Whether you feel like moving on from SU basketball’s early exit or you’d like to mourn a little longer, you’ll find something you like in this week’s FizzCast.
The Fizz’s week-long¬†‚ÄúWhat Went Wrong‚Äù series garnered so much attention, D.A. and Conroy dropped by to discuss their posts about what doomed the Orange.
- Listen to the Fresh FizzCast on the Big East, Coleman & Spring Football
D.A.’s thoughts on the conference road was particularly controversial: People shouldn’t have had high tourney expectations for teams like Syracuse because the Big East was overrated, and the regular season conference wins the Orange picked up were overvalued. His formula for the Big East to prove that it’s worthy of being called “the SEC of college basketball” is simple.
“The conference came up small in big spots. Had the Big East had Pitt, Notre Dame, and UConn all get to the Elite Eight or Final Four, then it would have been validated.”
Meanwhile, Conroy bitterly attributes the early exit to the missing presence of an elite scorer.
“There is no player to carry that individual effort that Jim Boeheim requires to get a deep tournament team rolling. When you look at the last few years, he’s got a couple sweet 16’s under his belt and a National Championship. Aside from that, extremely disappointing Рfirst round exits, NIT’s, second round exits. And the common denominator is this: there was not a true go-to scorer on any of those teams.”
The mood became more optimistic as we moved on to the future of SU hoops. Local star DaJuan Coleman recently led Jamesville-Dewitt to a Class A State Title, J-D’s fourth in a row, and took home tourney MVP honors. Though a number of schools besides Syracuse (namely Kentucky) are aggressively pursuing Coleman, Syracuse is the assumed front-runner because of proximity. Conroy raves about Coleman’s potential, and looks forward to him hopefully wearing Orange.
“Syracuse fans have seen a lot of raw, unpolished, big bodies recently. But the thing with DaJuan Coleman is that he’s already got the moves. He’s got a nice drop step, he can spin around in the lane, he’s got hook shots that he can finish both left and right, and 10 to 12 foot jumpers. I know you were hearing the same thing about Fab Melo, but the difference was that he hadn’t been playing ball that long. DaJuan Coleman was playing varsity basketball in 8th grade.”
Finally, as the FizzCast wrapped up, Kanell and Hoffman delivered the Five Things You Need To Know About Spring Football Practice If You’ve Only Been Paying Attention To Basketball:
- The roster is thinning out (injuries + suspension + leave of absence).
- Converted freshman wideout Dyshawn Davis is taking first-team reps at linebacker.
- Jarrod West, Adrian Flemming, and Jeremiah Kobena are becoming intriguing options at receiver.
- A veteran o-line (besides Macky McPherson) should be a strength.
- Doug Marrone has yet to see the depth chart separation he would like.
Remember to follow us on Twitter for the lastest on Spring Football and morning reminders of what is fresh on The Fizz.
Posted: Andrew Kanell
