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Tuesday, February 28, 2012

NFL Combine Recap: Chandler Jones


The now famous NFL combine has now come and gone for Chandler Jones. The combine gauges all of the physical skills each player has. Every single NFL comes to this event each year in Indianapolis. Sometimes a player's stock will jump considerably and other times it will fall considerably. Chandler Jones was invited and participated in the drills put forth by the league. Jones has been predicted by several sources anywhere from the late 1st round to as far back as the late 3rd round. I firmly believe after the effort shown by Jones that he has solidified himself as being no worse than a 3rd round draft pick.
The scouts always measure a prospect before the drills begin. Jones officially measured at 6 feet 5 inches tall. His weight was 266 pounds. His arm length was 35 and a half inches, with his hand size being 9 and three-quarters inches. NFL.com has said, "he has a good wingspan and is a long strider.....which will give him great range".
As far as the ever important drills go, Jones took part in 6 different drills. Each drill had its specific measure for each skill. In the 20 yard shuttle Jones ran it in 4.38 seconds. In the 3 cone drill he ran a 7.07 seconds time. He had a 120" broad jump and a 35" vertical jump, both of which made scouts impressed and made them eye Jones. He ranked in the top 5 in both of the jump drills among all defensive ends. He did 22 reps on the 225-pound bench press. In arguably the most important drill of all, the 40-yard dash, Jones ran a 4.82 seconds time. So these results tell us that Jones is a well rounded prospect with a few things to work on, as all rookies have. The undeniable thing is the athleticism that Jones has.
Stay with Syracuse Pros throughout the draft season as Chandler Jones and other Syracuse players jump to the NFL. Check back Saturday for a Nick Provo combine recap!

Thursday, February 23, 2012

NBDL Spotlight: Eric Devendorf

  I am sure you can remember the marathon game Syracuse played a few years ago against Connecticut. At the end of regulation the man above, Eric Devendorf, hit the game winning shot and hopped on the scorer's table celebrating. A few minutes later the shot would be called off because it was released a few tenths of a second too late.
  In the early morning hours of the next day Syracuse would eventually take the win.
  Now Devendorf is what we here like to call a Syracuse Pro. In 2010 he played briefly in the New Zealand National Basketball League. He scored 49 points in his season debut.
  Nowadays, you can find him in a Reno Bighorns jersey of the National Basketball Developmental League. He has had a decent season coming off the bench averaging 8.6 points, 1.8 rebounds, and .9 assists per game. His best game of the year was against Iowa on December 30th when he had 18 points, 3 rebounds, and 1 assist.
 One glaring stat for Devendorf is his efficiency, a stat which measures the total point differential that the team averages when the particular player is in the game. Devendorf's efficiency is a +6.96, a very impressive number for a player off of the bench.
  The next game for the Bighorns will be against Bakersfield on March 3rd, the first game after the NBDL All-Star break. Continue to check back with Syracuse Pros for updates throughout the NBDL season.

Tuesday, February 21, 2012

Linsanity Not So "Melo" Dramatic

A few weeks ago "Linsanity" hit the NBA. Media outlets and people everywhere could not get enough of the former Harvard and NBDL alum. Jeremy Lin has recharged the NBA after the lockout. To his credit, Lin has had several 20 point and 10 assist games en route to a huge winning streak to get the Knicks back to .500. The amazing thing is that he did much of this without stars Amare Stoudemire and Carmelo Anthony. All of this craze left everyone asking, will this team be worse with Carmelo Anthony back in the lineup?
Last night the Knicks took the court against the New Jersey Nets with former Syracuse alumni Carmelo Anthony back in the lineup. The Knicks were defeated 100-92. Jeremy Lin had 21 points, 7 rebounds, and 9 assists. His opponent Deron Williams had 38 points. Carmelo Anthony had 11 points on 4 of 11 shooting along with 3 rebounds and 6 assists. Not too bad for somebody who has missed much of the last 2 weeks with a groin injury. So naturally the talk is going to begin about the Knicks being a worse team with Carmelo back. Not so fast and here are my reasons why.
First of all, Deron Williams absolutely torched Jeremy Lin. In the postgame news conference Williams said, "this all started on me", referring to the game which Linsanity began to break out. Like a true superstar Williams took it upon himself not to be embarrassed again by a young, up and coming star. After the game Lin said that the Knicks lacked "defensive energy". You can tell Lin wants to improve his game each night, always honest after the game. Second of all, Amare Stoudemire has not been the same since returning from the death of his brother and Carmelo Anthony was clearly rusty after returning from a groin injury. Anthony said after the game that "it was one of those games I had to get the rust off". My next point is that you have to believe that Carmelo Anthony is going to change the way he plays. Case in point he had 6 assists in his first game back, 2 more than his 4 a game average. Anthony said, "Passing the ball, find the open man, making the right play. I felt good with that.". He has said he wants to play his game within the system that the Knicks have been playing in the past few weeks. After all how can a team be worse when a superstar comes back, especially one that came from the Jim Boeheim school of basketball.

Thursday, February 16, 2012

NBDL Spotlight: Paul Harris


Every team needs that one player who can simply do a bit of everything on the court. A few years ago you might remember that player in the Carrier Dome who donned number 11. Paul Harris is the former Syracuse player that I speak of. Harris enjoyed a solid career at Syracuse putting up good numbers. The "bit of everything" player that he was reflected in his stats. In his last two seasons at Syracuse he averaged at least 12 points, 8 rebounds, and 2 assists per game. In 2008 he was All-Big East second team. He was definitely one of those guys Jim Boeheim loved to have on his team.
So the question is, what is Paul Harris doing now? He finds himself playing professionally for the Maine Red Claws of the National Basketball Developmental League, which is the minor league of sorts for the NBA. Naturally Harris continues to do it all regardless of where he plays. This season in 16 games thus far he is averaging 12.6 points, 6.8 rebounds, and 3 assists per game. His season has been full of bright spots, but none better than December 18th against the Erie BayHawks. In this game Harris was able to get to the line 17 times and with the "do it all" attitude nearly had a triple double. He shot 9-15 from the field and ended the game with 30 points, 16 rebounds, and 7 assists. If anyone thought that was a fluke he ended the next game with 21 points, 8 rebounds, and 11 assists. All this just reaffirms his "bit of everything" style.
Harris continues to work hard at taking the next step to get into the NBA. Check back with Syracuse Pros for updates throughout the D-League season!

Sunday, February 5, 2012

Tom Coughlin Wins Second Super Bowl



It has been simply amazing what Syracuse Alumni have done......in the past two days. Yesterday Syracuse Head Basketball Coach Jim Boeheim tied Dean Smith on the all-time wins list at 879 wins, but today Head Coach Tom Coughlin led the New York Giants to a Super Bowl Victory. Coughlin played halfback at Syracuse with the legends Floyd Little and Larry Czonka. In 1967 Coughlin set the school record for pass receiving yards. These days he hoists Super Bowl trophies.

The game itself was much like 2008 when the Giants beat the Patriots on a tremendous catch by former Syracuse player David Tyree. This year Eli Manning threw a tremendous ball on the sideline to Mario Manningham during a fourth quarter drive to set up an Ahmad Bradshaw touchdown. Bradshaw thought about kneeling to the turf with only 57 seconds left to try to drain more clock and then thought better of it. The Giants took the lead 21-17 and Tom Brady was unable to work his heroics allowing the Giants to capture their second Super Bowl victory in the last four years.

Coughlin has become the 13th coach in history to win multiple Super Bowls. With this victory he has elevated himself to one of the elite coaches of all time. Congratulations to the Syracuse Pro Tom Coughlin on making us Orange proud yet again.


Friday, February 3, 2012

Orange Alumni NBA Update

It's hard to believe that the NBA season is already one-third of the way through. In our first update of the year we will let you know how five former Orange are doing in the NBA this season.
Carmelo Anthony-New York Knicks
He has had a strong statistical year despite the Knicks woeful 8-15 record. He is averaging 23.8 points, 6.5 rebounds, and 4.3 assists this year. He was also named to yet another All-Star team.
Jonny Flynn-Houston Rockets
The Rockets are off to a surprisingly good start at 13-10 thanks much to the play of guard Kyle Lowry. Unfortunately for Flynn, Lowry has logged much of the minutes for Houston. So far Flynn is averaging 3.1 points, 1.1 rebounds, and 2.4 assists per game for the Rockets.
Donte Green-Sacramento Kings
The Kings have been an inconsistent team at 7-15 this season. Green has also been inconsistent as well. His bright spot of the season was a 21 point output against the Grizzlies earlier this season. His totals for the year are 5.1 points, 2.6 rebounds, and .6 assists.
Wesley Johnson-Minnesota Timberwolves
Johnson may be in a sophomore slump of sorts. The Wolves are 11-12 this year, which is considerably better than recent memory. Johnson has been very assertive on the offensive end, but has maintained strong defense. His stats so far are 5.8 points, 3 rebounds, and .9 assists per game.
Hakim Warrick-Phoenix Suns
The Suns are off to a poor start this season at 8-14. One of the bright spots has been Warrick off the bench. He has averaged 8 points, 2.9 rebounds, and .9 assists per game.
Stay tuned throughout the season for more updates about your favorite Syracuse Pros.

Wednesday, February 1, 2012

NATIONAL SIGNING DAY: SYRACUSE FOOTBALL STYLE




It is the unofficial beginning of the new football season, National Signing Day! Syracuse has signed a total of 22 players. The following is a list of the signed players:

-4 Star Ron Thompson 6'4" 215 Pound TE from Michigan

-4 Star Ashton Broyld 6'3" 235 Pound QB from New York

-3 Star Myles Davis 6'1" 230 Pound LB from New York

-3 Star Markus Pierce-Brewster 6'4" 231 Pound DE from New York

-3 Star Wayne Morgan 5'11" 191 Pound DB from New York

-3 Star George Morris 6'1" 190 Pound RB from Georgia

-3 Star Myles Hilliard 6'6" 258 Pound DE from Ohio

-3 Star Dontez Ford 6'2" 200 Pound FS from Pennsylvania

-3 Star Kyle Knapp 6'4" 260 Pound OG from Michigan

-3 Star DeVante McFarlane 6'1" 195 Pound RB from New York

-3 Star Joshua Parris 6'3" 225 Pound TE from Georgia

-3 Star Alvin Cornelius 6'3" 190 Pound WR from New York

-3 Star Jason Emerich 6'4" 275 Pound OG from Pennsylvania

-2 Star Zian Jones 6'5" 310 Pound DT from California

-2 Star Marcus Coleman 6'2" 280 Pound DT from New Jersey

-2 Star Julian Whigham 6'1" 185 Pound DB from Florida

-2 Star Ben Barrett 6'4" 265 Pound OT from New York

-2 Star Ryan Norton 5'10" 170 Pound K from New York

-2 Star Ben Lewis 6'2" 185 Pound WR from Maryland

-2 Star James Washington 6'2" 220 Pound OLB from Florida

-2 Star Josh Manley 6'3" 245 Pound DE from Georgia

-2 Star Omari Palmer 6'3" 295 Pound OG from NY