Here we go

Only a couple more hours until we face Siena, and all I can think of is 2003. I think of the beginning and the end and find it eerily similar to this season.

1. We are coming off of a disappointing season in which we missed the Big Dance. In 2002 a Preston Shumpert led Cuse team ended their season in the NIT semifinal. This year, we are again coming off of a loss in the NIT. Hold on, I got more...


2. We have one scholarship senior. In 2003 it was Kueth Duany, brother to Duany Duany (whose relevance to this blog is that it is the greatest basketball name ever), as the lone senior. Unfortunately, it's Josh Wright this year. But, it's still a similarity. Next point...


3. We are unranked in the preseason. I view this as a serious injustice this year, and perhaps its just because of how '03 turned out. But I feel like this team should be ranked, and will be before too long. Number 4 is...


4. We have a talented freshman from last year who can make a big leap this year. Paul Harris, I'm looking at you. Hakim Warrick went from 6.1 points and 4.8 rebounds in 2002 to 14.8 and 8.5 in 2003. He also had a big play (it gets better each time I watch it) in the championship game, if I remember correctly Harris had 8.6 points and 7.1 rebounds per game last year after a relatively slow start. This year he'll make the Big East his own personal Big Easy. And finally, here's the big one...


5. Our incoming freshman from Baltimore. Carmelo played his first game in 02, and five years later we have Donte. This is a ton of pressure to heap on this kid, and in no way shape or form do I expect him to be as good as Melo was that year. But I do expect him to play well and with this team they should have something special.

So there you have it. 5 reasons that Syracuse will be winning the National Championship this April. You heard it here first.

Lets Go Cuse.