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BIG EAST NEWS & NOTES (11/4/2009)

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Syracuse and South Florida were in action last night hosting local Division II schools in exhibition action to tune up for the 2009-2010 regular season. If you haven’t heard already, the results of which team lost might shock you! Yep, a Big East team lost to a local D-II rival last night.

Louisville will expirement with line-up combinations in their exhibition with a D-II power. Connecticut is also in action tonight against Jim Calhoun’s alma mater. A couple things to watch early on with the Huskies is how Stanley Robinson takes charge as a senior and their center prospects trying to take over for Hasheem Thabeet. Also, a couple UCon recruiting notes are mentioned as well.

Also, Mick Cronin is hoping for more from ‘Biggie’ this season, Jamie Dixon shuns rebuilding talk in regards to his young Panthers, Jonathan Mitchell looks to be the glue for RU and St. John’s and Seton Hall hope this is the year they move up in the standings. Georgetown hopes their frontcourt improves from within and Marquette is in the mix for a talented big man in the 2010 recruiting class. Also, the deadline to withdraw from the NBA Draft has changed and raises issues.

Read about all and more below…

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At the end of the day, Syracuse is still 0-0 and preparations are underway from their season-opening match-up November 9th at the Carrier Dome against Albany. However, over the next few days and weeks, many college basketball fans are getting a good laugh at the expense of the Orange as last night was the Day of the Dolphin as D-II LeMoyne Upsets Syracuse in an Exhibition Game (Syracuse Post-Standard) at the Dome.

“Embarrassing,’’ Syracuse senior guard Andy Rautins summed up the loss and the Orange’s performance to Post-Standard reporter Mike Waters.

Wesley Johnson scored a game-high 34 points for the Orange, but his three-pointer with three seconds remaining was off the mark and LeMoyne hit one of two free throws to provide the final margin of victory. Andy Rautins added 13 points and Rick Jackson scored 10 before fouling out.

SU is expected to employ their trademark zone this season with a team built for Jim Boeheim’s defense of choice. Last night, the Orange played very little zone and predominately man-to-man defense and struggled.

“I like LeMoyne’s team,’’ Boeheim told the Post-Standard afterwards. “I think they’re a good team; a very good team. If we played them again this week, they’d give us a tough game and would have the same opportunity if we played man-to-man. We’ve got a lot of work to do in our defense and not that much time to do it.’’

In the battle to replace Jonny Flynn as the Orange point guard, freshman Brandon Triche got the start and played 22 minutes, finishing with nine points, three assists and two turnovers. Triche was 2-7 from the field. Redshirt sophomore Antonio ‘Scoop’ Jardine did not score in his 18 minutes, but did finish with seven assists against just one turnover.

As Ray Mernagh pointed out this morning, Faith in the Process is Essential this Time of Year for all teams. Afterall, Syracuse, like all 16 teams in the Big East, is 0-0 on the season.
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In other Tuesday night exhibition action, South Florida had little trouble with D-II native Florida Southern as the Bulls Rolls Past Mocs in an Exhibition (The Ledger.com), 110-79 in front of a crowd of about 300 (seriously?) in the Sun Dome on the USF campus.

Florida Southern plays a high-paced game and the Bulls were more than happy to get out and run in a game pretty devoid of defense. But, for a team that has had trouble scoring in the past, the result as encouraging as USF Shows Firepower in Tune-up (St. Pete Times).

Juniors Dominique Jones and Jarrid Famous each scored 20 points to lead the Bulls’ effort. Senior Mike Mercer added 17 and frosh Toarlyn Fitzpatrick added 14.

The Bulls open the regular season against Southern Methodist in Dallas on November 13th.
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Louisville, who struggled past NAIA Georgetown College in their exhibition opener, finishes up their two-game exhibition schedule when they host Bellarmine tonight at Freedom Hall. This is no ordinary run of the mill local D-II school that UL will face, Bellarmine had a preseason ranking of #1 in Division II and their close proximity to the Louisville campus had players from both teams spending a lot of time together over the summer playing pick-up together.

With a young team and the season opener not until November 17th when UL meets Arkansas in St. Louis (MO), the Cards’ Line-up is Fluid as Rick Pitino Prepares to Expirement Against Bellarmine (Louisville Courier-Journal) tonight. One of the line-ups Pitino could take a look at is forwards Samardo Samuels and Terrence Jennings playing in the same lineup, something he said recently would not happen.
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Connecticut plays in their first exhibition game tonight when the Huskies take on coach Jim Calhoun’s alma mater, American International, at the XL Center in Hartford. Calhoun on the Exhibition Opener (Hartford Courant)says he is looking to see if Stanley Robinson will translate his dominating start in practices this fall to the court in a competitive situation. The Hall of Fame coach is expecting big things out of his senior forward this year.

In Mike Anthony’s Tidbits from UConn’s Practice (Courant) yesterday, he noted that the starting line-up for the Huskies tonight will be Kemba Walker at point guard, Jerome Dyson at shooting guard, Stanley Robinson at small forward, Gavin Edwards at power forward and either Alex Oriakhi or Charles Okwandu at center. Oriakhi and Okwandu will start out sharing time in the post.

So as the Huskies Focus Now Turns to center Stage, Dave Borges also notes in the Middletown Prepp article that Connecticut is likely to get an official visit from Oak Hill Academy shooting guard Doron Lamb. The native of NYC is looking at the weekend of November 15th to make the trip to Storrs. ZagsBlog.com reported earlier this week that Lamb has already visited Oklahoma, Kansas and Kentucky and is still considering Arizona for an official visit.

Notre Dame Prep power forward and Baltimore (ND) native Cleveland Melvin is also expected to make an official visit in the coming weeks. Melvin made an unofficial visit for the ‘First Night’ festivities to kick off the official start of UConn practices.
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When Cincinnati got a commitment from Anthony McClain in the spring of 2007, expectations were high for the 7-footer out of National Christian Academy as he spurned offers and interest from some high profile colleges to put his signature on a LOI with Mick Cronin’s rebuilding program. Through two seasons, the results have not been as expected with McClain averaging 2.6 points and 2.5 rebounds per game over his first two UC seasons, in limited duty. Now, up to 267 pounds and measuring in at 7-foot-1, ‘Biggie’ is Now Bigger for UC (Cincinnati Enquirer) and coach Cronin is hoping for him to play a bigger role in the paint this season.

UC plays its first exhibition game Thursday at 7:30 p.m. at Fifth Third Arena, against Saginaw Valley State.
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On paper, there is a significant rebuilding task ahead of coach Jamie Dixon and Pittsburgh this season. However, coach Dixon is not packing things in on the season, despite what is written by the media and internet message boards.

“This team can be as good as any team we’ve had,” Dixon told the AP’s Alan Robinson. “I know what everyone’s writing, because you look at it on paper (and Pitt is very inexperienced). But we play games on the court. Where we are now isn’t where we’re going to be. That is our belief and our driving motivation.”

If the Panther coach is correct, and judging by his past record it is liekly he is, and this current crop of players is as talented as any as he has had in his time at Pittsburgh, then Pitt’s Rebuilding Project Wont Last Long (Lebanon Daily News).
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With his experience of playing two years at Florida, one season which ended with a national championship, Rutgers junior Jonathan Mitchell hopes to provide the glue to bring this year’s Scarlet Knights team together. Mitchell Expects a Leadership Role (myCentralJersey.com) with this year’s team as they hope to drastically improve upon last season’s 11-21 mark.
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While the newcomers in the frontcourt at Georgetown might not be the type to immediately improve the Hoyas’ hopes of rebounding from last year’s disappointing finish, the hope is that the Hoyas Get a Frontcourt Fix (Washington Times) from within as Henry Sims and Julian Vaughn take major steps forward in helping out in the paint in their second seasons with the Hoyas.
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Expectation at St. John’s have also increased after five seasons under Norm Roberts. With a veteran team comprised mostly of juniors and the return of Anthony Mason Jr this year, St. John’s Has a Chance to be Very Good this Season (Newsday) according to their coach.
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Adam Zagoria has his Seton Hall Hoops Preview as the Pirates look to climb the Big East standings under fourth-year head coach Bobby Gonzalez.
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In a small, but significant recruiting update, Dan Wolken writes in his Short Weekend Update for the Memphis Edge that reliable people in recent days have told him that Tarik Black is leaning to Marquette. The 6-foot-7, 230-lb Memphis (TN) native visited the Golden Eagles for Marquette Madness recently. He is also considering Tennessee, Florida, Alabama and the local Memphis program, which many thought he would ultimately end up with. Ridgeway High School coach Wes Henning has close ties to the MU coaching staff and those ties have put Buzz Williams’ program in good position in this race.
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Instead of being able to wait until June 15th to withdraw your name from the NBA Draft and maintain eligibility to return to college, the NCAA has changed the deadline this year to May 8th. As expected, the New NCAA Deadline to Withdraw from NBA Draft Raises Issues (Atlanta Journal-Constitution) as it limits the feedback from individual workouts a player can receive as the time available is greatly compressed. However, the new deadline falls within the NCAA late signing period (which ends on or about May 19th) and will give college coaches more notice if a player is not going to come back.
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