Doesn't hoops practice start today?

[jordoo]

As a person that has had some horrible ankle sprains - this makes sense to me.

I will say that the severe high ankle sprain I suffered hurt much worse than when I broke my ankle bad enough that it needed 2 screws.

 

[reedny]

Thanks for being so positive.

Did you look at his expression in the photo?

 

[br801]

Did you look at his expression in the photo?

Hell, he has that expression on his face half the time when he's not coaching his team.

 

[Brooky03]

As a person that has had some horrible ankle sprains - this makes sense to me.

Ditto.

Sprained an ankle at the start of my last football season and decided to play through the pain. Went to the doctor after the end of the season when I realized it wasn't getting a whole lot better (tears down my face when I tried to put on an ice skate). The doc basically said my ankle was going to suck at being an ankle for a long long time.

 

[reedny]

Hell, he has that expression on his face half the time when he's not coaching his team.

Maybe, maybe not. But his expression in THIS photo is pretty sober.

 

[310Pigpen]

Did you look at his expression in the photo?

He looks grumpy in half of the pictures you see of him while coaching, if he was smiling I'd think something was wrong. Strictly business.

 

[reedny]

He looks grumpy in half of the pictures you see of him while coaching, if he was smiling I'd think something was wrong. Strictly business.

He smiles sometimes. Other times, mostly with the media, he's just grinding it out. Either way, I was captioning THIS photo at practice.

 

[Dave85]

I can't remember the last time that football season has gone so well, that the start of hoops practice has snuck up unexpectedly. Looking forward to seeing some reports from practice--going to be an interesting year!

Let's Go Orange!!!

Define interesting? So far I'm not having the most confident feelings about this team. Go Orange and all that! But realistically there are so many question marks. Any team with Brandon Triche on it you just knew that team was going to be a good team. This squad I will need to see play 3 or 4 times before I am willing to make a positive or negative judgement.

 

[Brooky03]

Define interesting? So far I'm not having the most confident feelings about this team. Go Orange and all that! But realistically there are so many question marks. Any team with Brandon Triche on it you just knew that team was going to be a good team. This squad I will need to see play 3 or 4 times before I am willing to make a positive or negative judgement.

Fair. Though, I don't see a lot of questions so much as I see just two big questions. This is probably semantics, but we really just need to know if we have a reliable PG in Kaleb and if Coleman can perform at the level expected of him when he first came to Syracuse.

The Kaleb question is big, but the fact that we have Gbinije as a backup plan and some top level recruits to play SF makes me not worry about it so much. The Coleman question is obviously the important one. We can win games without Kaleb at PG; we'll struggle big time without Coleman at Center.

 

[Dave85]

Fair. Though, I don't see a lot of questions so much as I see just two big questions. This is probably semantics, but we really just need to know if we have a reliable PG in Kaleb and if Coleman can perform at the level expected of him when he first came to Syracuse.

The Kaleb question is big, but the fact that we have Gbinije as a backup plan and some top level recruits to play SF makes me not worry about it so much. The Coleman question is obviously the important one. We can win games without Kaleb at PG; we'll struggle big time without Coleman at Center.

I very much agree with what you are saying. I think we are good 2, 3, and 4 positions But the 1 and 5 are pretty important. The 2016-17 season will be much more interesting in a good way in my opinion.

 

[RF2044]

I very much agree with what you are saying. I think we are good 2, 3, and 4 positions But the 1 and 5 are pretty important. The 2016-17 season will be much more interesting in a good way in my opinion.

I'm predicting that Joseph makes the sophomore leap, but don't sleep on Franklin Howard at the 1. I'm not suggesting that he'll start, but I'm hearing that he's been solid in summer workouts, and could [emphasis on "could," depending on how a few dominoes topple] contribute. Bottom line: we've got better depth at point guard than we've had in 4 seasons.

 

[Briancuse]

I'm predicting that Joseph makes the sophomore leap, but don't sleep on Franklin Howard at the 1. I'm not suggesting that he'll start, but I'm hearing that he's been solid in summer workouts, and could [emphasis on "could," depending on how a few dominoes topple] contribute. Bottom line: we've got better depth at point guard than we've had in 4 seasons.

That would be great, could use a little more depth, he would be a big plus.

 

[Capt. Tuttle]

I'm predicting that Joseph makes the sophomore leap, but don't sleep on Franklin Howard at the 1. I'm not suggesting that he'll start, but I'm hearing that he's been solid in summer workouts, and could [emphasis on "could," depending on how a few dominoes topple] contribute. Bottom line: we've got better depth at point guard than we've had in 4 seasons.

We have 1 proven PG (G), 1 disproved PG (KJ) and 1 unproven PG (FH). Not sure about this alleged great depth.

 

[orangefan13]

The first two practices said howard was having some defensive woes letting guys blow by him. It may or may not take some time for that to be fixed.

Then someone compared him to mookie. They should have saw verbal hell fire for that one.
No disrespect to Mookie but his defense just wasn't ready for this level of basketball up to his redshirt junior year anyway.

I really like Howard's high school game though.
1.He keeps the ball close to him even against pressure,
2.welcomes pressure and bodying up while he is dribbling,
3. invites contact in the lane.
4. has a floater josh pace/cj esque.
5. finishes with both hands around the rim.
6. could probably dunk from a slow dropstep (for a guard thats huge athleticism).
7. Now we are hearing he is a pleasant surprise shooting the 3 ball.
8. Hes from the DC area.

Those are more oldschool pg skills opposed to the mcw style of long stepping around people, or Scoop needing a crossover for three years here to get by his man, or Kaleb depending on his second gear. He can develop into more of a Ennis/Edelin type on the court (adding number 6 to that is downright scary). Either that or he developes into more of a Dion Waiters type SG who is good at getting by his man.

As a compliment I put his potential higher then scoop, triche, and many of the four year guards we have had here. Of course its easy to do that with freshmen. Imo. He was a high 4 star in my mind on all accounts because of what he can develop into.

Kaleb same thing he gets to where he wants to on the court in a hurry even as a freshmen at will. You couldn't teach that to Triche or Scoop Jardine(to his senior year). Or MCW as a freshmen for that matter.
The only reason people are low on him as because he was consistant like many other freshmen not shooting the ball well. He will take alot of midrange shots early on this year and by the last quarter of the season they will start falling propelling him to double digits scoring on many occasions. Then after they do all he has to do is add his three point shot 35% or better to be in the race for 1st or second team all ACC.

 

[RF2044]

We have 1 proven PG (G), 1 disproved PG (KJ) and 1 unproven PG (FH). Not sure about this alleged great depth.

It is supremely foolish to write off a player after one season, as you will soon learn.

 

[Dave85]

I'm predicting that Joseph makes the sophomore leap, but don't sleep on Franklin Howard at the 1. I'm not suggesting that he'll start, but I'm hearing that he's been solid in summer workouts, and could [emphasis on "could," depending on how a few dominoes topple] contribute. Bottom line: we've got better depth at point guard than we've had in 4 seasons.

Howard looked pretty buffed in the practice pics. He certainly looks strong enough to play PG at this level.

 

[orangefan13]

It is supremely foolish to write off a player after one season, as you will soon learn.

+1 Hes going to grow. He lead the east coast jr. team with 15 ppg over the summer. Those weren't points like Triche or Keita or Roberson overseas who got theirs in post up, isolation or without a screen. Hes going to get the same looks this year hes just got to make them.

Freshmen year FG% and 3pt.%
scoop...,,46% 27%
dion...,.,,41% 32%
Ennis...,,41% 35%
MCW...,,43% 38%
andyR ...37% 32%
devend...44% 37%
flynn...,.,46% 34%
Harris...,43% 00%
cooney...32% 26%
Pace...,.,,53% 00%
gmac...,.,40% 35%
Edelin...,55% 00%
Duany...,41% 25%

Kaleb...,.37% 20% FT 72%