#34 R.P.I. Syracuse vs. #83 R.P.I. Virginia Tech: 

Virginia Tech men’s hoops… needs to get a post-season V.P.I. move-on, A.S.A.P.

The Hokies are on da bubble. The N.I.T. bubble at that. Maybe even giving the C.B.I. and the C.I.T. something P5 bubblelicious to chew on as well. 3 games >.5oo overall and yet 2 games <.5oo underall in conference terms is a life that can ‘pop’ just like dat. Now we draw the Jimmy Bo’ no mo’ Syracuse Orangeman @away. The Orange are:  18 up against 1o down and 9-8 (or: .529 in-league); and they too are jockeying for a post-season pole position. Nonetheless, what you wanna know is… who is gonna win and by how much, rights? So, reads on… to finds, out!

Syracuse Head Coach: Adrian “Red” Christopher Autry: age=, 16–1o (.615) overall, and at th’ ‘cuse .
Has a rep’ for: +++Tempo, G-play, and recruiting ties to the D.C. and DMV area.
$3,000,000.oo (+bonuses)

Baby Autry was born in Monroe, North Carolina on February 29, 1972, to Angeter Redfearn and Marvin Chambers. Autry, his mother, and his sister moved to Harlem, New York when he was five years old and lived there until he went to college. Autry has two sisters and one brother.

Baller Autry attended St. Nicholas of Tolentine High School in The Bronx, New York. Autry was a standout basketball player in high school. He was a three-year starter and earned All-City First Team honors three times. While in high school, his squad won the New York City and New York state championships in 1988, the same year they were named the number one high school program in the nation. Autry was a Parade All-American in 1989 and 1990, named to the first-team All-New York City in 1988, 1989, and 199o, and was a 199o McDonald’s All-American.

He is also a former Qb1 or Pt.Guard1 for the Orange, Autry played from 199o to 1994 and is currently ranked fifth in career assists (631) and sixth in career steals (217). After leaving Syracuse, Autry played professionally from 1995 to 2oo5 in various European leagues and USA Basketball. Autry, a 6-foot-4 four-year starting point guard, played under Jim Boeheim and graduated in 1994 with a degree in speech communications from the College of Visual and Performing Arts. Autry was one of twelve men selected to the 1993 FIBA 22 & Under World Championship games where they cut down the Gold Medal nets. After this he took his game overseas… with tour stops in: Turkey, Germany, Italy, France, Russia, Serbia, Belgium, and Poland. wowow! A true Globetrotter in the truest, Pt.G1, pass(porting) sense.

After a 10-year career, Autry retired in 2005 and returned to the States to begin his career as a coach. He coached various teams in Virginia and returned to the Orange in 2o11 as an assistant coach. In March 2o23, Autry was named the eighth head coach of the Syracuse men’s basketball team following the retirement of longtime head coach Jim Boeheim.

No.VA resident with U.P.S. and real-estate tries, then into H.S. hoops (Bishop, & Paul Catholic H.S.); then into big-time A.A.U. things and then level up and onto Seth Greenberg’s staff. Director of Basketball Operations then an Ass.Coach for Seth. Then over to Dayton as the same and then he came home to ‘cuse as a Jimmy-Bo assistant and ~10 years later he inherited things as their Big Whistle.

Adrian and his wife, Andrea, reside in Jamesville with their children Trey and Nina. His daughter, Aliyah, is a 2o17 graduate of Syracuse, and his son, Adrian Jr., earned
his degree from the University in 2o19.

📙

‘cuse at a glance:

• 16th most in swipes! (Handsy team to be sure).
• 3oth best in Turnovers O!! (Not us…)
• 33rd most in Fastbreak points!! (Not Jimmy’s lowercase Tempo no mo’).
• 72nd most in swats.
• 319th best in Rebounding Margin!! (Wild, huh?)
• OBSERVE: sans boarding… nearly everything else kinda/sorta hits between 15oth to 25oth best outta the 34 D-1 menz vitals Eye track. Or, a C+++ to C— squadron almost anywhere you look.
• 3 injuries listed: Coach God thrice bless! (A dingy/denty team here).

Returning Starters=3* (one sitting tho’ *, 4 if you count n.Dame love*).

Syracuse Strengths:

• * ex-of-Notre Dame-fame: J.J. Starling is a Lead-G playing Qb1 at: 6′4″ and 2o6 second year lbs. J2 hits you with: 13.7 ppg with 3.3 rpg, on 1.8 apg, and o.9 spg. “Steady” and “improving” are the signature tags here. There are worse tags for a One to be sure too. Said to be a ‘charismatic’ kid and a Natural leader for it to boot. Energizer Bunny kinda poster-boy; does a little bit of every round-ball thang. ***** or penta-star guy who got you just south of ~30 ppg in NYC terms and ‘hood ballers up there do tend to be legit when they make that much. Alpha (i.e., #1) baller in-state— though, J’s did not win much of anything in scholastic terms, and that can turn one off a mite. As this was N.Dame’s first five-star guy in a while, or in a decade itself. Starling dropping 32% from behind the arc is okay, and the 45.7% overall is getting there as netting there goes. The book here says this is a lowercase Showtime combo-G who prefers -if not needs- a faster tempo’. Driver, who makes most of his plays inside the paint; transitional player, who plays a: ‘good-decision’ caliber game. Has been a total Smothers Brothers yo-yo’ routine unto himself this year {sic: 2o23 itself}. Very lowercase single-digits or lowercase to middlecase 20s and not much in between. Seems a little lower or cooler of late and is a bit handsy or personal-foul prone at this early stAGE of his collegiate career. That all being squarely struck; most teams would love this kid’s problems, (was: 63.8% on FTA’s ¦ NOW: 73.1%, nice!). As you cannot spell Starling sans the “star” himself. And Starling is prolly not less than an overseas star.
  (UPDATE: dinged… trick-kneed here… St.Nikon helps.)
  (UPDATE2: has been yo-yo’ing between good or great, the great or high-side game is a one-man X-facotor here).

  

• * One #3, 6′4″, 185 lb., Judah Mintz, combo-G, and he of some very fly game scoots. (Seriously, he must know podiatry huggy-bear to roll what he rolls). He be coming at you by way of: Gonzaga College H.S. and by way of basketball factory famed Oak Hill Academy, Va. So, you know coaching the verb, and his pedigree is likely pretty dang tight here. Thingy is, Mintz got minted for a whopping and entirely unexpected un-sweet-16 L’s in his two varsity seasons for these nationally named scholastic squadrons. His younger bro’ (Wisdom) is said to be pretty roundball smart in his own right. Tho’ Mintz is a curiosity to me, really good H.S. scoring digits. May have paired some “e” and “m” in his tEaM. Still yet… for only 1.8 seasons into his collegiate career? 18.3 ppg with 3.2 rpg and 4.4 apg does not suck. Neither did being tabbed 36th in the Nation by ESPN.com. There is Talent here folks… maybe he is only scratching the surface… maybe he gets an Associative itch’? Lindy’s calls Judah a ‘3-level’ scorer (close, mid, and long-range) and an “exciting” player. I’ma not inclined to disagry. I would however not decline to see him ground himself a bit mo’ and worry about all the off-court things less. The 29.7% 3-pointing was not commiserating with his résumé, (tho’ is up ~+9% this year); nor the mere 43.1% floored and you would have to think that, that thaws and solves itself at his Level. It is showing an upward pulse… VERY loquacious baller upon breaking tape, who might just have some hint of Leadership in him for it— as his ‘Cuse teammates already seem to look to him at times. Stronger than his metrics look, streety, and pointy-elbowed nobody wants to have to guard him in shirts vs. skins terms. This Judah is a keeper; well-‘praised’ per his name meaning. The only question is where does he mean to draw his paystub? Domestic or, export? And yes, this kid will dunk on you if you allow the same. A downright wilful player; reminds jus’ a scosche of Drones upon breaking-tape.
  (UPDATE:  still kinda a mite narrow/lowercase size-wise; tho’ hath sprouted 1-inch and found 12 pounds this year; Godspeed!).
• Maliq Brown (a: P/F-C, 6′8″, 222 lb., Soph., Culpeper, Va. Blue Ridge H.S. escapee). 4-rings. That’s (4) blings. As in… the Barons only won the Virginia Independent Schools Athletic Association (VISAA) Division II championship in each of Brown’s four seasons. That’s all. The Bill Rus’ (R.I.P.) of uncommon CommonWEALTH finger-game. VISAA Division II Player of the Year and first-team All-VISAA, unsurprisingly. Tho’ only *** or 3-stars and only the 43rd ranked P/F nationally (ESPN.com). 9.3 ppg with a now team-leading 6.8 rpg and 1.8 apg all on: a tasty 66.8% overall are showing some signs… (Gettin’ a bit mo’ P.T. of late of note as well). Brown additionally played two years of football and ran two years of track at Blue Ridge. So, this is an all-’round roundball ATH to be sure. Not a softie one either. Has shrunk an inch and yet found nearly ~15 lbs.; go fig’ on dat? Strong finisher near the rack; and was said to be a pure internal guy, tho’ his sporty 37.5% from downtown begs to ’24 differ.
  (UPDATE: ‘nother yo-yo for ‘cuse, so-so to good; and the good Brown can do a lotta Orange to you)!
• * Chris Bell: quite the #1 songwriter… and… the Louisville Wr1, or, wait… errrrrrr, ahhhhhh… eject! The hooping Chris Bell; however, goes: 6′7″, and a beanpole 188 lbs. He is a Three or S/F for da ‘cuse. Super-Soph., who drops you a decent 3rd-option: 11.8 ppg with 2.2 rpg and not a whole lot other than tenths of everything else stat-line-wise. He of the near inverting Yield-Curve metrics of: 41.6% long and 41.9% overall. ~80% FTA’s to boot. Has started off/on since he upper-mid-state New York, arrived. From the all-sport Cali factory of: De Le Salle High School. Spent a year prepping at: Wasatch Academy (Utah). Had good though never epic scholastic and preparatory digits to show for it. Poppa-bear: (Charlie Bel) did play college basketball at Loyola (Md.). 8oth On3 ranked baller in the USofA. Durable; had not missed a game yet in his collegiate career; been on an offensive tear since February began too. Lindy’s says: ‘…can score all over the court.’ That never sucked. Does like to gesture/play to the crowd; love him if he is your ¦ with not much love if he ain’t. The Predator long-lox ‘due is okay, prolly 1% of his body weight for it to boot. Could level up to a fringe overseas guy in time… time=tell…

1. (in-between): S.O.S.=6th, as in sixth toughest! That’s either the hottest fire or weakened, steel.

Syracuse Weaknesses:

• Joseph Girard III and about 45 ppg are Exit; Stage, Left.
• SIZE… as you will see… ‘cuse is Training Room short-changed here.
• –Chance Westry: Rivals #26 kid and this one was (past-tense) a big ex-Auburn “WAR” Damn Eagle nestling get. Who is now: “OUT INDEFINETLY” post leg surgery (St.Culbreth help). Yikes! Ouch too. Then? Well, then he tore up his right knee (St.Nikon help) on the A-scope. Dangnation…  harsh. Trinity High School: Pa. AAA or Trip-A Player of the Year. Bigtime Keystone State scorer (~3o ppg) who got his offending halved at: Arizona Compass Prep School and then over at: Sierra Canyon School. Only logged a few games @Auburn (2.2 ppg) prior to getting injured. Hard to get a good D-1 lock on a read here for it. 6′6″, 19o lb. kid with at least 2 years left. Said to play well both ‘on or off the ball’ and at both ends’. A V.H.T. (very highly touted) recruit to be sure… we shall see health wiling in ’25 after that…

  

• –Naheem McLeod: 7′5″, 265 lb. OUT, recovering from foot surgery. St.Sebastian help. MASSIVE true-C1. McLeod is a Philly inner-city baller from: Chipola College prior to F.s.u. Ballard is a Syracuse, N.Y. escapee. Now come returnee! Lindy’s said that McLeod is something of a point-C or Sabonis passing/table-setting big-man. McLeod also led Chipola to the NJCAA Tournament in Hutchinson, Kansas in 2o21. And was 247’s 24th-ranked Pivot or Center prior to that. His mom is 5-5 and his dad is 7-5 his little sis goes 6-8! WOW. b.Duke crafts you: 4 ppg with 2.7 rpg and 1.2 bpg when subbin’ in at the scorer’s table for you. Plus, the bonus +20 lbs. he found since last season to boot. wowow. This one is a significant rim-protecting dent; as try as you might… you still kan’t coach… height. XXXL 324th Rivals ranked height at dat. Godspeed! (see: last year reversed pic; kra-kra BIG).
• –William Patterson: 7′3″, 22o lb. Patterson has taken a redshirt for the 2023-24 season. ‘nother true-C or legit home position Five. Bishop Walsh (Md.), then; New Heights, N.Y., then; The Patrick School (N.J.). And we know how Eye feels about these itinerant tri-High School guys. 321st On3 listed recruit nationally. NO stats. Has not logged a mpg, yet. Skyscraper with a nice tho’ not top-shelf D1, P5 offer list… time=tell on the rest… Godspeed.

Orange Tree: (depth=close to 9, makes you wonder where they are at full-medicine?) 127th pine ppg.

6′6″, bicentennial or 2oo lb., Off-G2: Quadir Copeland. A Philly inner-city streetballer who favors Dale Solomon about ≅1% facially. Rivals no.1o2nd ranked baller overall. Starts off-n-on… tho’ plays substitute mpg. So, the: 9.3 ppg with 4.9 rpg and 2.8 apg are snappier than they prima facia look. Scouting said he was a year away; so, the near X/game is gravy at this ’24 point. All the mo’ so for a guy who was preseason magazine(s) bemoaned as lacking pure shooting range: (21.2%; which was an accurate “bemoan”). IMG Academy (Fla.) after coming up in the: Life Center Academy (N.J.)., after coming out at: Gettysburg High School. So, the same as Bell, the teaching/schooling of the game should be in place. Was a mini-me version of an outburst scorer coming up. Big-bro’ (Daiquan) is a senior on the basketball team at Coppin State (o.o ppg). The rest is unknown here… there could be some headroom; or, could not be some headroom… fam’ D.N.A. makes you wonder if this is Q’s level.

Mounir Hima (a: towering 6′11″, 233 lb., true-Soph’, Tillaberi, Niger import with an obscene 7-8 flippin’ pterodactyl -esque wingspan, could be a syntax or accountancy major on the side, per his: quad-lingual 4-way game. This by way of portaling: Duquesne Duke fame. Carey (6′11″, 2oo lb., freshman), who Lindy’s listed as a major sleeper recruit per his near S.A.T. Ivy League acceptance to go student over NC2A athlete itself. A tough nasty defensive match-up (2.3 rpg & 1.3 bpg), maybe the O (1.4 ppg, 67%) will eventually come?

* Benny Williams was out indefinitely with a non-cv19 “illness”. Tho’, he appears right now; now CLEAN so far as Google and Eye can see. Also ‘clean’ would be his: 6′9″, 21o Junior season lbs. Likewise, his decent-looking 5.4 ppg married to 3.9 rpg on a dipping 2o.6% 3-pointing when subbin’ scorer’s table in. Ditto his younger man Yannick Noah (tennis star) looks. This from the no.15 baller in America per Rivals after his stints at: IMG Academy and St. Andrew’s Episcopal School (Md.) prior to that. Where he was a ***** or 5-star consensus recruit. Had good scholastic/prep numbers on epic (there is only one roundball to go around) teams. Ben’ can shoot/finish with both hands, an amphibious and ambidextrous baller for it. Has mo’ of a defensive-stopper and rebounding tag than he does pure O itself. Tho’ everyone needs/wants a halter who is developing a 3-n-D game off the pine-like b.Will’. Godspeed here.

Peter Carey: is a 6′11″, 2o5 lb., 2nd-year Five by way of: Sunderland, Ma. Who has been hobbled off/on… as Carey was ’23 sidelined due to a right knee procedure (St.Culbreth help). 1 ppg and a board and a few tenths of a Dime dropped in only spot minutes this campaign. Lindy’s says that Pete is: a sleeper recruit or a Spessartite garnet in the rough. We shall see…

Three or S/F, 6′6″, 218 lb., t-Soph., Justin Taylor is a double D-1 Commonwealth signature program(s) truantee. Team Captain and much vaunted IMG Academy is not an unsharp look. Nor is being listed as the 126th baller in America from: 247Sports. Nor is being begotten of a hoopology star-mum (Kerri) from J.m.u. wimminz hoops fame. The book here reads that JayTee skipped out on being a homespun T.J. or even 24o6o as he did come up in: Charlottesville, Va. He also is said to be a: ‘tough Wing’ who can shoot and will surprise you with his white-bread athletics by-the-bye. 5 ppg with 3.9 rpg on a better 3o.1.% long is not the worst shortstop or short-start at this nubile career stAGE. Looks stronger/stricter to me this season. Has developed a bit… not the worst thing to say…

Illation, conclusion(s) and OPT digits:

Number of Orange who could juice @Tech=9 if healthy, 6 2nite.

the takeaway:
The takeaway here is…

…not to be too taken with Syracuse nearly blowing their 29-point lead.

As they did edge Notre Dame on ‘Jim Boeheim Day’.

So, there is that.

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You should likewise not be too taken with the Techmen’s second-half or post-intermission betting lines out on the road. Where we tend to come up ‘oomph’ or maybe even S&C, short.

‘cuse however is ’bout where Pitt was— they are kinda good, they are running ‘ball @home and yet they are not entirely unbeatable.

They -same as Pitt and same as we- needs this one to work that post-season gar-ron-damn-tee.

Nearly like a dead man needs a…

…⚰️.

 ***

Our handy-dandy friend the so-called Forum Guide of Graham Houston fame is calling for a totally and entirely absurd-looking +77-point Tech Triumph in this one here! LOL… I’ll take ‘cuse+76 right now you can keep the chump change. When I ran the Forum Guide per capita it equated to a (seemingly mo’ credible): +5.57-point VicTory Dance. The caveat(s) being… as this one moved around a bit as scatter diagrams go… granted. However, VeeTee got schooled less vs. the same opponent than ‘cuse did. ‘cuse failed their final exams whereas VeeTee only flunked their pop quizzes. Think of it as hoops.edu that way. As VeeTee basically won this one in |absolute value| terms or via sucking, less.

The annualized year-to-date vitals say that… nobody is up much of anything annually in shooting percentage margin (from: VT being up ~1% on FG-O and yet ‘cuse canceling that out effectively enuff at –1% sticker on FG-D); with VeeTee up a modest +3% in 3-point percentage margin (per: being a pinch better in 3-D halting terms and just a bit better in 3-O netting terms), and then VeeTee is actually up about +4-n-a-½ carroms corralled in rebounding margin terms year to date. (tho’: this one is a faux-positive as ‘cuse is really negative off the fiberglass and VT won this one in |absolute value| terms alone. No real thx @Tech; it is rather due to ‘cuse being bolted to the floor on both ends— tho’ even mo’ ratcheted or Mary Shelley temple bolts in a twist on the offensive end of the court. Springy JIT for March they, ain’t).

The most recent 5-game metrics say that… ‘cuse is now up a whopping +1% in shooting percentage margin (as in: ‘cuse is netting well enuff, and VT has cooled a mite on O of late; however, ‘cuse is playing NO D overall at all; a staggering and highly user-friendly version of D (5o.4% allowed) in their last five; wow!); with the F’n Gobblers now up a modest +2% in 3-point percentage margin (same drill as flooring: VT is splashing 3-O so-so, ‘cuse is splashing 3-O better and yet the next 3-D ‘cuse plays will be their first in the last couple of weeks; 42% allowed long is coming up halt-unit, short… as this was an |absolute value| win or a hollow victory), and yet the Hokies backdoored being up nearly ~+6 misses collected in rebounding margin in the last fortnight of work. (due to: ‘cuse being just bogus off the backboard on each end; –1o is where they pegged; good, I mean bad for another VT |absolute value| triumph of sorts).

Armchair Pt.Guard’s:

Hemmingway Hoops: “To have and to have not…”

• vs. no-names? +1o9-points❗️ This one is a mite trickier or near a Pitt inverse. As ‘cuse really only punked po’ little islandary (Chaminade, (still): of hoo/Va Ralph Sampson fame, recall). And though Eye tangent yet again… the Orange beat most little men they faced by ~about a handful of shots. Not quite pillar to post; tho’ no upset(s) registered against. So, there are two ways to spin that… either this new Head Honcho (Autry) is the nicest and therefore enemy of R.U.T.S. hoops guy, ever. Or, his team lacked separation from the lame-o no-namers themselves. Take thy pick…
• vs. Surnames? –4o-points❗️ This one was a bit mixy as well… tho; ‘cuse opened the campaign at a cute-looking 1o vs. 3 to begin the season. That included a couple of ‘surname’ successes. Then they not only began to yo-yo up-n-down, they began to take a few on the Surname chin. Stopping some incoming uppercuts with their chin. And, they also tallied every single win since latent January by two shots or less. i.e., this is/has been a team skirting things on some pretty thin outcome ice. Or, a Deadliest Catch case of crabbing nearly one-o-none.

LAST 10 GAMES: Orange: 5-5, averaging 77.4 points, 28.2 rebounds, 13.5 assists, 9.8 steals, and 3.2 blocks per game while shooting 47.4% from the field. Their opponents have averaged 81.0 points per game.

LAS 10 GAMES: Hokies: 5-5, averaging 76.1 points, 28.9 rebounds, 15.3 assists, 4.9 steals, and 2.4 blocks per game while shooting 46.6% from the field. Their opponents have averaged 74.0 points.

VT is up a nominal +1 in R&R.
‘cuse is a .867 host; whereas  is .125 as a guest.
V.P.I. is up a nice +7% at the charity stripe for the year.

The Call...

No.84 Net Ranking Syracuse vs. no.57 Net Ranking Vah.Tech:

Both teams are .5oo combined in their last 20-odd contests.

They are also each .5oo individually in their last 1o apiece.

Centrist, middleocore, or moderate teams.

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The VerdicT:

The Orange (18-1o, 9-8 A.c.c.) likely need to string together a handful of wins down the stretch in order to squeeze into the NCAA Tournament. They have alternated losses and wins in their last six games and have only one winning streak (a two-gamer) since the calendar flipped over to 2o24.

Inconsistent, up/down, yin-yang, Smothers Brothers yo-yo routine… or, available?

The digits:

Virginia Tech Hokies (15-12, 7-9 A.c.c.) at Syracuse Orange (18-10, 9-8 A.c.c.)

VeeTee has a shot at a victory here… the whacko looking though getting ghosted/spooked on outcome accuracy of late: Forum Guide and Most Recent 5-game metrics both say so…

…’cuse is not behind our reach; although, are they within our grasp?

In extreme particular out on the Hokie Highway road where we have only taken the high road once thus far this season.

As ‘cuse says they are dorsal-finning and rally-capping their NC2A ‘big push’ with this game here.

Then I found this little nugget… I read some of the things the ‘cuse ballars had to say regarding their fan base giving them a hard time and doubting them of late and it was kinda unkind; in a word. Like an us vs. them or me vs. we on the same side of the fence mentality. Very strange to hear/read dat in highly rinsed out every gir is: ‘beautiful’/’pretty’ P.urely C.hicken times. Tho’ none of that gets spewed if everything is humming right along… so to speak…

-oOo-

Then I bothered to run the Home:Away splits… +4 on FT% margin to ‘cuse, +3 on 3-point% margin to VeeTee, and then a virtual push, tie, or even on Rebounding Margin.  Or, could that be code fo’: OT?

Then I found this little nugget… Syracuse has a 3-o record in games decided by 1 shot or fewer. Virginia Tech is 0-2 in games decided by 1 shot or fewer. (Which accounts for OT, if you were wondering).

🍊 #64 ELO <<< >>> 🏀 <<< >>> ELO #89 🦃

Or, one team is mentally tougher; or, better conditioned than the other.
That one team just so happens to be sleeping in their own shirts vs. skins beds.
The other team is on a 571-mile roadie Nor-by-Nor-Eastly and on N.b.a. short, legs.

You do the maths…

💯

 

 

 

 

 

 

(fiddy% confidence interval)
Virginia Tech=7o, Syracuse=79

please support the VT F.C.A.!

“LETS GO!”

“Hokies!”

 bourbonstreet**