Syracuse vs. Indiana St.

I’ll be honest, the closer it gets to game time, the more nervous I am about this match up. I know, I know…it’s Indiana State. The Sycamores. The only word in the tournament more sportswriters have had to look up how to spell more often is Syracuse.

Syracuse just always makes me nervous. They’re never consistent, never dominating. Well unless the other team is DePaul or Cornell. Otherwise you wonder about which Syracuse team will show up. Will Fab Melo have more fouls than breathes taken on the floor? Will Mookie Jones break his all-time scoring record in his mind? Will Brandon Triche once again prove he’s actually not that good of a point guard?

That’s something that’s bothered me. Triche isn’t a natural point guard. He’s great getting to the rim and wants to be a spot-up shooter. His accuracy though leaves something to be desired.

As for Scoop Jardine, well there’s no question he’ll show up and play out of his mind. But will it be out of his mind like Jack Nicholson in “One Flew Over the Cuckoo’s Nest”? or like  Jack Nicholson in “The Shining”? There’s good crazy and then there’s, “Oh my God make him stop,” crazy.

To be fair, Scoop has been consistent as of late. You never know though. Really what I’ve been waiting for is for Kris Joesph to blow up and become that dominating player he should be able to be. I’m not sure why he hasn’t this year. Maybe he’s peaked and this is as good as he’ll get. Maybe Coach Jim Boeheim’s style isn’t for him.

It does seem this year that Syracuse hasn’t run as much transition offense as they normally do. That’s where Joesph excels, in a slashing, driving to the hoop sort of game.

Only time will tell. My bracket is already shredded so I’m just rooting for the Orange to go as far as they can.