Three Man Weave is a regular feature on Aggro Swag. Here, Haggleman, Jeezy, and LCP will discuss, well, anything. You’ll probably see a lot of sports, specifically Syracuse basketball, but nothing is off limits here. Except dancing to Pitbull. And Flo-rida too. Today, we have a special report card for Syracuse’s first round Big East Tournament game, a 75-63 win over Seton Hall.
We got one. Doesn’t matter that it was against Seton Hall, doesn’t matter that it wasn’t even the quarterfinals of the Big East Tournament. After witnessing the worst game ever played in basketball history, it was fun to see Syracuse score more than 40 points, let alone more points than the opponent. With solid contributions from Triche, Southerland, Fair, and Michael Carter-Williams, Syracuse took care of Seton Hall and moved on to today to play hated Pittsburgh. Let’s do it #ForPaul.
Michael Carter-Williams
Haggleman Mondays: YES. This is the player we had way back in December. He should have been wearing the white shoes the whole season. Look was clean, as was the game.
Jeezy Sanchez: A+. When MCW plays like a point guard and not Kobe, Syracuse can be very dangerous. The key to the Orange’s offense is driving and kicking the ball to shooters. Lately, it was pass around the arc and lay a brick. MCW drove right through the teeth of the Hall’s defense and found the open man, tallying 14 assists and 1 turnover. Pitt is going to be foaming at the mouth for the old MCW to reappear.
LCP: A+. This was one of MCW’s best games in a Syracuse uniform. Sometimes his assist numbers can be a bit skewed, but in this game he really found shooters and created for others well. Hell he even made Baye look like Blake Griffin for a quick second.
Rakeem Christmas
HM: A. He’s trying really hard to contribute and I can’t fault him for that. Plus he really likes doggies.
JS: B. That was an erratic game for Rak. He took some horrendous jumpers early for some reason, then settled down and had a nice second half both offensively and defensively. Just throwing the ball to the post doesn’t make me cover my eyes any more so that’s something to build on.
LCP: B-. Boy, I was ready to give Rak a big fat ‘F’ after the first half, but somehow he pulled himself together in the final 20 minutes to totally redeem himself. Just a suggestion for him tomorrow, lay off the 15-foot jumpers– dunks are kinda your thing, well really your only thing.
Dajuan Coleman
HM: INC. Dajuan is dajuan sitting on the bench.
JS: Nope.
LCP: Who?
Trevor Cooney
HM: D+. Boeheim totally Roger Dorn’d him by making him come in just to foul Seton Hall at the end of the half. He performed admirably.
JS: D. He tried a long two-pointer and missed badly. The lesson here is never try.
LCP: D. At this point, he’s best utilized to use up fouls down the stretch.
CJ Fair
HM: A-. 16 and 8, like clockwork. He struggled to begin the game, but as a former mid-range player, I can never get enough of seeing him take that elbow jumper.
JS: B+. A VERY slow start but an extremely strong finish by CJ. Made big buckets when Seton Hall was nipping at their heels. He has no mojo at the free throw line and that’s a major concern.
LCP: B+. I’ll admit I panicked a bit early when CJ struggled early on in the first half. His first two touches resulted in a pair turnovers and he missed not one but TWO straight free throws. As I started to ask questions; he had answers, finishing with 16 points (14 in the second half).
Jerami Grant
HM: B-. If you could just combine Jerami’s defense with Southerland’s shooting ability, you’d probably come up with some kind of a good player right there.
JS: C. Jerami released a lot of frustration on that poor rim.
LCP: A. One shot, one dunk. Hard to argue with that kind of production from Moo Moo.
Baye Keita
HM: A key to the city. Maybe Baye was standing next to Derrick Coleman before the game when lightning struck and they switched bodies, I don’t know. Did you see him twirl off the rim after the alley-oop? Lol no way that was the real Baye.
JS: !!!!!. Did Mike Hopkins give Baye a water bottle labeled “Michael’s Secret Stuff?” Because whatever got into Baye today was a work of art. He caught difficult passes, made layups, and even converted an alley-oop for good measure. It was appropriate that in the midst of his greatness, there was a possession where Baye caught the ball in the paint, attempted to make a post move, and bounced the ball 20 feet into the air for a turnover. <3.
LCP: High Five! If we can get eight points a night from Baye from here on out you might as well book your tickets to the Final 4 at the Georgia Dome. Ok, that might have been an overreaction, but can you blame me?! Mr. Senegal ™ finished a pair of tricky layups and even caught an alley-oop without making an absolute mess of the thing. He still and will forever lead the league in hand clapping.
James Southerland
HM: A+. After two bad shooting games he found his touch at the perfect time. It could have been ugly without his first half.
JS: A. The new Pope couldn’t save SU like James Southerland did today.
LCP: A+. He may have only scored three points in the second half, but his shooting display early was the key to us winning. When we looked terrible on offense, he bailed us out with a few deep threes. Without James we wouldn’t have won 10 F*****G games this season. Oh, wait sorry got my years confused.
Brandon Triche
HM: A! I really didn’t think he’d ever get above a C for the rest of his career. It’s not just that he made threes, it’s that he looked like he actually knew what he was doing on the basketball court.
JS: A. Stella got her groove back, y’all.
LCP: A. When you see ‘Triche Face’ you know things just got real.
Jim Boeheim
HM: A-. The ball movement was the best it’s been all season and I saw players running around without the ball as if you’re supposed to do that when you’re on offense. Pitt presents a challenge with their physical defense, so let’s hope Jimmer has another good game plan for today.
JS: 6. Six guys got meaningful minutes. They will be tired tomorrow. The nose picking was in postseason form, however.
LCP: B+.
We finally had positive ball movement on offense and ran a few good sets against the zone. Teams are gonna hit a few shots against us, but we always seem to adjust and get teams to take shots they don’t want. The ‘Heimer had a good day, but tomorrow he will need to have an even sharper game plan because Pitt has owned us of late (8-2 in last 10 meetings).
(All photos via Syracuse.com)
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