26,752

• I’m pretty sure that, a week ago, zero people would have bet that SU would draw more fans to a Monday night NIT game than they did to Senior Night against Georgetown (also on a Monday night). But they did. The NIT attendance record is now shattered and should remain so until some other school builds a big enough arena — the cocktail of factors that led the community to rally around this team at this time is unlikely to occur again in Syracuse. I absolutely love how this whole situation was turned on its head by the fans. I would pontificate further but OrangeRay said it best on Sunday, after the first game.

• I doubt that setting the attendance record was the primary motivation for any of the fans who went to the game, but it’s not hard to imagine Syracusians getting a little pumped up about the record, if you think about it — just consider how we react to getting record snowfall. Most places in the country would greet such a distinction with horror and dismay; in Syracuse, they print the headline “We’re Snow King!” on the front page, in a typeface usually reserved for the ends of World Wars.

• The halftime post from Kim Baxter on the Syracuse.com blog usually gets quickly buried by the 2nd half score updates and postgame items, but this one which briefly decribes the fantastic atmosphere in the Dome tonight deserves a read. The fans were treated to a game stripped of its modern commercial excess — no ads or promotions during timeouts — and they reponded by simply having a grand time in each others’ company, helped out by the Sour Sitrus Society (that’s the pep band, in case you hadn’t heard the moniker before). Much more of a ‘pure’ college sports experience. Kim herself declared it “Much better” than usual, an opinion that probably won’t get into the papers tomorrow (since she is an objective journalist after all) but was, I’m sure, shared by just about all 26,752 folks in the house. (Are you listening, Gross?!?)

• Glad to see the walk-ons got in the game — and unlike the Georgetown contest, this time Todd Burach (another senior, by the way) scored himself a hoop! His first of the season, though not of his career. (That’ll at least improve the walk-ons’ plus-minus for the season.) Hey Tim, can we get a “Todd Burach” tag?!