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The Oakland University Golden Grizzlies are coming to the Carrier Dome for the first time tonight at 7:00. Oakland, which is located in Detroit, was a Division II school until 1997, when it moved up to D-I and joined the Summit League. The Golden Grizzlies are coming off an overtime win over Oregon on Monday.

» Mike Waters' Scouting Report: Syracuse vs. Oakland

» Related story: Golden Grizzlies thriving in D-I

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Continue reading "SU men's basketball team hosts Oakland tonight" »

Organizers of what is essentially the CBE Classic final four announced tickets are still available for the Kansas City site next week. And they've also announced a two-for-one deal they hope will help fill those empty seats.

In those games, Syracuse plays Florida at 7 p.m. on Monday. Kansas and Washington follow. Winners play at 10 p.m. on Tuesday; the losers go at 7:45. (All the times are Eastern.) SU or Florida or Kansas has won four of the last six national championships. Florida, of course, claimed two of them back-to-back.

During a conference call featuring all four coaches of those teams, SU coach Jim Boeheim was asked about the stamina his point guard displayed last year in logging all those game minutes. A writer asked whether there was a plan this year to give Jonny Flynn a rest.

Here's what the SU coach said:

"There is a plan, but I don't know if it'll go into effect. Jonny's pretty unusual. We'd like to rest him a little bit and we will try to. But I'm sure there will be some alterations in that plan."

Boeheim cited the multitude of television timeouts as instances where Flynn could catch his breath. He also suggested Flynn could bear the weight of multiple minutes.

Continue reading "Notes on CBE Classic in Kansas City and other Orange stuff" »

To the point

The Orange needs to get out to a better start than it did last game against Richmond. The upset-minded Golden Grizzlies are coming off an overtime win at Oregon.

An assistant coach familiar with Oakland provided an "On the Court" tip as well as a rundown on the Golden Grizzlies' starters and bench.

Prime matchup
Point guard

Johnathon Jones Jr., 5-11, 165: Probably one of the best players in that league. Very athletic. A scoring point guard. Not a great shooter but loves to go one-two and pull-up for his shot.

Jonny Flynn So., 6-0, 185: Flynn's 27 points against Richmond were just one shy of his career-high which he set last season against Siena and Pittsburgh. His 13 free-throw attempts tied the most he's ever attempted.

Continue reading "Syracuse basketball: Orange Scouting Report" »

The Syracuse University men's basketball team meets the Oakland Grizzlies for the first time Friday in a 7 p.m. game at the Carrier Dome. Syracuse is coming off a 76-71 win against Richmond Tuesday, and is undefeated in this young season.

Oakland, a member of the Summit League Conference, comes into the Dome after beating Oregon, 58-55, on the road in overtime Monday. They are 1-1 on the season.

Tickets for the game can be purchased online or at the Carrier Dome box office. The game will be televised on Time Warner 26 and broadcast on TK99 as well on SUAthletics.com.

Palestra.net has put together a couple of nice pieces on the SU women's basketball team, including a look at how it has quickly become a program on the rise.

They also did a profile of assistant coach Matt Luneau and his wife, Ilze. She is a basketball dribbling wizard who performed at halftime Wednesday in Columbus, Ohio, for those attending the SU-Ohio State game. She also has performed at numerous SU men's and women's games, along with her children.

Here's the link. Enjoy.

Chris Wagner
cwagner@syracuse.com

The Syracuse women's basketball team lost more than its first game of the season Wednesday night against Ohio State. The squad also apparently lost starting forward Nicole Michael for at least one game after the 6-foot-2 forward known as "Slinky" took a frightful fall toward the end of the 78-71 loss in Columbus, Ohio.

Michael was hurt while fighting the Buckeyes' Big Ten player of the year Jantel Lavender for control of the ball with 3 minutes, 50 seconds remaining. When Lavender yanked hard on the ball, Michael lost her grip and her feet slipped out from under her. She landed with full force on the back of her head.

"I don't remember anything about the play except falling," Michael said Thursday before a practice session that she sat out. Her injury ended what had been an otherwise excellent outing, in which she gathered a game-high 15 rebounds and scored seven points against the No. 17 team in the nation.

Continue reading "Injury to sideline Orange women's 'Slinky'" »

The Syracuse women's basketball team was handed their first loss of the season when nationally ranked Ohio State beat the Orange 78-71. The Orange dominated on rebounds (46-43), points off turnovers (15-2) and points in the paint (40-26). Erica Morrow led the Orange with 23 points.

Up next for the Orange is Portland State on Saturday at 1 p.m. at the Carrier Dome.

• STATS: Recap | Boxscore

Continue reading "Buckeyes beat Orange women 78-71" »

The Syracuse University women's basketball team lost its first game of the season Wednesday night, falling to No. 17 Ohio State University 78-71 in Columbus, Ohio.

Four Syracuse players scored in double figures but couldn't overcome the power of Ohio State's 6-foot-4 center Jantel Lavender, who had 22 points, 10 rebounds and 3 blocked shots. Lavender, last year's Big Ten freshman and co-player of the year, made 9-of-11 shots from the field. She was supported by Samantha Prahalis with 17 and Brittany Johnson with 15.

SU was led by Erica Morrow with a game-high 23 points, Chandrea Jones with 14, Juanita Ward with 11 and Vionca Murray with 10.

The Orange outrebounded the Buckeyes 46-43, but Ohio State shot better, making 45.9 percent of its attempts (28-of-61) to 37.7 percent for SU (29-of-77).

Ohio State (3-0) took the lead 3 minutes into the game and never trailed again, building margins of up to 10 points in the first half and 16 in the second half.

SU's Nicole Michael, who led all players with 15 rebounds, left the game with about 2 1/2 minutes remaining after banging her head hard on the court. The extent of her injury was unknown.

Syracuse (2-1) will play its home-opener Saturday, hosting Portland State in the Carrier Dome at 1 p.m.

Chris Wagner
cwagner@syracuse.com