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Three-Point Play: A Clockwork Orange?

In less than a four-span, Tyler Ennis (11) has gone from a relative unknown to an elite point guard - and maybe the most clutch late-game player in college basketball. (Justin K. Aller/Getty Images)
In less than a four-month span, freshman point guard Tyler Ennis (11) has gone from relative unknown to elite point guard – and maybe the most clutch late-game player in college basketball. (Justin K. Aller/Getty Images)


1. Freshly Squeezed Orange

Harry Houdini, MacGyver and The Flying Wallendas couldn’t hold a candle to the constant high-wire acts and dramatic finishes the Syracuse Orange have produced over the past few weeks. Syracuse remains a constant, with its perfect record this season (a school-best 25-0 start after its last-second 56-55 victory over NC State last Saturday) and its historical trend to give its fans regular conniptions. Jim Boeheim’s overachievers are well on course to secure the Orange a No. 1 seed in the NCAA Tournament for the third time in five seasons.

But as much as pulling wins out of Greek fire should make the Orange a battle-tested, fearless team in March (it certainly will), recent history suggests attaching a No. 1 seed to a team that consistently has to eke out victories usually acts as a gale-force wind when walking on the NCAA Tournament high-wire (without a net, of course).

Exactly half of Syracuse’s 12 wins in ACC play have come by six points or fewer, with six more games still left on the schedule – including visits to fifth-ranked Duke (out for revenge) and No. 14 Virginia (out to win a conference championship). Overall, Syracuse has won eight games this regular season by two possessions or fewer – or to put it another way, more of those such wins than 55 of the 56 squads that were No. 1 seeds in the NCAA Tournament since 2000. (The 2004 Kentucky Wildcats also won eight regular-season games by six points or fewer). The Orange have a scoring margin of plus-9.1 in ACC games, which would be one of the lowest conference point differentials a No. 1 seed would bring to the tourney in recent memory. (See chart below. Mouse over bars to get exact number value.)

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Of the teams mentioned in the chart above, only the Florida Gators reached the Final Four (they successfully defended their 2006 title). Two of those the reached the Elite Eight before losing (2003 Oklahoma, 2006 Villanova), two others were eliminated a round prior in the Sweet 16 (2005 Duke, 2010 Syracuse), while the Wildcat brothers – Arizona (2000) and Kentucky (2004) – were ignominiously dumped out of the tourney in the round of 32.

Continuing to win games in this manner bodes ill for a top-seed’s chances of making a Final Four run. Given the Orange’s alchemy so far this season, however, they may very well be setting us all up for one more grand magic trick, a la David Copperfield making the Statue of Liberty disappear (the East Regionals are in New York City, mind you), on the way to Arlington.

 

2. Elis Coming

Last season, Harvard was one of the story makers of the NCAA Tournament, upsetting the West Region’s third seed, New Mexico, in the second round while providing the crowning achievement of head coach Tommy Amaker’s tenure in Cambridge. As of a couple of weeks ago, there seemed to be nothing that would stop the momentum Harvard has continued to build on its way to a third consecutive Ivy League championship and NCAA appearance.

That was the case until Yale – whose last outright basketball championship and NCAA Tournament appearance both came in 1962 – pulled off one of the upsets of the 2013-14 season by winning in Cambridge on Feb. 8, snapping Harvard’s 20-game home winning streak and pulling into a tie for first place with the Crimson in the Ancient Eight. Both Yale and Harvard are currently 7-1 in league play, and the big question from here on is whether Yale can continue to keep pace with the prohibitive favorites.

Justin Sears has six double-doubles this season, including 21-point, 11-rebound performance in Yale's win at Harvard (Yale Athletics)
Justin Sears has six double-doubles this season, including a 21-point, 11-rebound performance in Yale’s win at Harvard (Yale Athletics)

If you were to base your answer to that question by looking only at statistics, the answer might be a resounding one: no. Going into last Saturday’s games, the Bulldogs – or Elis – led the Ivy League in only one of 21 statistical categories (tied with Harvard averaging 11.6 offensive rebounds per game). But under James Jones, the longest-tenured head coach in the Ivy League (15th season), Yale has finished in fourth place or better in each of the past 13 campaigns. This season, sophomore forward Justin Sears is helping to pace the team, as he ranks in the top five in the league in scoring (15.8) and rebounding (6.9).

The much-anticipated rematch between Yale and Harvard will take place on the Friday of the last weekend of the season, March 7, in New Haven.

 

3. The Diminutive Giant

It looks as if we won’t have to wait until August to check out a superstar athlete playing in Green Bay, Wisconsin.

If you don’t know the name Keifer Sykes, you should. The junior guard from the famed Chicago Public League is currently leading the Green Bay Phoenix to a revival on the basketball court, as well as one of its best seasons in school history. (If you are wondering about the school’s name and familiar with saying it a different way, you are not mistaken; the school is colloquially known as ‘Wisconsin-Green Bay,’ but as ‘Green Bay’ when referring to its athletic programs.) Going into this week, Sykes is the only player in D-1 to average 20 points (20.3), five assists (5.0) and four rebounds (4.4) per game.

Oh, and he’s 5-foot-11. And has a 45-inch vertical jump.

His leaping exploits have earned him a couple of mentions on highlight reels in primetime. More importantly, Green Bay is 21-5 and has opened up a two-game lead in the Horizon League after defeating its closest rival, Cleveland State, on the road last Saturday.

If the Phoenix are able to make the NCAAs for the first time since 1996, Sykes might put up a performance or two that will make the country stand up and notice what’s happening in Green Bay.

Aaron Rodgers can wait.



[Cover photo (Sykes) courtesy of GreenBayPhoenix.com]

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