Last night, the two best teams in the best conference squared off for the first and only time this regular season in what college basketball fans hoped would be on of the most exciting and hotly-contested games of the season.
It wasn't.
#4 Syracuse (27-2, 14-2) absolutely destroyed #7 Villanova 95-77 in front of the largest (and probably one of the most obnoxious outside of Durham) on-campus crowd in NCAA history of 34,616.
Villanova was only down ten at halftime, but really, the game was always in Syracuse's hands.
And unlike some teams we're all familiar with that rely mainly on one offensive weapon (although Greivis' 41 was pretty sweet), the Orange were able to dominate despite its two best players, Big East player of the year candidates Wes Johnson and Andy Rautins, shooting a combined 5-20 from the field and 4-14 from three point range.
And while they ended up with 26 points combined, only a point and a half below their averages, four other Orange scored more than either of them. They're deep. Real deep.
The other Big East player of the year candidate on the floor was Scottie Reynolds who is entering I think his eighth year in a Villanova uniform. For years I criticized his shot selection and labeled him a chucker who never met a shot he didn't like, but this year he's actually been pretty consistent and posting a 48.8 field goal percentage, noticeably higher than past years. (38.7, 41.2 and 40)
He shot well from three (4-8) but was only 6-14 from the field and didn't attempt a free throw ending with 16 points. On a night where Corey Fisher and Corey Stokes only give you 17 points between them, Scottie needs to get at least 25. And he needs to drive to the basket and get fouled.
Villanova shot only 28.6 percent from three point range and was unable to stretch the infamous 2-3 zone.
Overall, this game was pretty boring. The crowd was into it and the home team was pumped, but there was little drama and the game felt in hand throughout with few highlight reel plays. Hopefully these two teams will meet again at the Garden and play the classic this game should have been.
Five notes I think are interesting (and may or may not have to do with the game):
1. Syracuse ended the game with four timeouts. They didn't take a timeout the entire second half. That's how in hand the game felt.
2. Mouphtaou Yarou was one of the few bright spots for the Wildcats. The true freshman from Montrose Christian scored 13 points on 6-8 shooting and grabbed eight rebounds after averaging only 3.6 points and 3.5 rebounds so far this season.
3. This was a match up on probably the best dressed and worst dressed coach in the league. I guess Jay Wright should focus more on his team than his wardrobe.
4. Boeheim didn't really whine at all after the game which was surprising since he's usually so pessimistic and annoying after big wins. He sounded kind of humble and cool about this one. Maybe the crowd got to him.
5. Andy Rautins is probably the most underrated player in America (besides Greivis). He does everything and is the emotional leader of that team. I love that guy and his hair is awesome too (but still not as cool as Greivis').
-Nick
Yarou was a five-star recruit, so I'm surprised it took him this long to contribute significantly. He was injured, or had some eligibility issues or something early in the year, but those averages and his minutes are too low.
ReplyDeleteAlso, Rautins and Johnson are the leaders of the team, but what I've seen of 'Cuse this year (which is admittedly not a whole lot) Scoop Jardine's been one of their best players. Maybe I'm just biased because he has an awesome name, though.
You're right about Yarou, that's a good point I should have made. But he's pretty raw in my opinion.
ReplyDeleteScoop is a really good player, but he does benefit from the lack of attention he gets on offense because of those guys. He plays well on offense and is a pure scorer, but I think he gets as much credit as he deserves. (And I might be bias because Scoop lit Rutgers up when I saw them because they spent too much time focusing on the other two.)
Good points though. Thanks.