March Madness 2003 (1 Viewer)

[Christopher P]

80-78 :39.9 seconds. Awesome!!

Chris

 

[Evan S]

Free throws killed UConn vs. Texas and they are going to do the same thing to Kansas tonight. It's amazing how poorly some of these teams shoot these things.

 

[Patrick Sun]

That was an exciting, but ugly second half of basketball! Congrats to the Orangemen!

 

[Jeffrey Noel]

Ugliest game I've seen by both teams. But I enjoyed it. Congrats Syracuse!

 

[Barry Woodward]

The cuse is in the house!

 

[Dave Gorman]

Well, at least Kansas made a game of it... It would sure be easier to swallow if I didn't despise Syracuse so much. Oh well, maybe Kansas will have another chance in another 12 years.

 

[Tim Markley]

As a long time fan of the Orangemen, I was really glad to see them finally win the national championship tonight. I lived through the Keith Smart game, the loss to Kentucky, the loss to Richmond in the first round of the tournament and many other 'moments' in past NCAA tournaments. This one felt great. They've got a great young team that could win at least 1 more championship if Carmello stays in college. I'm keeping my fingers crossed.

 

[Chris]

Congrats to Syracuse for a solid game. Congrats to Kansas for beating the odds and surving a season after the loss of a star and making it so far. Both teams put on spectacles during the tournament; Kansas just ran out of gas - but good to see them not give up after the rainstorm of 3's in the first half..

I used to really love March Madness, anymore, it seems like just a show of minor leaguers for the NBA... ahlf of the people playing just have no intent.. maybe were recruited knowing they had no intent.. of actually graduating. *shrug*

But, to all the seniors who finished out their years at all U's, especially those who have no NBA carreer in front of them (the majority of them) kudos to all

 

[Jay H]

Woohoo... Not a big fan of basketball but at least I can enjoy college hoops more than pros. I'm a Syracuse alum and although the first time I stepped into the Carrier dome was for graduation. Couldn't really afford the student prices and honestly wasn't that interested anyway.

Free throws killed Kansas? They probably killed both teams, except fortunately for Syracuse, they had the lead at that point. I saw the last 3 minutes of the game and I think Syracuse missed like 3 out of the 4 final free throws that they took, include 2 in a row that would of clinched it.

Looks like a great year for the big east... Win the NCAA championship, win the NIT championship (St. John beats Georgetown) and the UConn lady huskies has a shot at the women's title! Sweep!!!

Jay

 

[Dheiner]

Thank you all for playing. You can pay me now.

 

[Patrick Sun]

Kansas had far more free throw attempts (and missed quite a few on the front end of a 1-and-1), and shot horrendously (12-for-30). Syracuse shot a bit better in free throw attempts (10-for-17) but did miss quite a few down the stretch as they were trying to hold on to their lead.

KU spent too much energy in the early part of the second half trying to fight through the 11 point Syracuse lead, and simply had no "legs" left when it was time to make the crucial free throws as the team was not only short-handed, but tired from the tremendous pace uptempo pace that Syracuse decided to push in the first half. Syracuse totally out-hustled KU for most of the night, and were never without the numbers on KU's side of the court, so fast break points were few and far between for KU.

 

[MickeS]

I couldn't believe the poor shooting from Kansas. 4-20 on the 3 pts, 12-30 on FTs! It's a wonder they scored at all, fortunately they managed to find their way through the Syracuse defense somehow.

I listened to a guy on the radio saying the 1st half had great basketball, but both teams ran out of steam in the 2nd. I don't know which game he was watching, to me the 1st half blew just as bad as the second one. Sure, Syracuse had some excellent plays in the 1st half, but that was about it.

I even had money on Kansas, figured it'd be a "sure thing"...

Congratulations to Syracuse!

John, thanks for setting up that bracket game, I enjoyed it. Just disappointed I didn't do well in the end there...



Yeah, a big to them!

 

[Ralph Summa]

Great game! My CBS affiliate screwed it up though. I had this intermittent high-pitched buzz that came through during commercials on HD feed. It was brutally loud and it happened about 8 times between 9:00 and 11:30 lasting about 2 minutes each time. It was worse than fingernails on the chalkboard at 75dB!

Tom Rags??? Where are you???

I'm sure he'll post when he comes down from cloud 9.

Syracuse beats four BIG 12 teams to win it all!

 

[Evan S]

Tom Rags??? Where are you???

He's still too drunk to type

 

[Eman_Ramos]

All I have to say is...that Carmelo Anthony is pretty good...

 

[Dave Falasco]

Congrats to the Big Orange; great to see another Big East team win it after all the bemoaning about how that league was "down" this year. Now both the BE and the ACC have won two of the last five national championships. Maybe next year the selection committee will give the regular season division champs the benefit of the doubt. Not that I'm a Boston College fan (far from it) but they did get screwed.

Anyway, enough of that. Hail to the Orangemen, and here's hoping that someday soon the BE will abandon this silly East/West system and Syracuse and UConn get to play a home-and-home every year! It's the premiere matchup in the league and it's a shame we get to see it so seldomly.

I don't think that 'Melo will be around next year, but SU is still going to be great with the players they have coming back (especially that Warrik guy). Just as UConn ended up okay this year after Caron Butler left, so the 'Cuse will be fine post-Carmelo.

 

[Evan S]

Anyway, enough of that. Hail to the Orangemen, and here's hoping that someday soon the BE will abandon this silly East/West system and Syracuse and UConn get to play a home-and-home every year! It's the premiere matchup in the league and it's a shame we get to see it so seldomly.

Dave, they are changing the format next year. Each team will play each team at least once in a season (13 games). The remaining three games for each team will be decided by Big East commissioner Mike Tranghese. He said he is going to base those extra matchups on traditional rivalries and teams that are currently very good.

So, expect UConn to have a home and home with BC, Syracuse and maybe Pittsburgh...seeing as those teams will probably be the strongest. But at least every team plays every other team at least once.

 

[Dave Falasco]

Excellent! I hadn't heard that, but it's great news. Thanks for the tip, Evan!

I still think the BE needs to ditch a few bottom-feeders and go back to a single division, but I understand that some of the crummy basketball teams are in the league for football-related reasons. Although I still don't see where that leaves Rutgers.

 

[Ralph Summa]

I didn't hear the Big East was changing the schedule format either. That's great! I like the idea about playing everyone once, but I hope the determination about the final three games is a little more scientific or statistical than Tranghese saying "these guys should play each other". I'd hate to be a bubble team that didn't make the NCAA tourney because the three opponents Tranghese picked were UCONN, Pitt and 'Cuse. I doubt that scenario would happen, but after the entire debacle with this year's selection process, people have to start using their brains.

Here's to 'Cuse-UCONN in 2003!

 

[Tom Rags]

Hey boys, sorry it took me so long to post...

I really have been drunk off of this excitement...I was at the Carrier Dome last night to watch the game, and then went down to Marshal Street on the SU hill to hang out with 10,000 other people. It was one gigantic party. For the most part, except for a few token idiots, the police held everyone in check and there were no "michigan st" type problems.

I can't believe we packed 11,089 people into the Dome to watch the game on TV...that was awesome. Back in '96 when we went to the finals, I went to the Dome and we didn't have more than 6,000. So last night it was REALLY rocking. The noise was really at "reference levels." The fans were crazy, it was like Mardi Gras. There were co-eds flashing their weapons of mass destruction (during the game! ), and it was like having 11k people in your living room. Good times.

When I finally got home, I was up till 4:30 AM just reading ESPN and all of the others and how they were eating their words. I know that I'm a "homer," but I knew that the game was going to be close regardless of the outcome. Dick Vitale and the rest are idiots. The great thing is, as a lifelong die-hard SU fan (from Syracuse and have 2 degrees from the school), it is nice hearing them eat their words. They can say all they want now, it doesn't matter. My favorite hometown team is National Champs

As for some game thoughts:
-For all those that complain about one-and doners (I have been one of them in the past), don't kid yourself and say you wouldn't want Carmelo Anthony on your team. The kid is the epitome of a team player, he makes those around him better, and the kid can flat out do anything. He is definitely the best player I have seen in person, and I've seen many come through the Dome in Orange and in other uni's. He seems cocky to some because he is always smiling, but people used to say the same thing about Donovan McNabb.

-Warrick's block at the end of the game was amazing. He came from under the basket and extended his helicopter arms to block a wide-open 3. I couldn't believe what a play he made. After missing 2 FT's that would have iced the game, that was true redemption.

-For those that say "Kansas lost the game at the free-throw line," I say this: SU fouled Graves and Collison purposefully throughout the game. Jim B even said so in his post game comments. Graves shoots 38% from the line, and Collison has struggled throughout the tourney. So for those national idiots who are still trying to discredit SU based on Kansas' misses, remember that it was good coaching to know who to foul. And don't forget that SU missed 5 of 6 that would have iced it at the end.

-SU is the unofficial Big-12 champs. The Big-12 was the "best conference in the land" this year, and SU knocked off Mizzou in the regular season, and Oklahoma, Ok St, Texas, and Kansas in the tourney. I think that it really emphasizes how much the Big East is underrated (considering SU only tied for 1st place in the regular season and lost their conference tourney).

-For those of you who have never heard of Gerry McNamara before the tourney, remember that kid's name. He is going to be a special player in college and the NBA someday. 6 3's in the first half, WOW! The great thing about him (from a Syracuse perspective) is that he does so much more than shoots.


Thanks to all of you Big East'ers and UCONN fans who were cheering for the CUSE. I always like how we all stick together once the regular season is over. I can't wait to play UCONN next year, you guys are going to be great!

--Tom Rags