big east game #12 ... #2 syracuse 72, connecticut 67 ... you expect a close, hard fought game whenever connecticut and syracuse play basketball ... tonite, uconn brings their "a" game to the dome ... and syracuse narrowly escapes on their "c" game ... sure, there are times the zone looks impenetrable ... but you don't shoot 42.6%, turn the ball over 20 times and blow a 14 point lead if you're on your game ... the first time the orange shoot that poorly and give away the ball that much in march, they will lose ... other observations would be

• andy rautins is the engine that powers this team ... 1st half his presence is felt everywhere yet he scored no points ... 2nd half he drives the orange to a 14 point advantage early (48-34) ... rautins sits down with 4 fouls and his teammates look discombobulated ... lose all but 3 of that 14 point lead (54-51) ... rautins returns, steadies the offense and sinks 5 of 6 foul shots along the way ... orange win
• i'm beginning to think wes johnson is a bit over-hyped ... he's a really good basketball player no doubt ... passes, rebounds, blocks shots and smiles with the best of them ... but his offensive game has holes ... and when his team needs him to step up and take over this game in rautins absence ... he can't do it
• all season kris joseph and scoop jardine have been rock solid off the bench ... tonite both get chewed out by the coach after bonehead plays ... joseph has superstar potential but he is a turnover machine ... he's got to learn to better protect the basketball
• this is a good uconn team ... jerome dyson, stanley robinson and kemba walker are big-time players ... they've lost some tough games ... tonite was one of them

next up is louisville (15-8/6-4) on sunday at 1:00 pm from the dome ... six conference games left on the orange schedule ... louisville shows up twice ... syracuse closes out their big east season at freedom hall on saturday, march 6th ... if you're looking for between games reading, i recommend this mike waters piece on "unheralded recruits" ... excellent work ... su has announced the dome is sold out for the 2/27 game against #4 villanova ... 34, 616 will be the largest on-campus crowd for a college basketball game in ncaa history