Let's Go Orange! - BG

Words cannot described what transpired last night, hence the shitty title to this post. It is arguably the best game ever played in the Big East Conference and should be in consideration for one of the best games period. In case you fell asleep or didn't watch, Syracuse slugged it out with UConn and in the 6TH OVERTIME (that is not a typo), finally pulled away and took home the win. I am usually a cynical person, but I have nothing bad to say about either team in this game. The most impressive thing to me was that point guard battle, A.J. Price vs Jonny Flynn. Those two willed their teams to win and luckily for us, Jonny came out on top. I cannot accurately portray what happened by giving you a play-by-play recap, nor do I have the energy. Instead, I will give you a few things that I thought, noticed, and enjoyed about the game. I didn't really have anything I disliked about the game, so here we go:

-Jonny Flynn is the man. 34 points, 11 assists, 6 steals, 16-16 from the line, and perhaps the most amazing stat, 67 MINUTES!!! That is amazing in itself and when you add in the fact that he was dribbling the ball every possession, constantly moving, and drawing fouls the whole time, it was nothing short of extraordinary. Props to Jonny Flynn.

-Kudos to Andy Rautins or as everyone in the world refers to him, "Leo's Kid". Andy kept running off those high screens and just popping NBA range threes. Without those, this game is over after the first OT. Freshman Kris Joseph kept the great picks going once the big guys fouled out, good job Kris. Anyone who is complaining about the game being too long, blame Leo's Kid. He was sensational.

-At one point during one of the overtimes, Jay Bilas and Bill Raftery had the following exchange talking about one of the big guy scrums under the basket:

Bill: "Jay, when was the last time you were in the middle of a bunch of big men, banging you around and roughing you up?"

Jay: (a little chuckle) "Oh, like 5 minutes ago!"

(all three commentators start giggling)

I was very confused and felt slightly violated, please let's move on.

-You have to hand it to Paul Harris. The guy kept missing and missing easy lay-ins and then he got stuffed by the rim! This wasn't one of those ones where the guy couldn't flush it because he was too aggressive, he was so tired he couldn't even get his legs to propel him high enough! But after the "rim job", he followed it with an "and one". Great hussle the whole game, 29 points and 22 boards. Boeheim rags on him a lot, but he took it in stride, stuck it out, didn't give up, and it paid off big time. Harris was also 13-14 from the line, making him and Flynn 29-30. Bravo Gentleman.

-Hasheem Thabeet is soft. Everyone knows this, but I really saw it last night. Jonny Flynn, who is almost a foot and a half shorter, was throwing his body into him and scoring off the glass. Credit to Jonny, yes, but there is no excuse for that. He does block shots, but not unless Adrien or Robinson is the first line of defense. He just sits in the background and jumps up. He sucks at boxing out, he gets rebounds all off his reach. He's weak. He's the kid who stomps on someone after another guy has already beat that someone to a pulp. I cannot wait until some team like Memphis drafts him 6th overall, signs him for million, and then he rides the bench for years. Terrible. (I wonder if Jim Calhoun went to Tanzania to recruit him ala Kevin Bacon in The Air Up There?) He might be my least favorite player in the country. Which brings me to my next point...

-Eric Devendorf is another one of my least favorite players in the country. It is not just hitting the broad in the face, because all witness accounts deny the accusation and she had no marks on her face. It's all the mouthing off, the hideous tattoos, the punk looks he gives, and the fact that the words hustle and defense mean nothing to him. I think he really believes he is black. If I don't like him, I cannot imagine what other people must think of him. Gerry Callahan on WEEI this morning, said he hates more than Bernie Madoff! (Now, that is a little harsh, because last time I check Eric didn't ruin thousands of lives by stealing billions of dollars) I will put up with it because he is a good offensive player and one of the only orangemen who can create their own shot and get to the hoop. Eric, just do every Orange fan a favor and SHUT THE FUCK UP AND PLAY!!

-Cuse shot 41-51 (78.4%) from the charity stripe. Even Arinze made two in a row down the stretch. Let's start making this a trend boys.

-Despite the awkward gay moment I mentioned above, this announcing team of Sean Mcdonough, Jay Bilas, and Bill Raftery is really good. Bilas tells it how it is all the time and isn't afraid to get on players, Mcdonough had a little Gus Johnson in him last night and is just an overall great play-by-play guy, and Raftery, despite his quick gibberish spurts before commercial breaks, is a nice compliment.

Bill: (slowed down replay before a commercial break) Jonny Flynn drivesandalittle...k i ssss...oftheglass and in...overthebigfellaforthetwo!

If you can read that above, you get my point.

-Obviously the best thing about the game was the win, but also that everyone I know got to see it. Everyone I called last night was up at the end of the game, even non-Cuse people. It was just a great game. Granted 90% of the people I talked to were so drunk I couldn't understand what they were yelling, but still. My father even stayed up to watch it and he gets up at 5am every morning.

This post was a little all over the place and maybe next week once I gather my thoughts I will write more about it, but I had to get something up here. Tonight Syracuse will probably get killed by WVU, but I don't care, I am ready for the real tourney. Here's to a great weekend! It's going to be a shitshow! Go Cuse!