Class of 2015 SG Malachi Richardson (NJ) Verballed to Syracuse

[Francis03]

Mali looks to have dropped at least 19 as TCA wins at Hudson Catholic 66-57
This is a really good win against a tough 16-3 Hudson Catholic team that has beat some decent teams this season. Edit: although a road game, this was played at Roselle Catholic, familiar ground for Richardson.

19? That's not good enough bro. Oh Lord

 

[tee1222]

A few play by plays from Quarter 1 from Trenton Catholic's win:

Richardson misses his first shot after getting a little room with a bounce, baseline jumper. Immediately follows it up by stealing the ball in the back court and getting a turnover.

Powell with a deep two foot on the line, has an assist and missed a bunny. Pretty sure both of these guys put up the majority of the team's shots - fire and ice type stuff.

Bell gives TCA the lead now, Powell missed a deep ball but fast pace right now, green light all the way.

TCA's coach is now putting on a great JAB impression as he is fuming at the refs. Looks like two suspect goal tending calls against Trenton Catholic and he has a point on both. What, do the refs follow our guys and come down from Syracuse? Wow. I just replayed it. Perfect block. Was timed so well, not possible to think it was on the way down and I don't know how someone could make that call.

Powell craft little reverse lay in on the other end. Good scorer. Finishes inside and out. He has similar size and build to Triche, even Briscoe. Good low center of gravity and bulls his way into the lane.

Malachi gets his first on a break out and layup. Richardson is one of if not the tallest on the sideline. If you include him, they play 4 guards at least half the time. But I think he really acts as a 3 or even 4 at times. I think he plays the 2 all the way for SU. And of course ironically, he just brought up the ball for the first time today. Floyd, TCA's true PG with a nice move in the lane for his first FG , 14-8 TCA now.

Oof. Malachi took one dribble from way out and hit a deep trey, man in his face. In de face! Stuff just burns the net, this kid is nasty.

Sorry, I hate to disapoint. But I would just like to mention that Malachi had played solid defense and has not yet been lackadaisical whatsoever. I am fairly certain I have yet to see someone beat him off the dribble and score. He is slightly gassed now but has played every minute thus far.

Now Malachi is by the far the tallest guy on the floor for TCA. They spread it out and a lot of speed out there. Check that. He's now the tallest player on the court for either team.

Richardson with the ball in his hands as the quarter winds down, couple of bounces on the drive but pulls up and splashes a deep two.

I have him at 3/4, 7 points 1 three, 1 steal after quarter number 1. Might just watch the rest and not write up but we'll see. Marcus Floyd just rimmed out a three quarter shot for TCA.

Iron Mikes and Mali up 19-8 end of first.

 

[tee1222]

Malachi on the bench as the second quarter is underway, just needed a rest. Powell had another nice finish, tough conversion on the break from the left side. Mali nice tough defensive board and he gets fouled. Haven't kept track of his rebounds to this point.

Richardson just took his first shot of the second quarter. Jordanesque fadeaway on the baseline. I am not kidding. If it's still archived, check it out. Filthy and plain vicious.

If people don't still know what kind of player we are getting next year or even doubt it now, just watch the first two quarters of this game. I have seen this level of play from him for three years now and he keeps progressing his skill set, if that is even possible.

 

[tee1222]

Malachi makes another nice move to get a deep shot off, a little bit forced but the announcers were looking for a foul and he didn't get the call. Meh. Tough shot. Probably could have gotten a better shot out of the mismatch. 4/6 from the field now, 1/1 from downtown. 9 points.

Richardson working, offensive board, goes straight up with it and to the line. Nice dirty work to get something out of nothing. Buries first freebie. Gets the shooter's roll on the second. The Gifted One with 11 now.

Drives with his left, just misses but follows up with another offensive rebound and lays the putback in. Took another pullup three and that one rimmed out. Would have been an early dagger for Hudson Catholic but just missed going down. Sweet stroke either way. He just got another steal but blew a chance to convert.

Powell hit a deep ball. Mali on the bench right now. TCA big man Aririguzoh putting on a block party for the RC crowd as he just tallied blocks #5 and 6 with 2 minutes left in the first half. And Powell hits another three! Baseline that time. Wide open.

Just did the high jump chest bump thing with Malachi on the sideline. That's right, fellas. Do what feels good.
Richardson has 13 points on 5/10, 4+ rebounds and 2 steals as the half ends. Hudson Catholic yipped a breakaway dunk on the last play. Yip. Yip Yip.

Speaking of gassed, I'm probably not going to make the second half. But you get the picture by now. Now let me do what I normally do and I'm out on a high note!

 

[JarHeadJim]

Tee you dirty Hooker! What happened in the 2nd Half?

 

[tee1222]

Tee you dirty Hooker! What happened in the 2nd Half?

That's dirty pirate hooker to you!
Ahahahahahahahahahaha. Nah, missed it. Was fairly lazy last night. Slight case of surly as well.

 

[Digger]

Some TC vs HC game clips and an interview with some TC players (including Malachi). Malachi with a pretty vicious dunk at the end of the clip.

http://highschoolsports.nj.com/news...on-catholics-top-10-win-over-hudson-catholic/

 

[AWMKY]

 

[cuseguy]

cuseguy, your "analysis" of Chris McCullough heading into the season for the Orange was so blatantly misguided, negative and just plain wrong... why would anyone trust your analysis on Malachi Richardson? Again, you are super negative... so he can't penetrate, or shoot off the dribble, or hit a mid-range shot, but he's a McD's all-american and the 19th ranked player in his entire class. Sure.

My analysis was wrong? Obviously you missed the McCullough who struggled over a long stretch leading up to his injury. Or did you forget what JB was saying about McCullough over that stretch? I guess it's okay for him to be super negative.

 

[cuseguy]

A friend of mine watched Malachi recently and sent me this report. This is not my analysis.

Report on Malachi Richardson’s game against Medford Tech on Feb. 3 Let’s start out by pointing out for a player who is a McDonald’s AA, he is only averaging 19.3 points per game, which is 34th in the state and third in Mercer County, one of 21 counties in the state. The best player in Mercer County is Ewing’s Trey Lowe, a guard headed to Temple. In his warm-ups, Richardson hardly missed a shot, beginning by taking shots from inside the three-point line at the top of the key. He made about 90 percent of them. He then stepped in back of the 3-point line and made 8 of 11 from there, all from the top of the key. He never went to the corner or wings in practice.

First Quarter: Now I know why he didn’t go the corner – it’s because he has cement feet and hardly moves from the right wing area. He banged in one of two threes in the quarter but didn’t attempt a shot until three minutes into the game. The rest of his teammates, particularly Myles Powell, are good and much more aggressive than Malachi. He doesn’t seem to mind at all. He scored on a layup on a nice pass (he actually made a cut without the ball!) near the end of the quarter to end with five points as the Iron Mikes took a 21-10 lead.

Second Quarter: He finally drove off the dribble to the basket and was fouled, making both free throws. He is a good passer and very unselfish – too unselfish if you ask me. He missed another three from the wing but grabbed an offensive rebound and scored near the end of the half. He finished the first half with nine points as TCA took a 42-22 advantage. His totals in the first half: 3-for-5 from the field including 1-of-3 from 3 and 2-for-2 from the stripe.

Third Quarter: He drove to the hoop again and was fouled, making both free throws. Defensively, Medford played zone most of the game and Richardson was all by himself on the wing, occasionally circling around to get the ball but then giving it up almost immediately. He was fouled again and only made 1 of 2 from the line this time. He then missed a tomahawk one-handed slam and didn’t run back on defense after that. He finished the third quarter with 14 points as TCA was on top, 66-40.

Fourth Quarter: He began the period with another 2-of-2 from the line and was removed from the game less than a minute into the quarter for good. The Iron Mikes’ reserves played the rest of the game. He finished the game with 16 points on 5-for-7 shooting from the field, 1 of 3 from 3 and 5-of-6 from the line.

Overall Grade: C+ -- He has a world of talent and a smooth stroke but is nowhere near aggressive enough. He should have had 30 in this game easily – even in just three quarters. He just didn’t want to. He did not show any mid-range game, no pull-up jumpers at all and rarely took the ball to the basket like the rest of his teammates. Defensively, he plays in the middle of a zone and rarely moves, doesn’t play much help defense and will rebound if the ball comes in his area.

My opinion: He needs a lot of work and to play with a lot more passion if he is going to improve to the point where he’ll be a major force for us next season.

 

[kjb120]

My analysis was wrong? Obviously you missed the McCullough who struggled over a long stretch leading up to his injury. Or did you forget what JB was saying about McCullough over that stretch? I guess it's okay for him to be super negative.

This is an honest question, have you liked any recruit that has come to Syracuse in the past 10 years? Anytime you post about a recruit it's negative yet our teams outside of this season has been on a great streak.

As for Malachi's effort, I think many of these kids especially top recruits get bored in HS and sometimes coast. When they get into college they realize that their future is on the line and bust their ass.

 

[cuseguy]

cuseguy, your "analysis" of Chris McCullough heading into the season for the Orange was so blatantly misguided, negative and just plain wrong... why would anyone trust your analysis on Malachi Richardson? Again, you are super negative... so he can't penetrate, or shoot off the dribble, or hit a mid-range shot, but he's a McD's all-american and the 19th ranked player in his entire class. Sure.

Christmas was a Mickey D AA and he was a project coming out of high school.

I'm not saying Malachi isn't a great shooter with a high ceiling, but don't get caught up in rankings and AA recognition.

I've been around long enough to know better.

 

[cuseguy]

This is an honest question, have you liked any recruit that has come to Syracuse in the past 10 years? Anytime you post about a recruit it's negative yet our teams outside of this season has been on a great streak. As for Malachi's effort, I think many of these kids especially top recruits get bored in HS and sometimes coast. When they get into college they realize that their future is on the line and bust their ass.

I've liked plenty of recruits.

I loved Ennis in high school.

I thought highly of MCW.

It wasn't hard not to like Dion.

Liked Fab, but thought he didn't live up to his potential.

Still waiting to see if Coleman matches what I saw in high school.

I've been disappointed with Joseph based on what I saw in high school.

Long term, I think this incoming class will be good, but it may require some patience with several of them.

 

[MSOrange]

I've liked plenty of recruits.

I loved Ennis in high school.

I thought highly of MCW.

It wasn't hard not to like Dion.

Liked Fab, but thought he didn't live up to his potential.

Still waiting to see if Coleman matches what I saw in high school.

I've been disappointed with Joseph based on what I saw in high school.

Long term, I think this incoming class will be good, but it may require some patience with several of them.

If Malachi does in fact struggle, can we look forward to multiple posts from you gloating about being right like you did with Chris? Because it's definitely more fun and important to be right on a message board than for us to be successful - right?

 

[cuseguy]

If Malachi does in fact struggle, can we look forward to multiple posts from you gloating about being right like you did with Chris? Because it's definitely more fun and important to be right on a message board than for us to be successful - right?

Yeah, I did a lot of gloating with McCullough. Right.

I'm certainly not rooting against any SU player. But there's a group here that doesn't seem to like hearing anything negative about a recruit or a player. The reports I've provided here are not from me, but from people I know. Again, don't shoot the messenger.

 

[TBCuse11]

i gotta say cuseguy... if you thought Coleman was a stud from what u saw in HS, then your ability to evaluate talent should be questioned IMO. I saw him play a dozen times, vs kids that were 6 foot or less mostly, and he never impressed. He was overshadowed almost every game by Cavanaugh. Played very little D, and showed limited to no range.

 

[TBCuse11]

If Malachi does in fact struggle, can we look forward to multiple posts from you gloating about being right like you did with Chris? Because it's definitely more fun and important to be right on a message board than for us to be successful - right?

 

[pearl31]

Yeah, I did a lot of gloating with McCullough. Right.

I'm certainly not rooting against any SU player. But there's a group here that doesn't seem to like hearing anything negative about a recruit or a player. The reports I've provided here are not from me, but from people I know. Again, don't shoot the messenger.

I hear ya. But I gotta say, that report on Malachi you posted from the friend or whoever he is completely smelled of someone with a decided anti-SU lean. It read like someone completely nit-picking and exaggerating youthful flaws to be insurmountable red flags. kind of transparent, really. :noidea:
Do folks (from all fanbases) get carried away with their recruits' potential? Of course, but Mal is clearly an elite talent who is going to contribute right away and for a member of said fanbase to try and poo-poo that is a bit perplexing.

 

[jordoo]

"He should have had 30 in this game easily – even in just three quarters. He just didn’t want to."

This from someone who obviously doesn't really love his game.

 

[pearl31]

i gotta say cuseguy... if you thought Coleman was a stud from what u saw in HS, then your ability to evaluate talent should be questioned IMO. I saw him play a dozen times, vs kids that were 6 foot or less mostly, and he never impressed. He was overshadowed almost every game by Cavanaugh. Played very little D, and showed limited to no range.

yep, uh huh, that's why Calipari wanted him badly

 

[cuseguy]

i gotta say cuseguy... if you thought Coleman was a stud from what u saw in HS, then your ability to evaluate talent should be questioned IMO. I saw him play a dozen times, vs kids that were 6 foot or less mostly, and he never impressed. He was overshadowed almost every game by Cavanaugh. Played very little D, and showed limited to no range.

That's why SU and Kentucky recruited him. What do they know.

 

[cuseguy]

I hear ya. But I gotta say, that report on Malachi you posted from the friend or whoever he is completely smelled of someone with a decided anti-SU lean. It read like someone completely nit-picking and exaggerating youthful flaws to be insurmountable red flags. kind of transparent, really. :noidea: Do folks (from all fanbases) get carried away with their recruits' potential? Of course, but Mal is clearly an elite talent who is going to contribute right away and for a member of said fanbase to try and poo-poo that is a bit perplexing.

The guy is an SU grad, a fan for 40 years and a journalist/sportswriter for 30 plus years.

 

[CraigForth]

The best player in Mercer County is Ewing’s Trey Lowe, a guard headed to Temple.

This line told me everything I needed to know. Your friend sounds less like a scout and more like an old man that only appreciates hustle players.

 

[jordoo]

Didn't Temple leave the A10 for the AAC? :rolling:

 

[TBCuse11]

yep, uh huh, that's why Calipari wanted him badly

Coleman was not wanted "badly". He was a fall back plan. And not even remotely a loss they cared about. Not for one second.