ORANge SCOUTiNg RePORT - Blogs

D E P A U L ( 8 - 7 , 0 - 2 ) v s . S y r a c u s e ( 1 4 - 1 , 2 - 0 ) • 7 P . m . • C a r r i e r D O ME • T W - 2 6
OR A NGE SCOUTING REPORT
An assistant coach familiar with DePaul provided an “On the Court” tip as well as a rundown on the Blue Demons’ starters and bench.
Orange needs to keep piling up wins against the Big East’s bottom-feeders before
To the point The
the schedule becomes brutal starting next week at Georgetown.
ON THE COURT
MIKE’S MAILBOX
PostStandard
basketball
writer Mike
Waters
answers
readers’
questions
about the Orange, the Big
East, all of college basketball
and just about anything else.
• To submit a question,
e-mail Mike at
[email protected].
Mike, when
Q:
was the last
time Cuse was ranked in
Top 10? When was the last
time Cuse played No. 1 and
beat No. 1?
— Chris R., West Palm Beach, Fla.
Mike Waters: Syracuse
is ranked ninth in this
week’s ESPN/USA Today
coaches poll and 11th in
the Associated Press poll.
The last time Syracuse was
ranked in the AP’s Top 10
was in late February of the
2004-05 season when the
Orange was ranked ninth.
Syracuse’s last game
against the nation’s No. 1
team came in the quarterfinals of the 2006 Big East
Tournament. The Orange,
led by Gerry McNamara,
beat top-ranked Connecticut
86-84 in overtime.
www.syracuse.com/
orangebasketball
“They’ll set up with two low stacks, the
shooting guard and the center on the
left block with the center on top and the
forwards on the right block with the power
forward on top. The small forward, usually
that’s Tucker, will come off the double-screen
on the left side. As the point guard dribbles
a little bit left he’ll pass to Tucker for a shot
(1) or on the right block you’ve got Koshwal
isolated (2).”
1
G
C
G
Three points
F
McNamara put his name
in the NBA Development
League’s player pool earlier this week. He went to
preseason camp with the
NBA’s Utah Jazz, but was
cut just before the start of the
season. He chose to sit out
for a while to let a few nagging injuries heal. He was
also weighing his options:
Europe, D-League or retirement.
According to his agent,
Bill Neff, McNamara is
ready, physically and emotionally, to give basketball
another try.
F
1
DePaul is 7-3 when
holding its opponents
under 70 points and 1-4
when the opponent scores 70
or more. Syracuse has scored
less than 70 points just twice
— in the loss to Cleveland
State and in Friday’s win at
South Florida.
F
»
2
DePaul’s Dar Tucker and
Syracuse’s Eric Devendorf
both played for the
Michigan Hurricanes AAU
team.
3
Paul Harris’ injured ring
finger forced him to miss
the South Florida game,
snapping his streak of 84
consecutive starts. He’ll play
tonight, but how effective
will he be?
PRIME matchup
(SMALL FORWARD)
2-Dar Tucker
11-Paul Harris
So., 6-4, 210
Jr., 6-4, 230
A really good offensive
talent. He’s a streaky 3point shooter, but a great
athlete who can drive to
the basket.
Syracuse could have used
Harris’ energy against
South Florida. It was the
first game he missed in his
SU career.
POINT GUARD
Who’s Hot
Yeah, it’s a broken record.
Andy Rautins is 20-for-34
from 3-point range (58.8
percent) in the last three
games. In SU’s first 12 games,
Rautins was 24-for-78 (30.7
percent).
KEY
home
away
1-Jabari
Currie
10-Jonny
Flynn
Sr., 6-4, 215
So., 6-0, 185
A good-sized
guard with
strength. He can
drive it and with
his strength he
can get to the
basket.
In two Big East
games, Flynn has
eight assists and
eight turnovers.
He must take
better care of the
ball.
SHOOTING GUARD
30-Will Walker 1-Andy
Rautins
Jr., 6-0, 180
A smaller twoguard with a
beautiful stroke.
He’s a catch-andshoot guy who
hasn’t shot it as
well this year as
he did last year.
LAST five games
neut
Jr., 6-5, 205
Rautins has
led Syracuse in
scoring in three
straight games.
He’s averaging
23.0 points per
game in that
span.
POWER forward
DePaul
Saint Louis
65-61
Creighton
75-83
Alcorn State
90-67
Notre Dame
82-92
at Providence
54-62
Syracuse
Canisius
82-60
at Memphis
72-65
Coppin State
82-71
Seton Hall
100-76
at South Florida
59-54
13-Mac
Koshwal
00-Rick
Jackson
So., 6-10, 240
So., 6-9, 240
A long shotblocker. Really
athletic around
the rim. Loves to
post you deep
and use a righthanded jump
hook.
Jackson must
bounce back
after his first
sub-par game in
almost a month.
He had just four
points and four
rebounds at USF.
CENTER
DEPAUL Bench
Devin Hill’s skinny, but he’s
long. He’s missed a game or
two with a sprained ankle.
Jeremiah Kelly’s a quick guard
who helps run their offense.
Mario Stula gives them a little
frontcourt depth.
31-Matija
Poscic
21-Arinze
Onuaku
Sr., 6-10, 235
Jr., 6-9, 275
He’s a big body
who’s fairly
athletic. He can
use both hands.
Onuaku can’t let
his poor freethrow shooting
take away his
aggressiveness in
the low post. He
leads the Big East
with a 69.9 fieldgoal percentage.
Jerry Lai / AP, 2008
DePAUL SOPHOMORE Dar Tucker is third in the Big East in
scoring with 19.6 points per game.
DEPAUL stats
— Nccusefan44 from the blog
Mike Waters: Gerry
G
2
— Margaret D., Tampa, Fla.
Q:
C
F
after this year? Why I ask
is how will Wesley Johnson
and Scoop Jardine and I must
mention (Brandon) Triche fit
into the rotation if they lose
no one and (Kris) Joseph and
(Mookie) Jones get a year
under their belt?
Hey Mike, why was
(Gerry McNamara)
sitting out for the past few
months? Injury? No interest
in his services? Something
else? Or just for a vacation?
F
G
I know it’s early, but
Q:
is there any indication
that anyone will leave early
Mike Waters: Well, it’s
still way too early to tell if
any of the players on the
current roster will leave
after this season. If you
look at some of the mock
draft sites, there’s a chance
that Jonny Flynn might test
the NBA waters. I know
there’s speculation that his
off-court issues might lead
Eric Devendorf to look at his
options, but that’s just speculation. And you never know
if a player might transfer,
although I haven’t heard any
rumblings to that effect.
If Flynn does leave, I think
Jardine and Triche will vie
for the starting point guard
spot. Should Flynn stay, then
Triche will have the opportunity of spending one year
behind Flynn to learn the
ropes.
No matter who stays or
who goes, I think Wesley
Johnson will have a tremendous impact on next year’s
team. He’s a fabulous player.
The good news is that
Johnson, Joseph and Jones
are all very versatile so they
can play multiple positions
and they can all play together. That should mean plenty
of playing time for everyone
even with a roster chock-full
of talent.
»GRAPHIC ON
Check out an interactive version
of the On-The-Court play
syracuse stats
2-D. Tucker
Pts
19.6
Reb
6.1
A
1.3
10-J. Flynn
13-M. Koshwal
14.2
11.2
1.4
30-W. Walker
10.7
2.7
1-J. Currie
6.7
2.1
GP-GS
15-15
Min.
34.3
FG%
51.9
3FG%
35.8
FT%
72.4
Reb
2.7
PF
1.1
A
5.1
TO
3.4
Blk
0.1
ST
1.6
Pts
16.8
23-E. Devendorf
13-11
29.8
46.9
34.5
81.2
1.3
2.0
3.4
3.4
0.2
1.1
13.9
2.0
11-P. Harris
14-14
29.2
51.7
13.3
71.8
8.4
1.6
2.4
2.1
0.6
0.6
12.9
2.0
21-A. Onuaku
15-15
27.2
69.9
0.0
41.7
7.7
2.0
0.6
1.4
1.7
0.7
12.2
11-J. Kelly
5.0
1.7
2.1
1-A. Rautins
15-4
27.9
38.6
39.3
66.7
3.3
1.5
3.7
1.9
0.0
1.6
11.3
3-D. Hill
4.8
4.4
0.8
00-R. Jackson
15-4
16.6
60.6
0.0
73.7
5.7
1.7
1.0
1.4
1.7
0.8
6.7
31-M. Poscic
4.5
3.9
0.3
32-K. Joseph
15-1
20.1
45.3
18.8
45.7
3.5
1.1
1.0
1.4
0.5
1.4
5.1
00-M. Bizoukas
2.3
1.8
1.7
3-M. Jones
8-0
10.9
46.7
33.3
66.7
1.5
1.6
0.5
0.5
0.2
0.6
4.6
33-K. Faber
1.8
2.0
0.1
12-K. Ongenaet
15-11
13.4
26.7
0.0
50.0
4.2
1.8
1.0
1.1
0.4
0.5
1.9
5-0
2.6
20.0
0.0
66.7
0.4
0.0
1.0
0.2
0.0
0.2
0.8
»MORE ON
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orangebasketball
24-B. Reese
5-J. Presutti
5-0
1.6
33.3
33.3
0.0
0.2
0.0
0.2
0.2
0.0
0.0
0.6
2-J. Thomas
4-0
3.2
0.0
0.0
0.0
0.0
0.2
0.0
0.5
0.0
0.0
0.0
45-S. Williams
5-0
3.4
0.0
0.0
0.0
0.6
0.8
0.2
0.4
0.0
0.0
0.0
SU totals
50.4
33.8
64.6
41.2
13.6
18.3
16.3
5.3
8.5
81.0
Opponents
38.6
26.4
62.1
35.3
21.3
15.4
14.3
3.4
8.5
66.9
Inside
the stats
Syracuse’s 50.4
percent fieldgoal shooting
ranks first in
the Big East
Conference.
DePaul (41.2
percent) ranks
15th.