Fair, Grant Shine In Route Of FSU

Jerami Grant looked 100% in his return.

It's good to have Jerami Grant back, let's just start there...  Grant played 35 minutes and contributed 16 points and 8 rebounds in his first game back from a nagging back injury.

I think we all knew Syracuse probably wasn't going anywhere without a healthy Jerami Grant, who is projected to be a lottery pick in the 2014 NBA Draft.  Grant used his size and athleticism to dominate the boards and knife along the baseline for buckets, as always.

The full strength Orange dominated Florida State on both ends of the floor, and earned its first 15 point victory since Janurary 7th against Virginia Tech.  While Grant's return is encouraging, nothing pleases me more than the play of CJ Fair, who was just named First Team All-ACC.

In CJ's final regular season game, he scored 22 points on 9 of 13 shooting, and pulled in 7 rebounds.  This is coming off of his 28 point explosion in the loss to Georgia Tech on Senior Night.  He looks like he's ready to will this team deep into the NCAA Tournament, and after three years of waiting, I think it's long over due for CJ to be "the guy" in March.  Don't forget he was the only reason for Syracuse even being close in that Final Four game against Michigan last year.

CJ Fair has scored 50 points over his last two games.

Trevor Cooney... what gives man?  After struggling early in this one, missing a pair of wide open three balls, Cooney actually found his shot late in the game coming up with two huge triples to bury FSU.  Regardless, Trevor was still 3 of 13 from the field and a dismal 2 of 8 from 3.  All signs are pointing to confidence issues shooting the ball, which is the epitome of the (not so) sharp shooter's freshman campaign.

What made the difference in this one though was Syracuse's defense and transition game.

Syracuse held its Florida State to just 38% from the field on Sunday, after letting Georgia Tech and Virginia go off for 48% and 50%, respectively.  Fair and Ennis combined for 7 of the teams 9 steals, and the 2-3 zone looked stingy once again.

For the first time in recent memory, Syracuse used the 2-3 to generate offense.  Ennis did a great job of running the court and slicing to the basket for easy buckets on the fast break.  We even saw Jerami Grant throw up an absolutely filthy alley for Christmas, which ended quite favorably for the Orange.

Now let's all in unison let out a big sigh of relief as it seems Syracuse has remembered how to play elite basketball again.  With the ACC Tournament looming this week, it is great to see these guys get back to their old ways of dominating inferior opponents and closing out games for a change.

Syracuse will be the number 2 seed in the ACC Tournament, which means a double bye and a matchup on Friday with the winner of NC State and Miami/Virginia Tech.  If both Syracuse and Duke advance in the quarterfinals, they will square off against each other on Saturday for an all too fitting 3rd meeting to decide the season series.

While it's clearly no Big East Tournament at The Garden, this should be a great week for the ACC.  I'm taking 'Cuse over UNC in the finals.

~Ted Gioia