MBB : Quick turnaround as crucial stretch continues at Louisville
Donte Greene was preoccupied during a postgame interview. His locker, strategically situated in the corner of the Syracuse locker room, is also right underneath a television. And the South Florida-Connecticut game was in the last seconds of overtime, so he wasn’t really paying attention to the reporters around him.
With his head turned toward the screen and away from the media, Greene watched USF’s Dominque Jones put back a layup for the Bulls to go ahead of the No. 17 Huskies.
‘Oh sh…!’ Greene caught himself before cursing in front of the cameras.
‘I want South Florida to win right now,’ he laughed.
But then UConn’s Craig Austrie drained a running jumper with less than a second remaining to win the game. Greene punched the locker behind him and players and managers cursed out loud.
After losing to the conference’s last-place team, Syracuse was hoping South Florida could prove its success wasn’t an aberration. But then again, the Orange proved Saturday that its devastating loss to the Bulls Wednesday was short-lived.
Such is the nature of one of the nation’s most competitive conferences. And for the second game in a row, Syracuse will play the Big East’s first-place team, when it travels to No. 23 Louisville tonight (7 p.m., ESPN).
The Cardinals (20-6, 10-3) defeated Providence on the road Saturday, 80-72, to tie Georgetown for first place.
The matchup begins Syracuse’s crucial five-game stretch to end the season, one that will decide the team’s fate in the NCAA Tournament. After Louisville, Syracuse plays at No. 20 Notre Dame, hosts No. 22 Pittsburgh, travels to Seton Hall and then finishes with Marquette at home on March 8.
There’s still plenty to be decided in three weeks, and Greene isn’t surprised.
‘The Big East is definitely one of the top conferences in the country,’ he said. ‘It’s one of the reasons why I came to Syracuse. Any given team can lose. UConn has won what, almost 10 straight [sic]? And South Florida was struggling.’
Most of the players said they like the quick turnaround of playing on Saturday and then a road game on Monday. Guard Paul Harris said the team needs to have a better start on the road – and that may be why a lot of Big East teams have struggled away from home.
He knows how to rest up beforehand.
‘I swear I like that too,’ Harris said of the two games in three days. ‘We have practice (Sunday), I’ll get into the cold Whirlpool and rest my body and hope I’ll be ready Monday.’
Kris Ongenaet shows the signs of wear and tear. He has a sleeve on his right knee and bruises all over his body. But the junior college transfer has given Syracuse quality minutes and tied for the team lead in rebounding Saturday with eight.
‘I think I played pretty good,’ Ongenaet said. ‘Especially in the first half, I was aggressive. I was as aggressive in the second half, but I was a little tired. I did what I could. I think I helped the team a lot on defense.’
Syracuse head coach Jim Boeheim was brief, but clear, when discussing Ongenaet, who made his sixth start in a row.
‘He was very good defensively, rebounding. He was very good.’
Boeheim and the players couldn’t stop talking about the season-high 31,327 fans inside the Carrier Dome Saturday.
‘The crowd was great, really they have been good all year,’ Boeheim said. ‘The fans have been very supportive.’
And although Greene and fellow freshman Jonny Flynn were trapped in the middle of the pile when the students rushed the court (only to be saved by Rick Jackson, who pulled them out), Greene said the atmosphere was unparalleled.
‘The crowd was crazy today,’ Greene said. ‘I love SU. I love SU fans. I love SU students. … There’s no other fans in the country better than SU fans. I’m going to put it out there: We have the No. 1 fans.’
Gerry ‘Chiz’ McNamara saw the phone number on his cell phone, and he knew who it was. He just couldn’t hear his son, who was calling from Latvia. Gerry McNamara, the former Syracuse star, left Thursday to play professionally in Latvia for three months with Ventspils.
‘He knows we beat Georgetown,’ his dad said. ‘I know when he called he must have gotten it on the Internet. It was funny because I couldn’t hear him. The crowd was so loud.’
Gerry McNamara has had two stints playing in Greece since graduating and played sparingly. He has attended a few Syracuse home games this season, as has Chiz.
The plan is for McNamara to return to the states for the summer to tryout for an NBA team, Chiz said.
Published on February 17, 2008 at 12:00 pm
