smokerblog

Orange Crushed

The wise Syracuse fans were right to be afraid of Vermont. But man, that was an ugly game for a while: 41 total turnovers, both teams shot below 40%, McNamara was held to two points in the first half and four points with less than six minutes to play before hitting his only 3-pointer.

Give credit to Vermont for making the shots when they counted, especially Germain Mopa Njila, who would have iced the game in regular time if he were only a couple of shoe sizes smaller, having twice (three times?) stepped on the baseline while driving for a layup.

Oh, and why, as soon as they had built up a two point lead, did Boeheim wave his players off of the the highly effective full court press at the end of regulation? This is just further evidence for my vaguely substanstiated claim that Boeheim is the worst coach ever to have won an NCAA tournament.

What has to be the worst call of the tournament so far: the technical foul called on Terrence Roberts for hanging on the rim. Turns out those two points could have won the game for Syracuse. It almost make you want to feel sorry for the Orange.

But not quite.