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Basketball

The Dag Bag – Syracuse eyes Final Four appearance

Since we last saw the Syracuse basketball team getting ousted by Marquette in the NCAA Tournament, a few things have taken place. Rival UConn took home the NCAA Championship. Syracuse football is inching closer to another bowl berth. And, oh yeah…something about an upcoming move for Orange athletics, leaving behind the Big East for the ACC.

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Football

The Dag Bag – A sad day for Syracuse, Big East

Syracuse, one of the founding members of the Big East, will be jumping ship at a time when the conference needs strength the most. Gone will be the rivalries forged throughout the years, like the Georgetown, St. John’s, and UConn games on the hardwood (although UConn may soon follow Syracuse and Pittsburgh to the ACC). There will be no more Syracuse/West Virginia matchups on the gridiron. And, sure…there may be some non-conference matchups scheduled in the future to preserve some semblance of the rivalries. But, for the most part, Syracuse will be left to create new rivalries in a conference with very few natural options to choose from.

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Football

The Dag Bag – What does Wake Forest win mean for SU?

Give credit to the players. They’re the ones that pulled off the comeback. But, everything about this team reflects back on Doug Marrone. You felt he had things going in the right direction when he got the team to 4-8 after his first year. You felt the program was making strides after an 8-5 season last year, complete with a bowl victory over Kansas State. After one game in 2011, Marrone has instilled a “never say die” attitude in this team and it manifested itself Thursday night. That bodes well going forward this season and beyond.

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Basketball

Can Carmelo carry Knicks past Celtics?

The New York Knicks are relevant again, making the NBA Playoffs for the first time since 2004. Amar’e Stoudemire helped put them back on the map by signing with them in the offseason and then Syracuse’s own, Carmelo Anthony, solidified that claim after being traded from Denver in February.

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Basketball

The Dag Bag – The blown over-and-back call

Yes, the official blew the call, but so did Scoop Jardine. When the pass sailed wide, Jardine tried to toe the halfcourt line, and you only do that if you think you’re about to be called for over-and-back. I can’t put myself in the place of an official, but I would think that how Scoop reacted when the play happened would only draw the official’s attention to it. It was also a bad pass from Dion. It’s easy to put the blame on the officials, but without Dion and Scoop’s mistakes, it never becomes a factor. The Orange can’t control the officials, but they can control what they do on the court.

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Basketball

Jackson snubbed in Big East awards

Jackson was the only one in the conference to average a double-double (13.1 ppg, 10.7 rpg) during conference play while leading the league in blocks and field goal percentage. To do that for a top-four team in the Big East has to have some added benefit.