Virginia/Syracuse

[Saratoga2]

I watched a good part of the game last night and noticed it got played in the paper as Syracuse beating a good Virginia team. The fact of the matter was that Singletary appeared to be really sick and he had a terrible game. He was grimacing, sweating profusely but stuck it out. Maybe it was the flu, but nobody said. With Singletary healthy, Virginia wins the game by 10.

[BlueDevilBaby]

I thought they said strep throat and how hard it is to breathe with that.

[VaDukie]

I had a UVA friend whining about that game; I somewhat bitterly said that it's not fun to play when your point guard isn't healthy.

[Virginian]

Virginia should learn a valuable early lesson from this game. There will be other games when Singletary is hurt, sick or in foul trouble. If the rest of the team can't step up -- and they didn't do that very well last night -- the team is going to be in trouble.

More than that, it didn't seem to me that UVA had a clue what to do about the Syracuse zone. They didn't attack it at all efficiently despite knowing well in advance what they'd be facing. I'm sure the Duke coaches took notice of that.

I think UVA is going to have a tough season. Don't look for a repeat of their last year's success. Even with Singletary ailing, they should have been able to handle Syracuse. That they didn't bodes poorly for the tough part of their schedule ahead. I"m not knocking Syracuse. I'm just responding to the "feeling" around the state that Va. will have a break-out year this season based on last year's success and Singletary's return. I don't think so.

[4decadedukie]

The fact of the matter was that Singletary appeared to be really sick and he had a terrible game. He was grimacing, sweating profusely but stuck it out. With Singletary healthy, Virginia wins the game by 10.

I, too, watched the entire game (except for brief journeys to other ESPN college hoops games, with the forlorn hope that Pitt and/or Georgetown would be defeated). I agree with your assessment. Singletary was visibly hurting, but hung tough. I cannot understand, however, why Syracuse fouled him (in the act of shooting a probably low percentage/long three), thereby putting a premier foul ace one the line for three free throws (it didn’t work out that way, but I though the Orange's direction would have been, "don't foul Sean!").

[VAGentleman05]

I, too, watched the entire game (except for brief journeys to other ESPN college hoops games, with the forlorn hope that Pitt and/or Georgetown would be defeated). I agree with your assessment. Singletary was visibly hurting, but hung tough. I cannot understand, however, why Syracuse fouled him (in the act of shooting a probably low percentage/long three), thereby putting a premier foul ace one the line for three free throws (it didn’t work out that way, but I though the Orange's direction would have been, "don't foul Sean!").

They didn't. They fouled him before he got the shot off, so he had to make the front end of the one-and-one and then miss the second. We didn't manage to get a rebound or a tip and thus lost the game by 2.

In any case, I agree with what others have said about really needing SS in that game but also needing to be able to stay in games without him. Last year we lost early games to much worse teams than Syracuse (Utah and Appalachian State) and still put together a pretty special season, so I'm hoping for a repeat of that. But given our lack of any inside threats, I'm not holding my breath.