Geno Thorpe - COMMITTED TO SYRACUSE

[littlereg]

He was forced to play point but he looked pretty good at it for what it's worth. Ts jut a matter of running s smooth offense.

 

[GooseMutt]

Oh, he was forced to play it. No question. Just like he would be here. In a perfect world, we would have a better pt guard than Howard for him to have to beat out. But as of right now, we don't. he gives us a better outside shooter and a much better free throw shooter at the end of games.

And driving lane

 

[NineOneSeven]

Is he a pg or is he a sg that was forced to play pg when the pg quit?

F it man, "play people out of position" U!

 

[jordoo]

At this point a guard we can rely on to bring the ball up the court and maintaining his dribble until initiating the offense is an upgrade.

 

[Jasoncuse]

Good, about time we hear about something like this. This is the type of player we could really use right now. Slide him right into the starting lineup alongside Battle. While he's not a PG, I'd be much more comfortable with him playing a lot over Howard. He was a good outside shooter last year and is a great FT shooter.

I'd much rather have a kid that can score, even if he's not a true PG, over Frank who hasn't proven capable of being a scorer or playing the point.

 

[pearl31]

this would be the "in place of Ayala" move

 

[Ryand877]

this would be the "in place of Ayala" move

Given the current depth/pg situation and that he can only play one year(won't hurt us in recruiting next year), this seems like a no brainer to me.

 

[Cuse9292]

Just taking a stab here, Pitt is probably the favorite am I correct? Local kid and all so it would make sense but he picked Penn State over Pitt during his original recruitment, have a feeling this won't be an easy addition even though it makes perfect sense and he would probably fit in great.

 

[cuseinseattle]

I like Thorpe. He could play either guard spot as well which would give us some flexibility. Someone who I respect (can't remember who) said they were concerned that he was a volume shooter. I understand that concern and respect it but hope it was due to the team he was on that he was forced to shoot more. I would take him as a backup to Ayala and think he could do well. This would also help with Ayala. Hey we want you but we are going to go with a 5th year guy if you aren't coming. I know we won't do this but a guy can dream.

 

[cuseinseattle]

Just taking a stab here, Pitt is probably the favorite am I correct? Local kid and all so it would make sense but he picked Penn State over Pitt during his original recruitment, have a feeling this won't be an easy addition even though it makes perfect sense and he would probably fit in great.

I would think we would be the favorite if we go after him. Pitt losses so much and he will be there for 1 year. With us he could play with Battle and the other people we have TT, Moyer, Brissett, Sidibe. It is a much better situation for 1 year.

 

[Shark58]

is this the that others have alluded to or is this guy someone else?

 

[Cuse9292]

I would think we would be the favorite if we go after him. Pitt losses so much and he will be there for 1 year. With us he could play with Battle and the other people we have TT, Moyer, Brissett, Sidibe. It is a much better situation for 1 year.

I'd hope so, we definitely have the better pieces around, just hope that he doesn't have any reason to stick around in Pittsburgh.

 

[Knicks411]

I'll pull the classic move of looking at his KenPom page and drawing way too large conclusions from it.

His statistical profile is pretty decent; he wasn't super efficient (51.3% true shooting) but he had good assist rates, and importantly, the rest of their team was awful last year, so I don't think you want to draw huge conclusions from his relatively pedestrian shooting numbers. He had an offensive rating of 101.2 (barely above average), the next 2 guys in usage rates were around 85. With the exception of one guy, he was by far the best offensive player on the team; you would hope on a team with more options his efficiency would rise.

 

[Fly Rodder]

Just taking a stab here, Pitt is probably the favorite am I correct? Local kid and all so it would make sense but he picked Penn State over Pitt during his original recruitment, have a feeling this won't be an easy addition even though it makes perfect sense and he would probably fit in great.

Well at Pitt, I think he would have his choice of any of the five positions, even C if he so desired, considering that they have about three kids left on the roster.

 

[normaliswear]

Seems like a classic combo guard. Which is what we have been dying to turn the keys over to in Ayala as a freshman. I'd love a Sr combo guard at this point. With size... maybe we could actually play zone for real this year.

 

[orangefog]

He shot 37.5% from 3 this past year and 85% from the free throw line. If he could just be John Gillon, with added height for both the zone and seeing passing lanes, then we would be in business.

 

[Sherman20]

If those 3 schools are our competition you have to like our chances of landing him. I think if we add him and tucker and some young guys surprise next year (brisset, sidbe and moyer) we will be better than expected. Alot of IFs in there though so hopefully we get some answers soon

Pitt is a dumpster fire. If he wants to play on a contender and get better exposure, he's not going to Pitt with that decimated roster.

 

[Sherman20]

good points, def some valid concerns that will need to be addressed by the staff...i think he is gonna be more of a combo guard, will be backing up battle in addition to competing with FH for starter minutes, i think it will be similar to JG last year where we go with him or FH depending if FH has made improvements over the summer or if GT proves capable of playing the 1. Also 6'4, i think its a given hell be playing the top of the zone only. In my ideal world (which is ideal for cuse) FH improves so much he is the starter with GT coming off the bench in a 6th man role to provide scoring ala Dion in 2012 and Kjo/Scoop in 2010.

Battle could play some SF when Thorpe is at the off guard spot.

 

[721Comstock]

Pitt is a dumpster fire. If he wants to play on a contender and get better exposure, he's not going to Pitt with that decimated roster.

This.

JB and crew can point to what John Gillon did, and tell Geno he's the plug and play option to replace that this year.

(only hopefully he'll play solid D on more than 1 play the whole season - Gillon had that amazing D series against Kennard, forcing a tough shot which missed, and then came down the court and entered Syracuse legend. )

 

[Sherman20]

Good, about time we hear about something like this. This is the type of player we could really use right now. Slide him right into the starting lineup alongside Battle. While he's not a PG, I'd be much more comfortable with him playing a lot over Howard. He was a good outside shooter last year and is a great FT shooter.

I'd much rather have a kid that can score, even if he's not a true PG, over Frank who hasn't proven capable of being a scorer or playing the point.

Do you wonder if Cuse coaches have been quietly pursuing this kid but asking him to not go public until Tucker decided on his destination and we figured out what the heck Ayala wanted to do in terms of reclassifying? And do we all believe there is serious interest from our staff? ( I hope so!)

 

[OttoinGrotto]

He would help make our team better.

 

[orangeinnyc]

Pitt is a dumpster fire. If he wants to play on a contender and get better exposure, he's not going to Pitt with that decimated roster.

i just cant see any reason for going to pitt other than he can be in his home city, they have zero talent on their roster and are in complete rebuild mode, if he wants to go to a school and shoot a lot and be the man but be on an noncompetitive team that his best choice...the only other school that is a contender is seton hall, idk too much about their roster or guard depth but they have been to the ncaas the past few years and have some talent there

 

[orangeinnyc]

Battle could play some SF when Thorpe is at the off guard spot.

another option we would def need to look at, although i hate to take TB off the top of the zone since he is such a good on ball defender

 

[Sherman20]

another option we would def need to look at, although i hate to take TB off the top of the zone since he is such a good on ball defender

Agreed. I love TB at the top of the zone. Which may be the reason the staff sees Thorpe as a backup plan to Ayala. Ayala, as a freshman and still-developing player, is the kind of guy that would be ideal backing up Frank at PG and Battle at SG (though will Battle ever come out of the big games?). But now with Tucker likely going to Duke, we need more scoring punch.

 

[orangeinnyc]

Agreed. I love TB at the top of the zone. Which may be the reason the staff sees Thorpe as a backup plan to Ayala. Ayala, as a freshman and still-developing player, is the kind of guy that would be ideal backing up Frank at PG and Battle at SG (though will Battle ever come out of the big games?).

i think with a healthy TB and now in his second season of the zone we will see a much better defensive player (better than he already was) and will see some more steals from our guards...our D last year was horrendous, if we don't improve on that side of the ball well have no chance regardless of who we land or send out there..fortunately i think we will be much better defensively, Im in the camp of believing Sidbee/Brisset will give us more than we expect, BS is coming from a great hs program with experience in the middle of the zone, he looks to have solid bball instincts, a motor and very athletic, just needs to add some weight...what well get from Chukwu i have no clue hopefully something, also i cant see Thompson getting any worse on D only better, surely the a year of the zone plus the off-season work will make him a better defender...OB/MM are very athletic and hopefully they can learn the zone, the last spot is the spot next to battle at the top, weather its HW/FW/GT they need to be able to challenge shooters and not allow guards to penetrate easily, also think rebounding will be much better..one last thing id like to see, i wanna see some nastiness, i think we have become a bit soft due to recruting quieter kids as well as playing undersized forwards at C , i wanna see us get a little rough and angry and play pissed off