Seriously. Football kinda sorta almost makes a bowl game but has been terrible for a while now except for the occasional surprising year. Basketball has just spiraled downward, except for the occasional run in the NCAA tournament. At least we still have lacrosse.
I mean if you really think about it Syracuse went from being hands down the best team in the nation 20 years ago (remember that Final Four streak) to just another good team now.
as a West Virginia fan, I feel the same. Everything I grew up with is gone and it’s all so soulless now. it’s only going to get worse.
If it’s something you enjoyed in the past try and find yourself a mid-major conference to follow. Between ESPN+, ESPN3 and other options you could watch more games from the Summit, Ohio Valley, MAC, Missouri Valley, etc than you could Big East games in the 80’s/90’s. There are some excellent coaches/programs hidden out there along with being a stepping stone for an up and comer. You’ll still have to deal with all the transfers nowadays but the one-and-done is rare in the mid-major arena.
Wildhack arguably should have already been out the door based on the Quentin Hillsman WBB debacle.
Yeah THAT will REALLY piss me off as a fan. Insisting on playing Jimmy (who is probably better than Benny right now, but clearly Benny has way more upside for down the road, and we are at a place in the season where this year is irrelevant) instead of Benny, only to then subsequently lose Benny to the transfer portal would be just an incomprehensible case of mismanagement by Coach B. I get he's your son and all. But still.
Not just lose him to the transfer portal, but petition the NCAA to get another year of Jimmy, increasing the chances that he loses more guys from next year's class to the portal, all to run back this year's current sub-.500 starting core. It's a complete mess. Boeheim has always prioritized winning today over player development. I guess you could do both when you were regularly bringing in top 50 recruits. But with the new transfer rules, even projects can't be counted on to stay multiple years. Guys like Jerami Grant (14MPG as a frosh) and Josh Pace (didn't crack 15MPG until his Jr year) who put up with a year or two on the bench developing and then broke out as upper-classmen seem like relics from the fucking Cold War at this point. And those players were sitting on teams that were competitive in the Big East.
I know Benny was a highly touted prospect and I accept that Boeheim has absolutely killed his confidence and misused him, but he played a lot today and showed very little. I cannot judge him on this one game (and the few I've seen on television) but I would have thought he'd "take over" a little bit in the last 6 minutes today. Instead, he pretty much disappeared and did nothing.
9-8 in this year's ACC isn't exactly an accomplishment. Yes, they've gone that far in the NCAA's but each run should be considered Cinderella style runs. 15-16 they made the FF as a 10 seed, 17-18 they were in the First Four and made a S16 run, and last year they were an 11 seed. It's great that they did that, but obviously their body of work in those seasons made them double digit seeds. They haven't been higher than an 8 seed since their first year in the ACC(13-14) when they had a great year at 27-5(14-4 in ACC) and a 3 seed but lost in 2nd round. Sure, the end result of those Cinderella runs are great but it's not an indication of where they're at as a program. I'm a UConn fan so I know about magical runs as lower seeds but they are lightning in a bottle. Since 13-14, Syracuse is 74-69 in the ACC.
And it's not like they are known for playing strong non-league schedules either so that means the later years are really not good.
Correct. I mean this year, they've been beaten by Duke twice, Auburn, and Nova, but they've had some terrible losses this year.
Oh I had missed that. I am a little surprised. Jimmy yeah, he's already been in college forever. But Buddy? Not sure he's quite ready for the NBA, but who knows. Same with Swider. I do wonder what their NBA prospects are. Jimmy has none, but Buddy is a 6'6" shooting guard with deep range. Maybe could ride the pine for someone and become a usable NBA player. Swider is similar, except he's bigger and is a forward. I tend to doubt that either will make it in the NBA though, and will likely have to make their way in Europe or something.
