Poliquin: Syracuse Basketball Shows Why It's Earned the No. 1 Ranking In Win Over NC State

They’d descended upon the place early, staking out their parking-lot tailgate spots before dusk and revving themselves up for the big show to come. The circus, in the form of the sis-boom-bah Syracuse University basketball team, had rolled into town and the locals had come to sneak their peeks under the tent. 

That may not have been hated Duke or despised North Carolina in the joint, no. But the Orange -- unbeaten, untied and sitting all alone at No. 1 in the rankings -- would be worthy of nearly as much contempt from the North Carolina State throng.

It was hardly a shocking development, then, that 19,400 patrons eventually squeezed their way into the RBC Center seats to howl and, in most cases, to curl lips.

Not that it mattered. Not on Saturday night. Not as SU, playing for the first time this season as the top-rated squad in the nation, showed everybody exactly how a club at the head of the line is supposed to look.

“Not to say we’re arrogant,” declared Kris Joseph, “but we’re No. 1 in the country for a reason. When you go into somebody else’s home, it’s going to be trouble. But you have to maintain your composure, and we did. And that was a great thing to see.”

Oh, there were some queasy stretches along the way to Syracuse’s eventual 88-72 victory. The Wolfpack did jump out to a 23-15 lead to absolutely rock the building that the folks here insist is the loudest in all the land. And then it came back to tie the Orange, which had roared to a 47-33 advantage at the break, less than five minutes into the second half.

But this was a 40-minute affair and by its end there was little doubt that SU’s load of talent was more than could be handled by the hosts, who were given the kinds of views of Joseph (21 points), Dion Waiters (22 points) and Scoop Jardine (16 points) -- to name a few -- that would distress most foes.

“As you can see, we have a lot of firepower,” offered James Southerland, who like fellow irregular, C.J. Fair, contributed 11 points in relief of the starters. “Dion had 20something coming off the bench. That’s the thing with us. If we begin the game a little sluggish, you’ve got the next five to worry about.”

The Wolfpack, which had read all about the Orange, surely fretted . . . and that helped a bit. But it didn’t play nearly enough defense and against this Syracuse bunch, that’s like trying to stop a rising river with too few bags of sand.

Now, the North Carolina State guys had come into the evening with some experience in this challenge of taking-on-No.-1 because on 30 other occasions, dating back to 1957, the Wolfpack had bellied up to the top-ranked club in the nation. It had, however, toppled the giant just five times.

Alas, Saturday continued that trend. And it mattered not at all that the great -- and, boys and girls, he was great -- David Thompson, whose retired No. 44 dwarfs the other 26 individual banners in the rafters, was among the sellout gathering to add his regal air to the proceedings.

Nah, the Syracuse waves -- eight of Jim Boeheim’s athletes logged at least 13 minutes’ floor time, five of them scored in double figures and the whole bunch forced 19 turnovers -- was too much. And now, the Orange, which had a first-half run of 23-0 and a second-half run of 23-7, stands at 11-0 with a splendid opportunity to stretch that out.

“We knew this would be hard,” offered Fab Melo, the work-in-progress who progressed some more on Saturday. “But I’m not surprised we won. It was our first (real) road game. We came here to show people that we could leave the state of New York and put on a good performance, and we did. We deserve to be No. 1. It’s cool. But this team can get a lot better.”

If that happens, if this outfit does get a lot better . . . well, who knows? Maybe somebody will some day write a song about it. And maybe that somebody will be Joseph, the senior forward who apparently has dabbled in the world of lyrics here and there.

Why, asked in the locker room after Saturday’s win if he had time for a few questions, Joseph smiled and broke out a bit of rap: "A couple of minutes . . . what’s you want? I eat spinach ... what’s you need?"

Or something like that.

Hey, it’s good to be king. And that’s what the Orange is . . . and that's what it intends to remain.

“We plan,” said Southerland, “to be No. 1 forever.”

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Source : http://www.syracuse.com/poliquin/index.ssf/2011/12/poliquin_syracuse_basketball_s.html