'Cuse Fans, Where Do We Stand Post-Clemson?

Some interesting things happened during Syracuse’s 57-44 win over Clemson. The first of which being that the game was played on a Sunday.

But other things happened, too. There are lots of ways to look at Sunday’s game so I’ll present a few different vantage points:

The Optimist’s P.O.V. – Sure, Syracuse got outrebounded, but that’s only because Baye Moussa Keita got hurt and Rakeem Christmas was in foul trouble. For a good amount of the second half, Mike Gbinije was playing along the baseline in the zone while Jerami Grant anchored the center. How could we not get outrebounded? There was a breadth of scorers spread out over the starting five and, considering who was in the game, holding an opponent to 44 is pretty good.

The Pessimist’s P.O.V. – Well, Syracuse won. But at what cost? We lost Keita for three quarters of the game and we’re not sure if he’ll be able to play in the biggest road test of the year till now. Plus, Rakeem proved that when he can’t get subbed out for, he’s just going to foul. So now we’re really screwed. It’s not like we can give Gbinije all the minutes on the block, the dude can’t score at all. Not to mention, we got three points off our bench. THREE POINTS! Sure, the starting five is supposed to carry the load, but with Keita out I’m concerned.

The Ambivalent P.O.V. – We’re catching a break by who we’re playing on Wednesday. Even though it’s Pitt and they’re good (really good at home,) they lack one towering player who can beat us on the block. The only player over 6’9” is Joseph Uchebo who averages like two minutes a game. Obviously, I’d rather have Baye in there, but maybe putting Grant as the anchor is good to combat all their forwards and guards?

The Pittsburgh Fan’s P.O.V.  – ATTACK THE ZONE HEAD ON! If Rakeem Christmas doesn’t have three fouls by halftime, then I want Andrew McCutchen to coach our second half.

Average Syracuse Fan P.O.V. – We knew someone would get hurt at one point or another, so if this is the worst injury we deal with all season it’ll be a major victory. Again, I’m not so sure having Grant in the middle of the zone is a bad thing. His athleticism allows for a lot. What we have to worry about now is foul trouble vs. Pitt. They’re obviously going to attack us in the paint so we need to stay straight up. Sure we only got three points off the bench Sunday, but that’s why we have guys like CJ and Tyler.

All for now.

~Boomer Dangel