Reply to thread

Message

[QUOTE="OttoMets, post: 2939664, member: 716"]
But do you think SU lost any of those recruits (I've heard it speculated that that was the case with Huerter) because of sanctions?

Obviously sanctions didn't help. But it's kind of a nebulous reason that I've seen thrown around without a lot of hard evidence. What got the ball rolling on the program's decline? This is an interesting topic for discussion.

I'm of the opinion that 25-0 was, as someone else put it, the inflection point; the situation was enormously aggravated by three departures on both sides of that downturn: Carter-Williams (who coaches thought was a three-year player in summer 2012) the season before, and Grant and Ennis a couple months after. That wrecked the foundation of the program and created a vicious cycle of kids getting minutes too early and either burning out (Joseph) or getting featured to a degree that spun them up the ladder sooner than expected (Richardson).

I could see sanctions being an aggravating factor here: with early departures, Boeheim needed to replenish but couldn't. But I never got the sense that it was the sanctions that were the obstacle - SU missed on top-end recruits and some of the more middling players on the team didn't develop or were run off. In a sanctions-free alternate reality, how would recruiting have shaken out in 2015 and onward?
[/QUOTE]

Verification

What is a Syracuse fan's favorite color?