2025-26 Preseason Practice | Page 13 | Syracusefan.com

2025-26 Preseason Practice

Niastri said:
Two thoughts:

Womack has put on a ton of weight in a short time. So has Red.

In the picture of Fennell dribbling upcourt, Starling and Zephir are both bent over sucking wind in the background. That means either they are working very hard in practice or they are badly conditioned. I hope it's the former.
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was kinda surprised to hear seth greenberg mention womack at all after being at practice...maybe he could be one of those diamonds in the rough that didnt have a high recruiting ranking but becomes a big player? that would be awesome

getting excited for this team, but keeping my expectations tempered until it actually happens on the court and not only on the websites haha
 
CardiacCuse said:
was kinda surprised to hear seth greenberg mention womack at all after being at practice...maybe he could be one of those diamonds in the rough that didnt have a high recruiting ranking but becomes a big player? that would be awesome

getting excited for this team, but keeping my expectations tempered until it actually happens on the court and not only on the websites haha
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I don't know about diamond in the rough, but Womack is one of those kids who grew a lot the last few years. I remember reading that he was a barely 6' guard as a sophomore, I think, and suddenly was much taller (listed at 6'6") but painfully skinny.

But he is a very good shooter and has retained some of those guard skills.

His film definitely looks like a guard, but he is filling out and can probably play SF for us given enough weight gain. His physical development is promising. Even if he winds up being a 3point specialist on offense, if he can play good defense, he could be a solid rotation player relatively early.

I still would be surprised if he got much run this year. We are very deep at SF and 2G.
 
cusefan88 said:
You can just tell the body transformation. Look at the photos in the article especially Sadiq White and Nait George. Both have much bigger arms versus 12 months ago.
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I always felt like the most important thing we did in the offseason was immediately cleaning house and not leaving a single scholarship player that didn't need to be there. Could've prob kept some of the random guys on then bench like Petar, Cuffe or even Choppa but for what.

Dump everyone and start fresh. Transfers came in, along with Frosh and a new S&C dude and they didn't have to deal with a handful of guys from last year that all they knew was losing and slacking.
 
Niastri said:
I don't know about diamond in the rough, but Womack is one of those kids who grew a lot the last few years. I remember reading that he was a barely 6' guard as a sophomore, I think, and suddenly was much taller (listed at 6'6") but painfully skinny.

But he is a very good shooter and has retained some of those guard skills.

His film definitely looks like a guard, but he is filling out and can probably play SF for us given enough weight gain. His physical development is promising. Even if he winds up being a 3point specialist on offense, if he can play good defense, he could be a solid rotation player relatively early.

I still would be surprised if he got much run this year. We are very deep at SF and 2G.
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Yeah, Womack is probably as likely a redshirt candidate as we've seen in a while given where he's at coming in and who is in front of him on the depth chart. I'm very bullish on what he can be for us in the future though.
 
OttoinGrotto said:
Yeah, Womack is probably as likely a redshirt candidate as we've seen in a while given where he's at coming in and who is in front of him on the depth chart. I'm very bullish on what he can be for us in the future though.
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Hopefully his mentality and approach mirrors guys like Southerland and Cooney. Finding a kid willing to develop in this environment who has a ton of potential and is also a shooter is not easy.
 
Orangezoo said:
Hopefully his mentality and approach mirrors guys like Southerland and Cooney. Finding a kid willing to develop in this environment who has a ton of potential and is also a shooter is not easy.
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I think he knew the score coming in. It would be weird for him to come on and not understand that while in the same class as Kiyan.
 
Womak is skilled and a hard worker. He’s put on 15 pounds since he arrived at SU. He’s an excellent shooter but has good defensive instincts. Besides Rippey and Smith, I don’t see any other wings coming in next year or being offered. SU wants to retain all the kids they have.
 
hoopsupstate said:
Womak is skilled and a hard worker. He’s put on 15 pounds since he arrived at SU. He’s an excellent shooter but has good defensive instincts. Besides Rippey and Smith, I don’t see any other wings coming in next year or being offered. SU wants to retain all the kids they have.
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I put on 15 pounds since he arrived at SU, and I even skipped the State Fair! 🤣
 
MSOrange said:
This was a really good profile by Donna. I thought our S&C needed an overhaul and I think Rob will move us in a better direction.
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Fantastic profile. We got a gem in Rob Harris and completely remade the S&C department. Autry identified a real systemic issue in the program and made the right call to let go of a longtime colleague to improve things. Quoting from the piece:

When Harris asked Autry what he hoped his players would achieve in the weight room, Autry told him “everything.”

Autry wanted to build toughness in his team. He was tired of seeing his players “pushed around” on the basketball court, Harris said. He wanted Syracuse to be the more aggressive team. He wanted the Orange to have an edge.
 
Niastri said:
I still would be surprised if he got much run this year. We are very deep at SF and 2G.
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i think we all expect womack not to have much of a role this year...which was my point in being surprised seth greenberg metnioned him at all when talking about the teams prospects for this after visiting practice

still a good sign, regardless (i suppose)
 
Sherman20 said:
Fantastic profile. We got a gem in Rob Harris and completely remade the S&C department. Autry identified a real systemic issue in the program and made the right call to let go of a longtime colleague to improve things. Quoting from the piece:

When Harris asked Autry what he hoped his players would achieve in the weight room, Autry told him “everything.”

Autry wanted to build toughness in his team. He was tired of seeing his players “pushed around” on the basketball court, Harris said. He wanted Syracuse to be the more aggressive team. He wanted the Orange to have an edge.
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I hope people realize that Red sees many of the same things we see. Replacing someone who was on the staff for a long time is not easy. Kudos to Red for making a complete philosophy change in our strength and conditioning. I think we may be shocked with the style change we see on the court this year.
 
Sherman20 said:
Fantastic profile. We got a gem in Rob Harris and completely remade the S&C department. Autry identified a real systemic issue in the program and made the right call to let go of a longtime colleague to improve things. Quoting from the piece:

When Harris asked Autry what he hoped his players would achieve in the weight room, Autry told him “everything.”

Autry wanted to build toughness in his team. He was tired of seeing his players “pushed around” on the basketball court, Harris said. He wanted Syracuse to be the more aggressive team. He wanted the Orange to have an edge.
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Red isn’t the crazy guy with endless energy. He isn’t the one who knows how to get that out of every player but there are a number of coaches that are similar. So you have to find that guy for your program. Who is that driving force? Bringing Rob in was massive in finding that piece. Having Alex as GM to be the resourceful guy who has those connections shows his value.

I think we will find out if DE can be the helpful tactician as an AC now with Rob there to have the needed level of intensity day in day out.
 
Speaking of energy guys, I think the personality of the team is going to be different, by a lot.

Some of that is Rob Harris. He definitely is a different animal. I'll never forget his first meeting with Luke Fennell. Harris jumps up in the air shouting "Luke's here! Luke's here!" Like he had been waiting his whole life to meet Fennell. Then he proceeded to invade Luke's personal space in an aggressively friendly way. It was a heck of a way to introduce yourself to someone. That intensity is definitely a radically different tone from Red and the rest of the coaching staff.

But Secondly, I think we have brought in a few transfers with something to prove. Last year, other than Lampkin, our transfers were career minor leaders just happy for a cup of coffee in The Show.

This season, we have Kyle and Kingz as likely starters who have had much more intense paths to the big time. Other guys like Betsey and Souare have had some bumps as well that are going to increase their hunger to succeed.

I think the intensity from those guys is going to be different than we saw the last few years.
 
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hoopsupstate said:
I hope people realize that Red sees many of the same things we see. Replacing someone who was on the staff for a long time is not easy. Kudos to Red for making a complete philosophy change in our strength and conditioning. I think we may be shocked with the style change we see on the court this year.
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I agree. We could be a fun watch once they figure out how to play team defense together. I hope Red is able to make these tough calls in future years with some of the main assistants—or at least brings in fresh blood with assistants who will help improve the offensive scheming and philosophy. Having a very good PG should at least help this season on offense.
 
Niastri said:
Speaking of energy guys, I think the personality of the team is going to be different, by a lot.

Some of that is Rob Harris. He definitely is a different animal. I'll never forget his first meeting with Luke Fennell. Harris jumps up in the air shouting "Luke's here! Luke's here!" Like he had been waiting his whole life to meet Fennell. Then he proceeded to invade Luke's personal space in an aggressively friendly way. It was a heck of a way to introduce yourself to someone. That intensity is definitely a radically different tone from Red and the rest of the coaching staff.

But Secondly, I think we have brought in a few transfers with something to prove. Last year, other than Lampkin, our transfers were career minor leaders just happy for a cup of coffee in The Show.

This season, we have Kyle and Kingz as likely starters who have had much more intense paths to the big time. Other guys like Betsey and Souare have had some bumps as well that are going to increase their hunger to succeed.

I think the intensity from those guys is going to be different than we saw the last few years.
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Momentum and energy in front a home crowd is so important. People complaining about cupcakes at the dome and I'm sitting here like good. Blow them about by 50 I say.

Last season we might as well have been tripping over our shoelaces from day 1 at the Dome. Fans that pay attention (like here) knew it was really bad, fairweather fans said boring who cares more of the same, and fans that go to an occasional games at the dome were like this isn't fun to watch we can't even dunk the ball or run a fastbreak or get a stop on defense.
 
IMG_7836.jpeg
 
Sherman20 said:
I hope Red is able to make these tough calls in future years with some of the main assistants—or at least brings in fresh blood with assistants who will help improve the offensive scheming and philosophy.
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This part is critical if Red does in fact make it through this season. When talent acquisition falls mainly on Straughn and Kline, you can't have two of your assistants not materially contributing to the growth of the program. Top assistants are nationally revered; ours are not mentioned once.

We'll see if the change in strength staff opens Red's eyes to that and trickles to other members of the staff. If you're not growing, you're slowing.
 

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