the glass.

At home, I think Demetris Nichols has a little too much for the Huskies, but it will be a struggle as the harassing UConn guards and tough rebounders will not let Syracuse get too far ahead of them. The UConn strengths can take advantage of some Syracuse weaknesses, but the Orange and the Dome crowd will look to have a big effort for a February afternoon.

NBE Blogger Prediction: Syracuse 67 Connecticut 63

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BIG EAST GAME PREVIEW: Syracuse @ South Florida

February 14, 2007



The South Florida Bulls kick off a two-game homestand when they welcome the Syracuse Orange to the Sun Dome. The Bulls looked to have some momentum as they were making a run towards the Big East Tournament after beating Notre Dame to start off February. However, a tough loss to St. John's on the road and a wallop at Louisville has sent the Bulls back to earth.

Syracuse has lost four of their last six games and can look extremely dysfunctional at times. If it wasn't for Demetris Nichols' 37-point outburst Sunday against St. John's, it could have been even worse for the Orange, but they were able to pull out the 2-pt home win. Still, Syracuse is 6-5 in the Big East and 17-8 overall, but face a very challenging schedule down the stretch in their quest to make the NCAA Tournament, tonight is a MUST win.

Here are the pregame stories and previews found on the internet this morning:

USF vs SU Preview (St. Petersburg Times)
Orange Head for Sun, Not Fun (Syracuse Post-Standard)


South Florida has not made a trip to Florida a vacation for Big East foes this season, winning three of their five conference home games. The Bulls also took Marquette to the wire before letting it slip away for a 70-68 loss. Tonight, the Bulls will look to deal Syracuse a devastating blow to their NCAA Tournament hopes as the Orange head south.

The Syracuse basketball team must be glad they are not home right now, where the weather is a cold 9 degrees and the snow is piling up. However, if they take this trip to Florida as a vacation, it will be an even longer trip home and will seem even colder when they return. After winning four straight in the conference, Syracuse has lost four of their last six to settle in at 6-5 in the Big East and 17-8 overall. With additional road games with Provience and Villanova, as well as home dates with Connecticut and Georgetown, winning this game is vital to their NCAA fortunes.

The Bulls have improved in their second Big East season, especially with the presence of junior Kentrell Gransberry in the middle. The wide-bodied big man will most likely make things very difficult on the Orange, who have the size and athletic ability with Terrence Roberts and Darryl Watkins to dominate the paint, but they rarely do. Gransberry averages a double-double in Big East play and his presence gives room for the athletic McHugh Mattis and the deadly shooting of Melvin Buckley to operate. Chris Howard gives the Bulls a true PG and gives their attack more depth.

The Orange are also depth-challenged, but they have Demetris Nichols, who is turning in a tremendous senior campaign. If the Orange guards are dedicated to getting Nichols the ball in position to score, he should have another big night. I also think Eric Devendorf has a good match-up this evening and should be able to penetrate on the Bulls' guards. A key here is Roberts and Watkins playing with high basketball acumen and sealing off the athletic Mattis, who loves to come from the help side and block shots.

Syracuse is a 2.5-pt road favorite and I think this will be a tight game at times, but Syracuse needs this win and gets it done on the road.

NBE Blogger Prediction: Syracuse 69 South Florida 61

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BIG EAST GAME PREVIEW: St. John's @ Syracuse

February 11, 2007


On Sunday, the Syracuse Orange look to avenge their earlier loss suffered at Madison Square Garden at the hands of St. John's when the Redstorm visit the Carrier Dome. Syracuse looks to re-start their season and build some momentum that has seen them lose four of their last five games to fall to 5-5 in the Big East and right smack dab on the NCAA bubble.

St. John's is also playing for something, the first trip to the Big East Tournament for their current players. Since the game is played on their home turf, Madison Square Garden, the Redstorm have been stung by not making the conference party the last couple seasons. They are on the cusp this year at 5-6 and are trying to fend off several teams behind them, but have a tough finish compared to a few teams chasing them.


In their first meeting, St. John's got off to a quick start, but the Orange recovered and the game was back and forth from then on. However, as they have done a few times of late, Syracuse crumbled down the stretch and Avery Patterson hit the big shots to pull it out for SJU.

Syracuse struggles in the halfcourt as their point guard play is very suspect and their frontline struggles scoring in any kind of half-court offense where they must create. They need to rely on Demetris Nichols and feed their top offensive threat the ball as much as possible and work off of him, but nobody on the floor seems to understand that, and that is where their point guard play falls short.

Syracuse will depend on their zone to defend St. John's, and that is not a bad idea as the Redstorm really struggle shooting the ball, especially away from home. The Orange have the ahtletes to defend Lamont Hamilton, but whichever team can get the other in foul trouble will have the edge. After publicly being testy with the officiating in their loss to UConn on Monday, look for Jim Boeheim to work the officials very hard on Sunday and get the benefit of some calls.

Syracuse should take this one at home.

NBE Blogger Prediction: Syracuse 70 St. John's 60

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BIG EAST GAME PREVIEW: Syracuse @ Connecticut

February 5, 2007



ESPN's College basketball version of Rivalry Week tips off tonight with Syracuse and Connecticut hooking up in Connecticut. The Orange snapped their three-game losing streak on Saturday by outlasting DePaul 75-69. Syracuse saw their 20-point 2nd half lead shrink to three late, but they held on and moved to 5-4 in the Big East.

Connecticut finally halted their five-game losing streak, but it was a struggle as the Huskies needed to work overtime to beat a short-handed Rutgers, 61-50. All 14 of UConn's points in overtime came from the foul line as they closed out the contest on a 12-0 run.

Here are the links to the pregame stories and previews found on the internet this morning:

UConn Basketball Preview (Danbury News Times)
UConn Men's Scouting Report (Norwich Bulletin)
Syracuse, Like UConn, Trying to Dig Out of Holes it has Dug (Connecticut Post)
Huskies in Must-Win vs Orange (Danbury News Times)
Huskies Take Win...Little Else from Rutgers (Hartford Courant)
With Syracuse in Town, Huskies Hoping to Return Honor to Season (Waterbury Rep-Am)
After Quick Break, UConn Takes out Syracuse (Stamford Advocate)
Huskies State of Mind Better (Register Citizen)
UConn Men's Notebook (Connecticut Post)
Records Aside, Rivalry is Hot (syracuse Post-Standard)
Syracuse Hits the Road to face Desperate UConn (Rochester Democrat & Chronicle)

Click below for our brief preview and prediction on this game and don't forget to leave your prediction in the comments section.

READ REST OF PREVIEW...CLICK "Read More" BELOW


With their overtime win over Rutgers on Saturday, Connecticut finds themselves in a three-way tie for the last Big East Tournament spot with South Florida and Seton Hall. With a much tougher schedule ahead than the other two, winning at home is imperative and when rival Syracuse comes to townm tonight, the Huskies will be desperate for a win. Offensively, UConn continues to struggle as they managed just 47 points in regulation against Rutgers on Saturday, shooting just 34% from the floor. They outscored Rutgers 24-8 from the foul line and scored all 14 of their overtime points from the line to secure a win on Saturday.

Syracuse got a career-high 27 pts from Eric Devendorf and 18 from Andy Rautins to hold off DePaul, 75-69. The Orange led 52-32 in the second half and saw that lead get cut to 68-65 with 1:47 left before Devendorf hit a driving lay-up and the important free throws to secure the win.

Connecticut is a 3.5-pt favorite in tonight's contest. Syracuse has the definite edge in experience with a starting frontcourt of three seniors: Darryl Watkins, Terrence Roberts and Demetris Nichols. They will be matched-up against freshmen Stanley Roberts and Hasheem Thabeet and sophomore Jeff Adrien. The Orange MUST win this match-up and use their experience and strength to their advantage. In the backcourt, UConn will try to use their quickness in Jerome Dyson, Doug Wiggins and AJ Price to disrupt Josh Wright and Eric Devendorf and force the Orange ballhandlers into bad decisions and poor passes to the post. They will need to force the Orange to turn it over and have Wright and Devendorf settle for perimeter jumpers as their offense.

Connecticut has the endge in depth, mostly in sheer numbers, but Paul Harris, Andy Rautins and Matt Gorman can provide a little bit of everything off the bench for the Orange. Marcus Johnson and Craig Austrie bring some experience for UConn off the bench, but the rest of the cast seems to change daily.


I still think this is Syracuse's game to lose. The Orange have the experience and I am still waiting for them to put it together for more than a flash here or there. This game is unlikely to be pretty, but the Orange have more offense and their zone is the best defense to stifle UConn's poor shooting line-up.

NBE Blogger Prediction: Syracuse 67 Connecticut 61

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BIG EAST GAME PREVIEW: DePaul @ Syracuse

February 3, 2007


For Syracuse and it's fans, I truly hope for their sake Tuesday night at the Carrier Dome was rock-bottom as the Orange were thrashed by an under-manned Notre Dame team. The final of 103-91 was not indicative of how bad of a beating it was. Trailing 83-57 with under 8 minutes left, nobody was safe from the Carrier Dome wrath as the Orange cheerleaders were booed for trying to invoke a crowd cheer.

Once again, we watch to see what DePaul will do after a little bit of success. I have not seen a team look to brim with so much bravado with a little taste of success and they were looking like kings as they jetted out to a 20-pt early 2nd half lead over Connecticut. Of course, that lead was nearly short-lived as UConn cut it to 3 in the last minute, but DePaul got it done. Where will they go next?

Last season these two teams met in Chicago and it was DePaul who was embarrasing the Orange, winning 108-69, and coming off their loss to Notre Dame, I am sure that score has been brought to the attention of the Orange in preparation for the Blue Demons. I can only imagine Syracuse to come out with a renewed hunger to defend and rebound. With three seniors in their starting line-up, they are running out of time in leaving their mark on the successful Syracuse program. Each team is full of very good athletes that also get inconsistent guard play. At DePaul, things have looked up with Jabari Currie, at Syracuse, not much has improved with Josh Wright.

With each team still holding some hope for a 2nd half Big East run, I can't see Syracuse sinking lower...yet. I think they pull together with an effort that comes up with a win, similar to their effort against Villanova at home not too long ago.

NBE Blogger Prediction: Syracuse 73 DePaul 64

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