Agreed. I'd be amazed if our starting backcourt isn't Ennis and G next year. The only way this doesn't happen is if it turns out that Ennis isn't ready to run the point at a high level right away next year, in which case we'll struggle a little bit next year in the ACC with JB trying to cobble a backcourt together. But hopefully Ennis will be good as advertised from day one, and then the competition between Cooney and Patterson for bench minutes at SG when G is spelling Ennis at point will make both guys better, with whoever emerges as the better player getting the bulk of the minutes off the bench. The weaker of Cooney and Patterson will probably get freshman MCW minutes.
Ennis is going to be given the keys to the offense. His HS team just played for ESPN's mythical HS National Championship, and he is an elite level prospect. Just like Jason Hart, Adrian Autry and countless other guys, Boeheim has shown that he trusts freshmen to run the offense at SU.
One thing that works in their favor, as Buzz Williams pointed out prior to our most recent game, is that our offense is not that complicated. We have maybe 10 offensive plays, tops, and focus mostly on as few as 5 or so plays as the bread and butter of our offense. High screen, pick & roll, pick & pop, double screen on one side, double screens on the baseline, double screen at the top of the key. And then it's options on where the shooters will be as the PG initiates in each set. A lot of that is based on reads as to where the defense is shading. Find the open space.
Other schools may have a harder time working in freshmen PGs because their playbook includes 60-70 offensive plays that a guy has to master, and he may have a coach that calls a play nearly every time down the floor. Our system is much more free flowing, and is simple, relatively speaking.
By keeping it simple, on both the offensive and defensive end, and by setting up the system to initiate transition opportunities, we try to let the players play instinctively, and we improve our execution on both ends of the floor by keeping things simple. This makes the adjustment much easier than it is for freshmen to try to come in and run the offense at another school.
