SYRACUSE WINNING THE ACC TOURNAMENT? MISSION IMPOSSIBLE
Give the Syracuse U. basketball Orange big props for ending the regular season with a 55-52 victory over Clemson last Saturday at the Carrier Dome.
Next stop: Tuesday night at Barclays Center in Brooklyn for the Atlantic Coast Conference Tournament.
All the undermanned Orange need to do to capture the ACC championship is win five games in five nights.
Sure. That would be Mission Impossible. Call in Tom Cruise. Make that five Tom Cruises. They’d be sort of short but they’d be a tough out.
Winning three games might be good enough for SU to make the NCAA Tournament.
The Orange should beat Wake Forest in the opening round Tuesday night. The teams traded home wins in the regular season: Wake Forest 73-67 January 3 and Syracuse 78-70 at the Carrier Dome February 11.
Here’s how they measure up (rank among the 351 NCAA Division I teams in parentheses):
Records – SU 19-12 (8-10 in the ACC)...Wake Forest 11-19 (4-14 in the ATC). The only ACC wins by the Demon Deacons were over Syracuse, Florida State, Georgia Tech and Pittsburgh.
Scoring – SU 67.6 (309th)...WF 73.6 (186th)
Scoring defense – SU 64.1 (14th)...WF 74.4 (235th)
Scoring margin – SU +3.5 (139th)...WF -0.8 (223rd)
Field-goal % -- SU 41.9 (311th)...WF 44.2 (210th)
Field-goal % defense – SU 39.6 (8th)...WF 43.7 (171st)
3-point FG % -- SU 32.3 (315th)...WF 38.2 (48th)
Free-throw % -- SU 73.7 (81st)...WF 73.3 (98th)
Rebounds per game – SU 37.55 (t77th)...WF 35.9 (142nd)
Rebound margin per game – SU +4.9 (45th)...WF +1.6 (130th)
Assist/turnover margin – SU +.89 (289th)... WF +1.05 (186th)
Turnover margin per game – SU +.5 (155th)...WF -1.1 (271st).
If SU beats Wake Forest Tuesday night, it would next play North Carolina Wednesday night. The Tar Heels are deeper than the Orange and do nearly everything better – including rebound.
The Tar Heels finished the regular season 22-9 (11-7 in the ACC) and ranked 1st in the nation in rebounding (42.68 per game), 1st in rebounding margin (+10.7 per game) and 22nd in scoring (83.0). North Carolina’s seven losses in conference play were strong evidence of how good the ACC was this season.
FOR YOUNG FOLKS WHO’VE NEVER HEARD OF ROGER BANNISTER...
Until last weekend, I didn’t know who won Sports Illustrated’s first Sportsman of the Year Award in 1954.
The then-new weekly sports magazine’s selection was Roger Bannister, who died Saturday in his native England at age 88.
I wonder how many young people have never heard of the first man to run the mile in under 4 minutes.
Bannister, who became a runner to earn a scholarship to an elite university because his parents couldn’t afford the tuition, was favored to win the 1,500 meters at the 1952 Helsinki Summer Olympics. If he had he won, the Oxford product planned to retire from competitive running in order to concentrate on his career in medicine
But he finished fourth in Helsinki. Rather than wait for the 1956 Olympics, he decided to focus on becoming the first sub-4 minute miler. The two other prominent runners chasing that mark were Australia’s John Landy and America’s Wes Santee.
Bannister became a huge story on May 6, 1954 when he broke the elusive 4-minute barrier with a time of 3:59.4. The previous mark of 4:01.4 had stood for nine years.
Australian John Landy smashed Bannister’s record 46 days later -- June 21, 1954 -- with 3:57.9 at a meet in Turku, Finland.
Bannister proved his historic mile was no fluke in “The Miracle Mile” race in an elite field -- including Landy -- in Vancouver, B.C., August 9, 1954. Always a pacesetter, Landy looked over his shoulder entering the final lap to see where Bannister was. Bannister passed him on the right to win the race in 3:58.8. Landy finished second at 3:59. It was the first time two men ran under 4 minutes in the same race.
Bannister was knighted in 1975 – not for breaking the 4-minute barrier – but for his work as a neurologist, including the first tests for anabolic steroids. The same year, his days as a recreational runner ended when his right ankle was shattered in a car accident. In his later years, he walked with crutches at home and used a wheelchair outdoors. He suffered from Parkinson’s disease the last seven years.
Bannister said his medical career and his 14 grandchildren – and not his epic sub-4:00 mile -- were his greatest achievements.
A few quotes from Bannister: “I just ran anywhere and everywhere – never because it was an end in itself, but because it was easier for me to run than to walk...The man who can drive himself further once the effort gets painful is the man who will win.”
IDLE KNIGHTHAWKS PICKED UP GROUND
The Rochester Knighthawks were idle last weekend put picked up ground in the contentious Eastern Division of the National Lacrosse League as Buffalo and Toronto both lost Saturday night and Georgia split (lost Friday and won Saturday).
Each team plays 18 games in the NLL regular season. Here are the updated standings in the five-team Eastern Division (top three teams make the playoffs):
New England Black Wolves 5-4
Buffalo Bandits 6-5
Toronto Rock 5-5
Georgia Swarm 5-6
Rochester Knighthawks 5-6.
The Western Division has only four teams and the top three will make the playoffs. The Vancouver Stealth are 1-11 so there isn’t much suspense. It doesn’t seem fair to teams in the five-team East but Rochester fans should be used to that by now after the Red Wings were victims of the international League’s even more unfair playoff-qualifying format in recent years.
The Knighthawks host the Georgia Swarm Saturday night in an important game.
AROUND THE NATIONAL LACROSSE LEAGUE...
Former K-hawks star Shawn Evans last week was traded to Buffalo by New England for forward Callum Crawford. Evans was held to one assist in his Buffalo debut last Saturday night.
The NLL had a banner Saturday night at the box office: 16,062 in Denver; 14,057 in Saskatchewan; 10,678 in Toronto. The NLL average crowd is 8,887 through 48 games. Rochester ranks sixth in average home attendance (6,642 for six home dates).
Rochester’s Joe Resetarits slipped to tied for third in the NLL scoring race: 1—Mark Matthews (SASK) 73 points (23G + 50 assists) in 12 games...Robert Church (SASK) 69 points (28G + 41 A) in 12 games...Resetarits (ROCH) 64 points (23G + 41A) in 11 games...Dhane Smith (BUFF) 64 points (25G + 39A) in 11 games.
Home teams are 24-24 in the NLL this season.
Goal-differential: Saskatchewan +47...Rochester +21...Toronto +21...Colorado +13...Buffalo EVEN...Calgary -5...Georgia -10...New England -28...Vancouver -59.
AMERKS GEARING UP FOR THE CALDER CUP PLAYOFFS
The Buffalo Sabres have a bunch of reinforcements up from Rochester but the Amerks are looking good in preparation for the American Hockey League playoffs.
Rochester is 3-0-1-0 in the last four games, including a 4-1 win at the Toronto Marlies last Saturday and a 4-2 home win over the Laval Rocket Sunday. It was the team’s first back-to-back wins since the first weekend in January.
One of the most encouraging signs for the Amerks is their regular-season ending 3-1-0-0 record at Toronto, outscoring the Marlies 13-5 in the process. Toronto probably is the AHL’s best team.
Rochester is an amazing 16-4-8-3 on the road and a baffling 13-11-1-3 at home.
Special teams continue to be special: 9th on the power play (18.8 percent; 48-for-256) and 2nd in penalty killing (86.4 percent; 203-of-235).
This week’s schedule: home vs. Providence Bruins, Friday, 7:05 p.m.; at Syracuse Crunch, Saturday, 7:05 p.m.; home vs. Syracuse Crunch, Sunday, 3:05 p.m.
The Sabres will not make the Stanley Cup playoffs and many of the reinforcements from Rochester – including Bredan Guhle, Kyle Criscolo, Seth Griffith, Nicolas Baptiste and Casey Nelson – could be back with the Amerks for the Calder Cup playoffs.
EX-RED WING SAMMY STEWART DIES AT AGE 63
Former Red Wings pitcher Sammy Stewart, who helped manager Joe Altobelli’s Baltimore Orioles win the 1984 World Series over Philadelphia (0.00 ERA in five post-season games), was found dead Friday in Hendersonville, N.C. He was 63.
In 1977, the 6-foot-3 right-handed power pitcher was 0-5 with a 6.33 ERA in 10 starts for Rochester. He was much better with the Red Wings in 1978: 13-10 record with a 3.80 ERA in 27 starts.
He was promoted to the Orioles when the 1978 International League season ended and on September 1, he set a record for a Major League pitching debut by striking out seven straight hitters against the visiting Chicago White Sox.
Stewart was 59-48 with a 3.59 ERA and 45 saves in a 10-year MLB career. He led the American League with a 2.32 ERA in 1981.
He struggled after his MLB career. He became addicted to crack cocaine, was homeless for a time, was arrested more than 20 times from 1989 through 2006 and spent six-plus years in prison. A son and a daughter both died of cystic fibrosis.
SHORT SHOTS
For the record, the current mile record is 3:43/13, by Moroccan Hicham El Guerrouj, in Rome, July 7, 1999. Rochester product Dick Buerkle and former world indoor mile record holder, had six sub-4 minute miles in his career.
Former Rochester Amerk Phil Varone leads the American Hockey League in scoring: 18 goals + 39 assists for 57 points in 59 games for Lehigh Valley.
Syracuse U. is 19-12 and needs one more win to avoid becoming only the sixth team in coach Jim Boeheim’s 42 years as Orange coach to fail to win 20 games.
SU shooting guard Tyus Battle was voted Second Team All-Atlantic Coast Conference by coaches and media. He was sixth overall in the voting. SU’s Frank Howard tied for second for Most Improved Player (way behind North Carolina’s Luke Maye). SU’s Oshae Brissett made All_rookie First Team...Duke’s Marvin Bagley III is ACC Player of the Year. Freshman of the Year and and the only unanimous First Team selection. Virginia’s Tony Bennett is Coach of the Year.
Two more interesting tidbits on Syracuse’s victory over Clemson: It was the largest crowd for a college basketball game this season (28,670)...The Orange incredibly won without scoring a basket in the final 8:45 of the game.
HAPPY BIRTHDAY TO...
Monday, March 5
Kyle Schwarber (25)...Mason Plumlee (28)...Corey Brewer (32)...Erik Bedard (39)...Wally Szczerbiak (41)...Bryan Bedard (41)...Paul Konerko (42)...Brian Grant (46)...Bob Boughner (47)...Michael Irvin (52)...Bob Halkidis (52)...Reggie Williams (54)...Scott Skiles (54)...former Amerks great Paul Gardner (62)...Rocky Bleier (72)...Randy Matson (73)...former Red Wings manager Phil Roof (77)...Fred “Hammer” Williamson (80).
Tuesday, March 6
Josh Hart (23)...Marcus Smart (24)...George Selvie (31)...Jake Arrieta (32)...Tim Howard (39)...Michael Finley (45)...Shaquille O’Neal (46)...Amerks coach Chris Taylor (46)...Jamal Anderson (46)...Sleepy Floyd (58)...Dick Forsbury (71)...Bob Trumpy (73).