Syracuse vs West Virginia Preview

Oh that picture makes me out to be a little too cocky for a fan of a team that got waxed on national tv a few nights ago, but being at home is usually worth an extra ten points for the Mountaineers. Ha! Way to curse the team Johnny.

Both schools padded their record with a slew of cupcakes to start out the season. West Virginia's out of conference schedule has been slightly tougher with games against Tennessee and Oklahoma. But seeing as we lost both those games, does it really matter? Maybe the selection committee will look at how close those games were when it comes to selection time. But for the most part it's been "fools gold" as Bob Huggins referred to it.

Syracuse has some definite head scratching losses on their record against UMass and Rhode Island. Although RI might not be that bad of a team.

Oh hey, did you know we won the Fiesta Bowl and ruined Gordon Solie's Tony Schiavone's Jim Ross' night?

HT: Wizard of Odds

Anyhow, Syracuse is lead in scoring by, HOLY JEBUS!, everyone in the original starting five is averaging in double figures! I have to admit that I haven't really been paying much attention to Syracuse this year, other than reading the fine blogs out there. But even then, skipping right past any talk of basketball. When I say original starting five, I'm referring to Eric Devendorf, who blew his knee out or something against E.Tenn. St. He was second on the team in 3pt% @ .407, scoring @ 17.1, and assists @ 3.9 before his injury. That would be like us loosing Alex Ruoff. A thought I don't want to think about. One thing is for sure, someone needs to put a body on freshman forward Donte Greene! The "kid" is averaging 19.4 ppg and 8.1 rpg. I'm looking at you Jamie Smalligan! You outweigh him by 30 lbs. Be physical! I don't care if you foul out, just make life tough on him. Other than that, West Virginia needs to ball hawk. Syracuse is averaging 15.9 turnovers per game. We're probably not going to be able to out rebound this team, so we need to make it up with steals and not turning the ball over. Although they might not take as many 3pt shots as West Virginia, Syracuse is hitting them at about the same rate as WVU. So let's keep an eye out for the kick out.

The game tips off at 230pm and will be "televised" on ESPNU.