How's that for a stat that means nothing? But how good is it to have two quality wins in the bank well before NCAA Tournament seeding?

Thanks to there being a sparse attendance of about 5,000 people — about 99% of which were rabid Orange fans — I was able to get in for way below face value ($20 on Friday, and even that was probably too much) and move around to take some really sub-par pictures.

On Friday, I sat next to one of the only Mississippi State fans in the crowd. When he asked who I was rooting for, I flashed my Syracuse t-shirt to him and he said, "I'm sorry." Sorry about what, man? That I didn't fly thousands of miles to see a game packed with empty seats? Or that I went to real school? Or that my team won the 2003 national championship? Or that the last time we played you was when we kicked your ass in the 1996 Final Four? Or that we're ranked ahead of you? Or that we were about to go on a 17-0 run that buried them?

As we struggled in the first half Thursday, the f-bombs were flying out of my mouth quicker than Dick Vitale can make an ACC reference. Mr. Mississippi was a little offended by that and said at the halftime buzzer, "Hey buddy, I'm with my wife. Can you watch your language?" I was taken aback, though not in a bad way. "Wow, I've never heard that in New York before. I'll try." That was a genuine response, and I felt kinda bad. Thankfully, I had no reason to curse in the second half, when we fucking kicked ass.

Great find on the SU forum, filled with people who get tired of Vitale's admiration of the ACC:

Did anyone else think it was hysterical in the first half when for no reason at all, Dicky V blurted out "You know who's a tough point guard? John Gilchrist at Maryland" and then went back to calling the game. I don't think he's even consciously doing it anymore.