Quite often, sports fans, friends and others who know me as an alumnus of Syracuse University, will ask me what I thought of a particular game or player pertaining to the Orange. After a tough loss, especially one that concludes a season,I get asked to comment quite often on either the game, or particular players on the team. In heading down to the Air Canada Centre for Fridays game with the Nuggets and Raptors, I knew that I would likely get asked multiple times over by media colleagues, about the Syracuse Orange loss to the Butler Bulldogs in the sweet sixteen game, by a 63-59 score Thursday night at the Energy Solutions Arena in Salt Lake City.
It’s definitely disappointing, in light of Syracuse being a number one seed in the West region,as well as the Orange tripping themselves up by committing 18 turnovers, which was the most decisive factor in the outcome of the game. The Orange seemed to have greasy fingers at times, with the frequency in which they were giving up the possession to the Bulldogs. The Orange defense was actually quite good,holding Butler to 25% on three point shooting and 40% overall in their field goal attempts. Syracuse had a slight edge in rebounding and assists. So it was this one specific area, turnovers, in which the Orange did themselves in. As a fan and an alumnus, that is what was the most frustrating, as opposed to a scenario where they had just played poorly all game in several areas. With 5:23 remaining, the Orange still had a chance to win the game and actually had recovered from a ten point halftime deficit, to take a 54-50 lead, but the Orange were blanked from that point until the last 30 seconds, and still committed more turnovers, to seal their fate.
The degree of shock pertaining to the upset may have been somewhat exaggerated upon closer examination. The Butler Bulldogs are actually a regular participant in the NCAA tournament in the recent past. They have been involved 9 times in the past 14 years, and more importantly, have been to the sweet sixteen, three times in the past 4 seasons. That kind of experience is vital and has obviously benefitted Butler tremendously. As for the Orange, not much was expected of them going into this season, and in fact, they weren’t even favored to be one of the top teams in the Big East Conference this year, with the loss of veteran players Jonny Flynn, Eric Devendorf, and Paul Harris. This season was though of by many, as a transition year for Syracuse. They no doubt exceeded those modest expectations, due to the Hall Of Fame skills of coach Jim Boeheim, in his 34th year at his alma mater. Other factors in the Orange early season surge, were the exceptional talent of future NBA player Wesley Johnson, the Big East player of the year, and a finalist for the prestigious Wooden Award, as overall player of the year in the college basketball. Andy Rautins also matured into a leader on the team, and showed diversity in being able to play both guard positions, in addition to connecting on clutch shots from beyond the perimeter.
The ending of the Orange run was certainly disappointing, but that was because they exponentially exceeded expectations, that just about everybody had for them. Probably the best way to summarize their year, would be like an Orange that’s just past being ripe, and has become bitter-sweet. That’s a perfect description of my feelings about the Syracuse season.